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The First Colorado Infantry Company D, a living history group out of Denver, returned to Gold Rush Days with a special treat. As the infantrymen practiced their musket demonstrations, the women gathered for a Victorian tea.

This marks the companys third year at Gold Rush Days. Each year, it presents something different to the public. This year, the company ladies decided to bring in more feminine appeal.

Were trying to bring different aspects of Victorian life to Gold Rush Days, said Rebecca Hunt, company member and history professor at University of Colorado Denver. The men are doing the Civil War military piece, and were showing that there was a civilian side as well. A tea is something that excites peoples imagination.

Personally, Ive been doing living history events for over 40 years in all kinds of settings, Hunt added. I think its really important to bring history to life for anyone whos interested in any kind of community that wants to host a living history event because people dont always understand the past. Its very interesting and very complicated.

A Victorian Tea for women in dress was held at the Civil War encampment on Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. At 2:30 p.m. the tea became open to any women who wished to participate, no matter the age.

As adult women sat together and conversed while sipping their tea, children sat at another table, trying out the tea, cookies and cucumber sandwiches and learning about life during the 1800s.

Many of the girls commented on their favorite cookies and what dresses they liked. Some came dressed up as well.

Meanwhile, two of the company women would explain to them the different kinds of dresses worn during the period, how children were educated at home and how girls would learn to sew by the age of 4.

I think its great. It gives us a great opportunity for people to see how things were in the past, said company member Kelly Hall.

While dressing in Victorian garments may seem a hassle nowadays, it isnt so for these ladies. I think its delightful. I do it whenever I can, said company member Jenny Wright.

Wearing a dress she made for herself, Hunt doesnt even think of it as dressing up. Ive done it so much, this feels like my normal clothing, she said. When I move into my 1860s clothing, I also move into my 1860s state of mind. I enjoy it; I wouldnt do it if I didnt enjoy it. I love the opportunity it gives me to talk to people.

Next year, the company hopes to come up with another new idea to try for Gold Rush.

For any men or women who would like to join these historians, the First Colorado Infantry Company D welcomes everyone.

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Victorian tea party brings history to life in Buena Vista - Chaffee County Times

Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko visiting the Yuzhmash factory in Dnipro in October 2014. The factory has been linked with the supply of powerful missile engines to North Korea. Photograph: Mykhailo Markiv/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Ukraines president, Petro Poroshenko, has ordered an urgent investigation into a contested report that a factory in his country may have supplied powerful missile engines to North Korea in breach of international sanctions.

In a report published this week, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said North Korea had made rapid strides in its long-range rocket programme thanks to motors acquired covertly in Ukraine or Russia.

Recent test launches have fuelled fears that nuclear-tipped North Korean rockets could strike US territory, signifying progress that the IISS attributed to Pyongyangs use of modified Soviet-era missile engines built at Ukraines Yuzhmash facility or the Energomash plant in Russia.

The author of the report, IISS missile expert Michael Elleman, told the New York Times that the motors probably came from Yuzhmash. The plant is based in the eastern city of Dnipro, about 250km from territory controlled since 2014 by Russian-backed separatists.

The claims have been denied by top officials in Ukraine, which relies heavily on US support in countering Russian efforts to stop it integrating with the West.

No matter how absurd the allegations made against Ukraine, as responsible partners we should carefully check the information, Mr Poroshenko said.

That is why I have urgently ordered a detailed and multifaceted investigation of the situation.

He said it would be led by the secretary of Ukraines security and defence council, Oleksandr Turchynov, and would involve officials from the defence industry and the Yuzhmash factory, and should deliver results later this week.

Im sure it will allow us to confirm the erroneousness of speculation about a Ukrainian fingerprint in the North Korean ballistic [missile story, and probably identify the real source and purpose of this groundless fake, Mr Poroshenko added.

Earlier this week, Mr Turchynov said Ukraine regards the North Korean regime as totalitarian, dangerous and unpredictable, and supports all sanctions against this country.

Ukraine has never supplied rocket engines and any missile technology to North Korea. We believe that this anti-Ukrainian campaign was triggered by Russian secret services to cover their participation in the North Korean nuclear and missile programmes, he added.

The allegations were also denied by Yuzhmash, which has been the focus of North Korean attention before: in 2012, two North Korean agents were jailed in Ukraine for trying to acquire secret missile information from factory employees.

Other western missile experts have questioned the findings of the IISS report, and unnamed US intelligence officials told both Reuters and CNN that North Koreas latest rocket engines were probably built inside the isolated country.

Officials in Moscow quickly drew attention to the allegations against Ukraine, but US state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the country has a very strong non-proliferation record, and that includes specifically withrespect to North Korea.

