May 2021

Homemade Cards

Keeping in touch with loved ones is fun any time of the year. Pick an overcast or way­too­hot day to spend creating homemade cards to send to family and friends.

Materials:

• Cardstock or construction paper

• Zebra Pen Zensations Colored Pencils

• Stickers

• Scissors

• Ribbon

• Hot glue sticks and guns

Encourage kids to think about their intended recipients to create a card that is unique to an experience or memory they have shared together using favorite colors or recreating the memory.

Mobile vax units hit tiny US towns to boost immunity

FALLON, Nev. (AP) — Pick-up truck drivers motor up to a white trailer in a parking lot on Fallon Paiute-Shoshone land in Nevada’s high desert and within a few moments they’re handed forms to sign, jabbed with coronavirus vaccine and sent on their way.

The pop-up clinic 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of Reno is one of 28 locations in the state where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispatched mobile vaccination units to ensure people in far-flung rural areas and one stop-light towns can get inoculated.

SEC matches record with 7 teams named NCAA regional hosts

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference matched its record with seven teams among 16 regional hosts announced Sunday for the NCAA baseball tournament.

The hosts have locked up spots in the national tournament, and the rest of the 64-team field will be unveiled Monday.

Each regional will be made up of four teams playing in a double-elimination format. All are scheduled from Friday through Monday. Regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals, and those eight winners go on to the College World Series in Omaha.

Biden honors war dead at Arlington, implores nation to heal

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Joe Biden honored America’s war dead at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the hallowed burial ground and extolling the sacrifices of the fallen for the pursuit of democracy, “the soul of America.”

Biden invoked the iconic battles of history and joined them to the present as he implored Americans to rise above the divisions straining the union, which he described in stark terms.

Sickey named chair of state committee

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Coushatta Tribal Chairman David Sickey has been named chair of a state committee.

Governor Edwards signed an Executive Order creating the Louisiana task force on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

Edwards declared May 5 as MMIWG Day in the State of Louisiana and appointed Sickey as chair of the committee. Chairman Sickey and his staff have worked with the Governor’s Office to help launch the Louisiana’s MMIWG task force, according to a press release.

Mess-Free Watercolor Art

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Learn how to make a faux watercolor masterpiece using Zebra Pen Mildliner Brush Pens.

1. Sketch your design using a pencil.

2. Trace over your pencil design with a bleed­proof technical drawing pen. Be sure to erase any pencil lines still showing.

3. Use brush pens to add blocks of color to each area, but don’t worry about thoroughly covering each line. Use more colors to add more visual interest and depth.

4. Focus on one section of the design at a time.

April figures show parish job growth

Parish unemployment figures released this week revealed job growth in the parish was down in April.

According to preliminary estimates released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), the unemployment rate in Jeff Davis Parish for April was 5.6 percent, up from 5.5 percent in March.

Occupations with the highest employment wages are architectural and engineering managers, pharmacists, industrial production managers, environmental production managers and nurse practitioners.

In post-pandemic Europe, migrants will face digital fortress

PEPLO, Greece (AP) — As the world begins to travel again, Europe is sending migrants a loud message: Stay away!

Greek border police are firing bursts of deafening noise from an armored truck over the frontier into Turkey. Mounted on the vehicle, the long-range acoustic device, or “sound cannon,” is the size of a small TV set but can match the volume of a jet engine.

Creative Summer Moments

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Warm, sunny days are the perfect setting for making family memories, but they’re also ideal opportunities to encourage kids to get creative and let their imaginations soar.

These ideas for summertime activities encourage family interaction, and the more kids get to help plan and organize the details, the more engaged you can expect them to be.

Visit Your Local Park

Illegal piranha found in Louisiana State University lake

BATON ROUGE (AP) — A piranha has been found in a lake at Louisiana State University, and fisheries agents are looking in case there are more, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said Friday.

The red piranha found earlier in the week was probably a pet that someone released into University Lakes, a news release said.

Piranhas are native to the Amazon Basin in South America, and it’s illegal to possess or sell them in Louisiana, the department said.