Catherine Amidu, 17, right, laughs with her best neighborhood friend, Aisha, at her home in Machinga, Malawi on Sunday, Feb, 9, 2020. People with albinism in several African countries live in fear of being abducted and killed in the mistaken belief that their body parts carry special powers and can be sold for thousands of dollars. The teenager survived an attempt on her life in 2017. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Agency ordered to pay fees in ‘IM GOD’ license plate case

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has to pay more than $150,000 in legal fees for a man who won a lawsuit allowing him to put “IM GOD” on his license plate.

A judge ruled this week that the state agency must pay $150,715.50 in attorneys’ fees and an additional $491.24 for court costs, news outlets reported.

The ruling came in a case filed by Ben Hart, a self-identified atheist, who set out to get the Kentucky plate in 2016. The transportation department denied the request on the basis it violated anti-discrimination guidelines.

A federal judge ruled in November that “vanity plates” are private speech protected by the First Amendment and that the state had violated Hart’s rights by denying him the plate.

Lawyers for the state cabinet fought the costs, calling them excessive.

The fees will go to a team of lawyers, including some with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, both of which helped Hart challenge the state’s decision.

Now this: Tornado clobbers African American North Nashville

A woman walks down a street lined with debris Friday, March 6, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. Residents and businesses face a huge cleanup effort after tornadoes hit the state Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — On a frigid Friday morning in North Nashville, Ishvicka Howell stood in her driveway and peered down the street at several utility trucks.

“When I saw those blinking lights, it was like Christmas,” she said.

Howell has been without electricity since a tornado tore through her neighborhood shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

“No power. No heat. We pioneering it,” Howell said. “Grilling it and boiling water on the grill. We’re in survival mode.”

The tornado that struck Nashville wrecked several neighborhoods as it hopped across the city, smashing in trendy Germantown and Five Points, where two people died.

Workers repair a roof damaged by a tree uprooted by a tornado Friday, March 6, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. Residents and businesses face a huge cleanup effort after tornadoes hit the state Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

But North Nashville’s historically African American neighborhoods were already suffering from decades of redlining and neglect, isolated from more affluent neighborhoods by the interstates that cut through the heart of the city. More recently, they have begun to feel the pressure of gentrification as new residents and short-term renters search out affordable areas near downtown.

And now this. The killer storm devastated whole blocks, tearing off roofs, blowing down walls, uprooting huge trees and toppling electrical poles. While many parts of North Nashville had little storm damage, most residents were still without electricity Friday. No lights. No heat. And no way to store or cook food.

Some are wondering if North Nashville can recover from this latest hit or if its African American families will be permanently displaced.

“We are worried because we know developers are going to come in,” said Cornelius A. Hill, pastor of Ephesian Primitive Baptist Church.

But Hill said he was encouraged by the outpouring of aid. His church, too, is without power. But outside in the parking lot, donations of all sorts have been pouring in to be donated to grateful residents. It was a scene repeated on nearly every corner of the storm-damaged blocks on Friday. Volunteers manned folding tables with free water, batteries, diapers, trash bags, and hot food like barbecue, hot dogs and pizza.

Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers toting rakes and chainsaws were taking advantage of the daylight. They covered roofs with tarps, sliced away at downed and damaged trees, and piled debris at curbside for public works trucks to cart away.

“This is a historic part of Nashville. Some of these homes have been here 40 or 50 years,” said Jonathan Williamson with the community group Friends and Fam. “It’s beautiful to see everyone come out and work together to get things fixed.”

North Nashville is home to several historically black colleges and universities. Fisk University and Meharry Medical College were largely unscathed from the storm. But Tennessee State University suffered the near total destruction of its agricultural research center. The loss is estimated at between $30 and $50 million.

A group of volunteers moves items salvaged from a damaged home Friday, March 6, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. Residents and businesses face a huge cleanup effort after tornadoes hit the state Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

College of Agriculture Dean Chandra Reddy said the school has never been funded on par with the University of Tennessee. It’s only in the past few years that the state government has started matching federal funding, and the school has been working hard to build up the program.

“This tornado is a double whammy for us. We were barely putting something up there, and then this comes and wipes it out,” said Reddy.

Reddy said he is encouraged that Gov. Bill Lee, who supports rural development, visited Tuesday morning. He is hoping the state government will come through to help the program quickly rebuild and grow.

“If we want to produce top-class research, we need good facilities and good faculty,” Reddy said. “Those don’t come cheap.”


Electrical workers install a new power line poll Friday, March 6, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. Residents and businesses face a huge cleanup effort after tornadoes hit the state Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Over at the corner of 16th Ave. North and Knowles Street, one of the most heavily damaged residential blocks, new city councilman Brandon Taylor stopped to talk with Robert Sherrill of the nonprofit Impact Youth Outreach. Taylor said city leaders already are discussing ways to help residents rebuild.

“We’re trying to build a plan to make sure the community comes out of this whole,” he said.

Sherrill grew up on 16th Ave. North and has already seen how much it has changed through gentrification. He worries that any help won’t come soon enough.

