By PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — Terence Stamp, the British actor who often played the role of a complex villain, including that of General Zod in the early Superman films, has died. He was 87.

His death on Sunday was disclosed in a death notice published online.

The London-born Stamp started his film career with 1962’s seafaring “Billy Budd,” for which he earned an Oscar nomination.

Stamp’s six decades in the business were peppered with highlights, including his touching portrayal of the transsexual Bernadette in 1994’s “The Adventure of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” Stamp also was widely praised for his lead in director Steven Soderbergh’s 1999 crime drama “The Limey.”

But it will be his portrayal of the bearded Zod in 1978’s “Superman” and its sequel “Superman II” two years later that most people associate with Stamp. As the Kryptonian arch enemy to Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel, Stamp introduced a darker and charming — more human — element to the franchise, one that’s been replicated in countless superhero movies ever since.

Stamp started out his film career in the early 1960s as part of the “angry young men” movement that was introducing an element of social realism into British moviemaking.

That was perhaps most notable in the 1965 adaptation of John Fowles’ creepy debut novel “The Collector,” where he played the awkward and lonely Freddie Clegg, who kidnapped Samantha Eggar’s Miranda Grey in a warped attempt to win her love. It was a performance that would earn the young Stamp, fresh off his Oscar nomination, the best actor award at 1965’s Cannes Film Festival.

While part of that 1960s British movement, Stamp learned from some of the most seasoned actors from the classical era, including Laurence Olivier.

“I worked with Olivier briefly on my second movie (1962’s “Term of Trial),” Stamp recalled in an interview with the AP in 2013. “And he said to me, ‘You should always study your voice.’” Stamp then segued into a spot-on Olivier impersonation, continuing, “‘Because, as you get older, your looks go, but your voice will become empowered.’”

Born in London’s East End on July 22, 1938, Stamp lived a colorful life, particularly during the 1960s when he had a string of romances, including with actress Julie Christie and model Jean Shrimpton. He married 29-year-old Elizabeth O’Rourke in 2002 at the age of 64 but the couple divorced six years later. Stamp did not have any children.

Stamp retained his looks as the years ticked by, his natural handsomeness hardened by a more grizzled look.

He generally sought to keep his standards high, but up to a point.

“I don’t do crappy movies, unless I haven’t got the rent,” he said.

Edward Lotterman

The U.S. Department of Agriculture just released its key Aug. 1 forecast of corn production for 2025. It predicts a record harvest, up 13% from last year.

This is good news for the overall economy — more output from available resources is better than less. Also, all other things being equal, it is good for some farmers including livestock operations that buy a lot of corn.

However, contrary to what many might think, a big crop is bad on balance for farmers who sell corn. That apparent paradox — greater output bringing less income — contains an economics lesson.

News of this ag forecast was largely submerged in the brouhaha over the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment and consumer price numbers, a blaze re-stoked by President Donald Trump naming a new BLS commissioner with no experience and a bad reputation among economists.

The day after the corn crop forecast, the BLS released Producer Price Index numbers for July showing an 0.9% one-month spike from June, 3.3% over a year earlier and a 5.6% rate if you annualize the most recent three months. With that gas on the monetary policy fire, a 13% increase in national corn production won’t get much attention outside of the farm sector.

But for the rest of us, it illustrates issues about which economic indicators the government measures.

A USDA crop forecast is fundamentally different from tabulations by the BLS of employment numbers or of prices paid by households and business. Those look backward. They use statistical survey methods that sample households, employers or consumer items.

USDA does conduct many such backward-looking surveys. One can look up, county by county, how many acres of corn or cotton were planted or harvested and what the yields were. Cattle and hog slaughter numbers come out daily. So some USDA reports resemble those of statistical agencies within the Labor and Commerce departments. In fact, somewhat by historical accident, we measure far more things in farming than in any other economic sector.

However, USDA crop forecasts differ in that they estimate a future outcome. The task is more complex than getting accurate samples from a given population. Yes, they do need accurate numbers on how many acres planted where and what condition they are in.

But they also must factor in subjective variables of how rain, temperature, sunlight and even humidity will affect yields between Aug. 1 and harvests in October and November. Moreover, details matter. Nighttime temperatures, for example, have different effects than daytime ones.

These relationships vary by soil types and fertilization levels and across more than 30 states. Coastal North Carolina, central Wisconsin and eastern Kansas all differ in soil-weather-yield relationships. Constructing a mathematical prediction model thus inherently involves making dozens of calibrated but subjective choices.

