Soroptimist International of Joplin announces 2025 Live Your Dream award recipients

On March 8, International Women's Day, Soroptimist International of Joplin announced its Live Your Dream Award recipients.
The awards help women who serve as the primary wage earners for their families with financial resources to offset costs associated with attaining higher education or additional skills.
Recipients are:
Top award, $3,000, Marissa Staten. A mother of three, Staten is enrolled in Franklin Technology Center's nursing program and wants to be a nurse in the behavioral health field.
Second place, $2,500, Kristy Kovis. A mother of four, Kovis is studying in Crowder College's nursing program and wants to be a nurse supporting and advocating for women's well-being.
Third place, $2,000, Starla Lovett. A mother of three, Lovett is pursuing her nursing degree at Franklin Technology Center with an interest in cardiology.
Fourth place, $1,000, Danielle Turner. A mother of two, Turner is enrolled at Missouri Southern State University in social work and wants to be a case manager, working with underprivileged and at-risk families.
Fifth place, $1,000, Amanda Canepa. A mother of one, Canepa is pursuing her nursing degree at Crowder College.
Recipients can use the award money for tuition, books, childcare, car expenses or any other education-related expense.
'The LYDA Awards are more than an awards program, it is a platform for recognizing and uplifting women who are turning their dreams into reality,' Kristine Gustafson, chair of the LYDA committee, said in a statement. 'Behind every award is a story of resilience, ambition and impact. We celebrate the women who are shaping the future with courage, determination and passion.'
Each year, Soroptimist International provides $2.8 million in cash grants to women in need. Since the program's inception in 1972, more than $35 million has helped tens of thousands of women.
Soroptimist International of Joplin is part of Soroptimist International of the Americas, a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

6 days ago

• Yahoo

$1 million lottery prizes in these 2 states are about to expire

USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change. Two lucky lottery winners in Idaho and Virginia don't have much time to claim their $1 million jackpot prizes, as both tickets are set to expire in less than two weeks. Idaho and Virginia lottery officials announced that the two winning $1 million tickets for each respective state are still unclaimed. The ticket in Virginia won the state's New Year's Millionaire Raffle drawing on Jan. 1, 2025, while the ticket in Idaho is from last winter's Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle. Both winning tickets will expire on Monday, June 30, at 5 p.m. EST (Virginia) and 5 p.m. MDT (Idaho). The winning ticket in Virginia was bought at the Food Lion at 30 Windward Drive in Fishersville, while the winning ticket in Idaho was sold from an Idaho Lottery retail location in Star, a city about 24 miles away from Boise. If neither ticket is claimed, then they will be deemed "worthless" as, by law, lottery officials in those states will not be able to pay the prizes. By law, winning tickets in Virginia and Idaho expire 180 days after the drawing. Unclaimed prizes in Virginia go to the state's literary fund, while all unclaimed prizes at the end of the fiscal year in Idaho go to the state's lottery beneficiaries, including its public schools. Idaho lottery officials added that each year, about $5 million in winning lottery tickets in the state go unclaimed. The $1 million winning raffle ticket in Virginia was one of five $1 million winners in the state's annual drawing. The other four have been claimed, according to Virginia lottery officials. The unclaimed ticket is #229618. If no one comes forward with the winning ticket in Idaho, this will become only the third $1 million winning draw ticket in the state's lottery history to go unclaimed and the first in more than a decade, officials said. Lottery officials in Idaho and Virginia advise the two individuals with the unclaimed winning tickets to contact their state lottery officials immediately. Virginia has eight customer service centers across the state where the ticket can be redeemed, while the winner in Idaho would have to go to the state's lottery office in Boise to claim their prize. Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets. You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer. Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800- GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prizes for $1M lottery winners in 2 states will expire soon

