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Prepaid gas, CTA cards will be available to some Chicagoans pending City Council approval WGN TV ChicagoNew Simulator to Accelerate the Learning Curve in Cleft Reconstructive Surgical Training & Ultimately Further Care for Cleft-Affected Children
FORT WORTH, Texas, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Simulare Medical, a Division of Smile Train, Inc., has launched the newest innovation in its growing line of high-fidelity cleft surgical simulators, the first and only Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Simulator (patent-pending). To celebrate the launch, training workshops are being held today at the 79th Annual Meeting of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) in Fort Worth, Texas and in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao in the Philippines in partnership with the Philippines Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (PAPRAS).
Developed by leading plastic surgeons to help accelerate the learning curve in cleft lip and palate reconstructive surgical training, the Simulare Medical Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Simulator is an anatomically accurate, lifelike, and invaluable training tool that will reduce patient risk, decrease training costs, and elevate the skills and confidence of surgeons globally.
Smile Train is the world's largest cleft-focused organization. For more than 20 years, Smile Train has supported safe and quality cleft care for 1.5 million+ children globally.
"This latest innovation advances our vision of providing care for every cleft-affected person and demonstrates our commitment to leveraging technology to further education and change lives," said Susannah Schaefer, President and Chief Executive Officer at Smile Train. "We're deeply invested in continuing to evolve training that creates more sustainable health systems. We look forward to seeing this Simulator have a positive impact on cleft surgeons at the beginning of their career and longtime professionals looking to refine their skills as well as on our beneficiaries — regardless of the type of cleft they have."
Though children around the world suffer from both unilateral and bilateral clefts, traditional cleft lip/palate simulators have only addressed unilateral clefts. This Simulator goes beyond that, introducing a tool that can address bilateral clefts (i.e., involving both sides of the mouth). This additional functionality opens the doors for surgeons and trainees to be able to treat more children with refined techniques.
Built with 3D technology, the Simulator uses printed materials to resemble the anatomy and different kinds of tissue, such as skin, muscle, and fat, found inside the mouth to create one of the most realistic models available today. In addition to the advanced technology, the musculature and soft-tissue layers were developed from literature descriptions and consultations with expert cleft surgeons. When local surgeons have access to the most advanced tools, it builds their capacity to provide the best care possible and empowers them to perform surgery safely no matter where they are in the world.
"Surgeons in low- and middle-income countries often face significant barriers to ongoing training. This simulator is more than just a revolution in training technology," said Dr. Roberto L. Flores, the Joseph G. McCarthy Associate Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Director of Cleft Lip and Palate at NYU Langone Health, and Member of Smile Train's Global Medical Advisory Board. "It's a way to advance equity, ensuring that a talented surgeon in Malawi has the same training opportunities as a surgeon in Dallas, and that babies born with a unilateral or bilateral cleft lip/palate have access to the same standard of care no matter where they live."
With Simulare Medical handmaking its Simulators at its facilities in Canada, the division can ensure that each product is high-quality and will have an even greater impact on the patients who benefit from it. In international studies and training workshops, Simulare Medical surgical simulators are consistently recognized as a high-impact, hands-on, and low-cost way to develop and enhance surgical skills with no risk to patients.
Read more about access to safe, high-quality surgical training at smiletrain.org/simulare. To learn more about Smile Train's global efforts, please visit smiletrain.org. Follow @SmileTrain on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram for updates on Simulare technology and training.
About Smile Train
Smile Train empowers local medical professionals with training, funding, and resources to provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children globally. We advance a sustainable solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, drastically improving children's lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, speak, and ultimately thrive. To learn more about how Smile Train's sustainable approach means donations have both an immediate and long-term impact, please visit smiletrain.org.
For press inquiries, please contact: smiletrain@allisonpr.com
To learn more, contact us:
Toll free: 1 888-892-9477 ext. 5 or simularesales@smiletrain.org
Simulare Medical, A Division of Smile Train, Inc.
Toronto, ON Canada
smiletrain.org/simulare
©Copyright 2022. Smile Train, Inc.
All rights reserved.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/simulare-medical-a-division-of-smile-train-announces-patent-pending-bilateral-cleft-lip-and-palate-simulator-301513886.html
SOURCE Smile Train
Chicago police said the 33-year-old man was apprehended on Midway property near runway 31 about 4:45 p.m.
Investigators said he was seen walking on the runway, then later took off his clothes and climbed onto a wing of a private jet. He was arrested after about 15 minutes.
RELATED: As US travel restrictions ease, Mayor Lightfoot touts new features at Chicago airports
Witnesses said he appeared to be intoxicated. Police said he was transported to MacNeal Hospital for minor injuries and a mental health evaluation.
