By JANIE HAR (Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The president of Stanford University said Wednesday he would resign, citing an independent review that cleared him of research misconduct but found “serious flaws” in five scientific papers in which he was the principal author.

Marc Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement to students and staff that he would step down Aug. 31.

The resignation comes after the board of trustees launched a review in December following allegations he engaged in fraud and other unethical conduct related to his research and papers.

Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist, says he “never submitted a scientific paper without firmly believing that the data were correct and accurately presented.” But he says he should have been more diligent in seeking corrections regarding his work and he should have operated laboratories with tighter controls.

Panelists found multiple instances of manipulated data in the 12 papers they investigated, but concluded he was not responsible for the misconduct. Still, they found that each of the five papers in which he was principal author “has serious flaws in the presentation of research data” and in at least four of them, there was apparent manipulation of data by others.

Tessier-Lavigne said he was aware of issues with four of the five papers but acknowledged taking “insufficient” steps to deal with the issues. He said he’ll retract three of the papers and correct two.

The papers were published before Tessier-Lavigne became Stanford president.

Misconduct allegations about the work were first aired on PubPeer, a website where members of the scientific community can discuss research papers, the report stated. Questions resurfaced after The Stanford Daily, the university’s student-run newspaper, published several stories about the integrity of reports published by his laboratories.

The aggressive reporting merited investigations editor and then-college freshman Theo Baker a special George Polk journalism award. Baker told The Associated Press Wednesday that the retractions and corrections would not have occurred otherwise.

“The fact that we’re able to contribute to the scientific record being corrected for five widely cited papers is important,” he said.

The panel cleared Tessier-Lavigne of the most serious allegations, that a 2009 paper published in the scientific journal Nature was the subject of a fraud investigation and that fraud was found. There was no investigation and no fraud discovered, the panel ruled. The paper proposed a model of neurodegeneration, which could have great potential for Alzheimer’s disease research and therapy, the panel wrote in its report.

But the panel also concluded the paper had multiple problems, including a lack of rigor in its development and that the research that went into the paper and its presentation contained “various errors and shortcomings.” The panel did not find evidence that Tessier-Lavigne was aware of the lack of rigor.

“People tend to think of scientists as these individuals that they’ve heard of like Einstein and Marie Curie,” said H. Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals. “The truth is that researchers run laboratories filled with people, and everything that happens in that laboratory is a product of many individuals there.”

While the report cleared Tessier-Lavigne of research misconduct, Thorp said ultimately the boss is responsible for what happens in the lab – and shouldn’t be distracted by doing other jobs. He pointed to the report’s finding that lab culture played a role.

Tessier-Lavigne says he’s stepping down because he expects continued debate about his ability to lead the university. He will remain on faculty as a biology professor. He also said he will continue his research into brain development and neurodegeneration.

The board named Richard Saller, a classics professor, as interim president starting Sept. 1, said board chair Jerry Yang.

In a statement, Yang said Tessier-Lavigne was key to creating the university’s first new school in 70 years, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and in 2019, he unveiled a strategic long-range plan that will continue to guide the university’s growth.

Tessier-Lavigne has been president for nearly seven years.

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Associated Press reporter Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, KIM TONG-HYUNG, TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea stayed silent Wednesday about the detention of an American soldier who sprinted across the Koreas’ heavily fortified border as members of his tour group looked on in shock. Some observers said heightened tensions between the two countries make it unlikely that he will return any time soon.

Pvt. Travis King bolted into North Korea while on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone on Tuesday, a day after he was supposed to go back to a base in the U.S. He was released from a South Korean prison July 10 after serving time for assault and was scheduled to return to Fort Bliss, Texas.

King, who was imprisoned for 47 days, faced discharge from the Army because of his conviction in a foreign country, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

King is the first known American held in North Korea in nearly five years, and his detention comes at a time of elevated animosity. On Wednesday, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in an apparent protest of the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in decades.

“It’s likely that North Korea will use the soldier for propaganda purposes in the short term and then as a bargaining chip,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea.

