Latest news with #ruralareas
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Irish Times
Climate Council calls for €10,000 EV grants as transport emissions cuts ‘unlikely to be achieved'
Supports for purchasing electric vehicles need to be ramped up by the Government with grants of up to €10,000 for low-income households purchasing smaller vehicles, the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) has told the Government. This measure is one of a series of interventions required to ensure the transport sector does not exceed legally binding limits on carbon emissions , it said. With emissions falling by an estimated 1.3 per cent last year, 'urgent Government intervention [is needed] to support sustained emissions reductions and people making the switch to public transport', it added. The Republic has a national target of a 51 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. Key to delivering transport emissions reductions 'is ending reliance on harmful and expensive fossil fuels', the independent advisory body said in its latest review of the sector published on Wednesday. READ MORE 'An increase in new battery electric vehicle (Bev) registrations and the achievement of targets for Bev adoption under the Climate Action Plan must be realised.' To drive this forward, the council has recommended grants of up to €10,000 (for Bevs less than €35,000) for lower-income households, particularly in places with limited access to public transport, including rural areas. EV grants have been pared back in recent years. A grant of up to €3,500 is available for new Bevs with a price of between €14,000 and €60,000. In parallel, there needs to be accelerated roll-out of publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure alongside ambitious electricity network reinforcement. That is 'a measure which is critical to support access to charging for those without off-street parking and decarbonisation of commercial vehicles', the CCAC said. With only 18 per cent (172,000 out of 945,000) of primary and post-primary pupils accessing the School Transport Scheme, it strongly supports expanded eligibility criteria and greater integration of school and public transport services. Expansion of the safe routes to school programme, which aims to encourage as many students as possible to safely walk, cycle and wheel to school, was also needed to support the required shift in the sector. 'Transport is Ireland's biggest source of energy demand, and emissions from the sector must reduce by half if the sector is to meet its target,' Marie Donnelly, chair of the CCAC, said. 'Urgent and decisive action must now be taken by Government to end our reliance on fossil fuels and deliver the kind of transformative change that is required in this sector.' There were signs of progress in public transport, she said, with more than half of the redesigned BusConnects network in Dublin implemented; a 48 per cent increase in passenger boardings on redesigned routes, and a significant growth in the number of EV and hybrid buses on Irish roads. The review also highlighted the potential benefits of 'vehicle to everything charging' that can increase resilience in rural areas during power outages by providing temporary grid support for households while the main grid is restored. 'Bidirectional charging' and 'vehicle-to-grid' technology are increasingly available in EVs, which can provide home backup power for a number of days but also helps stabilise grids and decrease costs for electric vehicle owners. 'There is a significant opportunity for bidirectional charging, in tandem with solar photovoltaic and battery storage systems, to increase resilience to storm events,' the review finds. Highlighting learning from storms Darragh and Éowyn, Ms Donnelly said the Government must 'scale up investment to enhance the climate resilience of vulnerable and critical transport infrastructure' including road, rail and aviation. Ports are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events and it is 'crucial that the National Ports Policy is updated to reflect these risks'.
Geek Vibes Nation
4 days ago
- Geek Vibes Nation
How Artificial Intelligence Simplifies Math Homework
This accessibility is particularly vital for students in under-resourced schools or rural areas, where one-on-one help may be scarce. AI becomes the bridge, the tutor, the steady guide in an often rocky academic journey. Image by on Freepik Not a Shortcut—A Scaffold Critics say: 'Isn't AI just a fancy way to cheat?' But let's not confuse tools with intent. A hammer can build or destroy. It depends on the hands that wield it. AI doesn't replace learning. It supports it. The platforms are designed to encourage engagement—highlighting wrong steps, offering tips, even nudging students to try alternate methods. One study from the University of Michigan in 2023 found that students who used AI for homework were 40% more likely to solve similar problems independently on later tests compared to those who didn't. That's not just memorization. That's mastery. The Future? Personalized Learning Imagine this: AI not only explains math problems but also learns how you learn. It tracks errors, recognizes patterns in your thinking, and adapts accordingly. You're a visual learner? It draws diagrams. Prefer text? It breaks things down logically. We're on the edge of deep personalization, where homework help becomes a bespoke experience—designed for the individual student, not the mass classroom. And as AI integrates with educational platforms more deeply, we'll likely see even more interactive simulations, voice-based explanations, and gamified problem-solving. One Equation, Many Answers In the end, it's not about solving for x. It's about solving for confidence, access, and peace of mind. Artificial Intelligence won't replace teachers or classrooms, but it has already reshaped what it means to tackle math homework. It whispers, 'You've got this,' in the stillness of a tough doesn't get doesn't judge. It just helps. And for millions of students, that's more than math. That's magic. Caroline is doing her graduation in IT from the University of South California but keens to work as a freelance blogger. She loves to write on the latest information about IoT, technology, and business. She has innovative ideas and shares her experience with her readers.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Police violence is growing in rural America. A safer path exists.
