Kohl's Continues Partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America with $1.5 Million Donation to Support Youth Mental Health and Wellness Nationwide Business Wire

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A cozy home feels comfortable, personal and easy to live in, without requiring a complete redesign. Small changes to color, lighting, texture and layout can soften a room and make it more welcoming throughout the day. The best results come from paying attention to how your home supports everyday activities. Think about where you settle with a book, how the living room feels after sunset and which details help you relax when you walk through the door. From there, you can create warmth through a series of simple and practical choices. The Power of Ambiance Ambiance is the overall feeling created by a room’s light, temperature, color, sound and layout. These elements work together, so even a beautifully decorated space can feel uncomfortable if the overhead lighting is harsh or the furniture blocks natural movement. Start by deciding how you want each room to feel. A living room might need to support conversation, television and quiet evenings, while a bedroom should encourage rest. Once you know the purpose, remove anything that works against it. Clear crowded surfaces, relocate furniture that narrows walkways and hide visible cables where possible. A tidy room gives softer details room to shine. Color also influences the atmosphere. Warm neutrals such as oatmeal, clay, cream and soft brown make an inviting base, while muted green or blue can bring calm. You don’t need to repaint every wall. A warm-toned rug, curtains or a large piece of artwork may be enough to change the balance. For more inspiration, these cozy home design ideas show how color, natural materials and personal objects can shape an inviting interior. Try choosing two or three recurring shades and repeating them across cushions, art and accessories. That visual connection helps separate items feel like part of one considered space. Bringing Warmth into Your Space Physical warmth matters, but visual warmth can make a room feel comfortable before you’ve even sat down. Wood, woven fibers and earthy colors all help, especially in spaces with pale walls, smooth floors or modern furniture. Focus first on one area where people naturally gather. In a living room, that may be the seating arrangement. Pull chairs close enough for easy conversation and place a coffee table or large ottoman within reach. If the furniture currently hugs the walls, shifting it inward by even a few inches can make the room feel more connected. A clear focal point will give the arrangement direction. Artwork, a window with a view or a warming feature can fill this role. Homeowners who want the glow and visual comfort of a traditional focal feature without its usual upkeep may consider electric fireplaces, including built-in, freestanding and wall-mounted styles. Check the room dimensions, available electrical supply and manufacturer’s installation guidance before choosing a format. Keep decorative additions selective. One large basket for blankets has more impact than several small containers, while a generous plant can soften a bare corner without making it look busy. These clutter-free warmth ideas offer useful ways to create comfort while keeping surfaces manageable. Your home should still reflect you. Display a few framed photographs, well-loved books or objects connected to meaningful places. Personal details create character that can’t be copied from a showroom. Layering Textures and Lighting Texture gives a cozy room depth. Without it, a neutral palette can look flat, particularly during darker months. Mix materials that feel noticeably different, such as smooth cotton, chunky knit, wool, linen and wood. Begin with the largest surfaces. A rug can define a seating area and soften hard flooring, while curtains add height and reduce the stark effect of bare windows. Next, add smaller layers through cushions and throws. Two or three cushion fabrics usually create enough variation without overwhelming the sofa. If you have pets or young children, choose washable covers and tightly woven materials that can cope with regular use. Lighting deserves the same layered treatment. A single ceiling fixture often creates strong shadows and leaves corners looking gloomy. Aim for three levels of light: general illumination for moving around, task lighting for reading or working and low accent lighting for atmosphere. A table lamp beside the sofa and a floor lamp near an armchair can completely change how the room feels after dark. Choose bulbs by their color temperature as well as brightness. Warm white bulbs of around 2700K produce a softer, more relaxed glow than cooler options. Dimmers give you greater flexibility, provided the fixture and bulb are compatible. Placement makes a difference too. Use lamps to illuminate walls, artwork or textured surfaces, which will reflect a gentle glow into the room. These cozy interior lighting tips include practical ideas for combining lighting with furniture, fabrics and art. Scent and Sound for Serenity A room’s atmosphere extends beyond what you can see. Scent and sound often register as soon as you enter, yet both are easy to overlook during decorating. Keep fragrance subtle and appropriate for the space. Clean cotton, cedar and soft citrus can suit shared living areas, while lavender is a popular choice for bedrooms. Scented candles aren’t the only option. Reed diffusers, fresh herbs and a vase of eucalyptus can provide a gentler effect. Open windows regularly too, since fragrance works best in a fresh room. If anyone in your household experiences allergies, asthma or sensitivity to fragrance, skip scented products and focus on ventilation and cleanliness. Wash throws according to their care labels, vacuum upholstered furniture and empty pet bedding often. A clean-smelling home is more comfortable than one where several strong fragrances compete. Sound needs similar restraint. Soft instrumental music can ease the transition from work to evening, but constant background audio may become tiring. Create moments of quiet and deal with intrusive noise through fabric. Rugs, full-length curtains and upholstered furniture absorb some of the echoes created by hard surfaces. Small speakers should sit away from corners, where bass can become overpowering. Keep the volume low enough for conversation and choose a playlist that suits the activity. Broader living room ambiance ideas can help you coordinate sound, lighting and room layout without treating each feature separately. Design for Relaxation A relaxing home needs to function smoothly. When everyday items have no obvious place or a chair lacks a nearby surface for a drink, minor frustrations can interrupt the sense of comfort. Watch how you use a room for several days. Notice where books accumulate, where you put down your keys and which seat everyone chooses. Then adjust the space around those habits. Place a small table by the favorite chair, add a tray near the entrance and keep a lidded basket where blankets tend to gather. Practical storage positioned at the point of use is easier to maintain. Give your eyes somewhere to rest as well. Every shelf doesn’t need to be full and every corner doesn’t need furniture. Open space helps favorite objects stand out and makes cleaning simpler. If a room feels crowded, remove a few small accessories and photograph the result. A picture often reveals visual clutter more clearly than standing in the room does. Comfort also depends on the furniture’s proportions. A deep sofa may suit long evenings, but it can feel awkward for someone who needs more support. Test seating where possible and consider seat height, back support and the distance to tables. The same practical thinking applies in bedrooms, where accessible lighting and clear routes around the bed make nighttime routines easier. The way a room is planned can affect far more than its appearance, as this guide to how home design impacts life explains. Let your layout support the routines you already enjoy, then finish the space with one detail that feels unmistakably yours, such as a favorite photograph beside the reading chair or the throw you reach for every evening. The post Creating a cozy home ambiance: Effortless style appeared first on Talented Ladies Club.