King, a 23-year-old cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division, was supposed to leave Monday for Texas. He was escorted as far as customs but left the airport before boarding his plane.

It wasn’t clear how he spent the hours until joining the tour in the border village of Panmunjom and running across the border Tuesday afternoon. The Army released his name and limited information after King’s family was notified.

One woman who was on the tour with King said she initially thought his dash was some kind of stunt — and that she and others in the group couldn’t believe what happened.

King’s stint in prison was the result of an altercation last year.

In February, a court fined him 5 million won ($3,950) after he was convicted of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by The Associated Press.

The ruling said King had also been accused of punching a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, though the court dismissed that charge because the victim didn’t want King to be punished.

King’s maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, said his grandson joined the Army roughly three years ago because he “wanted to do better for himself.” He was drawn to service because he has a brother who is a police officer and a cousin in the Navy, Gates said.

Gates said he hoped his grandson could be brought home to get help.

“I think right now he might have a problem or something. I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind,” Gates said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. government was working with its North Korean counterparts to “resolve this incident.” The American-led U.N. Command said Tuesday that the U.S. soldier was believed to be in North Korean custody.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Pentagon news conference that the military was “closely monitoring and investigating the situation.”

It wasn’t known whether or how the U.S. and North Korea would communicate. The two countries have no diplomatic relations and are still officially at war because the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

In the past, Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang, provided consular services for other Americans detained in North Korea. But Swedish diplomatic staff reportedly haven’t returned to North Korea since the country imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 and ordered all foreigners to leave.

Some observers said North Korea and the U.S. could still talk via Panmunjom or the North Korean mission at the U.N. in New York.

It’s rare for Americans or South Koreans to defect to North Korea, but more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to escape political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, said North Korea is likely pleased to have “an opportunity to get the U.S. to lose its face” because King’s crossing happened on the same day the U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea.

Tae, now a South Korean lawmaker, said North Korea was unlikely to return King easily because he is a soldier from a nation technically at war with North Korea, and he voluntarily went to the North.

The U.S. still stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea.

Panmunjom, located inside the 248-kilometer-long (154-mile-long) Demilitarized Zone, has been jointly overseen by the U.N. Command and North Korea since the close of the Korean War.

Bloodshed has occasionally occurred there, but it has also been a venue for diplomacy and tourism, drawing visitors who want to see the Cold War’s last frontier. No civilians live there, but North and South Korean soldiers face off while tourists on both sides snap photographs.

A small number of U.S. soldiers went to North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his army post in South Korea in 1965 and fled across the DMZ. He appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who was abducted from Japan by North Korean agents. Jenkins died in Japan in 2017.

In recent years, some American civilians have been arrested in North Korea on allegations of espionage, subversion and other anti-state acts, but were released after the U.S. sent high-profile missions to secure their freedom. The last releases occurred in 2018.

Those releases stood in striking contrast to the fate of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who died in 2017, days after he was released by North Korea in a coma following 17 months in captivity.

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Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller in Washington and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

By HANNA ARHIROVA (Associated Press)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed intense drone and missile attacks overnight Wednesday, damaging critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine, including grain and oil terminals, and wounding at least 12 people, officials said.

The bombardment crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.

It came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.

It also followed a vow by Putin to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.

The Agriculture Ministry, citing experts, estimated it would take a year to restore the damaged facilities. The destroyed grain was supposed to have been loaded onto a vessel and sent through the grain corridor two months ago, the statement said.

“Such attacks by Russian terrorists are not only affecting our country but also global stability,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a briefing with the visiting Irish prime minister in Kyiv. He said Ukraine needs more anti-aircraft defense systems to protect the port.

Zelenskyy said his government is trying to find a way to maintain a corridor to keep grain exports flowing despite Russia’s decision to abandon the deal brokered with the U.N. and Turkey.