“We know there are people already knocking on doors,” he said. “If they say they’re going to put you up in the Omni for a week and give you $100,000 cash, and you’re staying in a house with no walls, you might accept that.”

Paige Jack, with the group Friends and Fam, was handing out food nearby and was more optimistic. She thinks the volunteers from other parts of the city and beyond will leave feeling more connected to North Nashville.

“It’s made people much more appreciative of our community,” she said.

The National Weather Service has said at least six tornadoes hit middle Tennessee during the series of storms that killed 24 people and caused massive damage. Eighteen were killed in Putnam County, where President Donald Trump visited on Friday to offer his condolences. Trump flew in and out of Nashville but did not stop in the city.

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Officials vote to keep Wright architecture school open

File - This Sept. 25, 2016, file photo, shows Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin that famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed and lived in. The architecture school that architect Frank Lloyd Wright started nearly 90 years ago is closing. School officials announced Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, that the School of Architecture at Taliesin, which encompasses Wright properties in Wisconsin and Arizona, will shutter in June. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File)


MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The school that architect Frank Lloyd Wright started nearly 90 years ago may stay open after all.

The board of the School of Architecture at Taliesin announced in January that the school would close in June because the board and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the school’s biggest financial supporter, had failed to come up with a way to keep the school open. The foundation said then that the school lacked a sustainable business model.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports the board voted Thursday to keep the school open in light of new funding.

The decision to remain open is still subject to approval by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The foundation issued a statement on Friday saying it has little information about the new funding sources.

The school has campuses in Wisconsin and Arizona.

Board Chairman Dan Schweiker said new supporters have come forward. Qingyun Ma, former dean of the University of Southern California’s architecture school and now affiliated with two Chinese universities, has committed to sending six new students in August and up to 12 new students in 2021 to the School of Architecture at Taliesin, moves that will generate significant tuition revenue, Schweiker said.

Until Wright’s death in 1959 at age 91, Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona, was the famed architect’s winter home and laboratory. The original Taliesin, Wright’s primary home in Spring Green, Wisconsin, was named after a 6th century Welsh bard whose name means “shining brow.”

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2018, is Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz. The architecture school that architect Frank Lloyd Wright started nearly 90 years ago is closing. School officials announced Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, that the School of Architecture at Taliesin, which encompasses Wright properties in Wisconsin and Arizona, will shutter in June. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman)

File - This Sept. 24, 2017, file photo, shows the drafting room at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz., the winter home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the architecture school he founded. The architecture school that architect Frank Lloyd Wright started nearly 90 years ago is closing. School officials announced Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, that the School of Architecture at Taliesin, which encompasses Wright properties in Wisconsin and Arizona, will shutter in June. (AP Photo/Anita Snow, File)

File - In this Feb. 22, 2014, file photo, students in the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, from left; Carl Kohut, Garth Lindquist, Soham Shah and Connor Bingham work on restoring the "Lotus Shelter" that was built in 1963 by Valley architect Kamal Amin, at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz. The architecture school that architect Frank Lloyd Wright started nearly 90 years ago is closing. School officials announced Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, that the School of Architecture at Taliesin, which encompasses Wright properties in Wisconsin and Arizona, will shutter in June. (David Wallace/The Arizona Republic via AP, File)

Mormon students protest BYU stance on same-sex behavior

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Brigham Young University student Kate Lunnen joins several hundred students protesting near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church headquarters Friday, March 6, 2020, in Salt Lake City, to show their displeasure with a letter this week that clarified that "same-sex romantic behavior" is not allowed on campus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A protester joins several hundred students gathered near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church headquarters Friday, March 6, 2020, in Salt Lake City, to show their displeasure with a letter this week that clarified that "same-sex romantic behavior" is not allowed on campus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — After Brigham Young University two weeks ago dropped a section from its strict code of conduct that had prohibited all expressions of homosexual behavior, bisexual music major Caroline McKenzie felt newfound hope that she could stop hiding and be herself. She even went on a date with another woman.

That optimism was pierced this week when administrators at the university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints clarified in a letter posted online Wednesday that “same-sex romantic behavior” was still not allowed on campus. The letter said the recent revision to what is known as the “honor code” didn’t change the “moral standards” of the church or the faith’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

McKenzie said it made her feel whiplash and that her religion was telling her she was dirty for who she is and unwanted by God. She’s reassessing whether she wants to finish her studies at BYU even though she loves her professors and the education she’s receiving.

“It’s psychologically damaging,” said McKenzie, 23, of Kaysville, Utah. “It has been a roller coaster the last couple of weeks. This last Wednesday pretty much destroyed me. It felt like I was drowning again.”

She was one of several hundred people who protested Friday afternoon outside church headquarters in Salt Lake City to cap off a week of fury and heartbreak for LGBTQ students and their straight allies. They sang hymns and chanted “have no fear, God loves queers” as they held rainbow flags. They held signs that read “Love one another,” “Jesus loves everyone” and “Bigotry wrapped in prayer is still bigotry.”

McKenzie held a sign that said, “My family doesn’t want me, now my school? BYU is home.” It referenced a lack of support from her family after she came out last summer.

