By VALERIE GONZALEZ and ACACIA CORONADO (Associated Press)

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Wrecking ball-sized buoys on the Rio Grande. Razor wire strung across private property without permission. Bulldozers changing the very terrain of America’s southern border.

For more than two years, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has escalated measures to keep migrants from entering the U.S., pushing legal boundaries with a go-it-alone bravado along the state’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border with Mexico. Now blowback over the tactics is widening, including from within Texas.

A state trooper’s account of officers denying migrants water in 100-degree Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) temperatures and razor wire leaving asylum-seekers bloodied has prompted renewed criticism. The Mexican government, some Texas residents along the border and the Biden administration are pushing back, with the U.S. Justice Department threatening to sue the state unless steps are taken Monday to begin removing the floating barrier.

Abbott, who cruised to a third term in November while promising tougher border crackdowns, has used disaster declarations as the legal bedrock for some measures.

Critics call that a warped view.

“There are so many ways that what Texas is doing right now is just flagrantly illegal,” said David Donatti, an attorney for the Texas American Civil Liberties Union.

Abbott did not respond to requests for comment. He has repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden’s border policies, tweeting Friday that they “encourage migrants to risk their lives crossing illegally through the Rio Grande, instead of safely and legally over a bridge.”

The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration rules took effect in May.

Under the international bridge connecting Eagle Pass, Texas, with Piedras Negras, Mexico, protesters gathered at Shelby Park this month, chanting “save the river” and blowing a conch shell in a ceremony. A few yards away, crews unloaded neon-orange buoys from trailers parked by a boat ramp off the Rio Grande.

Jessie Fuentes stood with the environmental advocates, watching as state troopers restricted access to the water where he holds an annual kayak race. Shipping containers and layers of concertina wire lined the riverbank.

The experienced kayaker often took clients and race participants into the water through a shallow channel formed by a border island covered in verdant brush. That has been replaced by a bulldozed stretch of barren land connected to the mainland and fortified with razor wire.

“The river is a federally protected river by so many federal agencies, and I just don’t know how it happened,” Fuentes told the Eagle Pass City Council the night before.

Neither did the City Council.

“I feel like the state government has kind of bypassed local government in a lot of different ways. And so I felt powerless at times,” council member Elias Diaz told The Associated Press.

The International Boundary of Water Commission says it was not notified when Texas modified several islands or deployed the massive buoys to create a barrier covering 1,000 feet (305 meters) of the middle of the Rio Grande, with anchors in the riverbed.

The Justice Department has warned Texas that the buoy wall is unlawful and the Biden administration will sue if the state doesn’t remove it. Abbott tweeted Friday that the state “has the sovereign authority to defend our border” after the Justice Department sought a commitment by Monday afternoon to remove the barrier.

The floating barrier also provoked tension with Mexico, which says it violates treaties. Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations asked the U.S. government to remove the buoys and razor wire in a June letter.

Fuentes sued over the buoys, arguing that border crossings are not covered by the Texas Disaster Act.

As for the river islands, the Texas General Land Office gave the state Department of Public Safety access starting in April “to curb the ongoing border crisis.”

“Additionally, the General Land Office will also permit vegetation management, provided compliance with all applicable state and federal regulations is upheld,” said a letter from the office’s commissioner, Dawn Buckingham.

The Texas Military Department cleared out carrizo cane, which Buckingham’s office called an “invasive plant” in its response to questions from the AP, and changed the landscape, affecting the river’s flow.

Environmental experts are concerned.

“As far as I know, if there’s flooding in the river, it’s much more severe in Piedras Negras than it is in Eagle Pass because that’s the lower side of the river. And so next time the river really gets up, it’s going to push a lot of water over on the Mexican side, it looks like to me,” said Tom Vaughan, a retired professor and co-founder of the Rio Grande International Study Center.

Fuentes recently sought special permission from the city and DPS to navigate through his familiar kayaking route.

“Since they rerouted the water on the island, the water is flowing differently,” Fuentes said. “I can feel it.”

The state declined to release any records that might detail the environmental impacts of the buoys or changes to the landscape.

