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This year, as in years past, there will be a lot of fanfare and celebration surrounding the festival of lights. While the <keyword id="188" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Diwali" source="Orion">Diwali</keyword> festival definitely merits a big celebration, it's equally crucial to do it with the utmost <keyword id="46574" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="safety" source="Orion">safety</keyword>. The number of eye damage cases that occur during the Diwali celebration is significantly higher than average due to the use of firecrackers. Elder family members should therefore keep an eye on the kids while they participate in the Diwali festivities. A majority of firework-related eye injuries can leave a person permanently blind because of persistent visual loss. Continuous smoke from cracker explosions might irritate the eyes or make them water. Avoid bottle rockets, which are regarded as the riskiest cracker variety, keep a safe distance from burning crackers, wear safety goggles, and refrain from wearing contact lenses while breaking crackers. When an <keyword id="45567" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="eye-injury" source="Orion">eye injury</keyword> occurs, do not touch it; if a piece of debris is lodged in the eye, do not remove it; instead, keep your eyes closed and visit an eye doctor; if a chemical enters the eyes, immediately irrigate them for 30 minutes, and then seek immediate medical attention. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Do's &amp; Don'ts while bursting crackers" comment="subhead" text="Do's &amp; Don'ts while bursting crackers">Do's &amp; Don'ts while bursting crackers</cmsannotation> Do's: Ensure to buy <keyword id="54214" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="fireworks" source="Orion">Fireworks</keyword> from a licensed dealer Keep a bucket of sand or a fire extinguisher handy. Ensure there are no inflammable and combustible materials around the fire-cracking area. Follow all safety precautions issued with the fireworks. Discard used fireworks in a bucket of water Ensure to burst crackers in safe areas that are not crowded Dont's: Don't let children play alone with firecrackers Don't wear synthetic clothes or loose garments; thick cotton clothes are ideal Don't apply cream or oil to the affected area, in case of an eye injury, consult an ophthalmologist immediately Don't light crackers while holding them in your hand; they should always be lighted in open grounds pointing straight up. Don't keep the firecrackers near burning diyas or agarbhattis Each person must take care and caution when celebrating the holiday because injuries from fireworks can also happen to innocent onlookers. Let's promote happiness and joy this Diwali while putting the safety of your loved ones first. (Dr. <keyword id="6158" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pallavi-joshi" source="Orion">Pallavi Joshi</keyword>, Consultant-Cornea, Ocular Surface and Refractive Surgery) SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/delhi-hc-junks-plea-challenging-blanket-ban-on-firecrackers/articleshow/94983590.cms">Delhi HC junks plea challenging blanket ban on firecrackers</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/spend-your-money-on-sweets-says-sc-as-it-turns-down-plea-against-firecracker-ban/articleshow/94987642.cms">Spend your money on sweets says SC as it turns down plea against firecracker ban</a>

Safety Tips: Do's & Don'ts while bursting crackers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The death of a pregnant elephant who died in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> after eating a pineapple stuffed with firecrackers is prompting anger in the country.</li><li>It is not known whether the elephant ate the pineapple herself or whether it was fed to her.</li><li>However, local farmers are known for using explosives in fruit to protect their land from wild animals, and officials have said they're launching an investigation into the death. </li><li>The <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> sparked outrage in the country as everyone from Bollywood actors to business CEO's have spoken up and demanded justice over the elephant's death.</li></ul>The death of a pregnant elephant in India who died in agony after eating a firecracker-stuffed pineapple has caused outrage in the country. The wild elephant died in a river in Silent Valley National Park in Kerala's Palakkad district on Wednesday after suffering from fatal injuries to her mouth and tongue caused by eating the fruit packed with firecrackers.It is not known whether the elephant, who is thought to be 15 years old, ate the pineapple herself or whether it was fed to her. Farmers in the area are known for using explosives in fruit to protect their land from wild animals, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/killing-of-elephant-with-explosive-laden-fruit-causes-outrage-in-india?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">according to the Guardian.</a>Mohan Krishnan, a forestry officer, apologized for the tragic incident on social media, writing: "With her mouth and tongue destroyed in the explosion, she paced around hungry without being able to eat. She must have been more worried about the health of the child inside her than about her own hunger."The Kerala Forest Department said it would carry out an investigation into the elephant's death and that it would "leave no stone unturned to ensure max punishment to the offenders." One arrest has so far been made.The news of the elephant's death has caused anger across India. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar called the death "heartbreaking, inhumane, and unacceptable", while several political figures and prominent business CEOs have also spoken out.Nearly 1,000 petitions demanding justice for the elephant's health have been launched on social media. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also responded to the news, tweeting: "We want to assure you that your concerns will not go in vain. Justice will prevail." Meanwhile, Hindu nationalists have sought to blame Muslims for the elephant's death. Maneka Gandhi, a member of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed the elephant had been fed the lethal fruit in a predominantly Muslim district, 50 miles from where it died."It's murder," said Gandhi, who is a prominent animal rights activist, reported The Guardian. "Malappuram is famous for such incidents, it's India's most violent district. For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300-400 birds and dogs die at one time."in Hinduism the elephant is is a sacred animal and is considered the representation or the living incarnation of Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity riding a mouse.

