Latest news with #SACS
The Citizen
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
James Crawford: Cracking the Durban July code
The young trainer is aiming at another big race target. A month ago, 25-year-old James Crawford took over sole proprietorship of one of the biggest racehorse training yards in Cape Town – in fact, in the country. Yet this week he was back pottering around an old stamping ground on the Highveld. The reason was simple: Randjesfontein training centre near Midrand is where Hollywoodbets Durban July winners have been coming from lately. Both 2023 July champion Winchester Mansion and 2024 champ Oriental Charm were prepared at Randjes – both of them by young Crawford. Don't mess with a winning recipe. James's father Brett built a powerhouse racing stable after relocating from his birthplace in Zimbabwe decades ago. James grew up with the smell of horses and hay ever present, but when he matriculated from elite Cape school SACS the youngster was not convinced the racing game was for him. He took a gap year, went surfing and skateboarding, toyed with the idea of university. Eventually, a lack of ready cash prompted him to lean on his old man for a job. 'Initially the bug never really bit; it was more of a money thing,' James told an In The Box Seat podcast. 'But as I started working and saw all the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting a horse into the winner's box … it resonated with me. 'That connection you get with an individual horse … that's when the bug bit.' The bug drove him to learn all he could about the job – 'how and why my dad did certain things, how he fed his horses…'. Expanding to the Highveld A few years down the line, Brett felt the need to open a satellite training yard on the Highveld. Cape Town racing was going downhill fast at the time and options were being explored. James journeyed into the interior at the tender age of 21 to take charge of a string of nine horses. He spent three months learning at the foot of Randjesfontein master Mike de Kock, to whom Brett had been an assistant yonks before. 'Mr de Kock' did everything differently to Brett, so as confusing as it was at the time, the young man absorbed priceless new lessons. Being thrown in at the deep end proved a master stroke. Winners started flowing from the assistant trainer's yard, many of them horses who weren't cracking it in Cape Town. Within a couple of years, yard numbers had swelled to 50. Then came Winchester Mansion. Brett and James decided raiding KwaZulu-Natal from the Highveld was the way to go. They started posting superb win ratios at the coast when commuting horses back and forth from their Highveld base. Promising young gelding Winchester Mansion was floated down the N3 to run second in the Grade 2 WSB 1900, and then again a month later to win the Dolphins Cup Trial – both classic Durban July prep races. Common wisdom had it that three raids would be a raid too far, but Winchester Mansion nixed that notion to give Brett his first July trophy. Repeat process The whole process was repeated exactly a year later with Oriental Charm, with James the man at the cutting edge of the Randjes prep and the carefully planned travel arrangements. James, already seen in the game as a phenomenon, was brought fully into the spotlight as a full partner with his father: B/J Crawford printed in the racecard beneath their runners. Suddenly Brett got an offer he couldn't refuse – a training position in the racing heaven of Hong Kong. James ascended to the throne in Philippi on 1 June 2025. Now he's back upcountry, shuttling from Joburg to Durban in search of an amazing Durban July triple – though this time it'll be in his name alone. If either of James's runners, Oriental Charm or Pomodoro's Jet, wins Saturday's Durban July, he'll become the youngest trainer to saddle a winner of the big race since David Payne with In Full Flight at the age of 24 in 1972. ALSO READ: Exciting Hollywoodbets Durban July final field unveiled
CBS News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Florida to create less "woke" university accreditation system, Gov. DeSantis says
Florida is working with university leaders from five other Southern states to form a new higher-education accrediting body, Gov. Ron DeSantis and officials from the other states announced Thursday. The Commission for Public Higher Education, which will need federal approval, would be an alternative to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, a longtime accrediting agency that has clashed with Florida education leaders in recent years. "We want to focus on real, serious academic rigor. We want to focus on things that really matter, things that are enduring. We don't want to waste someone's education," DeSantis said during an appearance at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Other participants are university systems in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Accreditation plays a critical role in making schools eligible for students to receive federal financial aid. But Florida, in recent years, took steps to move away from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which is often known as SACS, and battled in federal court with the Biden administration about accreditation. In 2022, the Republican-controlled Legislature and DeSantis approved a bill requiring public universities and colleges to periodically change accreditors. That followed concerns raised in 2021 by SACS about then-state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran's candidacy to become president of Florida State University. Corcoran, who is also a former state House speaker, did not get the FSU job but is now president at New College of Florida. Florida in 2023 filed a lawsuit against federal education officials challenging the constitutionality of the accreditation system, arguing, for example, that "Congress has ceded unchecked power to private accrediting agencies to dictate education standards to colleges and universities, and it has forbidden the U.S. Department of Education from meaningfully reviewing, approving or rejecting those standards." But U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra last year sided with the Biden administration and dismissed the lawsuit. Becerra wrote that Florida could "seek to change the law in Congress, provide its own funding to students attending its schools, or compete in the marketplace without the use of federal funds, just to list a few examples. But this court is only empowered to look at the facts as they are plead, not rhetorical conclusions, and then apply the law as it exists, not as the state would like it to be. By those lights, what the state presented, at least in this complaint, cannot stand." The state appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case remains pending. DeSantis, who has tried to reshape Florida's higher-education system to become more conservative, emphasized a need Thursday to get the new accreditation commission approved while President Donald Trump is in office. He said the Trump administration is supportive of the proposal. "The reality is if it doesn't get approved and stick during that time, we can have a president come in next and potentially revoke it, and they could probably do that very quickly," DeSantis said. "If we get this done … I think almost all the states in our region are going to be favorable to this." DeSantis criticized what he called the "monopoly of the woke accreditation cartels," which he said is "not what the state of Florida wants to see reflected in its universities." State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues contended the current accreditation process wastes time "checking the compliance box and managing the minutiae of bureaucracy, with very little focus on real, actual academic excellence."