As they chanted loudly, “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re done living in fear,” many stared up at windows in the church headquarters.

Joey Pierson, left, and Luke Larsen, right, join several hundred Brigham Young University students protesting near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church headquarters Friday, March 6, 2020, in Salt Lake City, to show their displeasure with a letter this week that clarified that "same-sex romantic behavior" is not allowed on campus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The Utah-based religion of 16-million members worldwide has tried in the last decade to create a more welcoming environment for LGBTQ members, while adhering to its doctrinal opposition of gay marriage. The faith, widely known as the Mormon church, teaches that while being gay is not a sin, engaging in same-sex relationships is against God’s commandments.

Church spokesman Doug Andersen said in a statement Friday: “The teachings of the church and the policies of our universities are consistent with eternal principles, and seek to encourage and strengthen relationships that lead to eternal covenants made with God. The church and its leaders continue to teach that though there may be disagreement on an issue or policy, we should treat one other with love, respect and kindness.”

Students who attend BYU in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, agree to adhere to the code of conduct known as the “honor code”, and nearly all are members of the church. Punishments for violations range from discipline to suspension and expulsion. The code bans other things that are common at other colleges, including drinking, beards and piercings.

The letter posted this week and an accompanying Q&A posted online don’t provide details about what same-sex romantic behaviors are and aren’t allowed. But it seems to shut the door on the idea that gay and lesbian couples will be allowed to kiss and hold hands on campus like their heterosexual classmates.

“Same-sex romantic behavior cannot lead to eternal marriage and is therefore not compatible with the principles included in the honor code,” wrote Paul V. Johnson, commissioner of the church education system.

Church members Joey Pierson and Luke Larsen held hands as they chanted and sang along Friday at the rally. The young couple that identify as gay are still in high school, but came out to support fellow gay Latter-day Saints who attend BYU.

“I’m tired of feeling so suppressed and not feeling the love that God wants us to feel,” said Pierson, 18. “It’s time to show what God’s love looks like and that his God is unconditional and infinite and reaches everyone, not just straight people and not just celibate gay people.”
Ryan Jenks, left, and Caloway Williams, right, join several hundred Brigham Young University students protesting near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church headquarters Friday, March 6, 2020, in Salt Lake City, to show their displeasure with a letter this week that clarified that "same-sex romantic behavior" is not allowed on campus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


Caloway Williams, a BYU senior who is gay, called the letter a slap in the face that he interpreted to meant his faith doesn’t love or accept LGBTQ people. He called it infuriating to hear top leaders speak of their love for everyone and then see policies that don’t match that principle.

“I want them to know it’s not OK what they have done. These are people’s lives they are messing with,” said Williams, 24, of Minot, North Dakota. “We are deserving of love and acceptance, and we are not going away.”

Several hundred Brigham Young University students march near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church headquarters Friday, March 6, 2020, in Salt Lake City, to show their displeasure with a letter this week that clarified that "same-sex romantic behavior" is not allowed on campus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

American Pot entrepreneurs flocking to the Bible Belt for low taxes

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Jessica Baker takes a cutting of a plant at the Baker's marijuana nursery at Baker Medical, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Oklahoma City. When voters in conservative Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, many thought the rollout would be ploddingly slow and burdened with bureaucracy. Instead, business is booming so much cannabis industry workers and entrepreneurs are moving to Oklahoma from states with more well-established pot cultures, like California, Colorado and Oregon. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — From their keen taste for sun-ripened pot to their first meeting at a pro-marijuana rally in college in the 1990s, everything about Chip and Jessica Baker fits the stereotype of cannabis country in Northern California, where they lived for 20 years.

Jessica, with wavy hair that falls halfway down her back, is a practicing herbalist, acupuncturist and aromatherapist who teaches classes on the health benefits of cannabis. Scruffy-bearded Chip wears a jacket with a prominent “grower” patch and hosts a marijuana podcast called “The Real Dirt.” They started their pot business in rugged Humboldt County when it was the thriving epicenter of marijuana cultivation.

But the couple bid goodbye to the weed-friendly West and moved somewhere that might seem like the last place they would end up — Oklahoma.

They’re part of a green rush into the Bible Belt that no one anticipated when Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana less than two years ago. Since then, a combination of factors — including a remarkably open-ended law and a red state’s aversion to government regulation — have created such ideal conditions for the cannabis industry that entrepreneurs are pouring in from states where legal weed has been established for years.

Though 11 states have fully legalized marijuana for recreational use, Oklahoma’s medical law is the closest thing to it: Anyone with any ailment, real or imagined, who can get a doctor’s approval can get a license to buy. It’s not hard to do. Already, nearly 6% of the state’s 4 million residents have obtained their prescription cards. And people who want to sell pot can do it as easily as opening a taco stand.

“Oklahoma is really allowing for normal people to get into the cannabis industry, as opposed to other places where you need $20 million up front,” said Jessica Baker.

The Bakers have a marijuana farm about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Oklahoma City, along with a dispensary, nursery and gardening shop in a working-class part of town where virtually every vacant shop and building has been snapped up by weed entrepreneurs in the last year.

