title: Patrick Peterson

text: On May 16, 2019, the NFL announced that Peterson would be suspended for the first six games of the season for a violation of the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy. He filed an appeal to have the suspension reduced, but he did not win the appeal and the six-game suspension was upheld. This snapped his streak of 8 consecutive Pro Bowls, as per NFL rules, players who receive PED suspensions are ineligible for the Pro Bowl. He was reinstated from suspension on October 14, and was activated on October 19, 2019.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: Peterson made his return from his suspension in week 7 against the New York Giants. In the game, Peterson recorded a strip-sack on Daniel Jones which was recovered by teammate Haason Reddick in the 27-21 win.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: In week 8 against the New Orleans Saints, Peterson recorded his first interception of the season off a pass from Drew Brees in the 31-9 loss.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: In week 15 against the Cleveland Browns, Peterson recorded seven tackles, three passes defended, and intercepted a pass thrown by Baker Mayfield that was intended for Odell Beckham Jr. during the 38–24 win, earning him NFC Defensive Player of the Week.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: In Week 4 against the Carolina Panthers, Peterson recorded his first interception of the season off a pass thrown by Teddy Bridgewater during the 31–21 loss.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: In Week 7 against the Seattle Seahawks, Peterson recorded an interception off a pass thrown by Russell Wilson during the 37–34 overtime win. In Week 10 against the Buffalo Bills, Peterson recorded an interception off a pass thrown by Josh Allen in the 32-30 win. It would turn out to be Peterson's final interception in a Cardinals uniform.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: On March 17, 2021, Peterson signed with the Minnesota Vikings. On April 26, 2021, Peterson announced that he'd be changing his jersey number from 21 to 7. He wore 7 during high school and throughout his college career at LSU. With the change, he became the first player to take advantage of the NFL's new relaxed rules on jersey numbers.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: Peterson entered the 2021 season as a starting cornerback for the Vikings. He started the first six games before suffering a hamstring injury in Week 7. He was placed on injured reserve on October 18, 2021. This is the first time in Peterson's 10-year career that he was forced to miss a game due to injury. He was activated on November 20, 2021.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: On November 13, 2022, Peterson had two interceptions against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in a 33-30 overtime thriller, including an interception to end the game.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: Peterson went by the last name "Johnson" when he signed with LSU but formally changed it to "Peterson" in August 2008. His parents are Patrick and Shandra Peterson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is a relative of NFL players Bryant McFadden, Walter McFadden, Sinorice Moss and Santana Moss (his maternal cousins) and Zack Moss (his second cousin).


title: Patrick Peterson

text: Peterson's younger brother, Avery Johnson (who also changed his last name to "Peterson"), was a member of the "ESPNU" 150 Watch List in 2012.


title: Patrick Peterson

text: Peterson lives in Scottsdale with his wife Antonique, a physician. The couple have two children. Peterson revealed he had type two diabetes in 2015.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Playa del Carmen, known colloquially as 'Playa', is a resort city located along the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is part of the municipality of Solidaridad. As of 2020, the city's population was just over 300,000 people, a small yet thriving portion of which are foreign expats.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Playa del Carmen is a popular tourist destination in Mexico's Riviera Maya region. Its current growth rate is set at 25% per year. According to the Guinness World Records, it one of Latin America’s fastest growing communities. In 2016, the city was the tenth most popular international travel destination for U.S travelers, and over a million tourists passed through the city a year later. The main airport for Playa is the Cancún International Airport, which is around 70 km away. This airport ranks tenth in terms of international passengers worldwide and is the second busiest in Mexico behind Mexico City.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: The area is known for its white sand beaches, blue turquoise waters, coral reefs, surrounding rainforests, and balnearios. The downtown area of the city revolves around , a busy pedestrian thoroughfare lined with many shops, clubs, and restaurants. The weather is hot year-round, with the summer and winter breaks being peak season for tourism.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Playa del Carmen is located within the Riviera Maya, which runs from south of Cancún to Tulum and the Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve. Playa is a stop for several cruise ships which dock at the nearby Calica quarry docks, about six miles (10 km) south of the city. The Xcaret Eco Park, a Mexican-themed "eco-archaeological park", is a popular tourist destination located just south of the town in Xcaret (pronounced "ish-kar-et").


title: Playa del Carmen

text: In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma passed directly over Playa del Carmen, remaining in the vicinity for two days and causing significant damage and a temporary drop in tourist arrivals. Most of the damage was relatively superficial and repaired within a few weeks of the storm. Hurricane Wilma arrived from the Caribbean Sea, passing over Cozumel before making landfall in Playa del Carmen. It then moved north along the Mexican coast, hitting Cancún especially hard.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Playa del Carmen has a tropical savannah climate (Aw) with June to November receiving most of the precipitation. Summers are hot and year round with warm nights. Cold temperatures are unheard of because of the tropical influence of the Caribbean Sea.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Originally a small fishing town, tourism to Playa del Carmen began with the passenger ferry service to Cozumel, an island across the Cozumel Channel and a world-famous scuba diving destination.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Playa del Carmen has recently undergone extremely rapid development with new luxury residential condominium buildings, restaurants, boutiques, and entertainment venues. Tourist activity in Playa del Carmen centers on Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue, which stretches from Calle 1 norte to Calle 40. A pedestrian walkway located just one or two blocks inland from the beach, Fifth Avenue is lined with hundreds of shops, bars, and restaurants. There are many small boutique hotels on and just off Fifth Avenue and on the beach.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: Playacar is a residential and tourist development in Playa del Carmen just south of the main urban area. Most of the all-inclusive hotels, the aviary, and the golf course are located in this development. There are two phases – phase 1 is mostly residential with a few hotels and some stores, while phase 2 contains the largest all-inclusive resorts as well as the golf course and a significant number of residential properties.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: The city is home to Inter Playa del Carmen, an association football club founded in 1999, which competes in the south group of the Segunda División Profesional, the third tier of Mexican football league system.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: The World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba is a PGA Tour FedEx Cup golf tournament held at El Camaleón Golf Club since 2007. Since 2013, it has been a full-points tournament where the winner earns full rights for a PGA TOUR win.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: On January 21, 2022, a tourist opened fire at the Xcaret all-inclusive hotel, killing two Canadians and wounding one other.


title: Playa del Carmen

text: The telenovela "Peregrina" takes place in Playa del Carmen. The "Real Housewives of Vancouver" featured Playa del Carmen in two episodes. "The Amazing Race" was shot on location in Playa del Carmen. "The Celebrity Mole" was set in the Playa del Carmen area. UK reality series "Geordie Shore" featured Playa del Carmen. It was also seen in "Spies in Disguise".


title: Herbal medicine

text: Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies, such as the anti-malarial group of drugs called artemisinin isolated from "Artemisia annua", a herb that was known in Chinese medicine to treat fever. There is limited scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of plants used in 21st century herbalism, which generally does not provide standards for purity or dosage. The scope of herbal medicine commonly includes fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts. Herbal medicine is also called phytomedicine or phytotherapy.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Paraherbalism describes alternative and pseudoscientific practices of using unrefined plant or animal extracts as unproven medicines or health-promoting agents. Paraherbalism relies on the belief that preserving various substances from a given source with less processing is safer or more effective than manufactured products, a concept for which there is no evidence.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of medicinal plants dates back to the Paleolithic age, approximately 60,000 years ago. Written evidence of herbal remedies dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumerians, who compiled lists of plants. Some ancient cultures wrote about plants and their medical uses in books called "herbals". In ancient Egypt, herbs are mentioned in Egyptian medical papyri, depicted in tomb illustrations, or on rare occasions found in medical jars containing trace amounts of herbs. In ancient Egypt, the Ebers papyrus dates from about 1550 BC, and covers more than 700 compounds, mainly of plant origin. The earliest known Greek herbals came from Theophrastus of Eresos who, in the 4th century BC, wrote in Greek "Historia Plantarum", from Diocles of Carystus who wrote during the 3rd century BC, and from Krateuas who wrote in the 1st century BC. Only a few fragments of these works have survived intact, but from what remains, scholars noted overlap with the Egyptian herbals. Seeds likely used for herbalism were found in archaeological sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC). Over a hundred of the 224 compounds mentioned in the "Huangdi Neijing", an early Chinese medical text, are herbs. Herbs were also commonly used in the traditional medicine of ancient India, where the principal treatment for diseases was diet. "De Materia Medica", originally written in Greek by Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40–90 AD) of Anazarbus, Cilicia, a physician and botanist, is one example of herbal writing used over centuries until the 1600s.


title: Herbal medicine

text: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Some prescription drugs have a basis as herbal remedies, including artemisinin, digitalis, quinine and taxanes.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In 2015, the Australian Government's Department of Health published the results of a review of alternative therapies that sought to determine if any were suitable for being covered by health insurance; herbalism was one of 17 topics evaluated for which no clear evidence of effectiveness was found. Establishing guidelines to assess safety and efficacy of herbal products, the European Medicines Agency provided criteria in 2017 for evaluating and grading the quality of clinical research in preparing monographs about herbal products. In the United States, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health funds clinical trials on herbal compounds, provides fact sheets evaluating the safety, potential effectiveness and side effects of many plant sources, and maintains a registry of clinical research conducted on herbal products.


title: Herbal medicine

text: According to Cancer Research UK as of 2015, "there is currently no strong evidence from studies in people that herbal remedies can treat, prevent or cure cancer".


