Month: July 2017

Local Woman Establishes Diaper Drive

BALTIMORE — In 2014, while looking for a place to donate diapers that her children had out-grown, Jackie Weisman discovered the diaper gap, which stems from a federal program designed to help low income families.

Weisman realized that WIC does not cover diapers and while diaper banks exist to help fill the gap, none were available in rural Caroline County, Maryland.

WIC— the Women’s Infant and Children’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition program— provides federal grants to the states for supplement foods like milk, cereal and bread and health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and post-partum women, and to infants and children up to age five, categorized as at-risk nutritionally.

“This discovery led to setting a goal of collecting 3,100 diapers in honor of [Weisman’s] 31st birthday. Not only was this goal met, it was surpassed with a final count of 8,101 diapers along with a massive number of wipes and diaper cream,” Weisman said.

Weisman donated them to St. Martin’s Ministries in Ridgely, Maryland, and in the following years, she has facilitated the collection of more than 30,000 diapers.

This year’s goal is to collect 12,000 diapers, Weisman said.

On August 1, 2017, she plans to kick off her fourth annual 12for1 Diaper Drive where diapers, wipes or rash cream can be delivered to locations in Preston, Crofton, Easton, and Chester, Maryland; and in Millsboro, Delaware.

Interested participants can also ship diapers, wipes or creams or make an online donation during the drive, Weisman said.

“Since I am not a diaper bank, or an established 501c3, I wanted to find a name that reminded people why this is so important,” Weisman said in explaining the name of the drive. “Studies show that the average, healthy newborn uses at least 12 diapers [in] one day. Thus, the name 12for1 Diaper Drive.

This year the goal of collecting 12,000 diapers during the month of August might sound a little ambitious, but worth it, Weisman said.

“But honestly, if I collect 100, I will be thrilled because even that makes a difference,” she said. “Also, I have had a few businesses reach out to get involved, so I have made them drop off points. This will save people from running around to either drop off diapers or for my family and friends from running around picking them up.”

Weisman credits former President Barack Obama for bringing the diaper gap to the forefront, but noted the immediate response wasn’t what she had hope for. She said many frowned upon the president’s mention of a diaper gap, which frustrated her because she knew they were uninformed.

“This isn’t about people having kids who can’t afford them,” Weisman said. “This isn’t about cloth diapering. This is about babies who need clean diapers to be healthy.”

The designated drop-off points are: Choptank Transport, 3601 Choptank Rd, Preston; Creative Gardens Nursery School, 1560 Crofton Pkwy, Crofton; Sears Hometown Store, Easton, 219 Marlboro Ave, Easton; Sears Hometown Store, Kent Island, 1521 Postal Rd, Chester; and Friendly Flowers, Millsboro: 26582 John J Williams Hwy, Millsboro, Delaware.

Packages can be shipped or monetary donations can be made via check or an Amazon e-gift card. For information regarding shipping or donations, email jackie@muddlingmomma.com. Also, a Go Fund Me page has been established at gofundme.com/12for1diaperdrive17.

For more information, visit www.12for1.org.

Marylanders urged to protect themselves after the storm, too

BALTIMORE — After a big storm, your home, yard, auto or business may be in need of major repairs as a result of the wind or water damage. Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh urges Marylanders to be wary of home repair scams and other consumer fraud that often follow in the wake of a storm’s destructive path.

“It’s unfortunate, but after big storms, we see a sudden gust of scammers swooping in, hoping to take advantage of desperate families and business owners trying to rebuild,” said Attorney General Frosh. “Marylanders should be wary of door-to-door salesmen using high pressure tactics to get your hard-earned money. You may never see that money again while the job goes undone.”

The vast majority of home repair contractors, tree removal companies and car repair shops in Maryland are reputable businesses doing good work for their customers. Many are eager to help their neighbors and their community recover from a disaster. These are people you are likely to know and trust. Attorney General Frosh urges consumers to be wary of people you do not know who solicit you at your home or business.

