https fc188 Iridium Communications Inc. announced the service launch of Iridium Certus® GMDSS, a generational advancement in maritime satellite communication safety services. Iridium Certus GMDSS, the only truly global GMDSS service available, features distress alert, safety voice, and Maritime Safety Information (MSI); includes additional regulated services like Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and Ship Security Alert System (SSAS), and provides the fastest weather-resilient broadband service available for conducting ships’ business when other systems are blocked or unavailable. This combination of capabilities creates a cost-efficient and performance advantage unmatched in the industry, making Iridium Certus GMDSS the ideal critical connectivity service needed for any ship’s hybrid network system. By adding Iridium GMDSS to the already powerful capabilities of Iridium Certus, mariners can now take advantage of the most robust communication and safety maritime solution on the market. Iridium Certus terminals now deliver GMDSS, LRIT, and SSAS capabilities through a single, versatile, and reliable antenna, giving fleets the ability to cut data costs and streamline their installed bridge unit equipment. Currently, the Lars Thrane LT-4200S has received its Marine Equipment Directive (MED) wheelmark, a critical certification milestone, and is available to the market, while other industry-leading equipment manufacturers such as Cobham Satcom, Intellian, and Thales are expected to introduce a combination of Iridium Certus 700 and 200 GMDSS solutions over the forthcoming months. As the only satellite GMDSS safety solution made available to every part of the world’s oceans, Iridium Certus GMDSS also provides both broadband and midband voice and data services, allowing mariners to tailor their communication needs to their specific situation. “We’re incredibly excited to provide mariners a ready-to-implement service that not only meets industry standards of required safety equipment, but streamlines their overall communications onboard,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “As the maritime industry constantly experiences new challenges and desires new advancements in technology, Iridium will continue to develop dependable and robust solutions for the seafarer. With over 25 years of providing life-saving services, we’re proud to have a solution such as Iridium Certus GMDSS be on the forefront of that continuous innovation.” SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) class vessels are required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to install GMDSS equipment on board. If a vessel experiences a distress situation, by simply pushing the red DISTRESS button on an Iridium GMDSS terminal, a Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) is automatically alerted of the vessel’s position, information and emergency. Within 30 seconds of receiving the distress call, the terminal automatically calls the RCC using Iridium Safety Voice, allowing crew to give swift and precise information to the RCC on their situation. The combination of GMDSS, LRIT and SSAS with companion services for Ku and Ka-band broadband systems into a single terminal delivers unprecedented safety and cost savings for a vessel’s hybrid communications system. Source: Iridium Communications Inc.Vancouver’s plans to open a winter shelter Saturday next to an elementary school have ignited fear and anger among parents. The shelter will operate from 6:30 p.m. to 7 a.m., but parents are demanding 24/7 security. They also want those who seek shelter to undergo drug testing. If those measures aren’t possible, the parents argue the city should cancel the shelter’s opening. City officials are trying to address the shortage of winter shelters, which overflowed with people seeking refuge from the deadly cold during January’s ice storm. Just a few weeks ago, the city identified Vancouver’s arts hub, the former library building at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd., as a potential site for a warming shelter, said Jamie Spinelli, the city’s homeless response manager. She said once the city confirmed the building was usable, officials immediately notified the school next door, Vancouver Innovation, Technology and Arts Elementary. Still, parents say they felt blindsided by the school’s Dec. 3 announcement that the shelter would open just 11 days later. They expressed anger during a Friday PTA meeting with city staff. (The school principal turned The Columbian away from the meeting.) Parents reportedly yelled at city staff that the shelter poses a danger to their children. They said people with mental illness will wander onto campus, causing lockdowns, or that people will leave drug paraphernalia where children could find it. VITA parent Qing Zhou expressed his concerns to the Vancouver City Council at its Monday meeting. He told the council he has warned his 8-year-old daughter that fentanyl can look like candy and not to touch it if she finds it on campus. “She’s very scared,” Zhou said. “She told her mom that she doesn’t want to go to school for the next three months.” Shelter details At the PTA meeting, Spinelli said she told parents people can only enter the shelter once they’ve called a housing hotline operated by Council for the Homeless and undergone a background check that rules out sex offenders and people who recently committed violent crimes. Then, people can take the bus to the shelter, which has a stop directly in front of the building. The shelter will not let anyone in or out after 10 p.m. Once people leave the shelter at 7 a.m., staff from the city and Outsiders Inn, the nonprofit overseeing operation of winter shelters, will stick around until about 7:30 a.m. Parents said the city should have a uniformed police officer constantly patrolling the area. (The school does not have its own security, according to the district.) They also asked the city to test people entering the shelter for drugs and bar those who have been using them. The city does not plan to take either of those measures, Spinelli said. “I’ve been very clear that we will always reassess the situation,” she said. “And if something needs to change, something needs to change.” Outsiders Inn Executive Director Adam Kravitz said he was frustrated by comments at the PTA meeting: “That homeless people were generally dangerous, that homeless people did drugs and homeless people bring crime.” “That’s just not true,” he said. Most of the people in his shelter at St. Paul Lutheran Church are people with disabilities or older adults who struggle with daily activities. He’s seen many families with children use the winter shelters. Spinelli said the winter shelter next to VITA will prioritize families from the school, which has two students identified as homeless, according to the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction . After those families are served, the city will admit people according to vulnerability — including older adults, people with disabilities, single women and medically fragile people. Spinelli said she understands parents’ concerns. But the plans for the shelter came together within a matter of weeks, she said. “If I could have provided more notice, I would have, but that’s just what it’s like to respond to an emergency. You don’t often get to plan for them,” she said. Frostbite, power outages Washington’s winter is predicted to be colder and wetter than usual . The conditions for homeless people, including people living in their cars or RVs, were especially dangerous in January, Spinelli said. “I have seen more amputations due to frostbite this year than any other year in my career,” she said. Clark County’s shelter system was largely unprepared for the level of need that month . Faith leaders called The Columbian, shocked and overwhelmed by the number of people practically falling through their church doors. River City Church, which technically has capacity for 15 people overnight, let in about 300 people during the winter storm. Many arrived with frostbite . The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office reported that one person died from hypothermia during last winter but did not specify whether that person was homeless. However, not all those who use warming shelters are homeless, Kravitz said. January’s nearly weeklong ice storm cut off power for tens of thousands of people in Clark County. Hundreds lost power for prolonged periods and had no heat during the freezing conditions. Others simply couldn’t afford to keep their heat running. “I really just want for everyone to be safe and secure, have a nice Christmas and get along,” Kravitz said. Change of heart VITA kindergarten parent Katelyn Robley said she was initially frustrated with the city for seeking a shelter next to the school. In interviews with multiple TV news stations, she questioned why the city chose the building, asked for more security and demanded more transparency from the city about the process. But listening to city staff at Friday’s PTA meeting eased Robley’s mind, she said. “I’ve had some time to digest it. I think a lot of people, their safety concerns were valid,” Robley said. “But hearing Jamie (Spinelli) speak, I just don’t feel the city bringing this to the area was with any malicious intent. ... Being divisive is not setting the best example for our kids.” She and other mothers reached out to Spinelli apologizing for the behavior of some parents at the meeting and asked how they could contribute to the shelter, especially during the holidays. (School lets out for winter break Dec. 20.) Robley now plans to attend the shelter opening on Saturday with her children. They’ll be holding welcome signs, she said. “This is something that’s happening,” she said. “We can choose to welcome the residents to the shelter ... with the kind of compassion we would want if we were in that situation.” This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism , a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation . Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj .ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — John Elway says any remorse over in the 2018 NFL draft is quickly dissipating with rookie suggesting the Denver Broncos have finally found their next franchise quarterback. Elway said Nix, the sixth passer selected in April's draft, is an ideal fit in Denver with coach Sean Payton navigating his transition to the pros and Vance Joseph's defense serving as a pressure release valve for the former Oregon QB. “We’ve seen the progression of Bo in continuing to get better and better each week and Sean giving him more each week and trusting him more and more to where last week we saw his best game of the year,” Elway said in a nod to Nix's in a rout of Atlanta. For that performance, Nix earned his second straight NFL Rookie of the Week honor along with the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. “I think the sky’s the limit," Elway said, “and that’s just going to continue to get better and better.” In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Elway also touted former coach Mike Shanahan's Hall of Fame credentials, spoke about the future of University of Colorado star and Heisman favorite Travis Hunter and discussed his ongoing bout with a chronic hand condition. Elway spent the last half of his decade as the Broncos’ GM in a futile search for a worthy successor to Peyton Manning, a pursuit that continued as he transitioned into a two-year consultant role that ended after the 2022 season. “You have all these young quarterbacks and you look at the ones that make it and the ones that don’t and it’s so important to have the right system and a coach that really knows how to tutelage quarterbacks, and Sean’s really good at that,” Elway said. “I think the combination of Bo’s maturity, having started 61 games in college, his athletic ability and his knowledge of the game has been such a tremendous help for him,'" Elway added. “But also Vance Joseph’s done a heck of a job on the defensive side to where all that pressure’s not being put on Bo and the offense to score all the time.” Payton and his staff have methodically expanded Nix’s repertoire and incorporated his speed into their blueprints. Elway lauded them for “what they’re doing offensively and how they’re breaking Bo into the NFL because it’s a huge jump and I think patience is something that goes a long way in the NFL when it comes down to quarterbacks.” Elway said he hopes to sit down with Nix at some point when things slow down for the rookie. Nix, whose six wins are one more than Elway had as a rookie, said he looks forward to meeting the man who won two Super Bowls during his Hall of Fame playing career and another from the front office. “He’s a legend not only here for this organization, but for the entire NFL," Nix said, adding, "most guys, they would love to have a chat with John Elway, just pick his brain. It’s just awesome that I’m even in that situation.” Orange Crush linebacker Randy Gradishar joined Elway in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, something Elway called “way, way overdue.” Elway suggested it's also long past time for the Hall to honor Shanahan, who won back-to-back Super Bowls in Denver with Elway at QB and whose footprint you see every weekend in the NFL because of his expansive coaching tree. Elway called University of Colorado stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders “both great athletes." He said he really hopes Sanders gets drafted by a team that will bring him along like the Broncos have done with Nix and he sees Hunter being able to play both ways in the pros but not full time. Elway said he thinks Hunter will be primarily a corner in the NFL but with significant contributions on offense: “He's great at both. He's got great instincts, and that's what you need at corner." It's been five years since Elway announced he was dealing with Dupuytren’s contracture, a chronic condition that typically appears after age 40 and causes one or more fingers to permanently bend toward the palm. Elway's ring fingers on both hands were originally affected and he said now the middle finger on his right hand is starting to pull forward. So, he’ll get another injection of a drug called Xiaflex, which is the only FDA-approved non-surgical treatment, one that he's endorsing in an awareness campaign for the chronic condition that affects 17 million Americans. The condition can make it difficult to do everyday tasks such as shaking hands or picking up a coffee mug. Elway said what bothered him most was “I couldn't pick up a football and I could not imagine not being able to put my hand around a football." AP NFL:

‘Dutton finally slinks out’: Labor lashes Coalition over nuclear costings

Attention Long-Time SoFi Technologies Shareholders: Thursday's Unusual Options Activity Could Guide Your Next Investment Move

None