A pregnant elephant in India was killed by a firecracker-stuffed pineapple and the incident has sparked national outrage

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Orcas attacked a yacht off the coast of Portugal, causing the panicked sailor to hit his emergency beacon.</li><li>They continued the attack even as the yacht was being towed away by a rescue boat.</li></ul>A yacht was attacked by a group of orcas off the coast of Portugal on Monday, causing a panicked sailor to light up his emergency beacon.Phep Philouceros, a 70-year-old retired sailor, was sailing to Royan, France when the attack occurred. He filmed two of the orcas ripping chunks off his boat <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/23408516/attacked-pod-killer-orcas-ripped-rudder-off-boat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oxygene</a> — including the yacht's rudder — according to reports in <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/09/orca-attack-philouceros-killer-whales-portugal-white-gladis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Telegraph</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/orcas-attack-boat-coast-portugal-30-minutes-sailor-sets-emergency-alert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>, which cited British news service SWNS.It was unclear how SWNS acquired the footage.In the video, five orcas can be seen following the yacht with two of them visibly ramming the back of the boat. The killer whales' fins can also be seen surfacing in the water around the yacht. The rudder was destroyed in one minute and pulled out," Philouceros told SWNS. He explained that by the time he noticed the orcas approaching, it was too late to scare them off using underwater pingers or firecrackers.A rescue boat arrived within 10 to 15 minutes, but the orcas continued to ram his yacht for another half hour as it was being towed back to the port of Sagres, Portugal, per Philouceros. There were no injuries reported.Philouceros, who encountered such an attack for the first time, thinks the orcas were young. "They were about six or seven meters long. They were neither adults nor babies. If the orcas really wanted to sink the boat, they could have done it easily. I don't think it was their intention," the sailor said. This attack was not an isolated one. Since May 1, there have been 23 recorded instances of orcas engaging with yachts in the waters of Portugal, Spain, and the Straits of Gibraltar, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/09/orca-attack-philouceros-killer-whales-portugal-white-gladis/">the Telegraph reported</a>, citing data from the Cruising Association.These incidences are part of a growing trend in Southwest Europe, with the number of orcas ramming boats <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/19/orcas-boats-human-killer-whales-animal-life">rising from 52 such incidents in 2020, to 207 last year</a>, according to a July 19 report by the Guardian.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orca-rammings-experts-2-different-theories-behavior-cant-agree-2023-6">Experts are divided on the motivation behind these attacks</a>. Orcas attacks may be motivated by the animals trying to protect their young, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230626-why-are-orcas-suddenly-ramming-boats">a working group of scientists told the BBC</a>.However, Orca expert Renaud de Stephanis told the BBC that orcas could be attacking boats <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230626-why-are-orcas-suddenly-ramming-boats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">simply because they enjoy playing with boat rudders</a>, which then break under the killer whales' force.Portugal's maritime authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Video shows orcas attacking a sailor's yacht off the coast of Portugal, forcing him to send out a distress signal

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Warning: There are mild spoilers ahead for "The Color Purple" remake.</li><li>The musical is an empowering story of resilience, self-love, and forgiveness.</li></ul>"The Color Purple" remake aims to accomplish something the original movie couldn't: bring home an Oscar.1985's "The Color Purple" received 11 Academy Award nominations. It's tied for the most Oscar-nominated movie in history with zero wins. At the time of its release, it was controversial; <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1135090797">boycotted for its depiction of Black men, and criticized</a> for its white director, Steven Spielberg.The remake is a powerful message for a new generation, inspiring anyone who has felt undervalued and unloved to stand tall and forge their own path. If it fails to win an Oscar again, then the Academy has failed this movie twice. Based on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=aa932ec43413ad0be674d8cd45d05887df27e21579f2870208aa6836b2ec917d&amp;postID=658080138d7dad6fbf2c95f0&amp;postSlug=the-color-purple-review-remake-2023-12&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FColor-Purple-Alice-Walker%2Fdp%2F1780228716">Alice Walker's novel</a> and the Broadway musical of the same name, the film follows a young Black girl, Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi and Fantasia Barrino), in early 1900s Georgia as she's torn from her two children and her beloved sister Nettie (Halle Bailey and Ciara).We watch Celie's decades-long journey to rise above physical and mental abuse doled out by her father (Deon Cole) and later her husband (Colman Domingo) when two fiery women Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) and Sofia (Danielle Brooks) enter her life.But director Blitz Bazawule's version of "The Color Purple," produced by Spielberg and original star Oprah Winfrey, isn't shrouded in misery. It's a celebration of life and resilience without sacrificing the original story, peppered with a few bold tweaks to bring it into the 21st century."The Color Purple" tells an empowering, uplifting story told largely through the eyes of its female characters about loving yourself, discovering your voice, and forgiveness.<h2>'The Color Purple' is an inspiring celebration of women and a beautiful exploration of self</h2><div type="image" title="Phylicia Pear Mpasi and Halle Bailey as young Celie and young Nettie in 2023's &quot;The Color Purple.