Latest news with #JeffAnderson
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fresno Catholic diocese files bankruptcy after facing claims of abuse by clergy
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno announced Tuesday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization after being accused of at least 153 instances of abuse by clergy during a special legislative window for filing claims that might otherwise have expired. News of the filing has come after reports that almost half a dozen Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy protection in the aftermath of a 2019 state law that opened a three-year period for people to sue based on allegations that in normal circumstances would have been barred by the statute of limitations. The bishop of the Fresno diocese, Joseph Brennan, said in a news release the church must address the suffering that victims of clergy sexual abuse endured. "We know the sin; it will always be before us," he stated. "As your bishop, I commit to maintain the highest standards for the protection of the vulnerable and our youth," Brennan continued, "and I will continue to confront allegations of abuse or any wrongdoing with diligence and care." The decision to file was criticized by a Los Angeles law firm specializing in cases of abuse by clergy. Jeff Anderson & Associates released a statement calling the bankruptcy case a "self-serving tactic" that protects the diocese by minimizing its role in sexual crimes. 'Many survivors have been fighting a battle against their trauma for decades,' attorney Jennifer Stein said in the release. 'Now, survivors have to face yet another drawn-out battle — fighting for justice and accountability in a bankruptcy court.' The release went on to say the law firm believes the diocese delayed filing for bankruptcy in order to hide the truth and avoid accountability from survivors who have filed claims of abuse by clergy. This story will be updated.
Forbes
11-06-2025
- Climate
- Forbes
Tornado Chaser Chris Coach: You Never Forget Your First One
A tornadic mothership supercell, near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025. The U.S tornado season is wrapping up. For me, it was a fruitful one, having seen multiple twisters this past spring, my very first photogenic one near Silverton, Texas, on April 24. I had been storm chasing with veterans Tim Bovasso and Jeff Anderson at the time (story link below). Three weeks later, I found myself back in Texas, giving thrill rides to NASCAR Racing Experience customers at the Texas Motor Speedway near Dallas. A friend of Bovasso's, Chris Coach, 26, asked if I wanted to chase with him on my day off, Sunday, May 18. There wasn't a high probability for tornadoes that day in the immediate area around DFW - maybe 2% - so we weren't too excited. But hey, you never know. Tornado forming near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025. Around 2:30 p.m., Coach picked me up at my hotel, with - surprise - his entire family in the back of a Honda Pilot: wife, Seiyana, and five kids. What's important to know here is that Coach had never seen a tornado, despite having chased a few dozen times going all the way back to 2021. So, if we found one, it would be a big deal, both for me and for a frustrated Coach. Traffic wasn't bad for a Sunday, and we made good time north toward Santo, where a supercell, the giant cloud structure that produces tornadoes, was building. Using his cellphone radar app - you could tell he had done this before - Coach navigated us via smallish back roads to a farm. Across the flat fields in front of us, we watched the sky slowly darken and the lightning pick up. Powerful stovepipe tornado off of I-20 near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025. An ominous black Wall Cloud (WC) with rotating air appeared directly below the supercell, perfect conditions for a tornado to drop. We waited and Sure enough one of the rotating nipples hanging from the WC began snaking its way toward the ground. The funnel danced and flickered, as if it wasn't sure weather or not to drop.. It finally did, but didn't last long before it evaporated back into the supercell. But it was definitely a twister, perhaps the first of many that night. To avoid approaching hail, which Coach could see on radar and which sometimes is as big as softballs, we high-tailed it back to the main roads, then followed the temperamental supercell as it traveled south. It was already 8:15 p.m. and getting dark, but tornado warnings kept popping up on our phones, so we stayed vigilant. Cellphone radar app indicates a tornado on the ground near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025. After about 15 minutes on I-20, Coach's wife and kids started yelling, 'Tornado,, tornado!' I couldn't see anything, being on the right side in the front passenger's seat, nor could Coach, who was driving. He immediately found a safe spot on the side of the 70-mph highway, and pulled over. Sure enough, about four miles above a ridge behind us, a stovepipe tornado was raging. It was a big one, too, at least an EF-2, and all hell broke loose in the car. The kids were screaming, and so were Coach and I. We got out and started snapping away. He had finally seen a photogenic tornado - and so had his kids - and it was a damn impressive one. Tornado visible from highway I-20, May 18, 2025. Coach was in disbelief. 'I couldn't process what was actually happening at the time,' he told me this week in an interview. 'But I have the photos and keep looking at them. My kids told everyone at school, too. They were as excited as I was.' Now that Coach has finally seen his tornado, will he keep chasing? 'You bet,' he says. 'It's addicting. But you never forget your first one.'
