Latest news with #Loomis
Elle
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
The 'Jurassic World Rebirth' Ending Says a Lot About Our World
Spoilers below. In the universe of Jurassic World Rebirth, access to proper health care is so bad that we have to hunt dinosaurs for medicine. No, really. The premise of the latest entry in the beloved dinosaur franchise is a little ridiculous, but it's also rooted in some truth. When the film begins, we learn that the last living dinosaurs on Earth carry a rare material in their DNA—one that doubles as a life-saving drug capable of curing heart disease. The only thing is, the dinos are isolated in islands on the equator where humans are forbidden. So, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), the head of a pharmaceutical company called ParkerGenix, recruits mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to arrange a crew, including her longtime friend Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) for the impossible mission. They also bring along scientist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey, arguably the highlight of the film!) to advise them on their secret quest. It must be done quickly and clandestinely, so they can beat other companies to the punch and capitalize on the discovery. Oh, and they can't kill the dinosaurs, because their blood is only potent when extracted from a living beast, which makes their mission even more difficult. And of course, they're going after the three biggest species by sea, land, and air: the Mosaurus, the Titanosaurus, and the Quetzalcoatlus respectively. It's insanely dangerous, but Zora and her team believe it's worth it—for the cash, naturally. Not long after they begin their mission, Dr. Loomis starts to ask an important question: Should we really be giving this drug to a private corporation? He understands that Zora and her colleagues need the money, and that this quest will mark an unbeatable milestone for his scientific career, but is that really worth helping a company profit off sick people? Throughout the crew's video game-like adventures, from rescuing the stranded Delgado family, whose sailing trip was interrupted by a ship-sized dinosaur, to climbing into a Quetzalcoatlus's nest, Loomis starts to get Zora to second-guess their end goal too. Wouldn't it be better to open-source the medicine and democratize the knowledge so that it isn't reserved for a select few? In the final confrontation, Loomis, Zora's crew, and the Delgados reunite at their end point, an abandoned town center, where a rescue team is scheduled to pick them up via helicopter. But there is a mutated monstrosity on the loose, otherwise known as the Distortus Rex (or D-Rex), in the way of their exit plan. However, what the film wants to make clear is that the real threat that emerges from the bushes—as dinosaurs in this franchise often do—is Martin Krebs. He stood by when innocent teenager Teresa Delgado (Luna Blaise) fell off their boat and is now pointing a gun at the rest of the group to hand over the DNA samples. He seems eager to keep them to himself. The group has hope for their ride, but the helicopter gets devoured by the D-Rex. There are also a couple of raptors hunting them down through buildings and underground tunnels. The best way out is a life raft waiting on the dock—but the Distortus has them cornered. Martin is eaten by the dinosaur, and Duncan lures it away into the brush so the rest of the team can make their escape. Somehow, Duncan survives too. As the survivors make their way back across the ocean, Loomis asks Zora who they'll give the DNA samples to. 'Everyone,' she replies. It's meant to be a quietly triumphant ending—victory over human greed, as many films have shown us before. But depending on your situation, it might come off as inspiring or insulting the moment you step out of the theater. Aside from the dinosaurs, hybrid monsters, and impossible survival statistics, the prospect of democratized medicine seems depressingly unrealistic in our current world. Just today, the House of Representatives passed a domestic policy bill that includes Medicaid cuts and benefits for drugmakers. In the non-Jurassic world, to quote Jeff Goldblum in the original films, 'Life finds a way…' But, it seems, only for those who can afford it. Of course, it's possible that Zora's altruistic choice is really just a wink at the potential for extending the franchise—this time with Johansson, Bailey, and Ali leading the charge. It also isn't all smooth sailing from here; while open-sourcing life-saving DNA sounds great in theory, it's also very possible that it ends up in the wrong hands and some bad actors exploit the dino data to create their own monsters. But if that battle comes in a future film, at least those characters won't have to worry about heart disease.
CBS News
26-06-2025
- CBS News
Suspects get away with $1,000 and a gun after robbing armored van in Northeast Philadelphia, police say
A group of thieves got away with $1,000 and a gun after robbing an armored truck in the Lawncrest section of Northeast Philadelphia on Thursday, police say. The Loomis armored truck driver was making a delivery at the Aldi store on the 5200 block of Whitaker Avenue around 3:15 p.m. when two armed gunmen approached, police said. The suspects took the driver's gun and the cash before escaping with a getaway driver, according to police. They fled in a Nissan toward Roosevelt Boulevard, police said. No one was injured, and no one has been arrested, according to police. Northeast detectives are investigating the robbery.
