wild casino sign up bonus
Prakash Jha discusses his bold new film ‘Amar Aaj Marega’Operations manager Damien Lewis walks through Studio B at 2200 Studios, formerly the Record Plant, in Sausalito. It opened this year. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) San Anselmo peerless tabla master Zakir Hussain died this year. (Sujit Jaiswal/AFP via Getty Images/TNS) Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh died this year. (Jason Henry/The New York Times) Sunday Daydream festivals returned to Marin this year. (Photo by Alan Sheckter) Marin singer-songwriter and musician John Cross put out his final album this year. (Photo by Paul Liberatore) Novato singer-songwriter and musician Herb Franklin released his first album, "Silent Voices," this year. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) The Throckmorton Theatre building in Mill Valley was put up for sale this year. (Photo by Erich Reichenbach) Mimi Fariña founded Bread & Roses in 1974. Her legacy lives on in the Marin nonprofit 50 years later. (Martin E. Klimek/IJ archive) Greg DiGiovine, Carlos Santana’s former manager and Marin pizza maker, died this year. (Jeff Vendsel/IJ archive) The remnants of the control room at the Site in Nicasio. This little-known piece of Marin's music history sold this year. (Photo by Paul Liberatore) Digital artist Gary Yost plays the handpan in front of his "magic window" of Muir Woods. (Courtesy of Gary Yost) Operations manager Damien Lewis walks through Studio B at 2200 Studios, formerly the Record Plant, in Sausalito. It opened this year. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) Since this is my last column of 2024, it’s time for my annual look back at some of the people, places and things I’ve written about on the Marin music scene over the past year. The year began on a celebratory note when Marin’s own Zakir Hussain , the peerless tabla master who helped bring Indian classical music to a global audience, took home three Grammys at the 66th annual awards show in Los Angeles in February. There was no way of knowing at the time that it would be a final industry tribute to a virtuoso the Kennedy Center hailed as “one of the greatest musicians of our time.” Sadly, the longtime San Anselmo resident died Dec. 15 of a lung disease at age 73. After the Grammys, Hussain spoke to me by phone as he drove to the airport to resume a tour of his native India, where he was a beloved superstar. In his typical humble fashion, he was more excited about being in the presence of his fellow musicians at the Grammys than in any personal glory. “Just being there, the electricity in the house and meeting all these musicians you rarely get to see, to shake their hands and hang out,” he told me when I asked him about his big night. “The after-party was running into one guy you played with and another guy you admire and another guy you want to play with. And so on and so forth. It was great.” Lesh’s final interview In October, we lost Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh . Four months before he died at age 84, he gave me what was likely his final interview. Via email, I asked him how important music and performing had been for him as he faced the challenges of aging . “I would have to say that music and performing are as essential as food and drink to me, but even more so as I get older,” he said. “While it can sometimes be more of a challenge physically than it was when I was a young whippersnapper, I’ve found that age brings wisdom, and with that comes musical experience and knowledge that I didn’t have when I was younger.” The spirit of Terrapin Crossroads Phil Lesh’s sons Brian and Grahame kept alive the Deadhead community spirit of their dad’s Terrapin Crossroads, the restaurant, bar and music venue that closed in 2021 after a decade run in San Rafael, with a second summer of Sunday Daydream festivals in July and August at McNears Beach Park in San Rafael. Phil Lesh played at the first one but was too ill to make the second. “Every time we got the community back together, people said, ‘Oh, this feels like Terrapin. This is amazing. Let’s do this more often,’” Grahame Lesh said. “So here we are, doing it more often.” The last album I don’t think I was alone in being inspired by local musician John Cross , who was determined to finish his final album before he died of ALS. With the help of Ari Rios at Laughing Tiger Recording Studios in San Rafael, he released his last record just weeks before he died at age 72. Giving the album the playful title “Cucamonga” after the jazz instrumental that opens the record, he clearly didn’t embark on this last creative journey to elicit sympathy. His only acknowledgment of his plight was on his musical farewell, a poignant acoustic ballad he called “It’s Okay,” the album’s final track. “The last song is for my family,” he told me. “It’s my message to them.” The first album Ninety-year-old Herb Franklin of Novato realized a