UVM Health runs hospitals on both sides of the lake. BETA says the Vermont flights haven’t launched and it is working on a start date. by Compass Vermont Burlington’s airport and Plattsburgh’s are about 20 miles apart as the crow flies. On the ground, the trip means a ferry ride or a long drive around the lake. That gap matters to UVM Health, which runs hospitals on both sides of Lake Champlain, including Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh and Elizabethtown Community Hospital. South Burlington’s BETA Technologies and Metro Aviation, the company that flies UVM Health’s medical helicopter, have proposed closing that gap with electric planes carrying medical equipment and blood products across the lake. The flights were picked for a federal test program in March. They haven’t started. “BETA is participating in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s eIPP project, which includes operations in Vermont. The project has not yet launched, and we are working with the Port Authority to finalize a launch date consistent with the Executive Order,” BETA told Compass in a Sept. 30 written statement. The company said it could not share more about how the flights would operate. Meanwhile, BETA and Metro have begun similar tests in North Carolina and Texas. Why an electric plane, when there’s already a helicopter UVM Medical Center has had a critical-care helicopter based in Burlington since Aug. 23, 2018. It started as a partnership with Dartmouth’s DHART air ambulance service: Dartmouth coordinated the flight requests, UVM Medical Center supplied the medical crew, and Metro flew the helicopter, according to Metro. UVM Health’s transport service still lists Metro as its aviation provider. When the helicopter was announced, a UVM Medical Center official said moving a sick patient from rural upstate New York to Burlington could take three or four hours. That helicopter is for the sickest patients. It is expensive to buy and to run, and Metro says those costs keep climbing while Medicare and Medicaid payments stay flat or decline. Todd Stanberry, Metro’s vice president, told Vertical magazine in November 2024 that helicopter purchase and maintenance costs are on a “45-degree incline.” At first, the electric plane would do a different job: moving medical supplies, with the goal of lowering the cost of air delivery. Metro has called BETA’s aircraft a simpler, cheaper alternative to the helicopter, and plans to use it first for equipment and blood products, then later for clinicians and eventually patients, Vermont Public reported in January. Neither company’s announcements of the tests so far report operating costs or delivery times. What’s flying elsewhere The tests are part of a federal program, the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, or eIPP, run by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA. (eVTOL is short for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, though the program also covers planes that use runways.) It lets electric aircraft that haven’t finished FAA certification fly real missions in regular airspace, under agreements that spell out what each company may do. BETA was picked for seven of the program’s eight projects in March, as Compass reported at the time. BETA says it has now flown program missions in five states. September demonstrations in North Carolina and Texas involved Metro. Earlier flights tested organ transport: North Carolina. Since Sept. 17, BETA has flown simulated deliveries of medical cargo to rural medical sites, including a deployable field tent and supplies, with Metro and health systems including ECU Health and WakeMed. These are tests, not a working delivery service. Texas. BETA and Metro flew with Washington County EMS in Brenham in September, testing how the plane could move disaster-response equipment alongside the county’s helicopter and ambulances. Metro already flies that county’s medical helicopter. Virginia and Maryland. BETA’s first program flight, in July, carried a genetically modified pig heart between airports to test how transplant organs could be moved. Where the Vermont flights stand BETA didn’t say why the start is taking longer here. What the public record shows: Vermont isn’t running its own project. The Lake Champlain flights are one piece of a larger project led by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which also includes Archer, Joby, Electra and Wisk. The Port Authority’s description of its project, as published by ROI-NJ, names JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and New York City heliports. It lists medical and rural missions among its plans but doesn’t name Vermont; BETA’s March announcement did. Vermont Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn wrote a letter of support in December; the state is a supporter, not the applicant. Elsewhere, first flights came months after selection. The projects were picked March 9. BETA’s first program flights, in Virginia and Maryland, came in July, about four months later. North Carolina’s medical test flights started Sept. 17, about six months later. The FAA, not the states, sets flight rules. States cannot waive federal flight requirements, but their decisions about infrastructure, permitting and funding can affect how quickly projects get ready. BETA already flies here. BETA’s headquarters and factory sit at the Burlington airport, which the Vermont Air National Guard’s F-35s share, and its planes already fly from there; in June it took a WCAX crew up over Chittenden County and the lake. BETA says it has run a flight test center at Plattsburgh’s airport since 2017, and it announced a $41 million expansion there in 2023, with $20 million from New York State. The clock starts with an agreement. The 2025 executive order that created the program directed federal officials to pick projects that planned to begin flying within 90 days after their project agreements were in place. BETA’s statement did not say whether the Port Authority project’s agreement is in place. What the planes can and can’t do The aircraft in all of these tests is BETA’s ALIA CTOL, short for conventional takeoff and landing. It needs a runway, like any small plane, so a delivery goes airport to airport, with a car or truck carrying the cargo at each end. BETA’s vertical-takeoff version, which could land at a hospital helipad, comes later in the company’s plan. Metro announced a deposit-backed order for up to 20 of those in November 2024.The post BETA hopes to fly medical supplies across Lake Champlain. It’s testing the idea in North Carolina and Texas first. first appeared on Vermont Daily Chronicle.The post BETA hopes to fly medical supplies across Lake Champlain. It’s testing the idea in North Carolina and Texas first. appeared first on Vermont Daily Chronicle.