When he leased his place, which had been vacant for 10 years, Chip Baker said, “to celebrate, the owner went to Hawaii for a month.”

Unlike other states, Oklahoma did not limit the number of business licenses for dispensaries, growers or processors.

In less than two years, Oklahoma has more than 2,300 pot stores, or the second most per capita in the U.S. behind only Oregon, which has had recreational marijuana sales for five years. Oklahoma has four times more retail outlets than more populous Colorado, which pioneered full legalization.

“Some of these states are regulating cannabis like plutonium,” said Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the National Cannabis Industry Association, the national trade group for marijuana businesses. “And the financial burdens that are placed on licensed businesses are so onerous, that not only is it very difficult to stay in business, but it’s also very difficult for the legal, state-regulated systems to compete with the illicit market.”

Marijuana taxes approach 50% in some California communities and are a factor in some business closings.

California requires a $1,000 application fee, a $5,000 surety bond and an annual license fee ranging from $2,500 to $96,000, depending on a dispensary’s projected revenue, along with a lengthy application process. Licenses can cost $300,000 annually.

In Oklahoma, a dispensary license costs $2,500, can be filled out online and is approved within two weeks.Arkansas, next door to Oklahoma, also has medical marijuana, but like most such states, it allows purchase only for treatment of certain diseases, such as glaucoma or post-traumatic stress disorder. It also requires a $100,000 surety bond. Louisiana, which also tightly restricts prescriptions, has only nine licensed dispensaries.

Ford Austin and his sister opened the APCO Medical Marijuana Dispensary in a gentrifying part of Oklahoma City after he gave up on plans for a California weed store. “There’s way more opportunity here,” he said.

Sarah Lee Gossett Parish, an Oklahoma attorney specializing in cannabis law, said about 15% of her cannabis clients are coming from out of state.

“I frequently receive calls from people in the cannabis industry in California,” Gossett Parish said.

People in some rural towns are worried about the Wild West atmosphere of the boom, particularly where shops with funny weed-pun names, waving banners and blinking signs have opened near schools and churches.

A Republican state legislator, Jim Olsen, has proposed a bill banning dispensaries within 1000 feet (305 meters) of a church. “While I recognize that some people do find pain relief from medical marijuana, with children we really don’t want them to think that when they reach problems in life, that marijuana is a good answer to that.”

But Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and the GOP-controlled Legislature have shown no interest in reining in the industry since the ballot measure authorizing it passed overwhelmingly. The industry has mostly fought off local attempts at zoning.

Many communities are welcoming cannabis shops because of the sales tax revenue. In college-town Norman and in Oklahoma City, at least a half dozen businesses have joined the chambers of commerce.

“In our community, I think most businesses view them as equals,” said Scott Martin, president of the Norman Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve even had a handful of ribbon cutting ceremonies.”

Marijuana sales generated $54 million in tax revenue last year, accounted for the sharpest ever annual decline in empty mid-sized industrial properties in Oklahoma City, and booked up electricians around Tulsa outfitting new grow rooms with lights and temperature controls.

Even some longtime opponents of marijuana legalization have softened their tone.

Sheriff Chris West in Canadian County, one of many law enforcement officers who decried the 2018 legalization ballot measure, says a number of farmers he knows have decided to switch crops.

“I’ve had them call me and tell me, ‘Sheriff, we’re going to venture into this business and we’d like for you to come out and see our facility, because we want you to know what we’re doing.’ And these are longtime, good, godly, Christian families that see it as an income opportunity.”

___

Chip Baker holds a cutting of a marijuana plant at the Baker's marijuana nursery at Bakers Medical, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Oklahoma City. When voters in conservative Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, many thought the rollout would be ploddingly slow and burdened with bureaucracy. Instead, business is booming so much cannabis industry workers and entrepreneurs are moving to Oklahoma from states with more well-established pot cultures, like California, Colorado and Oregon. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)


Recently planted marijuana cuttings are pictured in a humidity dome in a nursery at Baker's Medical, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Oklahoma City. When voters in conservative Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, many thought the rollout would be ploddingly slow and burdened with bureaucracy. Instead, business is booming so much cannabis industry workers and entrepreneurs are moving to Oklahoma from states with more well-established pot cultures, like California, Colorado and Oregon. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Chip and Jessica Baker pose for a photo at their marijuana nursery at Baker's Medical, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Oklahoma City. When voters in conservative Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, many thought the rollout would be ploddingly slow and burdened with bureaucracy. Instead, business is booming so much cannabis industry workers and entrepreneurs are moving to Oklahoma from states with more well-established pot cultures, like California, Colorado and Oregon. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Chip Baker shows a flat of plants that have begun to root at the Baker's marijuana nursery at Baker's Medical, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Oklahoma City. When voters in conservative Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, many thought the rollout would be ploddingly slow and burdened with bureaucracy. Instead, business is booming so much cannabis industry workers and entrepreneurs are moving to Oklahoma from states with more well-established pot cultures, like California, Colorado and Oregon. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

SpaceX launches station supplies, nails 50th rocket landing
In a time exposure, a SpaceX Falcon is launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday night, March 6, 2020, with a load of supplies for the International Space Station. Cocoa Beach, Fla., is in the foreground. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP)

In a time exposure, a SpaceX Falcon is launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., as seen from Viera, Fla., Friday night, March 6, 2020. The Falcon rocket blasted off with 4,300 pounds (1,950 kilograms) of equipment and experiments for the International Space Station. Just minutes later, the spent first-stage booster made a dramatic midnight landing back at Cape Canaveral, its return accompanied by sonic booms. (Tim Shortt/Florida Today via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX successfully launched another load of station supplies for NASA late Friday night and nailed its 50th rocket landing.

