Latest news with #Sather
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rochester production wins state theater competition
Mar. 31—ROCHESTER — For the cast of Absolute Theatre's run of "Forever Plaid," the show title is fitting. They began rehearsing the show in February 2024 and, after performances around Rochester and winning Minnesota Association of Community Theatres, were back in rehearsal at the end of March this year, 2025. "It's 'Forever Plaid' forever," joked Matthew Sather, one of the four members of the ensemble. In this case, the show is a victim of its own success. The cast was at director Suzie Hansen's home for a brush-up rehearsal to prepare to compete in the American Association of Community Theatre regional competition in Newton, Iowa April 3 — 5. The cast, crew and pianist earned a slot at regionals having won "best of fest" among other honors at the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres competition in Duluth March 9. However, a year and some change isn't a long time to be performing the show compared to how long Hansen has been looking for a cast with the skills to put on the show. "It's a show I've wanted to do for a long time," said Hansen, founding director of Absolute Theatre. The show calls for four people capable of singing the lead, tenor, baritone and bass parts as well as acting. "I waited a long time for some of you to show up," Hansen told the cast before a brush-up rehearsal at her home. Hansen said it was luck and timing finding four people whose voices blend, a talented piano player who stays on his toes behind the keys and a good choreographer to come together for one show. The cast chemistry came together immediately, Hansen said. "You'd think they'd known each other forever," she said. "We found that the four of us just blended well musically," Sather said. "But at the risk of sounding cheesy, we blend well as friends." Cast member Brady Helget, who performed in college said the show has been a fun opportunity to have musical performance back in his life. "We definitely did not expect to be doing it this long, but it's definitely a pleasant surprise," Helget said. He joined the cast with Ryhlan Peterson, whom he met while they were both attending Luther College in Decorah, Iowa before moving to Minnesota. "It's a good way to end your day," Peterson said about the evening rehearsals. "It's nice doing something that's really meaningful." Hansen recruited the fourth cast member, Riley Thompson, from the Rochester Choral Arts Ensemble. "Becoming one of the "plaids" has been a fun experience," Thompson said, adding he wasn't sure if Hansen would have taken "no" for an answer. Hansen along with Stef Stafford were recognized for outstanding achievement for ensemble work and choreographer Missy Hagen was recognized for best choreography at the state competition. If the group wins at the regional level, they would qualify to move on to a national competition which is being held this year in Des Moines, Iowa. "That's a big 'if' though," Sather said.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
‘It's like roulette': Pinellas hotel owner concerned over abrupt deadline for FEMA housing help
ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — Several hurricane survivors are facing uncertainty as they continue to rely on temporary housing help from FEMA. Many have been caught in the permit backlog and are still unable to begin the process to rebuild their homes. Rays 'cannot move forward' with new ballpark deal, owner says However, they're also up against a looming deadline that's catching many people off guard. Spring break is here and the rooms at the Plaza Beach Hotel are booked, but dozens of guests are uncertain about the length of their stay. 'Every two weeks you're going to be on eggshells about whether you're going to be here or not,' said Bobby Sather. 'Mentally, it's been very draining.' Sather's home was destroyed in the storms; however, he has been able to stay afloat with help from the FEMA Temporary Shelter Assistance program. 'For a long-term solution, I would get a storage unit and put my items in there,' Sather said. 'If the weather was really inclement, I would stay there until the weather was over.' Robert Czyszczon is the owner of the Plaza Beach Hotel. He reserved all rooms for those recovering from the storms, but this week he received a surprising notice from FEMA that requires several storm victims to check out on March 13. Many will have to leave abruptly without a place to live. Venice replacing damaged seawall, adding 4-foot tall glass flood barrier 'Today is the 13th, but people that have the extension until the 24th had the rug pulled from them, and now they have to leave on the 13th rather than the 24th when they assumed they were going to leave,' Czyszczon said. 'It's almost like a roulette table when you have no idea how the dice is going to roll,' Czyszczon added. The FEMA deadline also comes with a caveat. 'We don't know where we're going to be from two weeks to the next or where we're going to go when the money from FEMA runs out,' said Wendy Athens. Meanwhile, Sather is still picking up the pieces while holding onto memories and hope. 