Warning signs that consumers should look for following severe weather include:

•Traveling salesmen who come knocking on your door immediately after a disaster

•High-pressure sales tactics

•Demands for up-front payments

•Demands for an immediate decision

•Advance-fee loans that “guarantee” a loan to rebuild your home or business

Before Marylanders give anyone their money, Attorney General Frosh advises Maryland homeowners and small businesses to be cautious and:

•Check to see if a home improvement contractor is licensed by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission and inquire about the contractor’s complaint history, by calling 410-230-6309 or visit http://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/mhic/.

•Check to see if a tree expert is licensed with the Department of Natural Resources byvisiting: http://dnr.maryland.gov/forests/Pages/programapps/newtreeexpert.aspx.

•Deal only with contractors who have an established Maryland business, and are licensed by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission.

•Obtain at least three bids for major repair work and check references. Be cautious if one of the bids is much lower than the others.

•Make certain that all important details concerning the work are written into the bid and contract, including: all of the work that the contractor has agreed to perform, the dates the work will begin and is expected to be completed, the total cost of the work, the type and quality of materials to be used, how and when payments will be made, and the provisions of warranties on the materials and labor.

Consumers are also advised to be wary of phony relief efforts, fraudulent charities and scam artists who use the name of an organization similar to a well-known charity. Marylanders should contribute only to organizations that they know well and that willingly provide written information about their charitable efforts. Consumers should avoid making cash donations and always make checks payable to the organization, not the individual soliciting. Consumers can protect themselves from charity scams by checking that a charity is registered with the state as required by law, by going to the Secretary of State’s website: http://sos.maryland.gov/Charity/Pages/SearchCharity.aspx.

Consumers may file a complaint with the Office of Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division by going to: http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/ or by calling 410-528-8662 or toll-free at 1-888-743-0023.

We have and “us” problem

“Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced!” —James Baldwin

Baltimore, we have a problem!

The problem has been described with several different adjectives. The most dominant one is “crime.” Baltimore has a “crime” problem.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports, Baltimore has recorded over 300 homicides in the last two years, and the murder rate this year will exceed the murder rates for the previous two years.

In 2015, there were 344 homicides in the City of Baltimore. This marked the highest number of homicides since the 1990’s. According to the statistics offered by the Baltimore City Police Department, 320 of the victims were African-American. And in 2016, of the 318 murders, 293 of the victims were African-Americans.

If you are a native Baltimorean, I think that it is fair to say that we have an “US” problem. If you love this city (like I do), you will realize that we have an “US” problem.

If you are an African-American, you must admit that we have an “us” problem. We are killing “us” at a rate that we would never tolerate if such violence were perpetrated on us by anyone outside of our race— we would be in the streets shouting “Black Life Matters!”

In many of these murders and assaults, both the victims and the perpetrators were black. The reality is that the crime problem is a “black” problem. In 2017, homicides are up, shootings are up, street robberies are up, aggravated assaults are up, and car jackings are up.

These crimes impact my community (the African-American community) more than any other in this city. I know that no one wants to say it, but somebody has got to say it to our beloved community— we have an “us” problem!

It is my conviction that the people most immediately affected by a problem should be the first to acknowledge, admit, address and attack the problem. After all, not every problem faced can be solved, but none of our problems can be solved until we face them. Let’s face our “us” problem!

P. M. Smith is the pastor of Huber Memorial Church in Baltimore.

Pfizer, NNPA partner to spread awareness about Sickle Cell Disease

You really don’t know a company, until you know the people who work there.

Those were the introductory words of National Newspaper Publishers Association President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., as he introduced Dr. Kevin Williams, the chief medical officer for Pfizer’s rare disease unit, who discussed the impact of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in the African-American community.

At the NNPA’s summer convention in Prince George’s County Md., Williams addressed publishers and others on the serious nature of the illness, an inherited genetic disease that affects hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein within red blood cells (RBCs).

“While normal red blood cells are flexible and oval-shaped, individuals with SCD have sharp, crescent-shaped RBCs that have trouble passing through the body’s blood vessels, irritating the vessels’ lining,” Williams said, explaining SCD.

That irritation leads to the production of sticky proteins that cause RBCs to clump together, along with other cells in the blood, and creates blockages in blood flow, Williams added.

“The reduced flow leads to severe pain and organ damage, like the heart, brain, eyes, liver, lungs and spleen—causing the inability to fight certain infections,” Williams said.