“The corridor must be secure. In fact, knowing Russia, it won’t be safe unless the U.N. starts working very clearly and firmly at the level of the secretary-general,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi warned that if Ukraine cannot export food, “the population of the poorest countries will be on the brink of survival! The price of grain will increase, and not all countries will be able to afford buying agricultural products, which means food prices will significantly rise: flour, cereals, meat.”

Wheat prices rose more than 2.5% on Tuesday and over 3% on Wednesday amid the attacks in Odesa, a key hub for exporting grain, illustrating jitters in global markets after Moscow withdrew from the agreement, threatening to worsen hunger in some parts of the globe. Wednesday’s trading price of $6.91 a bushel was still more than 85% below last year’s peak.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted that “Putin hasn’t just blown up the Black Sea Grain Initiative; now he has hit the port city of Odesa with a hail of bombs for the second consecutive night.”

“In doing that, he is robbing the world of any hope of Ukrainian grain. Every one of his bombs also hits the world’s poorest,” she said.

Gov. Oleh Kiper said Oniks and Kh-22 missiles were used to hit grain and oil terminals. Debris from those that were shot down struck apartment buildings, seaside resorts and warehouses, sparking fires and injuring several people.

Video from warehouses elsewhere in Odesa showed firefighters extinguishing blazes, as thick, black smoke billowed from the explosion.

The attacks were part of what Russia’s Defense Ministry described as a “strike of retribution” after Monday’s attack on the Kerch Bridge, a key span used for military and civilian supplies. The attack, apparently by maritime drones, damaged part of the roadway on the bridge but rail traffic continued.

Ukraine’s top security agency appeared to tacitly admit a role in the attack but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility, echoing a response after a strike on the bridge in October 2022 that took months to repair.

Russian emergency officials in Crimea, meanwhile, said more than 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of a fire at a military facility.

The blaze forced the closure of an important highway, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of the peninsula. He didn’t specify a cause for the fire at the facility in Kirovsky district.

Elsewhere across Ukraine, authorities reported that drones and missiles were sent against more regions than in recent days.

“A difficult night of air attacks for all of Ukraine,” said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, in a statement on Telegram.

He said the attacks were especially fierce in Odesa for a second consecutive night. The Ukrainian army’s Operational Command South reported at least 12 civilians were wounded in the region.

The attacks on Odesa injured at least six people, including a 9-year-old boy, showering them with shattered glass and other debris. The remnants of a downed Kh-59 missile created a large crater in another part of the city, wounding three civilians and damaging several buildings.

Eight Iranian-made Shahed drones were also shot down in the wider Odesa region, where two warehouses containing tobacco and fireworks were reported damaged.

Russia also attacked Kyiv with Shahed drones without result, Popko said. Air defenses intercepted all the drones aimed at the capital and a preliminary investigation showed there were no casualties.

Strikes elsewhere in Ukraine in the past 24 hours that killed one person and wounded 21 others.

The death occurred in the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the volatile Kupyansk area, while 10 people were injured in the shelling of seven cities in the Donetsk region, including Avdiivka, Mariinka and Chasiv Yar. Two people were wounded by shelling in the Mykolaiv region and one person was injured in the Kherson region.

Russian drone attacks in the Zhytomyr region damaged some infrastructure and private homes, but no casualties were reported, said Gov. Vitalii Bunechko.

Attacks also were reported in the Poltava and Kirovohrad regions.

Separately, South Africa’s president announced that Putin will not attend an economic summit next month in the country, which faced a legal quandary over whether to arrest the Russian leader on an International Criminal Court warrant related to Ukraine.

Although Moscow has dismissed the warrant and Russia doesn’t recognize the court’s authority, Putin has not traveled to any country that is a signatory to the court’s treaty since he was indicted by the ICC in March for war crimes relating to the abduction of children from Ukraine.

South African authorities had given strong hints they would have likely not executed the arrest warrant against Putin, but South Africa’s main opposition party has taken the government to court to try to compel it to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on South African territory.