lifelong dream in 2024: finishing his debut album of original songs. After three months of work at Sausalito’s Studio D, with studio owner Joel Jaffe producing, Franklin sang the finishing vocals on “Silent Voices,” a collection of 10 soulful songs of Al Green-inspired R&B. “That day in Studio D,” his son, Vincent Franklin, recalled, “was the happiest I’d seen him in a long time.” The right buyer Lucy Mercer put her Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley up for sale in 2024 — to the right buyer, someone who will continue the theater’s mission as the Marin County cultural treasure it’s been for the past 25 years. The good news is that the theater is in negotiation with that potential right buyer, a philanthropic family with Mill Valley roots. “I’m optimistic that something will come of it shortly,” said Realtor Erich Reichenbach, who hopes to have the deal done by early in the new year. Bread & Roses celebrated 50 years Bread & Roses , the nonprofit founded by folk singer Mimi Fariña in 1974 to bring live music and entertainment to people shut away in institutions, celebrated its 50th anniversary in May with “The Golden Jam,” a fundraising evening hosted by her sister, Joan Baez, and rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley. Bread & Roses produces an astounding 600 shows a year at 125 Bay Area institutions — jails, hospitals, senior homes, juvenile detention centers — anyplace where she and her fellow musicians could go in, sing and play and brighten the lives of those who need it most. Since 1974, the organization has served more than 1 million institutionalized people at more than 20,000 shows with the help of nearly 3,000 volunteers. What a legacy. “It always feels different when you know you’re doing something for somebody else,” Baez said. “For Mimi, that was the whole incentive, having real empathy for people who live without the roses.” DiGiovine’s legacy The worlds of music and food lost one of their most quietly charismatic characters in July when Greg DiGiovine died of brain cancer at age 72. He died at his Larkspur home with Lynn, his wife of 44 years, by his side. As Carlos Santana’s manager, DiGiovine was instrumental in the revival of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist’s career, playing a major role in the deal that led to Santana’s 1999 blockbuster album “Supernatural,” one of the bestselling records of all time and the winner of eight Grammy awards. After more than 30 years in the music business, which included managing Grammy-winning Marin record producer Narada Michael Walden and the late jazz drummer Tony Williams, DiGiovine reinvented himself as Tony Tutto, the gregarious proprietor of a popular vegetarian pizzeria — first in Mill Valley and later in Ross — that one reviewer hailed as “a much-beloved neighborhood institution.” Record Plant rocked again After being shuttered for 16 years, the Record Plant , the iconic Sausalito studio where many of the greatest hits of the 1970s and ’80s were recorded, including Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours,” Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” and “Sports” by Huey Lewis and the News, rocked back to life as a nonprofit, beginning a new chapter in its storied history. Restored and preserved in all the glory of the classic rock era, the 52-year-old redwood-clad landmark at 2200 Bridgeway was updated with new technology designed to return it to its original heyday as a high-end, professional recording studio. “For me, it’s not a money-making option, it’s about preserving the heritage and the culture that the Record Plant has brought to the San Francisco Bay Area music scene,” said co-owner Chris Skarakis, who’s looking for local investors and supporters to help fulfill its new mission under the name 2200 Studios. (Go to 2200studios.com .) “All the revenues we can bring in as a professional, high-end recording studio go right back into the business, go right back into community outreach, go right back into the educational aspects of it and toward the preservation of the building and its heritage.” Site studio sold Another legendary but far less visible studio was in the news when it was put up for sale in 2024. In the 1980s and ’90s, some of the biggest stars in rock, pop and country found their way to Marin County to record at the Site , a clandestine studio tucked away in the forested hills of Nicasio. It operated so quietly and so under the radar that hardly anyone knew where it was or who was working there. And that was exactly the point. Secrecy and privacy were among its selling points. The studio’s log reads like a musical who’s who of that era: Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Tracy Chapman, Joe Satriani, Night Ranger, Hootie and the Blowfish, Third Eye Blind, Aaron Neville, Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards liked the place so much that he wrote a letter extolling its virtues that was