Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

BATH While the construction of the new Morse High School in Bath is nearing completion, it wont be done as soon as initially planned.

The high school is scheduled to be handed over to Regional School Unit 1 next month with students resuming classes on Feb. 25, which is later than its initial December target date, according to Cuyler Feagles, RSU 1 clerk of the works.

Feagles credited the two-month delay to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which arrived in Maine last March.

Mostly the impact weve had is delayed deliveries from manufacturers, said Feagles. Getting supplies has been much slower as a result of COVID-19.

Feagles said builders arent able to hire more workers to speed up construction, in part because of COVID-19 limits how many people are allowed in certain parts of the building at a time.The state has also seen an absolutely unprecedented building boom during the pandemic, Feagles said, making it difficult to find workers available to hire.

This is also a largely state-funded project, and so because of that, workers must follow state COVID-19 guidelines, said Feagles. Work is somewhat slower because we have to take precautions like daily cleaning and having everyone check-in every day now.

Built by New Hampshire-based Harvey Construction, the school will house Morse High School and the Bath Regional Career and Technical Center. With a total of just over 600 students, Morse High School is the only high school in Regional School Unit 1, which serves Bath, Phippsburg, Arrowsic and Woolwich.

Patrick Manual, RSU 1 Superintendent, said work is ongoing seven days a week to have the school ready for teachers and administrators to move in in mid-February.

Harvey construction continues to make steady progress with the new Morse High School/Bath Tech, said Manuel. Students are scheduled to begin classes at the new school on February 25th. We are excited to open this impressive facility that will benefit our students, staff, and the community.

Once complete, the new school at the Wing Farm Business Park will stand three-stories tall and cover nearly 186,000 square feet, slightly larger than the current Morse High School building on High Street. The school will have two gyms, two athletic fields, and a theater.

Feagles said a few nonessential portions of the building, including the theater and band room, wont be completely finished when classes resume, but workers will finish them while students are in school.

The kids have to be in, so those are the least necessary and the easiest to finish while kids are in school, said Feagles. Workers are able to finish work while kids are going about their daily activities. We dont want workers in the middle of their school day.

Despite being a bit behind schedule, the project remains on budget, according to Manuel.

The state is funding $67.4 million of the $75.3 million cost; $7.2 million is to be paid locally through borrowing, with $700,000 earmarked from fundraising.

Once complete, the existing Morse High School will be turned over to the city to be repurposed.The city has three main ideas for how to repurpose the school, all of which involve repurposing some of the building into housing, Assistant Bath City Manager Marc Meyers told The Times Record last November.

Meyers said the city doesnt plan on changing the brick faade. None of the possible renovations include plans for the theater or gymnasium, as those were sections of the school alumni said they wanted to be preserved.

While Bath residents and Morse alumni have offered suggestions, Meyers said the jurys still out on what the building will become and theres no firm deadline on remodeling.

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New Bath high school construction on budget but behind schedule - pressherald.com

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Masonite International Corporation (NYSE: DOOR) has appointed John H. Chuang, co-founder and CEO of Aquent, to the companys board of directors effectively immediately. Chuang was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board.

John has a wealth of experience and insights in change management, talent acquisition and employee development, said Robert J. Byrne, chairman of the board of directors. We are pleased to welcome John to the Masonite board of directors and look forward to his contributions.

Chuang co-founded Aquent in his dorm room as an undergraduate at Harvard University in 1986. Within five years, he grew the workforce solutions company to the 12th fastest-growing private company in America.

Over the course of his career, Chuang has been widely recognized for his entrepreneurial leadership and accomplishments, as Boston Business Journals, 40 Under 40, Mass High Techs High Tech All-Star, Ernst and Youngs Entrepreneur of the Year and Staffing Industry Analysts Staffing 100.

Chuangs thought leadership and expertise has been featured in a number of national media outlets and trade publications, including Fast Company, NPR, The Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, The Financial Times, Business Insider and Quartz. He is also a frequent guest on Bloomberg Television, Fox News, Yahoo Finance and CNBC.

Previously, Chuang served as president of the Massachusetts Staffing Association and as chairman of the board of directors of Angies List. He has also served as a board member for the American Staffing Association and AIGA.

Chuang earned a bachelors degree cum laude from Harvard University and an MBA with honors from Harvard Business School.

About Masonite

Masonite International Corporation is a leading global designer, manufacturer and distributor of interior and exterior doors for the new construction and repair, renovation and remodeling sectors of the residential and non-residential building construction markets. Since 1925, Masonite has provided its customers with innovative products and superior service at compelling values. Masonite currently serves approximately 8,500 customers in 60 countries. Additional information about Masonite can be found at http://www.masonite.com.

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Masonite International Corporation Appoints John H. Chuang to Board of Directors - Business Wire

When Ellen Connor needed a hip replacement in October, her doctor recommended that rather than being discharged to a rehab facility, because of COVID-19 it would be better to go home after surgery.

