Latest news with #Reichert
CBS News
20-04-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Parts of Northern Baltimore & Carroll Counties face intense wind damage on Easter morning
BALTIMORE Co. — A quick, intense wind event rocked parts of Northern Baltimore County and Carroll County late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Tree limbs, debris, and downed wires covered multiple streets and driveways posing a challenge for neighbors planning to celebrate the Easter holiday. "Not the holiday that everybody expected" Alex Reichert owns Green Hill Landscaping and has lived in Parkton, Maryland in Northern Baltimore County for most of his life. "These old pine trees behind me— they are at least 80 to 100 years old, and all the tops split off," explained Alex Reicher. "There's a whole tree at the end of the row that got uprooted completely and is laying on the ground." Just before 11:00p Saturday night— Reichert said he could hear how strong the wind was getting outside of his bedroom window. "I looked out of my bedroom— right there at the top in the corner— and I looked out the window and saw everything just fall down. And trees were exploding, limbs were flying," said Reichert. Reichert told WJZ, he immediately took shelter in his basement and woke up the next morning to a tree limb hanging over his home. "My equipment got smashed, and I don't know if the insurance will cover it, but we'll see," Reichert said. "Yeah, this is not the holiday that everybody expected." "I was very lucky to be alive" But less than 5 minutes from Reichert's home, there was more damage. A large tree left mangled in electric wires was toppled over Middletown Road blocking traffic in both directions. A man, who did not want to be identified, said he was driving south on Middletown Road, said he ran into the fallen tree just before 5:00a Sunday morning. "No cones or no flares, I went right through and pretty much took off almost the whole top of the car. I was very lucky to be alive," the man told WJZ. Baltimore County firefighters were seen making their way around the fallen tree as they rushed to another emergency, a house fire in Freeland, MD. Don Lawerence said he woke up early Sunday morning and his power was out, so he went to turn on his back-up generator. When the power went out again, he returned to the generator and saw flames spewing from it. "You know the perfect storm is there, they've got trees down everywhere and said the fire departments had a hard time getting here, and I'm just watching this thing take off," said Lawrence "The wind is just blowing the flame is like it's probably three or four feet, and it's licking the bottom of the bumper of my nice van, and it started rough and started burning that rubber and it just took off." Lawrence told WJZ, his wife and dog Diesel were able to make it out of the home. "We're safe. The dog is safe. Everybody is good," Lawrence said. As for everyone else in Northern Baltimore County impacted by the sudden windstorm, they say they're grateful it wasn't worse. "We're lucky. Everybody's alive and no one's hurt. You know that's really the main thing," said Reichert.
Forbes
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Esports World Cup Announces Record Breaking $70 Million Prize Pool
Prize money in the world of esports has long been a divisive topic. While the multi-million dollar prize pools of the Dota 2 International always made headlines, a few years down the line, there is almost no doubt that these heights made the scene unsustainable for a lot of teams outside of the very top players who took the lion's share of those prize pools. However, on the other side of the coin, when players in some of the biggest games in the world are competing for just a few thousand dollars, it can feel like their years of work to reach the top are not being respected. It's difficult to stay on the right side of the line for many esports tournament organisers, and that only becomes a bigger issue when you have more than 20 different tournaments happening within two months and an overall championship encompassing all of them. That is where the Esports World Cup finds itself, returning for a second year with the mandate to sustainably grow esports, but offer enough of a reward that the top teams will do everything they can to earn a spot in the tournament. 'We went in last year with $60 million, it was unheard of, it was so much bigger than anything else, and at the same time, we wanted to leave room for growth,' said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation. 'So we went from 60 to 70 [million dollars prize pool] The $70 million prize pool for the 2025 event has more than $38 million dedicated to individual game prize pools, over $5 million for qualifying events and $450,000 for MVP awards across the Esports World Cup. The rest, around $27 million, is reserved for the Club Championship, the cross game championship where organisations can win serious money if they perform well across multiple games. The Club Championship winners will walk away with $7 million, which will be one of the biggest individual payouts in esports history. 'If you look at the Esports World Cup, [the Club Championship is] what holds it together,' said Reichert. 'So on the one hand it's fantastic that we have all of these games and can bring them together at one point in time, which is unique, then the club championship is what makes it a story and wraps it together. So we don't consider it as a side element but at the very heart and centre of the Esports World Cup. So naturally this should have the highest prize money.' But really, the most important figures when it comes to the prize pool are what the players themselves can be walking away with. While the Esports World Cup obviously features all of the biggest games, this year with the addition of Valorant, which often have multi-million dollar prize pools, it also features a lot of the slightly smaller esports, where big prize pools are rarer. That means some players in these games can win truly life changing money, and that has already been proven off the back of the 2024 event. 'We literally changed lives,' said Reichert. 'In Street Fighter with Xiao Hai who won $350,000, he's 35, which was maybe not his last [tournament], but he's certainly in the autumn of his career. We could see how much this meant to him as a title, but as well in terms of his financial future. In the MLBB women's event, we had a $180,000 prize for first, which is by far the largest ever for a women's tournament, and those winners who went home, can live for a few years from this. And last but not least, in PUBG Mobile the Brazilian org Alpha7 went home with $470,000 which, living in Brazil, it's almost a fortune for such a club.' There is no doubt that the money on offer to both players and clubs is impressive, and will likely change a lot of lives once it has all been handed out later this year. But it's almost surprising at how the prize pool has grown this year. On paper, the $10 million increase is significant, but when you consider that includes entirely new prize pools for new tournaments being added, and a significant amount going to qualification events, it's perhaps not quite the major increase many expected after a successful first year and the goal of growing year by year. However, this is by design, with the Esports World Cup Foundation very conscious of not doing too much too quickly. 'There's nothing worse than spending a billion one year and zero the next year,' said Reichert. 'So we would rather spend the billion over the next 10–15 years and grow it step by step, because that's what ultimately will help the sport most and the sport is above everything.' For now, the focus is on the $70 million that will be handed out this summer across the 25 tournaments in 24 games that are set to take place in Riyadh. With so much cash on the line, multiple lives will change as a result of this mammoth prize pool, and there is no doubt that competition will lead to some incredible stories you will not want to miss.
