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HELENA Youve heard it before and you're hearing it again Bozeman High School is back in the State AA football semifinals.

It was a 35-28 victory over Helena High at Vigilante Stadium on Friday evening that pushed the Hawks back into this year's round of four, their third consecutive trip, and theyre now one win away from going back to the state championship game.

For years fans and media have talked about key Bozeman players in the positions of quarterback, running back, receivers, safeties and defensive backs, but what about the boys in the trenches? The forgottens. Thats been a lot of the success according to head coach Levi Wesche, who knows a thing or two about the position.

I think its safe to say that the two strengths of our teams are the lines. Were great on the offensive line, I feel like, and were great on the defensive line," said Wesche. "In the games weve won, we have been able to control the line of scrimmage. Thats huge. You cant say enough about it. Thats how we build our program, we want to control the line of scrimmage any way we can.

Frontier Conference football fans will remember Wesche from his all-conference offensive lineman days at MSU-Northern. Its a position he heavily values, and this year, one he returned to mentoring.

Im back coaching the offensive line for the first time since I took over as head coach, so its been four years, but Im back now. I have to admit, thats been the highlight of my year is going back and coaching those big guys because they just have a different work ethic," Wesche said. "It takes a different attitude to play in that area. Its been really fun for me to see how far theyve progressed.

My brother actually had Wesche as his (offensive line) coach when he played, and with him they won the state championship in 2013," said senior offensive lineman Jacob Keim, referencing his older brother, Brandon Keim. "I love Wesche ... I think he really pushes us.

Wesche, hes always on the guys to be perfect every single day. Theyre watching film every single day, whether its in class or on Zoom, hes always demanding perfection from those guys," said senior defensive end Luke Fedyk. "Over the season its showed. Since that first game we lost to Billings Senior, we struggled a little bit, but to see those guys grow and how much theyve progressed throughout the year, thats been impressive. Im super proud of those guys.

Bozemans offensive line understands Wesche holds higher expectations of them because hes played and coached the position. Their response? Often getting better as the game goes on.

Our guys fight hard. They play snap to whistle every down. Do they get beat sometimes? Yeah. But they dont give up, either," said Wesche. "They come back with just as much intensity, fire and physicality. Theyre going to keep grinding on you, grinding on you and grinding on you.

Thats why we play the game. We love the physicality," said Keim. "Im just excited to play one more week.

I think its awesome. I think thats the way we like it," echoed Fedyk. "Obviously our defensive line, we get after it, but our offensive line, as well. Theyre a bunch of dogs. We like to be physical. Were physical in practice every day and we like to get after it. (We) definitely like these games where we can really put our hand in the dirt and get after it.

Fedyk and Kenneth Eiden IV certainly draw their share of praise on the defensive line, but senior Camren Spencer and junior Jaden Perkins make their own noise in the backfield.

Big Cam Spence, hes always, every single day, hes grinding. Hes trying to get better, trying to be the best he can be," Fedyk praised his teammate. "Big Perk, hes stepping up. Hes obviously a junior this year, so hes going to have a great year next year, but hes stepped up for us this year, so thats awesome.

The Hawks offensive line, meanwhile, may not have the name recognition, but teammates know where the credit belongs.

The running backs and QB, Jordan (Jones), they always give us love. They always know were the bread and butter. Its awesome they give us credit, but its pretty cool to get an interview from you guys one time, admitted Keim.

Dont worry young fella, the physical play isnt going unnoticed.

The rest is here:
The forgotten: Bozeman High's football success starts in the trenches - MontanaSports

Democrat Joe Biden will reportedly "assert control" and immediately begin forming a new government as president-elect if news organizations declare him the winner on election night.

Even if President Donald Trump challenges the results, Biden will address the nation Tuesday night as the winner if news organizations declare him the "mathematical president-elect," Biden campaign advisers told Axios.

In such a case, Biden will immediately begin "looking presidential," and to stifle Trump's challenges, Biden "may begin transition announcements quickly, starting with senior staff appointments," according to Axios.

In fact, Biden's team "has blueprints for staffing every single agency," in addition to plans for executive orders to reverse those issued by Trump.

Biden's team will make a quick push to assert power because of what happened in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, when Bush declared himself the winner of the contested election and began to act as the president-elect. Gore, on the other hand, did not assert himself and he was eventually declared the loser.