These forecasts give corn producers, processors, transporters and users better information to plan going forward. Individual farmers otherwise would have no way of knowing what is going on around the country. And in a national and global market, these data will determine the price and demand they will see for their crop down the road.

Understand that while carefully constructed, outcomes can and do vary from these forecasts.

Large grain traders and processors, whether corporations like Cargill or ADM, or cooperatives like CHS, have resources to make forecasts for their own internal use. Having USDA do this for general publication levels the playing field.

Working with agriculture in developing countries teaches one the importance of improving information for the smallest market participants. As an economist on a livestock project in Peru decades ago, it was evident to me how middlemen buying their fiber at markets in isolated towns took advantage of peasant alpaca raisers. These producers had no way of knowing what prices might be offered at other towns in the area. So they faced take-it-or-leave-it offers from the scalpers.

This was before cell phones, but the producers did listen to local radio stations. A modest effort to induce radio stations to report wool, alpaca fiber, potato and other prices in their areas was a concrete step toward greater fairness and economic efficiency.

The same logic applies to USDA market information. Weekly, USDA reports on hay prices in Pipestone, Minn., and Rock Valley, Iowa. These unremarkable towns just happen to be where sales of hay have become major adjuncts to weekly auctions of livestock. Perhaps only 20 wagon loads or truck loads get sold, but these reported prices serve as a reference point for other farmers wanting to buy or sell by private treaty. Auctions provide “price discovery” for a broader market.

Similarly, USDA national yield projections, in addition to reports on crop plantings and conditions, provide useful info for myriad decision makers. The result is that better decisions are made, resources are more productive.

So getting back to the Aug. 1 report, why would the forecast of a bumper crop be bad news for farmers? And what is the economics behind this?

The problem is one of a larger supply facing an inelastic demand — the situation in which a market’s willingness to buy different quantities does not vary much with regard to price. Not only does this mean that prices will fall because of increased yields, the simpler supply-and-demand equation. It also means that the drop in price per bushel will more than wipe out the increase in the number of bushels harvested. People won’t buy more because there’s more on the market or because it costs less. So farmers will get less total money per acre of the crop.

This outcome is not limited to farming. The first thing anyone gaining monopoly power does is cut back output from what prevailed with greater competition. It is precisely why monopolistic sellers collude to fix prices. They can all earn more by agreeing how much each must cut production.

Farmers are too numerous to collude like this. When nature gives them bountiful yields, they do enjoy the pleasure any grower has in reaping abundance. But they know that their net incomes will be lower than if the national crop were smaller.

The very worst position as an individual farmer is to have a poor crop in a year when yields are high nationally, depressing prices. That happened to us on Sept. 4, 1974, when an early frost hit our valley killing our corn just as a good crop nationally was coming in. Kandiyohi County in Minnesota is in a similar boat this year. Flooding damaged some 30% of its crop acres in June. Low local production coupled with low national prices will hammer affected farmers.

The flip side occurs when an area with good yields when bad weather smites the crop nationally. In 1973, historic rains from May into July devastated crops in 20 states. Yet here and there, farms with well-drained upland fields had good yields and high net incomes.

That is the upside for Minnesota corn producers. The 16.1% yield increase for us tops the major corn-producing states. If these actually materialize, Minnesota will weather a falling-price year better than most of the rest of the nation, including the Dakotas, Iowa or Wisconsin.

The situation differs with the degree of integration of a crop into world markets. The Bretton Woods exchange rate system made U.S. farm products expensive in world markets. When President Richard Nixon repudiated the system 54 years ago this week, it seemed a national humiliation but touched off a boom for agriculture. The U.S. became the largest exporter of ag commodities and exposure to wider markets reduced the impact of weather variations on price. Now, as Trump’s tariffs taint U.S. farm exports, how this will mesh with a projected record crop is anyone’s guess.

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St. Paul economist and writer Edward Lotterman can be reached at stpaul@edlotterman.com.

You may feel like you’re “in a pickle” if you haven’t tried pickleball.

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All the cool kids are playing the game. And I mean cool kids ranging from youngsters to seniors. It seems just about everyone is playing the sport. It’s been around for over 50 years, and now it’s trending as one of the most popular sports around.

Why? I assume because it’s pretty easy to pick up. The low-impact sport is easier than tennis and provides a decent workout with the bonus of social interaction. I’d describe it as a mix between tennis, ping pong and badminton. Jim Aldrich, co-owner of Pickleball Virginia Beach, described the sport like you’re standing up on a ping pong table playing. He thinks the popularity has to do with the smaller court that lends itself to be a more social sport.