The Wondrous Radiacode 110 Yesterday I was delighted to receive in my mailbox another radiation spectrometer for testing, the Radiacode 110. Tommaso Dorigo Fri, 10/09/2026 - 08:01 Categories Physics

After failing miserably the first time, Bernie Sanders is trying again to influence Maine’s politics By Ted Cohen The first time wasn’t a charm for Vermont’s senior socialist U.S. senator but Bernie Sanders couldn’t care less. Actually Sanders hopes Maine voters also won’t be able to care less about his first (failed) attempt to endorse a U.S. Senate in their state. Bernie is now placing his bets with socialist Troy Jackson, the default candidate Democrats in Maine chose after Sanders’ favored candidate, Graham Platner, quit the race amid scandalous allegations of rape by a former girlfriend. After Platner withdrew from the effort to unseat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins, Bernie refused to acknowledge his embarrassing ignorance of clear warning signs that Platner was a confirmed misogynist, if not worse. Platner had been previously accused by other former girlfriends of abusive behavior towards them even before the allegation of sexual assault surfaced. But Bernie saw nothing to dissuade his first choice – and even after the rape claim wouldn’t so much as even acknowledge he made a terrible misjudgment. Now Sanders is returning to Maine to try his hand at influencing elections, proving the suspicion he’s seemingly more focused on politics than trying to do something about the price you are paying for gas, heating oil and housing. Bernie returns next weekend to campaign alongside Jackson, bringing the nation’s most recognizable democratic-socialist politician back into a race that could help determine control of the Senate. Sanders is scheduled to appear with Jackson at a Bangor, Maine rally October 10, before the pair heads south for campaign events in Lewiston, Maine and Biddeford, Maine on October 11. Bernie’s attempt to elect his ilk in Maine is about far more than Troy Jackson. Sanders is still reportedly setting his eyes on a third run for the presidency, so it’s in his selfish interest to invest in political quid-pro-quos now to help set the stage for his possible return to national politics. Heavyweight political analyst Mark Halperin “says the political winds are blowing strong for the former Burlington mayor” making another attempt at being president, Vermont Daily Chronicle editor Guy Page reported recently.The post Cohen: Will Vermont’s Bernie go 0 for 2? first appeared on Vermont Daily Chronicle.The post Cohen: Will Vermont’s Bernie go 0 for 2? appeared first on Vermont Daily Chronicle.