once posted proudly on a wall in the plush living quarters. A private residence for the past couple of decades, the gated property still radiates an aura of faded rock star opulence with its swimming pool and spa, sauna, lanai, solarium, basketball court and capacious high-ceilinged studio with picture windows that overlook a green wooded valley. While it was on the market, lots of music business folks came to see it, says Realtor Susan Cox, but ultimately this little-known piece of Marin County music history was sold to an artistic San Francisco couple for $2.25 million. ‘The Song Mount Tamalpais Sings’ Whenever award-winning digital artist Gary Yost leaves his hillside Mill Valley home to ramble around on Mount Tamalpais, he religiously recites “The Song Mount Tamalpais Sings,” a poem by the late Beat poet Lew Welch. Yost, who’s known for his elegiac videos of Mt. Tam, had never been able to find a recording of the poet himself reciting it, thinking that one may not exist. Then, searching on the University of Pennsylvania’s website, he came upon a scratchy recording of Welch doing a dramatic reading of the poem that Yost, a computer whiz, cleaned up digitally and matched with dramatic footage of the mountain. The video is now the first in a new series of 38 music videos Yost calls “Songs from the Last Place,” the title taken from a line in the poem. The videos feature him playing his original compositions on a handpan, a steel drum-type instrument, over videos he shot of scenic places on Mt. Tam and environs. “Gary Yost has embodied the spirit of Mount Tamalpais for some time,” says actor Peter Coyote, who knew Welch and narrated one of Yost’s videos. “His latest video, where Lew Welch recites his famous poem from ‘the other side,’ is simultaneously thrilling and chilling.” ‘Sanctuaries’ After the presidential election, Grammy-nominated kirtan musician Jai Uttal and writer and humorist Anne Lamott got together for a night of music and stories, appropriately called “Sanctuaries,” at Marin Center’s Showcase Theater in San Rafael. Many of us on the losing side were devastated by the election result, but Lamott managed to find hope and inspiration in a cartoon character. “The point is that it might not look like anything is going to save us,” she told me. “But it’s like Mr. Magoo on the top of a skyscraper. He’s about to step off and a girder appears. And somehow these girders keep appearing just when we think all hope is lost. And the girders always spring from love somehow.” ‘That’s the blues’ I didn’t intend for this to be an in-memoriam column, but I’d like to acknowledge the passing, in September, at age 85, of one of my favorite bluesmen, the legendary Nick Gravenites , who wrote “Born in Chicago” for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, “Buried Alive in the Blues” for Janis Joplin and helped form the short-lived band Electric Flag during the psychedelic explosion in San Francisco in the 1960s. I was fortunate to be there for what would be his final performance, sitting in with Los Lobos at Rancho Nicasio, earning a standing ovation. The year before he died, I interviewed him at his woodsy home in Sonoma County. After reminiscing for an hour about his life and career, he admitted that it’s hard to look back sometimes, remembering all the friends and fellow musicians he’d outlived, like Joplin and the famed guitarists Michael Bloomfield and John Cipollina. Still, he told me with a shrug, “That’s the blues.” Bonnie’s back After a decade as chair of the songwriting department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Bonnie Hayes , who struck songwriting gold in 1989 with the hits “Have a Heart” and “Love Letter” for Bonnie Raitt, returned to Marin, her longtime home, with the satisfaction of knowing that she helped nurture some of the best of the new generation of pop songwriters. Her star student was Amy Allen, who wrote the number No. 1 summer hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” for Sabrina Carpenter. “I loved being connected to these really talented young people and seeing things in them when nobody else did,” she said. “It was super fun to be that helping hand when they needed it.” ‘Perfect sidekick’ David Nelson , once described as Jerry Garcia’s “perfect sidekick,” was honored at the March opening of the Garcia exhibit at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. In the early 1960s, Nelson and the Grateful Dead icon played together in two of the first Bay Area bluegrass groups, the Wildwood Boys and the Black Mountain Boys. They became bandmates again in the ’70s with the country rock group the New Riders of the Purple Sage. With his own David Nelson band, he celebrated his 81st birthday and his band’s 30th anniversary with a show in June at HopMonk Tavern in Novato. Asked how he felt about as being a rock ‘n’ roll octogenarian, he didn’t spare the superlatives, saying, “Incredible, unbelievable, wonderful, excellent, fantastic.” Name