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KYIV, Ukraine — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile. escalating the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday’s Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro. In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was in retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks Friday during a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense, representatives of the military-industrial complex and developers of missile systems at the Kremlin in Moscow. Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile. Ukrainian military officials said the missile that hit Dnipro reached a speed of Mach 11 and carried six nonnuclear warheads, each releasing six submunitions. Speaking Friday to military and weapons industries officials, Putin said Russia will launch production of the Oreshnik. “No one in the world has such weapons,” he said. “Sooner or later, other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development. “We have this system now,” he added. “And this is important.” Putin said that while it isn’t an intercontinental missile, it’s so powerful that the use of several of them fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with strategic — or nuclear — weapons. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, echoing Putin’s claim that even with conventional warheads, “the massive use of the weapon would be comparable in effect to the use of nuclear weapons.” In this photo taken from a video released Friday, a Russian serviceman operates at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia. "The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow’s talking points, suggesting the use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement. “These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orbán said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.” Orbán cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick ... there will be consequences,” he said. Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky speaks to journalists Friday during a joint news conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriiy Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukraine. Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday’s missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.” At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.” He said the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine. Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv. In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who said it's not the first time such a threat has been received. Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad. We're all going to die someday. Still, how it happens—and when—can point to a historical moment defined by the scientific advancements and public health programs available at the time to contain disease and prevent accidents. In the early 1900s, to improve sanitation, hygiene, and routine vaccinations were still in their infancy. Maternal and infant mortality rates were high, as were contagious diseases that spread between people and animals. Combined with the devastation of two World Wars—and the Spanish Flu pandemic in between—the leading causes of death changed significantly after this period. So, too, did the way we diagnose and control the spread of disease. Starting with reforms as part of Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s, massive-scale, federal interventions in the U.S. eventually helped stave off disease transmission. It took comprehensive government programs and the establishment of state and local health agencies to educate the public on preventing disease transmission. Seemingly simple behavioral shifts, such as handwashing, were critical in thwarting the spread of germs, much like discoveries in medicine, such as vaccines, and increased access to deliver them across geographies. Over the course of the 20th century, and is estimated to keep increasing slightly, according to an annual summary of vital statistics published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2000. examined data from the to see how the leading causes of death in America have evolved over time and to pinpoint how some major mortality trends have dropped off. According to a report published in the journal Annual Review of Public Health in 2000, in the early 1900s, accounting for nearly 1 in 4 deaths. By the time World War I ended in 1918, during which people and animals were housed together for long periods, a new virus emerged: the Spanish Flu. Originating in a bird before spreading to humans, the virus killed 10 times as many Americans as the war. Many died of secondary pneumonia after the initial infection. Pneumonia deaths eventually plummeted throughout the century, partly prevented by increased flu vaccine uptake rates in high-risk groups, particularly older people. Per the CDC, tuberculosis was a close second leading cause of death, in 1900, mainly concentrated in dense urban areas where the infection could more easily spread. Eventually, public health interventions led to drastic declines in mortality from the disease, such as public education, reducing crowded housing, quarantining people with active disease, improving hygiene, and using antibiotics. Once the death rates lagged, so did the public health infrastructure built to control the disease, leading to a resurgence in the mid-1980s. Diarrhea was the third leading cause of death in 1900, surging every summer among children before the impacts of the pathogen died out in 1930. Adopting water filtration, better nutrition, and improved refrigeration were all associated with its decline. In the 1940s and 1950s, polio outbreaks killed or paralyzed upward of half a million people worldwide every year. Even at its peak, polio wasn't a leading cause of death, it was a much-feared one, particularly among parents of young children, some of whom kept them from crowded public places and interacting with other children. By 1955, when Jonah Salk discovered the polio vaccine, the U.S. had ended the "golden age of medicine." During this period, the