Why should cars get all the fun? A major thoroughfare in Southeast D.C. will open up to pedestrians, scooters and bicyclists this weekend. And no cars allowed.
The District’s Open Streets in your Neighborhood is kicking off on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue on Saturday. About a third of a mile will be car-free, from Good Hope Road SE to Morris Road SE from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“We are showing that the streets are one of our most valuable assets in the city and how they can be used for more than just vehicles,” said Anna Chamberlin, associate director of the Planning and Sustainability Division at the District’s Department of Transportation.
The event will include live music, entertainment, demonstrations and a fitness class.
“A lot of the businesses near and along the route will also be hosting activities,” Chamberlin told WTOP.
The shared electric vehicle company, Lime, will be out teaching people how to safely ride e-scooters and e-bikes.
Street closures will begin at 7 a.m. The city recommends taking public transportation to get there.
The District launched Open Streets in 2019, closing several miles of George Avenue Northwest. (2020’s was canceled because of the pandemic).
This year, Open Streets will be held in all wards, including a larger event on June 4, along 7th Street NW, through the Shaw and Chinatown neighborhoods in Wards 2 and 6.
Craig Bryan collaborates with his colleagues at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center about including more comprehensive questions on mental health assessments. Bryan led a new study that found gun owners are less likely to report suicidal ideation, prompting action to tailor questions to individual situations and perspectives. (Courtesy The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center)
Asking the right questions can better identify people at risk for suicide, especially those with access to firearms, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network.
About half of those who try to kill themselves or died by suicide answered that they were not thinking about killing themselves when asked if they were thinking of taking their own life.
“But for whatever reason, higher-risk gun owners are just less likely to say that they’re having thoughts about suicide, even though they are definitely thinking about ways or methods to attempt suicide,” said Craig Bryan, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral health at Ohio State University.
Bryan, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, led the study conducted with colleagues at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
He said the research suggests that “maybe we change how we ask a question, by specifically asking, ‘Have you been thinking about ways or methods to attempt suicide?’ As opposed to, ‘Have you been thinking about killing yourself
According to Bryan, the findings have implications within the health system and for family members and friends.
“When we’re worried about someone that we care about, a loved one, many of us have learned to ask questions about: ‘Are you wanting to kill yourself? Are you thinking about suicide?’ And it may be helpful for all of us to also add just another question when we’re concerned about someone that says, ‘Have you been thinking about ways to attempt suicide?’” Bryan said.
Firearms account for half of all U.S. suicides. Bryan believes that’s because with just about every other method, there’s a longer period of time before a person would die. “And so there’s more opportunity for someone to change their mind, or for someone else to kind of intervene and help them,” he said.
Bryan said people frequently ask him what they can do to help loved ones they believe are at risk of suicide.
“The implication here really is taking steps to improve safety within the household by locking up, securing personally owned firearms; it’s probably the single most effective thing we can do to reduce suicides in the U.S.,” Bryan said.
He said moments of crisis that can lead to suicide tend to come on suddenly and don’t last long. He uses an analogy to illustrate how even a brief intervention might make a difference.
“When someone is intoxicated, it’s not safe for them to drive. So, we might temporarily take away someone’s car keys or restrict their access to driving. And it might be the same here, for suicide where if a gun-owner is going through a tough period, they’re experiencing intense stress, we might temporarily change access to firearms by locking up the guns, by using safes or other locking devices, maybe even just temporarily removing the firearm from the home,” Bryan said. “Once they get through that high-risk period, we can return the firearm. But it helps to reduce the probability of a bad outcome during that really, sort of, narrow period of time.”
WTOP has reached out to the National Rifle Association for comment regarding the study.
If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255; you can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting the word TALK to 741741.
Starting July 16, everyone in U.S. will be able to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988.
British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) today said it believes the easing of global restrictions and the return of global travel will see it bounce back to profitability.
The firm – formed through the merger of Iberia and British Airways in 2011 – said its Q1 2022 passenger numbers were 65 per cent those seen in 2019, up from rates of 58 per cent in the previous quarter.
The Anglo-Spanish airline said it expects rising passenger numbers to drive profitability in the remainder of 2022, as it posted a €731m loss for the first quarter, compared to a €1.08bn loss over the same period last year.
The company said it currently expects passenger numbers to increase sharply in coming months, as it forecast rates would be 80 per cent of 2019 levels in Q2, 85 per cent in Q3, and 90 per cent in Q4.
The firm said higher passenger numbers were in part being driven by the highest levels of business travel since the start of the pandemic alongside strong demand for premium leisure.
The aviation giant blamed omicron on a higher number of cancellations in January and February but said it had not seen any impact on passenger number from the war in Ukraine.
AIG chief executive Luis Gallego said: “Demand is recovering strongly in line with our previous expectations. We expect to be profitable from the second quarter onwards and for the full year.”
“The welcome removal of UK’s stringent travel restrictions, combined with strong pent-up demand, have contributed to a steep ramp up in capacity.”
New Delhi reportedly wants to purchase BP’s stake in Rosneft, as well as Exxon’s in the Sakhalin 1 project
India has asked state-run energy companies to evaluate the possibility of acquiring oil major BP’s stake in sanctions-hit Russian firm Rosneft, sources told Reuters on Thursday. BP had earlier announced it was abandoning its 19.75% stake in the Russian company.
Sources familiar with the matter said that the Indian oil ministry last week conveyed its intent to ONGC Videsh (OVL), Indian Oil, Bharat Petro Resources, Hindustan Petroleum’s subsidiary Prize Petroleum, Oil India and GAIL (India).
The ministry also asked OVL, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas, to consider buying a 30% stake held by US supermajor ExxonMobil in the Sakhalin 1 project in Russia’s Far East. OVL already holds a 20% stake in the project.
One of the sources said Indian companies hope to get stakes in Russian assets at discounted rates, given the risk involved.
“Our effort has been to see how we can stabilize economic transactions, economic engagements with Russia in the current context … There are of course constraints, there are sanctions by some countries, and we will have to kind of work through that,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, according to media reports.