The only problem for the 83-year-old was the flight of 14 stairs to her second-floor apartment in Baldwin. Her adult children recommended a stair lift at a cost of $3,000.

"When my daughter suggested it, I said Im not doing that. I just didnt think I needed it," Connor said. "But then I thought about it. Even before my surgery it was already hard to get my packages up the stairs and I had to take the steps one at a time. I really do like it. It certainly makes it more comfortable and easier to deal with everyday things like shopping."

Another change she made to her apartment four years ago also turned out to be good planning: She had the tub she hardly used replaced with a walk-in shower, built-in corner bench and grab bars for safety, as well as a comfort-height toilet. "All these changes are very helpful now," she said.

Many seniors and their adult children would rather they remain at home, particularly as nursing homes have been hit hard by the pandemic, said Heather Brin, the principal architect of Aging in Place Architecture in Port Jefferson. Even before COVID, according to a 2017 AARP study, 90% of people age 65 and over would prefer to stay in their own homes as they get older and not go to a nursing home or assisted living facility.

The alternative is aging in place, a term the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as "the ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of age, income or ability level."

Often that means using a universal design, a concept for building, designing or remodeling your home to consider fixes that can prevent injuries, sickness, discomfort and avoidable fatalities. The problem on Long Island, said Brin, is that many homes were built in the 1960s with lots of levels, intended for young families. That can mean to age in place will require home renovations.

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This was the consideration two years ago for Lynn Spinnato when it became clear that her widowed mother and mother-in-law, both in their eighties, needed to move in. She and her husband decided on a one-story extension to the rear of their existing two-story historic house in East Setauket. The addition, which required getting town permits, included two new bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and a common living space. Its separated from the existing house with a barn door with a moon-shaped window.

"They liked having that space as a private area. Even though they're older and you want to be able to watch them, they liked that independence; it was very important to them," said Spinnato, whose mother has since passed away.

Dont wait to assess those future needs. "Preparing for the future is always better if you can do it during the calm. Smarter decisions are made when its not an urgent situation," said Kim Kuester, owner of 101 Mobility in Farmingdale, which sells and rents mobility equipment such as stair lifts, elevators and ramps.

"There are so many falls and complications that can be avoided by taking some very simple and inexpensive steps," said Lisa Stern, assistant vice president for senior and adult services at the Mineola-based nonprofit FCA, formerly known as Family & Childrens Association, which offers case management, financial counseling and other services for seniors.

In some cases, federal, state and local agencies can help low-income seniors modify their longtime homes. "You can also consider a reverse mortgage and Medicare will pay for medical equipment," Stern said. "People don't want to spend money on renovating their house, but the cost of putting some small things in place might be less expensive than if you were to go to an institutional facility."

Universal designs dont have to be extensive. Stern said its about assessing your situation and making modifications that work for your space. When evaluating your home for future needs consider these five factors.

Ideally your home has an existing first-floor bedroom and bath, but if not, this may be a renovation to look into. Jolanda Schreurs in Port Jefferson is in the process of reviewing plans with Brin to renovate a ground floor bedroom and adjacent bathroom for her 90-year-old mother who will be moving in this year. The plans include wider doorways for walker/wheelchair access and a first-floor laundry room. "We are creating a space for both the immediate needs of my mother as well as for my husband and myself as we consider our future," said Schreurs, 63.

Assess the entrances to the house. How many steps do you have and could you ramp it if needed? Are there handrails? Can you enter through the garage and if so, is there a threshold to get over? Brin said these are considerations to be aware of while youre still mobile.

Furthermore, if youre doing any renovations, consider widening the doorways to the ADA recommendation of a clear opening of 32 to 36 inches for wheelchair passage. "Doors to bathrooms and bedrooms are the priority," Brin said.

She also recommends replacing doorknobs with ADA lever door handles, which are easier to use if someone has grip issues. The cost to replace the doors can start at about $185 for materials and labor; lever handles are about $30 for materials and labor.

When getting in and out of your home becomes a problem or getting to another floor there are several solutions.

When Renee Romeros 86-year-old mother broke her leg in two places, she had to figure out how her mother was going to navigate the two sets of steps to the main floor of her West Babylon home. "The house has four steps, a landing and then 10 steps, so we had to connect them with two stair lifts," she said. She got two pre-owned stair lifts, which are about $2,350 each.

Other solutions for dealing with steps indoors and outdoors include threshold ramps, a wedge that gets you over the door jamb for as little as $60, and modular ramps that cover the steps to your front door.

Kuester said, "We have to watch the pitch and the slope so that it's not too steep for people. Sometimes we have to add a platform. Every house is different." The average cost to install a new ramp is $3,000 to $4,000. Pre-owned and rentals are available for less.

Stair lifts can be used inside and outdoors and a base model is $2,895 and can be rented or bought. Kuester said that when a stairway isnt straight, or you need to connect it to another one like in a split-level house, there are curved stair lifts, which are customized. They start at around $12,000.