Thaddeus L. Johnson, a former police officer, is a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice and teaches criminology at Georgia State University. Natasha N. Johnson is a faculty member at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State. A Colorado man experiencing a mental health crisis called 911 when his car stalled on a lonely rural road in 2022. He wasn't breaking any laws. He wasn't threatening others. But when he refused to step out of his car, deputies fatally shot him. Encounters such as this — once almost exclusive to urban city blocks — have reached America's back roads. In 2024, law enforcement killed 1,365 people — the most on record. That milestone is striking on its own, but these deaths are increasingly happening in rural areas. By 2023, some estimates show rural Zip codes overtook urban ones in police-caused fatalities. The danger to officers also moved farther from downtown. Between 2021 and 2023, more officers were killed than in any three-year period in the past 20 years. Assaults on officers rose, too, with the steepest spikes in places with fewer than 50,000 residents. What's driving this? The pandemic, remote work and rising housing costs pushed millions of people from city blocks to suburban cul-de-sacs and country roads. But they didn't leave big-city problems behind. Federal data shows violent victimizations in nonurban areas increased during the pandemic even as urban violence declined. This rapid population growth has outpaced local institutions. Officers in many small, booming towns now have to handle crises they're not equipped for. More than half of the 500 fastest-growing U.S. counties between 2020 and 2023 had fewer than 50,000 residents. Nationwide, only about 4 in 10 counties have a mobile-crisis team and most small to midsize police departments don't have enough personnel or funding for dedicated behavioral-health response units. Meanwhile, rural homelessness rose, drawing police into more noncriminal emergencies. When places turn over quickly, trust breaks down. Newcomers don't know police deputies or each other. With fewer alternatives, every barking dog or shouting match becomes a 911 call. More than half of police responses nationwide involve noncriminal emergencies such as someone in mental distress locked in a bathroom, couples arguing loudly, or drug overdoses. Bureau of Justice Statistics reports for 2020 and 2022 show that these types of service calls outnumbered burglary, assault and other crime-related calls by nearly 2.2 million. In rural areas, where gun ownership is most common, these calls are already turning deadlier. The numbers tell the story. From 2020 to 2024, police killings during 'person with a weapon' calls nearly quadrupled in rural areas. These increases weren't driven by violent crime, but by everyday problems spiraling beyond local capacity. Officers didn't become more trigger-happy. They're dealing with more threats. Officers were assaulted 79,000 times in 2023 — about once every six minutes. Nationally, assaults rose 32 percent from 60,000 three years earlier. But the biggest shifts occurred far from city centers. Police assaults jumped 68 percent in places with 25,000 to 49,000 people, and gun assaults on rural officers surged 63 percent. Disturbance calls were often the trigger. Officers were attacked during 59 of them each day — up from 49 in 2020. In major cities, these assaults rose 24 percent. In midsize towns, they climbed 38 percent. In rural areas, assaults during mental health calls nearly doubled. Traffic stops were no safer. In towns of 10,000 to 24,000 residents, assaults during stops spiked 77 percent, while increasing 20 percent in cities with more than 100,000. And officers responding to suspicious person calls experienced 51 percent more assaults in rural areas versus 9 percent in the biggest cities. Police departments — especially in small towns — are struggling to stay staffed. Since 2020, resignations shot up 82 percent as retirements nearly tripled in forces with fewer than 50 officers. To stay afloat, departments lowered hiring standards, rushed training and leaned heavily on overtime. One legacy of such changes is a fatigued, underprepared force handling high-stakes calls with little backup. A safer path exists for civilians and officers alike. But it starts with rethinking who responds, how they're trained, and what communities truly need. This means sending the right responder — mental health teams instead of police — to nonviolent crisis calls, as cities such as Denver and Eugene, Oregon, as well as rural areas instates such as Kansas and Arizona do. Smaller cities such as Olympia, Washington, dispatch trained social-service teams to handle substance abuse crises and neighbor disputes. It also means better training for police when they do end up on these calls. According to the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Policing, many departments still emphasize firearms over communication. West Virginia and Tennessee now mandate de-escalation training for police. In Louisville, officers participating in the Police Executive Research Forum's de-escalation course use less force and report fewer injuries. In Mississippi and Virginia, all local law enforcement must now learn how to handle people in emotional or behavioral distress. Studies show officers with such training use force less often — and when they do, they're more likely to use the least amount necessary. Provider shortages leave many nowhere to turn but 911. States such as Michigan and South Dakota are expanding mobile and tele-mental health services to keep emergencies from becoming armed standoffs. Texas launched a grant program to establish or expand regional behavioral health centers in rural areas. None of this is easy. But if we want safer communities, we must stop sending armed police to every emergency. Dispatch civilian responders to non-crime calls for homelessness, addiction and wellness checks. Invest in behavioral care. Train officers to de-escalate — not dominate. Until then, these violent clashes will keep spilling into new corners of America.