Miami Herald

12-06-2025

• Miami Herald

Boeing 787 Crash Brings Fresh Scrutiny to Plane-Maker's Safety Record

EDITORS NOTE: EDS: SUBS for complete writethru with new approach; SUBS byline; UPDATES related stories list.); (Attn: S.C.); (ART ADV: With photo.); (With: INDIA-PLANE-CRASH, INDIA-CRASH-EXPLAINER, INDIA-CRASH-SCENE, INDIA-CRASH-CAUSE); Alex Travelli and Pragati K.B. contributed reporting. Boeing suffered another setback Thursday, when a crash of one of its passenger jets in western India renewed scrutiny of the company's safety record following a yearslong quality crisis. It could take months or years to determine the cause of the crash, in which an Air India passenger plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew members, slammed into a medical college in Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat. Manufacturing issues may ultimately have little to do with what went wrong, but the episode -- the first fatal crash involving a Dreamliner -- could still lead to more scrutiny into concerns about Boeing's production practices that go back years. "Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone affected in Ahmedabad," Kelly Ortberg, Boeing's chief executive, said in a statement. Ortberg also said that he had spoken with N. Chandrasekaran, the chair of Tata Group, the conglomerate that owns Air India, and offered Boeing's support. The company said it had a team ready to help with the investigation, which is being led by India's aviation regulators. Plane crashes are typically caused by multiple factors that can include such things as bird strikes, pilot error, manufacturing defects and inadequate maintenance. Early hypotheses are often ruled out during lengthy, technical crash investigations. The first Dreamliner was delivered in 2011 to All Nippon Airways, Japan's largest airline. There are more than 1,100 in service today, including nearly three dozen operated by Air India, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm. The plane involved in the crash Thursday was delivered to Air India in January 2014 and had accumulated more than 41,000 flight hours, according to Cirium. The plane had taken off or landed nearly 8,000 times over its life, a typical amount for a Dreamliner of that age. Thursday's crash comes as Boeing is still dealing with repercussions from two deadly accidents involving its 737 Max plane in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. The company reached a deal with the Justice Department last month, which would spare Boeing from taking criminal responsibility for the crashes. Boeing has agreed to admit to obstructing federal oversight, pay a fine, contribute to a fund for the families of the victims and invest in safety and quality programs. The agreement, which requires the approval of a judge, was opposed by some of the families of crash victims. The airplane manufacturer has faced other prominent safety issues in recent years. In January 2024, a hole blew open on a new 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, exposing passengers to forceful winds. Boeing told regulators in August that it would redesign the panels to better detect any malfunctions. That episode prompted widespread reforms at the company. Among them was an overhaul of senior management, including its chief executive; substantial changes in quality processes and procedures; increased regulatory scrutiny; and Boeing's purchase of a major supplier of Max bodies. The Dreamliner has been the subject of quality concerns, too. Deliveries of the plane were paused for more than a year until the summer of 2022, when the Federal Aviation Administration approved a Boeing plan to make some fixes that included filling paper-thin gaps in the plane's body and replacing certain titanium parts that were made with the wrong material. Those problems had no immediate impact on the safety of Dreamliners, Boeing said at the time. Last year, the FAA investigated claims by a Boeing engineer who claimed that the company had taken shortcuts around the time of the delivery pause in fitting together parts of the Dreamliner fuselage, or body. The whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, said that the improper procedures could cause premature damage over years of use. Boeing disputed the claim, including at a briefing last year for reporters at the factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, where the Dreamliner has been assembled for years. Two top Boeing engineers said then that the company had found no evidence to support the whistleblower's concerns after conducting exhaustive tests, inspections and analyses of the plane during its development and in recent years. One 787 airframe had been subjected to testing that put it through 165,000 "flight cycles," the equivalent pressurization and depressurization of that many flights. That figure far exceeded the plane's expected useful life, and the airframe still showed no signs of fatigue, Steve Chisholm, a vice president and the functional chief engineer for mechanical and structural engineering at Boeing, said at the briefing in South Carolina. Boeing also said then that nearly 700 Dreamliners had gone through thorough six-year maintenance checks, and eight had gone through 12-year checks. Mechanics found no signs of premature fatigue in those jets either, according to the company. Other whistleblowers have raised concerns about the South Carolina factory where the Dreamliner has been assembled for years. Among them was John Barnett, a former quality manager with almost three decades of experience at Boeing, who went public with his concerns about shoddy practices in 2019. Barnett killed himself last year after a yearslong legal battle with the company, which he accused of retaliating against him for raising his concerns. Last month, Boeing settled a lawsuit with Barnett's family concerning his death. But the Dreamliner involved in Thursday's crash predated those concerns: It was built years earlier in Seattle and delivered to Air India in 2014, according to Cirium. Ortberg, who took over as Boeing's chief executive over the summer, described 2025 as "our turnaround year" in a message to employees in April, when the company released better-than-expected quarterly financial results. At the time, the company said it had stabilized Dreamliner production at five planes per month but planned to increase that to seven later in the year. The company's shares were down about 5% in midafternoon trading Thursday. Air India, one of the country's biggest carriers, had a cluster of dangerous incidents about 15 years ago. Before Thursday's crash, the airline's last fatal crash was in August 2020. The airline, which was taken over by the Tata Group in 2022 after decades of government ownership, has been working in recent years to improve its safety record and upgrade and expand its plane fleet. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025

Yahoo

04-06-2025

• Yahoo

County Durham club which held 'wrestling death match' to be auctioned off

A County Durham club that rose to prominence after holding an ill-fated wrestling event featuring a 'death match' has had its price slashed as it heads to auction. New Seaham Conservative Club, the venue of the notorious 'Pits of Punishment' event, is now on the market for £250,000, after previously being listed for £300,000. In July 2023, the club was fined close to £1,000 after being convicted of offences related to the wrestling event, which saw wrestlers left covered in blood. It held the event without proper licensing, allowed children to be present after 10pm, and sold alcohol to non-members without the necessary licence or temporary event notice. The estate agents are presenting the property, now wrestling-match-free as a "detached former social club with an adjoining self-contained three-bedroom house". Auctioneers Savills highlight the "asset management potential in its current use or development potential to be converted into multiple dwellings" subject to the necessary consents. The club was fined in 2023 after the so-called 'death match'. (Image: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL) Constructed in 1895, the property is of brick construction and is set beneath a multi-pitched slate-covered roof. The club also features a beer garden, a beer patio, and car parking for approximately 20 vehicles. The property extends to 0.54 acres in total. The detached single-storey social club includes trading rooms, a games area, a members lounge, a function room, and a public bar with a stage area and dance floor. Ancillary trading areas include customer WCs, store rooms, dressing rooms, a manager's office, and a boiler room. The basement houses a beer cellar and additional storage. The ill-fated event saw wrestlers left covered in blood. (Image: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL) County Durham venue that ran bloody wrestling event in front of children fined 'Slap in the face for County Durham' if train services axed, rail user warns 'Dad told me 'p*** off!' after hearing of my £1m lotto win two days before he died' An adjoining two-storey house, previously used as stewards' accommodation, includes a living room, kitchen, dining room, and toilet on the ground floor, with three bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. The site also boasts a service yard and additional parking spaces at the front of the property. The auction for the property is scheduled for June 17, just a month shy of the two year anniversary of the venue being fined for the 'death match'.