Latest news with #SteveGorman
The Print
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Print
Groundbreaking Latin jazz pianist-composer Eddie Palmieri, dead at 88
Born in the Spanish Harlem section of Upper Manhattan to Puerto Rican parents, Palmieri began studying piano as a youngster and made his musical debut performing at Carnegie Hall at age 11. No cause of death was given. By Steve Gorman (Reuters) -Eddie Palmieri, a Grammy-celebrated pianist, composer and bandleader widely recognized as a leading figure in the Latin jazz and salsa music scene, died on Wednesday at his home in New Jersey, according to his Facebook page. He was 88. Two years later, he grew fascinated with percussion and joined his uncle's Latin jazz orchestra on timbales at age 13, but soon switched again to piano and never looked back, according to a biography posted on Still, his early infatuation with percussion went on to inform his dazzling, thunderous piano style, and compositions that transcended the boundaries of Afro-Caribbean music, jazz, funk and soul. As described by AllMusic, his technique as a pianist incorporated bits and pieces from contemporaries ranging from McCoy Tyner to Herbie Hancock and recycled them through a dynamic, Latin groove. 'His approach can be compared to Thelonious Monk's for its unorthodox patterns, odd rhythms, sometimes disjointed phrases and percussive effects played in a manner that is always successfully resolved,' AllMusic wrote. In 1961, Palmieri founded the ensemble La Perfecta, redefining salsa by introducing trombones in place of trumpets for a deeper, heavier brass sound that became his signature. The band's self-titled debut album is universally regarded as a Latin music classic. His 1965 album 'Azucar Pa' Ti' ('Sugar for You') became a dance-floor favorite and Palmieri's most successful release. It was added to the U.S. National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in recognition of its cultural significance. Palmieri's 1971 album 'Harlem River Drive', also the name of his second band, showcased a genre-crossing, politically charged collection of songs blending Latin jazz, funk and soul that is still considered a hallmark of musical activism. That same year, he also recorded the album 'Vamanos Pa'l Monte' ('Let's Go to the Mountain'), featuring his older brother, Charlie Palmieri, playing organ. His elder sibling, known as the 'Giant of the Keyboards,' died in 1988. Other groundbreaking releases from among a body of work spanning seven decades include the albums 'Justicia Sun of Latin Music' (1974) and 'The Truth: La Verdad' (1987). Palmieri is the recipient of 10 Grammy Awards, the National Endowment of the Arts' Jazz Master Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, among other accolades. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lincoln Feast.) Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Study attributes 440 'excess deaths' to January's Los Angeles wildfires
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Wildfires that devastated parts of the Los Angeles area in January indirectly led to hundreds of deaths in the ensuing weeks, far exceeding the official toll of 31 fatalities, according to a study released on Wednesday. The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, estimated 440 "excess deaths" were attributable to the fires from January 5 to February 1, using models that compared predicted mortality under normal circumstances to actual numbers documented during that period. The additional deaths likely reflect a mix of factors, including increased exposure of people with heart and lung disease to poor air quality from smoke and toxins released by the fires, as well as healthcare delays and disruptions, the study said. The findings "underscore the need to complement direct fatalities estimates with alternative methods to quantify the additional mortality burden of wildfires and of climate-related emergencies more broadly," the researchers wrote. Two wind-driven wildfires that erupted during the first week of January on opposite sides of Los Angeles damaged or destroyed nearly 16,000 structures combined - laying waste to much of the seaside district of Pacific Palisades and the foothill community of Altadena. Together, the blazes scorched 59 square miles (152 sq km), an area larger than Paris. The official tally of people who perished as a direct result of the fires stands at 31, after the most recent set of human remains were unearthed in Altadena in July, six months after the fires. Governor Gavin Newsom in February requested nearly $40 billion in wildfire aid from Congress. Some estimates put economic losses from the fires at more than $250 billion, making the conflagration one of the most costly natural disasters in U.S. history. The JAMA study acknowledged some limitations, saying the data may need to be revised upward in the future and the research did not reflect any fire-attributable deaths beyond Feb. 1.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Texas flood death toll rises to 131 as new storms loom
By Steve Gorman (Reuters) -The official tally of storm-related deaths across Texas rose to 131 on Monday as authorities warned of yet another round of heavy rains 10 days after a Hill Country flash flood that transformed the Guadalupe River into a killer torrent. A National Weather Service flood watch forecasting heavy downpours of up to half a foot of rain was posted until Tuesday morning for a wide swath of central Texas extending from the Rio Grande east to San Antonio and Austin. The advisory included Kerr County and other parts of Texas Hill Country along the Guadalupe still recovering from the July 4 flood disaster, which ravaged the county seat of Kerrville and a riverside Christian summer camp for girls in the nearby town of Hunt. Riverfront residents as well as search teams still combing the banks of the waterway were advised to seek higher ground until the latest danger had passed. The search for additional victims along the Guadalupe was likewise suspended due to flood concerns on Sunday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday said storms had claimed at least 131 lives in Texas since July 4, the bulk of those deaths in and around Kerrville, up from 120 reported on Friday. He said 97 people were still listed as missing in the greater Kerrville area, down from the 160-plus who authorities said were unaccounted for last week. About a third of the Kerr County fatalities are children, most of whom perished at Camp Mystic when floodwaters raged through the girls-only summer retreat before dawn on July 4. Authorities have not rescued anyone alive since the day of the floods, when more than a foot of rain fell in less than an hour in the heart of a region known as "flash flood alley," sending a deadly wall of water down the Guadalupe River basin. Abbott said state lawmakers would investigate the circumstances of the flooding, disaster preparedness and emergency response to the flooding at a special legislative session set to convene later this month. The high casualty toll, ranking as one of the deadliest U.S. flood events in decades, has raised questions about the lack of flash-flood warning sirens in Kerr County and vacancies left at National Weather Service offices amid staffing cuts under the Trump administration.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Waldameer's Steel Dragon roller coaster is not running. When will it open this summer?