The Falcon rocket blasted off with 4,300 pounds (1,950 kilograms) of equipment and experiments for the International Space Station. Just minutes later, the spent first-stage booster made a dramatic midnight landing back at Cape Canaveral, its return accompanied by sonic booms.

“And the Falcon has landed for the 50th time in SpaceX history!” SpaceX engineer Jessica Anderson announced amid cheers at Mission Control. “What an amazing live view all the way to touchdown.”

The Dragon capsule, meanwhile, hurtled toward a Monday rendezvous with the space station.

It’s the 20th station delivery for SpaceX, which has launched nearly 100,000 pounds (45,360 kilograms) of goods to the orbiting outpost and returned nearly that much back to Earth since it began shipments in 2012. Northrop Grumman is NASA’s other commercial shipper.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said it was the windiest conditions ever — 25 mph to 30 mph (40 kph to 48 kph) — for a booster landing at Cape Canaveral, but he wanted to push the envelope. The landing was the 50th successful touchdown of a SpaceX booster following liftoff, either on land or at sea.

“Envelope expanded,” Musk tweeted following touchdown.

The company’s first booster landing was in 2015, intended as a cost-saving, rocket-recycling move. Both the latest booster and Dragon capsule were recycled from previous flights.

A time exposure from Viera, Fla., shows the launch of a SpaceX Falcon from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday night, March 6, 2020. The rocket blasted off with 4,300 pounds (1,950 kilograms) of equipment and experiments for the International Space Station. Just minutes later, the spent first-stage booster made a dramatic midnight landing back at Cape Canaveral, its return accompanied by sonic booms. (Tim Shortt/Florida Today via AP)

Among the science experiments flying: an analysis of running shoe cushioning in weightlessness by Adidas, a water droplet study by Delta Faucet Co. striving for better showerhead water conservation, 3D models of heart and intestinal tissue, and 320 snippets of grape vines by Space Cargo Unlimited, the same Luxembourg startup that sent 12 bottles of red wine to the space station last November for a year of high-altitude aging.

The Dragon also contained treats for the two Americans and one Russian at the space station: grapefruit, oranges, apples, tomatoes, Skittles, Hot Tamales and Reese’s Pieces.

As for packing the capsule for launch, no extra precautions were taken because of the global coronavirus outbreak, according to NASA. The usual stringent precautions were taken to avoid passing along any germs or diseases to the space station crew. The doctor-approved procedures have proven effective in the past, officials noted.

In a time exposure from Cocoa Beach, Fla., a SpaceX Falcon rocket leaves a long trail after launch Friday, March 6, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The two shorter streaks are from the first-stage booster firing on its return for a landing at Cape Canaveral. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP)

This is the last of SpaceX’s original Dragon cargo capsules. Going forward, the company will launch supplies in second-generation Dragons, roomier and more elaborate versions built for crews.

The company aims to launch NASA astronauts this spring. The California-based SpaceX also teaming up with other companies to fly tourists and private researchers to the space station, as well as high solo orbits in the next couple years.

Everything you thought you knew about UK immigration is wrong


In the first piece of a new series, Minnie Rahman @MinnieRahman explains why we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for migrants’ rights by telling the truth. And there’s no better time to do so than right now


Most people who come to live in the UK have ‘no recourse to public funds’, meaning they are not eligible for benefits ( EPA-EFE )


Myths around migration are so common that it’s difficult to tell where reality ends and the truth begins. Politicians from across the spectrum still claim that those with “legitimate concerns” have not had their voices heard, despite the fact that misconceptions around migration are predominant in the media, and that statistics show time and again that people come to the UK for a range of reasons.

Rarely does the public understand what moving to the UK is like. But every day, people’s lives, families and communities are torn apart by a tangled mess of rules, a chaotic Home Office and a hostile environment – and these are the voices we rarely hear.

The simple truth about migration is that people move. They always have and always will. But at a time when immigration reform is high on the government’s agenda, it’s vital that we challenge the myths that are so prevalent in our discourse. After Brexit, our new migration system must be based on evidence, not cynical scapegoating.

“Migrants steal jobs and bring down wages”
We hear almost daily that migrants threaten British jobs, and that migrant workers lead to a drop in wages for British workers. In reality, there is no evidence that migration drives down wages, particularly for the working class. Migrants themselves are disproportionately represented in low-wage sectors and research from the University College London has found that migration can actually lead to an increase in the wages of higher-paid workers. A recent government-commissioned report by the Migration Advisory Committee found that it is international financial forces, not migration, that impacts salaries, with all workers having done badly since the financial crisis of 2008. Real wages are still struggling to rise above where they were in the aftermath of that crisis and in many cases, migrant workers are actually leading the battle to ensure that standards rise for all workers.

