Felly fe gynnerrach i chi'n dweud ei ddim yn ymddangos cymdeithasolion aeth yn meddwl i chi'n gweithio amlawn i gwybod am hynny. Felly ym youtube neb登ig, fod wedi'n sgolwch chi'n set to become a reality in the new year, that will open up transformative opportunities for young people and their families. It will also significantly increase the number of people getting on buses, improving the viability of those services. It represents an unprecedented level of investment in the bus sector at a financially challenging time for the Scottish Government. Of course free bus travel can only work where bus services actually exist. If services across Scotland are being withdrawn, reduced in frequency or are facing repeated cancellations, then ticket cost is a secondary concern. Every single person in Scotland deserves affordable, reliable and accessible public transport services regardless of where they live. However, it is often rural communities who find themselves entirely reliant on bus services for public transport. In my own region, amidst Scotland's fife, we are seeing unacceptable cuts coming just weeks before the extension of free travel, including the complete cancellation of the X-53 bus, connecting Clackmannanshire with Stirling and Kinross, as well as the reduction in frequency of key routes around Stirling. Of course, it is not just the rural routes that stagecoach have also warned of changes to their intercity service between Perth and Edinburgh, coming at a time when ScotRail is also consulting on a timetable change that will unacceptably extend journey times between the two cities. We are seeing the same pattern across the rest of Scotland—suspension to services in central Scotland, same-day service cancellations in Glasgow, college buses cut in Cacubry and services cut in Aberdeenshire earlier this year. I am sure that members will have their own stories from constituents to share. First, I want to share the voices of my constituents who have been in touch to explain exactly why services such as the X-53 are so important and why protecting rural bus services truly matters. I have been contacted by a former bus driver who is now registered blind and therefore cannot drive buses or a car anymore. He relies on the bus as his main former transport to access medical appointments and to get to local shops. He is hoping to retrain in a new industry based at Stirling University, which he would have travelled to on the X-53, but without that service he will be forced to travel by private taxi far more expensive and more polluting. I have also been contacted by a single parent with two young children. She relies on the X-53 for her children to be able to see their grandparents for childcare and to get to work. That is three generations of the same family who depend on this service to support one another. This family does not have a private car nor can they afford to pay for taxis. They have been looking forward to the children being able to make use of next year's expansion of free bus travel. I have also been contacted by a constituent living in Palmill, a village already cut off from public transport. That constituent already walks a couple of miles to Rumbling Bridge to catch the X-53, but without the service my constituent would have to walk over four miles from Palmill to Dollar to catch alternative transport to the hospital. That is simply unacceptable. My final example is a family living in Dollar. They have one car in the household that is used for a family member to get to work in Glasgow. The X-53 provides an essential service for the rest of the household when the car isn't available. Without that service, the family's only public transport route to Stirling would involve at least two buses, each of them only running every two hours. Trying to get a connecting bus would be incredibly difficult. As the family said, you would be out all day and it just wouldn't work. The impact of losing this bus, the X-53, is severe. We are talking about vulnerable people being further isolated from essential services, young people losing their independence and people being forced to use private cars exactly at a time when we need to be reducing car kilometres. I have spoken to bus operators who have said that service cancellations with drolls and reductions are due to the on-going impact of Covid on bus patronage as well as a serious shortage in bus drivers. At the height of the stay-at-home measures, concessionary bus journeys were down by 90 per cent. However, by this time last year, patronage was improving and data from September this year shows it recovering further, now only down by about a third compared to the pre-pandemic baseline. Onicron poses a further challenge. Over the past week, certainly more public transport staff have been off sick, leading to short-term cancellations that have left many of my constituents stranded, especially on the long-suffering users of the X-10 to Balfron. However, the evidence shows that, as restrictions lift, patronage starts to return, so now cannot be the time to slash bus services. The bus industry is also facing a serious challenge with driver recruitment, with a 14 per cent vacancy rate across the sector in Scotland, up by 200 per cent on 2019 figures, representing around 1,000 bus driver vacancies. What we have here is a perfect storm of Brexit, the end of free movement, drivers retraining as HGV operators, and delays in driver training applications at the DVLA, leading to a UK-wide shortage of drivers who can operate large vehicles. I know that bus operators and the Government are working hard to address those shortages. First Bus have told me that they are launching a recruitment campaign, they are working with the Scottish Refugee Council to encourage new Scots to train as bus drivers. In no doubt, the expansion of concessionary travel will provide an opportunity to encourage more young people to join the workforce at this critical and exciting time. However, in the here and now, the choices facing bus operators right now are stark. We have been told by first that, due to driver shortages, priorities will now be given to the most used services with the highest passenger numbers. However, that will disproportionately impact rural services, cementing transport poverty in already poorly served communities. There is no excuse for leaving rural communities behind. Protecting rural bus services is about addressing the climate emergency, addressing inequalities and building a green recovery from Covid. For too long, rural bus services have been particularly vulnerable to the boom and bus cycle of private operators. It is time to break the cycle. I hope that the minister will agree with me that we need to redouble our efforts to protect lifeline rural routes, take urgent action to resolve workforce issues and be able to outline what the Scottish Government can do to help to build a resilient bus network in Scotland that leaves no one behind. Before I call the next speaker, our gentle reminder to anybody who wants to participate in the debate to press the request-to-speak buttons now, I now call Jackie Dunbar, who will be followed by Alexander Stewart. I want to congratulate Mark Ruskell and Fankham for securing this member's debate today. Access to adequate bus services in rural areas is vital to ensure that communities are not isolated and have access to goods and the services that they need. As someone who grew up in the country, Fe Peterheed, Tenairn and Awai, in a tween, I understand the importance of regular, reliable and affordable local bus services. There are a lot of folk in rural areas who do not drive and have to rely on public transport to get their messages and to get to their work or to attend medical appointments and meet up with their friends and family. Without the vital bus services, those folks would be completely isolated. My constituency of Aberdeen Donside stretches to the north edge of the city, and a number of folk commute from rural locations and travel through my constituency. It means that many urban residents benefit from rural buses passing through, so you can see that country buses, as we call them up in the northeast, are not just beneficial to country folk, but for the city folk in A. Transport providers between our rural and urban locations should work together to ensure consistent and affordable routes and to create a cohesive bus network that works for all their passengers. Without a reliable bus service, rural residents become reliant on single-driver cars to provide access to services. As Scotland moves towards net zero, we should be promoting the use of public transport, ensuring that it is not only fit for purpose but also affordable so that we can reduce the use of cars, as our aim is to reduce car journeys, but that can only be done by providing affordable, reliable alternatives. Public transport should be that alternative. Although my constituency of Aberdeen Donside is not strictly rural, we have a mix of urban areas and suburban communities that are not that well connected to the city, for example Kingswells. We have been fighting for a number of years now against the removal of the Kingswells bus services, especially at weekends. We have not only seen the service reduced over the past few years, but we have also seen the start of isolation for an entire community from the city. Without vital investment from Transport Scotland to bus companies during the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure that a level of bus services remains, despite reduced passenger numbers and social distancing measures, we could potentially have seen entire communities completely cut off without any options for travel. I am pleased to see the investment from the Scottish Government for free bus travel for under-22s from January next year. That will make bus travel accessible for all, reducing barriers created by fair prices and should hopefully increase bus patronage. That investment has the potential to make a huge impact on how our young folk travel. Taking the bus or taking their driving test or moving into the tune, which is what I did when I was 16, is the choice that they have. It is important to promote sustainable bus travel to younger people and to change behaviours as we move towards more environmentally friendly modes of transport. Let us make getting the bus easier and affordable for all. I am pleased to be able to contribute today. I congratulate Matt Russell on bringing the member's business debate to the chamber. As we have already heard, the importance of local bus services, which can be a lifeline especially for rural communities, cannot be overestimated. Matt Russell's motion acknowledges that rural communities are especially vulnerable to the loss of routes. The X-53, which covers Clackmannanshire, the Wee County, but both Stirling and Conross, was the catalyst for this afternoon's debate. I note that Stirling Council proposed an action plan to protect bus services at the last fuel council, and I suggest that Clackmannanshire and Council do something similar. As we have already heard, the debilitating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has had previous lockdowns and on-going controls on customers less fruit fall, both on buses and indeed in supporting businesses. We have already heard today about the initiatives to ensure that people get free bus travel, but a bus is required to ensure that that can take place. If the X-33 goes, individuals will be left with no bus to attend. However, it is also important that we are dealing with the management decisions and that they decide what routes are—or lesser routes or more susceptible routes. In my view, it is essential that bus operators work to meet the requirements of all communities in which they operate. It is also essential in the motion to mention that this is the second time that we have had difficulties with this bus route the X-53. 