"We're not really concerned about what Donald Trump says," Biden's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said Monday. "We're going to use our data, our understanding of where this is headed, and make sure that the vice president is addressing the American people."

On the other hand, Trump said Tuesday that he will declare victory "only when there's victory. There's no reason to play games."

There is a low probability that Americans will know the outcome of the presidential race by the end of the night.

While votes aren't certified for weeks after the election, news organizations and election experts are able to call elections by analyzing provable, time-tested metrics.

But that will be more difficult this year due to the prevalence of mail-in ballots and record early voting turnout.

In critical states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio three states the eventual winner of the election will most likely also have won mail-in ballots are being accepted for three days after the election in Pennsylvania, nine days after the election in North Carolina, and 10 days after the election in Ohio.

Still, Americans should have a good indication of where the election is headed by the night's end.

If states that look solidly in the bag for Biden, like Wisconsin, for example, are unable to be declared tonight, that may serve as an indication that Trump is performing better than polls indicated he would and the election is much closer. But if states that Trump should have a good control of, like Georgia or even Texas, look like they're headed Biden's way, that would be a clear indication that Biden is on track to win.

View post:
Report: Biden will 'assert control,' begin forming new government if media declare him the winner - TheBlaze

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates implicated a lack of leadership in the United States' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, inconsistency in the country's overall strategy to control the virus and persistent misinformation as threats to controlling the deadly coronavirus during an Oct. 21 livestreamed interview with Dr. Lloyd Minor, Stanford School of Medicine's dean of medicine.

Gates, who is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, predicted years ago that a pandemic caused by an alien pathogen would spread across the globe. His prediction wasn't pulled out of the ether. Gates has been involved in preventing the spread of dangerous diseases for more than 20 years.

The foundation works on solutions to develop inexpensive medications and vaccines to treat persistent infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), polio and malaria in poor and underserved countries. Gates' work with the foundation led him early on to predict the current pandemic, which would likely be an unknown pathogen that would be seen for the first time, he said during an April 2018 Shattuck Lecture in Boston, Massachusetts.

Gates said at Stanford last month that the emergence of infectious diseases such as swine flu in 2009, the Ebola in 2014, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) made him pay closer attention to pandemics. The conclusion he came to during those outbreaks was that the world was not making progress in its pandemic preparedness.

Fast forward to 2020 and Gates's predictions have come true with frightening accuracy.

"It's sad that this took a Richter-scale 9 earthquake to wake us up," Gates told Minor. "We've had, outside of the rich countries, things like Ebola, Zika, MERS and SARS, but it was easy to just kind of ignore those things" because they were never really at the doorstep of the wealthier nations.

A scattershot approach to the COVID-19 crisis that has largely been without leadership, combined with the power of social media, has caused confusion and perhaps delayed treatments that would more meaningfully save lives, he said.

"Weirdly, antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, such as (antiviral drug) remdesivir, were used on late-stage patients. It's not surprising that the impact on mortality is very low there. So the whole thing of how we trial different drugs against early or late (disease progression) in the U.S. has been a complete disaster on that. Even disproving hydroxychloroquine (a treatment much touted by President Donald Trump) took us way too long," he said.

Getting access to that early-stage patient is hard, he conceded, since many who have symptoms might not show up in hospitals until their condition worsens. "It's easier to get the later-stage patient. But even for the late-stage patient, we had all these small trials that had different mixes of drugs and different requirements for enrollment, so it's just been a cacophony and there hasn't been any clarity about who's in charge of organizing these trial efforts," he said.

Who is in charge of organizing the drug and vaccine trials and who should be has remained murkey. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't organize drug and vaccine trials. The Food and Drug Administration is the regulator that is not supposed to organize trials, but instead review trials to make sure they're done well. The National Institutes of Health handles research, so the country didn't really figure out who should be in charge of organizing the trials, he said.

Gates does see hope in emerging drugs and vaccines to reduce serious infections and deaths from COVID-19.

"The most promising drugs are monoclonal antibodies (a cloned, type of white blood cell specific to fighting a pathogen), which if you catch somebody early who just tested positive and has a pulse/oxygen decline and you're old giving (them) antibodies either through infusion or a couple of shots probably will be able to reduce the death rate by 70%-80%," he said.