title: Herbal medicine

text: The use of herbal remedies is more prevalent in people with chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, and end-stage kidney disease. Multiple factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, education and social class are also shown to have association with prevalence of herbal remedies use.


title: Herbal medicine

text: There are many forms in which herbs can be administered, the most common of which is a liquid consumed as a herbal tea or a (possibly diluted) plant extract.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Herbal teas, or tisanes, are the resultant liquid of extracting herbs into water, though they are made in a few different ways. Infusions are hot water extracts of herbs, such as chamomile or mint, through steeping. Decoctions are the long-term boiled extracts, usually of harder substances like roots or bark. Maceration is the cold infusion of plants with high mucilage-content, such as sage or thyme. To make macerates, plants are chopped and added to cold water. They are then left to stand for 7 to 12 hours (depending on herb used). For most macerates, 10 hours is used.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Tinctures are alcoholic extracts of herbs, which are generally stronger than herbal teas. Tinctures are usually obtained by combining pure ethanol (or a mixture of pure ethanol with water) with the herb. A completed tincture has an ethanol percentage of at least 25% (sometimes up to 90%). Non-alcoholic tinctures can be made with glycerin but it is believed to be less absorbed by the body than alcohol based tinctures and has a shorter shelf life. Herbal wine and elixirs are alcoholic extract of herbs, usually with an ethanol percentage of 12–38%. Extracts include liquid extracts, dry extracts, and nebulisates. Liquid extracts are liquids with a lower ethanol percentage than tinctures. They are usually made by vacuum distilling tinctures. Dry extracts are extracts of plant material that are evaporated into a dry mass. They can then be further refined to a capsule or tablet.


title: Herbal medicine

text: The exact composition of an herbal product is influenced by the method of extraction. A tea will be rich in polar components because water is a polar solvent. Oil on the other hand is a non-polar solvent and it will absorb non-polar compounds. Alcohol lies somewhere in between.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Many herbs are applied topically to the skin in a variety of forms. Essential oil extracts can be applied to the skin, usually diluted in a carrier oil. Many essential oils can burn the skin or are simply too high dose used straight; diluting them in olive oil or another food grade oil such as almond oil can allow these to be used safely as a topical. Salves, oils, balms, creams, and lotions are other forms of topical delivery mechanisms. Most topical applications are oil extractions of herbs. Taking a food grade oil and soaking herbs in it for anywhere from weeks to months allows certain phytochemicals to be extracted into the oil. This oil can then be made into salves, creams, lotions, or simply used as an oil for topical application. Many massage oils, antibacterial salves, and wound healing compounds are made this way.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Consumption of herbs may cause adverse effects. Furthermore, "adulteration, inappropriate formulation, or lack of understanding of plant and drug interactions have led to adverse reactions that are sometimes life threatening or lethal." Proper double-blind clinical trials are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of each plant before medical use.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Although many consumers believe that herbal medicines are safe because they are natural, herbal medicines and synthetic drugs may interact, causing toxicity to the consumer. Herbal remedies can also be dangerously contaminated, and herbal medicines without established efficacy, may unknowingly be used to replace prescription medicines.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Standardization of purity and dosage is not mandated in the United States, but even products made to the same specification may differ as a result of biochemical variations within a species of plant. Plants have chemical defense mechanisms against predators that can have adverse or lethal effects on humans. Examples of highly toxic herbs include poison hemlock and nightshade. They are not marketed to the public as herbs, because the risks are well known, partly due to a long and colorful history in Europe, associated with "sorcery", "magic" and intrigue. Although not frequent, adverse reactions have been reported for herbs in widespread use. On occasion serious untoward outcomes have been linked to herb consumption. A case of major potassium depletion has been attributed to chronic licorice ingestion, and consequently professional herbalists avoid the use of licorice where they recognize that this may be a risk. Black cohosh has been implicated in a case of liver failure.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Few studies are available on the safety of herbs for pregnant women, and one study found that use of complementary and alternative medicines are associated with a 30% lower ongoing pregnancy and live birth rate during fertility treatment.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Examples of herbal treatments with likely cause-effect relationships with adverse events include aconite (which is often a legally restricted herb), Ayurvedic remedies, broom, chaparral, Chinese herb mixtures, comfrey, herbs containing certain flavonoids, germander, guar gum, liquorice root, and pennyroyal. Examples of herbs that may have long-term adverse effects include ginseng, the endangered herb goldenseal, milk thistle, senna (against which herbalists generally advise and rarely use), aloe vera juice, buckthorn bark and berry, cascara sagrada bark, saw palmetto, valerian, kava (which is banned in the European Union), St. John's wort, khat, betel nut, the restricted herb ephedra, and guarana.


title: Herbal medicine

text: There is also concern with respect to the numerous well-established interactions of herbs and drugs. In consultation with a physician, usage of herbal remedies should be clarified, as some herbal remedies have the potential to cause adverse drug interactions when used in combination with various prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, just as a customer should inform a herbalist of their consumption of actual prescription and other medication.


title: Herbal medicine

text: For example, dangerously low blood pressure may result from the combination of an herbal remedy that lowers blood pressure together with prescription medicine that has the same effect. Some herbs may amplify the effects of anticoagulants.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Certain herbs as well as common fruit interfere with cytochrome P450, an enzyme critical to much drug metabolism.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In a 2018 study, FDA identified active pharmaceutical additives in over 700 of analyzed dietary supplements sold as "herbal", "natural" or "traditional". The undisclosed additives included "unapproved antidepressants and designer steroids", as well as prescription drugs, such as sildenafil or sibutramine.


title: Herbal medicine

text: A 2013 study found that one-third of herbal supplements sampled contained no trace of the herb listed on the label. The study found products adulterated with contaminants or fillers not listed on the label, including potential allergens such as soy, wheat, or black walnut. One bottle labeled as St. John's wort was found to actually contain "Alexandrian senna", a laxative.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Researchers at the University of Adelaide found in 2014 that almost 20 percent of herbal remedies surveyed were not registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration, despite this being a condition for their sale. They also found that nearly 60 percent of products surveyed had ingredients that did not match what was on the label. Out of 121 products, only 15 had ingredients that matched their TGA listing and packaging.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In 2015, the New York Attorney General issued cease and desist letters to four major U.S. retailers (GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart) who were accused of selling herbal supplements that were mislabeled and potentially dangerous. Twenty-four products were tested by DNA barcoding as part of the investigation, with all but five containing DNA that did not match the product labels.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In some countries, formalized training and minimum education standards exist for herbalists, although these are not necessarily uniform within or between countries. In Australia, for example, the self-regulated status of the profession (as of 2009) resulted in variable standards of training, and numerous loosely formed associations setting different educational standards. One 2009 review concluded that regulation of herbalists in Australia was needed to reduce the risk of interaction of herbal medicines with prescription drugs, to implement clinical guidelines and prescription of herbal products, and to assure self-regulation for protection of public health and safety. In the United Kingdom, the training of herbalists is done by state-funded universities offering Bachelor of Science degrees in herbal medicine. In the United States, according to the American Herbalist Guild, "there is currently no licensing or certification for herbalists in any state that precludes the rights of anyone to use, dispense, or recommend herbs." However, there are U.S. federal restrictions for marketing herbs as cures for medical conditions, or essentially practicing as an unlicensed physician.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Over the years 2017–21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to numerous herbalism companies for illegally marketing products under "conditions that cause them to be drugs under section 201(g)(1) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)], because they are intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease and/or intended to affect the structure or any function of the body" when no such evidence existed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA and U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued warnings to several hundred American companies for promoting false claims that herbal products could prevent or treat COVID-19 disease.