The Steel Dragon, a Waldameer Park & Water World roller coaster, turns 21 in July. Before park officials can celebrate the compact steel spinning roller coaster's milestone birthday, they'll have to await control panel updates. Steve Gorman, president of Waldameer and Water World, said the updates are taking longer than expected, which is why the ride has been idle to start the 2025 season. "Unfortunately, we thought we'd be on time for completion for early May, but we were really surprised that it was delayed," Gorman said. Gorman said that officials at Waldameer are just as surprised as the general public that updates are taking longer than expected. Roller coaster mechanics: The people who help keep Waldameer rides open "We agreed to do that in September and now it's been seven or eight months...," Gorman said. "They're just really far behind with electrical parts in the country with supply chain issues. Control panels are delayed a lot around the country." Gorman says the entire control panel, including electrical components and the cabinet that houses the software for the Steel Dragon are being repaired. "We decided that the control system for it was getting old and we wanted to update it," Gorman said. "Instead of using the German company for the controls, which we had issues with getting parts, we went with an American company to updates all of the controls on the Steel Dragon." Waldameer officials are hopeful that the steel roller coaster will be back up and operating soon. "We're supposed to have an update by Thursday (June 5)," Gorman said. "So we expect to have the ride open in about two weeks or so. Definitely by July 4; they said we should be good." The Steel Dragon debuted at the park 21 years ago on July 4. Contact Nicholas Sorensen at nsorensen@ This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Steel Dragon gets software updates, delaying ride's 2025 opening
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk aiming to send uncrewed Starship to Mars by end of 2026
By Steve Gorman and Joey Roulette LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Two days after the latest in a string of test-flight setbacks for his big new Mars spacecraft, Starship, Elon Musk said on Thursday he foresees the futuristic vehicle making its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of next year. Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company, SpaceX, a day after saying he was departing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as head of a tumultuous campaign to slash government bureaucracy. The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla Inc. Musk acknowledged that his latest timeline for reaching Mars hinged on whether Starship can accomplish a number of challenging technical feats during its flight-test development, particularly a post-launch refueling maneuver in Earth orbit. The end of 2026 would coincide with a slim window that occurs once every two years when Mars and Earth align around the sun for the closest trip between the two planets, which would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft. Musk gave his company a 50-50 chance of meeting that deadline. If Starship were not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again, Musk suggested in the video. The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of one or more robots of the Tesla-built humanoid Optimus design, with the first human crews following in the second or third landings. Musk said he envisioned eventually launching 1,000 to 2,000 ships to Mars every two years to quickly establish a self-sustaining permanent human settlement. NASA is currently aiming to return humans to the surface of the moon aboard Starship as early as 2027 - more than 50 years after its last manned lunar landings of the Apollo era - as a stepping stone toward ultimately launching astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s. Musk, who has advocated for a more Mars-focused human spaceflight program, has previously said he was aiming to send an unmanned SpaceX vehicle to the red planet as early as 2018 and was targeting 2024 to launch a first crewed mission there. The SpaceX founder was scheduled to deliver a livestream presentation billed as "The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary" from the company's Starbase, Texas, launch site on Tuesday night, following a ninth test flight of Starship that evening. But the webcast was canceled without notice after Starship spun out of control and disintegrated in a fireball about 30 minutes after launch and roughly halfway through its flight path without achieving some of its most important test goals. Two preceding test flights in January and March failed in more spectacular fashion, with the spacecraft blowing to pieces on ascent moments after liftoff, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and forcing scores of commercial jetliners to change course as a precaution. Musk shrugged off the latest mishap on Tuesday with a brief post on X, saying it produced a lot of "good data to review" and promising a faster launch "cadence" for the next several test flights.