The foundation has been working on a potential two-shot, low-dose antibody treatment with drugmaker Eli Lilly, he said. Biotechnology company Regeneron is also testing a two-shot treatment, he said. By the end of this year, hopefully, there will be an early-stage treatment using antibodies that would be available, he said.

"Particularly if it's a low-dose intervention, that is really a big deal in reducing overall deaths," he said, noting that side effects might be minimal and supplies could be scaled up rapidly.

When and if a viable vaccine is discovered, Gates said there will be challenges to getting an adequate number of people to take it.

"We've always had a tough time with that," he said. Explaining the rigorous testing process for vaccines and how miraculous they are is often a tough sell against a backdrop of conspiracy theories. The fact that the pandemic came at the same time that social media is widespread has helped fuel falsehoods and misinformation, he added.

"Bizarrely I hope not tragically by demonizing Dr. (Anthony) Fauci and myself, who are the two most prominently mentioned in some of these inaccurate theories, it could drive people to not wear masks as much or to not be willing to seek out the vaccine. We have to offset that by being creative about (getting out) the truthful message: the heroes who invent the vaccine; the facts about how the safety trials are done. We're going to have to push ourselves on this," he said.

Gates said he thinks public confidence can be boosted through input from outside experts and companies involved in the development of vaccines and drugs, but "when the politicians act like they want a certain outcome even naming something 'Operation Warp Speed' they are defining expectations that aren't balanced."

"It's not just the time; it's the safety and efficacy as well," he said.

Much of the problem has come from a blurring of the boundaries between science and politics.

"In this epidemic, sadly, the boundary between what's the regulators' and what's the politicians' has been broken," he said. To gain public trust, "we always have to admit what we don't know. We have to be willing to deliver bad news. Politicians aren't ... as good at sharing the truth and that can be a problem. That's usually why you delegate (the role as messenger) to scientists who are trained to do this," he said.

Gates said he has hope that once people see a vaccine works, more will seek immunization.

"I think in the United States my hope is that 20% to 30% of the population will be willing to take the vaccine early on, knowing that they're helping their fellow citizens by the transmission-blocking benefits that the vaccine brings," he said. If others see that there are very few side effects in that 20% to 30%, it would build confidence.

He's more cautious about whether public perceptions of vaccines might be repaired in the future after so much misinformation.

"How much, after we get out of this emergency situation, we'll be able to restore broad respect for vaccines and health advice, I'm not certain," he said.

Gates also said it's imperative to rebuild stronger public health programs. From what he's seen in other countries, basic public health infrastructure breaks down quickly when a pandemic occurs, so there needs to be a coordinated global approach.

The pandemic must be assessed in broader contexts, he added. If the focus is on deaths caused by COVID-19, the country and the globe will miss the scope and the setbacks caused by the virus and what course the recovery should take, he said.

"One thing I underestimated was how quickly people's behavior would change when death stalks the land when you've got over 2,000 (deaths) a day," he said, noting the changes to work habits, business closures, school closures and mental health issues caused by confinement.

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the economy is greater than he had anticipated in 2015, when he predicted a $3 trillion loss. "We could easily get to $10, maybe $15 trillion over the next two years," he said.

To Gates, the tragedy of the pandemic and its impacts again point back to the government's failed messaging early on.

"By not having the federal government say early on we need to intervene aggressively, we missed what capacity there is in the CDC to minimize the epidemic and be like one of those other countries (Australia, New Zealand), which got an early handle on the virus, he said.

Read the rest here:
Bill Gates predicted a pandemic in 2018. Now that COVID-19's arrived, here's how he wants to control it. - Mountain View Voice

By INIGO NAUGHTY ZENICAZELAYA

THE whole world is anticipating the results of the US Presidential election.

With the COViD pandemic playing a considerable role in voting this year, these elections are getting special attention.

Other than that, it is also the most-talked-about event globally. People are eager to know if Donald Trump will win and embark on his second term as POTUS. If Democratic candidate Joe Biden takes the White House, there will be a change in government.

Since the internet is full of conversations (both good and bad) about the elections, there are also plenty of jokes circulating on social media.

DIS GA BE LONG

Dont expect results of the US presidential elections anytime soon.

Nowadays, late into the US 2020 presidential election night predictable splotches of red and blue are slowly lighting up the American electoral map, nudging anxious voters in the general direction that closely fought elections go.