Sickle Cell Disease is more prevalent among blacks compared to whites.

Statistics provided by Pfizer revealed that one in 14 African-Americans have the sickle cell trait at birth while one in 500 blacks have the diseases when they are born.

An estimated 312,000 children were born with SCD in 2010 while, in 2013, an estimated 176,200 deaths resulted from the disease around the globe.

“Clearly, the disease has had a tremendous impact on the African-American community,” said Williams, who along with Pfizer have partnered with the NNPA to raise awareness about SCD.

The first initiative under the partnership is a national poll conducted in collaboration with Howard University’s Interdisciplinary Research Team.

The goal is to assess the awareness of SCD, the challenges of living with the disease, and the importance of clinical trial participation in helping researchers succeed in developing potential new treatments.

Pfizer and NNPA publishers also want to bring attention to the everyday suffering of SCD patients, many of whom described the constant fatigue associated with living disease; one participant said that the pain was a never-ending battle, and it felt like living in Hell.

Studies have also proven difficult, as many African-Americans have avoided participating in clinical trials due to long-standing fear and distrust of the healthcare system.

In a review of 174 sickle cell disease trials, difficulty with enrolling patients was among the stated causes in nearly half of the 30 percent of the trials that were terminated early, Williams noted.

Chavis, Williams and others noted that the partnership between Pfizer and NNPA might help.

“We get an opportunity to work with Pfizer on a commitment to improve the quality of life in black America” said Chavis. “This collaboration with Pfizer provides an opportunity for the NNPA to inform and educate the readers of our 211-member, black-owned newspapers in more than 70 markets across the country on Sickle Cell Disease, an often misunderstood disease that has a profound impact on the health and well-being of those affected.”

He continued: “Together with Pfizer, we look forward to providing sickle cell disease education that can underscore the importance of improving quality of care in the community.”

As part of the collaboration, Williams will write a regular column for the NNPA Newswire and BlackPressUSA.com discussing the genetic disorder.

Also, the results from the national poll are expected to be released in September, and Pfizer and NNPA officials are hoping that it will help more African-Americans seek proper health care and obtain better guidelines for treatment.

“We will use the poll to provide additional context…have a better understanding of the perceptions related to clinical trials,” said Jennifer Lichtner, the global marketing lead for SCD in Pfizer’s rare disease unit.

The poll results and information about SCD will be shared with the NNPA network and incorporated into educational programs at NNPA events.

Pfizer will also post and share information about the poll with a goal toward helping to assist more African-Americans and others in underserved and underrepresented communities.

“At Pfizer, we are committed to delivering life-changing therapies to people living with rare diseases, like sickle cell disease. Our commitment also goes beyond clinical research to supporting the rare disease community through innovative collaborations,” Williams said. “Working together, we hope to improve awareness and ultimately address the unmet medical needs of sickle cell disease patients.”

Fashion enthusiast opens Maryland’s first Clothes Mentor

Suzanne Delica says she has always had a passion for fashion. As a young girl, she even crafted outfits for her Barbie dolls out of unique socks and ribbon.

Now, at 29, Delica will open what she says is Maryland’s first Clothes Mentor in Columbia, called Cachet Mode LLC, which does business as Clothes Mentor. She is helping local women re-purpose their gently used clothing in exchange for a whole new wardrobe or cash on the spot.

The grand opening is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 8865 Stanford Boulevard in suite 125 in Columbia, Maryland.

“I had the classic [Barbie] dolls and I absolutely loved dressing them up for every scene in my Barbie adventure,” Delica said. “My mom would eventually teach me how to sew so that I could complete my looks with a touch of professionalism. Reflecting on this time makes my life choices come full circle, now … the entrepreneurial spirit was also undeniable, considering my family’s merchant roots and my parents being self-employed. It was only natural that my next life venture would be to start a fashion business— two of my favorite topics.”

Mostly, Delica says she acquired her entrepreneurial spirit from her father, a Haitian immigrant who opened his first business in America more than 40 years ago. She opened her first business in 2007, an online women’s clothing boutique she promoted with fashion shows at her university, when she was 19.