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Ukraine to investigate claims of North Korea missile link - Irish Times

It isnt often when mixed martial arts is called upon to act as a unifying force in a ravished conflict zone. Despite its inherently violent nature, MMA will serve as the foundation for an unprecedented sports event in the Donbas, the Eastern region of Ukraine currently occupied by pro-Russian separatist forces.

Just hours before Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor square off in Las Vegas on August 26, UFC veteran Nikita Krylov will headline a one-off United Donbas event against Maro Perak in the occupied territory of Donetsk. The news was announced in a press release sent out by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism in the de facto Donetsk Peoples Republic.

The press release revealed that a total of 18 competitors from the occupied territories, Croatia, and China, will compete in nine fights before inviting fans of martial arts in the Republic and those temporarily under the control of the Ukrainian authorities in the Donetsk region to attend and see grandiose sports event of this summer with their own eyes." In addition to the MMA event, a concert will be held featuring notable Russian artists. Attendance to both is free of charge.

The unique event is funded by the United Donbas Foundation, a humanitarian aid program started by the two self-proclaimed republics within Ukraine, the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), to unify the people of the Donbas. Over the past couple of years, both republics have shared a growing fascination with mixed martial arts, one that has led to the proliferation of the sport among the republics youth.

Naturally, the pro-Russian leaders have already glimpsed the sports potential as a political tool. UFC veteran Jeff Monson has already paid a visit to LPR in 2016, thus establishing a precedent for other athletes to legitimize the self-imposed government.

In short, MMA has become a core component of the separatist republics political strategy. Its politicization is the result of the ongoing conflict and the inevitable nationalism that sprouts from the chaos and destruction left in its wake.

War Torn & Forgotten

In November 2013, Ukraines fourth president Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign a trade association agreement with the European Union, which triggered severe unrest within the country. Citizens accused the president of widespread state corruption and excessive loyalty to Russia instead of improving relations with Europe. The rapidly growing sentiment was that Yanukovych represented Russian interests and not those of the Ukrainian people. The organized uprising known as Euromaidan lasted until February 2014, when president Yankovych was deposed and fled Kiev.

Yanukovychs departure and eventual exile to Russia triggered anti-revolution backlash from Ukrainians in Russophone regions with loyalty to their neighboring country, as well as lightly veiled military intervention from Russia. Just a few months removed the Euromaidan movement, Russian forces swept in and annexed Crimea and Sevastopol in March 2014.

Cities in eastern and southern Ukraine began to protest the decision to remove Yankovych from office, eventually resorting to armed resistance against the seemingly anti-Russian government. While Western Ukraine remains under government control, the Donbas region in the east has been divided into two de facto pro-Russian separatist statesthe Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) which the Ukrainian government considers temporarily occupied territories. A bitter stand-off has ensued between the separatists and the Ukrainian government, making it Europes most volatile conflict in over 25 years.

Though fragile ceasefire agreements were imposed in 2015, the conflict continues to rage on. Between April 2014 and March 2017, report suggests that millions of Ukrainians have been displaced and nearly ten thousand have been killed. Casualties on both sides have sharply risen over the past two years as millions struggle for survival in a conflict zone.

The early days of Donald Trumps presidency saw renewed escalation in the conflict between separatist forces and the Ukrainian government. The UN report documented 73 civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine in July 2016, which, at the time, was the highest death toll since August 2015; 69 separate civilian casualties had been reported the previous month. Despite the spike in death tolls and civilian casualties, the conflict in Ukraine has been woefully underreported in 2017.

Largely forgotten in the spheres of international politics, the separatist forces have been left to their own devices in their self-proclaimed (yet officially unrecognized) republics. Local leaders have turned to sports as part of a so-called humanitarian program to revitalize their struggling populations and distract the local youth traumatized by war. This has resulted in the proliferation of mixed martial arts in Eastern Ukraine and, hence, its inevitable politicization.

Cagefighting Nationalism

In February 2017, official envoys of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) unveiled a humanitarian program that sought to reunify the people of the Donbas.

In a joint statement read by representatives Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego at an official meeting in Minsk, Belarus, the DPR and LPR described plans to provide humanitarian aid in the form of financial, medical and educational assistance to vulnerable groups of Donbas population, primarily those in regions controlled by the Ukrainian government.

All funding was provided through the United Donbas Foundation and approved by a special committee. According to acting DPR Health Care Minister Alexander Oprishchenko, quality medical assistance [has been] provided to 105 patients who live in Ukraine-controlled part of Donetsk Region since the start of the program.

After achieving modest medical success through the foundation, both de facto republics turned their attention to sports, a tool they planned to use to kindle nationalistic fervour and project the illusion of legitimacy, safety, and prosperity within the separatist regions. Combat sports, mainly mixed martial arts, took centre stage because of its growing popularity among the locals. By August 2017, MMA had been integrated into the LPR and DPRs plans for unification in the Donbas, starting with a large-scale MMA event planned for the end of August 2017.