18 months ago, there was talk about its removal and it was reinstated. However, at this time, it looks as if it will be removed. I have heard from many individuals who have brought serious difficulties, especially if they are disabled, elderly or young, with equal measure, have difficulties with the whole process. One resident has indicated that the effects of the bus service for someone like herself who is disabled and a single person would ensure that they might not be able to get to their employment because they used that to go to Stirling. They had used a car in the past, but due to cancer surgery they no longer can do that. The bus service was their only lifeline to that employment. Also, the anxiety of going through that is very difficult in ensuring that you can retain employment when you do not have a bus service that will adequately support you to receive that. Another resident who does not drive specifically moved to Muckr because they knew that they could tuck on the bus going from Allawa to Stirling. The service, if it is removed, will mean that there is no link between Cunross and Stirling. First buses route themselves. Many people have to call this a callous movement by more than in ensuring that there will be difficulties not just within this area but across the central belt. From January 10, if the bus is removed, it will mean that individuals may not be able to get to school within the locations. That has a major impact. There will also be no service from Muckr to Dola to Stirling to Cunross. We know that new housing developments are taking place. There is one taking place in Muckr itself at the moment and there are others across the region. Those normally attract young families who are interested in living in the community, but that may wane if there is not the potential for individuals to be able to get to work or to get to school. Previously, in a debate that I called for, we talked about the stratified passenger transport and that it was decided that a task force should be set up to look at vital services. I was also fully supportive of a debate in the last session, which talked about looking at how we would deal with cutting-bus services. Back then, I asserted that the need to ensure that greater urgency was enhanced in all those routes was vitally important. We have already heard that the pandemic has had a devastating effect on many of us in the region. It is particularly important that we focus on the task force that was set up in urgent recommendations that were brought forward. I hope that the minister will touch on that. Last year, the Scottish Parliament backplanned for local authorities to run their own services. I certainly believed at that time that they ensured greater protection for under threat services if that decision was going to help local people and local areas. I acknowledge the fact that my colleague Elizabeth Smith has done a huge amount of work in supporting buses across mid-Scotland in Fife and that COP26 had an emphasis on where we would go. In conclusion, it is vitally important that first bus reconsider the decision on the X-53, and I encourage Stirling and Clackmannan councils to take up the powers that they have to ensure that they can protect those services for the future. Thank you, Mr Stewart. I now call Colin Smith to be followed by Maggie Chapman. Thank you to Mark Ruskell for his motion and the opportunity to discuss the importance of our bus services. There is no doubt that Scotland's diminishing bus network is in crisis and our rural communities are paying a heavy price. That crisis did not start because of the pandemic and the failures of privatisation were not caused by Covid. In Scotland, passenger numbers have been plummeting since deregulation down 43 per cent between 1987 and 2020, yet fares have risen by 159 per cent since the index started in 1995. At dismantling of our bus network, route by route has accelerated under this Government with passenger journeys falling by a quarter since 2007. I know that there has been a decline across Britain, but, while that fall was 5.6 per cent in England, it was nearly three times higher at 15.3 per cent in Scotland between 2010 and 2018. There are many reasons for that decline, changing work patterns, growing congestion but also decisions that are made by the Government, not least cuts to council budgets. The recent green S&P budget, which includes a real-terms cut of around £300 million to councils, will mean a real cut in more bus services in rural areas, the overwhelming majority of which rely on subsidies from the local council support that is now under threat more than ever before. This is no way to run an essential public service that so many rely on. Buses account still for 366 million journeys a year in Scotland. They boost growth, alleviate poverty, and connect communities. Instead of providing an attractive alternative at a time when transport is still the single biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, a deregulated bus system has been turning people away from public transport and towards cars. We see that in all our communities. Let me give you just one example, but there are many across my region. The X95 bus run by Borders buses connects rural communities between Edinburgh and Carlyle, in Mglothian, Borders and Dumfriesen Galloway. Its frequency was cut from hourly to every two hours during the pandemic, but as we moved out of lockdown, it was not reinstated to hourly. That lack of frequency simply means that it is just not an option anymore for those who want to use that bus to commute to their work. I know that there are challenges with the backlogging process and driving licences at DVLA and the lack of availability of tests to ensure that when bus companies decide to increase services, they have the drivers to do so. I have written to the UK transport secretary on that issue, but there has also been a failure of the Scottish Government to secure proper guarantees from bus firms in return for the over £330 million of taxpayer support given to the sector during the pandemic. We need better conditionality to maintain services in return for that support, but we also need more fundamental change. Regulation in London and municipally-owned operators such as Lothian show that the current broken system does not have to be this way. It is three years since I tabled amendments to the transport bill to lift the ban on council-run bus services, put it into practice, unite the unions, hod the bus and the co-operative parties people's bus campaigns calling for a bus network that puts passengers and not profits first. However, the Government has still not passed on those powers that are secured to councils. Never mind giving them the resources that they need to set up their own publicly and community-owned bus services. In astonishingly, the green SMP coalition continues to stack the cards against public ownership with a £500 million bus partnership fund that can only be spent on deals with private bus companies instead of using some of that funding for the setting up of publicly-run bus companies. Scotland's bus passengers deserve better, as do Scotland's bus drivers. Deregulation has seen a race to the bottom in staff wages, yet it was our drivers and support staff who kept Scotland moving during the pandemic. They often put their own health on the line, such as bus driver Willie Wallace from Kilmammock. Willie sadly died of Covid in October 2020. It brings home to us all that amazing work our key workers do, and we really do owe them all a huge debt of gratitude. We owe our passengers a better bus network, one that meets their needs and understands that public transport is a public service. Like all public services, in my view, it should be run for the benefit of the public and not for profits. I thank my colleague Mark Ruskell for securing the important and timely debate this evening. I am speaking this evening on behalf of Arian Burgess, who, like others, has been the victim of tech failures. I thank the bus drivers who have worked throughout the pandemic, getting other key workers to their jobs and continuing to provide a low-carbon form of transport, on which many of us depend. However, bus services are under threat throughout Scotland. Almost 700 routes were cancelled in the past couple of years. In Arian's community, in Forres, they have been fighting hard to save the number 31 route, but it has still been progressively reduced and has left certain neighbourhoods without a local connection to the public transport system. In the Banffanbuckan area of the region that I represent, which has no rail services, 15 bus services have had their financial support cut or withdrawn, affecting most severely the people who are already struggling. Covid and Brexit have exacerbated such service reductions and cancellations. Just last Friday in Inverness, stagecoach withdrew a host of services for the second time in two months due to staff needing to self-isolate. There had already lost many drivers to the HGV sector, which is now offering better pay in order to fill its own Brexit-induced driver shortage. However, Brexit and Covid are not the only forces behind service cuts. A report published in July by the UN special reporter Philip Alston found that privatisation and decades of deregulation has resulted in services that are expensive, unreliable and dysfunctional. Bus fares have soared while passenger numbers have slumped. In Scotland, ridership has declined by 43 per cent since deregulation in 1986. Fewer passengers means less revenue for operators making services unviable and leading to reductions or cuts, in turn pushing people to choose other forms of transport, continuing the circle of decline. The problem is most acute in rural areas where cancellations are more likely to lead to isolation. Not everyone has a car, so buses should enable everyone to get to work or the job centre, access healthcare and education, and to connect with family and friends. To take that option away is unjust. Transport Scotland has even recognised the key role that bus services play in helping people to realise their human rights. Buses will also play an increasingly important role in Scotland's journey to net zero. However, the current system is not working for passengers, for taxpayers or for the climate. Commercial bus networks are subsidised to the tune of hundreds of million pounds per year, yet private operators pay out generous shareholder dividends instead of reinvesting in services and driver pay. Instead, we