Latest news with #Pike
Indianapolis Star
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Photos: Boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis
HIGH SCHOOL Grace Smith/IndyStar Athletes celebrate Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar An athlete warms up Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Drew Haffner of Westfield runs a play against Austin Ford of Brebeuf on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Purdue men's basketball head coach Matt Painter talks with coaches Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Michael Woods of Hammond Morton and JaShawn Ladd of Ben Davis go for the ball Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar James Kalala of Southport goes up for a basket against Xavier Wilson of Fort Wayne Snider on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Isaiah Hill of Pike blocks a basket attempt by Sam Gooch of Greencastle on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Jack Clark of Bloomington South guards Jace Tonagel of Oak Hill on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Jahari Miller of Pike high-fives Keriawn Berry of Avon on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar James Kalala of Southport guards Conner Kesler of Roncalli on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Derrick Cross Jr. of Bloomington North grabs the ball Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Jack Clark of Bloomington South attempts to block Jason Gardner Jr. of Fishers on Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Athletes celebrate Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Caleb Coolman of Penn brings the ball up the court Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Cooper Bock of Sullivan and Evan Harrell of Carmel go for the ball Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar Noah Washington of New Albany catches the ball Friday, June 27, 2025, during the boys high school basketball Top 100 Showcase at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Grace Smith/IndyStar
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Samsara introduces 2025 North America Customer Advisory Board
SAN DIEGO – Samsara announced its 2025 North America Customer Advisory Board on Monday as the company kicks off its Samsara Beyond event. The 2025 North America Customer Advisory Board includes leaders from over 30 major organizations across various industries, such as Republic Services, Performance Food Group, Pike, DHL Supply Chain, and XPO. Members provide direct feedback that helps shape Samsara's product roadmap, including innovations like Recognition, which uses AI insights to celebrate safe driving, and Asset Tag, which helps customers track equipment. 'Being on Samsara's Customer Advisory Board has been incredibly valuable because we get to collaborate with other industry leaders and quickly see the results of our product feedback,' said James Banner, Senior Vice President of Administration and Safety at Pike. 'It's a unique opportunity to shape products that transform the way we operate.' Banner listed the Asset Tag as a prime example. Pike advised Samsara on use cases and the product has now reduced theft and improved efficiency for Pike and many others. 'With all the changes AI is bringing to physical operations, the partnership between industry leaders and technology innovators has never been more important,' said Kiren Sekar, Chief Product Officer at Samsara. 'Our advisory board isn't just about adapting to change, but actively shaping the future of this industry and making a lasting impact, together.' Samsara's 2025 North America Advisory Board news comes on the heels of its Connected Operations Awards announcement, which highlights stories of its AI-powered platform enabling transformative results with customers across safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Samsara attributes the results its platform supports to its strong customer feedback loop and focus on customer success. This year's awards program saw a notable increase in applications, with enterprise submissions rising by 73% in the United States, 250% in Canada, 133% in Mexico, and 183% in Europe. Winners demonstrated measurable operational transformations across industries, from transportation and logistics to government and education. Several reported substantial financial and operational gains. Maxim Crane Works, which won the Most Innovative Workforce award, saved over $13 million in maintenance costs by shifting to proactive maintenance strategies. Maxim Crane Works is a leading crane rental company in the U.S. with over 2,000 vehicles spread across over 50 locations, serving construction industries like petrochemical, oil and gas, commercial high rise, and freeway expansion. The company reduced its insurance premiums by exonerating drivers from not-at-fault accidents and false claims with dash cam footage. Mohawk Industries, winner of the Excellence in Systems Efficiency award, closed gaps in planned versus actual routing, saving over $7.75 million annually by reducing wasted mileage by 25%. Mohawk Industries is the largest flooring manufacturer in the world, with 800+ tractors and 2,500+ trailers in its fleet. Use of the Samsara AI Dash Cams also led to a 13% reduction in accidents. Mexicana Logistics, winner of the Excellence in Physical Security award, saw an 80% reduction in emergency detection times and a 97% reduction in saddle thefts. The Baja California-based company transports over 150,000 Class 8 trucks and 225,000 light vehicles annually. Notably, it successfully recovered 12 units and three drivers without damage from a single trip. Republic Services, recipient of the Digital Transformation of the Year award, integrated 11 concurrent IT workstreams with Samsara after rolling out AI Dash Cams and Fleet Telematics fleet-wide for the first time in company history. Republic Services is one of the largest environmental service companies in North America, with over 42,000 employees and 18,000 trucks. 'Samsara has been a game-changer for our operations,' said Brett Rogers, VP Operations Technology at Republic Services. 'Their platform has enabled us to make significant strides in safety and efficiency, and transformed the way we manage our assets and workforce.' Other North American honorees included Alto Experience (Most Sustainable Operations) and Quality Custom Distribution (Safest Operator), among others. European winners included companies like Delifresh (Excellence in Driver Engagement), RubanBleu (Most Sustainable Operations), Vp Brandon Hire Station (Safest Operator), and OCU Group Limited (Industry Innovator). The North America Customer Advisory Board is scheduled to meet today, Monday, June 23, at Samsara Beyond. The company will celebrate its Connected Operations Award winners during a ceremony on Wednesday, June 25. Samsara is also set to introduce several new product innovations during the keynote address on Tuesday, June 24, at 9 AM PT. Virtual registration for the Beyond keynote is currently open. The event runs from today, Monday, June 23, through Thursday, June 26. The post Samsara introduces 2025 North America Customer Advisory Board appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Star
