Chairman Dave Sullivan echoed the opinions of Planning Board members by saying that none of them were “comfortable” with the new plans, lamenting the loss of affordable housing as well as the removal of the reviews. However, the committee approved the plans as the project would help address the borough’s housing needs.

The York Inset Scooter Club will host its Mods and Rockers run on Sunday, April 26, beginning at 10.30am from the Eye of York.

Riders will travel through the Howardian Hills, finishing at The Mended Drum pub in Huby.

Recommended reading:

The ride is also known as the John Martin Memorial Ride, in honour of one of the original members of the club who died in 2010.

Committee member Nick Beilby said: “John was known as Vespa John as he rode a Vespa scooter and was known for his ready smile and friendly nature.

“A popular member, much missed, and the ride keeps his memory alive.”

Scooter and motorbike riders are both welcome to take part, with each rider asked to donate £5 to Yorkshire and Scarborough Hospitals Charity.

Last year’s event raised nearly £1,000 for the cause.

More information can be found via The York Inset Scooter Club social media pages.

The Lord Mayor of York, Martin Rowley, will officially start the ride, along with Normandy D-Day veteran and club president Ken Cooke.

Marshals help guide riders through each stage of the route, which passes Strensall Camp and Foston before looping back to Huby.

Engineering work between Preston and Lancaster on the West Coast Main Line will mean line closures between Preston and Carlisle from April 17 to 19.

Avanti West Coast has confirmed that no trains will run between Preston and Glasgow Central or Edinburgh on the normal West Coast Main Line route during the works.

One train per hour will operate between London Euston and Preston via Nuneaton.

Northern services will also be impacted, with trains between Barrow-in-Furness and Manchester Airport running only as far as Lancaster on April 18, and between Windermere and Manchester Piccadilly only as far as Oxenholme Lake District or Lancaster.

Rail replacement buses will operate between Preston and Lancaster throughout the works.

On April 19, rail replacement services will also operate between Grange-over-Sands and Lancaster, Heysham Port/Morecambe and Lancaster, and Windermere and Oxenholme Lake District.

No Avanti West Coast services will run between Preston and Carlisle on Saturday or Sunday.

Services between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly or Liverpool Lime Street will not be impacted and will operate as normal.

READ MORE:

Passengers are encouraged to check their journey before travelling and allow extra time where rail replacement transport is in use.

A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast said: “To help you complete your journey between Preston and Glasgow Central, Avanti West Coast are operating rail replacement buses on various routes.

“Please note that you may also need to use buses provided by other operators to complete your journey.”

NEW YORK (AP) — The worrisome rise in colorectal cancer deaths in younger adults is concentrated in people with less education, suggesting socioeconomic factors could be driving the escalation, according to a new study.

Celebrity deaths — including Chadwick Boseman in 2020 and James Van Der Beek earlier this year — have highlighted the increase in colorectal cancer deaths among younger adults, but the new paper was called the first to parse which people are most affected by the alarming rise.

The researchers found that over the last 30 years, the rise in colorectal cancer deaths in young adults occurred almost entirely among people without a four-year college degree.

Of course, getting a college degree doesn’t protect you from getting colon cancer. Rather, experts say it’s a marker for other issues: People without degrees tend to earn less money, have poorer diets, exercise less and get less medical care.

It’s not totally unexpected that the death risk is concentrated in the less advantaged, but the paper published Thursday in JAMA Oncology is the first national study to actually show the connection, said Dr. Paolo Boffetta, a researcher at Stony Brook Cancer Center in New York who wasn’t involved in the work.

American Cancer Society researchers used government data on more than 101,000 younger adults, ages 25 to 49, who died of colorectal cancer from 1994 through 2023.

Overall, the colorectal cancer death rate rose from about 3 per 100,000 in that age group to about 4 per 100,000. But for people who only made it through high school, the rate rose from 4 to 5.2 per 100,000, while the rate for people with at least a bachelor’s degrees did not change from 2.7 per 100,000.

Ahmedin Jemal, the study’s first author, said the findings underscore the need for public awareness about colorectal cancer and for younger adults to heed screening recommendations. Symptoms can include blood in stool or rectal bleeding; changes in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of stool that lasts more than a few days; unintended weight loss; and cramps or abdominal pain.

The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 158,000 cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. Overall, it’s the nation’s second leading cancer killer, behind lung cancer, and is expected to claim more than 55,000 in 2026.

The number of deaths for adults younger than 50 is around 7% of the total — about 3,900. Earlier this year, cancer society researchers reported that colorectal cancer mortality in Americans under 50 had increased by 1.1% a year since 2005, making it now the deadliest cancer in that age group.

Scientists don’t know what’s behind that increase. But they note risk factors include obesity, lack of physical activity, a diet high in red or processed meat and low in fruits and vegetables, and a family history of colorectal cancer. The American Cancer Society changed its screening guidelines in 2021, lowering the age U.S. adults should start getting screened from 50 to 45.

Why did the researchers behind Thursday’s study look at education level and not other factors?

Death certificates don’t detail how much money a person had, or most other aspects of their life. But they do note how much schooling someone completed. And other research has found that data often aligns with statistics about income, health insurance, physical activity and chronic disease. So education serves as a proxy, but can’t speak to other factors, like whether the person had health insurance.

“The focus on education is really (due to) something which was available in the data,” Boffetta observed.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Other winners on the night included Donovan Haffner, who won breakthrough act of the year, Omar, who won soul act of the year, Joe Webb, who was given instrumentalist of the year, Yazmin Lacey, who won vocalist of the year, and Emma-Jean Thackray, who picked up the innovation award.