Russia will be represented instead Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office. All the other leaders will attend, it said.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Seabrook is the quintessential coastal beach town — the one we all grew up going to, at least in our dreams. But this Washington coast gem, located three hours from both Seattle and Portland, only feels like a centuries old enclave. This village was built in 2004 and curated to evoke nostalgia — and woo guests to the region.

Unlike its southern neighbor, Oregon, Washington State has not made much of its rugged Pacific coastline. Seeing a lack of oceanside getaways for state residents, Casey and Laura Roloff decided to build their own waterfront oasis using Seaside, Florida as a guide. (If you’ve seen “The Truman Show,” you’ve seen Seaside. The iconic 1998 Jim Carrey movie was filmed there.) The 2004 project was their second planned community in the Pacific Northwest; the first — Bella Beach — is on the Oregon coast.

Seabrook was painstakingly built to exude the coastal charm of historic beach towns inAmerica, while keeping sustainability and urbanism in mind. Every planning decision has a reason, from slowing traffic to make streets safe for play to building neighborhoods where everyone has a view of the water.

When you arrive, you’re greeted by a walkable town square flanked by East Coast-style buildings and an oversized beach chair — for photo ops, of course — beneath a gray and blue-hued sky (this is Washington, after all). It didn’t take long to be smitten by the beach town vibe. Shops cater to the ultimate summer vacation with a flair that feels at once family friendly and upscale. With 500+ homes tucked into nine micro-neighborhoods, the town welcomes full-time residents (mostly retirees), day trippers and, most notably, vacationers.

More than 275 of those properties — everything from stately compounds to colorful yet quaint homes — are available to rent and sleep anywhere from two to 24 guests. Outdoor sports courts, parks, biking and hiking trails are easily accessible. And you can explore everything else this walkable town has to offer—18 parks, an event space, boutique spa, fitness center, central amphitheater, outdoor firepits, sports and pickle ball courts (of course), an indoor pool, award-winning restaurants and plenty of shopping.

Among our favorites was the cozy Joie Des Livres: The Joy of Books, a two-story shop lined withnovels, books and knickknacks for all ages. A space in the back is set up for kids who want tocurl up with a book, while they wait for parents to shop. This is also the spot to grab games, puzzles and art supplies to enjoy throughout your stay.

The Salty Dog has everything needed to spoil Fido, PONDR caters to chic male clientele with a sense of style, Magnolias Boutique offers womens wear and Brooklets Toys fills its shelves with toys, games, puzzles and gifts you won’t find at your neighborhood Target.

Because the Roloffs have a hand in every decision made in Seabrook design, they ensure no twoshops are the same. This isn’t the town where you’ll find branded souvenirs in three buildings onthe same street; to cut down on competition, there’s only one of those, and it’s high end notkitschy.

Walking the town is one of the best pastimes in Seabrook. There’s no shortage of things to do — and Olympic National Park is only a 45 minute drive away — but the allure of the stately Town Hall building, the larger-than-life Sasquatch statue and those ocean views are irresistible.

And when it comes to dining, the restaurants follow the same rules as retail businesses — no two are alike. Vista Bakeshop serves coffees and pastries, including cruffins which have people lining up around the block. For lunch, Rising Tide Tavern is American cuisine, heavy on seafood options, with a back patio perfect for people watching. For dinner, choose between the margarita and taco scene at Koko’s Restaurant & Tequila Bar or pizza at Frontager’s Pizza Co. & Social.

Adults will love The Stowaway Wine Bar, where fireside seats and hanging chandeliers create a distinctive ambiance for wine flights and charcuterie platters. And if you want to cook at home, head for Fresh Foods, the town’s 13,000-square-foot grocery store.

The weather is pleasant throughout the year, and each season has its own activities, which the concierge at the Seabrook real estate office can help arrange, from mushroom foraging in the fall to razor clam digging in winter and spring. Or you can simply DIY it: set out on a hiking trail on your own, check out a sunset concert or rent a SUP, kayak or surfboard. Surfing is a year round sport here, and the Pacific coastline promises large swells for enthusiasts.