dropping Lots of other talented, creative folks shared their stories with me this year. Here are some of them: Drummer Mick Hellman of the Wreckless Strangers band, which celebrated its new six-song EP, “Blue Sky Fantasy,” with a record release show at the Sweetwater Music Hall this month. Grammy-winning producer and drummer Narada Michael Walden , subject of the new book “Narada Michael Walden: Drumming, Spirit and Music.” Rock journalist and photographer Michael Goldberg , whose photo book “Jukebox” gave us a glimpse into the early days of Marin rock. Sunshine (Garcia) Becker , lead singer of the all-female Grateful Dead tribute band China Dolls that performed at the Sweetwater Music Hall in August. Singer-songwriters Monroe and April Grisman , who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in April with a show at Rancho Nicasio. Taj Farrant , a 14-year-old Australian guitar prodigy heralded as the second coming of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, brought his anti-bullying tour to HopMonk Tavern in Novato in March. Concert posters by Marin’s Donna Wallace-Cohen, Coralie Russo and Maggie Catfish were among those featured in “Women of Rock Art: 1965 – 2023” at the Haight Street Art Center. In January, fingerstyle guitarist Teja Gerken released his first solo album in nearly two decades, “Test of Time.” Wishing a safe and happy new year to all my friends and readers and to all the hardworking local musicians who tirelessly perform in our bars and clubs and venues during the year, bringing the joy of music to grateful music fans. See you all on the flipside in 2025. Contact Paul Liberatore at p.liberatore@comcast.net
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nico Iamaleava threw for 209 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 10 Tennessee to a 56-0 victory over UTEP on Saturday. The Volunteers (9-2) overcame a sluggish start to roll up the impressive win. Both teams were scoreless in the first quarter, but Tennessee found its rhythm. Grad student receiver Bru McCoy, who hadn't caught a touchdown pass this season, had two. Peyton Lewis also ran for two scores. Tennessee's defensive line, which had no sacks in last week's loss to Georgia, had three against the Miners. UTEP (2-9) struggled with two missed field goals and three turnovers. Tennessee's offense came alive with 28 points in the second quarter. In the final four drives of the quarter, Iamaleava completed 11 of 12 passes for 146 yards and touchdowns to Squirrel White, Ethan Davis and McCoy. UTEP was the dominant team in the first quarter. Tennessee managed just 37 offensive yards and, thanks to an interception near the end zone and a missed field goal by the Miners, both teams were scoreless after 15 minutes. POLL IMPLICATIONS Tennessee’s convincing victory, coupled with losses by Mississippi and Indiana, should put the Volunteers in a good position when the next College Football Playoff poll is released. The Vols were ranked No. 11 going into this week’s games. THE TAKEAWAY UTEP: The Miners will head into a very winnable game against New Mexico State having won two of their last five games. First-year coach Scotty Walden will try to build on that success in the offseason to help enhance his roster. Tennessee: Even a lopsided win won’t carry much weight where it means the most — in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Vols will have to rely on a convincing win against Vanderbilt next week, a team that has shown a lot of improvement this season, to help their standing for those coveted spots. UP NEXT UTEP: The Miners will finish their season at New Mexico State Saturday. Tennessee: The Vols will finish their regular season at Vanderbilt next Saturday. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballThe NBA got viewers for Christmas, even while going up against NFL games. The NBA's five-game Christmas lineup was the league's most-watched in five years, with the games averaging about 5.25 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN and its platforms, the league said Thursday based on Nielsen's preliminary numbers. It's an 84% rise over the NBA's Christmas numbers from 2023. The Los Angeles Lakers’ 115-113 victory over the Golden State Warriors — a game pitting Olympic teammates LeBron James and Stephen Curry — averaged 7.76 million viewers and peaked with about 8.32 million viewers toward the end of the contest, the league said. Those numbers represent the most-watched NBA regular season game in five years. “I love the NFL,” James said in his televised postgame interview Wednesday night. “But Christmas is our day.” The NBA said all five Christmas games on its schedule — San Antonio at New York in Victor Wembanyama's holiday debut, Minnesota at Dallas, Philadelphia at Boston, Denver at Phoenix and Lakers-Warriors — saw year-over-year viewership increases. Wednesday's numbers pushed NBA viewership for the season across ESPN