
If you’re an astute reader of the North Shore News, you’ve maybe seen before the unofficial motto of our newsroom: “Dogs, bears, trees. In that order.” It was the observation of a longtime editorial team member who realized that no matter what stories we thought were most important, our readers would always let us know with their clicks, letters and comments that they’d rather be reading about animals. To that end, we have compiled a list of our favourite North Shore animal stories of 2024. No gulls allowed: Raptors employed to patrol North Shore dump In February, reporter Brent Richter and multimedia reporter Alanna Kelly visited the North Shore Recycling and Waste Centre where, for the last five years, Metro Vancouver has been using trained raptors to scare off seagulls. There, they met Poquito, an eight-year-old Harris’ hawk who is the enforcer around the dump. “Just seeing him, they know that he’s a hawk, and he’s a predator, he’s apex to them,” said his handler. “And he is very good at his job.” Without any kind of deterrent, the transfer station might look like something along the lines of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1952 classic The Birds, with gulls getting in the way of people and machinery, coating the vehicles and visitors with guano, and creating public health and safety risks. But not with Poquito on the job. ‘Magical experience’: Kayaker stunned by orcas in North Vancouver The only thing that might make a Metro Vancouverite more envious than telling them you won the lottery is telling them you had an up-close encounter with whales. Scott Suffron got to do just that in August when, while he was out on Indian Arm in his sea kayak, two killer whales came within three metres of him. Suffron pulled out his phone to record part of the 10-minute encounter and to call his wife. “I’ve never felt more at ease. It was just incredible. And I knew it was a super rare occurrence, so I just tried to stay in the moment and just really enjoy it,” he said, adding that his wife was “so jealous.” Barking sea lions take over West Vancouver bay Decidedly less serene was when a raft of California sea lions took up lodgings on a private float in West Vancouver’s Garrow Bay in the spring and proceeded to bark incessantly for days. “Are they ever noisy,” said one neighbour. “We’ve got all the windows and doors closed, but you can still hear them pretty loud and clear.... They pretty much go all night long.” While some within earshot speculated the non-stop barking may have been an indication of mating behaviour, a Vancouver Aquarium expert informed us that wouldn’t be the case as all of the visiting sea lions were male, here to feed. The massive marine mammals are more common at that time of year on the west side of Vancouver Island, but clearly they were finding plenty of fish to feed on in Howe Sound. As for the reason behind the non-stop barking: They just like to do it. “They’re very gregarious – very vocal all the time and have large personalities, that’s for sure,” she said. ‘Fearless’ dog reunites with owner after surviving 100-foot cliff fall in West Vancouver Few dogs will ever have a tale has harrowing a tale as Freeway, the three-year-old lab-mix that disappeared after falling off a 100-foot cliff at Cypress Mountain in April. As a general rule, North Shore Rescue doesn’t get tasked with going after lost pets but, every once in a while, they make an exception. The volunteers were concerned the dog’s owner or other friends might put themselves in danger trying to get to the bottom of the cliff. When an NSR search manager repelled down to the bottom, he found what appeared to be blood but nothing else. They returned the next morning with a helicopter and found tracks, which led to a day-long scramble by Freeway’s owners, their friends and even perfect strangers trying to chase down and nab the errant mutt all over Cypress Mountain. Her owners managed to corral her into their car the next day. Whale poop in West Van lab sheds light on orcas at risk of extinction Much as we love our southern resident killer whales, they are in a tight spot, with just 74 remaining. Scientists in West Vancouver’s Pacific Science Enterprise Centre are getting their hands dirty in a bid to save them and their northern resident cousins. Researchers have been tailing the endangered species to collected their endangered feces, which contains critical information about their diets as well as DNA samples. The hope is that, by taking action to boost the cetaceans’ food sources while reducing environmental stressors, populations can recover. ‘Chill’ marmot takes up residence in busy North Vancouver neighbourhood In April, we began receiving reports of a marmot moving into a small patch of brush near the corner of East First Street and St. Georges Avenue. A rodent living in a bush wouldn’t normally result in a news story, but marmots ain’t from around these parts. WildsafeBC told us it was likely a yellow-bellied marmot – a species typically found in the Interior. It wasn’t clear if the marmot had been born here or if it had somehow made the trip west. In any event, neighbours dubbed him Morty. “We’ve kind of bonded,” one said. “He’s very, very chilled. He’s very protective over his burrow, which