should support local authorities to establish locally-owned bus companies. Transport for Edinburgh, Transport for London or two have shown that municipal-owned companies or regulated franchises can provide less expensive and more reliable services. We look forward to working with our co-operation agreement partners in government to introduce the community bus fund to help local authorities to make use of those options set out in the Transport Scotland Act 2019. To make bus travel more attractive to more people, we must make them accessible. That is particularly pressing in rural areas, where the average time to walk or wheel to access key services is 22 minutes, as opposed to 12 in urban areas. We must make buses well ventilated and Covid safe to address public concerns and enable more people to get back on their local buses. We must make it easier to take bikes and buggies on buses by requiring all new buses to carry both. We must support demand responsive and community transport to address particular local needs to help combat isolation and enable easy access of other services and facilities. We must ensure that the Government meets its commitment to make the majority of buses fossil fuel free by 2023. We can transform our bus sector so that it delivers cost-effective services, meets the needs of communities and aligns with our climate goals. I would like to start by congratulating Mark Ruskell on securing the debate. I know that public and particularly green public transport is a subject close to his heart and I am sure that he would have enjoyed the event. I was pleased to be able to attend in Perth on Monday, as did Minister Day. Support with the Scottish Government, the project has seen stagecoach working in partnership with Alexander Dennis Ltd, the Falkirk-based bus manufacturer and SSE, who are providing the charging facilities. Stagecoach were unveiling the first of their all-electric zero-emissions buses. They are introducing to two routes within Perth city from early in the new year. Starting with nine vehicles, they hope to almost double the fleet to 16 by the end of next year, and there is a real ambition to see Perth to become the first city in the UK—excuse me— and there is a real ambition to see Perth to become the first city in the UK entirely served by zero-emissions bus service. That would really be a fantastic and brilliant contribution locally towards net zero objectives, and I hope that it will not just be confined to the boundaries of the fair city itself as we go forward. In the interests of fairness issues stress that I know that first bus are involved in an electric transport system, and as a communication I received on their behalf yesterday pointed out, their Glasgow depot is the largest electric vehicle charging hub in the UK. However, despite that positive news about the bus services for the future, we are here this evening to talk about an unfortunate threat to an existing bus service for our constituents. We are here this evening to talk about the unfortunate threat to existing bus services for a lot of our constituents. The X-53 service, named in the motion, visits three different constituencies within Mid Scotland and Fife region that Mr Ruskell represents. It connects, Can Ross in my constituency with Stirling via a number of communities in Keith Brown's Clackmannanshire and Dunblane constituency. I am sure that, if he were here, the cabinet secretary would also be speaking in this debate, and I know that he has been in correspondence with First Bus and Muckert Community Council on the issue. Mr Ruskell has outlined the history of the bus service already, but bears repeating that it is a relatively new service introduced just over a year ago by First Bus in replacement for the one that Stagecoach ended during the lockdown. While the replacement service was welcome, it already represented a reduction in the service for my constituents since the 23 bus that I had replaced it used to run between Stirling and St Andrews. The service is to be suspended from 10 January and with lamentable lack of consultation with the affected communities beforehand. I know that bus service changes frequently and other members will have doubtless over the years and have seen many changes to their constituents opposed, so why was the service different? Why does its suspension deserve this chunk of parliamentary time spent on it? The answer is that it is not just a commercial decision by First Bus. It rarely admits that. Rather, the problem is a systemic one, a consequence of the perfect storm of Covid and Brexit that has resulted in an industry-wide shortage of drivers. Nevertheless, I urge First Bus to change their minds on this one. Can Ross in, can Ross here as an area with a growing population and does not deserve to be repeatedly cut off from neighbouring towns in the way that it has been? Yes, of course. I thank the member for taking the intervention. Is there not an argument that rather than taxpayers providing free bus travel for those in urban areas, that is where most of the funding is going to go to provide the free transport for under 21s? That money would have been better spent supporting the services that you are talking about and enhancing rural bus services so that those under 21s could have access to a bus and not necessarily just free access. Rather than subsidising those in urban areas who have plenty access to bus, the money would have been better spent on rural areas to protect those services. Mr Fairlie, I can give you the time back to Mr Carson's speech. I absolutely support the under 21 system because it is a part of the system that will get young users on to buses, because we need to try to change the culture of bus use in the first place. If we remember who it is that loses out when a bus service is removed, it is the well less off members of our community, the elderly and the young. Those are the people who depend on buses to take them to work or to education, to shops and to hospital appointments, to visit friends or just to have a day out. We are supposed to be trying to get more people on, not fewer, to use the buses. As the motion says, come next month we will see the very welcome introduction of free bus travel for young people under 26. They will only get the benefit of that if there are buses to take them there. I take the point that you are making, but I still prefer getting people on to buses in the first place. I hope that we will hear something from the minister and summing up in the debate this evening that we will give some hope that there will be work with the operators to find an answer to the challenges that they are facing in terms of driver shortages. I completely acknowledge that the main changes that the operators know will help them are the ones right now that can only be taken by the UK Government. I know, for example, that the first bus that has been working with the Scottish Refugee Council, as Mark Ruskell has already alluded to, on recruitment and have been calling on the UK Government to change the rules around visa requirements for bus drivers by classifying them as an essential worker. It would be a small change and an easy change, but it would be one that could have a positive benefit for our public transport system and to support the urgent need to encourage more public to use the public transport system more often. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Fairlie. I now call on Liz Smith, who will be followed by the minister. Can I add my thanks to Mark Ruskell for bringing this important issue to the chamber? I also welcome the acknowledgement from the minister at last week's transport questions when he said that there was a problem here. I heard him comment about driver shortages, and that is undoubtedly true, but it is not the whole story. I think that the minister is very well aware of that. As we try desperately hard to make it easier for people to go green when they make their transport joints, I really do worry that the situation with the X-53 bus is yet another barrier in the way. Jackie Dunbar and indeed Jim Fairlie just now made interesting points about trying to change people's behaviour, and that is true. If we are going to go green, then it is important that we do not have too many barriers in the way of that. I also think that the context is important here, because it comes at the same time as Stagecoach has reduced the Edinburgh to Perth X-56 bus by around half. Yesterday, we learned that Stagecoach is announcing a merger with National Express on the loss of the Perth headquarters. There are worries about the sustainability of some of those services, and it also comes at a time when ScotRail plans to lengthen the rail journey between Edinburgh and Perth by 10 minutes because of the new diversion that will happen via Dunferman. That is a journey time that is already pretty lengthy if you make comparisons with other UK and European journeys of the same distance, and indeed comparing what it was like between Edinburgh and Perth over a century ago. Plus, we know that we have obviously had issues around services at Cercody, in Invercithing and the Dumblane station, so it is not a great context for passengers in Mid Scotland and Fife just now, especially those who are based in our very rural locations. In particular, the cross-country X-53 is a lifeline for many rural passengers, some of whom feel pretty badly cut off by the loss of the bus service, and certainly that is the message that is coming out from Mid Scotland and Fife constituents. Mark Russell cited many examples there, and he is quite right in what he said in terms of those who have got essential business to do but cannot necessarily get there quite too easily. Alexander Stewart made an interesting point about Stirling Council, who are obviously worried about the situation, and I think that that is something that we need to pay a lot of attention to. I do not really think that this decision sits well with modern transport policy, where we are supposed to be doing all that we can to encourage more people out of their cars and on to public transport, but neither does it sit very well with the demographic changes across Mid Scotland and Fife, which in some key areas is seeing substantial growth, particularly around a M90 corridor, because we know of the extent of the house building that is happening in Milnerthork and Kinross. I think that I saw a statistic not long ago that Dunfermlyn was expected to grow between 2016 and 2026 by 30 per cent. That is an awful lot of people, and it is a lot of extra people who are obviously working in Edinburgh, in Stirling, in Glasgow, in Perth, etc. I would hope that many of them want to make use of public transport. Just to finish, I thank Mark Ruskell again for highlighting this. I certainly am one of the MSPs, such as many in the chamber, who have received a lot of communications about the issue. I think that it is something that I hope the Scottish Government will address. I know that there are extenuating circumstances and some of the causes of that, but I think that it is a very real issue that we need to do something about. I thank Mark Ruskell for bringing this motion forward, and to members across the