Global News
19-06-2025
- Business
- Global News
Sub-par Chinese steel delayed B.C.'s Pattullo Bridge replacement, industry advocate claims
An advocacy group for the Canadian steel sector is pinning construction delays on B.C.'s Pattullo Bridge replacement, in part, on the use of steel from China. 'That steel came from Asia and both cost jobs in the Lower Mainland in B.C. and cost time,' Keenan Loomis, president and CEO of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, told Global News on Thursday. 'I think that if the decision had gone to Canadian fabricators, that right now there would be cars driving over the Pattullo Bridge.' 1:56 Metro Vancouver transportation megaprojects update The new four-lane Pattullo replacement was originally meant to be complete by 2023, but now has a target date of late 2025. The estimated price tag has also increased from $1.37 billion to $1.64 billion. Story continues below advertisement Loomis first raised the concerns in a presentation to the legislature's select standing committee on finance and government services earlier this week. He told Global News the Chinese bid came in at $20 million under the competing Canadian offer, but said the result is steel that is not always engineered to Canadian standards. That means that when the material arrives on site, 'there's a lot of fixes that are required.' 'In fact, Canadian fabricators are being brought in right now to do all the upgrades that are needed to bring this bridge online,' he said. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'You also have to look at, overall, the total installed cost … ultimately, we ended up spending a lot more to fix all the defects.' 1:48 Completion dates for Broadway subway, Pattullo Bridge pushed back B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation and Transit called Loomis' claims 'pure speculation.' Story continues below advertisement It said Fraser Crossing Partners, the consortium building the bridge, undertook a competitive bid process to source its materials, and that structural steel fabrication was being overseen by engineers with professional designations in B.C. 'Delays to the construction of the new bridge were a result of major disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted sectors across the global economy including construction,' the ministry said in a statement. 'A full-time quality oversight team at the fabrication site in China maintained a continuous presence on the shop floor throughout production shifts to ensure quality requirements were being met. Both FCP and the Province had full-time quality representatives at the fabrication site.' All steel used in the project also passed chemical and mechanical testing, it said. BC Conservative transportation critic Harman Bhangu said claims of substandard Chinese steel raise serious safety and budgetary concerns. 'We should do a check to see which projects throughout British Columbia are using this steel, and we should have a full investigation into it because public safety should be number one,' he said. Bhangu pointed to Victoria's $105 million Johnson Street Bridge replacement, which opened in 2018, years late and nearly $10 million over budget due to substandard Chinese steel. 'It is unbelievable that it takes us this long to build a bridge; it is actually a shame,' Bhangu said. Story continues below advertisement 'We need to start using some of our own resources, get our steel industry going, get our minerals going, and we need to get that to market and start building right here in B.C. … and it can't always be the cheapest bid, because we know the cheapest bid won't always be at that price or on time.' The controversy comes as B.C.'s NDP government also faces heat over BC Ferries' decision to procure its next four major vessels from a Chinese shipyard, a move it says will save $1.2 billion. 2:05 Canada adjusts steel and aluminum tariffs with the U.S. No Canadian shipyards entered a bid for the job, though B.C. shipbuilding giant Seaspan said it couldn't compete with foreign yards given there were no incentives for local builders in the competition. Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled new measures to protect and incentivize Canada's steel and aluminum sectors, in the wake of punishing U.S. tariffs and a simmering global trade war. Story continues below advertisement Loomis said it was a good start towards revitalizing the industry. 'Finally, people are waking up to the fact that others are not playing by the trading rules that we seem to be holding ourselves to account to,' he said. 'And so it's a whole new world, but we really need to be mindful of where our dollars are being spent.'
Vancouver Sun
19-06-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Chinese steel 'contributed to delays' in construction of Pattullo Bridge replacement, says advocate
A construction industry advocacy group says delays to the Pattullo Bridge replacement project can be blamed, in part, on the province's reliance on Chinese steel. Originally set to be finished by the fall of 2023, the project is not expected to be completed until this fall, two years behind schedule. Additionally, the cost has ballooned by 20 per cent to $1.637 billion from the original estimate of $1.377 billion. In a presentation to the province's select standing committee on finance and government services this week, Keanin Loomis, the CEO of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, told MLAs that some of the issues with the Pattullo replacement can be put down to the general contractor for the project sourcing steel and fabrication services from China. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Loomis said the winning bid back in 2020 from Spanish multinational conglomerate Acciona and Canadian firm Aecon came in $20 million below the estimate put forward by the next lowest bid, led by Canadian company Supreme Steel. He said the steel used in the project was prefabricated in China, and when it was brought over to Canada there were issues in the welding, leading to delays and increased expenses as on-site workers had to fix the mistakes. 'The Pattullo Bridge is one of the prime examples across the country of what not to do when it comes to procurement of steel and going overseas,' said Loomis. 