platforms to up 4% over last season. The league also saw more than 500 million video views on its social media platforms Wednesday, a new record. For the NBA, those are all good signs amid cries that NBA viewership is hurting. “Ratings are down a bit at beginning of the season. But cable television viewership is down double digits so far this year versus last year," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month. “You know, we’re almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programing on streaming than they are on traditional television. And it’s a reason why for our new television deals, which we enter into next year, every game is going to be available on a streaming service.” Part of that new package of television deals that the NBA is entering into next season also increases the number of regular season games broadcast on television from 15 to 75. AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA
NEW YORK (AP) — The man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was not a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said Thursday. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City. Mangione also mentioned the company in a note found in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania. “We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that’s possibly why he targeted that company,” said Kenny. UnitedHealthcare is in the top 20 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization but is not the fifth largest. It is the largest U.S. health insurer. Mangione remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after being spotted at a McDonald's in the city of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City. His lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, has said Mangione intends to plead not guilty. Dickey also said he has yet to see evidence decisively linking his client to the crime. Mangione's arrest came five days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. Police say the shooter waited outside the hotel, where the health insurer was holding its investor conference, early on the morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him before fleeing on a bicycle through Central Park. Mangione is fighting attempts to extradite him back to New York so that he can face a murder charge in Thompson's killing. A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 30. The 26-year-old, who police say was found with a “ ghost gun ” matching shell casings found at the site of the shooting, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. In posts on social media, Mangione wrote about experiencing severe chronic back pain before undergoing a spinal fusion surgery in 2023. Afterward, he posted that the operation had been a success and that his pain had improved and mobility returned. He urged others to consider the same type of surgery. On Wednesday, police said investigators are looking at his writings about his health problems and his criticism of corporate America and the U.S. health care system . Kenny said in the NBC interview that Mangione's family reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.Mohammed Siraj has the first over, bowing to Steve Smith. Sam Konstas has given a fascinating insight into his exhilarating debut Test innings, in an interview with Channel 7 pundit and former fast bowler Trent Copeland before play on day two of the Boxing Day Test. Konstas’ full-throttle approach to Jasprit Bumrah and co. took the breath away on Thursday, and he revealed that he was in a flow state from the moment he stepped onto the MCG. “I was in the zone. I was trying to puff my chest out, trying to get in the mental zone,” Konstas told Copeland. “I was marking centre, leg, and just wanted to get in the contest with the bowler.” Konstas, who made 60 from 65 balls, was a study in concentration as he faced up to the Indian quicks, his crooked squint quickly becoming a trademark that will likely be copied in backyards and on beaches around Australia this summer. “I’m not sure what the squint is about. Trying to get my right eye to the ball,” he said. Each ball, he mutters to himself, “where’s the ball.“ You can read Greg Baum’s take on Konstas’ debut innings, which he argued was the most audacious since David Hookes . The depth of fast bowlers at South Africa’s disposal was no better evidenced than on Thursday as Corbin Bosch and Dale Paterson took nine of the 10 wickets to dismiss Pakistan for 211 on the opening day of the first Test at Centurion. The pair made the most of their opportunity to play Test cricket amid a long list of injured bowlers and emphasised the country’s long tradition of producing quality quicks. Bosch was making his debut and became the 25th player to take a wicket with his first delivery in Test cricket before bagging three more wickets for an impressive return of 4-63. The 35-year-old Paterson went one better with a five-wicket haul for a second