causes of mortality shifted dramatically as scientists worldwide began to collaborate on infectious disease control, surgical techniques, vaccines, and other drugs. From the 1950s onward, once quick-spreading deadly contagions weren't prematurely killing American residents en masse, scientists also began to understand better how to diagnose and treat these diseases. As a result, Americans were living longer lives and instead succumbing to noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs. The risk of chronic diseases increased with age and, in some cases, was exacerbated by unhealthy lifestyles. Cancer and heart disease shot up across the century, from 1900 to 1998, according to CDC data. Following the post-Spanish Flu years, heart disease killed more Americans than any other cause, peaking in the 1960s and contributing to 1 in 3 deaths. Cigarette smoking rates peaked at the same time, a major risk factor for heart disease. Obesity rates also rose, creating another risk factor for heart disease and many types of cancers. This coincides with the introduction of ultra-processed foods into diets, which plays a more significant role in larger waistlines than the increasing predominance of sedentary work and lifestyles. In the early 1970s, deaths from heart disease began to fall as more Americans prevented and managed their risk factors, like quitting smoking or taking blood pressure medicine. However, the disease remains the biggest killer of Americans. Cancer remains the second leading cause of death and rates still indicate an upward trajectory over time. Only a few types of cancer are detected early by screening, and some treatments for aggressive cancers like glioblastoma—the most common type of brain cancer—have also stalled, unable to improve prognosis much over time. In recent years, early-onset cancers, those diagnosed before age 50 or sometimes even earlier, have seen a drastic rise among younger Americans. While highly processed foods and sedentary lifestyles may contribute to rising rates, a spike in cancer rates among otherwise healthy young individuals has baffled some medical professionals. This follows the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. At its peak, high transmission rates made the virus the third leading cause of death in America. It's often compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918, though COVID-19 had a far larger global impact, spurring international collaborations among scientists who developed a vaccine in an unprecedented time. Public policy around issues of safety and access also influences causes of death, particularly—and tragically—among young Americans. Gun control measures in the U.S. are far less stringent than in peer nations; compared to other nations, however, the U.S. leads in gun violence. Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens (around 2 in 3 are homicides, and 1 in 3 are suicides), and deaths from opioids remain a leading cause of death among younger people. Globally, the leading causes of death mirror differences in social and geographic factors. NCDs are primarily associated with socio-economic status and comprise 7 out of 10 leading causes of death, occurring in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. However, one of the best health measures is life expectancy at birth. People in the U.S. have been living longer lives since 2000, except for a slight dip in longevity due to COVID-19. According to the most recent CDC estimates, Americans' on average and is expected to increase slightly in the coming decades. Get local news delivered to your inbox!This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West. This is the last of a three-part series. Read the first and the second parts. Fidaa Maksour, a dispatcher with the White Helmets, a volunteer organisation that operates largely in the war-torn northwestern region of Syria, was on duty in the early morning hours of February 6, 2023, when the ground began to shake. It was a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever to hit the border region between Syria and Turkey Calls started pouring into the operation room’s emergency WhatsApp lines soon after. There were “many people under the rubble, many people under collapsed buildings”, Maksour told Rest of World . In Syria alone, the earthquake and its aftershocks destroyed an estimated 10,000 buildings and killed more than 5,500 people . By that time, Syria had already suffered through more than a decade of civil war. Government bombardments had destroyed much of the opposition-controlled northwestern region. Residents couldn’t call for help through regular emergency numbers. So instead, in times of crisis, they turn to the WhatsApp-based emergency response system set up by the White Helmets, who are often the only first responders available. Maksour fielded the WhatsApp calls as best he could, relaying information between ambulances ferrying victims to overwhelmed hospitals and rescue crews attempting to reach those still trapped under the rubble. The White Helmets’ WhatsApp system dates back to 2021, when a Turkish-Syrian project restored power lines to the northwest and a patchwork of satellite and broadband providers helped bring back widespread access to internet services. WhatsApp quickly became the default means of communication. “The whole population – every family, every household in the northwest – is using WhatsApp,” one of Maksour’s colleagues told Rest of World . In recent months, Maksour has received emergency WhatsApp calls reporting everything from a serious car accident to unexploded ordnance. He dispatched ambulances and disposal teams for these instances, respectively. Messaging apps have become indispensable tools for civilians in conflict and disaster zones like Syria, and WhatsApp, with its more than 2 billion daily users, is the most popular among them. The app’s compression algorithm, which in part allows it to function in areas with poor connectivity, makes it particularly useful. Humanitarian organisations use it to coordinate emergency responses; refugees turn to it as a lifeline; and journalists use it to relay reporting from conflict