is very cute, but other than that he is very easy going.” North Vancouver comedy show is for the dogs, literally Maybe you’ve heard about Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee . But what about comedians with dogs getting beer? In May, North Point Brewing hosted Big Dog Energy, a comedy show that invited guests to bring their (ideally well-socialized) canines with them. For the most part, dogs who attend the comedy nights get excited to see each other at the beginning and then settle down for a snooze, the organizer told us. Much like hecklers, there is the occasional bark from the audience. “I know, it sounds weird, but it works,” she said. Steve the cat rescued from 90-foot tree in North Vancouver After surviving almost three full days stuck up a 90-foot tree, Steve the cat was rescued thanks to help of a kitty-loving arborist. His owner speculated he might have been scared up the tree by a bear that frequents the Pemberton Heights area. After first finding that District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service’s tallest ladder couldn’t reach him, his owner hired an arborist who used spurs and a rope to shimmy up to Steve, lured him with treats into a backpack and then lowered him back down to the ground. Steve, clearly stressed, put on a bit of a display, his owner said. “Oh, he was freaking out during the whole time. He was doing a bunch of ninja moves I’ve never seen him do before, standing on two feet. It was pretty interesting,” she said. “The bag finally came down and his nose was poking out.” Four cougars spotted hanging out in Deep Cove backyard Most years, we don’t run any stories about cougars because the big cats are experts at making sure they aren’t seen. So when someone sent us a tip about four of them hanging around together in Deep Cove, we – at first – didn’t believe it. After all, cougars are solitary aren’t they? The Conservation Officer Service confirmed though that they had received numerous reports describing a family unit of three kittens and one adult female cougar. Cougars are more likely to stick near semi urban areas when they have young because of the concentration of prey species such as deer, and racoons, said the COS, “They were so majestic. They’re really amazing animals,” one neighbour said. “The chances of spotting a single cougar is so unlikely. Oh my gosh, to see all four together like this, what are the chances?” Watch: Tired of having his fence bashed down, North Van man builds a ‘bear door’ Living in a wilderburb such as ours inevitably means there’ll be a bear wandering through your yard soon or later. The trouble in Curt Scheewe’s case was that the bears kept taking out his fence. So he engineered a solution: a swinging “bear door” heavy enough to keep his dog in but light enough for a bear to mosey through. Within a few days of its installation, Scheewe’s home security camera captured footage of the bear making his way up to the door and pushing his way through “like it was second nature.” The North Shore Black Bear Society shared the video widely and held Scheewe up as an creative example of how we can better co-exist with bears. Watch: Marine rescue volunteers save young eagle, get surrounded by orcas One close encounter with wildlife in a day is incredible. But two? In February, the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 1 crew spotted an eagle floundering in the water off Bowen Island and getting blown out to the Strait of Georgia. The bird immediately took them up on their offer of a rescue. “As soon as I put the boat like within about a foot of him, he, right away, tried to climb on board. He knew what we were there to do,” the unit chief said with a laugh. “We go out to rescue people, normally, right? Not eagles.” On their way back to the dock, the team had to cut their engines and drift as a pod of orcas surrounded them, which they recorded on video. The experience left them in awe. “Everybody was just kind of glowing and beaming,” he said. “You just feel so good about where we are in British Columbia and being members of the West Vancouver community and being able to go out and train and do the things we do. It just felt like such a such a reward.” [email protected] twitter.com/brentrichter brentrichter.bsky.social
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Hanumankind’s world domination Sooraj Cherukat aka , a 31-year-old rapper from India, gripped the attention of music aficionados from across the world and dominated the Billboard charts. His track, Big dawgs, created in collaboration with producer Kalmi Reddy and directed by Bijoy Shetty, amassed over a whopping 184 million views in five months. Hanumankind performed inside a “Wall of Death” (known as Marana Kinar in Malayalam), where motorcycles and cars are driven along vertical walls. In August, the rapper entered the Top 10 tracks on the Billboard Global 200 singles. Hanumankind also performed at the Nassau Coliseum in New York in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian diaspora. International artistes find promise in the Indian market India continued to be a country of interest for international artistes from across the globe. kicked off the first of a string of concerts that unravelled the