chamber who have contributed tonight and highlighted the vital role that bus services play for people across Scotland. The impact of Covid-19 on public transport has been unprecedented demand for public transport plummeted in the first national lockdown and fell steeply when Covid restrictions were reintroduced last winter. Patternage today is still significantly lower by about 35 per cent than it was before Covid, though there were significant variations across the country. Our transport priority has been and remains to keep public transport running for those who need it and to maintain service levels close to pre-Covid levels, while patternage recovers from the effects of the pandemic. To maintain a viable and safe bus network, we have committed up to £210 million in additional financial support for bus services since June 2020. We have also maintained concessionary reimbursement and bus service operator grant payments at pre-Covid levels, where we would normally spend over £260 million each year. That is, of course, an addition to the money that local authorities receive through the general revenue grant to secure additional bus services, which are socially necessary but not commercially viable on their own right. In 2019-20, for example, £57 million was spent supporting those local services. Mark Ruskell I thank the minister for giving way. He describes an enormous sum of money that has been invested in the bus industry in recent years. Is there not a case here for ensuring that there is some conditionality in the way that services go forward and that there is not a waiting towards cutting rural services that is inherent in a lot of the choices that those companies are making? It seems to be the case. I think that it is at the heart of this debate that there is a waiting here that is disproportionately being felt by rural communities, because they just do not have the numbers that stack up on the spreadsheet. I will deal with conditionality as we go along, but I think that the member makes a good point. It is one that I have made to some bus providers as well. It does seem that it is a disproportionate impact. They would argue that, in the space that they are in, where the shortage of drivers, they are focused on trying to get the maximum number of people to where they need to go. However, I absolutely represent the rural area myself. The service is in severe. We reduce ticket income due to suppressed demand. Operators who receive the additional funding are not allowed to make a profit under the terms of their public service contracts with the Scottish Government. Any profit before tax that is made on Scottish local bus operations is recovered from the participating operators. The largest bus operators are now running on an average of 85 per cent of their pre-Covid mileage. In some places, operators are running below 100 per cent of pre-Covid mileage due to lack of drivers because of sickness, self-isolation or national driver shortages. Talking to one major operator earlier this week, I was struck by their concerns that they are planning in the evening before work for what they anticipate will be their capacity and then, lo and behold, as happens across society, first thing in the morning, they discover that there is another number of drivers off and there is much reshuffling done. Of course, it is difficult to communicate to service users about the additional changes that they have made, although they need to get better at that. With current driver shortages, bus operators are having to make sometimes difficult decisions, but they have to do so in consultation with local transport authorities about where best to deploy the capacity that they have to meet demand and maintain basic connectivity. It is right that decisions about local bus service provision are determined locally in consultation. That is why it is a condition of the funding that bus operators are required to consult and co-operate with local transport authorities when planning services. Operators must respond positively and quickly to reasonable requests from local transport authorities to amend provision and keep services under review. Minister will know that the overwhelming majority of bus services in rural areas are subsidised through council support to bus companies. What does the budget cut of about £300 million to local councils do? That money is a ring fence that goes to councils. Does it think that that will lead to even more services being reduced? Minister, I will give you time back for that and the earlier. Thank you. It is regrettable that every contribution cost within this chamber comes down to an anti-SNP and Scottish Government council versus local government. I did not notice earlier that £57 million in additional money is given to local authorities to support that. However, the current model does not work and we need to change it. I understand that the relevant local transport authorities are in discussion about the plan suspension of the X53 service. The issue is due to driver shortages. I welcome the on-going work on potential solutions to maintain the service. The X53 was put in place during the first national lockdown, as Alexander Stewart will recognise. After stage 5 cancelled, there is service 23 between St Andrews and Stirling due to low demand. First Scotland stepped in to run the X53 as a partial replacement of the route on a commercial basis. I understand that it is operating on a commercial basis, but the problem here is driver shortage. I very much welcome the fact that the relevant LTAs are currently exploring what alternatives can be found to maintain the service, either in full or in part. I know that that is not entirely ideal, but at least the effort has been made to see whether there is an alternative solution to that, while long-term arrangements to maintain connectivity in the area can be looked at. We are appropriately impractical. Operators must also plan services in consultation with local health boards, having in regard to serving key workers and supporting travel to healthcare, including vaccinations. We are seeing labour and skill shortages across the economy and public services right now, and the staffing pressures placed on the bus industry by the pandemic are adding to the Brexit-related problems. There is no doubt that that is adversely and significantly affecting bus service delivery. Scottish Government officials are working closely with the sector that facilitates solutions to, for example, the labour and skill shortages action plan and connecting local employability partners with bus operators. My officials are also in contact with the department for transport to address issues around delaying of licence applications and driver testing. Those are the kind of issues that I have raised directly with UK Government counterparts. However, as we have heard and as I said to Colin Smith earlier, the current system is not working in the best interests of our communities. We have the opportunity through the implementation of part 3 of the 2019 transport act to make progress in this regard. The development of the secondary legislation was paused out of necessity by the pandemic. The consultation relating to that closed in October. The analysis should be completed by the end of this year, following which we will move to the secondary legislation that is being developed and introduced. Local transport authorities ask for flexible options so that they can put in place what works in their area. The act provides that range of options with new partnership and franchising models and a power for more local transport authorities to run bus services. Supported by the community bus fund, I look forward to seeing these deliver bus services that better meet the needs of our communities wherever they live.


We're back with more conversations right here on the Breakfast and Plus TV Africa first major conversation President Buhari you might have had already by now has conferred national awards on 447 Nigerians including the Director General of the World Trade Organization and Foma Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okunjweala Speaker of the House of Representatives Femiq Bajabia Mila, Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fahshola, those who were awarded the honor of a grand commander of the order of the Niger GCON Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Honorable Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad who was there before him as a former Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN The Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Ms. Amina J. Mohamed also received that award and renowned diplomat Pravasati Jani Muhammad Bande also received the GCON. Fantastic news. I think one of the presidential candidates made a point that you had two women getting the GCON. Nigerians with the Honor of a Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic CFR Femi Bajabia Mila, Deputy Senate President Ove Omoagege, Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustafa Dr. Fola Shadeh Yemi Esan We have former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, Justice Kudirat M. Kekere Okun, Justice Musa Datijo Muhammad, Justice Manika Bol Naan and Dongan Mansim. Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN Ngozi Okunjweala Justice Ulukayo Day Ariwala the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN Well, I think considering the national honours on deserving Nigerians, it's not anything new. It's what is happening worldwide and it's a basis for that really because the essence of commanding people for having worked for the progress of society is to encourage other people to also do the same. So, we have it in so many ways. I mean, it doesn't have to be national awards. Organizations, families reward the members of the same family who have done exceptionally well. They celebrate birthdays. Societies also give awards at the local government level, village level, for people who have been outstanding because their contributions or what they have done have helped uplifting people and making lives generally for people. So, at the national level it is a wonderful thing. But I think that the problem is the value, the kind of value a government attaches to such things. The kind of people and that is dependent on the kind of people that the government gives these awards to. If the awards are given to the right kind of people, then it sends the right kind of message to citizens. But if it is given to the wrong set of people, then obviously you are sending the wrong message or the wrong message to the rest of society. And that is why it has to be something that should be done to ensure that the right message is sent. And that means that anybody that is going to be awarded or given this award must be somebody that is outstanding and somebody that is worthy of emulation. So, one has to be careful to get it right. It's not just to give awards for the purpose of giving awards. Any time these awards have to be given, you are making a statement about the values of the government, about the values of the nation state. But again, if I hope, I do not have no claim to you, but if you look at what we have been doing over the years, virtually every award of these honors have been shouted in kutrovasi, one form of kutrovasi or the other. And that is ultimate because essentially, I mean, if the wrong set of people are not being awarded or being recognized, then you realize that there is something with our data and our way of keeping records. Because sometimes you have these people who are being given awards. The government is not even aware that the people that they are giving awards have passed. Or that some of these awards have already been given to the same people they are now conferring the same awards to. So, some of these embarrassments have characterized giving of awards in the past. But most importantly is the quality of people you are giving these awards to. And that is where Nigeria has to have issues with. Well, so as you have rightly mentioned, every other time it gets in with a lot of controversy. And this year is actually not different because there's been several criticism by some civil society groups and other Nigerians. And mostly people say that this you have a lot of persons who are politicians and political aids at the expense of many Nigerians who are deserving and who have actually made difference in political and critical spaces outside of the headlines.  