Upon graduating from college with an engineering degree, she took a job as an electrical engineer for a nuclear technology company where she hoped to eventually move into a marketing role. When that didn’t pan out, she started looking for business opportunities in franchising. When she learned about Clothes Mentor, she says she knew she found her next business.

“It was a Cinderella fit. Their business was exactly what I was good at, and what I enjoyed,” Delica said. “I get to help local women make money by cleaning out their closets and fill their wardrobes with high fashion items at a fraction of the retail price.”

Delica noted that she grew up in an environment where individuals are exhorted to choose a career path and stick to it. She said she struggled with competing interests.

“I recall my science fair projects in middle and high school teetering between the mysteries of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and my fascination with electricity and electromagnetic energy,” she said. “Yet, most of my afternoons were spent dancing at home for hours in front of the television or radio.”

Delica said one reason for her interest in Clothes Mentor was that resale has become a $17 billion industry and, over the past decade, Clothes Mentor has paid local women more than $180 million for their gently used items. She said Clothes Mentor of Columbia makes it easy for customers to donate their unwanted clothing to local charities.

“During my initial call with NTY (the organization that franchises Clothes Mentor stores), a senior executive made the comment, ‘all the stars have aligned for an opportunity such as this.’ It just made sense,” Delica said. “Clothes Mentor’s concept, my personal aspirations, the timing, my professional background, my life vision and even the location we chose— all made it come together. Franchising with a leading brand like Clothes Mentor seemed like a smart and a lucrative decision.”

MAGIC camp teaches teen girls about construction, skilled trades

Of all the things about the MAGIC camp that Namoonga Chilomo enjoys, her favorite might be that it’s interactive.

“You’re learning the work, you’re getting to experience it all. You’re not just sitting there getting lectured about,” said Chilomo, a rising senior at North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs. “You’re in the studio, in the workshop, doing the work, and you get to create things. That’s the whole point. Doing hands-on working creating things, and that’s something I enjoy.”

Chilomo was among 16 teenage girls at Gwinnett Technical College on Tuesday for the week-long MAGIC camp, which stands for Mentoring a Girl in Construction. The MAGIC camps are in their 10th year. They were founded by Renee Conner, who owns her own construction company, and puts on camps like this across the state and country.

So far this week, the girls have learned about Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety training, tool safety and carpentry skills. By the end of the week, they will attend two field trips to job sites around Gwinnett, like the new office building for construction company Reeves and Young, which is on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Sugar Hill.

Conner said she’s had four girls intern for her in places like Bartow County after they participated in the camp. Those jobs are precursors to more education at Kennesaw State University, she said.

“It’s amazing that they’re actually going into these fields, we get to see the light bulb come on,” said Conner.

She added that older participants have passed some of their knowledge on to younger girls they’ve recruited.

The camp again this year offered a 10-hour card from OSHA, which means their safety training is nationally certified. That helps on college and job applications.

On Tuesday, there was the high-pitched screech of saws as girls made the first cuts on memory boxes.

Chilomo said some of her career interests are working with carpentry, masonry, concrete or even architectural design.

Conner said there continues to be a labor shortage in the construction industry, but in recent years, construction employers have made connections in high school and middle school to recruit future workers.

“There was such a wide gap there for a while,” Conner said. “Now they’re starting to see the value of actually getting the girls at a younger age. That’s any student, male or female. … You get them started on a pathway.”

Conner said places like Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro are “dying for help,” and unions are getting more involved in hiring, along with Georgia Power.

Chilomo said even when schools don’t have formal programs, or equipment like Gwinnett Tech does, it’s important to take advantage of summer camps like this one to learn skills they can’t elsewhere. Chilomo added that she and a friend are now considering Gwinnett Tech because of the equipment and program they’re seeing first hand this week.

St. Petersburg empowering young women with girls conference

Stepping in to make lives better for young girls in St. Petersburg. Officials say they are trying to focus on their needs to they turn into successful adults.

School classrooms may be empty during the summer but inside the cafeteria these girls are moving.

“I love to dance, I love to do gymnastics,” said Joteisha Thomas, a student at Johns Hopkins Middle School.

That hobby is shared by many of these young women.