&quot;" height="1653" width="2500" msid="106132944" hostid="261" sizebytes="387330"></div>"The Color Purple" is, at times, a bit gentler in the gaze it offers of abuse. Celie's baby is no longer ripped from her arms. Instead of suffering a birth in a cold cabin, she has a midwife. The camera pans toward a wall as Celie is taken to bed by her husband. Sofia doesn't get the same eye injury Winfrey's character had in the original and is allowed a jail visit. But all of these changes are deliberate.After turning down a remake for years, Winfrey <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/color-purple-stars-interview-oprah-fantasia-taraji-henson-danielle-brooks-1235738115/">told The Hollywood Reporter</a> that the #MeToo movement inspired the revitalization of "The Color Purple" to focus on Celie's dreams instead of her abuse.And that's felt throughout. There's a fantastical scene in Spielberg's "The Color Purple" where a grown-up Celie envisions her sister's life in Africa with childlike wonder. That's what it's like watching the entirety of Bazawule's adaptation, a larger-than-life spectacle. The movie calls to mind another Warner Bros. classic, Alfonso Cuaron's 1993 "The Little Princess," in which a young girl is forced into servitude, but instills dreams of a better life into those around her. So much of "The Color Purple" concentrates on the strength, hopes, and perseverance of Black women as they support each other in the face of abuse.<div type="image" title="Danielle Brooks and other women perform &quot;Hell No&quot; in &quot;The Color Purple.&quot;" height="1667" width="2500" msid="106132947" hostid="261" sizebytes="573184"></div>No musical number showcases that better than Brooks' powerful performance of "Hell No," in which her character Sofia declares she won't stand to be hit by her husband as women pop out of nowhere to magically pack her bags and send her on her way. Every musical act contains that same upbeat, confident energy.As much as "The Color Purple" is a story about overcoming adversity, it's also grounded in Celie's self-exploration and encouragement to give and receive love freely without shame.<div type="image" title="Fantasia Barrino and Taraji P. Henson perform &quot;What About Love?&quot; in &quot;The Color Purple.&quot;" height="1667" width="2500" msid="106133070" hostid="261" sizebytes="304322"></div>The remake covers new ground by leaning into the book's tender romance between Celie and Shug, a subplot that was reduced to a mere kiss in the 1985 picture and resulted in criticism of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.autostraddle.com/will-the-color-purple-get-black-queerness-right-this-time/">queer erasure</a>. (Spielberg <a target="_blank" href="https://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2011/12/05/steven-spielberg-says-he-softened-lesbian-sex-color-purple">told Entertainment Weekly in 2011</a> that he may have been the wrong director to show some of "the more sexually honest encounters" between the pair.)But 38 years later, "The Color Purple" finally reclaims this narrative on-screen as Celie and Shug explore their intimacy, with Barrino and Henson wowing in a dazzling and emotional duet, "What About Love?"<h2>Henson and Brooks steal every scene and deserve all the awards</h2>Barrino's good here, reprising her role as Celie from a 2007 Broadway run, but Henson and Brooks are knockouts.Henson commands the screen as the self-assured and sultry Shug Avery from the moment she makes a grand entrance, stepping out of a burgundy convertible.<div type="image" title="Taraji P. Henson's Shug Avery makes one of a few grand entrances in &quot;The Color Purple.&quot;" height="1667" width="2500" msid="106133071" hostid="261" sizebytes="248004"></div>Every one of her seven songs is a showstopper, with her adorned in equally stunning outfits that should garner designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck an Oscar nod.Brooks ("Orange Is the New Black") also reprises her Broadway character, Sofia. Another role model to Celie, Brooks' firecracker spirit and sharp tongue silence everyone else when she walks in a room, including her husband, Harpo (Corey Hawkins). Hawkins who should've become a major star after 2015's "Straight Outta Compton," gets a chance to shine here in a big dance number, "Workin'." Mpasi, who makes her feature-film debut here, and Bailey deliver some of the movie's most ethereal and impressive vocals as young Celie and Nettie, respectively.Even Domingo, who plays Celie's husband and Shug's lover Mister, is a potential awards contender.<div type="image" title="Colman Domingo in &quot;The Color Purple.&quot;" height="1667" width="2500" msid="106133072" hostid="261" sizebytes="150470"></div>Once he drops an odd accent, the effortlessly charismatic Domingo gives a deeply layered and nuanced performance of a broken man who oozes charm one moment, is menacing the next, and eventually seeks redemption.Bazawule's reimagining deserves just as many Academy Award nods as its predecessor, only this time the movie should be taking them home on Oscars night, too. With "The Color Purple," Bazawule and his cast deliver a visual feast that seamlessly blends gospel, jazz, and blues into an impressive 31 riveting musical performances and choreographed dance numbers infused with bright colors and costumes that jump off the screen.Warner Bros. has two musicals in theaters this holiday season. If you only have one musical outing in you, this is the one not to miss.<h2>Grade: A-</h2>

Give 'The Color Purple' its Oscar already

