CoHome to offer stress-free area for the disabled at Morristown fall fest, Oct. 3 - Morristown Green

By Marion Filler

A newcomer will be joining vendors and nonprofits with tents at Sunday’s Morristown Festival on the Green.

Look for the CoHome banner.

“We are creating a disability-safe space,” said Nate Diskint, director of CoHome, a Morristown residence for developmentally disabled adults.

“For the 60,000 people who come to the event, a number of them will have disabilities,” Diskint explained on Friday. That could include visitors with autism, Downs syndrome, and developmental issues.

“It might be overwhelming for them,” Diskint said.

Anyone who needs is a break is welcome to relax in the tent, enjoy a cold drink from the water station, and escape the noisy crowd. Volunteers in green T-shirts will be ready to lend a hand. CoHome residents will be there, too, along with residents from other group homes.

A sensory bin filled with fun things will be available, to calm anxiety for those who need it. Water beads are a proven favorite, Diskint said.

“We’ll have a whole planter filled with them. They look like marbles but feel like Jell-O,” he said.

CoHome’s idea was embraced by festival organizers at the Morristown Partnership, which is providing the tent, Diskint said. Atlantic Health and Furniture Consultants Inc. (FCI) are supplying sofas and chairs. J. Esposito Builders will set it all up on Sunday morning.

“It’s really cool that the Morristown Partnership wants the fair to be disability friendly, and Atlantic Health really wanted to push on this, too,” said Diskint.

He thanked FCI for the seating, and had special praise for Joe Esposito.

“Frankly, he’s just a mensch,” Diskint said. “He’s been there swinging a hammer for us. Not only does he send his guys who do the work, but he’s there on the job as well.”

More information about CoHome, see its Instagram page, @cohome_morristown.

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Free on MLB.TV: Yanks fight for WC spot - MLB.com

It's the last rivalry series of the year between the Yankees and Rays -- at least, the last one before the postseason -- and New York is fighting to clinch an American League Wild Card spot. Don't miss it.

Aaron Judge and the Bronx Bombers host Randy Arozarena and the Rays at 1:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium, and it's MLB.TV's Free Game of the Day.

Fans can stream the game live by going to MLB.com/FreeGame (blackout restrictions apply).

The Rays took Friday's series opener, 4-3, but the Yankees will try to battle back. The season series between the AL East rivals has been back-and-forth all year. Of the two clubs' five previous series in 2021, the Yankees have won two, the Rays have won two and the one four-game series was split. Here's what to watch for today.

​How they're doing
Rays -- 99-61 (1st in AL East)
Yankees -- 91-69 (2nd in AL East)

The Yankees' magic number to clinch a postseason berth is one. But they lead the Wild Card race by only one game over the Red Sox after dropping the first game to Tampa Bay, and they're two games up on the Mariners and Blue Jays. Still, they've won eight of their last 10.

The Rays have clinched the AL East and home field throughout the AL side of the playoffs, with the best record in the league. They'll face the winner of the Wild Card Game in the Division Series -- which could be the Yankees.

The matchup on the mound
Rays -- Shane Baz (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 14 K)
Yankees -- Jordan Montgomery (6-6, 3.49 ERA, 159 K)

Baz, the Rays' top prospect and No. 19 prospect in baseball, is making his third career start -- a final potential audition for a spot in the postseason rotation. The hard-throwing right-hander has been excellent so far, allowing just two runs in 10 2/3 innings with 14 strikeouts.

Montgomery has been more than solid for the Yankees recently, allowing only one run in each of his last three starts and posting a 2.48 ERA since the All-Star break.

Player to watch
Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees slugger went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI on Friday, his fifth multihit game in his last seven. Stanton has seven extra-base hits and 15 RBIs over those last seven games. He has 97 RBIs on the season.

Number of note
43. That's how many games Wander Franco's on-base streak lasted before it finally ended on Thursday. It was tied with Frank Robinson in 1956 for the longest in AL/NL history by a player 20 years old or younger.

Franco started a new streak in Friday's series opener, knocking a two-run single for insurance runs in the ninth inning.

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Sony is offering free trials of Death Stranding and Sackboy in the UK - The Verge

Sony appears to be reintroducing an old concept for two of its newer Playstation 5 games — game trials. Sony will now let you try the PS5 versions of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and Sackboy: A Big Adventure for free if you live in the United Kingdom, for six hours and five hours, respectively.

PlayStation owners first spotted Sony’s new offer via email. “Ever wanted to try some of the most popular games from PlayStation Studios before committing to the full game? Now you can,” the email reads. Sony says the games are redeemable on the PlayStation Store until October 28th at 11:59PM, and the trial starts as soon as you select “Download Trial” on console or “Add to Library” on the web. The Verge has reached out to Sony for more information, but if you’re in the UK, both the Death Stranding trial and Sackboy trial appear to already be live.