title: Herbal medicine

text: The World Health Organization (WHO), the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health, published "Quality control methods for medicinal plant materials" in 1998 to support WHO Member States in establishing quality standards and specifications for herbal materials, within the overall context of quality assurance and control of herbal medicines.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In the European Union (EU), herbal medicines are regulated under the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In the United States, herbal remedies are regulated dietary supplements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) policy for dietary supplements. Manufacturers of products falling into this category are not required to prove the safety or efficacy of their product so long as they do not make 'medical' claims or imply uses other than as a 'dietary supplement', though the FDA may withdraw a product from sale should it prove harmful.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Canadian regulations are described by the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate which requires an eight-digit Natural Product Number or Homeopathic Medicine Number on the label of licensed herbal medicines or dietary supplements.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Some herbs, such as cannabis and coca, are outright banned in most countries though coca is legal in most of the South American countries where it is grown. The "Cannabis" plant is used as an herbal medicine, and as such is legal in some parts of the world. Since 2004, the sales of ephedra as a dietary supplement is prohibited in the United States by the FDA, and subject to Schedule III restrictions in the United Kingdom.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Herbalism has been criticized as a potential "minefield" of unreliable product quality, safety hazards, and potential for misleading health advice. Globally, there are no standards across various herbal products to authenticate their contents, safety or efficacy, and there is generally an absence of high-quality scientific research on product composition or effectiveness for anti-disease activity. Presumed claims of therapeutic benefit from herbal products, without rigorous evidence of efficacy and safety, receive skeptical views by scientists.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Unethical practices by some herbalists and manufacturers, which may include false advertising about health benefits on product labels or literature, and contamination or use of fillers during product preparation, may erode consumer confidence about services and products.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Paraherbalism is the pseudoscientific use of extracts of plant or animal origin as supposed medicines or health-promoting agents. Phytotherapy differs from plant-derived medicines in standard pharmacology because it does not isolate and standardize the compounds from a given plant believed to be biologically active. It relies on the false belief that preserving the complexity of substances from a given plant with less processing is safer and potentially more effective, for which there is no evidence either condition applies.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Phytochemical researcher Varro Eugene Tyler described paraherbalism as "faulty or inferior herbalism based on pseudoscience", using scientific terminology but lacking scientific evidence for safety and efficacy. Tyler listed ten fallacies that distinguished herbalism from paraherbalism, including claims that there is a conspiracy to suppress safe and effective herbs, herbs can not cause harm, that whole herbs are more effective than molecules isolated from the plants, herbs are superior to drugs, the doctrine of signatures (the belief that the shape of the plant indicates its function) is valid, dilution of substances increases their potency (a doctrine of the pseudoscience of homeopathy), astrological alignments are significant, animal testing is not appropriate to indicate human effects, anecdotal evidence is an effective means of proving a substance works and herbs were created by God to cure disease. Tyler suggests that none of these beliefs have any basis in fact.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Native Americans used about 2,500 of the approximately 20,000 plant species that are native to North America.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In Andean healing practices, the use of Entheogens, in particular the San Pedro cactus ("Echinopsis pachanoi") is still a vital component, and has been around for millennia.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Some researchers trained in both Western and traditional Chinese medicine have attempted to deconstruct ancient medical texts in the light of modern science. In 1972, Tu Youyou, a pharmaceutical chemist, extracted the anti-malarial drug artemisinin from sweet wormwood, a traditional Chinese treatment for intermittent fevers.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In India, Ayurvedic medicine has quite complex formulas with 30 or more ingredients, including a sizable number of ingredients that have undergone "alchemical processing", chosen to balance dosha. In Ladakh, Lahul-Spiti, and Tibet, the Tibetan Medical System is prevalent, also called the "Amichi Medical System". Over 337 species of medicinal plants have been documented by C.P. Kala. Those are used by Amchis, the practitioners of this medical system. The Indian book, Vedas, mentions treatment of diseases with plants.


title: Herbal medicine

text: In Indonesia, especially among the Javanese, the jamu traditional herbal medicine may have originated in the Mataram Kingdom era, some 1300 years ago. The bas-reliefs on Borobudur depict the image of people grinding herbs with stone mortar and pestle, a drink seller, an herbalist, and masseuse treating people. The Madhawapura inscription from Majapahit period mentioned a specific profession of herbs mixer and combiner (herbalist), called "Acaraki". The book from Mataram dated from circa 1700 contains 3,000 entries of jamu herbal recipes, while Javanese classical literature Serat Centhini (1814) describes some jamu herbal concoction recipes.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Though possibly influenced by Indian Ayurveda systems, the Indonesia archipelago holds numerous indigenous plants not found in India, including plants similar to those in Australia beyond the Wallace Line. Jamu practices may vary from region to region, and are often not recorded, especially in remote areas of the country. Although primarily herbal, some Jamu materials are acquired from animals, such as honey, royal jelly, milk, and "Ayam Kampung" eggs.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Herbalists tend to use extracts from parts of plants, such as the roots or leaves, believing that plants are subject to environmental pressures and therefore develop resistance to threats such as radiation, reactive oxygen species and microbial attack to survive, providing defensive phytochemicals of use in herbalism.


title: Herbal medicine

text: Indigenous healers often claim to have learned by observing that sick animals change their food preferences to nibble at bitter herbs they would normally reject. Field biologists have provided corroborating evidence based on observation of diverse species, such as chickens, sheep, butterflies, and chimpanzees. The habit of changing diet has been shown to be a physical means of purging intestinal parasites. Sick animals tend to forage plants rich in secondary metabolites, such as tannins and alkaloids.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds. Selective herbicides control specific weed species, while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed, while non-selective herbicides (sometimes called total weedkillers in commercial products) can be used to clear waste ground, industrial and construction sites, railways and railway embankments as they kill all plant material with which they come into contact. Apart from selective/non-selective, other important distinctions include "persistence" (also known as "residual action": how long the product stays in place and remains active), "means of uptake" (whether it is absorbed by above-ground foliage only, through the roots, or by other means), and "mechanism of action" (how it works). Historically, products such as common salt and other metal salts were used as herbicides, however these have gradually fallen out of favor and in some countries a number of these are banned due to their persistence in soil, and toxicity and groundwater contamination concerns. Herbicides have also been used in warfare and conflict.


title: Herbicide

text: Modern herbicides are often synthetic mimics of natural plant hormones which interfere with growth of the target plants. The term organic herbicide has come to mean herbicides intended for organic farming. Some plants also produce their own natural herbicides, such as the genus "Juglans" (walnuts), or the tree of heaven; such action of natural herbicides, and other related chemical interactions, is called allelopathy. Due to herbicide resistance – a major concern in agriculture – a number of products combine herbicides with different means of action. Integrated pest management may use herbicides alongside other pest control methods.


title: Herbicide

text: In the United States in 2012, about 91% of all herbicide usage, determined by weight applied, was in agriculture. In 2012, world pesticide expenditures totaled nearly $24.7 billion; herbicides were about 44% of those sales and constituted the biggest portion, followed by insecticides, fungicides, and fumigants. Herbicide is also used in forestry, where certain formulations have been found to suppress hardwood varieties in favor of conifers after clearcutting, as well as pasture systems, and management of areas set aside as wildlife habitat.


title: Herbicide

text: Prior to the widespread use of herbicides, cultural controls, such as altering soil pH, salinity, or fertility levels, were used to control weeds. Mechanical control (including tillage) was also (and still is) used to control weeds.


title: Herbicide

text: Although research into herbicides began in the early 20th century, the first major breakthrough was the result of research conducted in both the United Kingdom and the United States during the Second World War into the potential use of herbicides in war. The first modern herbicide, 2,4-D, was first discovered and synthesized by W. G. Templeman at Imperial Chemical Industries. In 1940, he showed that "Growth substances applied appropriately would kill certain broad-leaved weeds in cereals without harming the crops." By 1941, his team succeeded in synthesizing the chemical. In the same year, R. Pokorny in the US achieved this as well.


title: Herbicide

text: Independently, a team under Juda Hirsch Quastel, working at the Rothamsted Experimental Station made the same discovery. Quastel was tasked by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) to discover methods for improving crop yield. By analyzing soil as a dynamic system, rather than an inert substance, he was able to apply techniques such as perfusion. Quastel was able to quantify the influence of various plant hormones, inhibitors and other chemicals on the activity of microorganisms in the soil and assess their direct impact on plant growth. While the full work of the unit remained secret, certain discoveries were developed for commercial use after the war, including the 2,4-D compound.


title: Herbicide

text: When 2,4-D was commercially released in 1946, it triggered a worldwide revolution in agricultural output and became the first successful selective herbicide. It allowed for greatly enhanced weed control in wheat, maize (corn), rice, and similar cereal grass crops, because it kills dicots (broadleaf plants), but not most monocots (grasses). The low cost of 2,4-D has led to continued usage today, and it remains one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world. Like other acid herbicides, current formulations use either an amine salt (often trimethylamine) or one of many esters of the parent compound. These are easier to handle than the acid.


title: Herbicide

text: The triazine family of herbicides, which includes atrazine, were introduced in the 1950s; they have the current distinction of being the herbicide family of greatest concern regarding groundwater contamination. Atrazine does not break down readily (within a few weeks) after being applied to soils of above neutral pH. Under alkaline soil conditions, atrazine may be carried into the soil profile as far as the water table by soil water following rainfall causing the aforementioned contamination. Atrazine is thus said to have "carryover", a generally undesirable property for herbicides.


title: Herbicide

text: Glyphosate (Roundup) was introduced in 1974 for nonselective weed control. Following the development of glyphosate-resistant crop plants, it is now used very extensively for selective weed control in growing crops. The pairing of the herbicide with the resistant seed contributed to the consolidation of the seed and chemistry industry in the late 1990s.


title: Herbicide

text: Many modern herbicides used in agriculture and gardening are specifically formulated to decompose within a short period after application. This is desirable, as it allows crops and plants to be planted afterwards, which could otherwise be affected by the herbicide. However, herbicides with low residual activity (i.e., that decompose quickly) often do not provide season-long weed control and do not ensure that weed roots are killed beneath construction and paving (and cannot emerge destructively in years to come), therefore there remains a role for weedkiller with high levels of persistence in the soil.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicides are classified/grouped in various ways; for example, according to the activity, timing of application, method of application, mechanism of action, chemical family. This gives rise to a considerable level of terminology related to herbicides and their use.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicides are often classified according to their site of action, because as a general rule, herbicides within the same site of action class will produce similar symptoms on susceptible plants. Classification based on site of action of the herbicide is preferable as herbicide resistance management can be handled more effectively. Classification by mechanism of action (MOA) indicates the first enzyme, protein, or biochemical step affected in the plant following application.