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Orcas are ramming into boats and tearing off their rudders, leaving the vessels damaged. </li><li>Experts have two theories about how this may have started and why the behavior is spreading.</li></ul>Jelmer van Beek's sailing team were in the middle of a race in the Strait of Gibraltar last week, when three orcas appeared out of nowhere. They "started hitting the rudders," said van Beek, Team JAJO skipper. "Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team."Van Beek's account is a familiar tale. There have been hundreds of reports of orcas engaging in similar behavior, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/killer-whales-severely-damaged-yacht-off-spanish-coast-latest-attack-2023-5" rel="">ramming boats</a> with their heads and sometimes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-orca-swims-severed-rudder-of-ship-strait-of-gibraltar-2023-6" rel="">ripping off rudders</a> with their teeth, since 2020.Experts have two very different theories for the behavior, and they still can't agree on which one is more likely. The only thing they are sure of is that the orcas are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-killer-whales-orcas-attack-sink-boats-2023-6">not out to get humans</a>. "We know that it's a complex behavior that has nothing to do with aggression (they don't want to eat anyone, nor harm humans) nor revenge (orcas are not resentful)," Alfredo López Fernandez, a scientist studying the whales, told <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230626-why-are-orcas-suddenly-ramming-boats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the BBC</a>. <h2>1. The orcas are trying to protect their young</h2><div type="image" title="A pod or orcas with a baby killer whale is seen swimming together, with only their backs emerging from the water." height="2597" width="3463" msid="101340680" hostid="261" sizebytes="333122"></div>According to the Grupo de trabajo Orca Atlántica (GTOA), a working group of scientists studying the behavior, one motivation for the orcas could be to protect young orcas from dangerous boats. In this explanation, "one or more individuals had a bad experience and are trying to stop the boat in order to prevent a recurrence," López, a member of GTOA, told the BBC. The behavior was first spotted in 2020. Initially, there were three whales that were actively engaging with the boats in this way: the so-called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/traumatized-female-orca-behind-rise-killer-whale-attacks-scientists-2023-5">White Gladis</a>, and two younger orcas Grey Gladis, and Black Gladis. (Gladis, by the way, is a nickname given to any orca that is seen interacting with a boat.)The oldest orca, White Gladis, may have suffered some sort of trauma, either by colliding with a boat or getting tangled in fishing lines, or perhaps seeing others being hurt. If that is the case, she is probably the one that would have started the behavior, with others copying her. "We do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young, although the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives," López told <a href="https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-have-sunk-3-boats-in-europe-and-appear-to-be-teaching-others-to-do-the-same-but-why" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LiveScience</a>.<h2>2. Damaging rudders is fun</h2><div type="image" title="An orca in the water with its mouth open showing sharp teeth." height="1480" width="1974" msid="101340683" hostid="261" sizebytes="158454"></div>Like any other type of dolphin (yes, killer whales are actually a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orca-killer-whales-are-giant-dolphins-2023-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">kind of dolphin</a>), orcas are social animals. It's therefore possible that the orcas are simply engaging in playful behavior that's been spreading at the expense of the boats, GTOA said.While only three killer whales were actively engaging in the behavior in 2020, there are now 14 registered 'Gladises' in the Iberian coast, per GTOA. And they are getting more prolific: in 2020, 52 interactions were reported. In 2021, there were 197. In 2022, 207.The behavior seems to be spreading beyond the Iberian waters, as one recent interaction was reported as far north as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/killer-whale-rams-yacht-assumed-first-orca-attack-north-sea-2023-6?r=US&amp;IR=T" rel="">Shetland islands,</a> off the coast of Scotland.Orca expert Renaud de Stephanis, who has been carrying out a study to understand the orcas' behavior, thinks this is the most likely hypothesis. With a team of scientists, de Stephanis has been monitoring the interaction of wild orcas with dummy rudders, the BBC reported. The results of the investigation are due to be published soon, per the BBC. "We discovered what happens, the killer whales push the rudder with their nose, this makes the rudder break by leverage," he said. "They're pushing, pushing, pushing – boom! It's a game. Imagine a kid of 6, 7 years, with a weight of three tonnes. That's it, nothing less, nothing more," de Stephanis told the BBC. "If they wanted to wreck the boat, they would break it in 10 minutes' time."This wouldn't be the first time this has happened. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whales-behavior-taught-whaling-ship-19th-century-2021-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">A group of wild dolphins in Australia </a>suddenly started learning to "tail-walk" like trained dolphins, swimming backward with their bodies above water, after a wild dolphin called Billie was kept in an enclosure with trained dolphins while she was recovering from an injury. <h2>The orcas — and the boats — need to be protected</h2>Regardless of their motivation, the behavior has become a problem in the Iberian coast.With cases rises, sailors have become afraid of mooring their boats in the usual spots, said António Bessa de Carvalho, president of the National Association of Cruises (ANC), Insider previously reported. Desperate sailors have been trying all sorts of techniques to keep orcas away from the boats, such as throwing sand over the side of the ship, navigating backward, throwing lemons in the water, or hitting dishes and kitchen items to make noise.Some have even resorted to hitting the orcas or throwing firecrackers and flares at them. None of these techniques has been particularly effective, López told Insider.GTOA is consulting with the Portuguese government to try to develop <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orca-acoustic-deterrents-tested-scare-killer-whales-boats-rudder-portugal-2023-6">"acoustic deterrents"</a> that could keep the orcas away from the boats, López said. The technology is still development and the group hopes they can test it out in the next few months.For the time being, Lopez said the best way to protect boats is for sailors to "be informed.""Sailors can consult the <a href="https://www.orcaiberica.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">website</a> and GT Orcas mobile application (Google Play and Apple Store) to find out about hot spots, be prepared if they sail in those areas, avoid sailing at night and approach the coast, as far as possible," he said.