The event, dubbed United Donbas, was announced by the president of the Association of Combat Sports in Donbas Roman Torshin, who referred to it as a key event of mixed martial arts not only in the Donbas, but also in the territory of the entire former Ukraine. The show will be headlined by UFC veteran Nikita Krylov, himself a native of Donbas.

Krylov exited the UFC in early 2017 following a dispute in contract negotiations with the promotion. He returned to Russia, where he fought for Fight Nights before agreeing to a one-off fight in the Donbas. While Krylovs incentive to participate on the fight card stems from his yearning to fight in front of his fellow countrymen, he also echoed the same statements about unity in Donbas that were propagated by the separatist governments.

It is a huge event aimed at uniting the Donbas as a whole, Krylov told Mk.ru. And I'm very glad that I will fight at home. It was my dream. A great event for the residents. You need to charge the local people. MMA is the number one sport there. They dont care about football or anything else.

Krylovs response adequately summarizes the reasons why MMA was strategically selected for the United Donbas project. The violent sport can be used to stimulate residents of the war-torn regions and unite them by cheering for hometown heroes like Kyrlov. Unlike more traditional sports like football, where rigid international structures and bureaucracy make it impossible for unrecognized de facto states to compete in legitimate tournaments, MMA does not follow such guidelines and is easier to recreate as a tool for national pride. In this case, the separatist forces have been able to hire a fighter who once competed in the worlds most popular MMA promotion, and have him compete on their local show for political gain.

Monson & the Miner

The politicization of mixed martial arts in occupied Ukraine territory is evident in the current landscape, which underlines the sports potential for political influence and diplomacy, particularly when applied in regions ravished by war.

Krylov left the Donbass region of Ukraine shortly following the start of the conflict in mid-2014. Originally a miner from Krasnyi Luch in the Luhansk province, Nikita fled his home in Donetsk just a few weeks ahead of his scheduled fight against Cody Donovan in Dublin, Ireland. He won that fight by TKO, the very same week that the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down while flying over Ukrainian airspace. Krylov fled to Kiev, where he found himself unwelcome because of his pro-Russian stance on the conflict. He was labelled a separatist and was shunned from gyms and training camps. A near-altercation with a soldier from the far-right Azov battalion helped Krylov make the decision to move his family permanently to Moscow.

Since then, the fighter has openly questioned the ongoing conflict, the ideological schism leading Ukrainians to kill other Ukrainians, and the traumatic effect of war on the innocent locals. Indeed, when asked whether he considers the United Donbas event a political one, Krylovs response encapsulated his perspective on the matter: It is a human one. An ideology of unity. Seemingly unconcerned with the overshadowing political context, Krylovs focus is on the events potential as a form of entertainment for an injured population.

This is necessary for lifting spirits, Krylov explained. Some people have not see any holidays and shows there for a long time. It is dangerous in the city and it's dangerous where they fight. And in Donetsk, there live peaceful people, to whom this war brought many misfortunes. It's time to raise their morale.

While Krylov, a native of the Donbas and victim of the ongoing conflict, was a natural pick to headline the show, he is not the only athlete being used to advance the LPR and DPRs plans for combat sports diplomacy. UFC veteran Jeff Monson, a self-proclaimed anarchist and libertarian communist, recently became the first American citizen to accept a LPR passport, a symbolic gesture that preceded his decision to open martial arts schools in the occupied territory in late 2016. Monsons ambitions were approved by the local leaders, and backed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF).

Currently in the process of obtaining Russian citizenship, Monson was named the sports ambassador for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) in July 2016. The Communist Party sent Monson to Luhansk in September as part of a new sports programme, which is designed to improve the partys image both on the international stage and at home. Given that American support is rarely available to socialist groups, the KPRF jumped at the opportunity to enlist a willing American communists support.

The KPRF recruited fresh faces to the party by enlisting youngsters in deteriorated regions such as Donetsk and Luhansk into martial arts programs. It is an example of sports diplomacy and how political parties enlist the support of popular athletes to further their overarching goals.

"I want to work with the Communist Party to move it further left," Monson told me in 2016. "A lot of the social projects we are discussing, including opening up free schools to promote youth martial arts, can be done despite capitalist restraints."

Monsons involvement in political sport in eastern Ukraine doesnt end with martial arts academies. Reports recently revealed plans for the LPR to host a martial arts event dubbed the Monson Cup. The UFC veteran is expected to headline the event, which will feature an array of grappling and MMA showcases. The news was first announced by the leader of the Donbas faction of the Night Wolves, the infamous biker gang affiliated to Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov.