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“The new points-based system rightly rewards migrants based on merit”

The government claims that its new “points-based” migration system, introduced through the recently announced immigration bill, will “attract high-skilled workers”. But the proposals actually amount to a two-tier system which makes judgements on income, treats people as economic commodities and makes it impossible for anyone to live in the UK unless they are rich or have a PhD.

By the government’s definition of “skilled”, most of us in the country are unskilled. Take the fact that more than one in five workers in the care sector were born outside the UK, or that on average, carers earn less than £18,000. These are the people who spend their days looking after people in their hour of greatest need, a hugely emotionally and physically demanding job – yet they fall far below the salary threshold the government has set at £25,600. The proposals do nothing but make businesses and industry insecure, and risks decimating the NHS.

“Migrants abuse the welfare system”

In the same breath, people who perpetuate the false notion that migrants drive down wages often also claim that migrants are abusing our welfare system. Memes and viral Facebook posts often claim that “illegal” immigrants are always “first in the queue” for housing, benefits and are a drain on the NHS. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. As shown by the latest report from the Office for National Statistics on immigration, it’s students who make up around half of all non-EU immigration and the majority of EU nationals predominantly arrive to work.

Health tourism is almost non-existent, with the NHS spending more on stationery than on treating people who aren’t eligible for NHS care. The government’s own estimate puts the cost of deliberate misuse of the NHS by overseas visitors at 0.3 per cent of the NHS budget – the majority of this is actually British expats living overseas, who are not “ordinarily resident” in the UK and return to the UK solely to use the NHS outside of the rules.


Migrants of all kinds do pay for NHS services and have done for many years. The Immigration Health Surcharge, which is included as part of visa applications, means that migrants actually pay for the NHS twice over – £1,000 a year as part of their visa application, and then payments through their tax contributions.

In fact, most people who come to live in the UK have “no recourse to public funds”, meaning they are not eligible for benefits. Even asylum-seekers, who are barred from working, are left to live on just £5.39 per day, and struggle to support themselves and their families. What’s more, the “hostile environment” denies anyone without documentation the right to benefits, banking, driving licences and employment.


“The immigration system helps vulnerable, trafficked women”

Under current rules, anyone without documentation faces arrest or indefinite detention. When such people are trafficked and abused by employers, this means they fear coming forward to the police. The criminalisation of migration means that victims of trafficking, migrant workers and survivors of domestic abuse fear going to the police in case they’re reported to immigration enforcement. Abusers are also able to hold on to vital documentation and use it as a means to further exploit and control their victims. There is a fundamental clash within the Home Office. The same agency that is meant to protect victims of trafficking also seeks, in many cases, to remove them from the country.

An immigrant's tale: Leaving Britain to escape Brexit hostility
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“The UK has a soft border”

The UK’s border itself is the source of one of the most pernicious myths about migration. Anti-migrant groups claim that the border is “soft” or “porous”. In fact, the UK already has extremely restrictive and draconian border controls, highlighted most clearly with the tragic case of the Essex 39. If we truly had a “soft” border, then people would not be risking their lives trying to cross the Channel in order to get here. The lack of safe and legal routes of entry into the UK ensures that those who are desperate will be pushed to extreme methods of entry. Far from being soft, our hard border regime already means that many people die on entry to the UK, or are left to the hands of those willing to exploit them.

We shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for migrants’ rights by telling the truth. The truth about migration is that those in power have failed to make the case for migrants’ rights, and have instead pandered to anti-migrant narratives. Migrants are far more than their economic contributions and are not responsible for destructive policies designed to crack down on public spending. Britain can be a place where people don’t suffer just because they move, where policy is grounded in evidence and the public are brought on board – we just have to be brave enough to ask for it.

Minnie Rahman is a writer, speaker and public affairs and campaigns manager at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants

Remains of Anglo-Saxon princess who could be the Queen’s earliest known relative discovered by scientists in Kent

Eanswythe, the daughter of King Eadbald, is believed to have founded England’s first nunnery before her life was cut short, likely as a result of bubonic plague

An Anglo-Saxon princess who was one of England’s earliest Christian saints has been identified by scientists in a church in Kent.

Some historical evidence suggests that she may be the present Queen’s earliest known relative whose remains have so far been identified.

Dating from the mid-seventh century AD, the princess was the daughter of King Eadbald (literally “the prosperous one”), the ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent, who was that micro-country’s monarch from 616 (or 618) to 640.

Parts of the Kentish royal dynasty’s lineage are unclear but some interpretations of their genealogy suggests that he was the present Queen’s 40th great grandfather.

His daughter Eanswythe, whose fragmentary skeleton has just been identified, was a devout Christian who was said to have refused to marry the pagan king of northeast England; and instead decided to become a nun.

The St Eanswythe excavation in pictures
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Although only a teenager at the time, she is believed to have founded and became abbess of what may well have been England’s first nunnery – potentially at the request of her brother, Eorcenberht, Eadbald’s successor as king.