There are 2 very different theories for why orcas are ramming into boats. Experts still can't agree on one.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A teenager who was grazed by a bullet during the Highland park mass shooting spoke to Insider.</li><li>She said that all ambulances were treating victims, and a cop told her to find a ride to a hospital.</li></ul>A <keyword id="14366386" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="highland-park-shooting" source="Orion">Highland Park shooting</keyword> victim whose face was grazed by a bullet told Insider that the scene at the town's Fourth of July parade was so chaotic that a police officer recommended she get a ride to the hospital because all deployed ambulances were busy treating victims.Lilli, 18, was among the two dozen parade-goers injured in the mass shooting where at <a href="https://www.insider.com/live-updates-highland-park-parade-mass-shooting-fourth-of-july-2022-7?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com">least seven people died</a>. The teen, whose last name is known to us but we are not using for safety reasons, is now coping with the day's trauma as her wounds heal."I got hurt, but I'll heal," Lilli told Insider. "So many people and so many families will never heal from this or any of the other hundreds of mass shootings that are happening in the US."Lilli had gone to the parade for years, but wasn't initially planning to go this year. At the last minute on July 4, she joined her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend. They first attended the "Pets and Kids" portion of the parade around 9 a.m., before watching floats during the main stretch of the parade. By around 10:30 a.m., the shooting started."A few floats had passed, along with the high school marching band, then there was a big gap when there was no one on the road in front of us," Lilli told Insider. "All of a sudden I saw sparks on the ground and popping noises."The shooter, armed with a rifle, was charged with <a href="https://www.insider.com/highland-park-shooter-charged-7-counts-of-1st-degree-murder-2022-7">7 counts of first-degree murder.</a>Lilli told Insider that at first she thought the noises were firecrackers, but she noticed other people ducking and running. Then, she felt something touch her face and ran as far as she could."I felt something hit my face – I keep comparing it to being hit with a BB pellet or a small rubber ball – and that's when I started running," Lilli said. "I didn't feel my injury because I was still in shock, but I was covered in blood."When she reached safety inside a building, "people were asking if I was OK and what happened."A police officer then gave Lilli gauze to tend to her facial injury and to stop the blood flow. Then, to her relief, she spotted a friend, who came to help her. "The officer tried to drive me and my friend to either the hospital or an ambulance, but there was a firetruck blocking the road, forcing us to get out of the car and walk back to where we ran from – which had now become an area that so many people were receiving aid and being sent to the hospital," Lilli told Insider. "Another officer told me to find a ride to the hospital on my own, because there weren't enough ambulances for everyone hurt."Lilli said that ultimately, her friend was able to drive her to a neighboring hospital, as they knew that Highland Park's main hospital would also be overwhelmed.At the neighboring hospital, she received stitches for the bullet graze."Mentally, I don't know if it's all set in yet, but I'm going to slowly recover," Lilli said. "Something needs to change in our system, and soon, before more people are hurt and killed, and scarred for their entire lives."

Highland Park teen grazed by a bullet in Fourth of July shooting says a cop told her to find a ride to the hospital because 'there weren't enough ambulances for everyone hurt'

A good school for the children, a bungalow in an elegant part of the Indian capital, a job as a freelance writer, a maid, a driver, an inverter for the power cuts, and a water purifying system. These were some of the items Indian expat Jyoti Pande Lavakare ticked off on her list as “done” as she prepared to leave the piercing blue skies of Palo Alto in California to return to New Delhi in June 2009 with her husband Ajay, a technology start-up executive. The move proved smooth. Within months, the household had settled into a new rhythm. They were returning to spend time with their elderly parents and ensure their son, Madhav, and daughter, Naina, both in their early teens, had some “connection” with India, where both Jyoti and Ajay had grown up. They hoped to make them more resilient by teaching them to cope with power cuts, water shortages, and similar hardships. What Lavakare, now in her early 50s, hadn’t bargained for was the poisonous air. The city had a “hidden” secret: its air was fouler than Beijing’s but hardly anyone knew. With every passing winter, the air quality was plummeting. Jyoti Pande Lavakare. “In 2014, I realised something was making us all sick. At my children’s school, children were falling ill constantly. My friends’ children were falling ill. I had a bad asthma attack. When we met other expats, the talk was about what was wrong with the air,” says Lavakare. She thought she was being hypersensitive. Indian friends teased her for having become too “American”. But Lavakare began reading about and researching the air quality and soon became obsessive about the pollution. When the American embassy in Delhi, which had been collecting air quality data but keeping it private, released the figures to the public in 2015, the secret was out. Lavakare was right to be obsessed: New Delhi’s pollution was off the charts, registering 222 during US President Barack Obama’s visit in January 2015. Readings from 151 to 200 are considered unhealthy, and any above that very unhealthy, meaning “health warnings of emergency conditions”. The Indian capital’s residents were living in a gas chamber. In January 2015, Bloomberg quoted David Spiegelhalter, a University of Cambridge statistician, as saying that, by visiting the capital and breathing its air for just three days, Obama might have cut six hours from his expected lifespan. New York Times correspondent Gardiner Harris (a neighbour of Lavakare’s in Sunder Nagar) wrote a quietly impassioned article on how he was leaving New Delhi after his young son suffered a horrifying asthma attack. Breathing the air was the equivalent of smoking 44 cigarettes a day, according to the independent Berkeley Earth science research group. “At first I was in denial. Had I brought my children back to India to breathe pure poison and harm their lungs? But when the data started coming out … I knew we were in a crisis,” says Lavakare. She bought face masks and air <keyword id="2029750" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="purifiers">purifiers</keyword>, but that was only dealing with her own