title: Herbicide

text: One of the most important methods for preventing, delaying, or managing resistance is to reduce the reliance on a single herbicide mode of action. To do this, farmers must know the mode of action for the herbicides they intend to use, but the relatively complex nature of plant biochemistry makes this difficult to determine. Attempts were made to simplify the understanding of herbicide mode of action by developing a classification system that grouped herbicides by mode of action. Eventually the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) and the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) developed a classification system. The WSSA and HRAC systems differ in the group designation. Groups in the WSSA and the HRAC systems are designated by numbers and letters, respectively. The goal for adding the “Group” classification and mode of action to the herbicide product label is to provide a simple and practical approach to deliver the information to users. This information will make it easier to develop educational material that is consistent and effective. It should increase user's awareness of herbicide mode of action and provide more accurate recommendations for resistance management. Another goal is to make it easier for users to keep records on which herbicide mode of actions are being used on a particular field from year to year.


title: Herbicide

text: Detailed investigations on the chemical structure of active ingredients of the registered herbicides showed that some moieties (moiety is a part of a molecule that may include either whole functional groups or parts of functional groups as substructures; a functional group has similar chemical properties whenever it occurs in different compounds) have the same mechanisms of action. According to Forouzesh "et al". 2015, these moieties have been assigned to the names of chemical families and active ingredients are then classified within the chemical families accordingly. Knowing about herbicide chemical family grouping could serve as a short-term strategy for managing resistance to site of action.<ref name="10.4141/P05-193"></ref>


title: Herbicide

text: Most herbicides are applied as water-based sprays using ground equipment. Ground equipment varies in design, but large areas can be sprayed using self-propelled sprayers equipped with long booms, of with spray nozzles spaced every apart. Towed, handheld, and even horse-drawn sprayers are also used. On large areas, herbicides may also at times be applied aerially using helicopters or airplanes, or through irrigation systems (known as chemigation).


title: Herbicide

text: A further method of herbicide application developed around 2010, involves ridding the soil of its active weed seed bank rather than just killing the weed. This can successfully treat annual plants but not perennials. Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service found that the application of herbicides to fields late in the weeds' growing season greatly reduces their seed production, and therefore fewer weeds will return the following season. Because most weeds are annuals, their seeds will only survive in soil for a year or two, so this method will be able to destroy such weeds after a few years of herbicide application.


title: Herbicide

text: Weed-wiping may also be used, where a wick wetted with herbicide is suspended from a boom and dragged or rolled across the tops of the taller weed plants. This allows treatment of taller grassland weeds by direct contact without affecting related but desirable shorter plants in the grassland sward beneath. The method has the benefit of avoiding spray drift. In Wales, a scheme offering free weed-wiper hire was launched in 2015 in an effort to reduce the levels of MCPA in water courses.


title: Herbicide

text: There is little difference in forestry in the early growth stages, when the height similarities between growing trees and growing annual crops yields a similar problem with weed competition. Unlike with annuals however, application is mostly unnecessary thereafter and is thus mostly used to decrease the delay between productive economic cycles of lumber crops.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicide volatilisation or spray drift may result in herbicide affecting neighboring fields or plants, particularly in windy conditions. Sometimes, the wrong field or plants may be sprayed due to error.


title: Herbicide

text: Although herbicidal warfare uses chemical substances, its main purpose is to disrupt agricultural food production and/or to destroy plants which provide cover or concealment to the enemy. During the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960), the British military deployed herbicides and defoliants in the Malaysian countryside (including crop fields) in order to deprive Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) insurgents of cover, potential sources of food and to flush them out of the jungle. Deployment of herbicides and defoliants served the dual purpose of thinning jungle trails to prevent ambushes and destroying crop fields in regions where the MNLA was active to deprive them of potential sources of food. Herbicides and defoliants were also sprayed from Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft. The use of herbicides as a chemical weapon by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War has left tangible, long-term impacts upon the Vietnamese people and U.S soldiers that handled the chemicals. More than 20% of South Vietnam's forests, and 3.2% of its cultivated land were sprayed at least once between during the war. The government of Vietnam says that up to four million people in Vietnam were exposed to the defoliant, and as many as three million people have suffered illness because of Agent Orange, while the Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to one million people were disabled or have health problems as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. The United States government has described these figures as unreliable.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicides have widely variable toxicity in addition to acute toxicity arising from ingestion of a significant quantity rapidly, and chronic toxicity arising from environmental and occupational exposure over long periods. Much public suspicion of herbicides revolves around a confusion between valid statements of "acute" toxicity as opposed to equally valid statements of lack of "chronic" toxicity at the recommended levels of usage. For instance, while glyphosate formulations with tallowamine "adjuvants" are acutely toxic, their use was found to be uncorrelated with any health issues like cancer in a massive US Department of Health study on 90,000 members of farmer families for over a period of 23 years. That is, the study shows lack of chronic toxicity, but cannot question the herbicide's acute toxicity.


title: Herbicide

text: Some herbicides cause a range of health effects ranging from skin rashes to death. The pathway of attack can arise from intentional or unintentional direct consumption, improper application resulting in the herbicide coming into direct contact with people or wildlife, inhalation of aerial sprays, or food consumption prior to the labelled preharvest interval. Under some conditions, certain herbicides can be transported via leaching or surface runoff to contaminate groundwater or distant surface water sources. Generally, the conditions that promote herbicide transport include intense storm events (particularly shortly after application) and soils with limited capacity to adsorb or retain the herbicides. Herbicide properties that increase likelihood of transport include persistence (resistance to degradation) and high water solubility.


title: Herbicide

text: Phenoxy herbicides are often contaminated with dioxins such as TCDD; research has suggested such contamination results in a small rise in cancer risk after occupational exposure to these herbicides. Triazine exposure has been implicated in a likely relationship to increased risk of breast cancer, although a causal relationship remains unclear.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicide manufacturers have at times made false or misleading claims about the safety of their products. Chemical manufacturer Monsanto Company agreed to change its advertising after pressure from New York attorney general Dennis Vacco; Vacco complained about misleading claims that its spray-on glyphosate-based herbicides, including Roundup, were safer than table salt and "practically non-toxic" to mammals, birds, and fish (though proof that this was ever said is hard to find). Roundup is toxic and has resulted in death after being ingested in quantities ranging from 85 to 200 ml, although it has also been ingested in quantities as large as 500 ml with only mild or moderate symptoms. The manufacturer of Tordon 101 (Dow AgroSciences, owned by the Dow Chemical Company) has claimed Tordon 101 has no effects on animals and insects, in spite of evidence of strong carcinogenic activity of the active ingredient, picloram, in studies on rats.


title: Herbicide

text: The risk of Parkinson's disease has been shown to increase with occupational exposure to herbicides and pesticides. The herbicide paraquat is suspected to be one such factor.


title: Herbicide

text: All commercially sold, organic and non-organic herbicides must be extensively tested prior to approval for sale and labeling by the Environmental Protection Agency. However, because of the large number of herbicides in use, concern regarding health effects is significant. In addition to health effects caused by herbicides themselves, commercial herbicide mixtures often contain other chemicals, including inactive ingredients, which have negative impacts on human health.


title: Herbicide

text: Commercial herbicide use generally has negative impacts on bird populations, although the impacts are highly variable and often require field studies to predict accurately. Laboratory studies have at times overestimated negative impacts on birds due to toxicity, predicting serious problems that were not observed in the field. Most observed effects are due not to toxicity, but to habitat changes and the decreases in abundance of species on which birds rely for food or shelter. Herbicide use in silviculture, used to favor certain types of growth following clearcutting, can cause significant drops in bird populations. Even when herbicides which have low toxicity to birds are used, they decrease the abundance of many types of vegetation on which the birds rely. Herbicide use in agriculture in the UK has been linked to a decline in seed-eating bird species which rely on the weeds killed by the herbicides. Heavy use of herbicides in neotropical agricultural areas has been one of many factors implicated in limiting the usefulness of such agricultural land for wintering migratory birds.


title: Herbicide

text: Frog populations may be affected negatively by the use of herbicides as well. While some studies have shown that atrazine may be a teratogen, causing demasculinization in male frogs, the EPA and its independent Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) examined all available studies on this topic and concluded that "atrazine does not adversely affect amphibian gonadal development based on a review of laboratory and field studies."


title: Herbicide

text: The health and environmental effects of many herbicides is unknown, and even the scientific community often disagrees on the risk. For example, a 1995 panel of 13 scientists reviewing studies on the carcinogenicity of 2,4-D had divided opinions on the likelihood 2,4-D causes cancer in humans. , studies on phenoxy herbicides were too few to accurately assess the risk of many types of cancer from these herbicides, even though evidence was stronger that exposure to these herbicides is associated with increased risk of soft tissue sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Furthermore, there is some suggestion that herbicides, as atrazine, can play a role in sex reversal of certain organisms that experience temperature-dependent sex determination, which could theoretically alter sex ratios.


title: Herbicide

text: Weed resistance to herbicides has become a major concern in crop production worldwide.<ref name="10.1111/wre.12153"></ref> Resistance to herbicides is often attributed to lack of rotational programmes of herbicides and to continuous applications of herbicides with the same sites of action. Thus, a true understanding of the sites of action of herbicides is essential for strategic planning of herbicide-based weed control.


title: Herbicide

text: Plants have developed resistance to atrazine and to ALS-inhibitors, and more recently, to glyphosate herbicides. Marestail is one weed that has developed glyphosate resistance. Glyphosate-resistant weeds are present in the vast majority of soybean, cotton and corn farms in some U.S. states. Weeds that can resist multiple other herbicides are spreading. Few new herbicides are near commercialization, and none with a molecular mode of action for which there is no resistance. Because most herbicides could not kill all weeds, farmers rotate crops and herbicides to stop the development of resistant weeds. During its initial years, glyphosate was not subject to resistance and allowed farmers to reduce the use of rotation.