zones. “We’ve talked to a variety of humanitarian NGOs,” WhatsApp’s director of global communications, Christina LoNigro, told Rest of World . “A lot of the things that we are concerned with is how they can use our app to get their information out most effectively ... How do they get information out to affected populations in a place where they already are? How do you message where they are? And a lot of times, they are on WhatsApp.” A volunteer of the Syria Civil Defence looks at her mobile phone as she rides in a vehicle, in Idlib province in March 2023. Credit: Reuters. Historically, the flow of information in conflict and disaster areas has been limited. In the 20th century, government and aid organisations often turned to radio or television broadcasts to get critical messages out. Sometimes, they just used cars with loudspeakers. Meanwhile, victims of conflict often had no way to speak to each other, or the outside world. As recently as 2006, a report from Denmark-based nonprofit International Media Support described the radio as “the principal means of communication for most of the population in conflict areas”. In Indonesia after 2006 and Sudan in 2009 , radio sets were distributed as part of aid packages. But by the beginning of the 2000s, digital messaging systems started taking on more importance. Skype, launched in 2003, became one of the only ways to reach Syrian activists and volunteers in opposition-controlled areas in the early days of the conflict. Then WhatsApp launched in 2009, Viber in 2010, and Telegram in 2013. These apps had features as simple as sending an SMS or making a phone call, but were not bound by bundled message allowances, character limits, or borders. Shergo Ali, a humanitarian worker originally from the Syrian city of Qamishli, spent nearly eight years in the northeastern region of his home country as well as the Sinjar and Mosul areas of Iraq. “At that time, in 2015, 2016, 2017, it was more Skype and SMS messages,” he told Rest of World . “But not much WhatsApp or other apps.” The aid sector is often cautious about adopting new technology to avoid introducing operational risks, but by the mid-2010s, messaging apps had become critical tools to some organisations. John Warnes, senior innovation officer with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told Rest of World that responding to the influx of Syrian refugees to West Asia and Europe, who were generally highly connected, required a change of approach. “UNHCR has been engaging with communities through digital channels such as messaging apps for a number of years,” Warnes said. “This accelerated particularly in the early 2010s as adoption rates of mobile devices grew in many parts of the world in which UNHCR was active.” WhatsApp was not the only application the agency used. In Mexico, personnel used Facebook Messenger as a way to speak with refugees and migrants. The popularity of different messaging apps varied across regions. A 2017 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross noted Viber’s popularity in war-torn Ukraine – the company that operates Viber, Rakuten, claims the service is installed on 98% of Ukrainian mobile phones . In Niger, which has been wracked by years of violence between the military and armed Islamist groups, Viber was also popular, along with Facebook Messenger and Imo, a US-owned messaging platform with over 200 million users. Before the fall of 2023, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees relied on phone calls, emails, and in-person meetings to communicate with its staff in Gaza, UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told Rest of World . Then, on October 7 that year, Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people. Israel responded with a massive and ongoing military campaign that has since killed more than 44,000 Gazans , according to health authorities, displaced most of the around 365-square-km strip’s 2.3 million residents, and destroyed at least half of the area’s buildings. Cell towers, along with power and internet infrastructure, were hit early on in the conflict, causing a near-total blackout in Gaza within weeks. “People couldn’t speak to each other. They couldn’t call each other. They were cut off from one another in the middle of a war zone, and they were cut off from the rest of the world,” Touma told Rest of World . “We were communicating with one staff member through one satellite phone that barely worked but we got cut off from the rest.” UNRWA turned to WhatsApp. The agency had previously used the service for sending messages to communities about things like school events or information on vaccination campaigns. Now, the app was suddenly much more important. “I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that WhatsApp can be life-saving,” Touma said. UNRWA, she said, is now almost completely dependent on WhatsApp to speak with staff in Gaza. Before the war, writer Amal Helles lived in Gaza’s Khan Yunis city, and mostly used WhatsApp to speak with friends and family. Shortly after the Israeli military campaign began, she started reporting for The Times and WhatsApp became indispensable for her work, she told Rest of World. To cover the aftermath of airstrikes or the desperate daily search for water and food, she and other journalists came to rely on data-only eSIMS that could connect to the outer edges of Egyptian or Israeli networks. She climbed to exposed and dangerous high points in search of a phone signal. The connection was typically too weak to connect for email, but WhatsApp functioned. Thanks to WhatsApp’s compression algorithms, she was able to send voice notes, videos, and documents to her colleagues in London. “Whatsapp was the only – the base – application that we used during the war,” Helles said. Helles and her children eventually escaped Gaza, but she still continues to remotely cover the violence wracking her home and relies on WhatsApp to reach people there. Helles messages her family often, too, including her husband, who is still in Gaza and also works as a journalist. One day this past August, she read of a strike near the entrance of a hospital where her husband