This is the second time someone was able to gain access to a restricted area from the outside in 6 months according to Chicago police. The other happened at 57th and Cicero in September 2021.
"You look for trends. If this happens once or twice or three times and then you think there might be an area of security you might want to bolster up," said Professor Robert Eric Jones, Lewis University College of Aviation, Science and Technology Associate Dean.
"Fifteen minutes for an active individual on the tarmac is not tremendously long. Rarely will they get out there last the tarmac," Jones said.
University of Illinois risk assessment specialist Professor Sheldon Jacobson said this shows improvements to security are needed.
"Airport security is a system of layers and each layer has potential points which can be breached," he said. "That bad intent was neutralized through one of the layers."
Charges are currently pending. Area One detectives are investigating the incident.
Copyright © 2022 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals owner John Sherman was trying to relax in the warm spring training sun in Arizona, but fans kept coming up to him with the same question that had nothing to do with collective-bargaining agreements or lockouts.
“When’s he going to come up?” Sherman recalled with a smile.
That would be Bobby Witt Jr., the No. 1 prospect in baseball, and the best to come through the organization in years.
“I always say, ‘That’s above my pay grade.’ Someone else makes that decision,” Sherman said. “But as a fan, I’m ready to see him. I think there’s some anticipation that that day may be fairly soon, but we’ll see.”
Witt has been raking throughout spring training, seemingly making it impossible for the Royals to keep him in the minors. And should Witt join the club, it will represent a unique convergence of past, present and future taking the field inside Kauffman Stadium.
Witt represents the future, along with young pitchers such as Brady Singer and Kris Bubic who started to take their lumps the past couple seasons. The present has been represented by catcher Salvador Perez and outfielder Whit Merrifield, a pair of veterans in a clubhouse that has continued to trend younger and younger in recent years.
And the past? That would be Zack Greinke, the former Cy Young winner, whose trade to Milwaukee more than a decade ago allowed the Royals to piece together back-to-back World Series teams even as he chased riches elsewhere.
In one of the surprising moves of the offseason, Greinke agreed to a deal to return to Kansas City, hoping to keep his career going where it all began while simultaneously lending his experience to an otherwise youthful starting rotation.
“I’m hoping to have a lot of fun this year,” said the 38-year-old Greinke, who made his big league debut for Kansas City in 2004, when Witt was 3 years old. “This is a team I singled out that I wanted to play for. It was my No. 1 choice.”
The Royals were happy to hear it, and even happier to hear his willingness to help Singer and Co.
“It was one of the things he talked about right away when we had conversations,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He believes he has something to bring to these guys. He knows it. People are going to be watching everything he does.”
Just like people are going to be watching everything Witt does on the opposite end of the age spectrum.
“The X-factor for him might be his passion for the game,” Matheny said of Witt, who hit .290 with 33 homers and 97 RBIs at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. ”This kid loves walking in here and throwing on that jersey.”
Especially when it says “Royals” across the chest. Kansas City opens the season at home April 7 against the Cleveland Guardians.
ENJOY THE K
The biggest offseason news in Kansas City might have been Sherman’s admission that the club was considering the future of Kauffman Stadium, and whether a downtown ballpark might be in the cards. The club has toyed with the idea in the past but has always opted to remain at the K.
DON’T DOZE ON DOZIER
Hunter Dozier’s first season after signing a lucrative four-year deal was a downer in just about every respect. He hit just .216 with 16 homers and 54 RBIs, becoming a liability in the middle of a lineup that needed some production. But after he simplified his swing during the offseason, Dozier believes he’s ready for a bounce-back year.
“I worked really hard this offseason trying to get back to what I know I can do,” Dozier said.
HEALTH CHECK
Adalberto Mondesi has proven to be one of the game’s dynamic players when he’s healthy, leading the league with 24 stolen bases during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. But Mondesi has only played more than 100 games once in six seasons, and he hit just .230 with six homers and 15 steals while limited to 35 games by injuries last season.
“I changed a lot of things,” Mondesi said of his offseason, which included working with a different trainer in an attempt to stay healthy. “Just focused on the things I need to focus on and I feel good right now and see what’s going to happen.”
NEW LOOK
Greinke is the biggest addition this season, but the Royals also brought in left-hander Amir Garrett from Cincinnati in a trade for Mike Minor. They hope he can return to his 2020 form after a down season and provide help in the bullpen.