Grab your family for a walk along the sandy beach (even in summer, temperatures are mild, which makes diving in a brave task), check out the old school arcade and stock up on specialty candies and fresh scoops of ice cream at The Sweet Life.

If you’re keen to leave Seabrook for an afternoon, you can explore some of the more notable attractions at Olympic National Park, such as Marymere Falls, Lake Quinault and the Hoh Rainforest, or visit the town of Forks, a mecca for “Twilight” fans. Each attraction is just 45 minutes to two hours away. And anglers can check out the fishing at the Wynoochee River, Lower Quinault River, Hoh River or Queets River.

Or simply kick back in Seabrook, a little slice of nostalgia on the Washington coast.

If You Go

Getting here: Seabrook is a 130-mile drive from Seattle airport; it’s 170 miles from Portland’s airport.

Vacation rentals: Book a vacation house and check out the town’s amenities, including shops and restaurants, at www.seabrookwa.com/.

Joie Des Livres: The Joy of Books: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily at 216 Market St, Pacific Beach;www.facebook.com/joiedeslivres.seabrook.

The Salty Dog: Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily at 215 S. Meriweather St., Pacific Beach; www.shopsaltydog.com.

PONDR: Open noon-5 p.m. daily at 207A Market St., Pacific Beach: www.pondrpnw.com.

Magnolias Boutique: Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 212 Market St., Pacific Beach, www.shopmagnolias.com.

Brooklets Toys: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 208 Market St., Pacific Beach, www.facebook.com/brooklets.toys.

Vista Bakeshop: Open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily at 202 Meriweather St., Pacific Beach; www.vistabakeshop.com.

Rising Tide Tavern: Open for lunch and dinner daily, plus breakfast on weekends, at 223 Market St., Pacific Beach; www.risingtidetavern.com.

Koko’s Restaurant & Tequila Bar: Open for lunch and dinner daily, plus breakfast on weekends, at 5 W. Myrtle Lane, Pacific Beach; www.kokos-restaurant.com.

Frontager’s Pizza Co. & Social: Open for lunch and dinner daily at 21 Seabrook Ave., Pacific Beach; www.frontagerspizza.com.

The Stowaway Wine Bar: Open from noon-8 p.m. daily, until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at 203 Market St., Pacific Beach; www.thestowawaywinebarseabrookwa.com.

Fresh Foods: This market is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at  224 Market St., Pacific Beach; www.freshfoodsmarketplace.com/seabrook-wa.Open 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

The Arcade: Open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily, until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 16 Front St., Pacific Beach; www.seabrookwa.com.

The Sweet Life: Open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at 215 S. Meriweather St.; Pacific Beach, www.sweetlifewa.com.

Olympic National Park: Find trail maps and park information at www.nps.gov/olym/

Companies with flexible in-office policies are hiring faster than those that have fully returned to pre-pandemic attendance rules. But landing a flexible job still comes with challenges.

New research from Scoop Technologies Inc., which advises organizations on how to coordinate hybrid staffing, compared headcount growth at roughly 3,600 fully-flexible, hybrid and entirely in-office companies. It found that flexible outfits — those with hybrid, fully-remote or electively-remote staffs — added headcount at more than two times the rate of fully in-office counterparts during the March-through-May period.

“Companies grow faster when they offer flexibility because people are more excited to join,” said Rob Sadow, co-founder and chief executive officer of Scoop. Prospective employees rank flexibility second only to compensation when it comes to workplace satisfaction, meaning that consistent headcount growth might be explained in part by talent flocking to flexible firms, he added.

“Companies should tread really carefully around expanding requirements to be in the office above three days.” — Scoop CEO Rob Sadow

The research also found a strong correlation between the number of in-office days required per week and workforce growth. Companies with one-day-a-week rules expanded staff by almost 5% over the past year, compared with 2.6% at five-days-a-week businesses.

“Companies should tread really carefully around expanding requirements to be in the office above three days because that’s where we start to see a pretty meaningful impact on ability to grow headcount,” said Sadow.