Last year, my husband and and I decided to give it a try. We took an introductory lesson.

Admittedly, the rules confused me. It took me awhile to get the tennis rules out of my head. You can’t volley in “the kitchen.” That’s the area close to the net. It’s really hard to stay out of the kitchen, just like at home. Scoring was confusing, too. I was a slow adapter to the rules.

However, hitting the ball was easy. I think that’s what hooks people along with the soothing paddle pop sound effect. So, we were gung ho after the first lesson.

We played at a public pickleball court and then joined a friend for doubles at his club. My husband continued playing at his friend’s club for several months. Now, our paddles are dusty. It’s been almost a year since we’ve picked up our paddles.

With the growing popularity, it’s not easy finding an open pickleball court. If you’re a “pickler” (pickleball fanatic), here are some suggestions to get your pickleball game on:

Go big and build your own pickleball court

Thomas Dye shows off one of the pickleball courts his company installed. He recommended having a 30 by 60 foot area in your yard if you want to install a pickleball court. (Lee Belote/For The Virginian-Pilot)

If you’re a die-hard pickleball player and have the space, you could always build your own court and invite friends and neighbors over to play. There are indoor and outdoor options.

A standard pickleball court requires a space of 20 feet wide by 44 feet long. Thomas Dye, a Virginia Beach-based home builder, installs Versacourt pickleball courts. He recommends some additional space around the court for optimal play and safety. He suggested a 30-by-60-foot area. Dye said his customers want unlimited play with no waiting or reservation.

“The courts are all backed up with heavy demand,” Dye said. “My customers wanted better access to courts, and the best way is to build their own.”  Visit twdhomes.com for more information.

BETHESDA, MARYLAND – APRIL 13: Michelle Ezra, Shelley Caplan, Rob Slattery and Kyle McKinney play pickleball on a backyard court on April 13, 2023 in Bethesda, Maryland. Pickleball is a game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. According to a report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association pickleball was the fastest-growing sport in America for the third year in a row in 2022. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Other options include joining a club, playing at public courts or finding a pickleball festival.

Lee Belote, jlbelote@verizon.net

By Robbie Sequeira, Stateline.org

When Siri Fiske founded the Mysa Microschool in Washington, D.C., in 2016, there wasn’t a widely accepted term for her small, one-room schoolhouse model.

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Now, the school is referred to on its website as one of the first microschools in the nation, and Fiske has seen a growing microschool movement since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the five years since remote schooling amid pandemic-era lockdowns, microschools and homeschooling have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives to traditional public and private models. Smaller class sizes, individualized classrooms and lack of standardization are an appeal to parents, Fiske said.

“There’s this idea that people who open microschools are doing it for cultish or religious reasons, and there’s a misconception that all are like that,” Fiske said. “I’ve seen my students graduate into top colleges. There’s many ways to achieve academic success.”

Some education experts, however, have expressed concern about the growing movement. They question whether microschools are properly regulated and being held accountable, and whether they’ll pull dollars out of the public education system.

There is no federal definition of a microschool, and with the Trump administration’s plans to shutter the U.S. Department of Education, the onus is on states to figure them out.

In some states, microschools face a bind: If they operate as private schools, they’re required to meet facility, staffing and curricular standards that are often cost-prohibitive for schools their size. If they operate under homeschool laws, they face oversight, assessment mandates and reporting requirements that aren’t designed for multifamily or educator-led models.

Some states, including Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, have passed “Learning Rights Protection Acts” to codify microschools’ right to operate.

In Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon, learning pods and microschools often face child care or private school licensing requirements if they involve multiple families, hire instructors or provide compensation for child care.

“Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I would’ve called one back then. But I think that’s OK. It’s evolving,” Fiske said.

She pointed to the national school choice movement — and states such as West Virginia — for helping the microschool movement flourish.

In 2022, West Virginia became one of the few states to define a microschool, distinctly separating it from a private school, homeschool or learning pod.

Those classifications, and how these schools are funded and regulated, affect everything from whether a school must hire certified teachers to how it ensures student safety or civil rights protections. And with more public dollars flowing to private or hybrid learning options through vouchers and education savings accounts — to the detriment of public school funding, some argue — states will need to define these schools and their place in the ecosystem.

States will have to fill the gaps, said Weadé James, senior director of K-12 education policy with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy think tank.

“Accountability can vary wildly. Some microschools aren’t required to have certified teachers, conduct annual assessments, or even guarantee civil rights protections,” said James. “If public voucher dollars are going to a microschool, there has to be some level of oversight and accountability.”