Victor Escalon, a DPS regional director overseeing Del Rio down to Brownsville, pointed to the governor’s emergency disaster declaration. “We do everything we can to prevent crime, period. And that’s the job,” he added.

For one property owner, the DPS mission cut him out of his land.

In 2021, as Eagle Pass became the preferred route by migrants crossing into the U.S., Magali and Hugo Urbina bought a pecan orchard by the river that they called Heavenly Farms.

Hugo Urbina worked with DPS when the agency built a fence on his property and arrested migrants for trespassing. But the relationship turned acrimonious a year later after DPS asked to put up concertina wire on riverfront property that the Urbinas were leasing to the U.S. Border Patrol to process immigrants.

Hugo Urbina wanted DPS to sign a lease that would release him from liability if the wire caused injuries. DPS declined but still installed concertina wire, moved vehicles onto the property and shut the Urbinas’ gates. That cut off the Border Patrol’s access to the river, though it still leases land from Urbina.

“They do whatever it is that they want,” Urbina said this month.

The farmer, a Republican, calls it “poison politics.” Critics call it déjà vu.

“I also really see a very strong correlation to the Trump and post-Trump era in which most of the Trump administration’s immigration policy was aggressive and extreme and very violative of people’s rights, and very focused on making the political point,” said Aron Thorn, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. “The design of this is the optics and the amount of things that they sacrifice for those optics now is quite extraordinary.”

DPS works with 300 landowners, according to Escalon. He said it is unusual for the department to take over a property without the landowner’s consent, but the agency says the Disaster Act provides the authority.

Urbina said he supports the governor’s efforts, “but not in this way.”

“You don’t go out there and start breaking the law and start making your citizens feel like they’re second-hand citizens,” he added.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Wildfires raging across Algeria have killed 25 people, including 10 soldiers trying to get the flames under control in the face of high winds and scorching summer temperatures, government ministries said Monday.

At least 1,500 people were evacuated, the Interior Ministry said, without providing details.

The Interior Ministry announced 15 deaths and 24 injuries. In addition, the Defense Ministry later announced 10 soldiers were killed and 25 injured as they fought fires in the resort area of Beni Ksila east of the capital Algiers.

It wasn’t immediately clear over what period of time the casualties happened but the fires have been burning for several days.

Wildfires, some spread by strong winds, moved across forests and agricultural areas in 16 regions causing 97 blazes in the north African country. The largest and deadliest fires ravaged parts of Bejaia and Jijel — in the Kabyle region east of Algiers — and Bouira, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Algiers, the Interior Ministry said.

Operations to tamp down the fires included some 7,500 firefighters and 350 trucks on the ground as well as air support.

Algeria is no stranger to summer wildfires.

At least 37 people were killed last August after wildfires blazed near Algeria’s northern border with Tunisia.

A year earlier, authorities said dozens were killed in blazes — including soldiers called in to help fight the fires in the mountainous Kabyle region that is dotted with villages.

Strong winds and successive heat waves have fueled vicious fires in Greece and elsewhere around the Mediterranean this summer.

The U.S. Air Force has reinstated most transfers and bonuses more than a week after it was announced there would be a service-wide delay to avoid exhausting funds.

“With additional support from Congress on several pending reprogramming requests, the Air Force will restore funding to most military personnel programs that were suspended or closed last week,” the service said in a Friday press release.

Beginning this week, the Air Force will resume authenticating paused change of station orders for moves in fiscal year 2023, with the target of airmen and women having orders in-hand at least 30 days before their departure date. Before the end of July, members awaiting orders with departure dates in August or later will begin to receive their orders.

Additionally, selective retention bonuses and the aviation bonus program have been restored.

However, airmen and women on overseas long tours with an eligible return date between October and December will have their time overseas extended to January or March. Exceptions to the policy are being considered on a case-by-case basis.

“While most of the benefits have been reinstated, the Air Force will continue to communicate with Airmen whose PCS orders have not been completed, specifically those with PCS (permanent change of station) moves in fiscal year 24,” the service said.