The Hill
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
6 Southern public university systems form new accreditation body
Public universities in Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are eschewing long-standing accrediting bodies like the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS) to create their own certification panel, officials announced Thursday. The formation of the new Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) follows Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's battle with SACS over its standards as he pushed his state's colleges to adopt more conservative approaches to education. '[The new body] will upend the monopoly of the woke accreditation cartels, and it will provide institutions with an alternative that focuses on student achievement, rather than the ideological fads that have so permeated those accrediting bodies over the years,' DeSantis said at an event at Florida Atlantic University on Thursday. 'We care about student achievement; we care about measurable outcomes; we care about efficiency; we care about pursuing truth; we care about preparing our students to be citizens of our republic.' 'All those things have played second fiddle if they were even given any credence at all under these more prevailing accreditation models,' he added. DeSantis said leaders of the new body have been working with the Department of Education under the Trump administration to receive expedited federal approval for the new accreditation model to undergo a 'trial run' that will entice more states to join. 'We need these things approved and implemented during President Trump's term of office, because the reality is, if it doesn't get if it doesn't get approved and stick during that time, you can have a president come in next and potentially revoke it, and they could probably do that very quickly,' he said. 'Obviously, we didn't really have the prospects of launching anything like this successfully during the Biden years, but it's a new day and I think this is going to make a big, big difference,' DeSantis continued. The Education Department didn't respond to The Hill's request for comment on the new body. Colleges that have already signed on to CPHE accreditation include ones in the Texas A&M University System, State University System of Florida, University System of Georgia, University of North Carolina System, University of South Carolina and University of Tennessee System. Florida system chancellor Ray Rodrigues, a former Florida state lawmaker who was hired for the higher education role in 2023 by a DeSantis-appointed board, said that the aim is to lift education outcomes. 'The Commission for Public Higher Education will offer an accreditation model that prioritizes academic excellence and student success while removing ideological bias and unnecessary financial burdens,' he said. 'With our current accreditor, SACS, there are nearly 50 four-year, nonprofit colleges and universities that have a four-year graduation rate of 20 percent or less and yet they're still accredited.' SACS President Belle Wheelan's office didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. DeSantis predicted other states, particularly conservative states in the South, will also sign on to gain accreditation from the new body. 'SACS has been such a problem and people want to get away from it,' he said. 'They'll see this accreditation consortium is really offering the type of vision that the leadership in those states believe in.'