Do you think that that's the case? Is it a list of favor or a list of merit? No, I think there is more of the political consideration in the given of these awards. This is what has characterized most awards in the country. And that gives you an idea of the nature and character of the government that we have had. The nature and character of the people that struggled the corridors of government in Nigeria. For instance, you want to look at such awards. And you want to look at, you want to see people like Barista Femifalana, for instance, a critical government. You want to see, as at the time she was alive, you want to see people like... This call is now being reported.  These are radical, these are people that are against government and government policies. But the general public recognizes that these are people that have been more meaningful in their contribution to the growth and development of this country. Much more than the politicians that have been honored because of their loyalty to the government of the day. Because that is what is all about. This is about a reward to people who have been loyal to the government. People who have supported government regardless of the merits or the merits of government over the years. So that tells you that there is something wrong with the list. For instance, if you want to even do a breakdown of even this list, you see a lot of politicians, the Senate president. And then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, these are politicians. What essentially have they done really that is outstanding, that is different from what their predecessors had done. Because that's only this tendency to reward them. You know, you have a Senate that right now, and the National Assembly right now, that is not even up to scratch in terms of what is predecessor the National Assembly had done over the years. You know, I'm not saying that even those was performed with standing qualities. But you can see a National Assembly that has been tattooing to the details of the executive for the past seven years. And so you see the leadership being ruined. Chike Chure, are you there please? Can you hear us? Okay, we seem to have lost contact with Chike Chure, whose sterling analysis has been quite enthralling. We hope to get him back so we can continue that. I was really enjoying where he was coming from. So quite interesting. I mean, from what we see, the GCFR is customary confed on former heads of state. The GCON title is also confed on vice president and former vice presidents. You have also the president of the Senate and the chief justice of the Federation also receiving that GCON title. But recipients of GCON also, I mean, the peks are coming with this, you know. It's not just on paper. The peks are coming with it. I was interested in knowing, okay, if the vice president, the former Senate president, et cetera, chief justices are the ones that get GCON, how come we have the likes of Okonja Weala and Amina Muhammad also, Tijani Muhammad Bande getting this award. Tijani Muhammad Bande is Nigeria's permanent representative to the United Nations. Amina Muhammad is the deputy secretary general of the United Nations. One I've had a pleasure of meeting an Italian fantastic woman. And of course, Ongozi Okonja Weala needs to introduction. She needs to introduction. So it probably means that the GCON title, which is a grand commander of the order of the Niger, it's not an exclusive reserve of vice presidents, former vice presidents and the chief justices of Nigeria. But do we have a cheeky, shoot it back on the line, please? Yes, I'm back on the line. So like I was saying, there are some good things. I mean, some of the people that have been awarded, I mean, we have no choice than to rejoice with them because these are people that we all know, the general society without knowledge, without much disputation that they have done well. Somebody like Okonja Weala is somebody who has influenced, transcends the shores of this country and has brought a lot of merits to the country. And then of course entertainment is something that we have been exporting out of this country whether it's our musicians, it's our artists, they have done exceedingly well. So the award on Bonaboi and his colleagues, I mean, these exceedingly well received and a few others. But you now have, like I said, I have issues with the politicians. I do not think most of these politicians, if any of them actually deserves any commendation. Because they have been taking care of themselves and fedring their nests from the resources of this country over a period of time. And then you look at a contentious and controversial name on that list and that is the former Chief Justice of the Federation of the Supreme Court. That is Tanko. He left in a dust of controversy, very major controversy because for the very first time all the judges of the Supreme Court did a petition against the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice. He's unprecedented, I have not seen in any part of the world where it happens. And as a result of the pressure, I think the man resigned under that cloud of corruption. How would you go ahead and give a few months after that happened and the matter and people were calling for him to be investigated by the anti-corruption agencies. And then the president puts him among the list of people who deserve this national honor. So don't judge this case and other cases as well as others in the past. This is what we have always said. So this is like a committee of members of a club honoring their own. Sometimes that is the impression you have with a sprinting of a few people within the corporate sector in the country that have actually done well in the country. So this is exactly what has been going on. I think most of the politicians that are under list should not be discarded. The government of Delta State and most of the Soviet people. You don't think the government of Delta State should be there. Before we come to the politicians, staying with Tanku Muhammad, whether he left in the cloud of dust or not, I mean it's well documented, but some would argue that whether he left in the cloud of dust or not, that it is a statutory conferment on the Chief Justice of Nigeria to receive such an honor. So it is his entitlement. No, no, no. I do not think so. You are talking about a merit award. So what you are saying is that these people are deserving. These people have served this country meritoriously. These people have served, have left their offices with impeccable and indelible records. This is the basis. So are you saying that if somebody commits murder, but simply because the office occupies is so high that that office is deserving of an award that regardless of what the man has done, when you give him an award, it's not the award you are giving the man, but actually the office that you are giving that award. So this does not make sense. Sorry to interrupt your message. If someone was maybe president, for instance, or maybe vice president and he committed murder, it would mean that he would have been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and probably received a sentence whichever way or if fine. But it could be argued that Tanku Muhammad has faced any panel or been tried by any panel, be found by any investigation, no committee was set up, no court had convicted him. So we have nothing to hold on to deny him when you want to err on the side of caution when it becomes a matter of public interest. It is like the discussion, the entire discussion about the former minister of communication and the digital economy. Patami, the issue about his linkages with terrorism and all the stories in the past even though the man had said he had repented. But because the issue is such a very sensitive issue that has implications for this country, when the government has to err, let it err on the part of caution, that is exactly what I'm saying. Because we've had, this is not a pattern, the former minister, I mean, EFCC chairman, Magu was was was indicted by the Abdi Salami panel that was set up by the federal government. He was indicted and a few months after that he was promoted within the Nigerian police force. So what message are you sending? What are you trying to say about your views as a government on corruption? So that's what the government should have done. They shouldn't give us stories. I mean, they are impending allegations of corruption against him, whether it has been proven or not. The normal thing in any claim, any reasonable claim is that when there is serious, egregious accusation against you, what you do is that you step aside and allow the authorities to actually do the investigation and they generate you or not, you know, or indict you. That is what happens. But in Nigeria we want to err on the part of the people who are supposed, who are accused of having committed crimes. Welchud, let's move on quickly. So surprises now.  