Travel Weekly
05-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Anderson family sells stake in Avoya Travel to Certares
The Anderson family has sold its stake in Avoya Travel to Certares, the private equity firm that invested in the host agency in 2021. Certares has acquired full ownership of the company. Co-CEOs Jeff Anderson and Michael Anderson will remain with Avoya through mid-June to assist in the transition. Other members of Avoya's executive leadership team -- including chief sales officer Phil Cappelli and CFO Mark Francone -- remain with the host agency. "We're grateful to Jeff Anderson and Michael Anderson, who helped build Avoya into an innovative leader in leisure travel," Avoya said in a statement. The Anderson family had operated Avoya for decades. The late Pal Anderson, Avoya's founder, and his wife, Pat, entered the travel industry with a tour operation in Hawaii in 1964. They would go on to start a retail travel agency that eventually became Avoya. Its hosting operation began alongside the rise of the internet in the early 2000s. Pat and Pal's sons, Brad and Van, ran the company for years before handing over the reins to Jeff and Michael.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Lake Mead in for a painful summer after dry winter
Rapid snow melt across Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, pushed some basins from above-average snowpack to snow drought conditions in under a month, with snow disappearing up to four weeks early, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. (Photo of Lake Mead at Hoover Dam: Jeniffer Solis/Nevada Current)) Lake Mead's infamous bathtub ring is expected to get bigger this summer as low snowpack levels in the Rocky Mountains choke the reservoir's biggest source of water – the Colorado River. Snow melt from the Rocky Mountains contributes about 85% of the total water flow in the Colorado River, but those flows will likely be lower than usual this summer, according to federal data. Across the Rocky Mountains the snow season had a strong start, then came one of the driest winters on record, followed by rapid snow melt that bodes poorly for river flow in the summer. Mountain ranges across the Rockies didn't reach peak snowpack in April, and only hit about 63% of average peaks. With less snow, runoff into Lake Powell is expected to be cut nearly in half this year, according to the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center. Water levels in Lake Powell, the nation's second largest reservoir, directly impact Lake Mead because streamflow to Lake Powell is eventually released to Lake Mead. Combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead is down 920,000 acre-feet from this time last year, or enough water to supply about 1.8 million single-family homes for a year. A 'dreadful winter' means a high likelihood of 'extreme and exceptional drought' is in store for areas of Southern Nevada, according to the Nevada Water Supply Outlook prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. 'In 2023 it was a great runoff year with a really big snow pack. But we're not going to see anything like that this year,' said Jeff Anderson, a USDA hydrologist and water supply specialist. Water supply estimates for the seven Colorado River Basin states were reduced in April after rapid and early snowmelt wiped out snowpack in the region. Rapid snow melt across Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, pushed some basins from above-average snowpack to snow drought conditions in under a month, with snow disappearing up to four weeks early, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. 'The snow pack has melted much quicker than normal,' Anderson said. 'It dropped much quicker than the normal drops.' 'Oftentimes the snow packs don't start to melt as early as they started this year. It's like a locomotive. Once the snow pack absorbs enough energy from the sun and from the temperature and starts to melt, it's very difficult to stop that process,' he said. As snowpack melts, it recharges ecosystems and replenishes reservoirs that provide drinking water for millions of people and irrigation water for millions of acres of farmland. But early melt means water leaves the region before the summer when it's most needed. The quicker snow melts the more likely it is to evaporate too. Less snowmelt making its way to the Colorado River is part of a larger trend. Colorado River streamflow has shrunk by about 20% since 2000, with further declines projected due to climate change. The seven Colorado River Basin states that depend on the river's water are currently working on setting rules for sharing a dwindling water supply after 2026, when current operating guidelines are set to expire. But negotiations over water allotments in the country's two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, have stalled. Two consecutive winters with robust snowpacks gave states that rely on the Colorado River a few more years of stability, but with a dismal water year approaching tensions appear to be growing. Colorado River negotiators — one from each of the seven states that use Colorado River water — will not be speaking at a major