Fed grows more hawkish on inflation but sees room to wait on rate hikes KRCR

The strong storms that developed early Thursday evening over Iowa were a bit of a forecast surprise with only very late runs of various forecast models depicting a possible robust environment to produce elevated thunderstorms capable of large hail. The NWS issued a number of warnings for the event and got hail reports to verify those warnings. The featured chart looks into the time of day frequency of having Severe Thunderstorm Warnings during the month of October. The chart presents the time of day frequency for Des Moines with the overall frequency plotted in tan and the values for October in blue. Of course, there are much fewer events during October so the plot gets a bit noisy vs the smooth full year values. Having such warnings during the night time is certainly more common than during the day as processes like the nocturnal "Low Level Jet" help fuel thunderstorms overnight. Generate This Chart on IEM Website

Some wedding films capture what happened. The unforgettable ones bring back what it felt like. Shriya & Prajwal’s Houston celebration was filled with color, tradition, family, and all those fleeting emotions that become even more powerful once you see them moving across the screen. Press play, turn the volume up, and tell us: which part of a South Asian wedding film always makes you emotional? The festivities brought loved ones together in Houston, with Chateau Crystale Ballroom and Event Center serving as the setting for the celebration. From meaningful traditions to the joyful energy surrounding Shriya and Prajwal, every chapter offered something different for their wedding film to preserve. Behind the scenes, The Wedding Planning Hub guided the planning and design, helping shape the many elements that make a South Asian wedding such an experience. Events by Kirven supported the celebration with wedding-day coordination, ensuring all those carefully planned details could come together while the couple and their families remained focused on experiencing the moment. The visual story continued through the work of Dreamy Decors by Vandana, whose floral and décor elements created beautiful surroundings for the festivities. On film, those details become more than a backdrop; they frame entrances, traditions, family interactions, and all the movement that gives a wedding celebration its personality. Shriya's bridal preparations added another layer to the story. Tease HTX handled hair and makeup, while Lini Mehendi brought intricate Mehndi artistry into the festivities. The process of getting ready is often one of our favorite parts of a wedding film: the final beauty touches, a close-up of fresh henna, family gathering nearby, and that unmistakable anticipation before everything officially begins. Platinum Guide member Sidpix Studios documented the celebration through photography, preserving the still moments that deserve a permanent place in the couple's story. Beautiful portraits are only part of the equation; it's the candid reactions, family interactions, and expressions between Shriya and Prajwal that make those images truly personal. And then there is film. Forever Wedding Stories captured the celebration through cinematography, preserving what photographs alone cannot: the movement, music, voices, laughter, and energy surrounding Shriya and Prajwal throughout their wedding. Those little seconds can disappear almost instantly on the actual day, but wedding films have a way of giving them back. That's what makes cinematography so meaningful. Years from now, Shriya and Prajwal won't simply remember how their celebration looked. They'll be able to experience pieces of it again: the anticipation, the people surrounding them, and the beautiful whirlwind of a day that inevitably moved much faster than anyone wanted. Maharanis, press play and experience Shriya & Prajwal's Houston wedding through the lens of Forever Wedding Stories.

Humana surges after topping 2027 Medicare star ratings The Mighty 790 KFGO

Account security is a critical aspect when evaluating the best online casinos in Saudi Arabia, especially given the strict regulatory environment and the need for players to protect their personal and financial information. Online casinos that rank highly in Saudi Arabia prioritize robust security measures to ensure users can enjoy gaming without concerns about data breaches or unauthorized access. These platforms implement advanced encryption technologies, such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer), which safeguards data transferred between the player’s device and the casino server. This encryption prevents hackers from intercepting sensitive information like passwords, banking details, and personal identification data. In addition to encryption, top-ranked online casinos in Saudi Arabia also employ multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA adds an extra layer of protection by requiring users to verify their identity through more than one method, such as a password combined with a temporary code sent to a mobile device. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access even if login credentials are compromised. Alongside MFA, strong password policies are encouraged or enforced, prompting users to create complex passwords that are difficult to guess or crack. Another important security feature is the regular auditing and certification of casino software and systems by independent cybersecurity firms. These audits verify that the casino’s platform meets industry standards for security and fairness. Players can trust that their accounts are managed on platforms that have undergone thorough evaluation, confirming that the games are not rigged and that their data is stored securely. This transparency is essential for maintaining trust and confidence among users. Furthermore, reputable online casinos use secure payment gateways that comply with international financial standards to process deposits and withdrawals. These gateways often incorporate fraud detection systems to monitor transactions and flag suspicious activity, thereby protecting users from potential financial fraud. The casinos frequently provide clear guidelines on how to recognize phishing attempts and encourage players to report any suspicious emails or messages, fostering a community aware of security threats. Customer support teams at the best online casinos are trained to handle security concerns promptly and effectively. They can assist users with account recovery, suspicious activity reports, and advice on maintaining personal security. This level of support is a key factor in the overall security framework, ensuring that users have direct access to help whenever needed. In summary, the account security behind the best online casinos in saudi arabia rankings is built on a foundation of encryption, multi-factor authentication, regular audits, secure payment processes, and dedicated customer support. These elements work together to create a safe and trustworthy environment for players, protecting their data and enhancing their overall gaming experience.The post Account Security Behind Best Online Casinos In Saudi Arabia Rankings first appeared on Metal Clay Magic.