Despite the rise in hiring by flexible companies, job growth across the board is slowing. US nonfarm payrolls expanded by 209,000 in June — the smallest monthly increase since the end of 2020 — indicating that the overall number of open roles is dipping while demand remains high. Jobs advertising full-time remote work attracted almost half of all applications on LinkedIn in May, compared with just 19% for hybrid positions.

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©2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — High-water rescue crews pulled people from flooded homes and vehicles in Kentucky Wednesday, where waves of thunderstorms prompted flash flood warnings and watches. A search continued for two children swept away after torrential rains in the northeast.

The National Weather Service estimated that as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could fall in the area where Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri meet at the convergence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

Atmospheric scientists say the global warming responsible for unrelenting heat in the Southwest also is making this kind of extreme rainfall a more frequent reality, because clouds hold more moisture as the temperature rises, resulting in more destructive storms.

There were several reports of people being rescued from high water surrounding homes and vehicles in the Mayfield and Wingo areas early Wednesday, according to Keith Cooley, a senior forecaster with the weather service in Paducah, Kentucky. He called it a “life-threatening situation” because so much rain fell in such a short time.

Mayfield was especially hard hit by storms that produced deadly tornadoes in December 2021.

In Connecticut, a woman died after being swept down a swollen river Tuesday with her 5-year-old daughter. State Fire officials say the pair were swimming in the Shetucket River in Sprague when they were swept away by currents that have been running high because of the recent heavy rains in New England.

They were found unconscious downstream and taken to a local hospital, where the mother, a woman in her 30s, died. Fire officials say the daughter was stabilized at a local hospital and is expected to survive.

And in Pennsylvania, searchers are still trying to find two children visiting from South Carolina who were swept away in what one fire chief called “a wall of water” that hit their family and killed their mother Saturday. Four other people also died in those flash floods.

Riverside Health System and University of Virginia Health have partnered to streamline access to medical trials and complex care.

The partnership, announced last week, means that UVA Health now holds a 5% ownership of Riverside while Riverside will get assistance to build more health resources in the Hampton Roads region, according to the announcement.

A relationship like this has been part of Riverside’s strategic plan for years, according to Dr. Mike Dacey, the CEO of Riverside. He said the partnership will bring “real benefit” to patients as it gives those with the most complicated health conditions more access to clinical trials.

One such malady is lung cancer. Riverside can connect patients with UVA resources for different gene therapies that require clinical trials, according to Davey.

The partnership is also part of a long-term investment as it will help Riverside establish new clinical programming, such as cardiac surgery, and training of the future health care workforce, according to Dacey.

UVA will station a health coordinator in the region to help with connecting Riverside patients to complex care, such as organ transplants and medical trials, if they choose.

The two health organizations have matched up before. In 2005, a joint partnership between Chesapeake Regional, UVA and Riverside established a stereotactic radiosurgery center at Riverside Regional Medical Center that uses radiation beams to treat tumors, lesions and disorders, according to Riverside and UVa.

“UVA’s new strategic partnership with Riverside will enable greater access to outstanding patient care and medical training for communities in Eastern Virginia,” said UVA President James Ryan in the joint Riverside and UVA release.

Ian Munro, 757-447-4097, [email protected]

In the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 3, 1923, the light from an oil lamp flickered in the parlor of a Vermont farmhouse as a father swore in his son to become the 30th president of the United States.

Three thousand miles away in San Francisco, Warren G. Harding lay dead while Calvin Coolidge took the presidential oath of office. For the sixth time since 1789, a vice president assumed the position of commander in chief in one of the most unusual presidential inaugurations in American history.

Silent Cal’s path to that notable pre-dawn ceremony 100 years ago was a result of hard work, an innate political instinct and a strong moral character.

John Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872, in the small village of Plymouth Notch hidden in the Green Mountains of Vermont. His father was a successful farmer, businessman and politician — a role model for the future president.