There are also motorized vertical platforms that start around $6,000 and usually are the height of four to six steps. Flex steps convert four to seven steps into a platform for a wheelchair that lifts. The cost starts around $20,000.

Or consider a home lift, or elevator, that can be installed, usually behind stairs or through closets. The cost starts in the mid-$20,000 range.

Michael Shapiro, 78, had an electric elevator installed in his Massapequa home in October for a cost of $30,000. "We have four stories and my wife has a bad leg so doesnt do stairs well and I have bad knees and we figured why wait until it gets so bad we cant do anything? The elevator was fitted into a coat closet with half in and half extending out, so no real room was lost. It goes from the second floor to the fourth floor where the bedroom is."

Brin said there are simple steps you can take during your next update to prepare for ease of use and safety in the future.

"When you do general maintenance or updating, that's the opportunity to think about future-proofing," Brin said. "That means, for instance, if you're opening up bathroom walls, you put a nailing block at a height of approximately 36 inches above the finished floor behind the Sheetrock. You can do that in the shower area and near the toilet. If sometime in the future you need to put in some grab bars, you can screw them right through the tiles or Sheetrock into the nailing block. Before you tile it over, take pictures to see exactly where it is."

You can do the same behind the bathroom vanity in case you need a wall-mounted sink in the future to slide a wheelchair under. Brin suggests tiling under a floor-mounted vanity so that if you do need to remove it, the floor wont need to be repaired.

If youre putting in a new toilet, rather than a standard height, which is 15 inches, Brin recommends installing a comfort-height toilet, which is 17 to 19 inches and starts at about $200 for labor and materials.

You can also replace a tub with a low threshold or no threshold shower as Connor did.

Brin said when renovating your kitchen, consider areas that can easily be changed in the future. For instance, many kitchens have desks. "That desk works well for a wheelchair so it has a dual function," she said.

Rather than putting the microwave above the stove, consider putting it at counter height. The counter area near the sink could have removable cabinets underneath.

"The biggest issue with future-proofing is to have the components there and you don't necessarily have to go all the way to install them, but you have the option to pull something out and put something else in," Brin said.

For resources for seniors who are considering modifying their homes, contact:

These three organizations can do safety assessments as well as construction:

By Liza N. Burby Special to Newsday

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How some LIers are aging in place in the pandemic - Newsday

By Brendan LaChance on January 14, 2021

CASPER, Wyo. The Bureau of Land Management Wyoming is partnering with the new Absaroka Fence Initiative which is working to ensure fences are safe for wildlife and also functional for livestock management.

BLM Wyoming says the initiative brings together landowners, the local community, non-governmental organizations and government agencies in Park County.

The Absorka Fence Initiative says that adding, modifying or removing fences can more effectively enhance wildlife movement and livestock functionality.

Article continues below...

The initiative has gathered information resources regarding fencing and ecology as well as stories of completed projects. They will also be organizing volunteer events where people can help with fencing projects in the area.

In addition to BLM Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation have contributed to the initiative.

Were so pleased to be a part of this worthwhile effort and look forward to some fun projects in 2021, BLM Wyoming said on Thursday.

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PHOTOS: New initiative helping Wyoming landowners fix fences to protect wildlife - Oil City News

By CAROL ROIG

You might recall the old saying, Good fences make good neighbors, from studying the Robert Frost poem Mending Wall in school. First published in 1914, the iconic work explores the notion of walls and fences as protective barriers and instruments of division, as a rueful narrator describes his annual encounter with a crusty neighbor who fends off his musings about whether the stone wall that divides their farm fields serves any useful purpose. Before I built a wall, the narrator says, Id ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was like to give offense. But his neighbor puts up a metaphorical wall against deeper meanings and can only repeat the old clich, Good fences make good neighbors.

Frost was considering fences that divide peoplephysically, politically, intellectually, spiritually. However, another kind of fence has entered our vocabulary, a fence that symbolizes not division but proximity, contained in the expression fenceline community. Its a central concept of the environmental justice movement, describing a residential community immediately adjacent to a commercial or industrial site (or multiple sites) that produces noise, traffic, chemical emissions, toxic waste, light pollution and other environmental impacts that damage residents health and quality of life. Those effects also destroy property values, making it impossible for homeowners to relocate out of danger.

Historically, the residents of fenceline communities are disproportionately African-American, Latino and low-income, a fact confirmed by a strong body of research, starting with a 1983 study by the Government Accounting Office. The study found that three out of four hazardous waste landfills in the U.S. were located in communities of color with average incomes below the poverty line. In 1987, the United Church of Christ Committee on Racial Injustice found that 15 million Black Americans and 8 million Latinos lived in counties with at least one abandoned or uncontrolled toxic waste site. According to the 2018 research report Life at the Fenceline: Understanding Cumulative Health Hazards in Environmental Justice Communities, 39 percent or roughly 124 million Americans live within three miles of one of the nearly 12,500 high-risk chemical facilities in the U.S. Further, the vulnerability zones for these industrial and commercial siteswhere homes, schools, nursing homes, medical facilities and workplaces are locatedcan extend up to 25 miles in radius.