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

By MICHAEL VARAKLAS and DEREK GATOPOULOS (Associated Press)

RHODES, Greece (AP) — A week-old wildfire on the Greek resort island of Rhodes tore past defenses Monday, forcing more evacuations as strong winds and successive heat waves that left scrubland and forests tinder-dry fueled three major fires raging elsewhere in Greece.

The latest evacuations were ordered in south Rhodes after 19,000 people, mostly tourists, were moved in buses and boats over the weekend out of the path of the fire that reached several coastal areas from nearby mountains. It was the country’s biggest evacuation effort in recent years.

“We are at war -– completely focused on the fires,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a debate in parliament. “Over the coming days and weeks, we must remain on constant alert.”

Help continued to arrive from the European Union and elsewhere, with firefighting planes from neighboring Turkey joining the effort on Rhodes, where 10 water-dropping planes and 10 helicopters buzzed over flames up to 5 meters (16 feet) tall despite low visibility.

Temperatures reached the low 40s Celsius (above 104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the Greek mainland Monday, a day after soaring as high as 45 degrees (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

Ian Murison, a businessman from London on vacation in southern Rhodes with his wife and 12-year-old son, described his family’s ordeal as they tried to escape the fires on Saturday.

“We saw flames coming over the hills. Our hotel had capacity for 1,200 (people), but there was just one coach waiting,” he said. “We all just took our cases and started walking. It was about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) before we got out from underneath the ash cloud.”

The family reached a nearby beach, where they waited — in the dark due to a power blackout — with thousands of others to be evacuated by bus or boat.

“You could see an orange glow in the sky and it got more and more, big balls of fire going into the sky,” Murison said, describing chaotic scenes as evacuees crowded to board small boats arriving to take them away.

“It didn’t matter if you had children, adults were fighting to get on next,” he said. “It was very, very stressful.”

Near the seaside resort of Lindos, AP reporters saw hotel employees and guests, joined by local residents and firefighters, use fire extinguishers, towels and buckets of pool water to put out a small brush fire that broke out in the area.

Evacuations were also ordered overnight on the western island of Corfu, where more than 2,000 people were moved to safety by land and sea, as well as on the island of Evia and in a mountainous area in the southern Peloponnese region.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that she contacted the prime minister late Sunday to offer additional assistance as Greece “is confronted with devastating forest fires and a heavy heat wave due to climate change.”

Addressing parliament. Mitsotakis also highlighted the threat from climate change, which he said “will make its presence ever more felt with greater natural disasters throughout the Mediterranean region.”

In Greece, an average of 50 new wildfires have broken out daily for the past 12 days, according to government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis. On Sunday, 64 new blazes were recorded.

The Rhodes fire roared down mountain slopes, burning homes and cars and leaving livestock dead on the roadside as they tried to escape.

Authorities said no serious injuries were reported, but hospitals and health volunteers provided first aid to tourists and others, mostly for the effects of heat and dehydration.

Firefighters also confronted blazes Monday in southern Italy, where people have sweltered through weeks of temperatures in the high 30s Celsius (over 100 F) and mid-40s Celsius (113 F and up.)

A wind-fed brush fire burned near Palermo in Sicily, as well as several other blazes on the Mediterranean island, including near the seaside tourist resort of Cefalu. There were also wildfires in Calabria, including in the rugged Aspromonte mountains.

On Sardinia, three flights from Milan, Paris and Amsterdam had to land at other airports on the Italian island because the tarmac in Olbia was deemed dangerously hot Monday afternoon, RAI state TV said. The tarmac temperature reached a sizzling 47 C (116.6 F).

Due to the fires in Greece, several airlines, including easyJet and package operator Tui, sent planes to Rhodes to evacuate tourists forced out of hotels. The U.K. government said between 7,000 and 10,000 British nationals are on the island, a popular package holiday destination.

Some tourists said travel companies had failed to provide information or help. Officials from the Greek Foreign Ministry were working at the international airport with several embassies and diplomats who traveled from the U.K. to assist tourists who had lost their travel documents.

Rhodes is one of Greece’s most popular holiday destinations, visited by about 2.5 million tourists each year. As some visitors continued to flee the island Monday, others were arriving from multiple European destinations to start their holidays at resorts not affected by the wildfire — some 90% of the total according to Greek authorities.