'They're in my mind, but I can't pick them up and hold them,' he said. FEMA responded to the deadline concerns with the following statement: Transitional Sheltering Assistance is a temporary program to help survivors transition to more permanent housing. Upon reviewing with our team, we checked on the hotel you asked about and there have been 6 households who have had to check out this week because they no longer met TSA eligibility criteria. These applicants were provided 7-day notices of their ineligibility. As of today, we can report another 42 households remain eligible for TSA and using this hotel. FEMA FEMA also provided the following information: Transitional Sheltering Assistance Transitional Sheltering Assistance is available for Floridians displaced by Helene or Milton in 52 counties and for tribal members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) was requested by the state of Florida and approved on Oct. 15 for Hurricanes Helene and Milton. As of March 10, just over 8,000 Households (19,966 people) are checked into TSA participating hotels and motels in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Generally, every 14 days FEMA will review applicants' eligibility for continued TSA. Applicants who meet the conditions of continued eligibility may remain in TSA. Eligible applicants may choose to stay at any TSA participating lodging facility where a vacancy is available. FEMA provides a list of approved lodging facilities on lodging information on and help through the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. Examples of when an applicant will be deemed ineligible for TSA: Pre-disaster primary residence is deemed safe to occupy through a FEMA inspection. The home noted in the applicant's registration is not the applicant's primary residence. An applicant is linked with another applicant who may be receiving FEMA assistance. An inspector was not able to complete a home inspection after three attempts to contact the applicant or the applicant failed to show for one or more inspection appointments. The applicant received rental assistance from FEMA. The applicant has insurance that provides Additional Living Expenses or Loss of Use coverage or has not submitted documentation to prove they do not have these coverages. Failure to comply with the TSA Terms and Conditions. The applicant indicated they did not have damage to their primary residence at the time of application. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BBC News
01-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Bristol graduates helping city fight mounting e-waste
A Bristol businessman who employs recent graduates from the city's universities to fix electronics is urging people to thing twice before throwing away their broken items in an effort to fight e-waste. Casey Sather, 27, fixed his first iPhone as a teenager - bringing the skills he learned from YouTube to the University of Bristol, where he repaired friends' devices in lecture theatres, student halls and pubs. More than a decade later his business, which employs seven people full-time, repairs hundreds of electronic items each month and helps run free repair cafes."The stuff that people bring in [to get fixed] is amazing," he said. "But the stuff that people throw out is even more amazing." Mr Sather realised there was a need for reliable, affordable technology repairs during his astrophysics degree, where he saw fellow students taken advantage of by repair shops or simply throwing away their broken phones or laptops. "The thing with repair is, it's not that hard," he told the BBC. "You can find the parts online, you can find a YouTube video, and you can get a screwdriver." With many students looking for a quick fix on their expensive devices, the word around Mr Sather's interest in repairing broken tech spread fast. Before he had even finished his degree, he was employing fellow students to help. After graduating, Mr Sather formalised the business into Fix My Crack, setting up two repair shops at the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, employing students part-time."The last thing we want to do is charge a student," Mr Sather said. "Some shops will charge you just for cleaning charging ports, and it's ridiculous - we've been collecting all the charging port dust for years into a very gross jar. "So there's a lot of ways we help students, and our goal really is to educate and also reduce the amount of stuff going to e-waste, and if we can do that for free it's all the better." The Fix My Crack name flew on campus, with both shops still repairing hundreds of devices each month, but as the business grew the decision was made to rebrand to team, made up of seven full-time employees, all of whom have recently graduated from Bristol's universities, still fix phones and laptops, but now also help businesses in the city tackle the mounting e-waste problem. The work investigates "how businesses handle their e-waste and what their current processes are", Mr Sather explained. "We've been working with researchers from the university to investigate this, and we do pop-up repair days and donation drives where the company and any employees are able to bring any old tech and learn repair skills." 'Confidence' The profits from events with businesses are then used to keep costs down for student repairs, and allow the FixMyTek team to get involved with local repair cafes where anyone can bring in broken items and learn to fix them up for free. This does not just cover phones and laptops - Mr Sather explained he had a room at home full of toasters and coffee machines, and had even seen broken glasses and shoes. While events take place all over the city and are organised by many different organisations, the FixMyTek team are set to host their next session at Sparks in Broadmead on 23 March. "The whole goal is to both give people these skills and the confidence that they need to go and fix stuff," Mr Sather said. "It's not that hard - companies have been making it so hard for years, so that no one is allowed to fix their stuff and you have to buy new things."He added: "If you can fix it yourself then it saves you money, helps the environment and gives you a real sense of kind of fulfilment - having all this stuff that you know inside and out."