“We want to be able to connect directly to the needs of the young people and we do that by listening to them,” said Nikki Gaskin-Capehart, the Director of Urban Affairs in St. Petersburg.

And what they heard?

“If we go outside, we have to play basketball, football and we have to play with the boys but now that we’re here with other girls were able to interact with girls and learn what they like to do,” said Thomas.

Gaskin-Capehart is delivering, teaching health and wellness with choreographed dancing, yoga and meditation, a walk down the runway to show them how to dress for job interviews. She is even showing the girls how to handle self branding on social media.

Another thing being taught: opportunities available for the teens in St. Pete.

“Definitely without that you would find that there would be a sense of hopelessness and we don’t ever want to have to deal with that,” said Gaskin-Capehart.

It’s the beginning of the Sisters Keepers Initiative, part of the bigger My Brothers and Sisters Keeper, a $1 million promise by the city to empower young women and men to succeed. The group hopes to hold conferences four times a year.

The Pinellas Urban League is meeting at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 26 to discuss the stigma surrounding mental illness in our community and how to promote health and wellness. The event is open to the public.

20 years later, man donates kidney to former missionary companion

Right now, there are more than 100,000 people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant in the United States. For many, the donation doesn’t come soon enough, but sometimes people connect in a way they never expected.

Eight years ago, Maka Aulava was diagnosed with diabetes, a disease that can potentially cause many other health issues, including kidney failure. Then Aulava received a tough diagnosis in January of last year.

“They called me the next day and said, ‘It’s urgent you come see us,'” Aulava remembered. “(They said,) ‘Your kidneys are not functioning correctly.”

Aulava was diagnosed with kidney failure and faced a lengthy wait on the transplant list. Being sick gave him a lot of time to think, he said.

“Initially, (it’s) just worry for my kids and my wife,” Aulava said.

He thought about the things he wished he could do.

“During the winter, when I wasn’t able to do things physically, and I’d see my wife shoveling the snow,” he said through tears.

Years of sickness led Aulava to University Hospital. A kidney transplant could save this husband and father’s life.

“What will it mean for them and will I be there for them?” Aulava remembered asking himself following his kidney failure diagnosis. He endured a year and a half on dialysis. “Twelve hours (of dialysis) a week, pretty much,” he said.

One person who was there to support Aulava: Branden Seare.

“I don’t like to be on the same camera with this guy because he’s so good looking,” Aulava told KSL with a laugh, motioning to Seare sitting beside his hospital bed.

Aulava first met Seare in 1995 while they were serving missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the New Jersey Morristown mission. They hit it off immediately.

“We taught a lot the same,” Seare said. “We had a lot of the same philosophies on the mission. It was just really easy and we were buddies.”

The two said they stayed in touch periodically throughout the years — and it’s a good thing they did.

“I was just like, ‘He’s my brother and I’m here for you if you need something from me, a kidney or whatever, it’s yours,'” Seare said.

Last week, Aulava needed Seare for that specific reason. One week ago, surgeons successfully transplanted Seare’s kidney into the man he now calls his brother.

“I just knew he was going to be a close friend the rest of my life,” Seare said.

“I felt the exact same way,” Aulava replied.

It turns out the two men who were such a good match on their LDS church mission were a perfect match for something else.

Both men wanted to share their story because they hope to raise awareness about the need for kidney donation. To learn more about organ donation, visit yesutah.org.

OKC Zoo receives rejected tiger cub from Philadelphia Zoo

The Oklahoma City Zoo has received a female Amur tiger cub that was rejected by her mother at the Philadelphia Zoo.

The tiger cub, named Zoya, which means “life” in Russian, was born on July 10.

Officials said Zoya was not nurtured by her mother, which is not uncommon among first-time mother tigers. As a result, Philadelphia Zoo staff, bottle-fed Zoya.

Since the zoo was concerned about hand-rearing the cub without giving it social opportunities, the zoo decided to transfer the cub to the Oklahoma City Zoo, which has a litter of Sumatran tiger cubs who were born on July 9.

The zoos decided that it would be best for Zoya to be cross-fostered with Lola, the six-year-old Sumatran mother tiger at the OKC Zoo.