She was the granddaughter of Bertha, a Christian queen of Kent who, along with St Augustine, was arguably the key individual responsible for helping to initiate pagan Anglo-Saxon England’s conversion to Christianity.

But tragically, Eanswythe’s life was cut short – possibly by a bubonic plague epidemic – and she died in her late teens or very early 20s.

She was and still is the patron saint of Folkestone and a local history project, aptly called “Finding Eanswythe”, is using the full panoply of modern science to rediscover the long-lost secrets of her life.

A thorough examination of her surviving teeth suggests that she ate relatively refined food. In life, her dentition appears to have been pristine – with virtually no pre-death wear and tear.

Her bones also showed very little sign of injury – apart from a potential stress fracture in one foot bone and two possible damaged finger bones.

Now the “Finding Eanswythe” project, supported by Folkstone Museum, hopes to analyse her DNA and the DNA of any pathogens in her bones to learn more about her royal lineage and to reveal whether or not she died from the plague.
Data from the royal saint’s teeth, above, were crucial to her identification (Kevin Harvey/Folkestone Museum)

Isotopic analysis will also be carried out and may reveal where she grew up and more details about her diet. Although her life was tragically short, her afterlife was rather more dramatic.

After her death, according to mediaeval accounts, she was buried in her own private chapel, overlooking the sea above Folkestone. But as coastal erosion undercut the cliffs, the abbesses who succeeded her increasingly realised that the building would eventually end up crashing into the sea below.

Some time in the eighth century her remains were removed from the stricken chapel and put into a specially built shrine in the nunnery’s main church. By the late 11 century, the nunnery had become a monastery.

However, following the Norman conquest, a castle was built around it – so, in the 12 century, the monks demanded that they be allowed to move to a new, less secular, site.

The princess’s bones were therefore disinterred again and moved, in 1138, a few hundred metres away to a brand new church, a later version of which still stands today as Folkestone’s Parish Church. There she became the centre of a local cult and was believed to be able to help cure disease. Her official saint’s day is 12 September.

But, after the mediaeval period had drawn to a close, Eanswythe’s story took a new and unexpected turn.

Icon donated by Orthodox pilgrims to St Eanswythe’s 
shrine (© Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe, Folkestone)

Stained glass window (depicting St Eanswythe) in the Church of St Mary
 and St Eanswythe (© Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe, Folkestone)
When Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England, the government became increasingly hostile to the veneration of saints. In 1535, the prior of Folkestone seems to have realised that, unless he took drastic action, government officials would seize and destroy Eanswythe’s bones. So he (or some of his monks) appear to have hurriedly forced the lead box containing them into a secret hole in the church wall and blocked it off.

The prior, or a senior church member, then showed the officials a probably gold or gem-studded reliquary, almost certainly containing just a few parts of the saint’s skull.

That box, with its diminished contents, was subsequently seized by the government and was then acquired by a member of Henry VIII’s household, a Folkestone politician and businessman called Anthony Aucher, who no doubt profited substantially by selling any gems which had adorned the reliquary.

Meanwhile, Eanswythe rested safe and secure in her dark hiding place inside the church’s north wall, just beside the altar.

Gradually her hiding place was forgotten – until, in 1885, workmen engaged in modernising the church stumbled across her remains. There was immediate speculation about the possibility that they could be the bones of St Eanswythe and the discovery was reported in newspapers worldwide.

Image of the lead container and bones found by workmen in June 1885 published in Archaeologia Cantiana in 1886 (© Kent Archaeological Society)
But in the 19th century, there was no way of confirming her identity.

So for 132 years, the bones were stashed away in a specially constructed wall niche and once again began to fade from memory, until just three years ago a group of local historians and archaeologists decided to try to solve the mystery.

They did so by asking scientists to examine the bones in order to discover the long-dead individual’s age at death and sex – and by carrying out radiocarbon dating tests to ascertain whether the bones did indeed date from the seventh century.

The answers virtually proved that the fragmentary skeleton was indeed that of St Eanswythe.
The bones showed very little signs of distress (Mark Hourahane/Folkestone Museum)

The scientists were able to demonstrate that the individual was almost certainly female.

Medieval sources had said that she had died very young – and the scientific examination of her bones and teeth revealed that the individual had been between 17 and 21 years old when she had passed away.

The radiocarbon tests then revealed that she had died in the mid-seventh century – the exact period when Eanswythe‘s life ended.

What’s more, examination of her teeth showed virtually no pre-death scratches on her tooth enamel, a fact that suggests that she had consumed relatively little coarse food.


Throughout the medieval period, a large number of stories attached themselves to her. She was credited with at least five miracles and was venerated by people in the Folkestone area.

She was believed, for instance, to have miraculously made water run uphill (a story probably developed in order to explain an optical illusion which seemed to show a local aqueduct channelling water up a gradient). She was also credited for resurrecting a dead goose that had been stolen and eaten.

Eanswythe was also said to have miraculously lengthened a wooden beam to construct a church by calling on Christ to help when a pagan king and his gods had failed to lengthen it.