ROOKIES TO WATCH
MJ Melendez is perhaps the second-most tantalizing prospect in the Royals system behind Witt, especially after leading the minors last season with 41 homers. But with Perez firmly entrenched behind the plate, Melendez has been tinkering with playing other positions in the hopes of finding his way onto the field at some point this season.
“He’s absolutely come a long way with his swing,” Matheny said. “He’s dangerous.”
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Last year, home values held steady at inflated levels as low mortgage rates drove buyers to continue purchasing properties. But this year, mortgage rates look very different.
As of this writing, the average 30-year loan interest rate is sitting at almost 4.8%. That means we're no longer in an age of affordable borrowing, and at this point, it would be a stretch to call today's rates competitive.
The hope among everyday buyers and real estate investors alike is that rising mortgage rates will at least cause a drop in buyer demand. If that happens, home prices could start to fall in the course of 2022, making houses more affordable.
Image source: Getty Images.
Real estate investors who don't need to finance their home purchases might especially benefit from this scenario. And while we shouldn't expect a full-fledged housing market crash, recent data indicates that the age of lower home prices may soon be upon us.
In February, pending homes sales fell 4.1% compared to January, according to the National Association of Realtors. That's the fourth month in a row of lower numbers.
Pending home sales are a measure of signed contracts on existing homes. And they're a strong indication of where the housing market is headed. When pending home sales start to decline, it's an indication that buyer demand is beginning to wane. And at a time when residential real estate inventory is extremely limited, that's a good thing -- for buyers at least.
As tricky and frustrating as last year's housing market was for everyday buyers, right now, they're in an even tougher spot. Home values remain elevated, but mortgage rates are no longer low enough to compensate for these higher prices. But if prices start to come down, that changes an otherwise bleak picture.
In fact, if buyer demand really plunges this year, those looking to purchase a home could regain the edge they've been missing since mid-2020. That's when mortgage rates started dropping to historic lows.
Today's sky-high home prices aren't sustainable -- especially at a time when mortgage rates are no longer as competitive as they were last year. This doesn't mean that sellers have to fear a housing market crash. But it does mean that those looking to list their homes may want to do so sooner rather than later.
If mortgage rates continue to rise (a likely possibility due to plans on the part of the Federal Reserve to implement additional rate hikes), buyer pullback is likely to increase. Sellers who manage to put their homes on the market this spring might still manage to get in at a time when demand is strong enough to command a more attractive sale price.
But to be clear, the longer sellers wait to list their homes, the less they stand to profit. Pending home sales have already been trending in a downward direction. If that continues, buyers could end up with a lot more bargaining power by the time 2022 comes to an end.
Charges were pending against a man who was accused of jumping a barbed wire fence and climbing onto the wing of a private jet Tuesday afternoon at Midway Airport.
The man, 33, seemed to be intoxicated when he climbed over the fence around the 5300 block of West 55th Street about 4:30 p.m., according to Chicago police.
He was being watched as he walked on the runway before taking off his clothes and climbing onto the jet, police said.
He was taken to McNeal Hospital with minor injuries and was being evaluated, officials said.
The Chicago Department of Aviation did not comment on the incident.
Area One detectives were investigating.
On the eve of sending out 2022 preliminary property assessments to property owners, the Comal Appraisal District has placed its chief appraiser on paid administrative leave pending results of an internal investigation.
Rufino Lozano confirmed he was notified of the move following the CAD board meeting on Tuesday, March 22. He would not comment on his situation or investigations that the district’s board chair John Tyler said centered on workplace allegations.
“On Tuesday evening, for the benefit of all involved, the board voted to place Mr. Lozano on paid administrative leave pending reports from the final investigation,” Tyler said, not offering specifics.
The CAD assesses and certifies values of taxable properties for 34 taxing jurisdictions, and is finalizing figures for residential and commercial properties assessed as of Jan. 1, 2022. They are projected to be the largest single-year increases in market and taxable values since the CAD was formed in 1980.
CAD Chief Appraiser Rufino Lozano
The 2021 certified overall values in the district saw average assessments increase by between 12% and 14%. The 2022 values well surpass that — not only indicating double-digit gains for the fourth consecutive year, most entities will see increases nearing 40%.
Preliminary assessments yet to be released by the CAD indicate Comal County’s 2022 taxable values rose by 34.01% — from $24.338 billion to $32.616 billion, and market values rising 46.83%, from $33.492 billion to $49.178 billion.. It’s the same for the city of New Braunfels and both local school districts — surpassing 30% and nearing 40% in both categories.
The CAD has an annual budget of around $4.1 million. Its six-member board, which includes the county’s tax assessor-collector as a non-voting member, has authority over the chief appraiser, who has authority over staffing that annually averages between 24 and 28 employees, but currently has 35.