Ten or more years ago, offering a demo for a big blockbuster game wouldn’t be too unusual, but it seems in the last decade, the rise of free-to-play systems, public betas, and a robust Let’s Play community has sort of driven the “free trial” to partial extinction. That’s started to change yet again — PC Gamer has a great piece trying to think through why — and it seems now Sony is dipping its toes in the water with two of its more recent first-party titles. Hopefully. that expands to more games and more regions soon.

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Farm Tour: 14 Little Compton farms will be offering free tours on Saturday - What'sUpNewp

What to Know About California’s Free School Lunch Program - The New York Times

California recently became the first state to offer free breakfast and lunch to all schoolchildren.

City workers last year handed out supplementary meals to families with schoolchildren at Cabrillo Middle School in Santa Clara, Calif.Jim Wilson/The New York Times

When classrooms went dark last year as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, many school kitchens stayed open.

Cafeterias from New York to Los Angeles transformed into food banks, serving students and communities that had come to rely on them. You may remember images of folding tables piled high with brown bag lunches, or snaking lines of cars as families waited to pick up meals.

The pandemic laid bare much of what we once took for granted, including the extent to which schools aid in children’s nutrition. More than half of American schoolchildren — roughly 30 million of them — depended on free or reduced-price school lunches before the pandemic.

This summer, flush with cash from an unexpected budget surplus, California further cemented schools’ role in preventing hunger: The state became the first in the nation to provide all students free breakfast and lunch.

The move, which has a $650 million annual price tag, will reduce absenteeism and nurse visits while improving learning, advocates say.

“The pandemic really shined a light on an issue that had been happening for a long time,” said Anne Moertel with the Center for Ecoliteracy, a nonprofit organization in Berkeley that supported the decision. “We hope that with California taking this on — with the largest population of public school students — some other states will follow suit.”

Public schools in Boston, Chicago, Detroit and New York City have offered universal free meals for years, but California became the first to adopt a statewide plan. Maine has already followed in our footsteps.

To qualify for a free lunch under federal guidelines, a family of four must make less than $34,000 a year. A reduced-price lunch requires an annual income of less than $48,000.

In California, 59 percent of schoolchildren qualify for a discounted meal under these standards, but the true need is quite likely much higher. The income caps are based on federal poverty levels so they don’t take into account the high cost of living in the state.

Erin Primer, director of food services for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, recalled a single mother who made $50,000 a year calling her, pleading to join the program.

“I was like, ‘I’m so sorry, but you don’t qualify,’ and I remember her crying,” Primer told me.

California’s expanded free lunch program doesn’t technically begin until next school year, but it’s basically in effect already because of the pandemic. When schools closed last year, the federal government provided funding to offer free meals to all students in an effort to make it easier to reach needy children.

Primer told me that the number of children picking up school lunch has more than doubled at some schools in her district. She said it’s most likely because of both newly eligible students and those who had always qualified but not taken advantage.

Before the policy change, children may have felt awkward or shameful picking up a school lunch because of what it said about their family’s income. For high schoolers, it may have not been the cool thing to do when wealthier classmates wanted to eat off-campus.

Families also felt stigma. Some had been reluctant to fill out the needed paperwork because they didn’t want to rely on government benefits. Others worried they would have to reveal their immigration status, though that wasn’t the case.

By offering free meals for all, no questions asked, these roadblocks are eliminated.

Stephanie Bruce, director of nutrition services at Palm Springs Unified School District, told me that when her school began offering free lunch, the school nurse noticed a change: Fewer students came in for headaches and nausea, which had apparently been caused by skipping meals.

There’s plenty of research that shows that eating breakfast and lunch is linked with a reduction in nurse visits, improved attendance and better test scores. Not to mention that children who don’t eat tend to distract the rest of the class, affecting others’ learning experiences, too.

And parents, even those who can afford meals, now don’t have to worry about finding time to pack lunch for their children in the morning.

“It’s just a win for everyone,” Bruce said.

For more:

• Schools across the country are facing shortages of cafeteria staples amid supply chain woes.

• High school students talk about what it’s like to return to the classrooms.

• How America’s food system could change under President Biden.

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The nearly empty waiting room of a vaccination center in Lisbon last month.Armando Franca/Associated Press

If you read one story, make it this

In Portugal, there is virtually no one left to vaccinate.

The secret? Keeping politics out of it.

---

Vaccination rates among health care workers have gone up in California, thanks to mandates.Jim Wilson/The New York Times

The rest of the news

• Vaccination uptick: A mandate requiring all health care workers in California to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by this week appears to have compelled tens of thousands to get their shots.

• Drought: California’s reservoirs are so dry that regulators warned on Thursday that it’s possible the state’s water agencies won’t get anything from them next year, The Associated Press reports.