Greece is using an EU satellite service to estimate the damage caused by the fire and to target resources. Photographs published online by the service showed a brown hourglass-shaped burn scar across the middle of the island.

The army was also helping to set up temporary accommodation on Rhodes, where schools and sporting facilities were opened to help with the effort.

A relative respite from the heat on Monday, with highs of 38 C (100 F) forecast, is to be followed by yet more high temperatures starting Tuesday, but cooler weather is expected Thursday.

___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Associated Press writers Petros Giannakouris on Rhodes, Sylvia Hui and Jill Lawless in London, and Frances D’Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of climate issues at https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment

By KIM TONG-HYUNG (Associated Press)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile into its eastern sea, South Korea’s military said Tuesday, adding to a recent streak in weapons testing that is apparently in protest of the U.S. sending major naval assets to South Korea in a show of force.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff did not immediately say where the weapon was launched from and how far it flew.

The launch came hours after South Korea’s navy said a nuclear-propelled U.S. submarine – the USS Annapolis — arrived at a port on Jeju Island. The arrival of the USS Annapolis adds to the allies’ show of force to counter North Korean nuclear threats.

Last week, the USS Kentucky became the first U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to come to South Korea since the 1980s. North Korea reacted to its arrival by test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles in apparent demonstrations that it could make nuclear strikes against South Korea and deployed U.S. naval vessels.

Also on Monday, the American-led U.N. Command said it has started a conversation with North Korea about a U.S. soldier who ran into the North last week across one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders.

Andrew Harrison, a British lieutenant general who is the deputy commander at the U.N. Command, refused to say when the conversation started, how many exchanges have taken place and whether the North Koreans responded constructively, citing the sensitivity of the discussions. He also declined to detail what the command knows about Pvt. Travis King’s condition.

“None of us know where this is going to end,” Harrison said during a news conference in Seoul. “I am in life an optimist, and I remain optimistic. But again, I will leave it at that.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Harrison’s comments referred to meaningful progress in communications after the command said in a statement last week that it was “working with” its North Korean counterparts. The U.N. Command, which was created to fight the Korean War, has remained in South Korea to supervise the implementation of the 1953 armistice that stopped the fighting in the conflict.

The contact happened through “mechanisms” set up under the armistice, Harrison said. That could refer to the so-called pink phone, a telephone line between the command and the North Korean People’s Army at the border truce village of Panmunjom, where King crossed.

The Koreas are still technically at war since a peace treaty was never signed. The U.S., which fought alongside the South Koreans and other allies during the war, never established diplomatic relations with the North, but the line is a common way they communicate.

North Korea has remained publicly silent about King, who crossed the border during a tour of Panmunjom while he was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, following his release from prison in South Korea on an assault conviction.

U.S. officials have expressed concern about his well-being and said previously that North Korea ignored requests for information about him.

Analysts say North Korea may wait weeks or even months to provide meaningful information about King to maximize leverage and add urgency to U.S. efforts to secure his release. Some say North Korea may try to wrest concessions from Washington, such as tying his release to the United States cutting back its military activities with South Korea.

King’s crossing came at a time of high tensions in the Korean Peninsula, where the pace of both North Korea’s weapons demonstrations and the United States’ combined military exercises have intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle.

On Monday, South Korea’s military said a nuclear-propelled U.S. submarine arrived at a port on Jeju Island. The arrival of the USS Annapolis adds to the allies’ show of force to counter North Korean nuclear threats.

Last week, the USS Kentucky became the first U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to come to South Korea since the 1980s. North Korea reacted to its arrival by test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles in apparent demonstrations that it could make nuclear strikes against South Korea and deployed U.S. naval vessels.

North Korea’s defense minister also issued a veiled threat, saying the Kentucky’s docking in South Korea could be grounds for the North to use a nuclear weapon against it. North Korea has used similar rhetoric before, but the statement underscored how strained relations are now.

The United States and South Korea have expanded their combined military exercises and increased regional deployments of U.S. aircraft and ships, including bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines in a show of force against North Korea, which has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022.