While the Yellowstone franchise initially revolved around Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, viewers of the show’s CBS spinoff shouldn’t hold their breath in anticipation of another appearance by the star in the role. As Netflix prepares to turn Taylor Sheridan’s favorite Western Lonesome Dove into an ambitious miniseries, perhaps it shouldn’t come a surprise that the prolific writer/director isn’t involved in this adaptation. After all, he’s a busy man.

What’s Trending: Check Yourself Chapelboro.com

ASU women’s basketball trending into location for top recruits Yahoo Sports

My old dining room table had a dirty secret: nobody could walk past it. It was 60 inches of dark walnut, and in a 9-by-10-foot room it turned dinner into a game of squeezing sideways. I loved that table. I also stopped inviting people over, which tells you which one won. Here’s the fix I […] The post A Dining Room That Feels Twice as Big: The Case for See-Through Tables appeared first on Mom Does Reviews.

JPMorgan Announces Cash Distributions for the JPMorgan ETFs GlobeNewswire

Every year, with every new list of the best rye whiskeys, every booze writer out there tries to convince you that this (this!) is finally rye’s time to shine again. By now the story is well-told without much new to add: Rye used to be cool! Rye used to be what Americans drank in the 18th century and early 19th when East Coast-based farmer/distillers mainly only had rye grains to work with. Then Prohibition! Suddenly the thousands of tiny rye distillers in the country were whittled down to less than a dozen, and bourbon became the ubiquitous whiskey in America. A lifeline! The craft cocktail renaissance of the 21st century had bartenders discovering that many classics were once made with rye, not bourbon. This led to distilleries both old and new to once again begin distilling rye. And yet, here we are in 2026 and rye whiskey has mostly remained the domain of the cognoscenti, never fully breaking into the mainstream. We aren’t here to tell you that this (this!) is the year that is finally going to change. No, but today rye has, at the least, firmly reclaimed a place in the country — a tasty little niche for those in the know. It’s never going to be omnipresent like bourbon, never going to be glorified like Scotch, certainly never obsessed over like Japanese whisky, but…if you’re willing to explore it, you’ll find a category with an incredible breadth of flavors, spicy and bold, grainy and herbal, fruity and oaky. Below, there are ryes from upstart bottlers, farm producers, and even a now shuttered distillery, ones finished in rum and peach whiskey barrels and with Tiger Nut added (?), plenty made with 95/5s mash bills, and tons of high-scorers from the biggest names still delivering on their legacies. Here are the 30 best rye whiskeys to buy and drink right now. Table of Contents Why You Should Trust VinePair How We Taste How We Compiled This List The 30 Best Rye Whiskeys to Drink in 2026 The Best All-Rounder Rye Whiskey The Best Rye Whiskey for Cocktails The Best Rye Whiskey to Seek Out and Splurge On The Spiciest Rye Whiskey The Best of the Rest The Best Rye Whiskeys Under $50 The Best Rye Whiskeys Under $100 The Best Rye Whiskeys Over $100 FAQs Why You Should Trust VinePair Throughout the year, VinePair conducts dozens of tastings for our Buy This Booze product roundups, highlighting the best bottles across the world’s most popular wine and spirits categories. As part of this work, VinePair’s tasting and editorial staff samples thousands of bottles every year. This helps us keep a finger on the pulse of what’s new and exciting. Crucially, it also provides us with the context needed to distinguish the simply good from the truly great — whether from a quality or value-for-money perspective, or both. Ultimately, our mission is to offer a clear, reliable source of information for drinkers, providing an overview applicable to day-to-day buying and drinking. Learn more about VinePair’s tastings and reviews department here. How We Taste We believe in tasting all products as our readers typically would: with full knowledge of the producer and — importantly — price. Our tastings are therefore not conducted blind. For this rye whiskey roundup, all expressions were sampled in Glencairn glasses and allowed to rest for a few minutes prior to tasting. We then evaluated the aromas, flavors, texture, and finish of each whiskey. Unless there was something notably off or worrying about a whiskey’s appearance — and on this occasion we encountered no such examples — we did not evaluate the products from a visual perspective. How We Compiled the List In order to provide our readers with the most comprehensive and thoroughly tested list of the best rye whiskeys to buy, VinePair invited producers, distributors, and PR firms working on their behalf to send samples for consideration. These bottles were submitted free of charge — producers didn’t pay to submit nor did VinePair pay for the products. All were requested with the clear understanding that submission does not guarantee inclusion in the final list. Not only would such an agreement contradict our editorial ethics and samples policy, it simply wouldn’t be possible to include everything we received. For this rye whiskey roundup, we tasted over 70 new submissions and also retasted several bottles that were either sent to VinePair throughout the year for consideration or that had ranked highly in prior iterations of this list. During tasting, we assigned a score to each product on a 100-point scale based on the quality and intensity of its aromas, flavors, texture, and finish. Then we reviewed all scores and compiled an editorially driven list that meets our criteria of 30 best rye whiskeys to buy