In the years since the groundbreaking GAO Report, numerous grassroots community groups, regional networks and legal clinics have sprung up to help affected communities oppose harmful projects and to lobby for legal protections at the state and federal level. Today, the movement also recognizes the pioneering role played by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in awakening our awareness of the ways that racial equity, economic and political justice, safe housing and working conditions, and access to health care are all related and encompassed within the concept of civil rights. The watershed event in this process of realization is the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968. There, Dr. Kings leadership helped connect issues of racial discrimination and unequal pay with recognition of sanitation workers extremely hazardous working conditions associated with waste disposal, lack of protective gear and the broader harms to their families and communities. Today, Dr. Kings larger and more visionary conception of civil rights is credited as a catalyst for the environmental justice movement.

Environmental justice is now intertwined with climate justice as we recognize that, just as communities of color and low-income communities have historically been subjected to a higher level of toxic pollution and an indifferent record of environmental enforcement, their status as fenceline communities makes them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Economic barriers make them less likely to benefit from equal investment and assistance as we transition to renewable energy and a fossil-free economy. The expansive concept of civil rights, as propounded by Dr. King, is central to effective climate action, embodied in the concepts of climate protections for all communities, and a just transition to new technologies that preserves workers rights and strives to ensure that investment benefits, as well as climate burdens, are shared equitably.

http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-timeline

http://www.ej4all.org/life-at-the-fenceline

Read more Mixed Greens.

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Fences and neighbors - The River Reporter

Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage

If eating an entire chocolate cake by yourself and being thrown over a fence by Emma Thompson sounds like a fun way to spend an evening, it sounds like Netflix has the perfect Matilda adaptation for you. According to Variety, the Cruella actress is strapping on her weightlifting belt to play the despotic principal of Crunchem Hall Elementary School, across from Darklands Alisha Weir as Matilda herself, in the streamers movie adaptation of the multi-Tony and Olivier-winning Broadway show.

Theyre joined in the film, directed by Matthew Warchus, by No Time to Die and Captain Marvel actress Lashana Lynch, who will reportedly portray the storys benevolent Miss Honey. Dennis Kelly is adapting the films screenplay from the Matilda stage show, which premiered on the West End in 2011 and Broadway in 2013, which is itself adapted from the 1988 childrens novel of the same name by Roald Dahl.

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Emma Thompson to Hurl You Over the Fence as Miss Trunchbull in Netflixs Musical Matilda - Vulture

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) The Mitten Fence in People's Park on Main Street in Buffalo typically gives out 400 items a year. This winter, things are flying off the fence faster than usual.

I come by about once a week, but I often come by and I see things I know I havent hung up. It really makes me feel like its a community effort, its a community park and its supposed to bring people together, said Mara Montante, People's Park Director.

Montante says it's often overlooked how many people in our area don't have the winter gear they need to stay warm. That's why People's Park started the Mitten Fence in 2018.

"And we thought this was a really nice way to help people in the community during winter," said Montante.

People's park is known for bringing people together in their garden, hosting reading groups and free libraries during the summer and now, putting up this Mitten Fence during the winter months.

"People can come and leave items. Some people knit things and leave them on the fence. Then people stop by and take what they need, its a give what you can and take what you need," said Montante.

Taylor Epps

She thinks the high need for winter items and the extra help from the community are both effects of the pandemic.

Im hoping this fills kind of a necessary thing people need during the winter," said Montante.

After this years positive response, theyre considering bringing a second peoples park and Mitten Fence to Niagara Falls in the future.

"Hopefully, more people can come and donate and if you need something you can stop by and get what you need," said Montante.

The fence will be up through March. If you want to donate, just bring your items in a plastic bag to keep them dry and hang them up.And if you need something to keep warm out here, just stop by and grab what you need.

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Mitten fence helping hundreds in Buffalo stay warm this winter - WKBW-TV