patch. Angry at the horror of the city’s 20 million residents breathing filthy air, she co-founded Care for Air in 2015 with other professionals, as a platform to build awareness that the city was in the midst of a “public health emergency” and to lobby for clean air. With her colourful silk saris and long wavy hair, pushed back by her glasses, Lavakare is now well-known as an expert on air pollution; she is invited to join television debates. She is unimpressed with the measures the New Delhi government has just announced to “minimise” (no one is talking of eliminating) the pollution this winter that turns the capital into a kind of “air gulag”, thick with tiny particles known as PM2.5 which damage not just respiratory systems, as many seem to think – but many other human organs too. The quality of October’s air plunged to “poor” even before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights when the bursting of firecrackers makes the “normal” pollution many times worse. On some days in late October, the state-run Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index stood at around 300 – six times the recommended level. The index has risen as high as 999 after Diwali for two consecutive years. This year, the government began putting tougher measures in place. Under its Graded Response Action Plan, drivers are allowed to use their cars every other day, depending on whether their number plates end in an odd or even number, to limit vehicle emissions; people found burning waste are fined; bus and metro services are increased; the use of diesel generators has been banned; and water sprinklers and mechanical sweepers will be used to deal with the construction dust and debris that is responsible for the bulk of the pollution. <h2 style="margin-top: 1.14286rem; margin-bottom: 0.428571rem; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.21429rem; font-family: Merriweather, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">At first I was in denial. Had I brought my children back to India to breathe pure poison and harm their lungs?Jyoti Pande Lavakare</h2> By getting the doctors on Care for Air’s board to appear on television to talk about its effects, visiting schools to educate children, and galvanising the media to cover the subject, the group has succeeded in raising public awareness and making people, even the poor, demand action. You can see the difference in the booming sales of air purifiers and face masks. “When people first began wearing masks a few years ago, people used to stare. It seemed odd. Or they’d cross the street, thinking the person was contagious. Now no one thinks twice about wearing a mask,” says Mukesh Nath, a chemist in Sarai Jullena. For Lavakare, the fight for the right to breathe clean air has become fused with her personal life. She’s not worrying about her children – Naina has gone to Barnard College in New York, where she is studying sociology, and Madhav, currently on a gap year, has been accepted by Yale University in Connecticut. It’s more that, while she was campaigning and lobbying against pollution, it sneaked into her family, devastating it. Jyoti Pande Lavakare (left), her late mother Kamale Pande and father Jagdish Chandra Pande. Photo: courtesy of Lavakare family She had returned to India to spend time with her parents. But over a year ago, her mother, Kamale Pande, a classical vocalist and non-smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. She had no family history of the disease and was otherwise in excellent health. Suddenly, all those abstract statistics were embodied in her own mother’s lungs. Specialists linked the disease directly to <keyword id="55910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Pollution">air pollution</keyword> and Lavakare has no doubt at all about the causal link. In her book Choked, published this year, Beth Gardiner wrote: “You see one person run over in the street and you’ll never forget it, but thousands dying from the effects of dirty air will never even faze you.” Lavakare’s mother died last year. Trying to process her grief is one reason Lavakare is working on her own book, called Breathing Here is Injurious to Your Health, to be published next year. It’s the story of her relationship with her dying city, with pollution, her mother’s suffering and on what can be done to spare Indians from pollution’s catastrophic impact. The fight for clean air is going to be prolonged. Misleading statistics have to be contested, for one. The Delhi government recently issued full-page advertisements to trumpet how air pollution had been cut by 25 per cent thanks to its efforts. <h2 style="margin-top: 1.14286rem; margin-bottom: 0.428571rem; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.21429rem; font-family: Merriweather, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t given up our green cardJyoti Pande Lavakare, who returned to India with her family from Palo Alto, California, in 2009</h2> “Experts agree that there is no data available – at least in the public domain – that clearly validates the claim. It doesn’t mean the government is lying, but unless independent data analysts and scientists can access the data, no one can say whether this is just another piece of fake news or a manipulation of cherry-picked statistics,” says Lavakare. Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, says the coming weeks will see pollution getting worse. “There are 14 ‘hotspots’ – areas where pollution levels exceed the average because of the burning of municipal solid waste and industrial waste. To reduce the remaining 65 per cent of pollution, these sources need to be tackled,” she says. Lavakare wants action on a “war footing”. The city needs an empowered and accountable authority whose sole goal is to reduce pollution. She is convinced that neither New Delhi nor the country – last year, 11 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities were in India – can afford incremental progress. Anger inflects her voice, mostly when she talks of how little has been done. “Take 2018 – there was not a single ‘clean air’ day in the city. Take the government’s Clean India (Swachh Bharat) campaign. “How you can have a Clean India without clean air?” Or the government’s other pet scheme, Make in India. “How can you Make in India if you can’t breathe in India?” Lavakare asks. The figures are not just dispiriting, they are apocalyptic. A report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago in 2016 said air pollution was reducing the life expectancy of the average New Delhi resident by about 10 years. She and Ajay discuss whether they should become “pollution refugees” by leaving the city for Goa, a coastal state in India’s southeast. Friends have already sold up and fled. Many have had nasty health scares. Some have opted for crazy commutes, such as between Delhi and Toronto or Delhi and London. “Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t given up our green card,” she says.