Last year, Lozano said between five and seven staffers resigned due to COVID-19 and other issues, but none of a personal nature.
Staffers usually process appeals from taxpayers, and usually solve most cases that don’t advance to hearings before the CAD’s Appeals Review Board. Last year Lozano denied accusations he prohibited staffers from conducting those hearings, called mediation sessions, which one former member estimated solved between 80% and 90% of protests filed.
Tyler said the current investigation has staged interviews with current and former staffers, both by the CAD’s human resources department and a third-party outside investigator. He confirmed they involved workplace-related complaints of a “sensitive” nature.
“Basically, a series of ongoing investigations have taken place over the last few months,” Tyler said, adding he expected results from all probes within a few weeks. He said he’s not sure whether it topic will be addressed during the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, April 5.
In the meantime, Lozano’s duties are being performed by Chris Kudrna, CAD director of operations, who said 2022 property assessments are being finalized and will be mailed or emailed to property owners by mid-April.
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Pending notice: Lawrence J. Charnecki, 94 - Austin Daily Herald Austin Herald
The six civic associations active in the Town of Riverhead are asking the town board to enact a moratorium pending completion of the long-delayed comprehensive plan update, citing the number and scope of new development applications being filed while planning continues.
Presidents of the six civic groups signed a letter delivered to the town board and filed with the town clerk on March 7, asking for a measure “temporarily halting all retail, industrial, commercial, and multi-residential housing in the entire footprint of Riverhead until the Comprehensive Plan is completed.”
Impacts of all the new proposed development in the town should be assessed as a whole, “on a cumulative basis,” and “not piecemeal,” the letter states, specifically citing “multiple industrial projects in the application stages.” The letter also cites the various multifamily housing developments currently in the pipeline — at the application stage, in review and under construction.
Since the town board voted in late 2019 to hire AKRF to complete a comprehensive plan update, the board has approved two multistory, multifamily housing developments downtown, providing a total of 73 new rental apartments. New applications have been filed or finalized for 202 rental apartments in three other multistory mixed-use buildings. Other pending applications in the pipeline that predate the hiring of AKRF would provide a total of 198 additional new rental units.
In addition, the town board has moved forward with the acquisition of three buildings on East Main Street and the demolition of two of them for the development of a town square, which may include a future retail and residential component.
The town board has also created an overlay district in the Railroad Avenue area to allow more uses and denser development as incentives for revitalization of the long-blighted area. A master developer for a transit-oriented development project could build up to 200 new rental apartments near the train station.
There are several major industrial projects also in various stages of application and review, including an industrial subdivision on 138 acres next to Splish Splash, a 412,000-square foot warehouse and manufacturing proposal on Route 25 in Calverton, and a 600,000-square-foot logistics center planned for a site on Middle Road near Manor Road in Calverton.
The civic groups also argue that whatever is going to be done at EPCAL, which still remains unknown, should be part of the comprehensive plan and not treated as an individual project.
Work on the town’s transfer of development rights program, which has languished due to a lack of receiving areas and lack of incentive to use the program, should be completed in conjunction with the comprehensive plan, the civic leaders said.
The town adopted a moratorium while the 2003 comprehensive plan was being written. It also adopted a moratorium on new commercial solar facilities in October 2021. The civic leaders’ letter quotes the solar moratorium language, which states a moratorium would “give the Town of Riverhead the time to consider the adoption of the zoning and planning changes necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, as well as the landscape and agricultural heritage of the Town of Riverhead.”
Some of the letter’s signatories attended the town board’s special meeting on March 24 to ask board members for a response to their March 7 letter.
They found no takers among board members on their moratorium request.
“It serves no purpose at this point in time,” Councilman Tim Hubbard said. “We’re in the middle of a comprehensive plan. And things that are deemed, as they are now, such as Industrial A and Industrial C, if those need to be changed, they will be done through the comprehensive plan,” he said. “I would entertain if you have specifics that you want to talk about such as solar — we did put a moratorium on solar, but to put a blanket moratorium, I don’t think that’s a wise decision,” Hubbard said.
“If anybody that has purchased land or has permits in and you want a moratorium on it, the amount of lawsuits that that would generate to the taxpayers would — and the time it would hold up, you know, people have land rights, as you do,” Councilman Bob Kern said. “I don’t know how many permits are in. And we’re just going to stop that process? From a legal perspective, I think it leaves the town open to insurmountable amounts of lawsuits,” Kern said.