And after her death, her ghost was said to have cured a man suffering from leprosy or some other skin disease.
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But, beyond those legends, what was her real significance?

In a sense, she symbolises the huge contribution to early English history made by high-status women. Prior to the coming of Christianity, it is not known whether Anglo-Saxon women played any major political roles.

But the coming of Christianity certainly provided one. Princesses played a major part in the conversion of England from paganism to the new faith. When Anglo-Saxon and other Christian princesses married pagan Anglo-Saxon kings, their presence often allowed Christianity to gain the upper hand and flourish.

What’s more, those royal daughters who did not marry kings and princes were established by their royal fathers or brothers as abbesses of a new type of institution – nunneries, which in turn, alongside the monasteries, began to wield substantial social and cultural influence. Many of the new abbesses (like Eanswythe) became popular saints and were revered for centuries.

St Eanswythe died some 1,360 years ago but her newly rediscovered life and times are about to captivate a new audience.

“Our identification of St Eanswythe’s skeletal remains open up the possibility of using DNA to investigate the ancestry of the Kentish and Frankish royal dynasties,” said the senior archaeologist involved in the project, Dr Andrew Richardson of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

“St Eanswythe was a local heroine of great relevance to local people. In mediaeval times, they saw her as their protector from disease and suffering. Researching her today will bring the people of Folkestone nearer to that history,” said the head of the Finding Eanswythe project, Dr Lesley Hardy, a historian at Canterbury Christ Church University.

The project is being largely financed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: HOW IS IT CELEBRATED AROUND THE WORLD?

The day takes place on Sunday 8 March this year

International Women’s Day (IWD) will be celebrated around the world on Sunday 8 March, as people come together to champion the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality.

While the day itself carries the clear theme of female empowerment across the world, the way it’s acknowledged and celebrated differs from country to country.

Some companies offer women a half-day off work, for example, while others celebrate by giving one another flowers.

Read on to see how International Women’s Day celebrations vary across the globe.

United States

In the US, the whole of March is Women’s History Month.

This has been an ongoing celebration since February 1980 when President Jimmy Carter declared the week of 8 March as National Women’s History Week.

Within a few years, thousands of schools across the country had embraced the week as a means of achieving equality in the classroom, something that was spearheaded by the National Women’s History Alliance. It was also supported by city councils and governors, who ran events and special programmes to champion female empowerment.

The celebrations evolved and by 1986, 14 states had extended the celebrations to last for the duration of March.

Now, every year an official statement of recognition is issued by the President, known as a Presidential Proclamation, on IWD to honour the achievements of American Women.

Italy

In Italy, International Women’s Day is called La Festa della Donna.
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It’s celebrated primarily by the giving of bright yellow Mimosa blossom flowers. On the day itself, bouquets of the sunshine-hued blooms are sold on almost every street corner in Italy, the idea being that people honour the women in their lives by giving them these flowers, which are viewed as a symbol of female strength and sensibility.

This floral theme also manifests in confectionery form, with some Italians choosing to celebrate IWD by making a special cake designed to resemble small blooms of the mimosa flower. Traditionally, this is a sponge cake made with citrus liqueur and topped with cream and cubes of pastry to mimic the shape of the flower.

China

In China, 8 March has been a national holiday since 1949. Many companies offer female employees a half-day on International Women’s Day so that they can spend the afternoon celebrating.

Similar to Valentine's Day, IWD in China is viewed as an opportunity to treat the women they love with special gifts.

It has, therefore, been adopted as a day for commercial opportunities, with many brands capitalising on the probability that people want to spend money on the women in their lives by launching special IWD marketing campaigns and deals.

China also celebrates Girl’s Day on 7 March, which is dedicated to championing the achievements of younger Chinese women in schools and universities.

Berlin

On 24 January 2019, Berlin’s parliament voted for International Women’s Day, known as Frauentag, to become a public holiday.

This means that workers in the German capital, the only state in the country to recognise the day as a public holiday, will get the day off on Friday.

UK

In the UK, International Women’s Day is celebrated in a number of ways, with a special focus on raising awareness of social and political issues affecting women.

Events taking place around the country this year in honour of IWD include panel talks, exercise classes and gigs, many of which aim to raise funds for specific charities dedicated to women’s rights. You can see our roundup of IWD events here.
In the past fashion brands have partnered with women’s charities to raise money through sales of special IWD garments.

Designer T-shirts by Stella McCartney (left) and Roxanne Assoulin (right) have been launched by Net-a-Porter to raise funds for Women for Women International (Net-a-Porter)

This year, online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter, for example, has teamed up with 20 female designers, including Isabel Marant and Alexa Chung, to create a capsule collection of exclusive t-shirts with proceeds benefitting Women for Women International.

Spain

In 2018, more than five million female workers marked International Women's Day with a landmark 24-hour strike to protest against the gender pay gap, domestic violence and sexual discrimination in the workplace.

Rallies took place around the country in more than 200 locations. Those taking part were encouraged by organisers not to spend any money on the day and not participate in any domestic chores.

Last year similar protests, as organised by the feminist organisation The 8M Commission, took place.