title: Herbicide

text: A family of weeds that includes waterhemp ("Amaranthus rudis") is the largest concern. A 2008–2009 survey of 144 populations of waterhemp in 41 Missouri counties revealed glyphosate resistance in 69%. Weeds from some 500 sites throughout Iowa in 2011 and 2012 revealed glyphosate resistance in approximately 64% of waterhemp samples. The use of other killers to target "residual" weeds has become common, and may be sufficient to have stopped the spread of resistance From 2005 through 2010 researchers discovered 13 different weed species that had developed resistance to glyphosate. But since then only two more have been discovered. Weeds resistant to multiple herbicides with completely different biological action modes are on the rise. In Missouri, 43% of samples were resistant to two different herbicides; 6% resisted three; and 0.5% resisted four. In Iowa 89% of waterhemp samples resist two or more herbicides, 25% resist three, and 10% resist five.


title: Herbicide

text: For southern cotton, herbicide costs has climbed from between $50 and $75 per hectare a few years ago to about $370 per hectare in 2013. Resistance is contributing to a massive shift away from growing cotton; over the past few years, the area planted with cotton has declined by 70% in Arkansas and by 60% in Tennessee. For soybeans in Illinois, costs have risen from about $25 to $160 per hectare.


title: Herbicide

text: As of 2013, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, and Monsanto were all developing seed varieties resistant to herbicides other than glyphosate, which will make it easier for farmers to use alternative weed killers. Even though weeds have already evolved some resistance to those herbicides, Powles says the new seed-and-herbicide combos should work well if used with proper rotation.


title: Herbicide

text: Worldwide experience has been that farmers tend to do little to prevent herbicide resistance developing, and only take action when it is a problem on their own farm or neighbor's. Careful observation is important so that any reduction in herbicide efficacy can be detected. This may indicate evolving resistance. It is vital that resistance is detected at an early stage as if it becomes an acute, whole-farm problem, options are more limited and greater expense is almost inevitable. Table 1 lists factors which enable the risk of resistance to be assessed. An essential pre-requisite for confirmation of resistance is a good diagnostic test. Ideally this should be rapid, accurate, cheap and accessible. Many diagnostic tests have been developed, including glasshouse pot assays, petri dish assays and chlorophyll fluorescence. A key component of such tests is that the response of the suspect population to a herbicide can be compared with that of known susceptible and resistant standards under controlled conditions. Most cases of herbicide resistance are a consequence of the repeated use of herbicides, often in association with crop monoculture and reduced cultivation practices. It is necessary, therefore, to modify these practices in order to prevent or delay the onset of resistance or to control existing resistant populations. A key objective should be the reduction in selection pressure. An integrated weed management (IWM) approach is required, in which as many tactics as possible are used to combat weeds. In this way, less reliance is placed on herbicides and so selection pressure should be reduced.


title: Herbicide

text: Optimising herbicide input to the economic threshold level should avoid the unnecessary use of herbicides and reduce selection pressure. Herbicides should be used to their greatest potential by ensuring that the timing, dose, application method, soil and climatic conditions are optimal for good activity. In the UK, partially resistant grass weeds such as "Alopecurus myosuroides" (blackgrass) and Avena genus (wild oat) can often be controlled adequately when herbicides are applied at the 2-3 leaf stage, whereas later applications at the 2-3 tiller stage can fail badly. Patch spraying, or applying herbicide to only the badly infested areas of fields, is another means of reducing total herbicide use.


title: Herbicide

text: When resistance is first suspected or confirmed, the efficacy of alternatives is likely to be the first consideration. The use of alternative herbicides which remain effective on resistant populations can be a successful strategy, at least in the short term. The effectiveness of alternative herbicides will be highly dependent on the extent of cross-resistance. If there is resistance to a single group of herbicides, then the use of herbicides from other groups may provide a simple and effective solution, at least in the short term. For example, many triazine-resistant weeds have been readily controlled by the use of alternative herbicides such as dicamba or glyphosate. If resistance extends to more than one herbicide group, then choices are more limited. It should not be assumed that resistance will automatically extend to all herbicides with the same mode of action, although it is wise to assume this until proved otherwise. In many weeds the degree of cross-resistance between the five groups of ALS inhibitors varies considerably. Much will depend on the resistance mechanisms present, and it should not be assumed that these will necessarily be the same in different populations of the same species. These differences are due, at least in part, to the existence of different mutations conferring target site resistance. Consequently, selection for different mutations may result in different patterns of cross-resistance. Enhanced metabolism can affect even closely related herbicides to differing degrees. For example, populations of "Alopecurus myosuroides" (blackgrass) with an enhanced metabolism mechanism show resistance to pendimethalin but not to trifluralin, despite both being dinitroanilines. This is due to differences in the vulnerability of these two herbicides to oxidative metabolism. Consequently, care is needed when trying to predict the efficacy of alternative herbicides.


title: Herbicide

text: The use of two or more herbicides which have differing modes of action can reduce the selection for resistant genotypes. Ideally, each component in a mixture should:


title: Herbicide

text: No mixture is likely to have all these attributes, but the first two listed are the most important. There is a risk that mixtures will select for resistance to both components in the longer term. One practical advantage of sequences of two herbicides compared with mixtures is that a better appraisal of the efficacy of each herbicide component is possible, provided that sufficient time elapses between each application. A disadvantage with sequences is that two separate applications have to be made and it is possible that the later application will be less effective on weeds surviving the first application. If these are resistant, then the second herbicide in the sequence may increase selection for resistant individuals by killing the susceptible plants which were damaged but not killed by the first application, but allowing the larger, less affected, resistant plants to survive. This has been cited as one reason why ALS-resistant "Stellaria media" has evolved in Scotland recently (2000), despite the regular use of a sequence incorporating mecoprop, a herbicide with a different mode of action.


title: Herbicide

text: Rotation of herbicides from different chemical groups in successive years should reduce selection for resistance. This is a key element in most resistance prevention programmes. The value of this approach depends on the extent of cross-resistance, and whether multiple resistance occurs owing to the presence of several different resistance mechanisms. A practical problem can be the lack of awareness by farmers of the different groups of herbicides that exist. In Australia a scheme has been introduced in which identifying letters are included on the product label as a means of enabling farmers to distinguish products with different modes of action.


title: Herbicide

text: Herbicide resistance became a critical problem in Australian agriculture, after many Australian sheep farmers began to exclusively grow wheat in their pastures in the 1970s. Introduced varieties of ryegrass, while good for grazing sheep, compete intensely with wheat. Ryegrasses produce so many seeds that, if left unchecked, they can completely choke a field. Herbicides provided excellent control, while reducing soil disrupting because of less need to plough. Within little more than a decade, ryegrass and other weeds began to develop resistance. In response Australian farmers changed methods. By 1983, patches of ryegrass had become immune to Hoegrass, a family of herbicides that inhibit an enzyme called acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase.


title: Herbicide

text: Ryegrass populations were large, and had substantial genetic diversity, because farmers had planted many varieties. Ryegrass is cross-pollinated by wind, so genes shuffle frequently. To control its distribution farmers sprayed inexpensive Hoegrass, creating selection pressure. In addition, farmers sometimes diluted the herbicide in order to save money, which allowed some plants to survive application. When resistance appeared farmers turned to a group of herbicides that block acetolactate synthase. Once again, ryegrass in Australia evolved a kind of "cross-resistance" that allowed it to rapidly break down a variety of herbicides. Four classes of herbicides become ineffective within a few years. In 2013 only two herbicide classes, called Photosystem II and long-chain fatty acid inhibitors, were effective against ryegrass.


title: Herbicide

text: Recently, the term "organic" has come to imply products used in organic farming. Under this definition, an organic herbicide is one that can be used in a farming enterprise that has been classified as organic. Depending on the application, they may be less effective than synthetic herbicides and are generally used along with cultural and mechanical weed control practices.


title: Ripper Crew

text: The Ripper Crew or the Chicago Rippers was a satanic cult and organized crime group composed of serial killers, cannibals, rapists, and necrophiles Robin Gecht and three associates: Edward Spreitzer, and brothers Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis. They were suspected in the disappearances of 17 women in Illinois in 1981 and 1982, as well as the unrelated fatal shooting of a man in a random drive-by shooting. According to one of the detectives who investigated the case, Gecht "made Manson look like a Boy Scout."


title: Ripper Crew

text: The gang's first victim was 28-year-old Linda Sutton, who was abducted on May 23, 1981. Ten days later, her body was found in a field in Villa Park, Illinois. Her body had been mutilated and her left breast amputated. It was almost a year before the gang struck again. On May 15, 1982, they abducted Lorraine Borowski, just as she was about to open the realtor's office where she worked. Her body was discovered five months later, in a cemetery in Clarendon Hills.


title: Ripper Crew

text: On May 29, they abducted Shui Mak from Hanover Park, a village northwest of Villa Park. Her body was not found for four months. Two weeks after they abducted Mak, they picked up Angel York in their van, handcuffed her and slashed her breast before throwing her out of the van, still alive. York's description of her attackers failed to produce any leads.