After local schooling, Coolidge entered Amherst College. A 1923 newspaper commentary notes that “Cal was known for two things — his scholastic ability and his prolonged silence. He was then a raw country youth with his trousers tucked in his boot-tops.” His college experience was vital to his “intellectual, personal and career development,” according to Jerry Wallace in an article for the Coolidge Foundation.

Returning to his homestead after graduation, he worked on his father’s farm for a summer before studying law in an apprenticeship with two Northampton, Massachusetts, attorneys. After being admitted to the bar at age 25, he opened his own legal practice nearby.

Some years later, he married teacher Grace Goodhue. A story about his courtship relates: When visiting in her hometown of Burlington, he told a friend, “Just came over to be married to Grace.” The acquaintance responded, “Have you spoken to Grace yet?” Coolidge replied, “No, but I think I will in a few days.”

For Coolidge, politics was a birth right. His father was first elected to the Vermont Legislature a month after his son was born. As a youngster, he often visited his Dad at the Capitol in Montpelier.

While living in Northampton, Coolidge began his steady ascent up the political ladder of Massachusetts’ Republican Party. Although his reserved personality was out of character for most office holders, his meticulousness, industry and objectivity won acclaim. Over the years, excluding primaries, he ran for office 17 times, “putting himself before the people’s judgment more than any of our other presidents,” according to author Wallace.

As governor, he gained the national spotlight during the Boston police strike in 1919. When rioting occurred, Coolidge ordered the National Guard to quell the disturbance. “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, anytime,” he declared. This “law and order” assertion made him a popular figure; it contributed to him being selected as the running mate for Warren G. Harding in 1920.

Except for presiding over the Senate, Coolidge had little to do as vice president. While in Washington, he and his wife lived in a hotel and frequently ate out. “When asked why they attended so many social functions, Coolidge replied, ‘Got to eat somewhere,’” according to William Bushong of the White House Historical Association.

In the summer of 1923, the Coolidges traveled to Plymouth Notch for a vacation. In an eyewitness account of the memorable events that followed, Congressman Porter Dale in “Vermont History” wrote: “When word of Warren Harding’s death reached the small hamlet on August second, it was clear that Coolidge’s summer plans, and indeed his political future, would be irrevocably transformed.”

The vice president was aroused from his sleep to read the telegram that set the stage for an unconventional presidential inauguration. In a calm steady manner, Coolidge orchestrated the appropriate steps for the transition. A cable was sent to the chief justice in Washington to query whether his father as a notary public had the authority to administer the presidential oath.

Coolidge then walked to the general store that had the only telephone in the village to await word from the chief justice. The unpretentious soon-to-be commander in chief drank a Moxie soda as he mingled with old friends, newsmen and a few officials. According to Charles Wilson in “American Heritage,” when no communication was forth coming, Coolidge curtly exclaimed, “Figure we’d best get back to father.” The store’s clerk said she would bring over any messages that might arrive.

Careful to the legal details, Coolidge instructed his secretary to type three copies of the presidential oath and to be certain to obtain the signatures of the ceremony’s witnesses. After midnight on Aug. 3, a dispatch finally arrived from former President William Howard Taft and chief justice of the Supreme Court. It read: “Procedure legal. Best wishes. Taft.”

With the parlor lamp shining light, Coolidge placed his left hand on the family Bible and raised his right hand as his father read the affirmation that his son then firmly repeated, including, “So help me God.” No one spoke. The elder Coolidge removed the notary public seal impresser from his desk and firmly applied it to the papers containing the oath and signatures of the four witnesses.

“Grace Coolidge was trembling, the father’s eyes were noticeably moist, and the new president was grimly silent,” author Wilson remarked. “Congressman Dale boomed ‘it is exactly two forty-seven.’”

In concluding his firsthand narrative, Dale wrote: “It was finished. A scene the like of which you may not find in all history. In the mountain notch shrouded by the ancestral influence of generations … a venerable father had sworn his son by the oath which made him chief executive of the greatest nation of the world.”

Jonathan Stolz is a resident of James City County.