unparalleled demand for live music in India. Sheeran’s March act brought traffic to a standstill in the city, compelling concertgoers to abandon their vehicles and make their way to Mahalaxmi on foot, like devotees do while turning up to religious sites. American pop rock band Maroon 5 performed their debut India act this month, and so did Brit band Blue, after interest around their work was renewed when their decades-old song, One love, became viral on social media. “We’re very grateful. We just don’t know how it happened,” the band had previously shared with mid-day about finding themselves in the spotlight again due to the social media boom. Bryan Adams, Dua Lipa, and the Jonas Brothers were other popular artistes who played in India. Up next, Coldplay returns to the country for multiple acts across cities. News of their arrival was overshadowed by controversy surrounding allegations of ticket scalping by the event organisers. It’s Tay’s world, and we’re just living in it 2024 continued to be the year of as the highly accomplished pop star continued her world domination with The Eras Tour, gaining as much attention in India as she did overseas despite not performing here. Having recently concluded the 21-month tour that gained attention for the surprise guest performances and new releases that she unveiled, Swift broke several records. Having grossed more than $2 billion, the tour reportedly doubled the gross ticket sales of any other tour in history. Swift is the first musician to make the billionaire ranking primarily based on her songs and performances. India at the Grammys Three-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej bagged yet another nomination for the upcoming gala. Kej was nominated for Break of Dawn, with other Indian artistes including Varijashree Venugopal (A rock somewhere), Radhika Vekaria (for Warriors of Light), and Chandrika Tandon (for Triveni) also earning nominations. Punjabi aa gaye! Just when you feel Diljit Dosanjh cannot achieve more fame than he already has, the singer proves you wrong. After hitting headlines last year for becoming the first Punjabi singer to perform at the prestigious Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, Dosanjh—during his India concerts—enjoyed unrivalled attention from fans who put him on a pedestal. Apart from Dosanjh, other artistes primarily crafting Punjabi music, including Karan Aujla and AP Dhillon, continued to be sought after for their live performances. Amount Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour earned
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Church of Scientology Food Drive Makes Thanksgiving Special for 300 Local FamiliesLopetegui came into the game under pressure following some poor displays from the Hammers in recent weeks but they earned a hard-fought victory to end the Magpies’ three-game winning spell. Despite a promising opening from the hosts, Tomas Soucek headed West Ham in front before Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first goal for the club after the break wrapped up victory. Lopetegui was pleased with his side’s display following a “tough match”. He said: “I am happy for the three points and am very happy against a good team like Newcastle, who have good players and a fantastic coach. “I think today was a tough match and we were able to compete as a team. “I think we deserved to win. Today they had many moments in the first half, but I think the second half we deserved to win and we are happy because you have to do these kind of matches against this type of team if you want to overcome them.” Newcastle started brightly and had plenty of chances in the first half especially, but the visitors responded after the break by retaining possession well. The win eases the pressure on Lopetegui, whose West Ham side face Arsenal on Saturday, and he believes the victory is an important feeling for his players. He said: “I think the only thing that is under our control is to play football, to improve, to defend well, to convince the players we are able to do better. “Today we did, but I think the only thing we can do is to do the things that are under our control, not today but every day. “So we had to keep with this mentality, but above all let me say we are happy for the players because they need this kind of feeling as a team to believe that we are able to do well as a team, to put the best for each player of the team.” Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted defeat was a missed opportunity for his side. The Magpies missed a series of chances in the first half, including efforts from Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff, before Alexander Isak blasted a chance off target. Anthony Gordon also rolled an effort just wide of the post after the break and Isak headed wide of goal. Three points could have seen Newcastle move into the top six and Howe admitted his side need to learn from the match. “Yes, massive because the league is so tight that a couple of wins and the whole picture looks very different,” Howe said. “We’ll kick ourselves tonight because we knew the opportunity we had, a home game, Monday night, a great moment for us potentially in our season, so we have to learn from that and come back stronger.”