title: Ripper Crew

text: The gang did not strike again for two months. On August 28, 1982, the body of Sandra Delaware was discovered on the bank of the Chicago River. She had been stabbed, strangled, and her left breast was amputated. On September 8, 31-year-old Rose Davis was found in an alley, having suffered almost identical injuries as Delaware.


title: Ripper Crew

text: On October 6, 1982, the gang shot 28-year-old Rafael Tirado, a local drug dealer, and his friend, 18-year-old Alberto Rosario, at a phone booth in a random drive-by shooting. According to Spreitzer, he was driving with Gecht when the older man told him to slow down. Gecht took two guns from the back of the car, told the Spreitzer to stop the car, and then opened fire on Tirado and Rosario, hitting both of them. Rosario survived his injuries, while Tirado succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. Tirado was the gang's only male victim.


title: Ripper Crew

text: A month later, the gang committed their last crime. Their victim, Beverley Washington, was found by a railroad track on December 6. In addition to other injuries, her left breast had been amputated and her right breast was severely slashed. She survived the attack, and was able to give descriptions of her attackers and the van they had used to abduct her.


title: Ripper Crew

text: The men were suspects in the disappearance of Carole Pappas, wife of Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas. She disappeared on September 11, 1982. Her body was recovered five years later, and the death was ruled an accident.


title: Ripper Crew

text: When Gecht was first arrested, he had to be released since the police had insufficient evidence to connect him to the crimes. After further investigation, though, the police discovered that in 1981, he had rented a room in a motel along with three friends – each with adjoining rooms. The hotel manager said that they had held loud parties and appeared to be involved in some kind of cult. Police then tracked down the other men, Edward Spreitzer and the Kokoraleis brothers.


title: Ripper Crew

text: When interrogated, Thomas Kokoraleis confessed that he and the others had taken women back to Gecht's place – what Gecht called a "satanic chapel." There they had raped and tortured the women, and amputated their breasts with a wire garrote. Kokoraleis went on to say that they would eat parts of the severed breasts as kind of a sacrament, and that Gecht would masturbate into the breasts before putting them in a box. Kokoraleis claimed that he once saw 15 breasts in the box.


title: Ripper Crew

text: Gecht, the only member of the gang to maintain his innocence, was never tried for any of the murders due to a lack of evidence. In 1983, he was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, deviate sexual assaults, and rape for the non-fatal rape and assault of Beverly Washington. Gecht was sentenced to 120 years in prison. Before sentencing Gecht, Judge Francis J. Mahon told him "Only a devil would do these things. An animal would not do these things. A monster would." He pointed out that Gecht had left Washington for dead and was lucky to be not on trial for murder.


title: Ripper Crew

text: Gecht is serving his sentence at Menard Correctional Center. His projected parole date is October 10, 2042. Should he live long enough, Gecht will be 88 years old when he is released from prison.


title: Ripper Crew

text: In 1984, Spreitzer, in a bid for leniency, pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of Shui Mak, Rose Davis, Sandra Delaware, and Rafael Tirado, as well as attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, deviate sexual assault, and rape. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.


title: Ripper Crew

text: In 1986, Spreitzer was convicted of murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Linda Sutton. The prosecution sought a death sentence. During the sentencing phase, Spreitzer's attorney, Carol Anfinson, argued he was "immature, impulsive and simplistic", and was following the orders of the gang's leader, Robin Gecht. She described him as a lonely person who would "do almost anything" to please his friend. The prosecution described Spreitzer as "every woman`s nightmare", calling the gang "cowardly weasels who roamed in packs to prey on women." Spreitzer was sentenced to death.


title: Ripper Crew

text: In 2003, Spreitzer's sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole after Governor George H. Ryan commuted the sentences of everyone on death row in Illinois. Incidentally, Andrew Kokoraleis was Governor Ryan's only execution, just over two months into his administration. Andrew was also the last inmate executed in Illinois, almost 12 years before Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation to abolish the death penalty on March 9, 2011, and commuted 15 death sentences to life imprisonment without parole.


title: Ripper Crew

text: In 1985, Andrew Kokoraleis was convicted of murder, aggravated kidnapping, and rape in the death of Rose Davis. The prosecution sought a death sentence. During the sentencing phase, Andrew's attorney said his client had been "a follower ... not an organizer, not the prime mover" in Davis's murder. The jury spared Andrew's life after deliberating for 90 minutes, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.


title: Ripper Crew

text: On March 18, 1987, Andrew was convicted of murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Lorraine Borowski. He was sentenced to death on April 30, 1987, and executed by lethal injection on March 17, 1999. He declined a last meal. Andrew's last words were "To the Borowski family, I am truly sorry for your loss. I mean this sincerely." He then cited verses from the biblical books of Exodus and Proverbs and added: "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


title: Ripper Crew

text: The Kokoraleis brothers were raised Greek Orthodox. The Orthodox Church attempted unsuccessfully to keep Andrew Kokoraleis from being executed. Demetrios Kantzavelos, at that time a chancellor (later a bishop) of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, became an anti-death-penalty activist as a result of the execution, and helped lobby in favor of ending the death penalty in the state.


title: Ripper Crew

text: Thomas Kokoraleis was convicted of murder and rape in the death of Lorraine Borowski. As a reward for his detailed confession, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. On appeal, Thomas's rape conviction was reversed and he won a new trial on his murder conviction. Rather than face a retrial, Thomas pleaded guilty to Borowski's murder in exchange for a 70-year sentence. Charges in the murder of Linda Sutton were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Thomas was scheduled to be paroled on September 30, 2017, but was denied release after he failed to find an approved place to live. He was released from prison on March 29, 2019. As of June 30, 2019, Thomas lives at Wayside Cross Ministries at 215 E. New York St. in Aurora, Illinois. In an interview with WBBM-TV, Thomas proclaimed his innocence, saying "Everybody thinks I’m a monster. I’m not a monster."


title: Ripper Crew

text: At the time of his arrest, Thomas Kokoraleis was a painter with no criminal record. He was described as having a "borderline range of intellect", with an IQ of 75.


title: Ripper Crew

text: In March 1999, Robin Gecht's son, 18-year-old David Gecht, was charged with first degree murder for the gang-related killing of Roberto Cruz, 35, on January 29, 1999, in northwest Chicago. Two other men, 19-year-old Richard Kwil and 27-year-old Ruben Hernandez, were also charged.


title: Ripper Crew

text: David Gecht, the triggerman, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 45 years in prison. He has a projected parole date of March 2, 2044.


title: Ripper Crew

text: Richard Kwil, a lookout, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He has a projected parole date of March 1, 2029.


title: Ripper Crew

text: Ruben Hernandez, who planned and coordinated the shooting, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He has a projected parole date of December 12, 2059.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 1 October 2022, following the end of the term of the 13th Saeima elected in 2018.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list, proportional representation from five multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 12 to 36 seats and based on the regions of Latvia, with overseas votes included in the Riga constituency. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method with a national electoral threshold of 5%. Voters may cast "specific votes" for candidates on the list that they have voted for. This involves drawing a plus sign (+) next to the candidate's names to indicate preference (positive votes), or by crossing out names to indicate dissaproval (negative votes). The number of votes for each candidate is the number of votes cast for the list, plus their number of positive votes, minus their number of negative votes. The candidates with the highest vote totals fill their party's seats.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: The Central Electoral Commission is required to determine the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) to be elected using the number of eligible voters four months before the election. On 2 June 2022, the Central Electoral Commission has announced the new distribution of MPs. Rīga and Vidzeme constituencies have both gained one seat compared to the 2018 election, while Latgale and Zemgale constituencies have both lost one.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: Latvia First became the first major party to announce Ainārs Šlesers as its candidate for the position of Prime Minister on 14 August, during the founding congress of the party.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: Each of the member parties of the Union of Greens and Farmers proposed their own PM candidate to the party alliance board, and then they would decide on the one candidate for the whole party alliance. The Latvian Farmers' Union nominated MP Viktors Valainis as their candidate, while the Green Party kept its candidate secret. In the end, the Greens left the Union and joined the United List alliance.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: Political parties and party alliances are able to submit their electoral lists to the Central Electoral Commission from 13 July until 2 August. So far, four lists have been submitted to and registered by the CEC.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: In the table below, the number in each box indicates the number of candidates standing on the party's electoral list in the indicated constituency. The maximum number of candidates on the electoral list in each constituency equals the number of MPs to be elected plus three.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: The New Unity party of incumbent prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš received the highest percentage of the vote (19%) and won the most seats (26). In a speech after the election, Kariņš stated that Latvia would continue to support Ukraine against Russia and he stated his preference to maintain the current coalition government. The Union of Greens and Farmers placed second, receiving 13% of the vote, despite leader Aivars Lembergs being sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 and under sanction by the United States. The other parties which placed above the 5% threshold to receive a seat in parliament were the United List with 11%, the National Alliance with 9.3%, For Stability! with 7%, Latvia First with 6%, and The Progressives, who entered parliament for the first time with 6% of the vote.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: The unrepresented vote in this election was 29.09%. Harmony, who had placed first in the previous three general elections, was unable to secure any parliamentary seats, being slightly under the 5% threshold (of all votes, including invalid) with 4.9% of the vote. This has been attributed by many reasons, including internal disputes on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, pushing away both ethnic Latvians and ethnic Russians. This resulted in much of the ethnic Russian population voting for For Stability!, Sovereign Power, and the Latvian Russian Union. The Development/For! alliance, one of the coalition members, also narrowly missed out the 5% threshold by just 0.03% (with 4.97% of all votes). Another coalition member, the Conservatives, also failed to cross the 5% threshold, receiving 3% of the vote.


title: 2022 Latvian parliamentary election

text: On 3 October 2022 President Egils Levits authorized Kariņš, the incumbent Prime Minister and leader of New Unity, to form a coalition government. The following day, the Union of Greens and Farmers announced in an interview that they would refuse to be part of a coalition with Kariņš. As of 9 October 2022 the possible coalition consists of the Unity List and the National Alliance. Kariņš is also negotiating with the Progressives, though the other coalition parties are opposed to this, instead preferring a "compact, ideologically monolithic and effective coalition".