right now. It’s important to note that these are not the 30 highest-scoring ryes we tasted this year. Instead, this list showcases the best bottles across every price and for every scenario — because while price is completely objective, “affordability” is not. The 30 Best Rye Whiskeys to Drink in 2026 The Best All-Rounder Rye Whiskey Old Overholt Extra Aged Cask Strength 11 Year Rye (2026 Edition) The most famous brand name in American rye was overhauled in 2020 and a series of squat bottle limited editions have been released over the last several years. Beginning with 2023’s Old Overholt Cask Strength 10 Year Rye, the brand has released a new cask strength edition each year, with varying age statements (usually between 10 and 12 years) and proof (of course). This year’s edition was put into barrels in the fall of 2014 and bottled this summer at 125.6 proof. There is the classic Jim Beam peanut note on the nose backed by charred oak and spice. The palate is a well-balanced mix of spicy and sweet, coffee cake, cinnamon candy, stone fruit, leather, and an intense oaky finish. Incredibly drinkable at such a high proof, there are few flaws to be found here and much to love, whether you’re a longtime rye drinker or new to the category. Though three digits in price, it’s worth every penny. Average price: $110 Rating: 96 See Review The Best Rye Whiskey for Cocktails NULU Hazelbaker Reserve Rye This Louisville company uses 95/5 rye contract distilled by Green River Distilling Co. With that iconic mash bill it’s easy to think you’re tasting archetypal MGP whiskey — it’s herbal and dill-y, there’s a candied ginger zip of spice, but there are also sweet notes of crème brûlée and tropical fruits. At 100 proof and a friendly price, it’s ideal for classic cocktails, though perfectly fine for neat-sippin’. Average price: $35 Rating: 93 See Review The Best Rye Whiskey to Seek Out and Splurge On Preservation Distillery Very Olde St. Nick Ancient Cask Rye Whiskey: Faith + Conviction Very Olde St. Nick probably deserves a quick thumbnail history: originally created in 1986 by Marci Palatella as luxury releases of sourced, well-aged whiskey for the Japanese marketplace, by the 2010s the brand had gone dormant. In 2020, Palatella would revive the label with a series of limited edition, small batch special releases that have become cult favorites among the American whiskey intelligentsia. This eight year old Indiana rye (from undisclosed distilleries) is oddly not labeled “straight,” and the lofty nomenclature doesn’t exactly have a story to match. “What is an ‘ancient cask’?” “Why is it ‘Faith + Conviction?” Who cares? This is quite good and unique in profile. The nose is packed with berries and dark fruits while the palate leans more towards dried fruits — raisins, prunes, apricots — and just a hint of baking spices. There’s a strong Nutella note in the mid-palate with this robust whiskey moving toward a leathery, woody finish. Average price: $210 Rating: 93 See Review The Spiciest Rye Whiskey Brucato Spirits Crane Cove Rye This is the first whiskey from a California producer that has long focused strictly on amaro. Perhaps that’s why they made a rye that is so incredibly herbal and spicy. This is a blend of just two barrels of 100 percent straight malted rye whiskey distilled in 2017 at Anchor Distilling (home of our #1 rye whiskey of 2025…then later shuttered earlier this year). This 110 proof rye has bite! It’s bursting with a nose of pine, allspice, and ginger leading to a palate that has a distinct Dr. Pepper note that is incredibly delicious. Average price: $99 Rating: 93 See Review The Best of the Rest The Best Rye Whiskeys Under $50 Rye & Sons Straight Rye Whiskey (2024 Vintage) Typically, when a whiskey is priced this reasonably, the offering is packaged with a minimal proof and flavor profile. Not here with this rye from celebrated sommelier, winemaker, and restaurateur André Mack’s brand. Distilled at Castle & Key and bottled by Pinhook Bourbon (more on both, in a sec), this 97.5 proof, high-rye offering gives notes of stone fruit, peppermint, anise seed, allspice, with a peppery finish. Average price: $29 Rating: 92 See Review Pinhook 2026 Straight Rye This year’s vintage from the growing brand is, yet again, distilled at Castle & Key Distillery based on the brand’s custom mash bill. It’s a bold yet drinkable rye, with mint and dill notes backed by caramel, brown sugar, and a lingering oaky finish. Great in cocktails like a Sazerac or Vieux Carré. Average price: $38 Rating: 92 See Review Basil Hayden Golden Rye A rye whiskey for those folks who think Tabasco is “too spicy.” All kidding aside, this low-proof, 100 percent malted rye Jim Beam product is indeed mild and delicate, but there’s a lot to like. Floral with vanilla notes, the palate is coffee cake with a pleasantly sweet finish. Like most Basil Hayden releases, this is a great place for beginners to dip their toes into the category. Average price: $37 Rating: 91 See Review 1792 Straight Rye Coming out of Sazerac’s “other” distillery — Barton 1792 — this is every bit as good as the more ballyhooed ryes from Buffalo Trace. There’s no age statement (though it’s at least four years old) but there’s plenty of maturity here. There’s baking spices and some herbal dill notes, caramel and vanilla, some malty hints, and toasted oak — it’s archetypal Kentucky rye and, at 100 proof, punchy enough for cocktails. Average price: $40 Rating: 93 See Review New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Rye It’s always a treat (and a challenge) when we get to the New Riff portion of our rye tastings as this Northern Kentucky brand might be making the best, and certainly most varied rye releases in the country. And yet, despite the company entering everything