The Annapolis, whose main mission is destroying enemy ships and submarines, is powered by a nuclear reactor but is armed with conventional weapons. The Annapolis mainly docked at Jeju to load supplies, but Jang Do Young, a spokesperson for South Korea’s navy, said the U.S. and South Korean militaries were discussing whether to arrange training involving the vessel.

The armistice becomes 70 years old on Thursday, an anniversary South Korea plans to mark with solemn ceremonies honoring the dead that will involve invited foreign war veterans.

North Korea, which celebrates the day as victory day for the “great Fatherland Liberation War,” is preparing huge festivities that will likely include a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where leader Kim Jong Un may showcase his most advanced nuclear-capable missiles designed to target regional rivals and the United States.

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Monday that a Chinese delegation led by Li Hongzhong, vice chairman of the standing committee of the country’s National People’s Congress, will travel to North Korea to attend the celebrations.

Visits by foreign guests to North Korea have been extremely rare since the start of the pandemic, which prompted the North to seal off its borders to protect its poor healthcare system. North Korea since last year has been gradually reopening trade with China in an apparent effort to salvage a crippled economy damaged further by the previous two years of pandemic-related border controls.

KING WILLIAM — King William County has scheduled three community meetings to gather public feedback after appointing architects to draw up a vision for a new library and community center.

The meetings were scheduled as the Board of Supervisors appointed Tymoff + Moss to design the building on July 10.

The first meeting is to be held on July 27 at 7 p.m. in the administration building’s board room. The second forum will take place on July 31 at 6 p.m. at Upper King William Library. The final meeting is slated for Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Parks and Recreation building in Aylett. Citizens can also take an online survey on King William County’s website.

The meetings are not intended to hear opinions on whether a facility should be built but to “help the architects create a design for future consideration and give us an idea of how much it might cost,” the county states on its website.

The facility would be built on a site in the Central Garage area, the fastest-growing part of the county.

“I don’t have to tell anyone that the growth in Central Garage is aggressive,” County Administrator Percy Ashcraft told the board earlier this month. The 2041 comprehensive plan calls for a community center to serve “many needs in the Central Garage area,” Ashcraft said.

“Expanded library space is the big one,” Ashcraft said. The center would allow more library space than the present leased facility on Sharon Road.

Ashcraft said the center would provide meeting space, senior programming and digital learning opportunities. The county has earmarked a location off Route 30 on land provided by a 55-plus housing subdivision close to the County Rec Park.

Seven architectural firms submitted proposals for the community center. The county selected Tymoff + Moss and the board unanimously agreed on a contract of just over $368,000 with the firm.

Ashcraft said the county would have to borrow money if it proceeds with the community center.

Board chair Bill Hodges asked if the public meetings should be held before the vote on the contract to air “total objections to the whole project.”

“I have seen some opposition … that we need a whole lot more other items than a community center,” Hodges said.

“Unless the board wants that kind of discussion. I don’t think it’s a matter of whether there should be input for or against,” Ashcraft said. He said the meetings should be about the type of facility the public wants to see.

Supervisor Stewart Garber said the community requires a new facility. “It’s a need and it’s going to be a growing need,” he said.

The online survey is available at https://form.jotform.com/231873833132152.

David Macaulay, [email protected]

My family lost both of my parents within the last two years. We were fortunate in both instances to be with both Dad and Mom at their end and celebrated the physical and mental health they each carried into their early 90s. In each passing, we were comforted not only by happy memories of the lives they shared with us, but also by the support of the exceptional hospice care they received.

Hospice support is somewhat misunderstood in our society. When folks hear “hospice,” often the connotation is that of giving up or of taking a path that speeds death. In combination with a general unwillingness to discuss death and dying in our society, hospice care remains somewhat shrouded in mystery.

The reality is that death is an inevitable conclusion to each life. Hospice is a way in which those approaching this stage, along with their loved ones, can be supported in their final months, weeks, days and hours. Hospice means ending invasive curative approaches and focusing instead on an individual’s comfort and enabling a peaceful transition.