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first luxury hotel in Britain, introducing electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as "chef de cuisine"; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous, and other entertainers (who were also often guests) included George Gershwin, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne and Noël Coward. Other famous guests have included Edward VII, Oscar Wilde, Enrico Caruso, Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Harry Truman, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, The Beatles and many others. Winston Churchill often took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The hotel is now managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. It has been called "London's most famous hotel". It has 267 guest rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames across Savoy Place and the Thames Embankment. The hotel is a Grade II listed building.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The House of Savoy was the ruling family of Savoy, descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia (or "Maurienne"), who became count in 1032. The name Sabaudia evolved into "Savoy" (or "Savoie"). Count Peter (or "Piers" or "Piero") of Savoy (d. 1268) was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, queen-consort of Henry III of England, and came with her to London.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: King Henry III made Peter Earl of Richmond and, in 1246, gave him the land between the Strand and the River Thames, where Peter built the Savoy Palace in 1263. Peter gave the palace and the manor of the Savoy to the Congregation of Canons of the Great Saint Bernard, and the palace became the "Great Hospital of St Bernard de Monte Jovis in Savoy". The manor was subsequently purchased by Queen Eleanor, who gave the site to her second son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. Edmund's great-granddaughter, Blanche, inherited the site. Her husband, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, built a magnificent palace that was burned down by Wat Tyler's followers in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. King Richard II was still a child, and his uncle John of Gaunt was the power behind the throne, and so a main target of the rebels.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: About 1505, Henry VII planned a great hospital for "pouer, nedie people", leaving money and instructions for it in his will. The hospital was built in the palace ruins and licensed in 1512. Drawings show that it was a magnificent building, with a dormitory, dining hall and three chapels. Henry VII's hospital lasted for two centuries, but suffered from poor management. The sixteenth-century historian Stow noted that the hospital was being misused by "loiterers, vagabonds and strumpets". In 1702, the hospital was dissolved, and the hospital buildings were used for other purposes. Part of the old palace was used as a military prison in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the old hospital buildings were demolished, and new buildings were erected.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: In 1864, a fire burned everything except the stone walls and the Savoy Chapel. The property sat empty until the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte bought it in 1880, to build the Savoy Theatre specifically for the production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, of which he was the producer.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Having seen the opulence of American hotels during his many visits to the United States, Carte decided to build the first luxury hotel in Britain, to attract a foreign clientele as well as British visitors to London. Opened in 1889, the hotel was designed by architect Thomas Edward Collcutt, who also designed the Wigmore Hall. Carte chose the name "Savoy" to commemorate the history of the property. His investors in the venture were, in addition to his relatives, Carl Rosa, George Grossmith, François Cellier, George Edwardes, Augustus Harris and Fanny Ronalds. His friend, the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, was a shareholder and sat on the board of directors.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The hotel was built on a plot of land, next to the Savoy Theatre, that Carte originally purchased to house an electrical generator for the theatre (built in 1881), which was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. The construction of the hotel took five years and was financed by the profits from the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, particularly from "The Mikado". It was the first hotel in Britain lit by electric lights and the first with electric lifts. Other innovations included en-suite marble bathrooms with hot and cold running water in most of its 268 rooms; glazed brickwork designed to prevent London's smoke-laden air from spoiling the external walls; and its own artesian well.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: At first the Savoy did well, but within six months of opening, the hotel was losing money. The board of directors instructed Carte to replace the management team, headed by W. Hardwicke as manager and M. Charpentier as chef de cuisine. As manager he engaged César Ritz, later the founder of the Ritz Hotel; Ritz brought in the chef Auguste Escoffier and the maître d'hôtel Louis Echenard and put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London"; Escoffier recruited French cooks and reorganised the kitchens. The Savoy under Ritz and his partners soon attracted distinguished and wealthy clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dining in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms". The hotel became such a financial success that Carte bought other luxury hotels.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: At the same time, Ritz continued to manage his own hotels and businesses in Europe. Nellie Melba, among others, noted that Ritz was less focused on the Savoy. In 1897, Ritz and his partners were dismissed from the Savoy. Ritz and Echenard were implicated in the disappearance of over £3,400 (equivalent to £ at ), of wine and spirits, and Escoffier had been receiving gifts from the Savoy's suppliers. In a 1938 biography of her husband, Ritz's widow maintained that he resigned and that Escoffier, Echenard, and other senior employees resigned with him. This fiction was perpetuated for many years, with the consent of the Savoy company. In fact, however, after a damning report by the company's auditors and the advice of the prominent lawyer, Sir Edward Carson, that it was the board's "imperative duty to dismiss the manager and the chef", Carte handed Ritz, Escoffier and Echenard letters of dismissal:


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Ritz threatened to sue the hotel company for wrongful dismissal, but was evidently dissuaded by Escoffier, who felt that their interests would be better served by keeping the scandal quiet. It was not until 1985 that the facts became public knowledge.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The Savoy group purchased Simpson's-in-the-Strand in 1898. The next year, Carte engaged M. Joseph, proprietor of the Marivaux Restaurant in Paris, as his new maître d'hôtel and in 1900, appointed George Reeves-Smith as the next managing director of the Savoy hotel group. Reeves-Smith served in this capacity until 1941.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: After Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901, his son Rupert D'Oyly Carte became chairman of the Savoy hotel group in 1903 and supervised the expansion of the hotel and the modernisation of the other hotels in the group's ownership, such as Claridge's. The expansion of the hotel in 1903–04 included new east and west wings, and moving the main entrance to Savoy Court off the Strand. The additions pioneered the use of steel frame construction in London. At that time, the hotel added Britain's first serviced apartments, with access to all the hotel's amenities. Many famous figures became residents, such as Sarah Bernhardt and Sir Thomas Dewar, some of whom lived there for decades. Spectacular parties were held at the hotel. For example, in 1905 the American millionaire George A. Kessler hosted a "Gondola Party" where the central courtyard was flooded to a depth of four feet, and scenery was erected around the walls. Costumed staff and guests re-created Venice. The two dozen guests dined in an enormous gondola. After dinner, Enrico Caruso sang, and a baby elephant brought in a five-foot birthday cake.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: When the hotel was expanded, Rupert D'Oyly Carte decided to develop a luxurious, handcrafted bed unique to the Savoy and his other hotels. His Savoy Bed, also called the No. 2 Bed, was covered in a ticking whose design is attributed to his stepmother, Helen Carte. In 1924, the hotel bought James Edwards Limited, the manufacturer of the bed. Later, the Savoy Group sold the company, which became Savoir Beds in 1997. Savoir Beds continues to make the Savoy Bed for the hotel.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: 1899, Guccio Gucci worked at the Savoy as a luggage porter before founding his fashion house in 1921.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: After the death of Helen Carte in 1913, Rupert D'Oyly Carte became the controlling stockholder of the hotel group. In 1919, he sold the Grand Hotel, Rome, which his father had acquired in 1894 at the urging of Ritz. For the Savoy, he hired a new chef, François Latry, who served from 1919 to 1942. In the 1920s he ensured that the Savoy continued to attract a fashionable clientele by a continuous programme of modernisation and the introduction of dancing in the large restaurants. It also became the first hotel with air conditioning, steam-heating and soundproofed windows in the rooms, 24-hour room service and telephones in every bathroom. It also manufactured its own mattresses. One famous incident during Rupert's early years was the 1923 shooting, at the hotel, of a wealthy young Egyptian, Prince Fahmy Bey, by his French wife, Marguerite. The widow was acquitted of murder after it was revealed that her husband had treated her with extreme cruelty throughout the six-month marriage and had stated that he was going to kill her.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Until the 1930s, the Savoy group had not thought it necessary to advertise, but Carte and Reeves-Smith changed their approach. "We are endeavouring by intensive propaganda work to get more customers; this work is going on in the U.S.A., in Canada, in the Argentine and in Europe." In 1938 Hugh Wontner joined the Savoy hotel group as Reeves-Smith's assistant, and he became managing director in 1941.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: During World War II, Wontner and his staff had to cope with bomb damage, food rationing, manpower shortage and a serious decline in the number of foreign visitors. After the US entered the war, business picked up as the Savoy became a favourite of American officers, diplomats, journalists and others. The hotel became a meeting place for war leaders: Winston Churchill often took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel, Lord Mountbatten, Charles de Gaulle, Jan Masaryk and General Wavell were among the regular Grill Room diners, and the hotel's air-raid shelters were "the smartest in London". Wontner cooperated fully with the government's wartime restrictions, helping to draw up an order imposing a five-shilling limit on the price of a restaurant meal.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: After World War II, the Savoy Group experienced a strike of its employees in support of a waiter dismissed from the hotel. The matter was judged so serious that the government set up a court of inquiry. Nevertheless, the hotel continued to attract celebrities. In 1946, Wontner set up "The Savoy Management Scheme", a school to train hoteliers, that was maintained for half a century. The last major appointments of Rupert D'Oyly Carte's chairmanship were Wyllie Adolf Hofflin, general manager from 1941 to 1960, and August Laplanche, head chef from 1946 to 1965. When Carte died in 1948, his daughter Bridget did not wish to become chairman, accepting instead the vice-chairman position, and the Savoy board elected Wontner, the first person to combine the roles of chairman and managing director since the Savoy's founder, Richard D'Oyly Carte. Wontner remained managing director until 1979 and chairman until 1984, and he was president thereafter until 1992.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: To mark Queen Elizabeth II's coronation on 2 June 1953, the hotel hosted the Savoy Coronation Ball, attended by 1,400 people, including Hollywood stars, royalty and other notables, who paid 12 guineas (equivalent to £ as of ), each. Sixteen Yeomen Warders from the Tower of London lined the entrance staircase. The interior of the Savoy was decked in hundreds of yards of dove-grey material and heraldic banners in scarlet, blue and yellow. The design was supervised by Bridget D'Oyly Carte, whose fellow organisers included Cecil Beaton and Ninette de Valois. The cabaret was under the direction of Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward and John Mills.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Under Wontner's leadership, the Savoy appointed its first British head chef, Silvino Trompetto, who was maître-chef from 1965 to 1980. Giles Shepard (1937–2006), succeeded Wontner as managing director from 1979 to 1994 and helped to defend the Savoy Group against Charles Forte's attempt to take control of the Board in the 1980s. Forte gained a majority of the shares, but was unable to take control due to the company's ownership structure. Shepard also introduced competitive salaries for the staff, increased international marketing of the hotel, and led the Savoy's centenary celebrations. Ramón Pajares was managing director from 1994 to 1999. The Savoy continued to be a popular meeting place. ""Le tout" London was there it seemed, from film stars to businessmen to politicians, all staying or being entertained at the grand old fun palace on the Strand."