19-06-2025
- General
- The Star
Weed manager of the year: One man's quest to save the Sonoran Desert
When Don Pike takes his daily walk, he laces up his brown hiking boots, grabs his walking stick and bucket hat and heads outside. Ten feet (3m) later, he carefully slips past barbed wire and enters the Tonto National Forest in Arizona, the United States. Unlike other parts of the Tonto, where the ground between native plants and trees is covered with dry grasses, the earth is pale, crusty and barren, like it's meant to be. That's because Pike has been pulling weeds. 'You won't find any of them in this area here because I've removed them,' said Pike, 84, a retiree from Maine who installed floor-to-ceiling windows in his living room to better see his beloved desert. Pike estimates that he's cleared invasive plants from roughly 222ha of desert near his home. Pike is at war with buffel grass and fountain grass, two invasive species that are spreading in the Sonoran Desert, choking native plants, increasing the risk and intensity of wildfires and threatening a vibrant ecosystem. He began hunting the thick grasses, which were introduced to the area by landscapers, almost 15 years ago. Since then, he estimates that he and his team of volunteers have cleared 550 acres (222ha) of the roughly 14,000 acres (5,665ha) they oversee. In 2024, that earned him the title of Arizona's Weed Manager of the Year. Work by volunteers like Pike has always been an important supplement to managing federal lands, according to US government workers who say their programmes have been underfunded for years. A cactus blooms in the Tonto National Forest. But since the Trump administration and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency began mass firings of federal workers, volunteers like Pike have become more vital than ever. 'It's going to be important for the federal agencies, the Forest Service in particular, to find ways to engage people,' Pike said on his back porch in March. 'There's a lot of people that want to get involved. Particularly retirees who have a lot of skills.' In February, at least 2,000 employees had been eliminated from the US Forest Service, which is responsible for lands across the country that, together, rival the size of Texas. Forests like the Tonto are at risk as climate change increases the chances of wildfires and as invasive species spread. But citizen scientists like Pike are working to reduce fire and heat risks, clear hundreds of acres of invasives and capture data on threatened cactuses, helping to save what otherwise might be lost. Parking and shade structures (right) at a trailhead in an area where abundant red brome, an invasive species of grass, raises the wildfire risk, in the Tonto National Forest. Bringing in reinforcements Patti Fenner was an invasive weeds specialist for the US Forest Service in 2011 when she gave a presentation to a retirees group that included Pike. After the talk, Fenner and Pike took a hike and she pointed out how invasive grasses had begun overtaking native plants. That first outing led to a decades-long obsession, and when Fenner retired three years later and founded Friends of the Tonto, a volunteer group with about 70 members that assists the national forest, Pike became one of the first members. Fenner had worked in the forest since college, doing a variety of jobs. She liked the US Forest Service-style of land management because it demanded compromise from all parties. Unlike national parks, US Forest Service land is used by multiple interests, including logging, mining and ranching in addition to recreation. Fenner holds a blade of invasive red brome grass, which raises the risk of wildfire. But maintaining an ecological balance is also key, and when Fenner became the forest's first noxious weed manager in 2003, it felt like a Sisyphean task to clear three million acres (1.2 million hectares) of rapidly multiplying invasive species. Pike decided to concentrate on a smaller scale, homing in on what's known as the wildland urban interface, or the space where developments like his neighbourhood creep up on wilderness areas like the Tonto. A former engineer, he created a map to track the progress he made with his team of volunteers, pinning a green flag where invasives were cleared. The flag turns yellow after two years as a reminder to clear the area again. While his system is effective in his relatively small section, it's an unlikely fix for an entire forest. 'In the direction that we're headed, the desert will become a grassland,' Pike said. Fenner became the Tonto National Forest's first noxious weed manager in 2003. Lightning-strike fires have always been possible in the desert, but excess vegetation like red brome, a grass that dries into short haylike tufts, has contributed to bigger and more frequent wildfires in the Tonto. One of the first huge wildfires came in 2005, when the Cave Creek Complex fire burned 243,000 acres (98,340ha). Then, in the summer of 2020, Pike watched the sky turn orange as the Bush fire burned 193,000 acres (78,104ha), killing roughly 80,000 saguaros, the distinctive cactuses with cartoonish curved arms. Invasive plants grew back quickly, outcompeting the native saguaros and paloverde, the state tree with flowers like tiny yellow bells. A dying saguaro cactus that was scorched by a fire in the Tonto National Forest. So, Friends of the Tonto started a second monitoring programme for the saguaros. In late 2023, Pike created another map with more than 9,900 tiny saguaros. On this one, green signals good health and black means the cactus is dead. He's trained about 40 people to find additional saguaros and monitor the ones already in the database. The future of the forest The main office at Tonto has been closed for years because the US Forest Service had trouble staffing it, even before the recent hiring freeze and terminations, largely because the pay was low, Fenner said. Other offices within the forest used to stay open on weekends during the busy season, but that also ended years ago because of a lack of employees. 