Former President Jimmy Carter’s recent decision to enter hospice provides an opportunity for greater national awareness of this approach. Hopefully, his decision will prompt others to better understand what hospice means and to have discussions well in advance of the time hospice care is appropriate. Unfortunately, some families approach the end of a loved one’s life and need a crash course in the definition of hospice, how to enter hospice and what to expect.

My appreciation of hospice care came through personal and family experience. My mother-in-law, Bell-Jo Rodgers, was one of the founders of Hospice Support Care of Williamsburg, now Hospice House of Williamsburg (williamsburghospice.org). My wife, Beth, and I have both served on the board of directors. We have also seen the team in loving action when my father-in-law, Art Rodgers, spent his final hours at the Hospice House.

The Williamsburg hospice effort started over 40 years ago with a small community meeting of like-minded individuals. Beginning with home-centered, volunteer-led hospice and bereavement services, the local approach has continuously evolved to the present-day model in which trained professionals staff a physical Hospice House designed and built in a park-like setting expressly for this purpose.

The mission of the organization is providing “care, comfort and compassion through and beyond the end of life.” The dedication, expertise and unwavering compassion of these caregivers, like those who supported my parents, is the “secret sauce” that makes the hospice approach so effective.

We are blessed to have a resource like the Hospice House of Williamsburg in our community. It is one of fewer than 50 social model hospices in this country. This means that there is no fee or insurance requirement for any individual or family utilizing the facilities. It also means around-the-clock care and a structured, comforted approach to end of life.

Whether you or a loved one is at or approaching the stage when hospice care may be an appropriate alternative, I hope this commentary gives you an appreciation for the both the meaning of hospice care and the unique treasure we have locally in Hospice House of Williamsburg.

You can contact the Hospice House at 757-253-1220 for additional information, for a tour of the house or to make a donation.

Scott Stabler
Immediate past president, Hospice House of Williamsburg Board of Directors

Charlaine Lunsford finally got to see the places she had been teaching Manor High School students in Portsmouth about for more than two decades.

The Latin teacher was one of 15 individuals from around the country to study at the American Academy in Rome. Lunsford walked where the ancient Romans had once walked and saw the art they left behind. She witnessed their lingering impact on the modern city — and it was everything she had dreamed of.

“I have a whole new perspective for the things I’ve seen and the pictures I’ve taken,” Lunsford said. “I can say, ‘Hey, I’ve walked in these spaces. I’ve seen this. I’ve seen that. I’ve been in it.’”

The academy’s summer program is five weeks in Rome with graduate students and teachers. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient city. Lunsford landed several scholarships to help her achieve the experience.

Lunsford said they visited museums in and around the city, archaeological sites and more. They included the Pantheon, Pompeii and, her favorite, the Galleria Borghese. She ventured underneath the Colosseum to see where the animals and gladiators once were housed. The program participants visited an ancient theater, Crypta Balbi, even when it was closed, so it was an experience she would not be able to duplicate.

All this, she said, will bring “a whole new enthusiasm” to the classroom. For several years, Lunsford’s students have learned all about the myth of Hercules, and now, she has fresh photos of art depicting exactly what she will be teaching in the classroom.

“That’s one thing I’ve been doing these last five years — using a lot of art to teach because it’s something everyone can engage with,” Lunsford said. “A picture really brings the story to life.”

Lunsford said she has plans to put the photos and artwork together to share with her students. After her time in Rome, she said she is looking forward to sharing her first-hand experience with the culture, including the smaller bits like how breakfast is typically much smaller than in America or how there are free drinking water fountains everywhere in Rome — a nod to the historic aqueducts.

“Just to stand and say, ‘Hey, the Romans walked here,’ or ‘Julius Caesar might have sat here,’” Lunsford said. “It’s amazing in photographs and video, but to actually be able to walk around it is amazing.”

Kelsey Kendall, [email protected]

After fears of a “she-cession” during the pandemic, women have returned to the workforce at unprecedented rates.

Much of the gain reflects a boom in jobs traditionally held by women, including nursing and teaching. Many good-paying jobs in fields such as construction and tech management are still dominated by men, a continuing challenge for states trying to even the playing field for women workers.

