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St. Mary’s to add Enhanced Security Measures for After School Events – The Southern Maryland Chronicle

St. Mary's to add Enhanced Security Measures for After School Events - The Southern Maryland Chronicle

LEONARDTOWN, MD – Superintendent of Schools, Dr. J. Scott Smith, announces enhanced security measures for after-school events. 

Beginning with fall sports for the 2022-2023 school year, St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) is implementing procedures for school staff members and on-site law enforcement officers to identify prohibited items and reduce the likelihood of contraband being on a school campus.

Prohibited items include weapons, laser pointers, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and electronic cigarettes.  Outside food, drinks, and non-service animals are also prohibited.  During designated events, spectators should consider carrying a clear bag.  Spectators carrying items such as bookbags, totes, or carry-alls will be directed to an alternate line where staff will inspect the contents using a magnetometer.

Additional information on the new procedures and answers to frequently asked questions are available on the SMCPS webpage at https://www.smcps.org/safety-and-security/security-screenings


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All skill levels welcome at 2022 Southern Alberta Regional Events

All skill levels welcome at 2022 Southern Alberta Regional Events

“It’s a great way to go meet friends, right? I think that’s one of the best benefits we get from sports, is the new social connections.”

He also says that sports are a productive use of time for youths because the experiences gained will always be worthwhile.

“Being able to provide different levels of those experiences is so important for the community,” says Parker. “I think we sometimes lose sight of grassroots sports [and] focus on high performance. It’s more impressive when people are competing at the highest level, but there will always, always, always be an important place for grassroots sports and fun competition.”

A report to the European Commission defines grassroots sport as a “physical leisure activity, organized and non-organized, practised regularly at non-professional level for health, educational or social purposes.” The 2016 report was a proposal to the European Commission to promote grassroots sport in Europe.

In Canada, the Southern Alberta Recreation Association (SARA) annually organizes a sporting event that shares that same idea.

According to the SARA website, the annual Southern Alberta Summer Games (SASG) provides people of various ages, and skill levels in different sports the opportunity to compete in a regional competition. It was last held in 2019 for SASG’s 50th anniversary and has not run since then to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

In a news release from April 19, 2022, SARA noted that it was postponing the 51st annual SASG, which would have been hosted by the Town of Raymond, due to ongoing pandemic restrictions. The postponement was announced before the provincial government lifted the remaining COVID-19 health restrictions on June 15, 2022.

READ MORE: Lethbridge and Alberta lift remaining COVID-19 restrictions

Despite SASG’s postponement, SARA stated that the 2022 summer season would have sporting events hosted by 13 regions across southern Alberta, under the 2022 Southern Alberta Regional Events banner.

“We are excited to keep regional events going in 2022 and look forward to bringing back a full Southern Alberta Summer Games event in 2023,” the organization stated in the same news release.

To register and find out more, visit the Southern Alberta Regional Events registration webpage.

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At least 31 killed in stampede during charity event in southern Nigeria

At least 31 killed in stampede during charity event in southern Nigeria

A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people dead and seven injured, police told the Associated Press, a shocking development at a program that organizers said aimed to “offer hope” to the needy.

The stampede at the program organized by the Kings Assembly pentecostal church in Rivers state involved many people who were seeking assistance, according to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman in the state.

Many of the victims came to an annual “Shop for Free” charity program organized by the church. Such events are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where more than 80 million people live in poverty, according to government statistics.

Saturday’s charity program was supposed to begin at 9 a.m. but dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to secure their place in line, Iringe-Koko said. Somehow they broke open the locked gate, she said, adding that the seven injured were “responding to treatment.”

Videos from the scene showed the clothing, shoes and other items meant for the beneficiaries. Doctors and emergency workers treated some of the injured as they lay in the open field.

The “Shop for Free” event was suspended while authorities investigated how the stampede occurred.

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Cypress County hosting three events for modified Southern Alberta Summer Games

Cypress County hosting three events for modified Southern Alberta Summer Games

The other two events were chosen with an eye to getting as many people involved as possible, starting with horseshoes.

“It’s just something easy all age groups can do it, ours is (ages) seven up,” she says. “And then we chose a track event. We’re going to have a variety of running and walking events. Again running is more athletic and then walking, anyone can come and do that.”

A public viewing of the artwork and photography competition will take place at the county office on July 9. The horseshoe tournament will take place July 16 at the welcome centre in Walsh, where a horseshoe pit will be built. The track meet will finish off the modified games at Eagle Butte High School on July 23.

Prizes are available at the events and each participant will receive a T-shirt.

For more information or to register visit the Cypress County website.

The traditional Southern Alberta Summer Games were to be held in Raymond but have been postponed. The last time the games were held was 2019.

The City of Medicine Hat is holding a disc golf event as part of the modified games, while the County of 40 Mile is doing cribbage and photography. Find a full schedule on the Southern Alberta Summer Games website.

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‘Non-Earthquake’ Event Triggered Report of Quake Off Southern California Coast, USGS Says

‘Non-Earthquake' Event Triggered Report of Quake Off Southern California Coast, USGS Says

A ‘non-earthquake event’ triggered a report of a magnitude-4.0 earthquake Friday morning off the coast of Southern California, the USGS said.

The earthquake report issued before 10 a.m. indicated the quake was centered in the the ocean about 18 miles southwest of Avalon on Catalina Island, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. People also reported shaking on the USGS Did You Feel It page.

The USGS later tweeted that the earthquake detection system was triggered by something else.

“ShakeAlert detected a non-earthquake event which triggered our system,” the USGS said in a tweet. “Fortunately, no public alerts were sent out. This is a bit of a first time for us because these events happen so rarely. Apologies for any confusion from our previous tweets. The #ShakeAlert team is now making improvements based what we learned from this event.”

Details about what triggered the system were not immediately available. Human activities, like mining and construction blasts, can sometimes create seismic waves large enough to be detected by the USGS national seismic network. 

The reported earthquake was later deleted from the USGS map of recent earthquakes and Did You Feel It? page, where people reported light shaking in Long Beach, Irvine and other locations.

Santa Catalina Island, one of the Channel Islands off the California coast, is located southwest of Los Angeles. The towns of Two Harbors and Avalon are located on the island.