BBC News
7 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Cumbrian community bus service boss 'flabbergasted' at MBE
A man who set up a community bus service said he was "flabbergasted" to be made an Cairns, known as Jock, set up the Western Dales Community Bus, which runs journeys across rural areas in has been appointed MBE for services to public transport as part of the King's Birthday Honours."I decided to accept largely because of the other people who have been involved in the organisation - it's never been a one-man band," he said. "This has always been a group of volunteers from the community who were concerned about public transport and wanted to do something about it."Mr Cairns, who lives in Dent, said he had no idea of the honour until a letter came through the said: "I was absolutely flabbergasted, I was certainly very surprised." Serving rural areas Mr Cairns was the chairman of Dent Parish Council in 2011 when Cumbria County Council withdrew funding for the Saturday bus service connecting Dent Station and Sedbergh with initially raised enough money to run the service for a year and then moved to setting up Western Dales Community Bus to take retired at the end of 2024 after leading the charity for 12 organisation has two 16-seat minibuses and expanded its services to other rural areas including Kirkby Stephen and number of users jumped from 2,500 in 2012 to 10,600 in 2023. Mr Cairns was one of 14 people in Cumbria celebrated in the King's Birthday is the full list: KnighthoodsProf Vernon Charles Gibson, for services to science and to defenceCommanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)Mr Paul Caldwell, for services to agriculture and to rural areasOfficers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)Mr Richard Alan Warren for services to mountain rescue in Cumbria and the Lake DistrictMembers of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)Mr Nicholas James Barrett for services to outdoor educationMr James Matthew Batchelor for services to technology for older peopleMr John Rodger Cairns for services to public transportMr Douglas Kerr for services to aviation heritageMr Mark Todd for services to sailing and to young peopleMr Robert Walker for services to neurodiversityMr Jeremy Richard Wilson for services to indoor climbingMedallist of the Order of the British Empire (BEM)Mrs Margaret Hartley for services to the community in west CumbriaMr Nigel Robert Lister for services to the nuclear industry and to mountain rescueMiss Marjorie Anne Nicholson for services to the arts and to the community in Barrow in FurnessMr Kevin Walsh for services to the community in Carlisle 'Above and beyond' HM Lord-Lieutenant of Cumbria, Mr Alexander Scott, said the number of recipients in the county reflected the "depth of commitment, compassion and service" of the community."Being awarded an Honour is a truly significant achievement, and I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all those named," he said."Each of them has gone above and beyond, often without seeking any recognition, and their dedication is an inspiration to us all." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Times of Oman
10-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Elon Musk owned Starlink set to launch services in India within two months
New Delhi: Elon Musk's satellite internet service Starlink is preparing to commence operations in India within the next two months after receiving its license last week, sources said. The company has finalised its pricing structure for the Indian market, setting the cost of the required satellite dish device at approximately Rs 33,000. The monthly unlimited data plan is expected to be priced at Rs 3,000. As part of its launch strategy, Starlink plans to offer a complimentary one-month trial period with each device purchase, allowing customers to test the service before committing to regular monthly payments. The satellite internet service is expected to significantly impact connectivity in India's remote and underserved areas, where traditional broadband infrastructure has been challenging to establish. Starlink's low Earth orbit satellite constellation promises to deliver high-speed internet access to locations previously unreachable by conventional terrestrial networks. The pricing structure appears consistent with Starlink's regional strategy, as the device costs align with those in neighbouring countries. In Bangladesh, the Starlink device is priced at Rs 33,000, while Bhutan maintains the same Rs 33,000 price point for the equipment. Industry experts suggest that Starlink's entry into the Indian market could intensify competition in the country's telecommunications sector and provide crucial connectivity solutions for rural areas, educational institutions, and businesses in remote locations.