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Bridget D'Oyly Carte died childless in 1985, bringing an end to her family line. In 1998, an American private equity house, The Blackstone Group, purchased the Savoy hotel group. They sold it in 2004 to Quinlan Private, who sold the Savoy hotel and restaurant Simpson's-In-The-Strand eight months later, for an estimated £250 million, to Al-Waleed bin Talal to be managed by Al-Waleed's affiliate, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts of Canada. Quinlan's group retained the rest of the hotels under the name Maybourne Hotel Group.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: In December 2007, the hotel closed for a complete renovation, the cost of which was budgeted at £100 million. The hotel conducted a sale of 3,000 pieces of its famous furnishings and memorabilia. The projected reopening date was delayed more than a year to October 2010, as structural and system problems held up construction. The building's façade required extensive stabilisation, and the cost of the renovations grew to £220 million. The new energy-efficient design reduced the hotel's electricity usage by approximately 50% and reuse and recycling increased.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The new design features a Thames Foyer with a winter garden gazebo under a stained-glass cupola with natural light, which is the venue for late-night dining and the hotel's famous afternoon tea. The glass dome had been covered since World War II. A new teashop and patisserie is called Savoy Tea, and a glass-enclosed fitness gallery with rooftop swimming pool, gym and spa are located above the Savoy Theatre. The new Beaufort Bar has an Art Deco interior of jet-black and gold and offers nightly cabaret. The River Restaurant (now renamed Kaspar's), facing the Thames, is also decorated in the Art Deco style, but the American Bar is nearly unchanged. The rooms are decorated in period styles harmonised with the adjacent hallways, and they retain built-in wardrobes and bedroom cabinets. The decor is Edwardian on the Thames river side and Art Deco on the Strand side. Butler service was also reintroduced to the hotel. Gordon Ramsay manages the Savoy Grill with Stuart Gillies as Chef Director and Andy Cook as Head Chef. In a nod to the hotel's origins, six private dining rooms are named after Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The hotel contains a small museum next to the American Bar, open to the public, with a revolving exhibition of items from the hotel's archives. A motor launch is available to take small parties from the Savoy Pier in front of the hotel for champagne river tours.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The critic for "The Daily Telegraph" wrote: "The Savoy is still The Savoy, only better. ... [The rooms] are calm ... you are the personality, not the room. ... [The hotel is] a saviour of The Strand I suspect now. The lobby is bigger and grander, and JUST THE SAME." A review in "The Guardian" noted that reception "now is sheer sleight of hand. ... In under five minutes I have been expertly drawn into the world of Savoy. [Furniture and furnishings] conspire to enhance my stay". While the same reviewer found the spa disappointing, she gave highest marks to the hotel's personalised service, the Savoy Tea, afternoon tea in the Thames Foyer, and the Beaufort bar, concluding: "The Savoy is back where it belongs – right on top." The Savoy Grill, however, lost its Michelin star and reopened to mixed reviews. Three years after the reopening, the owners announced that business had been disappointing, and the hotel was in jeopardy of closing. The hotel celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2014, at which time it received a glowing review from the "London Evening Standard".


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Numerous notable guests have stayed at the hotel. Claude Monet and James Whistler both painted or drew views, from their Savoy rooms, of the River Thames. The Savoy featured prominently in guest Oscar Wilde's trial for gross indecency. Other celebrity guests in the hotel's early decades included the future King Edward VII, Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Lillie Langtry, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Nellie Melba, Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, Errol Flynn, Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Barrymore, Harry Truman, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, Josephine Baker, Cary Grant, Babe Ruth, Ivor Novello and Noël Coward. The hotel kept records of its guests' preferences, so that it could provide for them in advance. For Coward, the staff made history by taking the first photographs of a hotel guest's toilet articles so that they could lay them out in his bathroom exactly as he liked them. They made sure to provide a fireproof eiderdown quilt to Barrymore, as he always smoked while reading in bed.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Bob Dylan stayed in the hotel in 1965 and filmed the video clip "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in an adjacent alley. Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh met at the hotel. Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Maria Callas, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Sophia Loren, Julie Andrews, Lena Horne, Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Elton John, U2, Led Zeppelin, The Who, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Fry are just a few of the celebrities who stayed there in recent decades. Richard Harris lived at the hotel for the last several years of his life. While being carried out on a stretcher before he died, he joked, "It was the food."


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The Savoy hotel has long been associated with the arts. Monet served as the hotel's first artist-in-residence in 1901, and that program continues. George Gershwin gave the British premiere of "Rhapsody in Blue" at the hotel in 1925, simultaneously broadcast by the BBC. The hotel's dance bands of the inter-war years, the Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, were described as "probably the best-known bands in Europe" and broadcast regularly from the hotel. In 2013, the hotel reintroduced its dinner dances, with resident dance band Alex Mendham & His Orchestra playing music from the 1920s and '30s. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Rupert D'Oyly Carte engaged Richard Collet to run the cabaret at the Savoy, which opened in April 1929. Lena Horne and others made their British debuts there. Frank Sinatra played the piano and sang there.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: In 2012, Stuart McAlpine Miller, as artist-in-residence, painted eight works inspired by celebrity guests of the hotel. The same year, another British artist, David Downes, created a large-scale drawing, delighting guests by working in the lobby of the Savoy. Downes based his work on a drawing of the Thames in the Savoy's collection. The piece, displayed in the hotel's front hall, depicts the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: In 2013 South African artist Jonty Hurwitz created a chrome and resin anamorphic sculpture of Kaspar, the hotel's cat mascot, titled "The 14th Guest", found at the entrance to the hotel's newest restaurant, Kaspar's Seafood Bar & Grill. Kaspar's story begins with the legend of an 1898 dinner at the Savoy given for 14 guests by Woolf Joel, a South African diamond tycoon. One of the diners was unable to attend, leaving the number of guests an unlucky 13, and another diner predicted that whoever first left the table would soon die. The first to leave was Joel, who was shot dead a few weeks later in Johannesburg. After this, the hotel offered to seat a member of its staff at tables of 13 to ward off bad luck. Finally, in 1926, the designer Basil Ionides sculpted a 3-foot high art-deco black cat called Kaspar, which is used as the 14th guest. Kaspar is given a full place setting, a napkin is tied around his neck, and he is served each course. Winston Churchill liked Ionides's Kaspar so much that he insisted that the sculpture join his parties of any size when dining at the Savoy.


title: Savoy Hotel

text: The hotel has often been used as a film location. For example, the romantic finale to the "Notting Hill" (1999) is set in the hotel's Lancaster Room, where Anna (Julia Roberts) and William (Hugh Grant) declare their mutual love. In 1921, the hotel was used in the film "Kipps", based on the novel by H. G. Wells. It also featured in "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), "Entrapment" (1999) and "Gambit" (2012), among others. In 2011, the hotel was used as the setting for Duran Duran's music video for their song "Girl Panic!" from their album "All You Need Is Now".


title: Savoy Hotel

text: Arnold Bennett wrote the novel "Imperial Palace" in 1930, based on his research at the hotel. The novel fictionalises the hotel's operations. Michael Morpurgo wrote a children's book fictionalising the hotel's mascot, Kaspar, as an adventurer: "Kaspar: Prince of Cats" (2008), which was released in the US as "Kaspar: The Titanic Cat" (2012).