water law conference in June, despite having appeared together at the conference for the last few years. That divide has come up at the other annual appearances, too. In December, negotiators opted to split into two separate panels at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas after appearing together for years. The two camps – the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, and the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada – have been at an impasse since March after submitting two competing proposals for managing the river. One of the biggest sticking points between the two basins is whether or not Upper Basin states should absorb mandatory water cuts during dry years, despite using significantly less than their 7.5 million acre-feet Colorado River allocation year-after-year. Historically, Lower Basin states have used nearly all their 7.5 million acre-feet Colorado River allocation under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, while Upper Basin states use about 4.5 million acre-feet annually, significantly less than their total allocation. Lower Basin states argued all seven states should share water cuts during dry years under the new post-2026 guidelines. If they don't, downstream states warned they could face water cuts they can't feasibly absorb. If the states can reach an agreement by May, then the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation can consider the proposal as part of its longer process. In the absence of a seven-state agreement on how to manage the basin's water supply, the Bureau of Reclamation would move forward with its own management options. Bronson Mack, a public outreach coordinator for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said Nevada's Colorado River negotiator, John Entsminger, is actively attending closed-door meetings and working towards compromise. However, details from those meetings have been scant. Another fissure among states appeared after House Republicans approved a last-minute amendment to sell off nearly 11,000 acres of public land in Utah that appears to follow the pathway of the planned Lake Powell pipeline, a decades-long and highly controversial attempt by Utah to pipe water from Lake Powell. In a joint statement, U.S. Representatives Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.) said they were 'alerted by Arizona and Nevada water managers that the public land to be sold in Utah could be used to develop' the controversial water pipeline from Lake Powell to Washington County, Utah. The office of Utah Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy – who proposed the amendment – denied the allegation, as did the Washington County Water Conservancy District, which pointed to a detailed list of intended uses for the proposed land disposal, including water projects, public infrastructure, housing, recreation and an airport expansion. That reasoning doesn't fly with some of the state's public land and environmental advocates, including Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network. 'There are quite a few striking similarities,' Roerink said. 'We believe that this is much more than a coincidence.' The project has yet to clear several federal hurdles, and needs a new environmental impact statement — officials in the area say the project is no longer a priority. Roerink noted that Utah officials have also not ruled out the Lake Powell Pipeline and have continued to pursue the paper water rights that the pipeline would feed. 'This throws an even bigger wrench in a situation that is already rife with conflict, and it underscores that some states continue to believe that water exists, when in reality, we all know it doesn't,' Roerink said.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Diocese of Syracuse insurers reach $60 million settlement with sexual abuse victims
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – The insurers of the Diocese of Syracuse have reached a $60+ million settlement with sexual abuse victims involved in the class-action lawsuit that led to a $100 million settlement with the clergy in 2023. Diocese of Syracuse to pay abuse survivors $100 Million The settlements are split between multiple insurers, with two major companies that issued polices to the Diocese in the 1970s and 1980s, taking the brunt of the load to pay out to the Committee of Unsecured Creditors, who represented the victims. London Market Insurers settled for $22.5 million, and Interstate Fire & Casualty Company settled for $35 million. Other insurers that recently settled are contributing between $90,000 and $1 million to the trust. 'This breaks the gridlock and the iron wall that these insurance companies have put up in settling these clergy abuse cases in New York and across the country. This is a breakthrough in making them accountable to those they insured, the Catholic bishops and more importantly – the suffering survivors.' Jeff Anderson, a representative of the Committee said. According to the Committee's release, Travelers Insurance has not settled as of this reporting., but will be negotiating in the coming weeks. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