New Delhi’s toxic air and how one expat family was affected – sick children, asthma, a death, and a campaign to awaken city to pollution threat

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Larry St. Pierre/Shutterstock"'Run, hide, fight' is essentially the 'stop, drop, and roll' of active shooter training," said Experior Group president Aric Mutchnick.</div></div></div>• <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/shooting">Shooting</a> drills are sometimes held in the workplace, as a means of preparing workers for violent attacks.• But security expert Laurence Barton argues that some drills can instill a false sense of security or promote problematic crisis management strategies.• He argued that increasing peoples' "situational awareness" and telling employees to trust their intuition is far more helpful than running through a tactical drill. Shooting drills in the workplace are intended to help people prepare for the unthinkable.With gun violence dominating national conversation in the US, it's not surprising that a spate of crisis management and security firms has cropped up, promising to help train and educate employees and employers.But some active shooter drills could be doing more harm than good, according to threat management and workplace violence expert <a href="http://larrybarton.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Laurence Barton</a>."It's well-intentioned, but there are also a lot of people making a lot of money right now on kind of a false sense of security," Barton told Business Insider. "The intention is a good one. But what's happening is we're placing false faith in these exercises."<h2>Some numbers on workplace shootings</h2>There were 500 homicides in the workplace in 2016, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/there-were-500-workplace-homicides-in-the-united-states-in-2016.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>. Of those homicides, 394 victims were intentionally shot and killed.Additionally, a total of 792 injuries were intentionally inflicted on workers in 2016. That's a pretty big jump from 646 in 2015.Those numbers may sound grim, but the takeaway is that an individual's odds of getting caught in a workplace shooting are quite low. Barton added that fist fights are still the most common form of violence in the office."The workplace remains a remarkably safe place," Barton said.Still, multiple-victim shootings are on the rise, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/03/15/593831564/the-disconnect-between-perceived-danger-in-u-s-schools-and-reality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPR reported</a>. And the workplace isn't exempt from that bloodshed, whether it's wrought by current and former employees, individuals with a grudge against an organization, people with a familial connection to specific employees, or complete strangers.• On Monday, a disgruntled video-maker shot and injured three people at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-hq-shooting-photos-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube's</a> San Bruno headquarters.• In March, a gunman stormed into an employee going away party at a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/california-active-shooter-hostages-veterans-home-lockdown-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veterans home</a> where he'd reportedly been treated. He ultimately killed three hostages and himself. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-colleagues-police-at-loss-to-find-reason-for-ups-shooting-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>• <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-colleagues-police-at-loss-to-find-reason-for-ups-shooting-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Last year</a>, a United States Postal Service worker killed three colleagues with an assault pistol in San Francisco.• A health inspector and his wife shot up an office holiday party in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-san-bernardino-shooting-unfolded-2015-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Bernardino</a> in 2015, killing 14 people. Some of the San Bernardino survivors reportedly thought the terrorist attack was a drill, at first.• In 2012, a former Marine entered the Wisconsin spa and hair salon where his ex-wife worked, and fatally shot her and two other <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wisconsin-gunman-history-of-abuse-2012-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">women</a>.So it's no mystery why some employers are taking proactive steps and arranging drills.<h2>Tactical training can be useful - but not for civilians</h2>Barton said active shooter drills that provide tactical training aren't terribly helpful for employees."You can't take tactical training and apply it to a civilian population," said Aric Mutchnick, president of risk management firm <a href="http://experiorgroupinc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Experior Group</a>, whose methods Barton recommends. "You'll never build the muscle memory. You'll never have the repetition of training that you need to get the benefit that you would get from a tactical training exercise."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Elijah Nouvelage/ReutersTactical drills are more beneficial for the police than for civilians, said Barton and Mutchnick.</div></div></div>Mutchnick said that, in most cases, tactical trainings or overly realistic active shooter drills simply scare people."I see no value in that," he said. "How will they be safer the next time? They'll react better? I doubt it. Because they've only done it once."That being said, Barton noted that tactical trainings can be extremely useful for police. For companies weighing a tactical training session, he recommended inviting the local police force to run a drill over the weekend or during a time when employees aren't in the building.Barton said that some active shooting drills - as well as company-wide crisis management strategies - are simply "reckless." He faulted static strategies, like telling employees to evacuate the building and meet across the street at a McDonald's, in the event of an attack."What if there's a second shooter that takes people out now that they're in a predictable spot?" he said.Because no two emergency scenarios ever play out the same, Barton said that active shooter trainings should instead encourage people to listen to their intuition. So, instead of being told to automatically regroup at McDonald's, a hypothetical employee should be told to run until he or she felt it was safe to stop.<h2>Moving beyond 'run, hide, fight'</h2>"Run, hide, fight" is the common term for the mass shooting <a href="https://www.ready.gov/active-shooter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survival strategy</a> put forward by the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US government</a>. If you find yourself in an active shooting situation, you're supposed to run away. If escape is impossible, hiding is the next recommended option. And, finally, your last resort is attempting to incapacitate the attacker."'Run, hide, fight' is essentially the 'stop, drop, and roll' of active shooter training," said Mutchnick. "It's useful. It's good for the masses, in terms of overall training. But imagine walking into a building, looking at their fire management plan, opening the binder, and the only thing you see in there is 'stop, drop, and roll.' You would have concerns."Mutchnick's firm organizes "red ball drills," which Barton recommended as a better alternative to disruptive and disconcerting tactical drills.An Experior consultant carrying a red ball will enter a workplace. Employees who have received a memo about the drill are instructed to treat the red ball-carrier like an active shooter - although 911 calls must be simulated and aggression and fleeing the area are not allowed. Another consultant will walk through the scenario with the employee, and discuss options of dealing with the situation."I don't need to scare the hell out of everyone," Mutchnick said. "It's not a test; it's a conversation."After conducting a number of red ball drills and discussing safety strategies with the participating employees, the Experior Group will compile a report based on its findings."Instead of being 100 pages of bull---- that no one's ever going to read, with all sorts of unique and beautiful graphs, it's a concise report that really is just bulleted observations and recommendations," Mutchnick said.<h2>People should take steps to boost their 'situational awareness' at work</h2>Barton said that the best active shooter training will encourage workers to increase their "situational awareness" at work."At work, we turn our intuitions down," he said. "That doesn't mean that we turn them off completely, but we turn it way, way, down."Barton gave the example of a shopper heading to Target at night."The reality is if some sketchy character starts to approach me in the parking lot and I don't feel safe, I'm either going to go back into my car and lock it or I'm going to run into the store," he said. "I'm going to hustle. I'm not going to stand there and become a victim."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">gurezende/ShutterstockTrust your instincts.</div></div></div>But that's often not the case at work."We have our coffee, we have the Outlook schedule for the day," Barton said. "We know who we're going to say hello to. We've got our meeting schedules."The result is a sense of disbelief and paralysis when emergencies do happen. Barton said he's interviewed numerous survivors of workplace shootings. Many describe freezing up and not taking the opportunity to flee."They'll say, 'I can't believe that I stayed there. I knew there were gunshots, but I had such a sense of disbelief,'" he said. "Or, 'I thought someone was addressing it.' Or, 'I thought maybe it was firecrackers.' You just want to believe it's not what it is."Barton said he doesn't advocate becoming paranoid, but added that becoming more "situationally aware" at work is key."Don't make any assumptions," Barton said. "I would rather that you move, get to the stairs, and get out of the building - I'd take that embarrassment anytime over being shot in the leg. Why would you risk that? And what would you tell your children?"Have you ever witnessed or experienced violence in the workplace? Email acain@businessinsider.com. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-will-arming-teachers-guns-help-stop-school-shootings-2018-2">Henry Blodget: Will arming teachers with guns help stop school shootings?</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

In response to office violence, companies have begun holding active shooter drills - but they can do more harm than good

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image">AP/Pocono RecordRockne Newell</div></div>3 killed in Pa. <keyword id="150" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shooting">shooting</keyword> believed caused by long-running dispute over ramshackle property
A man feuding with officials in his rural <keyword id="106037" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</keyword> town over living conditions at his ramshackle, trash-filled property killed three people at a municipal meeting — including at least one town official — in a rampage that blew holes through the walls and sent people crawling for cover, police said.