regularly reports. She sent him a WhatsApp message right away but only saw a single gray tick indicating her message had been sent but not received. She tried to call his cell but it wouldn’t connect, and his colleagues couldn’t reach him either. An agonising hour passed before he finally logged on. “I heard his voice in a voice note via WhatsApp,” she said. “And my heart was reassured.” Ahmad, who requested a pseudonym to speak with Rest of World out of concern for his safety, spent about a year working as an interpreter with British forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. That made him a target for the Taliban and other militant groups. He received a death threat in 2019, and was stabbed and shot in an apparent assassination attempt a few months later. So when the Taliban took Kabul in 2021, he fled. He first went to Iran and then made the arduous trek across the mountains of the Turkish border. Ahmad was already familiar with WhatsApp – he used it to avoid exorbitant Afghan telecom fees. But as he escaped Afghanistan, it also became his only link to home. “When I was traveling, my family had concerns about my journey,” he told Rest of World . “I was sending some of my pictures home [to say] I’m okay, I’m fine ... I had contact with my family and I was always giving them my updates.” Ahmad reached Istanbul, and applied for a humanitarian visa and to a UK immigration program. In the meantime, he spent months in a cramped and crowded basement apartment hiding from the police sweeps for illegal migrants, venturing out only to work long shifts in a textile factory for around $50 a week. International calls would have been prohibitively expensive, so Ahmad turned to WhatsApp. “It was the only way that I contacted my family,” he said. “I used to share pictures, selfies, voice notes.” After an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle himself to Europe, Ahmad was deported back to Afghanistan, where he lives today in hiding. WhatsApp is how he keeps in touch with the few people he trusts. He depends on the app’s end-to-end encryption to keep the Taliban from finding him. “It’s more safe than a phone call,” he said. “Mobile phones, SIM cards, voices – these three can be tracked easily.” He has been trying to reach Europe once again, this time via legal pathways. His lawyer insists that they communicate only through Signal , an open-source, privacy-focused messaging app but Ahmad is confident that WhatsApp is safe enough. “I think the Taliban are not that much developed that they can track WhatsApp very easily,” he said. WhatsApp has its faults and weaknesses, even for those dependent on the service in conflict and disaster areas. The service has been criticised for a relative lack of privacy and the potential for surveillance by more sophisticated actors. Meta collects a variety of data on users, including IP addresses, device information, and profile images that it shares across its companies. In May, The Intercept reported on the contents of an internal WhatsApp threat assessment, which discussed potential vulnerabilities that could allow government agencies to work out a user’s contacts, group membership, and potential location. Meta told The Intercept that there was no evidence of security vulnerabilities on WhatsApp. Signal is often cited by security professionals as harder to surveil for even the most advanced intelligence apparatuses. But that has not yet translated into mass uptake. Signal does not release specific usage data but its active users are estimated to number in the tens of millions – a tiny fraction of that of WhatsApp. When Ali, the Syrian humanitarian worker, arrived in Ukraine last February to start a new role as area manager for the east of the country with German NGO Welthungerhilfe, colleagues instructed him to download Signal immediately. Aside from general information sharing and travel, the NGO uses Signal for security and safety communications, including instructions on how to react to air raid alarms and airstrikes, Ali said. “I’d never used Signal before,” he said. “We’ve had staff who arrived new after me, and they didn’t have Signal. We asked them to download it.” After a 2021 data protection analysis of potential risks, the ICRC instructed its employees to use Signal internally, and, where possible, externally, Rebeca Lucía Galindo, an adviser at the ICRC on communication with communities, told Rest of World . But if that is not possible, then the organisation uses the safest viable alternative. WhatsApp is aware of how its services are relied upon in dangerous areas and is trying to address concerns, LoNigro said. She described various privacy-boosting additions made to the app after discussions with NGOs, including disappearing messages and the ability to lock specific chats with a PIN or biometric identification. Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, underscored the capacity of messaging apps to inflame tensions and incite violence during times of crisis. He described incidents in the ongoing war in Sudan, where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces sent out large batches of WhatsApp messages announcing an impending attack on a given location, causing panic and displacement. That is echoed in the findings of a report by the multi-donor initiative Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility. It concluded that in South Sudan, social media – particularly WhatsApp – had been used to spread propaganda and also as a means to plan and coordinate attacks and ambushes. Research consortium PeaceRep has also noted the connection between WhatsApp groups and revenge killings in Somalia. But WhatsApp is now so ubiquitous that it will inevitably continue to be a critical tool in conflict areas. Maksour, the White Helmets dispatcher in Syria, said it would be “very, very difficult” to do his job without WhatsApp. “The civilians have only WhatsApp to communicate with us and to communicate an emergency to the operations room.” John Beck is an award-winning journalist based in Istanbul. This article was originally published in Rest of World , which covers technology’s impact outside the West.