“I believe that, you know, commercial landowners are taxpayers too,” Councilman Ken Rothwell said. “And they have a right to develop their land. And it’s not our job to prevent them from developing the land. It’s to make sure that things are done accordingly. And that’s what the comprehensive plan does, it guides us in the future,” Rothwell said. He said “it’s improper”for the town to stop projects that are permitted “under the current town rules and regulations and zoning laws,” he said.
“We cannot just randomly stop progress in Riverhead, immediately shut everything down,” Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said. “There is a process. It is a comprehensive process. We’re in the middle of doing it,” Aguiar said.
“Right now, what takes precedence is the old comprehensive plan. And as long as any development is within those guidelines, we have a fiduciary responsibility to avoid — to ensure that we don’t go outside of our responsibility just for development purposes,” she said.
“People purchase land, they have a right. When they purchased it, they researched it. They knew what it was zoned for. They knew what they had, whether it’s residential, commercial, they knew that they had a vision on it. And we can’t randomly say, ‘Oh, we’re starting a plan that might take a year. And you can’t do anything with that,’” she said.
Wading River Civic Association President Sid Bail reminded the board that the town imposed temporary moratoriums for both the 2003 comprehensive plan and the 1987 Wading River corridor study before that. Both were successful, he said.
Barbara Blass of Jamesport, who was a town board member when the comprehensive plan was completed and adopted in 2003 and before that was chairperson of the planning board, which shepherded the preparation of the 2003 plan, backed up what Bail said. In fact, Blass said, the moratorium adopted at the time was extended to allow for completion of the plan.
Blass told the board that the filing of an application does not make a property owner’s rights “vested” under the existing zoning. “If you are not currently vested in the zone that you’re in, the law says that that zoning can be changed,” Blass said. She noted that the town’s adopted zoning pursuant to the 2003 comprehensive plan, was in fact challenged by a landowner, but the town prevailed.
When running for supervisor in 2019, Aguiar opposed the comprehensive plan, an initiative of the previous incumbent, Laura Jens-Smith. Aguiar said then a comprehensive plan would take too long and cost too much.
The town board in October 2019 awarded a $675,000 contract to planning consultants AKRF. The project timeline called for an 18-month completion. The contract was not finalized before Jens-Smith left office and Aguiar signed the agreement in January 2020.
But the entire planning process was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The planning consultants held a delayed kickoff meeting with the town board in September 2020.
Public outreach, including online surveys and community meetings, initially scheduled to begin five months after the kickoff, according to the schedule attached to the original contract, did not begin until August 2021, when the town and consultants launched an interactive website for the comprehensive plan. Community meetings began in September 2021.
The town board, meanwhile approved a contract amendment that added some features, such as the website and a social pinpoint map, and removed the preparation of an official map, which was part of the original contract. The consultants’ fee was unchanged. The amendment also included a new project completion timeline, which called for the comprehensive plan and final generic environmental impact statement to be completed by August 2022.
Last month, the town’s chief planner and the planning consultant told the town board the anticipated completion date for the comprehensive plan is now spring of 2023.
Bail said it would be “extremely useful” if the planning department would put together a list of projects that had applications pending now, as he said was done in 2003.
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HOUSTON – The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents workers at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 Houston Laboratory, are calling on administrator Michael Regan to rethink plans to move the lab to Ada, Oklahoma.
In a March 15 letter to Regan, AFGE called it a “step backward” in his commitment to serve environmental justice communities in the Gulf Coast area.
Regan visited Houston in November 2021 as part of his “Journey to Justice” campaign tour.
The Region 6 Houston lab covers Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. It conducts air, water and soil testing when natural or manmade environmental disasters strike. The samples are often used in determining enforcement actions against companies.
In a 2020 report by the EPA, the agency said “co-locating” the Houston facility to an existing EPA branch in Oklahoma would save $1.8 million annually in lease and facility expenses.
AFGE says the employees at the Houston lab have indicated they will retire or leave the agency, rather than move to Oklahoma.
“Decades worth, of knowledge and on-the-job experience, essentially, all completely lost,” said Justin Chen, president of AFGE Local 1003, which represents the Houston lab workers.
Consumer advocacy groups say the cost-cutting move will come at a cost to public health, worried that petrochemical companies, along the Gulf Coast, will not be as closely monitored, and the response to catastrophes will be slowed.
“I don’t think it’s a good reason and I don’t think it’s a credible argument. The public health cost of pollution along the Gulf Coast runs into the billions. I don’t think the argument that the EPA can save $1.8 million dollars a year bears any relationship to the cost of moving this lab out of the area where it belongs,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen.
AFGE says it hopes to meet with Administrator Regan soon.