Jeff Monson and Nikita Krylov are the first UFC veterans to be indoctrinated into the separatists sports agenda. Despite contrasting reasons for their participation, the two fighters are a blueprint for how to help legitimize de facto regimes using professional fight sports such as mixed martial arts. Whether it be a tool for diplomacy, kindling nationalism, or even as a distraction from the trauma of war, MMA is a sport that continues to be weaponized by authoritarian regimes anxious to reap its rewards.

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United Donbas: The politics of MMA in war-torn Eastern Ukraine - Bloody Elbow

Each legislative session thousands of bills and amendments are introduced in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Only a fraction become law, and an even smaller portion receive wide media coverage.

These bills impact the lives of people living in Pennsylvania every day.

Each week The Sentinel will highlight one bill that has not received widespread attention.

Beginning around 2013, media reports began cropping up about teens playing the knock-out game.

The reports typically showed a youth punching an unsuspecting bystander with the intent of knocking them unconscious.

The incidents reportedly had devastating consequences including at least two deaths being allegedly linked to the unproved attacks.

However, little evidence is available to support the claim of the knockout game being a widespread trend.

Rep. Dan Moul, R-Adams County, has introduced a bill to increase the penalty for anyone caught playing the knockout game.

News reports indicate that these attacks are unprovoked, Moul wrote in a co-sponsorship letter. Serious injury can result, as can death. The person is often rendered unconscious. The teens target a person who is unaware that the blow is about to come.

Under House Bill 140 it would be a third degree felony, punishable with up to 10 years in prison, to intentionally, knowingly or recklessly cause bodily injury or serious bodily injury to another by striking another in the face or on the head with a hand or fist, without provocation, whether or not the victim is rendered unconscious.

It is currently illegal to walk up to a stranger and punch them in the head or face.

This offense would likely be categorized as misdemeanor simple assault, felony aggravated assault or criminal homicide, with a main difference being the severity of injury.

The bill could effectively make a felony out of what would typically be classified as misdemeanor simple assault if the offender strikes the victim in the face or on the head with a hand or fist, without provocation.

On top of the new felony classification, Mouls bill would allow juvenile defendants to be charged as an adult and processed through the adult court system rather than the juvenile system.

Currently Pennsylvania law allows for, and at times requires, charges against a juvenile be filed in adult court for more serious offenses.

Read more:
Bill Tracker: Increasing penalties for the "knockout game" - Carlisle Sentinel

June Mar Fajardo has been joining Gilas practices in Lebanon with minimal pain in the strained calf that has ruled him out of Gilas' lineup in the first three games. Jerome Ascano

GILAS Pilipinas could play with a complete lineup in its knockout quarterfinals game against rival South Korea in the 2017 Fiba Asia Cup.

Big man June Mar Fajardo disclosed he's ready to play against the dangerous Koreans in the 11:30 p.m. match up at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon.

The 6-foot-10 San Miguel Beer center continued to practice with the team, and while there is still some pain in his strained calf muscle, Fajardo thinks his recovery is all in the mind.

"Getting better. Actually makakalaro na ako," said the three-time PBA MVP in the reality series Kwentong Gilas.

"Ok naman. May discomfort lang. Pero parang sa utak lang na may sumasakit."

Gilas Pilipinas resident therapist Dexter Aseron assured Fajardo is ready to go, having personally seen his progress from the injury since the team departed from Manila to the Lebanese capital more than a week ago.

"Maganda yung progression niya from injury. Its getting stronger everyday, hopefully he gets to play kahit for a few minutes," said Aseron on the eve of the match against South Korea.

Two others in the injury list in Christian Standhardinger and Calvin Abueva are also likely to play, according to Aseron.

The long-time national team therapist said he expects Standhardinger to be close to 100 percent fit again after missing Gilas' last game against Qatar due to severe stiff neck and shoulder injury.

On the other hand, Abueva, who sprained his ankle in the team's 90-84 win over the Qataris, still has some swelling on his injured foot, but which Aseron described as manageable.

"He's (Abueva) feeling better pero may konting swelling pa. Hopefully we get the swelling down more," said Aseron, who had been busy the past few days attending to injured players in the team.

"Well do some strengthenining pa before the game (against Korea)."

While coach Chot Reyes was happy seeing the team practiced with everybody accounted for going to its most important outing in the Asian spectacle, he said the coaching staff made the practice just a bit light in order not to further aggravate the health concern of the players.

"We were sharp mentally today. It's hard to push them anymore than we did (Tuesday), 60 to 70 percent. We didnt want to take the risk of another guy sufferring another pulled muscle or twisted ankle," said the Gilas mentor.

"We didnt want to take the risk of another guy going down."

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Fit-again June Mar Fajardo ready to play in Gilas knockout game against South Korea - Sports Interactive Network Philippines