“Cross-fostering in tigers is unusual, but with less than 500 Amur tigers in the wild, every cub is important for the species’ survival,” said Dr. Rebecca Snyder, curator of conservation and science, Oklahoma City Zoo.

The OKC Zoo said Zoya is successfully being nursed by Lola.

“We are very happy that Zoya has integrated well with her new adoptive family,” said Donna Evernham, curator of carnivores and ungulates, Philadelphia Zoo. “She has made an incredible journey in her first two weeks of life and our Philadelphia Zoo team is thrilled to partner with the Oklahoma City Zoo to ensure Zoya’s well-being. With fewer than 500 Amur tigers left in the wild Zoya’s birth is significant to the entire population.”

Zoya is bottle fed for the last time by a Philadelphia Zookeeper.

On Aug. 21 a total solar eclipse will pass over North America, the first time one has crossed completely over the continent since 1979. Gordon State College chemistry professor and amateur astronomer Richard Schmude wants people viewing the event to do so safely.

In the first of three planned eclipse workshops hosted by the Jackson-Butts County Public Library, Schmude came to Jackson July 13 to explain how an eclipse works and the three ways people can observe one safely. They include using one’s hands to make a screen to help focus on a shadow of the eclipse on the ground, using a device called a Sunspotter and wearing special glasses to actually track the eclipse in the sky.

“Looking at the sun will cause permanent damage to your eyes,” Schmude said. “The sun is going to be like a cookie with a bite taken out of it.”

A quick way to see the action without looking at the sky at all is to stand in the shade of a tree, then cross one’s fingers across each other to form a waffle pattern. The latticed shadows that result will allow people to see a crescent of shadow from above.

“I’ll be seeing it with my Sunspotter,” Schmude said.

The Sunspotter is a curved device that focuses light and shadow from the eclipse onto paper. When Schmude took participants outside to demonstrate the device, pointing it at the afternoon sun, onlookers got a bonus — a tiny black dot near the edge of the circle of sunlight shining on the paper.

“That’s a sunspot. We’re really lucky to see it. Everything (on the sun) is moving, even the black dot,” Schmude said.

The sunspot is a relatively cooler spot on the surface of the sun that emits less light.

“It’s twice the size of the earth. That was a big one,” he said. “We don’t get too many like that.”

The third way to observe the eclipse is with glasses designed to block the harmful rays of the sun from one’s eyes. One can look into the sky at the eclipsed sun with them, if one is careful, Schmude said. He recommends children use them only under the supervision of an adult.

Some of the sun’s radiation cannot be seen at all so someone looking at the eclipse without aid could be injured before they realize it, Schmude said.

Schmude, who had an asteroid named after him last year, is a coordinator for five astronomy observing sections run by the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. He has been an executive and associate director for the organization. He has received its Walter Haas and Peggy Haas excellence awards for amateur astronomers, according to a 2016 press release from Gordon State College.

He began his talk by walking through the mechanics of an eclipse, demonstrating how the moon revolves around Earth. Mckenzi Bass-Gainey held a globe and Faulkner held a yellow ball representing the sun, complete with a black dot sunspot.

Schmude moved around the library meeting room to show how eclipses happen as the moon moves between the Earth and sun, casting a shadow across whichever part of the world that spins by. When it passes between the sun and Earth at the right angle, that shadow becomes an eclipse.

“It’s easy to understand the motion of the moon, earth and sun,” Schmude said. “The moon’s shadow passes over us.”

Schmude said two parts of the moon’s shadow, the umbra and penumbra, will cross the U.S. from Oregon to South Carolina on Aug. 21. The penumbra, the outer circle of the eclipse, is not as dark as the umbra, or center.

“We’re going to be in the really dark part of the penumbra, which is going to be about 95 percent totality,” he said. “If you drive up to Nashville, Tenn., you’ll be in the umbra. For 2 minutes or so it’s going to be very dark. If you go to Young Harris, you’ll be able to see the umbra pass over.”

When this happens, he said, children will be in school when the eclipse starts around 12:15 p.m. It will peak between 2:40 and 3:20 p.m. and, barring cloudy weather, good views can be found as early as 1:30 p.m. as the sky darkens. The eclipse will fade around 5 p.m.

“The temperature will drop just a little bit,” he said.