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A machinists strike. Another safety problem involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging stock price. 2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the company's jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday's incident from the company’s earlier safety problems. Alan Price, a former chief pilot at Delta Air Lines who is now a consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. In January this year, a door plug blew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane. The Boeing 737-800 that crash-landed in Korea, Price noted, is “a very proven airplane. "It’s different from the Max ...It’s a very safe airplane.’’ For decades, Boeing has maintained a role as one of the giants of American manufacturing. But the the past year's repeated troubles have been damaging. The company's stock price is down more than 30% in 2024. The company's reputation for safety was especially tarnished by the 737 Max crashes, which occurred off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019 and left a combined 346 people dead. In the five years since then, Boeing has lost more than $23 billion. And it has fallen behind its European rival, Airbus, in selling and delivering new planes. Last fall, 33,000 Boeing machinists went on strike, crippling the production of the 737 Max, the company's bestseller, the 777 airliner and 767 cargo plane. The walkout lasted seven weeks, until members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to an offer that included 38% pay raises over four years. In January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight. Federal regulators responded by imposing limits on Boeing aircraft production that they said would remain in place until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the company. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max. Acting on Boeing’s incomplete disclosures, the FAA approved minimal, computer-based training instead of more intensive training in flight simulators. Simulator training would have increased the cost for airlines to operate the Max and might have pushed some to buy planes from Airbus instead. (Prosecutors said they lacked evidence to argue that Boeing’s deception had played a role in the crashes.) But the plea deal was rejected this month by a federal judge in Texas, Reed O’Connor , who decided that diversity, inclusion and equity or DEI policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in choosing an official to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement. Boeing has sought to change its culture. Under intense pressure over safety issues, David Calhoun departed as CEO in August. Since January, 70,000 Boeing employees have participated in meetings to discuss ways to improve safety.HOUSTON, Dec. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intuitive Machines, Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR, LUNRW) (“Intuitive Machines” or the “Company”), a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, announced today that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $65.0 million of shares of its Class A common stock (“Class A Common Stock”) (the “Offering”). The Company and a selling stockholder intend to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $8,872,500 and $877,500 of shares of Class A Common Stock from the Company and such selling stockholder, respectively. The Offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the Offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the Offering. Additionally, on December 2, 2024, the Company entered into an agreement with Boryung Corporation (together with its affiliates, “Boryung”), an accredited investor, pursuant to which the Company will sell to Boryung $10.0 million of shares of Class A Common Stock in a concurrent private placement (the “Private Placement”) at a purchase price per share equal to the public offering price per share in the Offering. The offer and sale of the Company’s Class A Common Stock pursuant to the Private Placement will be made in reliance upon the exemption from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”) provided by Section 4(a)(2) thereunder. The Private Placement is contingent upon the consummation of the Offering and the satisfaction of certain other customary closing conditions. The consummation of the Offering is not contingent on the consummation of the Private Placement. The Company intends to use the net proceeds it receives from the Offering and the Private Placement, together with its existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment balance, to acquire an equivalent number of newly-issued common units of Intuitive Machines, LLC (“Intuitive Machines OpCo”) from Intuitive Machines OpCo, which Intuitive Machines OpCo will in turn use for general corporate purposes, including operations, research and development and potential mergers and acquisitions. In the event the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares, the Company will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of any shares of Class A Common Stock being sold by the selling stockholder. Intuitive Machines will bear the costs associated with the sale of such shares, other than the underwriting discounts and commissions payable by the selling stockholder. BofA Securities, Cantor, Barclays and Stifel are acting as the lead joint book-running managers for the Offering. Roth Capital Partners is acting as a book-running manager for the Offering. The offer and sale of the securities pursuant to the Offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and became effective on April 3, 2024. The Offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus forming part of the effective registration statement relating to these securities. A copy of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to these securities may be obtained, when available, from the website of the SEC at www.sec.gov . Alternatively, copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus may be obtained, when available, from BofA Securities, NC1-022-02-25, 201 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com ; Cantor, 110 East 59th St., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022, Attention: Capital Markets, or by email at prospectus@cantor.com ; Barclays, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone at (888) 603-5847 or by email at barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com ; or Stifel, One Montgomery Street, Suite 3700, San