Sponsored Post by the Fiscal Alliance FoundationThe post Video: The High Stakes of Proposal 3 first appeared on Vermont Daily Chronicle.The post Video: The High Stakes of Proposal 3 appeared first on Vermont Daily Chronicle.

With every new addition to the Star Trek franchise, there comes a new captain to shake things up and be compared to legends like Captains Kirk and Picard. One of the biggest challenges new Star Trek TV shows face is creating unique but effective captains and crews, knowing they'll always be held up against the best of the sci-fi universe. Kirk and Picard remain the benchmarks for the best captains because of their complex character development and importance to the series.

It’s a hard time to run a beverage program. Costs are escalating due in part to an unhappy blend of tariffs, supply chain issues, and general inflation. The wholesale sector of the drinks industry is in a tremendous amount of flux following the collapse of Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) over the last year, meaning that keeping steady supply of product is trickier than ever. Add to that concerns over labor costs, a public that keeps hearing that no one drinks any more, and oh yeah, a bewildering array of products and product categories that could easily overwhelm even the most seasoned professional. Yet savvy and experienced buyers and beverage directors are continuing to find ways to navigate the push and pull of excellent hospitality and the realities of business. Strategies abound for dealing with these challenges: some rely on economies of scale, or the ability to store large quantities of product, while others are contingent on knowing your clientele and how to deliver the experience they crave, even when the bottle they want most is either unavailable or has skyrocketed in price. When Prices Soar It’s absolutely not news to anyone that the cost of basically everything in beverage alcohol has increased, often dramatically, over the last half-decade or so. “I cannot sell Premier Cru Burgundy for the same price we could five years ago,” laments Will Jones, wine director at The Hope Farm and Little Bird in Fairhope, Ala. “So for something approachable, I may sell a Hautes-Côtes de Beaune or Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, or this really beautiful Bourgogne Rouge or Bourgogne Blanc.” For the guest who maybe dreamed of a wine from an iconic region but is now suffering from sticker shock, “I can give someone a northern Italian or an Austrian or a German wine with as much of a story as I would for a Grand Cru Burgundy,” explains Felipe de Assis Villela, beverage director at Bluepoint Hospitality Group in Easton, Md. “I could give you a Grand Cru German wine for under $200, or you can get a Grand Cru Burgundy for $1,800, which, I’m not gonna stop you from doing, but that’s not what everyone’s able to do.” While those substitutes can still excite guests, no one is thrilled about paying more and more money for their drinks. That’s compounded by pushing margins or markups ever higher, either because their clientele can and will pay the higher price or in a desperate attempt to wring a bit more profit out of what may be the main profit center of the property. Yet when the price of a bottle of wine, say, has potentially already been bumped up by the producer, the importer, and the distributor, an aggressive restaurant markup of 200-300 percent can be absolutely punishing to guests. “I’m not so obsessed with a percentage mark. That’s a luxury I have in my position,” admits de Assis Villela. A mix of common sense and a desire to actually move certain wines to help him set prices as opposed to pushing prices as high as possible has resulted in a program that maybe doesn’t boast a gaudy profit margin but does serve both guest and restaurant. “I’m still making money, but the percentage may not look like what I had to do on Long Island, which, you know, apologies to all my guests back there,” he says. Buying in Bulk One of the more straightforward ways to be more profitable is to purchase in larger quantities. While different states and different distributors can have wildly different approaches to volume discounts, most of the time if you’re willing to buy a bunch of cases of whatever, you’ll get a much better price. It can also insulate against product shortages, but of course it also requires something that not every restaurant or bar can have: storage space. Being able to place product at multiple different outlets within the same property or even the same city can also make bulk buying more viable. “Sometimes distributors will set up quantity discounts for us,” notes Amanda Reed, director of beverage at E3 Co. Restaurant Group in Seattle. “We’ve gotta buy five cases at a time or 10 cases at a time — that’s usually our limit for storage in [most of our] properties. But if we’re coming up on a really good deal and there is plenty of supply, I might just try to work something out where we commit to X amount, but we’re only gonna bring it in five cases at a time.” Accepting the Limits Part of the challenge is the tremendous upheaval in the