Well, the people who have made the list, they said the present senate president is no different from Bukalasaraki. They occupy the same office if that's what we are saying. But Bukalasaraki happens to be somebody in the opposition. And that is not to say that when somebody in the opposition has not done well, you should also not give that person whatever he or she deserves. But well, perhaps another government can come in tomorrow and they also recognize Saraki. But like I said, I'm not enamored by the fact that politicians whose role in this country have been inglorious and to a larger extent injurious. And I'm not saying that we have proven cases against them. But there is this general feeling that the politicians have not done too well in this country and that this national assembly has cut out so much to the dictates of the executive in as much as when, as long as the executive was airing in so many ways, the national assembly failed to call them to order. So perhaps this is a reward for the leadership of the national assembly. But just quickly before Kofi comes in now, the likes of Victor Moses, if we look at his story and his antecedent, especially when we have that conflict in Kaduna that led to the sacrifice that his parent had contributed, and then of course he found himself on asylum outside of the country and then was adopted to a family, eventually was discovered as a great talent, and then he played for the team at the time. Then at some point he had to choose and then he chose to play for Nigeria, the Supoagals. Don't you think that he should have actually been considered? He's one among so many Nigerians that have done very commendable or have acted in a very proud way for the country. Look, this award, I think he's being given by people who do not understand what merit means, who do not understand what the nation state means. Occasionally, yes, you have a sprinkling of people who have actually done well for this country, main captains of industries and people who have set up conglomerates and employed people, gave employment to Nigerians and all that. Then like I said, the entertainment industry, it talked about Victor Moses and so on. Obviously there are so many people that are desiring of this award that are not getting it. And I'm not saying that there is any way to compensate every single Nigerian that is desiring of this award. What you just do is that you have a representative sample of Nigerians. And that's what you have, is a representative of the Nigerians. In general, you have people, captains of industries, you have politicians, you have employment people, you have sportsmen and all that. So all of this is supposed to be a general representation of the rest of Nigeria. And so you should be able to pick the best from all of these people, people without stigma. And I'm not sure that this award that has been granted to a lot of Nigerians has actually passed that test of having people who largely have been above state, largely, I mean, physically been above. We are not saying that anybody is perfect. But when you are operating in the public terrain, you have to be sure of the people that you are actually bringing forward for national awards. And I'm not sure I'm very much impressed with all of these. Not just this one, even the ones that we have had in the past, every single one of them has had some level of controversy of the other anyway. Some distinguished Nigerians Chike Churi. Some distinguished Nigerians like the late professor Chinwachibi Chief Sisi Ono have in the past rejected their national awards. In your mind, is there any reason why any of these awardees should have rejected this award? So in my mind, is there any reason why any of the awardees in this current class should have rejected their award? It depends. I think don't also forget that we had the controversy over the post two months award that was granted what is the name? The former Ghanifawemi people were telling the children because of the rule he played in Nigeria and how he was harassed by the governments of the day. They were telling the children the family to reject it but the family had their reasons for accepting it. But Chinwachibi had a question on the fact of the crisis that was going on in the southeast and the extrajudicia kings by the federal government against the people of the southeast and he said that for as long as his region is in mention crisis that there is no way he would accept an award from a government that is perpetuating the crisis in that place. So for Sisi Ono there is always a reason and that is not to say that when things change and such awards are still on the table that they will not accept them or their families may not accept them but I think it is on the basis of isn't there a reason that accept or reject because of time I just need to ask this follow-up question some could point to the fact that on the 20th of October 2020 young Nigerians were massacred revealed by the panel at the leki togit in leki legos Nigeria maybe that could be a reason to make a political statement saying for that mask we are not taking these awards you have to get to the bottom of this and let's see who was behind this maybe people have different views about different things and so there are those people who really felt very bad and very angry about what happened at leki and wanted the matter that these authorities to get to the bottom of the matter of course of people will tell you that the authorities have gotten to the bottom of the matter and the legal state government has brought out its report the federal government some other state government has raised but what people are seeing by the various governments as well as the federal government what happened at the leki togit but for a lot of people who are not too political they might just see it as one of those things that happen in the life of a country and then it doesn't really caught so much ice with them it doesn't release anything of a major significance but for every serious Nigerian what happened at that place is of major significance he showed the capacity of the state for mischief of a very dark kind if I will use that expression so it's a legitimate question if you say look I question this award that is being given by a government that was responsible for what happened at leki togit but like I said it's a matter of opinion that some people will feel comfortable and they might not feel very angry but for that leki togit I think it's about people's general understanding and the people's general temperament okay very interesting analysis by you chikichu we want to thank you very much for your time and hopefully we will be back next year to analyze this again thank you very much alright thank you we'll have a further discussion in a very few moments or minutes from now we'll be talking about a very important subject after this break please stay with us


Gun smoke around our city and in the territory on West There's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that's with a u.s. Marshall and the smell of gun smoke Starring William Conrad the story of the violence that moved west with young America And the story of a man who moved with it. I'm that man Matt Dillon the United States Marshall The first man they look for and the last thing want to meet It's a chance a job and it makes a man watchful And a little lonely Just listen to that miserable old coyote. Mr. Dillon. Did you hear him? Yes, I heard him just We're gonna stop you long back. Oh, there's no reason so it's late. It's too quiet for anything to be going on What I was thinking I Sure could do with some beer to go to bed on If anybody was buying The place does sound kind of like a morgue tonight, don't it now that want to end the next month when the trail herds start rolling in You'll be lucky to get your foot in son Been waiting for you Marshall Get your hands up. Oh, no, I Yeah, sure red. I Won't argue with a shotgun. Yeah, that's what we figured Take his gun red Yeah You You know mind do you Marshall? I go ahead and do what hack says.  Neither one of us gives order.  That's all right. Kelly. Let's take it easy Yeah, that's the idea Marshall you to just take it easy Everything'd be all right You got what you came after a hacker. You're still trying to get it. We've got it We've been through all the boys pockets along with the safe from the cash box Just fixing to leave when you stumbled in we didn't have chance man They walked in with a shotgun and said kitty'd be the first one to go forget it dog These boys toilet and slate are wanted in a half a dozen states for bank robbery stage hold up How come you were so quick to recognize us Marshall?  That's right, Marshall.  Is that so? Reputations might easy to come by sometimes All right, all of you We're right now to here now.  He's just gonna stand there.  We can't just let them ride out doc They got kitty with them and their killer is one move from us And they'll do exactly what they said they'd do to her well, maybe they will anyway We'll give her the best chance. We're able that's all we can do I Just can't figure it what you're doing We've spent from midnight last night until noon today checking every trail out of dodge Tobiel and his scouts have worked their river bottom for 10 miles each way That's right. Oh country sides on the lookout for them two men and a woman They can't just disappear. Well, they sure done it so far Yeah, they sure done it so far Come on Chester. Let's walk up the street and get something to eat. Oh, all right First time in all my recollection.  It won't help kitty any this star You're so I got kindly a bad feeling ain't nothing gonna help her mr. Dillon Why not I figured they've had time now to get far enough away. They won't need her no longer.  Chester I'm sorry. I didn't mean to talk to you like that I can understand Yeah, I guess we both do Well Good afternoon mad Chester. Hold on You find any trace of them? No nothing You were I Have a bite to eat with us Well, I just ate by now ago, but I might sit down with you for some pie and some coffee If Chester can spare a little I ain't thinking much about food today though. Oh, that's um Well, yes, if you ever reach my age, you'll realize come fire and brimstone cast and calamity The first thing a man better look out for is the stomach. Yes, sir So she starts going off his feet. He starts going downhill. You betcha and when he starts to go down I sure hope kitty's all right We all hope so Hey, that was kitty that was down the street there somewhere come on No wonder there was no trail. They never even left town They planned a whole up for a night or two and then right out after the search was all over This kitty must broke loose for a minute. Thank you Thank you save it miles. There's trouble up the street. That's not up the street It's right over there in my store. What upstairs in the storage loft Should by Dean he's right, mr. Dylan. There's a pane glass broke out up there. Hi. Yeah Is there another one to win the back miles?  Yes, you meet. She's still alive. Yeah so far There's something they might be quiet up there Matthew Now they'll talk about I guess or they know they can't get out of there Now dark and we can't get in Matt Suppose we set fire to the building. Oh, no, you're not you're not setting fire to my store Not that they stay up there for the next year. You're not I just didn't have killing up there with a minute be easy Sure, just wait for him to starve out or else burn the place down when you stop seeing that dog Well, it's gonna be dark before long Matt. Yeah, I know Why don't they give up they know they haven't got a chance They have as long as they got kitty duck. I don't know.


The Aiken County Sheriff's Office is investigating the deaths of two adults at a home southeast of McGregor. The two bodies were discovered after deputies responded to a request for a welfare check at the home on Tuesday. The home was secure at the time of the welfare check, so deputies had to force entry. Identification of the two individuals is pending at the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is assisting in the matter. The Sheriff's Office does not believe there's any threat to the public at this time. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.