KPRC 2 News reached out to the EPA for comment but did not receive a response.
According to the latest Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pending home sales slipped 4.1% month-over-month in February, marking the fourth consecutive months of transaction decreases. Year-over-year, pending home sales dropped 5.4% in February.
"Pending transactions diminished in February mainly due to the low number of homes for sale," said Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist. "Buyer demand is still intense, but it's as simple as ‘one cannot buy what is not for sale.'"
A combination of rising prices and limited demand played a role in pending sales, as Redfin recently reported median home sale prices were up 17% year-over-year to a record high of $379,230 the four-week period ending March 20, the biggest increase since the four weeks ending Aug. 1, 2021. Prices were up 6% from just four weeks prior.
In terms of inventory, Zillow’s latest report on the nation’s housing supply found that a near record low inventory of 870,000 units was recorded in February nationwide, a 1.7 month’s supply.
“The persistent and historic lack of supply and growing affordability challenges are holding back sales,” said First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi. “Inventory turnover, the supply of homes for sale nationwide as a percentage of occupied residential inventory was at a historic low in February. You can't buy what's not for sale, even if you can afford it.”
Nationwide, contract signings were down across all regions month-over-month, except for the Northeastern U.S. where NAR’s PHSI rose 1.9% to 85.0 in February, a 9.2% drop from one year ago. In the Midwest, the PHSI decreased 6% to 99.7 last month, down 5.2% from February 2021. Pending home sales transactions in the South declined 4.4% to a PHSI reading of 127.2 in February, down 4.3% from February 2021. The PHSI in the West slid 5.4% in February to 90.0, down 5.3% from one year ago.
Another consideration in the drop in pending sales is the anticipated recent spike in mortgage rates, as last week’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) from Freddie Mac found that fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) rose to 4.42% for the week ending March 24, 2022, up from last week when it averaged 4.16%. Ignited by the Fed raising the nominal interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.25-0.50%, the rise in rates is creating further affordability issues for many in the mortgage marketplace.
"The surge in home prices combined with rising mortgage rates can easily translate to another $200 to $300 in mortgage payments per month, which is a major strain for many families already on tight budgets," said Yun.
Yun forecasts mortgage rates to be about 4.5% to 5% for the remainder of the year, and expects about a 7% reduction in home sales in 2022 compared to 2021.
“For buyers looking for a home, the higher price came at the same time as speeding inflation not only took more out of each paycheck, but also pushed mortgage rates higher,” said George Ratiu, Manager of Economic Research for Realtor.com. “The net effect, especially for first-time buyers, was a shrinking of their budgets, which only served to narrow available options. As we move into the spring season, markets remain clearly tilted in sellers’ favor. However, with mortgage rates moving toward 5.0%, we are seeing early signs of a shift in housing fundamentals, as many people looking for a home have hit a ceiling on their ability to afford a home.”
NAR noted that higher mortgage rates and sustained price appreciation has led to a year-over-year increase of 28% in mortgage payments.
"Home prices themselves are still on solid ground," Yun added. "They may rise around 5% by year's end, and we should see much softer gains in the second half of the year."
By HEATHER GANN and MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – About two weeks remain in lawmakers’ annual spring legislative session and several high-profile bills, including the state’s 2023 budgets and several potential policy changes regarding education, await votes.
Here is some of the legislation that will get attention in the remaining seven possible legislative days.
Budgets
Both the record-setting $8.1 billion education budget and the $2.7 billion General Fund budget await final passage, though the 2023 spending plans are ahead of where they often are at this point in the session.
The House-passed education budget is expected to be in Senate committee this week, chairman Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, told Alabama Daily News. A few changes are expected, including to teachers’ salary structures.
Currently, pay increases are built into teachers salaries every three years. In an effort to attract and retrain educators, Orr said that needs to be more frequent.
According to a dashboard created by the Southern Regional Education Board, Alabama’s average starting salary is higher than any of its surrounding states. But as teachers stay in their careers, the salaries get less competitive.
“I’m a firm believer that you get what you pay for,” Orr told Alabama Daily News.
There are no step raises after 27 years and unless they get a Legislature-approved cost of living increase, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree is capped at 54,981. That means a teacher who starts at age 22 doesn’t get a guaranteed raise after age 49.
“If we’re trying to retain teachers and we have a problem with recruitment, it seems to me that we would remove that cap,” said Orr.
Meanwhile, the General Fund budget has been sent to a conference committee to work out differences between the Senate-passed $2.66 billion version and the House-passed $2.7 billion version. Lawmakers in the two chambers have been in agreement about most provisions throughout the budgeting process.