Many microschools aren’t accredited

Microschools defy easy classification, and many advocates argue that’s by design. Don Soifer, CEO of the National Microschooling Center, an industry group, cautions lawmakers against rushing to impose fixed legal definitions.

“Innovation is happening too fast. The moment you define it in law, it becomes obsolete,” Soifer said.

A 2024 sector analysis by the National Microschooling Center — one of the only sources of national data on the topic — found that many schools are operating outside traditional education principles.

In a survey of 400 microschools across 41 states, more than 60% of founders reported they were not currently licensed educators. Eighty-four percent reported their schools were not accredited. Among prospective founders, 48% are licensed educators (though only 14% currently work in public schools), 32% come from non-education fields, and 23% are parents building schools for their own children.

Most microschools (55%) operate under homeschool laws, while others function as private schools (37%), charters (6%) or fall into unique state categories (3%), according to the analysis.

“So, you can be a private or homeschool microschool program, where you aren’t required to provide students with certified teachers, or you aren’t required to conduct annual assessments,” James said.

Often described as “homeschool hybrids” or “small-scale learning communities,” microschools often serve around 16 students or fewer, and tend to cater to families with average or above-average incomes in their area. In some states, microschools have been authorized to receive public funds through voucher programs.

Some critics note that, like private schools, microschools may charge tuition, potentially excluding lower-income families and contributing to educational disparities.

These schools often operate in commercial spaces (41%), private residences (28%) or houses of worship (25%), according to the National Microschooling Center. The center also found the movement is diversifying: 37% of prospective founders are people of color, compared with 27% of current operators.

Because building and zoning codes vary from state to state and locality to locality, many operators may be unaware of the extra costs to meet school codes standards. Fiske recalls difficulties in expanding from Washington, D.C., to Vermont, which has stricter laws on water fountain requirements.

“Most people in the U.S. starting a microschool are doing it under the radar because the regulations to open a licensed school are so intense,” Fiske said. For the new school, she recalled, “it took us forever, and we had to install ADA-compliant toilets and water fountains for just 10 kids in Vermont.”

‘Microschooling is not one thing’

Microschools also operate in a legal gray zone, often outside the traditional K-12 system and subject to a patchwork of state and local policies that can either support or constrain their growth.

Growth has accelerated in conservative-leaning states with robust school choice programs, such as Arizona and Florida. Other states, such as Maryland, New York and North Dakota, have more restrictive homeschool or private school laws.

“Microschooling is not one thing. These schools look different in every state, and the policy frameworks around them vary wildly,” said Soifer, of the National Microschooling Center.

What is classified as a microschool can vary from “10 kids in a basement in Kentucky” to a 200-kid schoolhouse elsewhere.

Fiske said states need to create a way for operators and parents to know what to expect in a certain state, and help willing operators get the education and business acumen they need to run the schools successfully.

“But if you look at who is starting microschools in the U.S., it’s a lot of millennial parents who may not have any teacher training but wanted to create a learning environment for their children and others in the local community,” said Fiske. “And without efforts by the state to provide some incentives to earn accreditation and information as both a school and a small business, a few of these will find themselves going under.”

Seeking choices

After two decades working in conventional schools in the United States and around the world — including in Brazil, Egypt and Qatar — Justine Wilson turned down a high-paying leadership role at a prestigious private school. Instead, in 2023 she opened Curious and Kind Education, a two-day-a-week microschool in Sarasota, Florida, built around trust, nature-based learning and self-directed play.

Enrollment at Curious and Kind is mostly driven by word of mouth, she said. The program now has a waitlist. And Wilson has seen her enrollment grow from 18 students in her first year to roughly 100 students for the upcoming school year.

“The number of 5-year-olds on my waitlist is shocking,” she said, “and then I realized they’re COVID babies and their parents have really been driving this search for alternative schooling since the pandemic.”

James, of the Center for American Progress, questions whether microschools generally match the quality of traditional public schools, which still educate more than 80% of schoolchildren. She says families may be under the assumption that school choice options equate to better quality.

“We have created an illusion of choice to be quality, and I think a lot of families are seeking various choice options because they associate that with quality. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that where those students are going is any better than where they left,” she said.

“We need to take a closer look at what we are presenting to families,” James said. “It’s not just about having options and having a choice. It’s about having quality choice options.”

That quality, Soifer said, is what microschools are trying to achieve.

“Microschools do very well on the left, on the right … at the top end of the economy and at the fragile end of the income spectrum,” he said. “It’s really a matter of the new economy and a new way of thinking about education.”

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.