successive Test as he belied his age and continued a positive return to the test arena. Bosch and Paterson were the change bowlers for South Africa, whose all-seam attack against Pakistan was spearheaded by regulars Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen but who were overshadowed by Bosch and Paterson. South Africa was 3-82. Virat Kohli is free to play in the Sydney Test after avoiding a suspension for his physical altercation with during a dramatic start to the Boxing Day Test. In a statement on Thursday night, the International Cricket Council announced that Kohli would be fined 20 per cent of his match fee and penalised one demerit point for breaching the code of conduct. “No formal hearing was needed as Kohli accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee Andy Pycroft,” the statement read. The penalty is the same as that handed to India paceman Mohammed Siraj for his send-off to Travis Head during the second Test in Adelaide. It’s hard to predict how long India’s bowlers will have to toll on day two, given Australia’s innings could still go large. The tourists used six bowlers on day one. Jasprit Burmah got through 20 overs while Washington Sundar put down 12 overs after he was brought into the XI to complement Ravindra Jadeja. Australia’s players appear very relaxed at the MCG nets ahead of day two. Batting coach Michael Di Venuto gets the group together in a circle and says a few words. Australia will want over 400. The tail need to find a way to hang with Steve Smith if he continues like he did yesterday. Sam Konstas is kicking a soccer ball with opening partner Usman Khawaja. Goes alright. Probably thought he was playing soccer yesterday after that bump from Virat Kohli. Yellow card worthy. Not since Alexander the Great has a Greek teenager made such a startling impact on the world. Not since David Hookes in the Centenary Test in 1977 has a debutant appeared on cricket’s biggest stage and given it a shake-up as audacious as this. Bazball is a reinvention of Test cricket, but on Boxing Day, Sam Konstas, the 19-year-old Sydneysider of Greek heritage, inverted the game altogether. One orthodox backfoot defence in mid-morning was greeted with a round of applause because it was the novelty. More than a first impression, it was meteorite’s crater. The , but nothing in his short career quite foreshadowed this. From the moment he literally ran onto the ground, leading Usman Khawaja by 50 or more metres, everything he did was amped up. Khawaja smiled as he might at his dog on a walk.
Roseville ice rink thriving despite recent warm weather
Refreezing the Arctic, health care horror stories, holiday stress: Catch up on the day’s storiesBad Bunny announces a new album, 'Debi Tirar Mas Fotos'
Joe Rogan heard Elon Musk's economic warning to America entering 2025
Published 5:36 pm Thursday, December 26, 2024 by Staff Report The Southern Group of State Foresters (SGSF) celebrates the passage of vital legislation over the weekend that delivers much-needed disaster relief to states and forest landowners across the southern region. This funding is key to supporting private forest landowners, who manage the majority of the nation’s forests, as they continue to recover from hurricanes in 2023 and 2024, including Idalia, Milton and Helene, as well as ongoing forest health challenges like beetle outbreaks exacerbated by 2023 gulf-state drought conditions. “We are immensely appreciative of all those in Congress who advocated for the inclusion of critical disaster aid in this bill, especially timber block grant language,” said Tim Foley, SGSF Policy Director. “The southern region and its forest landowners have borne the brunt of a string of disasters over the past two years, and swift implementation of this funding will be key to ecological, economic and social recovery.” The bill marks only the second time timber block grants have been authorized, providing critical support for private forest landowners who currently lack access to crop insurance or safety net programs available to other agricultural commodities. Without these tools, landowners are left to bear the full financial burden of natural disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires and floods. This funding is essential to help landowners recover both economically and ecologically from recent and ongoing disaster events. Email newsletter signup The bill’s passage offers hope to landowners who have been waiting for relief to replant forests and restore the region’s forest health. SGSF is committed to working closely with federal partners to ensure this funding is distributed swiftly and efficiently to those who need it most. MSU-Meridian names outstanding students Homestead application window opens Jan. 2 UPDATE: One dead, two injured in Christmas Eve shooting Civil rights icon James Meredith is honored in his Mississippi hometownEuropean countries suspend Syrian asylum decisions after Assad's fall