Competing gambling bills
There are two very different gambling bills in the Senate and House, both of which are at least three more votes from final passage. That either gets approved is a long shot, but both bills will take up some time and energy this week.
Both the House and Senate GOP caucuses will meet to discuss the proposals Tuesday morning, but Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, said Friday he’s “doubtful” anything passes this session.
“I’m not pulling the plug and I’m not giving up, but the handwriting seems to be on the wall,” Albritton told Alabama Daily News.
Albritton has an expansive proposal to authorize a state lottery, sports betting, eight full casinos with slots and table games and two smaller gambling sites that could have up to 300 slot machines each.
In the House, Rep. Chip Brown’s proposed constitutional amendment is a lottery alone. On Thursday, he said he was confident he could get the bill approved in the House and hoped it would happen this week.
“It’s time the people of Alabama had an opportunity to vote on this,” Brown, R-Hollingers Island, said.
In a recent Alabama Daily News and Gray Television poll, 43.5% of Republican voters said the state should legalize and tax a lottery, sports betting and casinos, while 20.5% said the state should pursue only a lottery and 25.7% said they are against expanding any form of gambling.
Literacy Act delay
Senate Bill 200, sponsored by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, would postpone until the 2023-2024 school year implementation of the requirement that third graders who aren’t proficient in reading be held back from moving on to fourth grade. This was amended from Smitherman’s original suggestion of postponing until the 2024-2025 school year, and a similar bill, House Bill 220, was previously sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur but was eventually amended to remove the postponement request.
Smitherman argued during the legislative session that the delay needs to be enacted due to students missing out on parts of their education during COVID-19. The bill has been approved by the Senate and has received favorable review from the House Education Policy Committee and awaits a full House vote.
Charter school funding
Senate Bill 302, sponsored by Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, would allow county level tax revenue to go to charter schools which are public schools that are granted more autonomy to operate outside the traditional rules of public schools. The eight charter schools that Alabama currently recognizes receive federal and state funding, but not local funding.
“In a nutshell, what this bill says is that as a student goes to a public charter school, those county dollars go with that student,” Marsh said on the Senate floor earlier this month.
Marsh’s bill has been approved in the Senate and now moves to the House where Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, is sponsoring it.
Numeracy
Senate Bill 171, also known as the Numeracy Act, is an attempt to improve students’ math education and performance in grades K-5.
The bill creates an Office of Mathematics Improvement within the Alabama State Department of Education with a director appointed by the state superintendent. It also:
Requires all K-5 teachers to dedicate 60 minutes per day to math instruction for a total of 164 hours per academic year;
Provides regular math screenings for K-5 students;
Provide “intensive mathematics interventions” to students identified with math deficiencies;
Requires that, subject to state funding, each K-5 school assign one math coach for every 500 students;
Mandates that university education programs teach the same approved math curriculum to new teachers before they enter the classroom.
A substitute version of the bill is expected to be voted on in the House on Tuesday and then will return to the Senate for agreement.
‘Divisive concepts’
A bill recently approved in the House would prohibit Alabama schools and agencies from promoting or advancing certain concepts regarding race, sex, or religion in teaching or training.
House Bill B312, sponsored by Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, has also been referred to as the “divisive concepts” bill and has been a subject of controversy both online and on the floor with several democratic lawmakers questioning whether the law is constitutional and saying that it is a law aimed to ban Critical Race Theory teachings.
The banned concepts would include that the United States is “inherently racist or sexist” and that anyone should be asked to accept “a sense of guilt” or a need to work harder because of their race or gender, the Associated Press previously reported.
The bill now moves to the Senate.
Kraft Heinz says it will announce “a substantial virgin plastic reduction commitment” no later than Q12023. It’s an ambition the corporation contends it’s been working on for two years.
This “announcement” of the “pending announcement” follows an agreement with As You Sow to set a new goal to reduce plastic packaging. The agreement comes after shareholders came to the nonprofit advocacy with concerns the food and beverage giant was not taking sufficient action to reduce plastic packaging.
Kraft Heinz Jonah Smith, global lead Environmental Social Governance, and Linda Roman, associate director R&D, discussed with Waste360 work in progress, key accomplishments to date, challenges, and how they deal with them.
The corporation aims to make 100% of its packaging reusable, recyclable, and or compostable by 2025 as well as increase recycled content. That’s a tall goal, especially considering, with just over three years to go, it’s 83% there.
“The commitment is ambitious and technically challenging and will take the collaboration and partnerships of several organizations throughout our value chain. We continue to make progress and aggressively work towards this goal utilizing a variety of mechanisms, from take-back and reuse packaging pilots, to new innovative packaging solutions on materials and design,” Smith says.