The gunman, Rockne Newell, was tackled to the ground and shot with his gun after firing gunshots through the wall and bursting into the meeting Monday night, witnesses said. They said he then went to his car and got another weapon to keep firing.
"I heard more than 10 shots," Pocono Record reporter Chris Reber said in a first-person account. "It was automatic, like a string of firecrackers."
State police said they believed two people may have subdued the gunman, who was shot in one of his legs. Witnesses and officials called them heroes.
The shooting, which injured at least two other people, happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. during Ross Township's monthly meeting, Monroe County emergency management director Guy Miller said. State police said about 15 to 18 residents and town officials were at the building, a short drive from Newell's property, when the gunfire erupted.
Two people died at the scene, and a third person died after being flown to a hospital. Police confirmed that at least one of the dead was a township official but declined to give additional details. A fourth person, a woman, was undergoing surgery late Monday. Her injuries were not disclosed.
Investigators said Newell began shooting as he approached the building and continued as he walked into and through it. He then went back out to his vehicle in the parking lot, retrieved a handgun and went back into the building, firing more shots, police said.
Reber said he was at the township building when a man armed with a long gun with a scope shot through a wall into the meeting.
"The thing that got my attention: plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls. Witnesses would later tell me they saw pictures exploding away from the walls," Reber said in the first-person account told to his editors Marta Gouger and Chris Mele.
He said he crawled out to a hallway, exited the building and took cover behind a vehicle.
"The gunman was this guy wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt," he said. "I saw him go back out to his car, a silver Impala, and get another gun.
"It wasn't real to me until I went back inside and saw people bleeding."
A local official at the meeting grabbed the shooter and subdued him, Reber said.
"(West End Open Space Commission executive director) Bernie Kozen bear-hugged the gunman and took him down," Reber said. "He shot the shooter with his own gun."
Rep. Matt Cartwright, who represents the state's 17th District, said he was "stunned and appalled at the atrocities that claimed the lives of innocent citizens in Ross Township." He said he had heard about what Kozen did to prevent more bloodshed.
"Mr. Kozen is a true hero tonight," Cartwright said in an emailed statement.
Kozen's wife, reached by telephone at their home Monday night, said he wasn't there and she was unsure when he'd be back.
Newell had been in a long-running dispute with township officials over the dilapidated condition of his property, state police Capt. Edward Hoke said. The township supervisors voted in February 2012 to take legal action against Newell for violating zoning and sewer regulations, according to meeting minutes posted online.
Last October, Newell set up a fundraising page online and was trying to raise $10,000 to pay for legal fees in his battle with the township.
"Ross township took me to court &amp; the court ruled I have to vacate my home of 20 years," he wrote on the page called saveRockyshome. "I live on SSI which comes to $600 a month I have no money to clean it up."
Newell said his two rescue dogs "will be put to sleep because no one else will take them."
The property includes an old camper in the front yard filled with wooden pallets, pieces of what appear to be old railroad ties and trash. A garage leans and appears close to collapse, and a propane tank sits inside an old dog house.
State police, who guarded the property early Tuesday, were awaiting a search warrant so they can enter it.
In June, the Pocono Record wrote a story about what it said was an 18-year fight between the township and Newell over his property.
Monroe County Court in August 2012 sided with the township and ordered Newell to vacate and never again occupy or use the property unless he had the permits to do so. The report said Newell had been living out of a car, a 1984 Pontiac Fiero, and in abandoned buildings since being ordered to vacate.
Newell told the paper he was unemployed for years after an injury from a crash and had nowhere else to go.
"They have no right to kick me off my property," he told the newspaper. "They call my property an eyesore. When I bought it, it was one of only three properties on the entire road that didn't have what they call junk."
Newell was in police custody after being treated at the hospital Monday night and couldn't be reached for comment, and there was no telephone number listed for his property.
Ross Township has about 5,500 residents. According to its website, the board of supervisors meets at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam and photographer Chris Post contributed to this report.
<div class="nc_footer">
Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
</div>

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