The new fence, 7-feet-tall and considered "non-scalable," should eventually find a home in the Smithsonian. Pieces of it would be an appropriate remembrance of just how dangerous and frightening the Trump years have been. Massive protests are nothing new in Washington, of course. In the 1970s, when I was working in the White House, protests against the Vietnam War reached a crescendo. I remember walking through a courtyard at the Old Executive Office Building and finding military tanks secretly stationed there, ready to move if trouble got out of hand. But those protests were wholly legitimate citizens rising up to demand changes in government policy. In this past week, by contrast, we were watching as the leader of the executive branch of government incited mob violence in an attempted takeover of the legislative branch. Through all of our history, although there have been attacks on our Capitol, we have never seen American citizens try to bring down our central government. Attempted overthrows by civilians have been rare as well among major Western democracies.The closest parallel to the Trump years for many has been the Hitler years in Germany. But even there, mobs weren't marching on the Reichstag. Instead the similarity to today is really more about clever deployment of disinformation by both men. As World War I ended, Hitler and his followers invented "The Big Lie": Germany did not lose the war on the battlefields, they argued; rather, its democratically elected leaders undermined the war effort back home. They convinced the electorate that opponents of the war, especially Jews, had delivered a "stab in the back" to German soldiers. That was a huge lie, but its proponents rode it to power. Just as Trump has with his cynical narrative about Biden's election victory. Trump's greatest strength is perhaps his ability to convince large swaths of people that what is true is false and what is false is true. He has become a master of "The Big Lie" namely, that he won the election and Joe Biden lost. A majority of Americans don't believe him, but opinion polls show that roughly a third are still on his side, even after the bloody assault on Congress. It will be extremely difficult for Biden to govern as long as large portions of our electorate believe his presidency is illegitimate. It is disturbing but true that Trump has become even more threatening to our democracy in the past few weeks. With the FBI warning that insurrectionists may stage new marches across 50 state capitols and are personally targeting Biden, Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi, one would think that Trump would have the decency and good sense to tell his followers to back off, put down your guns, and stay home. How can he continue to be so blind to his own self-interest? Does he really want to leave office with more blood on his hands?Actually, the biggest test at the moment is not about Trump. It is whether the Republican Party will assume serious responsibility for keeping the peace in coming days. That third of the electorate still in Trump's corner won't listen to Biden or any other Democrat, but they might listen if a big chorus of conservative Republicans as well as business leaders now stand up and speak up just as Rep. Liz Cheney has done in the House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is signaling in the Senate.

As a people, we are staring into an abyss; things could well get worse before they get better. It is hugely important to the country now that we de-escalate and search for higher ground. If we can just get through the first hundred days of a Biden presidency with our democracy intact, perhaps we can all catch our breath, welcome in a little sunshine, and send pieces of that fence to the Smithsonian.

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The perfect symbol of the Trump years - CNN

In the first Building a Fence: Keeping Washington Blue Chips Home, I looked at how good of a job UW was doing keeping their top players at home since 2000, counting all 4- and 5-star players in the 247 database as "blue chips." To sum up, it turns out the answer is pretty darn good, with 56.16% of all Washington state blue chips in those 22 classes playing for UW. The numbers drop some when you focus on the most elite players, with UW taking in 66.7% of all the "low 4-stars" (those with a decimal rating below the mean of all blue chips), dropping to 42% of high 4/5-star players and 36% of 5-stars alone.

The obvious follow-up question, though, is whether those percentages are actually good compared to other states and schools. I mean, getting more than half of ALL the blue chips in our state over a 22-year period certainly sounds pretty good, but how does it stack up to other schools and states, especially those that are in comparable situations to Washington. Let's take a look.

Note: While the UW-only deep dive in the previous post went back to 2000, for this comparison I'm only going back to 2010. In part this is so we can focus only on the recent and present moment without getting too deep into ancient history, but also to cut in half the amount of work! This study covers 12 recruiting classes, from 2010 to 2021 (JTT is the only as-yet-uncommitted player from this year's class from any of the states I studied; I'm willing to accept that outlier and move on).

WHAT IS WASHINGTON'S SITUATION?

The state of Washington ranks #13 in population among all states, estimated just under 7.7 million people in July 2020. The final census figures aren't in, but since all states are using the same estimates it's a fair point of comparison. The state also has two Power 5 universities in UW and WSU, one of has been historically much more successful than the other, but both have been to multiple bowl games in the last decade, so neither one is a total train wreck.

What other states have a similar situation?

Washington is the 13th-most populous state in the USA, so I looked first at the states right above and below them Virginia at #12 (with UVa & VA Tech) and Arizona at #14 (with AZ and ASU). Arizona is very close to WA in population, 7.4M to WAs 7.7M and a Western state to boot, so it's easily the best single point of comparison.

VIrginia is farther away population-wise, with 900K more people than WA, but it's the closest to WA on the upper end. Its two P5 schools aren't hugely different in terms of success; Virginia Tech has been better, but not light years better. Still, it's within shouting distance so it's on the list.

That population difference is substantial, though, so I looked for a state that was a similar amount smaller than WA. Massachusetts is about 800K smaller than WA but only has one Power 5 school (Boston College). At first I was going to leave it out but I decided to include it just for regional balance.

Tennessee is almost exactly the same population as Massachusetts, though, and has two P5 teams (Tenn and Vanderbilt), so that gave us another "southern" state to kind of balance VA. Neither has been great lately, but historically speaking UT has absolutely been the "big brother" school to Vandy. It works.

Indiana is almost exactly 900K smaller than WA (as much smaller than WA as Virginia is bigger, population-wise), so I ended up looking at them as well. They are a special case, since they technically have only two Power 5 schools (Indiana and Purdue), neither of which is usually very good, but of course they also have Notre Dame. ND recruits a lot nationally rather than close to home, though, so I figured Id count the ND/UI/Purdue troika as about the same as two typical Power 5s (one stronger than the other).