Nail-biting fights in a handful of high-stakes states are happening, and we still possibly wont know the results today.

POTUS Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden opened their scorebooks with a predictable string of victories. At the same time, critical prizes, including Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, remain too early to call.

This is going to take a while!

As a comedian, I find it quite comical that the once supremely confident POTUS is now scurrying like a headless chicken searching for new angles, loopholes, and narratives to extricate himself from this unfavorable position. These narratives are a last-ditch effort to hold ya man! (as the veteran dominoes players would say).

Trumpian logic to the results is in full effect: Stop counting the ballots in the states where hes ahead, and start counting the ones where he trails!

Say what?

DEAD MAN ELECTED

A Republican candidate running for the state legislature in North Dakota has won a seat despite having passed away due to COVID-19 in October.

David Andahl was 55 when he tragically died on October 5 after winning a heated primary with an incumbent committee chairman, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND).

Andahl managed to win the Republican nomination by voters to defeat Rep Jeff Delzer. Delzer is one of North Dakotas most powerful and popular lawmakers. He is the Chairman of the House of Appropriations Committee, and he lost to a deceased man.

DOG GONE IT

Wilbur, the French Bulldog, has won the race for Mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky.

I must admit that my listeners and I have followed this story all week long on my morning radio show on KISS 96 FM.

Wilbur has had quite the Bahamian fan base, all very keen to know how Wilbur fared against a large field of candidates, all with potential in their own right.

Wlbur Beast won the mayoral election with 13,143 votes, the highest winning total ever.

He unseated the incumbent Mayor Brynneth Pawltro, a rescued pit bull who assumed office in 2017.

(Thats their names; Im not making this up)

The race had the biggest turnout ever, with a total of 22,985 votes reported.

Jack Rabbit, the beagle, and Poppy, the golden retriever, came in second and third, making them both Rabbit Hash Ambassadors along with Ambassador Lady Stone, who will keep her position, officials with the Rabbit Hash Historical Society announced.

For those unfamiliar, the Boone County river community has elected a dog mayor since the late 1990s.

Every four years in Rabbit Hash, residents can vote for their favorite canine candidate by donating to the Rabbit Hash Historical Society.

This year, organizers made some exceptions. The race included the 13 dogs, a donkey, a rooster, a late cat vying for the mayors seat. There was also a single human candidate whos very unpopular and has little chance of winning.

The lone human candidate sounds eerily similar to several incumbent candidates and opposition aspirant candidates.

Each vote costs $1.

Wilburs campaign raised a total of $6,165.

The race raised a total of $13,156.

Wilbur hopes to continue to raise money through donations to the Rabbit Hash Historical Society and many other causes, including mental health and breast cancer.

CONTROL YOURSELF

Finally, try to control your social media use because focusing on things that you actually can control may be soul-soothing. If following the news, watching the debates, or scrolling through social media causes you to stress, limit your media consumption.

Also, for the record, if you come across my timeline like a raging political keyboard ninja, exposing your weakness button, Im pushing it until its broken.

Dont start drama, and there will be no drama!

And yes, my Bahamian brothers and sisters, let me painfully remind you that none of our opinions or theories matter because its not our elections, and we cant vote.

Sorry to inform you all that neither The Donald nor Uncle Joe checking for us.

Our very own government leaders past and present aint been checking for us. (Sad but true).

However, we can make our politicians check for us. If Bahamians took our elections as seriously and passionately as we took the Americans elections, our politicians would have no choice but to serve at a high, accountable, transparent level.

And if that fails, we can start electing potcakes.

Read more here:
A COMIC'S VIEW: Watching and waiting for the U.S. to decide - Bahamas Tribune

Global turbine leader Vestas has taken sole control of its offshore wind joint venture, a move thatsays a lot about Vestas' current standing in the sector and even more about where wind power is headed.

The 700 million ($814 million) all-stock deal revealed last weekwill give Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) a 2.5 percent stake in Vestas, whileMHI Vestas will be folded into Vestas effective immediately. The goal is for Vestas to lead in marketshare in the fast-growing global offshore wind turbine spaceby 2025,Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen saidduring aThursday conference call with investors to discuss the transaction.

Toseize that title from Siemens Gamesa, Vestaswill launch a new technology platform for the next generation of the company's offshore wind turbines.We wont achieve market leadership with the current turbine," Andersen noted.