wholesale category over the last couple of years. The complete collapse of RNDC from the second-largest beverage wholesaler to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in less than two years has played no small part, with tariffs contributing not just to higher costs but also more challenges getting products into the U.S. in the first place. Time, too, is at a premium, especially in a landscape where beverage professionals are often expected to perform any number of additional administrative and managerial tasks, even when that’s not exactly what attracted them to the job in the first place. “When you first become a buyer, you’re so excited to sit down with reps and get to be this figure of authority,” says Johannus Grevelink, beverage director for José Andrés Group. “The reality is that if you open up my inbox every day, I have 40 to 60 emails from people about their product and how it could be a great fit at José Andrés Group or at one of our outlets with the name spelled wrong. Sifting through all that — I don’t know anyone that could have the time to do that.” Hidden Costs It’s relatively easy to understand much of what drives up prices at restaurants and bars, but there are plenty of less-obvious costs as well. Maintaining consistent placements doesn’t just make life easier for the beverage director or allow for lower prices on the product itself, it cuts down on training and printing costs, too. In an era of ever-increasing labor costs, gathering staff to taste and train on new products is expensive. But that investment — in time, money, and effort — can also help new products thrive, especially in light of the alternative. “If I place a new spirit, I can send an email to a GM who will forward it to the AGM, who can print the tech sheet for pre-shift and talk to the staff about it,” says Grevelink. “Realistically, now that information has come through the supplier to the buyer to the GM to the AGM to maybe like a floor manager who’s doing pre-shift on a Tuesday. My passion for that bottle is not gonna translate.” Regular staff education and training can help move product, of course, but paying that hourly wage across the entire service team has never been so pricey. Menu changes can also come with significant costs. “We don’t print our menus in house, we outsource,” says Reed. “So I have to be really selective about what I choose to put in the cocktails; I confirm that the inventory and availability is gonna be there. Once I’ve designed my cocktails, there’s a lot of back and forth between me and my reps about supply, because I don’t want to have to change one ingredient in the middle of a season when nothing else on the menu needs to be changed.” This, again, is where larger buys (where possible) can come in handy. A program that changes less frequently can get by with less staff education, fewer menu changes, and require less admin time from frequently-overworked beverage directors and other managers. Yet every such person interviewed for this piece bemoaned that they were not able to spend as much time on some of those aspects of the job — staff training and increasing their own product knowledge most of all. Managing Relationships Just as the relationship with the guest is crucial to a great restaurant experience, everyone I spoke to was emphatic that their relationships with producers and suppliers was key to their work, both in terms of quality and in terms of job satisfaction. Cultivating and nourishing them is an active and intentional choice. “When we first opened at the Hope Farm, I was unable to get the large majority of any allocations that I wanted because we didn’t have that history,” says Jones. “Now thankfully, we do. I love meeting new winemakers. I love maintaining our connections with the ones that we love.” For Jones, it’s about far more than just getting access to product or even having something new and exciting to offer to guests. “I’m here to create a relationship with the producer, to host them in town and open a beautiful bottle of wine when they’re here, and to continue to build that relationship.” That kind of relationship also just makes the day-to-day operation of a restaurant smoother. “I’m trying to avoid constantly running out of stuff and having to find a new vendor to fill a placement,” says James Baugh, beverage director for TMC Hospitality. “We want to build a long-term partnership with someone who supports us and has available product for us. And sometimes there’s just days where you blow through some product and it’s nice to have someone you know to ask, ‘hey, can you drop me a couple of things?’” The overwhelming sense from beverage directors right now is that their job involves a consistent fight to keep their heads above water, to make sure that their programs can still meet guest needs while being leaner, more cost-conscious, and more resistant to staff and product turnover than ever before. They’re still passionate and motivated, but they’re also feeling the pressure and struggling to deal with it. The article Beverage Programs Are Under Pressure. These Pros Are Finding Ways to Adapt. appeared first on VinePair.