Francisco, California 94104, Attention: Syndicate, by telephone at (415) 364-2720 or by email at syndprospectus@stifel.com . The securities to be offered and sold in the Private Placement have not been registered under the Securities Act or any state’s securities laws. Accordingly, the securities may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus related to the Offering are not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in connection with the Private Placement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About Intuitive Machines Intuitive Machines is a diversified space exploration, infrastructure, and services company focused on fundamentally disrupting lunar access economics. In 2024, Intuitive Machines successfully landed the Company’s Nova-C class lunar lander, Odysseus, on the Moon, returning the United States to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. The Company’s products and services are offered through its four in-space business units: Lunar Access Services, Orbital Services, Lunar Data Services, and Space Products and Infrastructure. For more information, please visit intuitivemachines.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward looking. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “strive,” “would,” “strategy,” “outlook,” the negative of these words or other similar expressions, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding: our anticipated use of net proceeds from the Offering and the Private Placement; the terms and size of the Offering and the timing and manner of the Offering; the satisfaction of closing conditions related to the Private Placement; our expectations and plans relating to our lunar missions, including the expected timing of launch and our progress and preparation thereof; our expectations with respect to, among other things, demand for our product portfolio, our submission of bids for contracts; our expectations regarding revenue for government contracts awarded to us; our operations, our financial performance and our industry; our business strategy, business plan, and plans to drive long-term sustainable shareholder value; and our expectations on revenue and cash generation. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s predictions, projections, or expectations based upon currently available information and data. Our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The following important factors and uncertainties, among others, could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements in this press release: our reliance upon the efforts of our key personnel and board of directors to be successful; our limited operating history; our failure to manage our growth effectively and failure to win new contracts; competition from existing or new companies; unsatisfactory safety performance of our spaceflight systems or security incidents at our facilities; failure of the market for commercial spaceflight to achieve the growth potential we expect; any delayed launches, launch failures, failure of our satellites or lunar landers to reach their planned orbital locations, significant increases in the costs related to launches of satellites and lunar landers, and insufficient capacity available from satellite and lunar lander launch providers; our customer concentration; our reliance on a single launch service provider; risks associated with commercial spaceflight, including any accident on launch or during the journey into space; risks associated with the handling, production and disposition of potentially explosive and ignitable energetic materials and other dangerous chemicals in our operations; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers for certain materials and supplied components; failure of our products to operate in the expected manner or defects in our sub-systems; counterparty risks on contracts entered into with our customers and failure of our prime contractors to maintain their relationships with their counterparties and fulfill their contractual obligations; failure to successfully defend protest from other bidders for government contracts; failure to comply with various laws and regulations relating to various aspects of our business and any changes in the funding levels of various governmental entities with which we do business; our failure to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, and unpatented know how; our failure to comply with the terms of third-party open source software our systems utilize; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, and to address and remediate material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting; the U.S. government’s budget deficit and the national debt, as well as any inability of the U.S. government to complete its budget process for any government fiscal year, and our dependence on U.S. government contracts and funding by the government for the government contracts; our failure to comply with U.S. export and import control laws and regulations and U.S. economic sanctions and trade control laws and regulations; uncertain global macro-economic and political conditions (including as a result of a failure to raise the “debt ceiling”) and rising inflation; our history of losses and failure to achieve profitability in the future or failure of our business to generate sufficient funds to continue operations; the cost and potential outcomes of potential future litigation; our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; the sufficiency and anticipated use of our existing capital resources to fund our future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and needs for additional financing, including the Offering and the Private Placement; and other public filings and press releases other factors detailed under the section titled Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC, the section titled Part I, Item 2. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the section titled Part II. Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and in our subsequent filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov . These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release and current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks, and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Contacts For investor inquiries: investors@intuitivemachines.com For media inquiries: press@intuitivemachines.com This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.Biden officials, Republicans point fingers over exhausted disaster loans program