(FWIW, theres a batch of states in the 5.6-6.1M range that only have one P5 school Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota which might be an interesting comparison in a different way, to see whether having a smaller population base balanced out having only one local school, but they were just too far outside the range Im looking for in population and I wanted to keep the 2-P5-school apples-to-apples comparison.)

Lastly, I rolled in Oregon, which has a much lower population than WA (4.2M, ranked 27th among states), but is right next door and the most geographically and culturally similar to Washington. The Oregon/OSU dynamic is also very similar to the UW/WSU dynamic in terms of historical success.

Review of the Magnificent Seven

Counting Washington, Ill be looking at seven states. None of them are legendary talent hotbeds like CA/TX/FL (which are, frankly, the 3 states with the highest population anyway the only 3 states over 20M people this isnt rocket science as to why they produce the most CFB talent). Other than Oregon, their population is within 1M people of Washingtons, so in sheer potential talent based on how many people live there, they should be comparable (Indiana lowest at 6.8M, Virginia highest at 8.6M). They have fairly similar arrangements of P5 teams (exceptions noted above), and they're spread pretty well around the country.

Arizona (Southwest)Indiana (Midwest)Massachusetts (Northeast)Oregon (Northwest)Tennessee (Southeast)Virginia (Mid-Atlantic)Washington (Northwest)

That feels like a fairly representative slice of states around the country, so it should be a reasonable purposive sampling for comparing to how Washington is doing keeping the blue chips at home.

METHODOLOGY

I used the 247 recruiting database for the years 2010-2021. Scout, Rivals, and others may differ; these are the numbers I used because they were easy to access. I counted all 4- and 5-star players as "blue chip" players, which typically includes those with a decimal ranking of about 0.8900 or above, usually around the top 350-ish players in each class. I included the decimal rating and ordinal ranking of players along with their star rating, plus their year, position, and which school they signed with.

NOTE: These rankings ONLY consider how they were ranked coming out of high school.

How they did in college, whether they were an All-American, a good player who got hurt, a nondescript JAG (Just A Guy) who filled a roster spot with basic competence and not much more, or a total bust for any number of reasons does not matter for this review. This is only about getting the big fish into the boat and protecting your fishing waters from other people poaching.

A little statistic I've added for each state is BCPM (Blue Chips Per Million). It's exactly what it says on the tin: How many blue chip players did your state produce during this 12-year period per 1 million citizens. It just seemed like an amusing bit of trivia to normalize the data across states that are similar but certainly not identical.

Fair warning: There are going to be a lot of tables. Feel free to scroll past if you're not interested in the minutiae of how we got here. If you like the sausage-making, it's on display. Conclusions come toward the end. We'll take the states in alphabetical order.

ARIZONA (Arizona, Arizona State): Blue Chips 64 (5.33/year), BCPM 8.62, 5-stars 7, Top 10 3, Highest #4 Kelee Ringo), Average Rating 0.9363, Average Ranking 165

Table 1a: Arizona Blue Chips by Year

Table 1b: Where Did Arizona Blue Chips Sign?

INDIANA (Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue): Blue Chips 49 (4.45/year), BCPM 7.25, 5-stars 4, Top 10 1, Highest #2 Jaylon Smith), Average Rating 0.9302, Average Ranking 180

Table 2a: Indiana Blue Chips by Year

Table 2b: Where Did Indiana Blue Chips Sign?

MASSACHUSETTS (Boston College): Blue Chips 15 (1.36/year), BCPM 2.18, 5-stars 0, Top 10 0, Highest #122 Armani Reeves), Average Rating 0.9155, Average Ranking 232

Table 3a: Massachusetts Blue Chips by Year

Table 3b: Where Did Massachusetts Blue Chips Sign?

OREGON (Oregon, Oregon State): Blue Chips 28 (2.33/year), BCPM 6.60, 5-stars 3, Top 10 0, Highest #17 Owamagbe Odighizuwa), Average Rating 0.9278, Average Ranking 196

Table 4a: Oregon Blue Chips by Year

Table 4b: Where Did Oregon Blue Chips Sign?

TENNESSEE (Tennessee, Vanderbilt): Blue Chips 101 (8.42/year), BCPM 14.67, 5-stars 6, Top 10 0, Highest #14 Trey Smith), Average Rating 0.9288, Average Ranking 189

Table 5a: Tennessee Blue Chips by Year

Table 5b: Where Did Tennessee Blue Chips Sign?

VIRGINIA (Virginia, Virginia Tech): Blue Chips 117 (9.75/year), BCPM 13.62, 5-stars 16, Top 10 4, Highest #5 Da'Shawn Hand), Average Rating 0.9348, Average Ranking 170

Table 6a: Virginia Blue Chips by Year

Table 6b: Where Did Virginia Blue Chips Sign?

And, of course, saving the best for last...