The extinction clock is accelerating on the Knott’s Xcelerator roller coaster that is quickly becoming an endangered species as the granddaddy of an aging class of thrill rides watches better-known kin drop like flies. Three rides similar to the 2002 Xcelerator , all of them younger than the Knott’s Berry Farm coaster, are currently out of commission: Top Thrill 2 (2003), Kingda Ka (2005) and Formula Rossa (2010). The first Intamin Accelerator coaster ever built, Xcelerator reopened in November 2023 after spending two years on the disabled list while getting a new hydraulic launch system installed. Xcelerator accelerates from zero to 82 mph in 2.3 seconds with the assistance of a hydraulic launch, according to Roller Coaster Database. The Xcelerator trains quickly transition into a 205-foot-tall vertical top hat element before sending riders plunging downward on a relatively short ride covering 2,200 feet of track in a minute. Over the past decade, three Intamin Accelerator coasters have been relocated, one has been closed and two are currently “standing but not operating” — Roller Coaster Database’s version of the disabled list. “Over time, I believe we’ve seen just about every one of these coasters shut down for an extended period of time to repair the launch systems,” according to Screamscape’s Lance Hart. ALSO SEE: Xcelerator coaster returns at Knott’s Berry Farm after two years on disabled list Six Flags announced in November that Kingda Ka would be removed from its Six Flags Great Adventure park in New Jersey and replaced by a new record-breaking launch coaster in 2026. “Kingda Ka has delivered more than 12 million rides since 2005,” Six Flags said in a statement. “What was cutting edge roller coaster technology 20 years ago has been surpassed by more modern advancements.” Ferrari World’s Formula Rossa and Cedar Point’s Top Thrill 2 are both eventually expected to reopen. Formula Rossa has been closed since January to repair the launch system — a process that can take a year or more, according to Screamscape. Cedar Point closed Top Thrill Dragster for the entire 2022 and 2023 seasons after a metal piece flew off the ride and seriously injured a woman waiting in the attraction queue in 2021. The rechristened Top Thrill 2 replaced the Intamin hydraulic launch system with a Zamperla electro-magnetic propulsion launch system in May — but the ride only operated for about a week before the park closed the coaster again due to mechanical issues. ALSO SEE: 1,000-foot-tall roller coaster about to become a reality The Intamin Accelerator coasters employ a hydraulic launch system with a rapidly spooling cable that pulls the trains to speeds ranging from 80 mph to nearly 150 mph. Intamin produced 14 of the lightning fast rides between 2002 and 2010. “These systems were a bit finicky, heavy on the maintenance side,” according to Screamscape. “It was typically a matter of ‘when’ the launch system was going to crap out unexpectedly. The repair process was always a lengthy and expensive one, so it was no surprise when Intamin decided to retire the launch system for good.” Related links A few of the aging thrill rides have received new leases on life with state-of-the-art updates. Zamperla removed the old hydraulic launch systems and installed new magnetic launches on Top Thrill Dragster at Ohio’s Cedar Point and ThunderVolt at Canada’s Playland. Ferrari World removed the Formula Rossa hydraulic launch system over the summer, according to Screamscape. Screamscape estimates Xcelerator’s new hydraulic launch system should last 8 to 13 years. Knott’s paid $13 million for the Intamin extreme coaster in 2002, according to RCDB. Related ArticlesAll you have to do to become a South Dakota resident is spend one night. Stay in a campground or hotel and then stop by one of the businesses that specialize in helping people become South Dakotans, and they’ll help you do the paperwork to gain residency in a state with no income tax and relatively cheap vehicle registration. The system brings in extra government revenue through vehicle fees and offers refuge to full-time travelers who wouldn’t otherwise have a permanent address or a place to vote. And that’s the problem. State leaders are at a stalemate between those who say people who don’t really live in South Dakota shouldn’t be allowed to vote in local elections and those who say efforts to impose a longer residency requirement for voting violate the principle that everyone gets to vote. And at least one state has gotten wind that its residents might be avoiding high income taxes with easy South Dakota residency and is investigating. Easy South Dakota residency for nomads has become an enterprising opportunity for businesses such as RV parks and mail forwarders. “That’s the primary concept here, is the people that have given up their sticks and bricks and now are on wheel estate, we call it, and they’re