'If you're trying to get ahold of somebody there's no one to talk to,' Fenner said of the forest staff. 'It's like nobody's home.' Ongoing budget and staffing issues at the Tonto have limited the scope of volunteer work, which is based on an agreement with the US Forest Service that spells out the terms of the relationship. The US Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment. Pike has been struggling to contact federal employees who can help him apply for grants. In 2024, he helped win a US$105,000 (RM444,255) grant from the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Management to hire a contractor to apply herbicide and organise a youth group to cull invasive plants in the forest. A detail of the epidermis of a fire-scorched saguaro cactus. 'It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse,' Pike said of communication with forest managers. He wants to secure more grants to better manage the invasive plants, but without support from forest officials, he said, 'I can't logically expand the area that I'm covering.' Still, they are tackling the impossible, weed by weed. At the top of a hill overlooking the Tonto called Sears-Kay, which features ruins almost 1,000 years old, Fenner spotted buffel grass in late March. She tried to pull it with her bare hands but it was rooted too firmly. So she called Pike, and he encouraged her to go back with a shovel. She went on a walk and pulled the plant the next day. – ©2025 The New York Times Company
Global News
18-06-2025
- Health
- Global News
Indigenous Wellness Centre opens at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital
As a patient, Jessica Demeria knows first hand how challenging the medical system can be for First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. 'We may be looked at in a certain way with our underlying Indigenous history informing the way that we are cared for,' Demeria said. 'A trauma-informed approach is absolutely one-on-one necessary.' While Demeria is a patient, she is also part of the team at Unity Health Toronto that is working to change that experience for Indigenous patients. Thanks to an $11-million investment from The Krawcyzky Family Foundation, a transformed space at St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto is set to become a new Indigenous Wellness Centre. Roberta Pike is the director of Indigenous Wellness, Reconciliation and Partnerships at Unity Health Toronto. 'This gift has expanded our ability to have more patient-facing supports on the ground in the inpatient units and in the emergency department,' Pike said. Story continues below advertisement A significant milestone for Indigenous health: Kevin Goldthorp, president and CEO of St. Michael's and Providence Foundation, said to the hospital's knowledge this donation represents the largest gift in Canada specifically earmarked for Indigenous wellness. Goldthorp said it is a critical piece of the their ongoing commitment to reconciliation. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'We are a hospital that cares about the Indigenous communities,' Goldthorp said, 'We're here for you, we care about how you're cared for, we care for your care outcomes.' This week, construction crews have been working around the clock for the ceremonial opening of the Indigenous Wellness Centre, scheduled for Wednesday, June 18, at St. Michael's Hospital. With Indigenous art, a specialized HVAC system to allow ceremonial smudging, and more space for families, Pike hopes people feel at home when they walk into the newly-renovated space. 'A lot of people have intergenerational trauma associated with places or environments, and hospitals seem to be one of those leading examples of spaces that might be triggering for people,' Pike said. This centre marks the first phase of the many projects this donation will support. There are also plans for another wellness centre at Providence Healthcare. According to the foundation, that site will include a medicine garden, sweat lodge, and sacred fire. The donation will also support an additional staffing position, support education and community engagement, and help expand patient access to elders and traditional care providers. Story continues below advertisement A national perspective on providing care: Dr. Alika Lafontaine served as the president of the Canadian Medical Association in 2022. He was the first Indigenous physician and the youngest doctor to lead the organization. Lafontaine said he believes centres like this improve health outcomes for Indigenous patients. 'You really have a huge opportunity to either mitigate past harm that's happened and create a more welcoming environment, or to prevent the possibility of people experiencing that new harm.' 'Having these spaces is actually a really, really big part of why people end up going to a location or choosing to stay' Lafontaine said. 'The health system hasn't always been the best place for people who are First Nation, Inuit or Métis to receive care. Creating Indigenous-specific spaces, I think, is one of the ways that we create greater warmth and greater inclusion for folks who've had bad experiences in the past.' Data from Statistics Canada shows between 2019 and 2022, about half of First Nations adults living off reserve reported having at least one chronic health condition compared with 40.6 per cent of non-Indigenous adults. 'The patients we see are coming to us, they're very complex,' Pike said. 'They have many layers of hurt, many layers (of) trauma, many layers (of) joy in their lives. And so we're trying to kind of work through all of those different aspects.' Story continues below advertisement Pike hopes the services offered at this new wellness centre will provide more options to meet the needs of the patients she sees and serve as an example for other hospitals. 'We see the people that we interact with in the hospital as an extension of our own families,' Pike said. 'The ways in which we would want to treat our own family members is exactly the same way in which want to serve the people who are here.'