• Law enforcement reforms: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed eight measures into law on Thursday that aim to hold police officers accountable for misconduct and restrict uses of force, The Los Angeles Times reports.

• School board issues: A group representing school board members from California and other states asked President Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over mask mandates and other policies, The Associated Press reports.

• Super Bowl Halftime: The N.F.L. on Thursday announced a Super Bowl lineup with a distinct nod to West Coast hip-hop given the game’s location at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

• Capitol riot: Klete Keller, a five-time medalist in Olympic swimming who attended the University of Southern California, pleaded guilty to a felony charge for participating in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

• Paramount cleaning house: The speed with which the new Paramount Pictures chairman is making changes reflects the new boss’s personal style and the vulnerable position in which the company finds itself.

• Reparations: Newsom has authorized the return of property known as Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of a Black couple who were run out of Manhattan Beach almost a century ago, The Associated Press reports.

• San Diego shooting: The man who opened fire in a synagogue north of San Diego in 2019 was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

• Film museum: The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened in Los Angeles on Thursday with an emphasis on diversity and pluralism, not past and present sins.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

• Weather warning: Dangerous air quality until Monday morning in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare and Kern Counties.

• National forest: Eldorado National Forest has been reopened for day use after a six-week closure because of wildfires, The Sacramento Bee reports.

• Redistricting: Three civil rights organizations informed Fresno County supervisors that their apparent intent to keep “existing supervisorial districts largely the same” during redistricting this year would be in violation of federal laws, according to The Fresno Bee.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

• The wine business: After financial setbacks, this acclaimed winemaker is getting a second chance at the craft in deep Mendocino County.

• Giant Sequoias harmed: Recent wildfires in the Sierras may have killed many Giant Sequoias, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

• New light-rail lines: San Francisco is testing trains on its new Central Subway system, a light-rail extension that will connect Chinatown and Union Square to the city’s southeast quadrant. The project is nearly complete, KTVU reports.

• San Jose apology: The city of San Jose apologized this week to Chinese immigrants and their descendants, acknowledging its role in nearly a century of violence and discrimination.

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Crispy chickpea pancakes with roasted mushroom salad.Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophia Pappas.

What we’re eating

Chickpea pancakes, rich with olive oil, are topped with radicchio and mushrooms.

---

Max Whittaker for The New York Times

Where we’re traveling

Today’s travel tip comes from Fred Hoffman, a reader who lives in Folsom. Fred recommends the American River Parkway bike path in Sacramento:

Its bucolic setting, nestled along the riparian waterway, offers cyclists, joggers, walkers, horse riders and nature lovers the perfect getaway from a bustling metropolitan area, just beyond all the trees and hills that line the parkway. Even traffic noise is muted in many areas along the trail. Plenty of access points to get to the trail, too. And, you might want to get in the water for some rafting, kayaking, paddleboarding and fishing in the American River.

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

---

And before you go, some good news

After a major fire in Napa Valley last fall, all seemed lost for the region’s grapes. Tinged with ash and smoke, they had been rendered useless for winemaking.

But a distillery in Alameda had an idea, The Guardian reports.

This month, Hangar 1 released a new vodka with a sweet and spicy finish — made from fire-damaged grapes.

---

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: A kid can make money losing it (5 letters).

Steven Moity and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

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Free preschool | Mille Lacs Messenger | messagemedia.co - Aitkin Independent Age

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Free preschool | Mille Lacs Messenger | messagemedia.co  Aitkin Independent Age
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Brookfield Zoo Fall Free Days Schedule Released, Starts Next Week - NBC Chicago

Brookfield Zoo

Brookfield Zoo Fall Free Days Schedule Released, Starts Next Week

Published September 30, 2021 • Updated on September 30, 2021 at 5:14 pm

Free admission days are back at the Brookfield Zoo this fall, with the first starting next week.

Brookfield Zoo will hold 10 sets of free days from October through December where admission to the ground will be free of charge, though parking fees will still apply, according to their website.

Our redesigned local news and weather app is live! Download it for iOS or Android — and sign up for alerts.

These are the upcoming free days:

• Oct. 5-7, 12-14, 19-21, 26-28
• Nov. 2-4, 9-11, 16-18
• Dec. 6-7, 13-14, 20-21

The zoo is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., though buildings close 50 minutes prior to the zoo.

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Typically, admission to the zoo costs $24.95 for adults, $19.95 for people age 65 and older, and $17.95 to children ages 3 to 11. Admission is always free to children age 2 and under.

Military personnel are also always offered free admission to the zoo with an active or retired military ID, the zoo's website said.

Zoo parking at the North and South gates both cost $15 per car and $21 for buses. Parking at the North gate, however, is free for members.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, face coverings are required in all open indoor buildings on zoo grounds, including bathrooms.

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