In June, the national share of employed women ages 25-54, considered prime working age, hit 75.3%, the highest recorded since the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey started reporting the numbers in 1948. The share of women 25-54 working or looking for work also hit a new high of 77.8% in June, the third straight month it beat the previous record of 77.3% from 2000.

“It’s good news that women are finding jobs in this economy at a greater rate than they were previously,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute. She noted that brisk hiring in health care and government has helped more women find jobs.

But there is still a gap between rates of men and women in the workforce overall in every state except Vermont. As of March 2022, the latest figures available, the largest gap is 18 percentage points in Arizona, where 89.6% of prime-age men have jobs compared with 71.4% of women. The smallest is in Maine, where 77.8% of men in that age range have jobs compared with 77.3% of women.

Mothers of small children lost work at three times the rate of fathers early in the pandemic as they struggled to supervise remote learning sessions. Even when schools and day cares reopened in person, they often closed down unexpectedly during outbreaks, drawing out employment woes for many working women with children. Combined with early pandemic job losses in tourism and hospitality, fields where many women hold jobs, women’s employment dipped as low as 63.4% in April 2020, the lowest since 1984.

For some women, getting back to the workforce after the pandemic slump in women’s employment is a relief, and in some cases hybrid work has created the flexibility they need to return to jobs.

“It really means a lot because apart from the feeling that you’re contributing to your family, which is so important in today’s world, there’s just more fulfillment as a person,” said Deepika Gosain of Fremont, California. She started work in April as a learning and development specialist at a surgical company, finding that hybrid work helped her return to the workforce after taking several years off to care for two small children.

Health care and education represented the biggest gains for women in the past year, between June 2022 and June 2023, comprising about 778,000 of the 2 million jobs added for women, according to a Stateline analysis. Government and hospitality jobs added another 727,000 jobs for women.

Jobs in construction and tech management remain stubbornly male dominated, however. Men are 96.5% of carpenters and nearly 74% of computer system managers, for example.

Karen Arrigo-Hill is looking for work in financial tech again after taking a break to raise small children. Like Gosain, she’s used the networking group Women Back to Work for tips on California jobs for women who have taken breaks from work. She also participates in an incubator program for underrepresented genders in tech, called In the Lab Product Management.

“The biggest thing I notice is all the support there is for the women who took a career break for caregiving and want to return to work in technology,” Arrigo-Hill said. “This process of returning is a long process, and it really helps.”

States such as California, Massachusetts and New York are working to get more women into male-dominated fields.

A Democratic-sponsored bill in the New York State Assembly calls for $500,000 in funding to get more women into high-wage jobs, including construction and some tech fields, where they make up less than 25% of workers.

Elsewhere in the region, the state-funded Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women in June recommended passage of a legislative resolution saying that COVID-19 had an outsized effect on women, including on their jobs, and that “prejudices against gender and race have served to make it difficult for women to fill roles demanded by society and their professions.” In its annual report, the commission urged passage of bills that would provide more day care and improve pay transparency, which can lead to women earning higher salaries.

California has budgeted $30 million over the last two years to helping more women get jobs in construction, including grants for apprenticeships and child care.

“When we spoke with women in construction, they told us childcare costs were one of the biggest barriers to working in the trade,” said Katie Hagen, director of the state Department of Industrial Relations, in a statement.

In Wisconsin, using state, local and private funding, the Operation Fresh Start Build Academy is helping 21-year-old Naomi Campbell train for a career in construction. On a recent day she hung drywall in a home under construction in Deerfield.

“Being the only girl on a crew of all men, it feels like a lot of pressure,” Campbell said. “They expect you to be less than them. But I’ve proven them wrong. I love the people and I love the results — seeing this house go from studs to walls in here and siding. It’s amazing.”

Construction is an important field for women to get into because the pay can be good, there’s a labor shortage, and a college degree isn’t necessary, according to a forthcoming report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Since the pandemic started, there are 126,000 more women working in construction for a total of 1.1 million, though women still make up only 14% of workers in the industry.