full-time traveling,” said Dane Goetz, owner of the Spearfish-based South Dakota Residency Center, which caters to full-time travelers. “They need a place to call home, and we provide that address for them to do that, and they are just perpetually on the move.” Goetz estimated more than 30,000 people are full-time traveler residents of South Dakota, but the actual number is unclear. The state Department of Public Safety, which handles driver licensing, says it doesn't track the number of full-time traveler applications. Officials of the South Dakota Secretary of State's Office did not respond to emailed questions or a phone message seeking the state's tally of full-time travelers registered to vote. The office is not responsible for enforcing residency requirements, Division of Elections Director Rachel Soulek said. Victor Robledo, his wife and their five kids hit the road a decade ago in a 28-foot (8.5-meter) motorhome to seek adventure and ease their high cost of living in Southern California. They found South Dakota to be an opportunity to save money, receive mail and “take a residency in a state that really nurtures us,” he said. They filed for residency in 2020. “It was as simple as coming into the state, staying one night in one of the campgrounds, and once we do that, we bring in a receipt to the office, fill out some paperwork, change our licenses. I mean, really, you can blow through there — gosh, 48 hours,” Robledo said. Residency becomes thorny around voting. Some opponents don’t want people who don’t physically live in South Dakota to vote in its elections. “I don’t want to deny somebody their right to vote, but to think that they can vote in a school board election or a legislative election or a county election when they’re not part of the community, I’m troubled by that,” said Democratic Rep. Linda Duba, who cited 10,000 people or roughly 40% of her Sioux Falls constituents being essentially mailbox residents. She likes to knock on doors and meet people but said she is unable to do “relationship politics” with travelers. The law the Republican-controlled Legislature passed in 2023 added requirements for voter registration, including 30 days of residency — which don't have to be consecutive — and having “an actual fixed permanent dwelling, establishment, or any other abode to which the person returns after a period of absence.” The bill's prime sponsor, Republican Sen. Randy Deibert, told a Senate panel that citizens expressed concerns about “people coming to the state, being a resident overnight and voting (by) absentee ballot or another way the next day and then leaving the state.” Those registered to vote before the new law took effect remain registered, but some who tried to register since its passage had trouble. Dozens of people recently denied voter registration contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, according to the chapter’s advocacy manager, Samantha Chapman. Durational residency requirements for voting are, in general, unconstitutional because such restrictions interfere with the interstate right to travel, said David Schultz, a Hamline University professor of political science and a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas. “It’s kind of this parochialism, this idea of saying that only people who are really in our neighborhood, who really live in our city have a sufficient stake in it, and the courts have generally been unsympathetic to those types of arguments because, more often than not, they’re used for discriminatory purposes,” he said. Earlier this year, the Legislature considered a bill to roll back the 2023 law. It passed the Senate but stalled in the House. During a House hearing on that bill, Republican Rep. Jon Hansen asked one full-time traveler when he was last in South Dakota and when he intends to return. The man said he was in the state a year earlier but planned to return in coming months. Another man who moved from Iowa to work overseas said he had not lived “for any period of time, physically” in South Dakota. “I don’t think we should allow people who have never lived in this state to vote in our state,” Hansen said. Republican Sen. David Wheeler, an attorney in Huron, said he expects litigation would be what forces a change. It's unlikely a change to the 30-day requirement would pass the Legislature now, he said. “It is a complicated topic that involves federal and state law and federal and state voting rights, and it is difficult to bring everybody together on how to appropriately address that,” Wheeler said. More than 1,600 miles (2,500 kilometers) east, Connecticut State Comptroller Sean Scanlon has asked prosecutors to look into whether some state employees who live in Connecticut may have skirted their tax obligations by claiming to be residents of South Dakota. Connecticut has a graduated income tax rate of 3.0% to 6.99%. Connecticut cities and towns