In this video, we'll find the Taylor series for cosine of x centered at x equals zero, otherwise known as the Maclaurin series for cosine of x. We begin by finding several derivatives of cosine of x. The zeroth derivative of cosine is cosine. Evaluated at zero gives us one. First derivative is negative sine of x. Evaluated at zero is zero. Second derivative is negative cosine of x. Evaluated at zero is negative one. Third derivative is sine of x. Evaluated at zero is zero. The fourth derivative is cosine of x. Evaluated at zero is one. So, in generating a few of the terms in this Taylor series, we have one divided by zero factorial x to the zero, plus zero divided by one factorial x to the first, minus one over two factorial x to the second. Notice I'm getting these coefficients from what we generated in the previous slide. Plus zero divided by three factorial x to the third, plus one over four factorial x to the fourth, and so on. We find that this is equal to one minus x squared over two, plus x to the fourth over four factorial, and so on. We notice that the terms are alternating and the powers are all even. So we can actually write this in general form as the sum from k equals zero to infinity of negative one to the 2k divided by 2k factorial x to the 2k. Verify this on your own paper.


get. What's up y'all? We get a lot of requests to show how we do the back of our coasters. This is one that's already been done. Well, it's part of our super sale. Super sale. So obviously if we still have this, it's for sale and it's kind of amazing. It looks like an acrylic pour. It does, but this is how that's done there. It's just painted. This one is still available as well. And we're trying to sell. I know. This is not a sale video. So what you do is take the back, place it on some wax paper. Make sure you have windows open and ventilation in a face mask.  Just kind of hit it in a couple of different spots. Not too much.  We basically just do whatever colors match the front side.  That's going to blow up everything. It's going to cover it all. Yeah, so you want to just barely go from the, maybe up to the top because if you go from the side, it's going to go underneath the coaster and get on the coaster. So make sure your angle is from the top and just come down right over the top. Maybe just a little bit more green off to the side. Make sure when you do this not to over saturate your coaster with spray paint because then it won't set regular. Give you a little heat. Depending on the type of spray paint you use, the heat gun should dry it pretty quick. If not, just leave it in your window seal or just leave it where it's at. And since I'm not sure if that's dry or not, we have a little stamp, the ATD stamp. We just made it from like, you know what, Michael's at the checkout. They have those little stampy stamps. So get rid of the excess, whatever is on there before. Give you some fresh ink. Bada bean, bada boom. ATD. Now a lot of people ask us about whether it's like sealed in for... Freshness. Freshness in other words. I'm not going to paint this right now because it's still got to dry, but we use polycrylic to seal our wood substrates in as well as things like this. That way it liquid fast, I guess. Moisture fast. You can do it before. These coasters are meant to have... Like condensation on them. Even before they're painted. They come just like this. These are from Inkfish. I have the link. These are from Inkfish. I have the link for all of these products in our Amazon description box below. It's like 11.90 something for 100. Maybe 14. I can't remember. And they're super durable. For compressed like cardboard paper. Yeah. They're awesome. Never had any issues with them. They don't warp. You can tear them. You can definitely tear them. So... They're not indestructible. But ultimately our coasters are functional pieces of artwork. Yes. This is what we do with our leftover resin after we work on a piece. So there you go. That's how we finish a coaster. Oh, what if there's drips on the back? We always put our coasters and our paintings on wax paper because... For one, it's level. And two, you won't get the drip down like the little... It would be really difficult to sand these paper coasters without causing some kind of damage to the back of them. And the good thing about these coasters is it's such a hard edge right here that the resin does not want to go over the edge. So if you put it on a completely flat level area, you should be fine. If you have spillover just cut it with an exacto blade. Please use parental supervision and safety things when using an exacto blade or heat gun or, you know, life. Anyways, we got to get back to the beach. We will see you all again tomorrow. Bye.


Add 7 parts of coconut coir, 2 parts of pommes or pear light, 2 parts of warm castings for excellent nutrition and mix them all together. And that's how you get the perfect pudding mix for your tropical plants.


Hi, I'm Joseph Velazquez, I'm from Austin, Texas, and I'm here as Artisan Residence here at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan. Here I am the Artisan Residence for the next few weeks, leading up to the big mid-summer festivals of the arts here in Sheboygan. I'll be accomplishing a few community projects, culminating into our final steam roller block printing. So, right now I have two three-foot by five-foot woodcuts that I've been working with in the community for the last three weeks, and carving along with giving some printmaking demonstrations, wood carving, screen printing demonstrations, and sharing my love and process of printmaking with the community. Can you explain the process you go through? Sure, the woodcut process first just begins with the drawing, and it's understanding that it has to be a black and white drawing. And there are various different types of wood that you can use traditionally. You can have a stronger wood or harder wood if you're going to be printing by hand, and some of the softer materials would be much easier to carve. Go away from wood and you can even use linoleum. I have a preference to use medium-density fiberboard because it's not harsh on my tools. It enables me to give really fast workshops to get people carving right away without it being detrimental to the tools, cuts down on the hazardous opportunity for someone cutting themselves, and can really demystify the process of making it accessible for people who just want to learn. And to me that's been like the largest engagement with woodcut or printmaking as possible, is just making it more accessible to people, because for the most part the arts are very intimidating and can be as a deterrent with a heavy process. And this is heavy process, so it is a deterrent. We have these sharp gouges of the tools that I use that have different heads and of the heads. They make a different mark. So I, during my workshops, I'll have an image that I draw up and I encourage others. I show them how to hold the tool and which tool does what for the line work that you're looking for. The wood makes a big difference. So after I make my drawing on the MDF and I color it black, the next thing I do is I use a water-based acrylic and I coat my block and that gives it this red look over to it. And the reason why I do that is so whenever I begin to carve away, the negative pops up and it's white. And so it's indicative to me that if I roll ink on the surface right now, the ink is only going to go where it's red and black. The ink is not going to go anywhere where I can now see the natural color of the wood. And you see the way that I carve, I'm holding the tool like a pencil. The tool must be upright where the two beveled edges are up. If you tilt the tool a certain way and you can undercut the wood, what happens is you exceed the depth of the wood and you cause what's called a blowout or flooding when it goes over the line and it actually rips the wood and that's not a desired aesthetic. So it's all about maintaining the correct angle of the wood and being able to push it through. You see with my left hand the way I like to carve is my left hand as I refer to it as my articulation hand. My left hand guides the tool where I'm going. Well my right hand you see it's all pushing elbow. I never am sore in my forearm or anything. I'm carving like this. When I need to move, it's not proper to break your wrist and try to carve like that. It doesn't make sense when you should just slightly turn the block. Navigate and negotiate yourself around the block and not to compromise the dexterity of your muscles by doing something and that's what really helps to prevent fatigue. I can carve a block like this in three days. I can carve fast. I can carve with a lot more detail and extreme detail when I take three months to carve on a block. But for me to have that exercise of working with the community and going through the speed, this kind of stuff is fun and it lets my process not be so formulaic into one way of working. I would never do with images of three seahorses crashing through the waves but for this theme of myths and mysteries and a project such as this, this gives me that opportunity to engage in the public and make something fun and not always have to take everything so serious with the heavy-heartedness as an artist and to be able to engage like that. This process of being able to cut this fast, this is something that is super captivating and I think that people who watch it and get involved and start cutting with me too, it's only a matter of time before they get into it and want to give a shot. So I have people get the tools and I teach them to use your left hand to help guide your right hands with the power and you always want to carve away from yourself because in case you slip you want to slip that way and you don't want to slip towards yourself. You want to do unto others before yourself. I read that somewhere and it's important that you do that especially when you're carving. You don't want to cause injury to yourself. And you see at times I'll hit the burp up and then I'll use my hand just to rub over it. You don't need gloves but I like to wear gloves because I wash my hands so much that they dry out so when I'm carving or anything I'll just put the gloves on to help out. You can see the areas that I've done around the areas I sometimes get my smaller tools and I'll guide myself around where I want to carve. So I'm essentially just making myself an outline of where I want the tool to carve. Once I fill out that outline is substantial and it's going to prevent me from carving into my other lines I can then switch tools and I begin to carve and clear out that area just really popping up and establishing the white area that I intend to be white. Now this project that I'm doing here at the Art Center it stems from a larger endeavor that I began over ten years ago while at grad school at UW Madison at Go Badgers. My colleague and I Greg, Nanny and I while in graduate school getting our Masters of Fine Arts in printmaking we proposed a thesis project to our committees there at UW to allow us to mobilize a printing press into the back of our vehicle that would retract and we proposed going to schools across the state and across the Midwest that didn't have visiting artist programs and we wanted to visit the school, give demonstrations, talk about the