Nation & World Glance

Ecumenical Choir and the Yuma Civic Orchestra to bring Handel’s Messiah to the Yuma stage for four of the five Christmas seasons it was presented.

“People still reach out to me about it even though it has been several years,” Stroup said.

He had to give that up, he explained, when he formed the Deseret Chamber Choir in 2016. He formed the choir to meet the requirements for his master’s in music conducting degree from Messiah College. But he also wanted to provide a high caliber of choral music to the Southwest corner of Arizona.

“The music this group presented our community also offered some of the most musically moving moments in my life,” he said. “Thank you to those who have been part of this group; it was an honor to conduct you.”

Not to mention, it was gratifying that the group was selected to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City in February as part of a patriotic concert. The 18 Yuma participants, among them some of Stroup’s students, were part of a 250-voice choir that performed under the direction of Mack Wilberg, conductor of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). And they received not one, but two standing ovations.

Stroup also has served as the guest conductor for the Yuma County Elementary Honor Choir, the Yuma County Middle School Honor Choir and the Adams County All-County High School Honor Choir.

A graduate of the Conservatory of Music at Capital University in Ohio,

Stroup was introduced to Arizona when he worked at a church youth camp in Phoenix. Over the next two years working at the camp, he fell in love with Arizona and the people here, among them Pastors Ray and June Stillings from Somerton, who took him under their wing. That’s how he came to teach at Tierra del Sol Elementary School in Somerton, where he was named teacher of the year in 2008. The next year he accepted a position with Cibola High School, where he taught for five years and was named the school’s teacher of the year for 2010 and 2013.

Stroup left Yuma for two years while earning his master’s degree of music in choral conducting from Messiah College. He also holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from Grand Canyon University. In addition, he is pursuing a doctorate in music education through the Liberty University of Music, but plans to transfer into the PhD program for music education at the University of Florida.

He returned to Cibola for another five years upon hearing the choral directorship position was again open and he realized how much he missed Yuma.

In addition to his teacher of the year honors, he was

nominated for the Yuma Arts Council Helios Award in 2013, the Grammy Foundation Music Educator Award in 2011 and 2016 and the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award in 2013. Most recently, he was presented the Tribute to the Muses Award in 2016 by the Yuma Arts Council in recognition of the contributions he has made to the arts in the community.

As for his decision to leave Yuma this year, he said it “was both the hardest and easiest decision I have ever made. But I am completely at peace and excited about the move.”

Stroup explained that his father has gone through congestive heart failure. As his parents are making plans to move to Florida, “I decided it best to be close to them.” While his father is doing well, Stroup said, “Life is simply too short, and I’m at the age that I want to be down the road from my mom and dad.”

He concluded: “I’m quite confident in saying there isn’t a better, more loving community in the world. You have been nothing but supportive of me since I moved to Yuma. I had no idea what my life would look like here, but you have been with me each step of the way, and I am eternally grateful.”

George Soros conspiracy theories surge as protests

sweep US

They say he hires protesters and rents buses to transport them. Some say he has people stash piles of bricks to be hurled into glass storefronts or at police.

George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been a target of conspiracy theories, is now being falsely accused of orchestrating and funding the protests over police killings of Black people that have roiled the United States. Amplified by a growing number of people on the far right, including some Republican leaders, online posts about Soros have skyrocketed in recent weeks.

They have been accompanied by online ads bought by conservative groups that call on authorities to “investigate George Soros for funding domestic terrorism and his decades-long corruption.”

Soros, 89, has donated billions of dollars of his personal wealth to liberal and anti-authoritarian causes around the world, making him a favored target among many on the right. The Hungarian-American, who is Jewish, has also been the subject of anti-Semitic attacks and conspiracy theories for decades.

Such hoaxes can now travel farther and faster with social media.

Did TikTok teens, K-Pop fans punk Trump’s comeback rally?

OAKLAND, Calif. — Did teens, TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music troll the president of the United States?

For more than a week before Donald Trump’s first campaign rally in three months on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, these tech-savvy groups opposing the president mobilized to reserve tickets for an event they had no intention of attending. While it’s unlikely they were responsible for the low turnout, their antics may have inflated the campaign’s expectations for attendance numbers that led to Saturday’s disappointing show.

“My 16 year old daughter and her friends in Park City Utah have hundreds of tickets. You have been rolled by America’s teens,” veteran Republican campaign strategist Steve Schmidt tweeted on Saturday. The tweet garnered more than 100,000 likes and many responses from people who say they or their kids did the same.

Reached by telephone Sunday, Schmidt called the rally an “unmitigated disaster” — days after Trump campaign chairman Brad Parscale tweeted that more than a million people requested tickets for the rally through Trump’s campaign website.

Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, said the turnout was a sign of weakening voter support. “Donald Trump has abdicated leadership and it is no surprise that his supporters have responded by abandoning him,” he said.

Pirated editions of John Bolton memoir have appeared online

NEW YORK — John Bolton’s memoir officially comes out Tuesday after surviving a security review and a legal challenge from the Justice Department. But over the weekend, it was available in ways even his publisher is hoping to prevent.

A PDF of “The Room Where It Happened” has turned up on the internet, offering a free, pirated edition of the former national security adviser’s scathing takedown of President Donald Trump, who has alleged that the book contains classified material that never should have been released.

“We are working assiduously to take down these clearly illegal instances of copyright infringement,” Simon & Schuster spokesperson Adam Rothberg said Sunday.

Piracy has long been a top concern among publishers, especially in the digital age, although the actual impact on sales is undetermined. “The Room Where It Happened” has been No. 1 for days on the Amazon.com bestseller list. The Associated Press was among several news outlets that obtained early copies of the book and reported on its contents.

On Saturday, a federal judge ruled that Simon & Schuster could publish the book despite the Trump administration’s contention that it compromised national security. “The Room Where It Happened” was originally scheduled for March, but was delayed twice as the White House reviewed the manuscript.

WHO reports largest singleday increase in coronavirus

cases

GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours.

The UN health agency said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and the U.S. next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India.