also impose a property tax on vehicles. South Dakota has none. Scanlon and his office, which administers state employee retiree benefits, learned from a Hartford Courant columnist in September that some state retirees might be using South Dakota’s mail-forwarding services for nefarious reasons. Asked if there are concerns about other Connecticut taxpayers who are not state retirees possibly misusing South Dakota’s lenient residency laws, the Department of Revenue Services would only say the agency is “aware of the situation and we’re working with our partners to resolve it.” A South Dakota legislative panel broached the residency issue as recently as August, a meeting in which one lawmaker called the topic “the Gordian knot of politics.” “It seems like it’s almost impossible to come to some clear and definitive statement as to what constitutes a residency with such a mobile population with people with multiple homes and addresses and political boundaries that are easy to see on a map but there’s so much cross-transportation across them,” Republican Sen. Jim Bolin said. Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota. Associated Press Writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100

AP Business SummaryBrief at 11:22 a.m. EST

City Chiefs' victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. In a stunning opening, Beyoncé rode onto the stage on a white horse, kicking off her performance with the track 16 Carriages, dressed in a dramatic white feathered outfit and cowboy hat. After dismounting, she transitioned to a soulful rendition of Blackbird, a cover of The Beatles' classic. Her arrival on the field was nothing short of spectacular. Wearing a white long-sleeved corset and chaps, Beyoncé was accompanied by a large brass band and dancers. She performed several tracks from Cowboy Carter, including Levi Jeans, joined by Post Malone for a duet by a pickup truck. The crowd went wild as she sang Sweet Honey Buckin' and her cover... Gabriella CoxCNPD raises alarm over alleged plot to ‘pull down’ Senate President, Akpabio

Black Friday is fully in swing at Amazon now and the gaming deals are here a full week early. There are a plethora of Xbox deals on Amazon, with big discounts on Xbox consoles and Xbox games. You can get the Xbox Series S 512GB SSD Console for $50 off, which brings the price to just under $250. The Xbox Series X 1TB SSD Console is also on sale for $448, instead of $500. The Xbox Series X – 1TB Digital Edition is currently $398, instead of $450. Related: Amazon’s giant Black Friday sale is now live — and the holiday deals are bigger and better than ever The Xbox Series S 512GB SSD Console is dubbed by the brand as the “best value in gaming” with this 17% off deal. It includes the console, an Xbox wireless controller, an HDMI cable, a power cable, and two AA batteries. This model has 1440P resolution) and is disc-free; you can directly compare it to the 1TB model (not on sale), which has a 4K resolution and is also disc-free. The Xbox-compatible Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is also on sale for $75, instead of $127. This allows you to play Xbox games without a console , plus the bundle comes with a Robot White Core Wireless Controller and 1 Month Game Pass Ultimate. The Sky Cipher version of this bundle is also on sale and costs just $5 more if you’d prefer the Sky Cipher Wireless controller instead of the white model. Get the Xbox Series S 512GB SSD Console for $249, instead of $299 in this limited-time Amazon deal. Xbox Black Friday deals on Amazon You can check out all of Amazon’s current Xbox Black Friday deals here , we’ve handpicked some of the best ones available right now. Xbox Series S 512GB SSD Console for $249, instead of $299 Xbox Series X 1TB SSD Console for $448, instead of $500 Xbox Series X – 1TB Digital Edition for $398, instead of $450. Xbox Core Wireless Gaming Controller for $40, instead of $60 NBA 2K25: All-Star Edition - Xbox [Digital Code] for $40, instead of $100 Marvel’s Midnight Suns Legendary - Xbox Series X|S [Digital Code] for $20, instead of $100 Resident Evil 4: Standard Edition - Xbox Series X|S [Digital Code] for $20, instead of $60 Read More: Amazon has PS5 consoles on sale up to $126 off on Black Friday — but only for a limited time The Best Black Friday Deals in 2024 Amazon has the Ember 2 heated coffee mug on sale for its best price ever, but this hot Black Friday deal won’t last long Coach Outlet’s Black Friday sale has an extra 25% off everything — including handbag deals starting at $80 Amazon has your holiday season DIY all wrapped up with Cricut Black Friday deals starting from $99 Amazon has this Pit Boss smoker on sale for the cheapest price of the year — just for Black Friday Amazon has the 7-in-1 Ninja CREAMi on sale for $40 off in a sweet Black Friday deal that’s sure to sell out Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com . Victoria Rosenthal can be reached at vrosenthal@njadvancemedia.com . Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips .When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline — a vision of familiarity that conveys "that dreaming, longing feeling we all love." She's not sure what to think about Jaguar now after the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding that featured loud colors and androgynous people — but no cars. Jaguar, the company says, will now be JaGUar. It will produce only electric vehicles beginning in 2026. Bad attention is good attention, Jaguar execs would appear to believe. The car brand has prompted mockery online for posting a glitzy ad without a single car in it. Say goodbye to British racing green, Cotswold Blue and black. Its colors are henceforth electric pink, red and yellow, according to a video that sparked backlash online. Its mission statement: "Create exuberance. Live vivid. Delete ordinary. Break moulds." "Intrigued?" @Jaguar posted on social media. "Weird and unsettled" is more like it, Vogt wrote on Instagram. "Especially now, with the world feeling so dystopian," the Cyprus-based brand designer wrote, "a heritage brand like Jaguar should be conveying feelings of safety, stability, and maybe a hint of rebellion — the kind that shakes things up in a good way, not in a way that unsettles." Our brands, ourselves Jaguar was one of several iconic companies that announced significant rebrandings in recent weeks, upending a series of commercial — and cultural — landmarks by which many modern human beings sort one another, carve out identities and recognize the world around them. Campbell's, the 155-year-old American icon that artist Andy Warhol immortalized in pop culture decades ago, is ready for a new, soupless name. Comcast's corporate reorganization means there will soon be two television networks with "NBC" in their name — CNBC and MSNBC — that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News, a U.S. legacy news outlet. CNBC One could even argue the United States itself is rebranding with the election of former President Donald Trump and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Unlike Trump's first election in 2016, he won the popular vote in what many called a national referendum on American identity. Are we, then, the sum total of our consumer decisions — what we buy, where we travel and whom we elect? Certainly, it's a question for those privileged enough to be able to afford such choices. Volumes of research in the art and science of branding — from "brandr," an old Norse word for burning symbols into the hides of livestock — say those factors do contribute to the modern sense of identity. So rebranding, especially of heritage names, can be a deeply felt affront to consumers. "It can feel like the brand is turning its back on everything that it stood for — and therefore it feels like it's turning its back on us, the people who subscribe to that idea or ideology," said Ali Marmaduke, strategy director with the Amsterdam-based Brand Potential. He said cultural tension — polarization — is surging over politics, wars in Russia and the Mideast, the environment, public health and more, creating what Marmaduke said is known as a "polycrisis": the idea that there are several massive crises converging that feel scary and complex. Campbell's soups "People are understandably freaked out by that," he said. "So we are looking for something that will help us navigate this changing, threatening world that we face." Trump's "Make America Great Again" qualifies. So did President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" slogan. Campbell's soup itself — "Mmm Mmm Good" — isn't going anywhere, CEO Mark Clouse said. The company's new name, Campbell's Co., will reflect "the full breadth of our portfolio," which includes brands like Prego pasta sauce and Goldfish crackers. What is Jaguar? None of the recent activity around heritage brands sparked a backlash as ferocious as Jaguar's. The company stood as a pillar of tradition-loving British identity since World War II. The famous "leaper" cat Jaguar logo is pictured in 2019 at the Auto show in Paris, France. Jaguar said its approach to the rebrand was rooted in the philosophy of its founder, Sir William Lyons, to "copy nothing." What it's calling "the new Jaguar" will overhaul everything from the font of its name to the positioning of it's famous "leaper" cat. "Exuberant modernism" will "define all aspects of the new Jaguar world," according to the news release. The approach is thought to be aimed at selling fewer cars at a six-figure price point to a more diverse customer base. The reaction ranged from bewilderment to hostility. Memes sprouted up likening the video to the Teletubbies, a Benetton ad and — perhaps predictably — a bow to "woke" culture as the blowback intersected with politics. Be the first to know