“The percentage is so low for women that it can easily send the message that this is clearly a sector just for men,” said Ariane Hegewisch, the group’s program director for employment and earnings. The U.S. Commerce Department is also pushing to double the number of women in construction as federally funded infrastructure projects ramp up.

Vermont is the only state where prime-age women work at a greater rate than men: 83% compared with 81% for men. Vermont may be unique because of its mix of jobs, said Mathew Barewicz, the state’s labor market information director. “Vermont has a diverse industry composition without an overreliance on typically male-dominated industries (like) mining, transportation, finance.”

Progress in bringing more women to the workplace is likely to continue, said Beth Almeida, a senior fellow at the progressive Center for American Progress think tank specializing in women’s economic security.

“This generation of women ages 25-54 have more college degrees than any other generation of women, and having college degrees is a very strong predictor of labor force attachment,” Almeida said.

“They’ve made a substantial financial investment in their future. But their employment is very impacted by caregiving, because women have a greater responsibility when it comes to family.”

©2023 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Playing in the national round of 16 for the first time, Lionsbridge FC took full advantage.

Supported by a crowd at Christopher Newport’s TowneBank Stadium, the Lions defeated the North Carolina Fusion 3-1 Sunday night behind Christian Hatley’s two goals.

The victory sends Lionsbridge to the Eastern Conference final next Friday night against the Ocean City Nor’Easters of New Jersey. The winner of that match will stay in Newport News for a national semifinal Sunday.

Lionsbridge took control early on the way to its sixth consecutive victory. Andrew Bennett gave the hosts a 1-0 lead with a powerful shot in the fifth minute, and Hatley made it 2-0 in the 11th.

Grafton High graduate Isaiah Chisolm, whose goal Friday gave Lionsbridge a 1-0 victory over the Charlotte Eagles, added an assist to Hatley in the 21st for a three-goal lead.

The Fusion got its goal shortly before halftime but couldn’t come back in the final 45 minutes.

Both teams played short one man for the last 34 minutes because of an ejection. Chisolm got his second yellow card, and a North Carolina player got a red card for a violent play.

So Lionsbridge next will welcome the Nor’Easters, who beat the Hudson Valley Hammers in a penalty shootout on New York’s Long Island to advance.

BASKETBALL

Christmas scores 50 in Pro-Am game

Longwood player Michael Christmas netted 50 points and Bluefield’s Eli White had 41 to lead Harvey Lindsay past the Warriors 135-114 in Hampton Roads 7 Cities Pro-Am competition Sunday at Norview High in Norfolk.

Also, the Wildcats defeated Jarcam 89-79, the Raptors outlasted the Barristers 104-101 despite Pharaoh Lassiter’s 28 points, and Deron Powers scored 33 to help Team Brown defeat the Norview Alumni 103-90.

Jaylani Darden scored 29 and Jalen Milt 22 for the Norview Alumni.

Former Norview player Keyontae Johnson, a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder, showed up in the gym to support his fellow former Pilots.

GOLF

Ex-Hokie takes State Open title

Pro Connor Burgess of Lynchburg shot a 5-under-par 66 Sunday to come from off the pace and win the State Open of Virginia at Independence Golf Club in Chesterfield County. The former Virginia Tech golfer finished at 10-under 203 for 54 holes.

Burgess, an individual NCAA regional qualifier in 2022, equaled the day’s best round to win by one stroke over amateur Rylan Shim, a Centreville golfer who soon will play for the Florida Gators.

Haymarket amateur Scott Shingler, who led after the first two rounds, Longwood University player Justin LaRue and pros Brandon Berry and Mark Lawrence shared third place, two shots behind Burgess.

Burgess, the first pro to win the State Open since 2018, sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole, believing he could be going to a playoff. But Shim three-putted 18 for bogey, and LaRue failed to make a par that would have kept him tied for the lead.

Chesapeake’s Patrick Gareiss, who has starred for Hickory High and Radford University, shot 67 to finish in a ninth-place tie at 5 under. Gloucester High graduate Josh Speight, a pro in New Kent County at The Club at Viniterra, tied for 12th at 209 with a final-round 69.

Rising ninth-grader Brandon Sipe of Yorktown shared 22nd at 212 after his closing 72.