Arabian Post
24-06-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
Lagos Data Hub Taps Angola Cables for Continental Leap
LAGOS — Rack Centre's Lagos campus has entered a strategic collocation deal with TelCables Nigeria, a subsidiary of Angola Cables, marking a significant enhancement of West Africa's digital infrastructure. The agreement brings high-capacity network infrastructure and four major subsea cable systems—SACS, MONET, SEBRAS and EllaLink—directly into Rack Centre's campus, securing faster, lower-latency routes to Europe, the Americas and Latin America. Fernando Fernandes, chief executive of TelCables Nigeria and West Africa, highlighted the strategic value of the SACS route to Latin America: 'Businesses in latency‑sensitive sectors—financial services, content delivery and real‑time communications—will experience faster transactions, reduced lag and an enhanced user experience.' He also emphasised that hosting within Rack Centre enables localisation of the Clouds2Africa platform, pricing in naira and shielding customers from foreign currency exposure. The infrastructure rollout includes lighting redundant dark‑fibre rings into Rack Centre's network, ensuring high availability and resilience. Local end‑points for IaaS, PaaS and CDN services enable customers to consume scalable cloud resources domestically, while direct entrances to AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud support hybrid and multi‑cloud strategies alongside dedicated internet access, IP Transit and IX peering. ADVERTISEMENT Since its establishment in 2012, Rack Centre has grown to host over 70 carriers, ISPs and Tier 1 networks. Its new LGS2 facility offers 13.5 MW of IT load, 7,200 m² of white space, four meet‑me rooms and a design PUE of 1.35, powered in part by sustainable energy sources. The facility's N+2 cooling, AI‑ready high‑density racks and building management system underscore its focus on efficiency and innovation. Lars Johannisson, chief executive of Rack Centre, described the alliance with Angola Cables as pivotal. 'We can now offer 99.95 % SLA routes to more destinations, enabling enterprises, governments and cloud providers to meet performance and data‑residency requirements while keeping traffic local,' he said. Angola Cables operates a global backbone spanning 33,000 km of subsea cables—including WACS, SACS and MONET—and extends another 50,000 km through partner systems, linking Africa with the Americas, Europe and Asia. It maintains over 30 points of presence and connectivity to more than 66 data centres worldwide, with capacity in excess of 18,500 Tbps. The inclusion of SACS into Rack Centre's ecosystem is particularly significant. As Africa's first direct low‑latency submarine cable linking Angola and Brazil, the 6,165‑km SACS system became operational in 2018 and is designed with 40 Tb/s capacity. It bypasses traditional Europe‑and‑US routing, reducing latency and costs by declining dependence on indirect paths. The WACS cable system also plays a role, linking Nigeria and Angola to Europe with 14.5 Tbit/s design capacity and more than 500 Gbit/s active capacity to date. MONET, a 10,556‑km subsea link between Brazil and the US, offers 64 Tb/s and connects to Rack Centre via SACS integration. EllaLink extends connectivity between Europe and Latin America via Portugal to Brazil, further diversifying routing options. Industry observers note that West Africa has faced connectivity challenges such as cable cuts and over‑reliance on single routes. Estimates suggest that up to 80 percent of subsea disruption incidents are attributed to accidental damage along the West African corridor. By integrating multiple, redundant systems—including the only direct Africa–Latin America route—the partnership reduces vulnerability. In addition to resilience and performance gains, the initiative supports strategic trends in regional cloud adoption. Enterprises and hyperscalers in Lagos and across West Africa increasingly demand local cloud access, multi‑cloud flexibility and sovereign data environments—requirements that cannot be fully met through satellite or offshore data routing. The on‑campus Clouds2Africa presence eliminates cross‑border ingress/egress fees and foreign exchange volatility for customers paying in naira. As global data flows and artificial intelligence workloads rise, latency optimisation and localised cloud access become vital. Rack Centre's LGS2 architecture aligns with this demand, having been certified as the first EDGE‑certified data centre in EMEA by the International Finance Corporation in 2022. With this enhanced infrastructure, Lagos solidifies its role as a key digital hub—offering enterprises, governments and cloud service providers a robust foundation for secure, resilient, sovereign operations.
The Citizen
22-06-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Schools rugby wrap: Five-star Muller reaches amazing milestone as Paarl Gim crushes Boland
Markus Muller scored five tries in Paarl Gimnasium's crushing victory against Boland Landbou on Saturday. The visitors triumphed 80-19 to maintain their unbeaten record in 2025. During the match, Muller reached the amazing milestone of 50 tries for the Paarl Gim 1st XV, and the outside centre was also successful with nine out of 10 goal kicks for a total haul of 43 points. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Thys LoMBArd® (@thyslombard) In the two Cape Town southern suburbs derbies on Saturday, Wynberg won 21-10 at SACS, while hosts Rondebosch beat Bishops 28-7. In Johannesburg, fullback Sicelo Sakawuli scored two tries in St Stithians College's 25-21 win over St John's College. Flyhalf Oliver Wilson kicked two conversions and two penalties for the victorious hosts. Selected schools results (21 June) Eastern Cape Dale 21 St Andrew's 33 Stirling 5 Selborne 62 Kingswood 60 Woodridge 8 Union 19 Graeme 14 Hudson Park 24 Port Rex 31 KwaZulu-Natal Hilton 29 Michaelhouse 20 Noordvaal St Alban's 9 Kearsney 59 St Stithians 25 St John's 21 St Benedict's 24 CBC Boksburg 23 Western Cape Boland Landbou 29 Paarl Gim 80 SACS 10 Wynberg 21 Rondebosch 28 Bishops 7 Paarl Boys' 54 Durbanville 14 Image: Thys Lombard The post Schools wrap: Five-star Muller reaches amazing milestone appeared first on SA Rugby Magazine.