Dealing with multimaterial plastics is among large focuses now.
“Making these materials more compostable or recyclable is challenging as it’s hard to replace current materials with what will perform as well,” Roman says, adding that the team has worked with the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) to try and ensure future material designs meet processors’ requirements.
Kraft Heinz is turning attention specifically to flexible packaging, sponsoring Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF) who has piloted plans to do curbside collection, sorting, and processing of materials, and to create end markets for them.
Some output from that project was turned into roofing boards of 94% recycled plastic and fiber and installed in three of the corporation’s manufacturing facilities. Kraft Heinz will continue exploring ways to scale these pilots with proof of concept.
“A lot of CPG companies have flexible packaging as part of their portfolio. If we can show through the pilot with MRFF that you can collect these materials, get consumers to sort, and get curbside recycling collection services to pick up and put them into roofing board that does what it’s supposed to, material that would have gone to landfills now has a second life,” Smith says.
As far as sustainability efforts within its own wheelhouse (packaging as opposed to roofing), it works with TerraCycle’s Loop on a takeback program, offering customers a reusable ketchup bottle, with the idea being to cut down on waste from the 650 million Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles sold globally a year. Consumers return them to the store for bottles that are cleaned, sanitized, and refilled. The program, which began in the UK, launched in Canada this past year and the corporation is assessing how it might scale the model.
Among other brand-specific initiatives, Maxwell House compostable coffee pods launched in Canada. And a 100% recyclable, fiber-based version of microwavable Kraft Macaroni & and Cheese cups is currently being tested. Kraft Heinz estimates the recyclable cups will result in a 10-million-pound reduction of plastic a year.
Making headway toward its commitments is only doable through partnerships, Roman says.
Years back, Kraft Heinz joined APR’s Residential Film and Flexible Film Recycling Demand Champion program and now works with the Recycling Partnership’s Film and Flexibles Coalition to report out the use of recycled content in its supply chain. Its newest move to work outside of a silo is participation in the U.S. Plastics Pact.
“We work with producers, coalitions, and companies across the value chain. We’ll partner with startups, suppliers, universities, and innovators like NREL [U.S. Department of Energy lab] with its BOTTLE initiative [to develop chemical upcycling strategies and redesign plastics for recyclability].
We engage in these partnerships because packaging sustainability is an industry and global challenge. So, we need end-of-life solutions that can apply to more than just our own packages,” Roman says.
A deep and wide footprint can be advantageous.
“Size works in our favor in that we can pilot, see how well it works, adapt, and launch across platforms globally if appropriate. And scale allows us to find good partners to collaboratively have impact,” Smith says.
By the same token, operating across the globe can be trying. Legislation can be complicated and varied, and it quickly changes across regions.
“We may need to change out production lines, and it can be challenging to do, especially within existing time constraints,” he says.
There are dynamics tied to having a diverse portfolio of brands and products; different temperature states, different packaging formats, and other variables with no one-size-fits-all answer.
“So, we explore a plethora of different technologies to help us meet our [sustainability] commitments,” Roman says, acknowledging that one commitment, action, or engagement will not make a dent in fixing a whole system, from package design to ensuring consumers know what to do with spent packaging, to finding end markets.
“One of the things that’s important to us is to identify alternative solutions and [embark on a] journey where we’re testing and evaluating along the way. It’s not just putting final solutions into the market. It’s also exploring and finding new ways whether with infrastructure, new materials, or new packaging formats (such as how materials are combined),” Roman says.
Kelly McBee, waste program coordinator for As You Sow, which represents companies’ shareholders, notices an encouraging corporate trend.
“What we are seeing is recognition that virgin plastic reduction cannot be achieved solely by increasing recycled content. Kraft Heinz's goal, and every other virgin reduction goal As You Sow has worked with companies to set, stipulates exploration of reusable and refillable packaging and zero-waste packaging.”
Transparency is still a problem, industrywide.
As You Sow’s 2021 Corporate Plastic Pollution Scorecard indicates where companies are and are not reporting. Overall, McBee says, they are slowly improving in data transparency. But there is a “glaring need” for increased reporting in order for investors to assess how well corporate policies address plastic pollution.
Smith goes back to Heinz Kraft’s intentions: “We are pushing on the pedal to make this happen. To make packaging more sustainable. Achieving this does not just cut down on packaging waste; it will also help us achieve our ambitious 2050 carbon neutrality goals … Where we can cut down on packaging waste and reduce emissions simultaneously is certainly a sweet spot.”
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