Al Arabiya
10-04-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Esports World Cup to return to Riyadh with over $70 mln prize pool
The Esports World Cup will return this summer to Riyadh with a record prize pool of more than $70 million, its organizer said on Thursday, as Saudi Arabia continues its push to become a global gaming hub. This year's tournament will expand to 24 games, adding chess and Riot Games' popular shooter 'Valorant' to last year's roster of 21 games. For more news on sports in Saudi Arabia, visit our dedicated page. As competitive gaming moves into the mainstream and attracts deep-pocketed investors, Saudi Arabia is betting big on the industry and will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2027, under a 12-year deal with the International Olympic Committee. 'What has been built organically through the last 25 years now gets supported by public interest,' Ralf Reichert, CEO of Esports World Cup Foundation told Reuters, adding that the investment is part of a 'clear economic agenda.' The event is part of Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030' economic diversification strategy, which has seen billions invested in various sports events. The inclusion of Chess, the centuries-old board game, in the esports tournament comes after it experienced a significant revival during the pandemic and continues to thrive through competitions organized on platforms like Reichert said eight of the world's top-ranked 10 players have signed with up esports clubs, with Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi confirmed to compete at the tournament this year. The total prize pool, up from $60 million last year, will be split between game champions and a $25 million fund earmarked for clubs to nurture talent and support players. That funding could be key for an industry that has been rocked by financial instability, as several teams that surged in popularity during the pandemic have since faltered in a very capital-heavy industry. Last month, the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund-owned Scopely bought Niantic Labs' gaming division, the force behind the hit augmented reality game 'Pokemon Go', for $3.5 billion.
Reuters
10-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Esports World Cup returns to Riyadh with a record $70 million prize pool amid Saudi gaming push
April 10 (Reuters) - The Esports World Cup will return this summer to Riyadh with a record prize pool of more than $70 million, its organizer said on Thursday, as Saudi Arabia continues its push to become a global gaming hub. This year's tournament will expand to 24 games, adding chess and Riot Games' popular shooter "Valorant" to last year's roster of 21 games. here. As competitive gaming moves into the mainstream and attracts deep-pocketed investors, Saudi Arabia is betting big on the industry and will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2027, under a 12-year deal with the International Olympic Committee. "What has been built organically through the last 25 years now gets supported by public interest," Ralf Reichert, CEO of Esports World Cup Foundation told Reuters, adding that the investment is part of a "clear economic agenda." The event is part of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" economic diversification strategy, which has seen billions invested in various sports events amid criticism of "sportswashing" over the country's human rights record. The inclusion of Chess, the centuries-old board game, in the esports tournament comes after it experienced a significant revival during the pandemic and continues to thrive through competitions organized on platforms like Reichert said eight of the world's top-ranked 10 players have signed with up esports clubs, with Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi confirmed to compete at the tournament this year. The total prize pool, up from $60 million last year, will be split between game champions and a $25 million fund earmarked for clubs to nurture talent and support players. That funding could be key for an industry that has been rocked by financial instability, as several teams that surged in popularity during the pandemic have since faltered in a very capital-heavy industry. Last month, the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund-owned Scopely bought Niantic Labs' gaming division, the force behind the hit augmented reality game "Pokemon Go", for $3.5 billion.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
San Marco flooding relief project could soon be one step closer to completion
The first part of the $42.5 million pump station and flooding improvement project in San Marco could be done by the end of the month, after Action News Jax saw flooded roads in the neighborhood from heavy rain early Monday morning. Haskell, the company working with the City of Jacksonville to put a new pump station on LaSalle Street to reduce street flooding from storms, says the station could be online by the end of March or beginning of April. Action News Jax has been following efforts to reduce flooding in San Marco since 2023, when we first told you about the groundbreaking for the project. The city says it's meant to improve the stormwater drainage system in San Marco to pull floodwater off the roads and put it into the St. Johns River. Sharon Reichert has been living in San Marco for the last 22 years. She hasn't been waiting as long for the pump station to be built, but says it's an improvement the area has needed for years. 'There's a lot of problems in this area because we're so close to the river,' Reichert said, 'if we have a really bad hurricane or a lot of rain, it can be 2 or 3 days before you can get out.' [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] She lives about a block from LaSalle Street and often hears crews working on the pump project early in the morning. Reichert tells Action News Jax it's been a long time coming. 'I think everyone in the neighborhood is looking forward to it,' said Reichert. Haskell tells Action News Jax the entire project is expected to be done sometime next year. While the pump station may come online at the end of the month, the company says people will see the most significant improvements once the entire project is complete. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