'My members are now fixing a lot of the mistakes. If you had gone with a Canadian fabricator, I'm sure that there would be cars driving on that bridge right now.' In fact, Supreme Steel has now closed much of its operations in B.C. It had bought the long-time construction giant Canron in the late 1990s, which was responsible for projects such as the Alex Fraser Bridge and Canada Place, but ultimately chose to wind down the company's facilities and consolidate jobs into its Alberta and Saskatchewan offices. A couple of decades ago, Supreme Steel had at least 250 employees as well as another 50 or 60 field employees. By the time operations were wrapped up, it had only a fraction of that many workers due to repeatedly losing out on bids for major projects such as the Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria and the Golden Ears Bridge in Maple Ridge to overseas companies. The fall of Canron is a story of the B.C. metal fabrication sector writ large, says Loomis, who says it costs too much for many companies to continue employing people in the province, especially when they continuously lose out on bids to foreign competitors. 'It's difficult to get fuel across the Rockies, and the cost of land in B.C. is also a huge part of the calculus, not just on wages,' he told Postmedia. 'If you're sitting on a couple of acres in the Lower Mainland and you're looking at all these jobs going to overseas fabricators, you're wondering if you can actually continue to exist. And in fact, many have pulled out.' Loomis said that while a good portion of the steel coming from China is high quality, some of it is what he calls 'Temu steel' — as it is mass-produced and low-quality, much like some products often available through the popular online retailer, Temu. The Pattullo Bridge replacement is the latest in a long line of provincial infrastructure projects coming in late and over budget. Earlier this month, provincial Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth admitted the Broadway Subway project, which is already two years behind schedule, will also cost almost $1 billion more than originally anticipated. Farnworth was unavailable to discuss the comments made by Loomis this week and his ministry did not respond in time to questions posed by Postmedia about the use of Chinese steel for the Pattullo Bridge replacement project and the closure of Supreme Steel's B.C. operations. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko, who sits on the select standing committee on finance and government services, said she was shocked to hear about the issues with the Pattullo project, and drew it back to the recent controversy around B.C. Ferries' awarding a contract for four new vessels from a Chinese state-owned shipyard. 'You have to wonder what the true value in choosing overseas steel producers and providers versus the home-grown and home-produced steel that can be manufactured in Canada,' she said. 'It might look cheaper at the outset, but if we're ending up with delays and cost overruns because things like welds need to be redone by a Canadian contractor, if there really is no savings in the first place, we would have been much better off, even with a bid that would have been perhaps higher than what the Chinese company was bidding given the value in keeping jobs in B.C.' alazenby@
USA Today
17-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
NFL writer says Saints' latest extension is one of the worst contracts in the league
NFL writer says Saints' latest extension is one of the worst contracts in the league The kind of creative accounting and salary cap maneuvers that Mickey Loomis gets up to aren't for everyone. Critics of the New Orleans Saints general manager have found plenty of material during the team's four-year dry spell after Drew Brees retired, with the Saints' playoffs drought threatening to reach Year 5 if they come up short again this season. And while Chase Young played well for the Saints on a one-year prove-it deal that most observers around the league thought was smart, the three-year, $51 million extension he signed in March left some analysts scratching their heads. "The Saints were $8.5 million over the cap just a few days before free agency began," wrote Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox, who ranked Young's new deal tenth-worst in the NFL. "Yet Loomis still found the money—and the reasons—to sign pass-rusher Chase Young to a deal worth $17 million annually with $33 million guaranteed. Fans have every right to wonder why." Knox added: "Paying $17 million per season for an upper-tier pass-rusher isn't egregious. However, Young hasn't been a Pro Bowl player since his 2020 rookie season. He recorded 7.5 sacks that season, hasn't topped that number since, and has logged just 14.5 sacks over the last four years." In a way, re-signing Young was a way for Loomis to try and make up for letting Trey Hendrickson walk away back in 2021; Hendrickson has made the Pro Bowl every year since he left the Saints while averaging 14 sacks in each of his four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. A surprise retirement by Derek Carr saved the Saints' bacon; the team currently has about $29 million in unspent salary cap space, with another $30 million freeing up next year. If Carr was still on the books with sky-high cap hits this year and next, and if he were still not playing well enough to win even three games in a row (something he never did in two years as the starter), Loomis and the Saints would be facing real heat. Instead, they've slightly overpaid a good player at one of the game's most important positions. The horror. As Knox pointed out, though, Young makes an impact even if he isn't racking up the sacks. He had 34 quarterback pressures last year, per Pro Football Reference, which led the team and tied for 13th-most in the NFL. The other two players, Brian Burns and Danielle Hunter, are each making $28.2 million and $35.6 million this year, respectively. The difference comes down to impact plays. Hunter had twice as many sacks (12.0 to 5.5) while Burns doubled Young's tackles total (42 to 21). If Young can do a better job finishing plays and bringing the quarterback down, his contract will look more like a bargain than an albatross. That's not what you'd like to be saying at this point in Young's career. But he's shown he can stay healthy, which was the major concern this time last year. Now he needs to prove he can be a leader up front and get after the QB.