Vestas reports its third-quarter results later this week. Thatconference call will offer a glance at what its investors make of the move, plus perhaps coloring in some additional detail.

For those watching Vestas closely, bringing the offshore business entirely in-house was always a possibility given the obvious cost-savings potential. That said, MHI and Vestas previouslymaintained that the partnership model best suited them both. So why now?

Shashi Barla, Wood Mackenzie's principal analyst for the global wind supply chain, suggests the answer could be rooted in both the past and the future.MHI Vestaswas created in April 2014, he pointed out. Vestas posted losses in 2011, 2012 and 2013, with its2012 loss amounting to a staggering 963 million.

Offshore projects are not small endeavors. With a weakened balance sheet, Vestas was better placed to accelerate its offshore business with a partner. Cue MHI.

Vestas has grown significantly in the last six years, and it now has a sizable balance sheet. [Vestas]can absorb these projects onto [its]own books, Barla explained.

But in its Q2 2020 report, Vestas balance sheet was just shy of 15 billion. That strong financial position changes the calculus on its approach to offshore wind.

As CEO Andersen said, the current turbines on MHI Vestas books arent going to get the company into a market leadership position by 2025.A fresh technology platform that could leapfrogthe firm to a position alongside, or even ahead of, Siemens Gamesa and General Electric wasnecessary.

[Vestas has] a strong pipeline to execute over the next four years, but beyond 2024, their market share is going to plummet if they dont introduce the next generation, says Barla.

Barla suggests that with the underwhelming returns from MHI Vestas, JV partner MHI may have decided it wasnt prepared to assume half the risk associated with developing, testing and launching a new platform. Overthe last five quarters, MHI Vestas' best result has been a profit of 22 million on revenueof 534 million.

Mitsubishi will be concerned about pushing the investment button and spending another 400 million or 500 million on ramping up this supply chain, addedBarla.

Bringing the next offshore turbines in-house means maximizing savings with Vestas and boostingprofitability in the process. As an investor with a 2.5 percent stake and a seat on the board, MHI can still benefit.

Sowhat should we expect to see from thenext generation of turbines? Today, MHI Vestas turbines top out at 10 MW with rotor sizes of 164 meters, or up to 174 meters in a 9.5 MW iteration.

GE, meanwhile, shot into offshore contention with its Haliade-X platform with capacities of 12 and 13 MW and a 220-meter rotor size. Deliveries to the Dogger Bank project in the U.K could begin as early as 2023.

Offshore market leader Siemens Gamesalaunched a 14 MW turbine with a 222-meter rotor in May this year. Its first order, for the 1.4 GW Sofia project in the U.K., will begin construction in 2024.

Thats the competition, and Vestas will need to match it.Barla expects Vestas next iteration of turbine to have arotor size of around 240 meters and a capacity of between 14 and 16 MW. Anything short of that would be terribly disappointing.

Siemens Gamesa and Vestas have been experiencing similar trials,but in opposing verticals:one at sea and one on land. The lengths to which both have gone to develop the three-legged revenue stool of onshore, offshore and services reflect the competitive nature of the wind power business.

While Siemens Gamesa has enjoyed market leadership in offshore, its onshore business has been suffering losses, which haveultimatelyled to an overhaul of the company management. New CEO Andreas Nauen was the head of the successfuloffshore business unit and has been moved into the top job in hopes that he can replicate that success.

Vestas has been breaking records in order-intake levels in concurrent quarters. Its share price rose all summer and hit an all-time record in October of DKK 1,166 ($184). Prior to 2020, it had never been above DKK 700. With a solid service revenue backlog as well, the lack of profitability at MHI Vestas, which reports outside of the listed Vestas Wind Systems A/S, was perhaps the only major missing part of the puzzle.

Growth projections for offshore wind have strengthened through the COVID-19 pandemic. This year theGlobal Wind Energy Council revised its 2030 cumulative capacity forecast to 234 GW, up 15 GW compared to the 2019 view. Trade bodyRenewableUKhas tracked a 50 percent increase in the offshore wind project pipeline over the course of the last year.

Vestas is now better positionedto capture that growth as the master of its own offshore fortunes.

See the article here:
Why Vestas Brought Its Offshore Business In-House - Greentech Media News