Technical.ly
17-06-2025
- Health
- Technical.ly
A majority of workplaces do not have a mental health strategy
The Covid-19 pandemic's disruptions of traditional office dynamics forced more companies to consider workers' well-being. The progress made since then still isn't enough, per a recent study. Boards of directors are not engaged in mental health strategies, and C-suite members don't model healthy behaviors, according to the annual report One Mind published this spring. The Napa, California-based nonprofit pulled data from 91 organizations' self-assessments, representing feedback from about 2.5 million workers at employers of all sizes and industries. Three out of four companies do not have a mental health strategy, per the index One Mind developed. That's the core struggle for most firms trying to improve mental health among workers, explained CEO Kathy Pike at a recent briefing for journalists hosted by the National Press Foundation. Only 60% of executives say they've established mental health as a priority. 'When you don't have a mental health strategy and you don't know what problem you're solving for,' Pike told journalists, 'it's very hard to know whether what you're doing matters.' Eighty-six percent of firms have at least one executive tasked with overseeing this strategy. But that's often a 'default' plan that Pike said can backfire on a company. 'That's the most expensive strategy because when you don't pay attention to mental health and well-being,' said Pike, who's also a psychology professor at Columbia University, 'the cost to your people and the cost to your organization are unknown risks to you and not calculated.' Pike outlined at the briefing more downsides to ad hoc policies, the need to give employees holistic resources and the necessity of data to substantiate it all. Collecting quality data is necessary for change When you don't have a mental health strategy and you don't know what problem you're solving for, it's very hard to know whether what you're doing matters. Kathy Pike One Mind focuses on collecting and analyzing data about employers' wellness practices, as well as helping organizations implement the best methods. Pike believes that other firms need to set similar priorities to get this data about themselves, lest they lose what mental health programs they do offer. 'If you don't have data to demonstrate that what you're doing matters … you're going to be at the front of the line for the chopping block,' Pike explained. She acknowledged the overall lack of data on workplace mental health, which puts many business leaders at a loss for where to start building their strategy. Data is important for tracking impact and guiding decisions, per Pike, especially because many workplace leaders get thrown into leading mental health programs with little to no clinical training. 'We want leadership to have data to guide their decisions,' she said, 'so that they spend their time … in ways that are going to have the greatest impact.' Moving beyond simply 'providing' Pike sees fostering wellness as divided into three aspects: provide, protect and promote. Historically, 'provide' is the sole component focused on in workplace mental health. That means providing guidance for treatment or information, per Pike. But there's a lot more to wellness strategy, she asserted. Employers need to protect their workers from potential harm or negative impacts stemming from their work. Promoting healthy habits is also key, through actions like offering flexible work times. Leaders struggle with modeling healthy habits, per the index. Just 41% of them say they set positive examples. But leaders are essential to fostering healthy working environments, Pike explained, through their role in such essential functions as structuring the workday and how communications about promotions or raises take place, for example. 'If you don't have leadership support, it's just not going to survive and have the real impact that you want,' she said. The top of the corporate hierarchy similarly struggles to embed workplace mental health into its governance. Boards are not involved in mental health strategy, per the index — just one in 10 boards surveyed have formally defined roles related to it. Leaders are overwhelmed by individual solutions Pike found that HR professionals specifically get inundated by products claiming to be the solution for their employees' mental health. But workplaces need systemic, not pinpointed, solutions, she said. Those solutions include normalizing difficult conversations about stress and resilience. Products or tech focused on single conditions or issues are not going to change the overall landscape, per Pike. 'If your workers were your garden, and the majority of your plants were wilting, you wouldn't pick one up and say, 'What's wrong with this plant?'' Pike said, adding: 'You would understand that there's something wrong with the conditions.'