WASHINGTON (Washington, Washington State): Blue Chips 50 (4.17/year), BCPM 6.5, 5-stars 7, Top 10 4, Highest #3 J.T. Tuimolau), Average Rating 0.9334, Average Ranking 178

Table 7a: Washington Blue Chips by Year

Table 7b: Where did Washington Blue Chips Sign?

THAT WAS A LOT OF TABLES

Indeed it was. Feel free to go grab a snack. 🙂

A Quick Comparison of States

Looking at these 7 states shows a pretty wide spread of production of blue chips. They're pretty similar to one another in terms of population, but the number of top-level players they produce is definitely not uniform. Ideally, we'd compare Washington to other states that produce about the same number of players per capita, but really in any study where you've got different angles to examine, you just gotta pick one and go with it. In this case, we chose states with similar population and similar distribution of in-state universities. You could slice it other ways, but let's roll with what we've got! What did we learn?

Table 8: State-to-State Comparison

Virginia comes out on top in total blue chips, total 5 stars, and number of top 10 players. They have the highest population, so thats not surprising in and of itself, but they produced more blue chips and 5-stars than Arizona and Washington combined. They might not be the first place you think of as a talent-producing powerhouse, but they are knocking out twice as many BCPM (Blue Chips Per Million) as states like Washington and Oregon, while also maintaining quality, ranking #2 in average rating and ranking of prospects.

As an aside, the 2021 recruiting class from Washington, our best by a mile in at least the past 22 yearsif not everwould be just an average year in Virginia. The three 5-stars we have this year is unusual, but Virginia turned the trick twice (2013 and 2014) and has had produced at least one 5-star in every single class except one (2012).

Tennesssee is the leader in BCPM (Blue Chips Per Million), outpacing Virginia on that score, but interestingly its mostly because they are an absolute factory of low 4-stars. Despite doubling up Washington in terms of overall blue chips, they actually have had fewer 5-stars than Washington, leading to an average rating and ranking about level with Oregon.

Arizona is not too far from Washington in total numbers, though they are equal or ahead in all categories except top 10 players. They lead all 7 states in terms of average rating and ranking, with proportionally speaking a lot of high 4-stars (the Byron Murphys and NKeal Harrys of the world) bringing their average up.

Washington is middle of the pack across the board except for top 10 players, where they tied Virginia for the lead (plus Max Browne just missed at #11).

Indiana is the closest comp to Washington, a tiny shade ahead on BCPM and a bit behind on average ranking and rating, mostly due to Washingtons edge in 5-stars and top 10 players.

Oregon produces blue chips at a near-identical rate to Washington (adjusted for their much smaller population base), but the lack of true top-end talent drags down their average scores.

Massachusetts is just sad by comparison. A state with a population nearly identical to Tennessee had 5 seasons with zero blue chips. More than half of the blue chips they did produce came in just two classes, with four each in 2012 and 2020. The other 10 years of the study produced only 7 blue chips, and in 12 years they never had a player ranked higher than 122.

How do Schools Do at Keeping their In-State Blue Chips Home?

The original question to answer was how good of a job is Washington doing at keeping the top in-state blue chips home. Sure, they kept 54% of them home and that sounds good, but how does it compare to other schools and states with comparable situationssimilar population and (mostly) a similar pair of P5 schools with a "big brother/little brother" dynamicsampled from around the country. Turns out theyre doing great by comparison, and it's not particularly close.

Table 9: Retaining Blue Chips by School

This might feel like it biases a bit to situations where one school dominates, so what if we combine all of the in-state schools together as states and compare how well they do at keeping their recruits? Turns out Washington is still at the top and its still not close.

Table 10: Retaining Blue Chips by School and State

What Can We Say About the States?

Overall, this is great. When the state produces top talent, we are getting it more than half the time. That is an absolute win. Percentages can be deceiving, though, as we said in our previous fanpost about the current surge in high school talent in Washington. The past two recruiting classes have produced 16 blue chips and UW has signed 7 (heres hoping for 8 when JTT decides). Thats 3.5 per season, which is great, but it also means 8 (or probably 9) went somewhere else. There are only so many in-state blue chips you can take for a variety of reasons, and if your state produces more top talent than you can absorb theres a rational limit to how many youre going to get. In those cases, your percentages will look bad even if youre pulling in a nice haul of local talent. Virginia and Tennessee are producing far more blue chips than Washington is, and Arizona substantially more. Is that whats happening? Signs suggest the answer is no.

Table 11: Raw Numbers of Blue Chips per Year

Tennessee is the only school besides Washington that is bringing in more than 2 local blue chips per year, and even at that theyre barely ahead despite producing double the number of in-state stars as Washington state does. They have little in-state competition (Vanderbilt 5, Memphis 1 over 12 classes), but 14 different out-of-state colleges have pulled multiple star players out of TN; by comparison, only four out-of-state colleges have pulled more than one player out of WA in the last 12 years. Im leaving off schools that have gotten just one player because fluky commitments happen (10 for TN, 8 for WA), but a school pulling multiple blue chips out of your state means they have established significant recruiting inroads there.