history of printmaking, share artwork and give a brief lecture on the process all the while pulling up in our press out of the back of our vehicle printing up prints and t-shirts for people and sharing our love and passion of what we do. To our surprise our committee said yes and we hit the road and we went to twenty six different schools throughout the Midwest given our presentation and after our thesis was complete we then got emails from eighty five other universities across the country and then following our graduation Greg and I continue our endeavor drive by press and to date we visited over two hundred and forty five college campuses across the country over a hundred different community art centers just like the John Michael Kohler Art Center and we've amassed over two hundred fifty thousand miles on the road traveling with drive by press and doing so we've also been lucky enough to tour with different indie rock bands and making t-shirts and being able to sell our t-shirts online as vendors at fab.com and a few other different markets and it's been really engaging and it's been really opportunistic for us but it's been a really fun adventure to share our passion of what we've done and how we do things and to me one of the most the greatest things I've gotten from these travels is the people who I meet uh... the people who I meet are from all walks of life they appreciate what I do as an artist that I share with them and then they share their stories with me and oftentimes man I meet these artists they just come out the woodworks and they are simply amazing and they'll share some like uh... trade secrets with me uh... you know and they'll share their artwork with me and that's just something that I can't put a monetary value on that has been something that has been one of the best uh... benefits almost gratifying aspects to the uh... opportunities that I have and traveling the country and sharing this work uh... well I got out of the military I was in the military for four years and I was just taking some uh... English classes and then when I got out of the military I had a scholarship opportunity uh... and uh... as an English major and part of my English major requirement was taken humanities class and print making I went down into the art department and I saw a printmaker pull a print right off the block and it was a process similar to this to where I was walking in to get the professor to sign my ad slip I see him pull a print through the press remove the blanket and then this happens I see him go and he pulls the block up boom from the print and I saw that reflective image coming up there and it just blew my mind and I said what is this and he says this is a printmaking this is a woodcut and I said this is amazing and he asked me he said here do you want this and I said what I can have this and he said yes look I'm gonna make another one and he rolled ink on the surface he put it back on the press he put a new sheet of paper he ran it through and there was something that clicked on my head there was something like I appreciated the aesthetic for what the artist had done but to me there was something captivating and democratic about the accessibility of that artist willing to share the original because I didn't feel like that was a copy everyone that comes off is an original it's not like pressing apple p in a computer every print that comes up is an original there can be thirty originals but it's an original when that artist had that sharing aspect to it to me I was captivated by that democratic accessibility that's something that ended just kept on going with me so after I did that uh... to my parents dissatisfaction I no longer sought after uh... my English degree for law school and I started focusing on the arts and uh... they were very disappointed up until I became successful and then I became a professor myself uh... so now they no longer want me to go to law school are you going to talk about the other pieces that you're going to do? sure I'll talk to you for the community project is like that one of the challenges of working in a community project such as this is the range of the demographic of the attendees and you really have to as the visiting artist design a programming that's accessible for people who are tiny to people who are absolutely full ground so the age of the participants here the range has been totally off the charts and so I have to design programming that would lead to a larger contribution for the end result I wanted the community have part of that but on the same token I wanted them to learn the process and do something so if this wasn't an easy task and one of the things that I did to help familiarize the community with it is by doing an exquisite corpse and so I came up with a few different monsters for my myths and mysteries and I created different sections of the bodies where I did a head I did a torso and then I did a feet and then I can mix them up so I can take off this one is not wearing any uh... super nice sneakers put a snake tail on it take the hammer head out express that one uh... this one pigtails there all this was my favorite this is the one with the uh... the clock around in the fence and so we can mix these up and i show him how we mix them up and then i give them the opportunity to the community by placing blank blocks and then we draw where the everything connects so we know it's gonna fit when we print and so they're able to carve blocks out themselves and have their own part and so if they're smaller people that don't have the dexterity to cut what i generally do is i have them draw and then their parents carve and so it works collaborative like that uh... or if they're able to draw and carve i give them a brief carving demonstration watch along with them and allow them to carve it now everyone's not limited to making one of these they can make their own block uh... but in the time that i've been here there have been about thirty participants who have carved and they decided to carve their own image and we're able to do it within a three-hour period in which we carve and then print uh... so this is the exquisite course and this is what i found that have been really accessible and like meeting the people half way then shortly after we do this after the carving in order to give them the printing demonstration i have some of my blocks that i've carved uh... that i show them how to ink up and i give them the option to print for a few of my cards so at the workshops and they get to take their block home with them along with their prints on how they've mixed up their exquisite corpse and with one of my prints as well so it's a nice little exchange and learning opportunity in a nice ephemeral experience uh... for us all you want to talk about the steam roller process? sure the carving that i'm working on right now there's two of these giant wood cuts that were finished and i have two previous ones that are complete that we're going to be printing uh... this saturday and sunday using a street leveler what we call a steam roller and this is a giant fifty two inch wide drum that's about six tons and we roll over the block of wood and it doesn't like blow up the block of wood the block of wood is solid and we're able to roll ink on the surface we put a bed sheet over it or a piece of paper uh... rubber mat on top and then we drive the steam roller right over it and the pressure of the steam roller transfers the ink from the block straight onto the sheet and we're able to see it i have a few examples uh... put up you can see later and show you what those look like but really to really see the impact of the steam roller you gotta see it because it's not a small piece of metal rolling over it is giant and to be able to have that engagement with the public it's something very performative uh... because they see the block and then when they see the process happening they they're like oh like a giant stamp and well yeah just like a giant stamp uh... but it's also something that the public's never seen before and what it does for young artists being able to watch it it shows them how to expand the limitation of the studio which you might have just a small press and it shows you how that that can't dictate your scale and how there are other ways around it using industry and by thinking outside of the box that you can find other ways uh... to reach the scale and the size of the block that you'd like to carve and print so on next saturday and sunday we have about the objective is have about forty prints pulled on each day we have a variety of bedsheets and colors that we're going to be printing on and we're going to be raffling them off and so there will be some that are for uh... sale but the majority of them is that it's so important to me with this process and my visit that as much as possible is accessible to the community and the public so they are going to be uh... raffled and there will be some prizes and some contests uh... and to win some of them so i'm really looking forward to having this event this weekend but as you see i have a lot of carving to do you put some ink out and so you can see that process i do gotta meet a buddy for lunch at noon i did not i just had a full room i had a mess of information and i finished and it's still there we've got more fabric so we're not going to run out of the dry let's do one more pass and then let's spread it around with the little rollers, make sure you're getting concentrated on the black


The Mississippi Meadows prescribed burn was a moderately complex broadcast burn designed to improve wildlife habitat. The unit lies eight miles west of Deer River Minnesota and about a mile and a half west of the Ball Club housing area. The forest has a long history of burning similar meadows early in the spring just after snow melts in the meadows but while the witted areas surrounding the meadows remain snow covered. The snow generally assures the fire will not escape the meadow itself. The absolute latest date for burning meadows was set at May 7th because burns later in the spring increased the risk of escape and may adversely affect certain wildlife species which begin nesting in these meadows as the spring progresses. The Mississippi Meadows burn was carried out on May 5th 2005. The Mississippi Meadows prescribed burn we moved into this the first week of May. It was well into our fire season. We were having a lot of active fire at the same time that we were going to prescribe burn. May or may not be a problem depending on how the burns goes how you're set up to work with it etc. It's a grass model and we were burning about 200 acres that day and once you get your lines established from there on out it's pretty much a backing fire till it's well away from your line and then you can strip head or you may even be able to just perimeter fire and let it run and so all in all you're looking at about a four-hour engagement on your prescribed burn. Because of wet weather conditions and a poor dispersion index an early morning ignition was delayed and trigger points for initiation were developed should the weather conditions improve. The spot weather forecast at 11 o'clock came back favorable and the IC decided to light and evaluate a test fire and then go from there. Now let's get into our groups and complete the exercise in your student workbook.