Named Chip and Dale, the large semiaquatic rodents travelled from the Gaia Zoo in the Netherlands and are now settling into their new home in the park’s Amazonas Reserve.

Born on the June 9 last year, the young capybaras have already made a positive impression on animal rangers with their “laid back attitude” and adjusted so well to their new environment that they were allowed outside just days after arriving.

Dr Charlotte MacDonald, Director of Animals, said: “We are delighted to welcome Chip and Dale to the park.

“They have settled in well after their long journey.

“We let them outside and they had a good look around before heading straight back into their house.

“Capybaras are very sociable animals, and we are sure that they will be very popular amongst visitors.

“The Amazonas reserve transports visitors to the Amazon rainforest and is home to some incredible South American species.

“The capybaras will live amongst our monkeys – golden lion tamarins, silvery marmosets, red titi monkeys and other South American rodents, the Mara and agouti.”

The reserve offers a walk-through experience, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the habitat and observe the animals up close as they move freely around the space.

Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents, closely related to guinea pigs, and are known for their highly social nature.

They spend much of their time in water, using their partially webbed feet to swim and submerging for up to five minutes at a time.

They often hide underwater to evade predators and can sleep while submerged, keeping only their nostrils above the surface to breathe.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park, on the outskirts of Doncaster is home to a range of rare and endangered animals, including Amur tigers, giraffes, black rhinos, and polar bears.

The park’s broader resort includes the Hex Wildlife Hotel and the Yorkshire Hive, a nearby complex offering shopping, dining, and entertainment options for visitors.

The delays are due to ‘overhead wire damage’ outside Manchester Piccadilly, meaning there are ‘signficant delays’ going to and from this station.

Travellers are advised to avoid the following routes entirely:

• Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe
• Manchester Piccadilly to Stoke on Trent
• Manchester Piccadilly to Hadfield
• Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton
• Manchester Piccadilly to Chester

The following routes are still in service but are subject to delays and, in some cases, cancellations:

• Manchester Airport, Piccadilly and Blackpool / Liverpool
• Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield
• Manchester Piccadilly and Rose Hill Marple
• Manchester Piccadilly and New Mills Central

In a social media post, Northern Rail alerted passengers to the fact that they can use their tickets on Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, TPExpress Trains, Cross Country UK, and TFWrail trains, though these trains are likely to be affected by the same issue.

Northern Rail tickets will also be accepted in the Manchester area on Bee Network and Metrolink services via ‘reasonable routes’.

This will include Bee Network bus services.

The disruption is currently expected to last until about 4pm while workers attempt to fix the problem.

The Prescot venue unveiled the programme on Wednesday, April 15, promising a wide-ranging line-up of productions.

The Cockpit Theatre will stage a “bold, immediate and immersive” staging of Macbeth, directed by associate artist Ben Crystal.

The Playhouse describes the new season as a celebration of “creativity in all its forms,” offering something for every taste and age group.

A spokesperson for the Shakespeare North Playhouse said: “The highlight of the season is one of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedies, as Shakespeare North’s Associate Artist Ben Crystal brings Macbeth into the Cockpit Theatre in Autumn 2026.

“Bold, immediate and immersive, this production places audiences at the heart of ambition, intrigue, power and fate.

“A summer-long celebration in the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, with open-air Shakespeare, opera and family favourites.

“Across the other spaces of the building, artists and audiences can explore identity, history, humour and imagination.

“With something for everyone, Shakespeare North continues to bring communities together.”

The Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden will again serve as the heart of the summer season, hosting open-air Shakespeare, opera, and family-friendly performances.

Plays scheduled for the outdoor stage include The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It.

The Studio programme will focus on new writing and inventive storytelling.

Scheduled works include Out The Woodwork by Gingerlee Does It and The Story of Edith Smith by Pauline Fleming, alongside comedy performances such as Off Grid, which blends stand-up with theatre to explore themes of generational divide and binary politics.

Highlights include Reynard the Fox, The Almost Complete History of Britain, and a family-friendly version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

For the festive season, Colour the Clouds returns with A Very Messy Christmas and Wrongsemble’s Tinsel.

The comedy and fringe programme will feature Alex Stringer’s Happy Hour and the provocatively titled Women Aren’t Funny.

The Heading North Fringe Festival in May will showcase new work ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe, including Lambslaughter, The Hanged Man’s Bride, One Man Poe, The Perfect Match, and It Happened On A Tuesday.

More details and booking information are available at www.shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk.

 In 2026, St John Ambulance celebrates the 40th anniversary of its National Cadet of the Year competition, recognising four decades of young people who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to learning lifesaving skills and serving their communities.

The milestone was marked at a special event on Friday, April 10, attended by HRH The Princess Royal, St John Ambulance’s Commandant-in-Chief – Youth.

We also had the privilege of welcoming the very first National Cadet of the Year from 1987, Simon Stockill, alongside several holders of the title from across the four decades of the competition, up to the present day.

Since the award was established, many former National and Regional Cadets of the Year, including Simon, have gone on to careers in healthcare, medicine and the emergency services.

Others have taken the confidence, discipline and sense of social responsibility developed through their time as Cadets into a wide range of professions.

That journey often begins through St John Ambulance’s Badgers and Cadets programmes, where young people from the age of five learn first aid, build resilience and develop a practical understanding of helping others.

Readers interested in youth opportunities with St John Ambulance – whether that is for their children or as a potential Youth Leader or Helper – can find out more at https://www.sja.org.uk/get-involved/young-people/.

Yours faithfully,

Kevin Munday, Chief Commissioner, St John Ambulance