Thats exactly whats happened in Virginia and Arizona. Penn State and Ohio State are plundering Virginia on a regular basis. Florida State (7) and Clemson (6) are not far behind. You could excuse Maryland getting 2 players with the whole "DMV" recruiting area, but an equivalent "solid but nothing special" North Carolina team shouldnt be pulling out five top players. In all, 16 out-of-state colleges have pulled multiple blue chips out of Virginia. True, with all the talent there was no way VA and VA Tech were going to keep all those players at home, but averaging fewer than 2 per year with all that available talent speaks to the pipelines out-of-state schools have built in Virginia.

Arizona, though, is by far the worst, as both of the in-state schools are getting out-recruited by Oregon in their own state. Oregon has pulled as many blue chips out of Arizona as Arizona State and Arizona combined. UCLA has matched ASU all by itself, and both USC and Texas have matched Arizona for AZ blue chips. It was frankly shocking to see how few homegrown stars have stayed in Arizona. It wasnt just 12 schools pulling multiple blue chips out of the state but that ASU and AZ had so little gravity. They were the only state whose biggest recruiter wasnt one of their in-state schools. Heck, Boston College kept more Massachusetts kids (out of only 15 total, remember) than Arizona got from its own state with more than 4x as many blue chips. Michigan brought in as many blue chips from Massachusetts as Arizona got from its home state. Florida State got more recruits from Virginia than Arizona State got from their own state as the "big brother" in terms of size and success.

Indiana was kind of an open-ended scrum of the entire Midwest, with 21 of 49 staying in state, 12 more heading to Ohio and Michigan, 9 heading to the South, and the rest scattering. No school really dominated local recruiting.

Oregon was obviously the lead dog in their own state on their own, though more Oregon blue chips went out of state to other Pac-12 schools (13) than stayed in state (12), plus a handful leaving the West. By comparison, only 12 Washington blue chips left the state to go elsewhere in the Pac-12 despite there being nearly twice as many of them.

Massachusetts? Not much to say with just 15 blue chips, other than that Michigan apparently has connections there, nearly matching Boston Colleges recruiting total (4 vs. 5).

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

It means that UW has been and continues to do a terrific job at keeping the top home state talent at home. Other states with similar populations and generally similar setups of two P5 teams dont do nearly as well as we do at that task. Some states produce much more top talent than we do, but they are losing a ton of that talent out of state at a rate that just does not happen here.

If the current talent surge in WA continues, its likely that more players (in absolute terms) will choose to go elsewhere. You cant keep them all. At the same time, you want to keep the exceptions that dont stay home just that: the exceptions. "Building the fence" doesnt mean other teams never get players to leave the state; it just means that other states dont establish permanent pipelines into the state like a dozen or more states have done in Arizona and Virginia (and to a lesser extent Tennessee), where the numbers they are pulling in are rivaling the in-state schools.

We also want to make sure that as we cast our net wider and wider in search of out-of-state talent (the biggest failing in the 2021 Huskies recruiting class, with zero out-of-state blue chips) that we dont take our eye of the ball at home. Oregon may be guilty of this to an extent, as it fires off hundreds of offers around the country while more of its homegrown stars are leaving the state (and usually playing for conference rivals) than are staying home.

The 2022 recruiting class looks strong for Washington, with 6 blue chips in the current 247 rankings and UW considered the odds-on favorite to land more than half of them. Lets keep the borders strong and the purple flame burning bright as we look forward to a great crop of new Huskies next year!

Go Dawgs!

See the rest here:
Building a Fence: Washington and the Magnificent Seven - UW Dawg Pound

PERTH (miningweekly.com) Mining major BHP plans to construct a wind fence at Finucane Island, as part of its Pilbara Air Quality Program.

The fence would be the first of its kind in Australia, and would be designed for the Pilbaras unique weather conditions, said BHP Port GM Nilson Davila.

We recognise we have a shared responsibility to address dust issues at Port Hedland. The wind fence will be constructed using global best practice dust management and air quality control technology.

This planned investment forms part of our Pilbara Air Quality Program and demonstrates our commitment to improve air quality in the area and contribute to the revitalisation of the West End.

Subject to government approvals, the 30 m high fence supports our intention to improve and build on our existing dust control measures as we continue to increase production towards 290 Mtpa in the medium term.

The fence will be located on the western side of BHPs Finucane Island port operations, and will include mesh panels designed to reduce wind speeds, shielding the stockyard and reducing the potential for dust lift-off.

The system has been designed to deal with the extreme wind conditions often experienced in Port Hedland. As the wind speed reaches a certain limit, the mesh curtain opens, to let the air flow through the fence.

We continue to work closely with government, industry and the local community to further improve air quality controls at our operations and for the communities in which we operate. We want to help improve local amenity while also continuing to provide jobs and economic opportunity for the region, said Davila.

The project is still subject to all necessary internal and state government approvals.

See the article here:
Mining Weekly BHP puts up wind fence in WA - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly