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2016-22/0601/en_head.json.gz/2769

Tibetan self-immolations ignored By Dan Bloom / Wed, Mar 13, 2013 - Page 8 Suicide is usually a private, impulsive response to extreme personal stress or anxiety, and is carried out, in most cases, in the confines of a person’s home or office, far from the glare of photographers and news reporters.However, for more than 100 Tibetans who have committed suicide in public by dousing themselves with gasoline and setting themselves on fire — “self-immolation” is the Western media’s polite word for this — such actions were intentionally public and carry an important message.Yet who is listening, and are the Tibetan protests having any impact? Where is the public outcry over these public and gruesome suicides in the West — or in Taiwan or Japan, for that matter?In the 1960s, when US military forces invaded Vietnam, a series of public self-immolation suicides by Buddhist monks in Saigon served to wake up US anti-war protesters and government officials in Washington who were in charge of prosecuting the war.However, 100 suicides by Tibetans protesting China’s treatment of their people and their culture have had a small impact on the West. Where are the editorials in the New York Times or Washington Post calling on China to cease its maltreatment of Tibet and the Tibetans? Where are the voices of conscience in London or New York over these tragic Tibetan self-immolations?“Self-immolation,” refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or martyrdom, and since the Vietnam War, and now with Tibetans, it has become a type of extreme political protest. We might call these tragic protests by Tibetans today intentional suicides “on behalf of a collective cause.”When a Buddhist monk in South Vietnam named Thich Quang Duc protested the regime of former Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963, photos of his public suicide were splashed across the front pages of Western newspapers in Europe and the US, introducing the term “self-immolation” to English-speaking readers — and TV viewers — worldwide.Duc set himself on fire to protest the discriminatory treatment of Buddhists under Diem’s Roman Catholic administration in South Vietnam. As more and more monks in Vietnam followed Duc’s example, Western media outlets began to see and understand the suicides as the political and cultural protest acts that they were.In the same way, the 100 self-immolations, so far, by Tibetans can be seen as dramatic, political and newsworthy, yet the Western and Asian media do not seem to be getting up in arms about this.With China’s propaganda “machine” telling Western and Asian media outlets that these Tibetan self-immolators are just crazy individuals being led astray, and even encouraged by “that splittist the Dalai Lama,” Western and Asian newspaper editorials reflecting on the tragic deaths have been few and far between. For those media outlets in the West and in Asia that toady up to communist China, it is business as usual, with the emphasis on business. Do not upset the apple cart, do not upset Beijing.When Tibetan government-in-exile Finance Minister Tsering Dhundup recently visited Taipei to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, he spoke about the 100-plus self-immolation protests.In the 1960s, when self-immolation suicides of Buddhist monks caught the world’s attention, who knew that 50 years later similar suicides by Tibetans would go more or less unnoticed by the world’s media. In this well-connected Internet age, surely the images of the Tibetan suicides should be going viral and causing the West — and Taiwan — to react.According to DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been silent on the Tibetan self-immolations and China’s suppression of the region since taking office in 2009, although she said Ma had earlier spoken out in public about the issue during his 2008 presidential election campaign.Since China is adept at propaganda and appears to be controlling the media conversation worldwide, the 107 suicides in Tibet have had very little impact on those Western powers doing “business” with China.Is that the West’s response this time? What a difference 50 years can make.Outside of Tibet and in the Tibetan protest community worldwide, the hundreds of self-immolation acts seem hardly to have registered in Washington or London — or Tokyo or Taipei. Have these suicides been in vain?Dan Bloom is a freelance writer in Taiwan. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2013/03/13/2003556936

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Tsunami forces evacuation at Fukushima PRECAUTION:：Japan said the quake and tsunami did not have an impact on the plant. Waves at another nuclear plant in Onagawa reached 55cm, reports said AFP, TOKYO Sun, Oct 27, 2013 - Page 5 Workers at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant were evacuated when a small tsunami hit Japan after a powerful undersea quake yesterday, highlighting the continued threat to the area devastated by the 2011 quake-tsunami.The Japan Meteorological Agency warned people to stay away from the Pacific coast for nearly two hours as the tsunami, which was recorded as being as high as 55cm in one place, rolled ashore.Two workers who had been patrolling wells used to measure underground water at Fukushima sought higher ground after the tremors struck, an official with the plant’s operator, said Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), while adding there were no new problems at the facility.“There were few workers on the waterfront as it was nighttime. There was no impact of the quake and tsunami on the plant,” he told local media.Another nuclear plant, at Onagawa, was the site of the largest wave recorded — 55cm — but there were no problems reported there.All of Japan’s 50 viable reactors are currently shut down.The magnitude 7.1 quake struck at a shallow depth of 10km at 2:10am, just more than 300km southeast of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, the US Geological Survey said.The meteorological agency said the quake was an aftershock of the March 2011 tremor.“We have lifted all tsunami alerts, but the sea level may continue to show small changes for half a day or so. Please be very careful when working by the sea,” Keiji Doi, director of the agency’s quake predictions, told an early morning news conference.“There is the possibility that aftershocks with a magnitude of around 7 will occur once in a while,” he said.The area affected largely overlapped with that hit by the March 2011 disaster when more than 18,000 people died after a towering tsunami crashed ashore following a magnitude 9 undersea quake.In the town of Ofunato, a 20cm tsunami was logged just after 3am, while Ishinomaki, which was devastated in 2011, recorded a 30cm wave.“We evacuated as a matter of precaution because the ground floor of our house was flooded in the tsunami two years ago,” Chimaki Hojyo, a 69-year-old housewife in Ofunato, told the Yomiuri Shimbun.“This kind of tsunami will keep us worried,” she said.Eastern Japan, a seismically active region, was struck by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake last month, causing tremors that were felt 600km away in Tokyo.The 2011 quake-tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant, sending reactors into meltdown and forcing mass evacuations.The effects of that disaster — the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years earlier — are still being felt.TEPCO is battling to clean up the mess at the plant where thousands of tonnes of radiation-contaminated water are being stored in tanks after being used to cool the reactors.

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Big sky, clean politics— let's keep it that way By Steve Bullock, Los Angeles Times STEVE BULLOCKMcClatchyTribuneWednesday, June 20, 2012 3:02pm It's too bad American electoral races aren't as transparent as NASCAR races. Tattooed across NASCAR drivers' jumpsuits and over every square inch of their cars are the logos of the companies sponsoring the teams, underwriting the costs, paying their salaries. Everyone can see who the drivers represent and who is footing the bill. Column: Clean energy points way out of climate crisis Editorial: Florida needs better ways to clean polluted water Tuesday's letters: Commit to clean energy goals But two years after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, no one can identify the wizards behind the curtain pouring massive amounts of money into our state and federal campaigns. Montana hasn't gone along quietly. A 1906 editorial in a Montana newspaper read, "The greatest living issue confronting us today is whether the corporations shall control the people or the people shall control the corporations." It was the era of the "copper kings," who bribed state legislators and controlled state resources. In 1912, Montana voters passed a citizen initiative, the Corrupt Practices Act, that banned direct corporate expenditures in elections for state offices. Since then, Montana's elections have been reasonable in cost and among the fairest in the country. We also have one of the highest rates of voter turnout. Now Montana is fighting to keep control of its state elections. A Washington-based group, American Tradition Partnership, brandishing the Citizens United decision, challenged the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act in Montana courts and filed two other lawsuits challenging all of our core campaign finance and disclosure rules. It is seeking to systematically dismantle our campaign finance laws and turn back the clock to the days when corporate interests controlled our government and our courts. The Montana Supreme Court, however, upheld the 1912 law. Now that decision is before the U.S. Supreme Court; it may summarily decide against the state Supreme Court, or it may agree to hold a hearing on the case, which could bring changes to the Citizens United decision. I'm proud to lead Montana and 22 other states (some red, some blue) — and to be joined by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., — in the fight to defend Montana's century-old corporate expenditure law before the U.S. Supreme Court. I believe states should have the right to be the masters of their own elections. The integrity of our system and the voices of Montanans, whatever their political views, are too important to be drowned out by modern-day copper kings. In Montana, no one, including out-of-state corporate executives, has been excluded from spending money — or "speaking — in our elections. Any individual can contribute. All we require is that they use their own money, not corporate money that belongs to shareholders, and that they disclose who they are. And we limit every contribution — for most races the maximum works out to a few hundred dollars, and for the governor's race, a little more than $1,000. The American Tradition Partnership lawsuits, if successful, would make it possible for corporations and individuals in some cases to spend and contribute unlimited amounts, with no disclosure. A winning state Senate race now costs a candidate an average of $17,000. It would be easy, and relatively inexpensive, for spending of the kind unleashed by Citizens United to make our political process unrecognizable. For a century in Montana, winning an election for state office has meant going door to door and meeting face to face with everyday voters: democracy at its best. Our legislators are true citizen-legislators; they aren't amassing war chests, and they are accessible to all citizens, not just to moneyed interests. I look forward to continuing to defend the way Montanans have chosen to elect our state public servants. If the Supreme Court takes Montana's case, I hope it will be the vehicle for the court to reconsider its Citizens United decision and return sanity — and transparency — to all elections in this country. Steve Bullock is Montana's attorney general. © 2012 Los Angeles Times Big sky, clean politics— let's keep it that way 06/20/12 Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Tribune News Service.

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Charles Wohlforth Every generation must relearn the dangers of drilling By Charles Wohlforth, Los Angeles Times CHARLES WOHLFORTHLos Angeles TimesThursday, May 6, 2010 5:53pm Each news update from the BP oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico tightens a hard knot in my stomach. Alaskans who lived through the Exxon Valdez oil spill feel dark memories resurfacing. We talk about our sadness for the people in the way, people who don't know what's about to hit them. Editorial: The dangers of Trump Sanders' plans are fiscally dangerous Putin's dangerous obsession "They still seem to think they'll be able to contain this and stop it, and they just can't," said Rick Steiner, a former University of Alaska fisheries extension agent whose life was irrevocably upset by the Exxon Valdez, which spilled at least 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound 21 years ago. "Not much oil is going to be recovered; they're not going to save much wildlife; they're not going to be able to restore damaged ecosystems." I remember experts saying the same things when I was a much younger man and Exxon's oil still smelled fresh on the water. But at 26 I couldn't really comprehend the predictions that oil would remain in sheltered shores, poisoning marine ecosystems, for at least 20 years. Now I understand. Steiner and others have shown it to me. With middle age, I can see the generational pattern of how we forget and then must relearn these things. In 1969, an oil rig blew off Santa Barbara, and another Alaskan, Interior Secretary Wally Hickel, shut down offshore oil drilling throughout the nation. The Santa Barbara disaster powered the growing environmental movement. The first Earth Day happened a year later, and oil exploration off much of the U.S. coast has been blocked ever since. Twenty years later, Congress was on the verge of allowing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the salmon-rich waters of Bristol Bay when the Exxon Valdez hit the rocks. Again, America discovered the hazards of crude oil on water. New environmental laws were passed, and plans were shelved for drilling in the wildlife refuge and the bay. Another 21 years passed. President Barack Obama announced he would end the offshore moratorium. Three weeks later, two days before the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an explosion and fire on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig presumably killed 11 workers and started this spill. Shell still plans to drill this summer, with administration support, on leases 50 to 150 miles off Alaska's Arctic Coast, in the Chukchi Sea — waters where isolation, cold and moving sea ice would make a blowout infinitely more difficult to handle than in the Gulf of Mexico. Each generation has to learn a new lesson about our limitations, about humility before nature. The story of the Exxon Valdez is complex, but its moral is painfully simple. Technology fails because humans fail. Spills are inevitable. And once they happen, good intentions are useless. We can't fix nature. Blowout preventers usually work. Tankers usually steer clear of well-charted rocks. Oil can be burned on the water; it can be corralled and scooped up; it can be dispersed by chemicals. Of the oil that unavoidably blows ashore, some lands on exposed, biologically unproductive beaches where it is easy to pick up. But in a big oil spill, some oil will get away — usually the vast majority will. Some will find its way into quiet estuaries, protected from waves, the nurseries of fish, the deep muddy beds of clams, the places where long-legged birds pluck their dinner. Either this oil will release poison for years, or people will try to remove it, in the process destroying the life of the estuary and perhaps destroying much of those shores' lifemaking capacity in the process. What happens next in the Gulf of Mexico? Symbolic animal rescues. Millions and perhaps billions spent sopping up oil, digging up marshes, sterilizing formerly fecund shores. Investigations, accusations, blame; and statements that no one is to blame, or that we're all to blame. Litigation that outlasts the victims. And, for the affected human communities, loss of livelihood, loss of faith in our institutions, loss of beautiful places that sustain the soul. And then, more forgetting. Till next time. Charles Wohlforth is the author of the forthcoming book "The Fate of Nature: Rediscovering Our Ability to Rescue the Earth." He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services Every generation must relearn the dangers of drilling 05/06/10 [Last modified: Friday, May 7, 2010 9:08am] Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Los Angeles Times.

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Five local police officers to receive medals of bravery By tbnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY -- Five city police officers will receive national medals of bravery. The five officers with the Thunder Bay Police Service will be among 43 people receiving medals from the Governor General of canada in Ottawa on Thursday. Gov.-Gen. David Johnston will present one star of courage and 42 medals of bravery in recognition of people who have risked their lives to try and save protect the lives of others. Const. Kevin Carroll, James Arthur Elvish, Clark McKever, Kenneth Ogima and Jason Rybak will each be presented a medal of Bravery in recognition of their bravery during a water rescue in 2010. At about 10:30 p.m. on May 26, 2010, city police, paramedics and firefighter responded to a reported vehicle in the water at Marina Park. Despite the low visibility, the officers located the wreck as it sank into Lake Superior, smashed out the windows and pulled the victim to safety. "These officers symbolize what it takes to serve and protect our community,” said police chief J.P Levesque of the incident that earned his officers their pending medals. “A life was saved because these members put their own lives at risk."

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Worcester native Alisan Porter wins 'The Voice' ... Public can vote on national park site preservation funds ... Anti-Trump protests turn violent in NM ... Worcester native Alisan Porter wins 'The Voice' ... Public can vote on national park site preservation funds ... Anti-Trump protests turn violent in NM ... Worcester pitches in for Solar Decathlon Comment By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF In an empty warehouse in part of the former Coca-Cola building on Shrewsbury Street, a new type of house is taking shape.If you believe bigger is better, than this home isn't for you. But other people might be intrigued by the beautifully designed, well-lit, completely solar-powered two-bedroom that students and faculty from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Technical High School, Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Ghent University in Belgium are building.The structure will be the group's entry in the Solar Decathlon that the U.S. Department of Energy and the Chinese National Energy Administration are co-sponsoring in Datong, China, in August. It is the first time WPI has entered a solar decathlon and the first time the United States has co-sponsored one in Asia.“I look at it as solving problems,” said Tahar El-Korchi, head of WPI's civil, environmental and architectural engineering department. He noted that project has involved energy conservation, entrepreneurialism, teamwork and community support.The 120-square-meter (less than 1,500-square-foot) home is shaped like a square with a small car port to the side. The bedrooms, bathroom, small kitchen, dining room and living room are against the exterior walls, and many have floor-to-ceiling windows and a door to the outside. The inside of the square is an atrium.The building's walls and floors are made of 4-inch-thick panels with a fiber-reinforced plastic composite core that Pennsylvania-based Creative Pultrusions makes. The team will add a special paint to help it resist fire, but the house also has a sprinkler system from Tyco Fire Suppression & Building Products, said Melody Wang, a junior majoring in architectural engineering, which is a new major at WPI this year.The house sits on a frame of composite beams that is adjustable for the uneven surfaces. The floors will be covered with lightweight concrete tile that the team from NYU Poly developed to help the building maintain a comfortable temperature. HVAC units will do the same.Trusses welded by Worcester Tech students will stick up from the atrium and lean toward the roof at a 45-degree angle. The roof will hold the 40 solar panels that will power the house.To see a video rendering of the house, called the Solatrium, go to http://solatriumhouse.org. The collaboration's name is Team BEMANY, the first two letters of Belgium, Massachusetts and New York.It is built to withstand Worcester snow loads and Datong's earthquake standards, said Gregory Freeman, a senior majoring in civil engineering.The construction, which started in December, will continue until about April 22, when there will be an unveiling for sponsors. Then the house will be taken apart for the proverbial slow boat to China during the first week in May.The team will follow in June, rebuild the house, and start showing it Aug. 1. The 40 people traveling to China will include students Ms. Wang, Mr. Freeman and Rebecca Cooper from WPI and a handful of Worcester Tech students, who will go for free thanks to sponsors, Mr. El-Korchi said.In addition to being a massive building effort, the project has also been a massive fundraising effort. The two governments sponsoring the event are providing $100,000 for each team, but the building and travel expenses for the Solatrium and its team are about $500,000, said Mr. El-Korchi, who is still seeking backers.Twenty-one other teams are entered in the competition, including three others with partners from the U.S.When the competition is over, the Solatrium will be disassembled, shipped back to Worcester, and rebuilt in Institute Park for a public showing that will likely be sometime in the fall, Mr. El-Korchi said.Contact Jacqueline Reis via email at jreis@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JackieReisTG.

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Road and rail transport Young actress hit by train while trying to retrieve dog Yasmin Jones, a member of street theatre company in Liverpool, was hit by a train at a level crossing that is scheduled to be replaced with a footbridge Yasmin Jones may have ventured onto the crossing in pursuit of a dog that had wriggled beneath metal crossing gates Photo: SWNS.com By Press Association 6:39PM BST 29 Aug 2014 A theatre actress has died died after being struck by a train at a "high risk" level crossing while reportedly attempting to retrieve a dog. Yasmin Jones, 22, a member of Tmesis Graduate Company, a street theatre group, was killed at a level crossing between Freshfield and Ainsdale stations near Southport, Merseyside, on Wednesday. It is understood she may have ventured onto the crossing in pursuit of a dog that had wriggled beneath the metal crossing gates. The crossing is regarded as "high risk" and was scheduled to be replaced with a footbridge before the tragedy struck, Ms Jones, from Glastonbury, Somerset, had recently graduated from Liverpool John Moores University and had been working at The Caledonia pub in Liverpool. Related Articles Cyclist in near miss at level crossing Drivers flout level crossing rules A posting on the pub's Facebook page said: " It is with deep regret and sorrow that we have to tell you that our friend and colleague Yasmin Jones passed away on Wednesday in a tragic accident. "Our pub is closed, we aim to reopen Monday. We hope you can appreciate it's going to be a very difficult time for all of us. "She was a pleasure to have known and we will miss her beauty more than words can say." Among other tributes on the page were from Colin Michael Batho, who wrote: "Shocking indeed. I spoke to her quite a lot when in recently. She was an absolute delight. Thoughts with her family and all at the Cally", while Melissa Samia Gibbons said: "Words alone can not even begin to express how much you were loved or will be missed, the most beautiful soul gone too soon." A British Transport Police spokesman said: "We were called shortly before 3pm on Wednesday August 27 following reports of a person having been struck by a train near to Ainsdale station. "Our officers attended, alongside colleagues from Merseyside Police and North West Ambulance Service, and discovered a 22-year-old woman from Glastonbury had been struck and killed by a train. "Her family has been informed. The incident is not currently being treated as suspicious and officers are working to determine exactly how she came to be on the tracks. "A report will be prepared for the coroner." Road and rail transport In Road and rail transport The Flying Scotsman flies again Tube strike today: Travel updates on Thursday afternoon as union calls for pay to rise with house prices - LIVE Queues, fights and chaos in London Bedlam plague pit Bus strike 2015 - as it happened Holidays snow: pictures Latest UK weather forecast

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Gabrielle Giffords shooting: 61-year-old woman emerges as hero A white-haired, 61-year-old woman has emerged as the heroine of the Tucson massacre after she grappled with the gunman and helped to disarm him. Arizona shooter to appear in Phoenix court Rising star undaunted by heat of Wild West politics Jared Lee Loughner a 'mentally unstable dropout' Gabrielle Giffords: a quiet morning, then shots rang out Doctors describe congresswoman's injuries The 9-year-old born and killed on days of tragedy The unseemly rush to blame Sarah Palin By Nick Allen, Tucson Follow Speaking to The Daily Telegraph over a cup of English tea in her kitchen in Tucson, Patricia Maisch said: “I’m no hero. I’m a bit embarrassed by the attention.” But Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said: “This was one of the most heroic acts I’ve ever seen. She might have saved many, many lives.” Mrs Maisch, along with a 74-year-old retired Army Colonel Bill Badger and two other men, Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio, jumped on suspect Jared Loughner as he tried to reload his semi-automatic Glock pistol. He had already shot 20 people, killing six of them. Mrs Maisch had gone to see her congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to thank her for being a “brilliant” representative. Related Articles Hillary Clinton compares shooting to 9/11 attacks Gabrielle Giffords shooting Gabrielle Giffords shooting suspect charged Shot congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords 'able to communicate' Gabrielle Giffords shooting: US gun law likely to be unaffected Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Tea Party forced into rearguard action “I was at the back of the line and I was just enjoying the sunshine and listening to people talking,” she said. “There were about 20 people lined up on plastic chairs, mostly elderly, and then a few of us standing at the back. Then I heard a 'pop’ and I knew it was a gunshot. It was very distinctive. “Then there was a slight pause, and a number of gunshots in succession. It was 'pop, pop, pop, pop’ which my husband John later told me is the sound of semi-automatic gunfire. “I made a split second decision to get to the ground. I thought about running away but I thought I might become a target. I was on the ground next to the brick of the Safeway store. “The shooter came down the line of chairs shooting people. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He had a black knitted hat covering his ears. I was just waiting to get hit and I wondered how it was going to feel, and whether it was going to hurt. “The woman next to me was shot and I was expecting to be next. But then the shooting stopped, right at the lady next to me. Then next thing I knew he was on the ground right by me.” She said the two men were pinning the gunman down amid a chaotic scene. “Somebody yelled 'Get the gun!’ so I knelt up. I was kneeling over the shooter trying to get the gun but it was too far away. “Then he reached into his left pocket and brought out a magazine and I assumed he was going to try to reload. Then a third man came up and grabbed him. He dropped the clip and I was able to pick it up and secure it.” The third man was Mr Zamudio who came running out of a nearby store. Mrs Maisch said: “The three men were on him but his legs were flailing so I knelt on his ankles.” Then she noticed that Col Badger was hit and had a gash across the top of his head. “He was bleeding pretty badly so I asked someone else to sit on the shooter’s ankles and I went into Safeway and asked them for some paper towels and I made a compress. “I’m no first aid expert but I know that’s what you do. Maybe I saw it on television. I held it on his head while he continued to sit on the man. It seemed like and hour but was probably only five minutes before the police got there. “Somebody said I kept asking the shooter 'Why did you do this?’ but I don’t remember doing that. “He didn’t look angry, just a dead face, nothing, no expression. He was pretty quiet but he may have said 'Ouch’ or something when I was kneeling on his ankles. He was staring straight ahead with the side of his face on the concrete. “I rang my husband and I was crying and told him there was a shooting and I was at Safeway. Those two men who jumped on him are the real heroes.” Mrs Maisch and her husband John have one son, John 23, and run a heating installation business. Col Badger appeared to be the hero who first jumped on Loughner, and was grazed by a bullet on the back of his head. “I heard the shots but I thought they were fireworks at first,” he told Pennsylvania newspaper The Republican & Herald. “I was sure he was really shooting bullets when I felt the sting on the back of my head. “Someone hit him with a chair and he flinched a little. That’s when I grabbed his left arm. Someone grabbed his right arm and we got him to the ground. The other guy put his knee into the back of his neck and I grabbed him around the throat.” Mr Zamudio said: “I just went into the store to get some cigarettes and I heard 'pop, pop, pop.’ I heard someone say 'shooter, shooter, get down.’ “I ran out and when I got out they were already restraining him and I just helped. It was horrible event. It was atrocious. I was carrying a gun and I would have shot him, I almost did. But it wasn’t my responsibility to end his life.” He said what “really scared” him was seeing an “elderly woman” grappling the magazine away from the gunman. US Politics North America » Nick Allen » In US Politics Republicans win control of both houses Poll tracker: Can Republicans win Senate? A presidential dynasty: Jeb Bush's family tree How Barack Obama became toxic for Democrats American Way: Don't let anybody tell you these midterms are meaningless

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| Tuesday , July 30 , 2013 | In Today's Paper Front Page > Opinion > Story LEFT, RIGHT, CENTRE - The television debate is no substitute for actual conversation Writing on the wall - Ashok V. Desai Two Indian luminaries of economics have made an awe-inspiring � some might say awful � display of fireworks. The eruption occurred over a review of An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, a book by Amartya Sen and Jean Dr�ze, in The Economist. It said that the book went much farther than Bhagwati and Panagariya, who lay out a route map for further market-based reforms in their recent book, Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries. Bhagwati thought that he always was and continued to be miles ahead of Sen and Dr�ze. To which Sen replied that he had been in favour of growth from early years, but that growth needed to be supplemented with public expenditure directed at improvement of health, education, nutrition etc. The public row between two eminent NRI economists immediately caught the attention of the Indian press. While Amartya Sen once wrote a book that noted and approved Indians� argumentative nature, Jagdish Bhagwati loves an argument, and the media love a good fight. I myself felt sorry, for a friendly, reasoned argument between the two would be of considerable benefit to the rest of us. I first met Jagdish Bhagwati in 1952, when I joined Sydenham College in Bombay to do a B Com in accountancy; he was two years senior, and was doing banking. Next year, we both went on a college trip to Kashmir. Jagdish was a great hit with the girls; he had an endless stream of jokes, which they lapped up. I could not make up my mind whom I envied more � Jagdish with his jokes, or Niazi with a motorbike on which he would whisk away the girls. When I was admitted to King�s College in 1956, I wrote to Jagdish. He said he was going to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but had asked a friend to look after me. The friend came to see me when I got to Cambridge, took me around, and made me comfortable. He was Manmohan Singh. A year later he went back to Chandigarh. When he returned to Oxford in the early 1960s to do his D Phil, he was married. His and Gursharan�s house was open to me while he was there. Amartya Sen had just left Cambridge to teach in Jadavpur University when I went up, but he was a legend. His Stevenson Prize essay on the choice of techniques was a classic. He came back a couple of years later with his bride, Nabaneeta. They had a tiny flat in Trinity Street, where I used to drop by often for adda. After Cambridge, I went to teach in the Bombay department of economics in 1963. Ravi Hazari took me one evening to see Sachin Chaudhuri in his little flat behind Taj Mahal hotel. Economists dropped by to see Sachin every evening, and often got into passionate arguments. It was a bit like a Cambridge seminar, but more informal. The sessions could go on from six to ten in the evening, and interrupting was allowed; the only rule was sustained good temper. Sometimes at the end of the evening, Sachin would say, �Ashok! That was interesting. Why don�t you write it up for me?� I would write up a comment or an article, and it would go into the following Friday�s Economic Weekly. He did it to all the economists; that is how we learnt to debate, and Economic Weekly became the forum for discussion of Indian economy. In 1966, I went to work in Delhi. I often used to drop by in Delhi School of Economics, where K.N. Raj, Jagdish Bhagwati, Amartya Sen and Manmohan Singh were teaching. I also taught there briefly. One got to D School in the morning and settled down outside the canteen with coffee. Over the day, all the teachers came, got together and left. There was a lot of chatting, discussion, leg-pulling and fun. I would also visit the homes of the four friends, which were close by, where Sarasamma, Gursharan, Nabaneeta and Padma Desai (who was also teaching), were always welcoming. Those days of easy camaraderie did not last long. Jagdish left for MIT in 1968; Manmohan Singh left around the same time to join commerce ministry as economic adviser. K.N. Raj became vice-chancellor of Delhi University in 1969, where he faced terrible student trouble. In 1971, he resigned. In 1973, when I decided to take a professorship in the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, he came and tried to dissuade me; he felt I was needed in India. Four years later, when I was in University of Sussex, he came and asked me to join the Centre for Development Studies, which he was about to set up in Trivandrum. I accepted his invitation and worked in the Centre for a couple of years. The last time I saw Raj was a few months before his death. He was as full of jokes as ever; as I entered, he said, �First of all, tell me who you are.� When I went to D School again in the early 1980s, the ambience had changed. The teachers were younger, and more specialized. They came and lectured; they spent less time in the School and more at home or in New Delhi. The informal chatting around the canteen had declined; and the discussion was no longer about the Indian macroeconomy. The Economic and Political Weekly also changed in the late 1980s. It turned Left; non-leftist content declined, and debates deteriorated. When I pointed this out to Krishna Raj, he implied that higher powers were responsible. Prannoy Roy spent some time in the finance ministry in the 1980s before he left and started NDTV, on which he interviewed Amartya recently; Sagarika Ghose interviewed Jagdish on CNN-IBN. But the television debates that have taken the place of conversations are not the same thing. The compere is paid to look good and talk without a pause; he reports on the universe, and has neither the time nor the inclination to learn about economic issues. Before his half hour, he hurriedly makes up a couple of questions about the economy; at the end of the programme, he throws them at his luminaries, and tries to make them answer in 30 seconds. There is no repartee, no pro and con, and no development of ideas. This is what I think Jagdish was referring to: he uses all media to joust with fellow economists, just like in an American university seminar, and Amartya refuses to play the game. The reasons lie in their convoluted relationship stretching back to the Cambridge of the 1950s. I continue to believe in robust economic debate, and I enjoy my 30 seconds on television, but I do think that television is not the best medium for economics, either as a source of entertainment or for advancement of knowledge. I wish Jagdish and Amartya would seriously address and debate the Indian economy. Economic Weekly is no longer there to give them an arena; but the Journal of Economic Perspectives would, I am sure, be happy to welcome them to its pages.

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Your browser does not support iframes. Read a digital copy of the latest edition of the Anderson News online. Proposal pegs Parkway as spot for industrial use -A A +A By Ben Carlson Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 10:28 am PopularRelated Coroner delivers DEATH BLOW! State auditor calls out fiscal court Naked woman in car leads to drug bust on Ballard Naked woman in vehicle leads to drug bust J.D. Shelburne visits Heritage Hall Unexpected opportunity a lasting lesson Safety study begins on 151 Walking ‘The Walk’ more Coroner delivers DEATH BLOW! A map proposing locations for industrial, commercial and residential construction will be discussed Monday night during a public hearing. Developed by a group charged with updating the county’s comprehensive plan, the map includes a recommendation that the area near the intersection of the Bluegrass Parkway and US 127 be developed for a future industrial park. Dal Harper, who is helping oversee the comprehensive plan update through Bluegrass Area Development District, cautioned that the map is preliminary and public input is being sought before it is finalized. “This will not change anyone’s zoning,” he said. “The idea for this plan is to plan for the uses that the community needs and to steer people and the different kinds of uses to places that best accommodate that.” The public hearing is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Anderson County Senior Citizens Center, 160 Township Square. Harper said the updated plan is designed to serve as a guide to Anderson County’s growth for the next couple of decades, and that it’s important for people to let their voices be heard next Monday night. “If you look out your window and see a field, it might not be there forever,” he said. “Someone could buy it and choose to develop it. That’s why we’d like everyone to have input to what might happen there.” Creating an industrial park in Anderson County has been a hot topic for years, and the recommendation that the area near the Parkway be used is likely to spark some comments. A portion of the east side just past the Parkway is owned by the Springate brothers, who have worked in the past to have a fueling station there declared in violation of zoning laws in hopes that the business might close and allow them to attract a hotel and other businesses. A Cracker Barrel restaurant has also been discussed in that area, but never materialized. The southwest corner is also part of the recommendation, but includes some agricultural zoning designations. Harper said if the map is adopted, those designations won’t automatically change. Instead, it would provide information should the planning and zoning board be approached in the future to have that designation switched to commercial, industrial or residential use. Harper said that area around the Parkway is being recommended because of its easy access to a pair of four-lane highways and rail. “It just makes sense,” he said. “It’s not the only place. There are lots of pockets of unused industrial zoned land, but we suggest supplanting that with this site.” Other areas previously discussed for an industrial park include a portion of farmland off Highway 151 near Alton and the vacant land on US 127 Bypass across from Walmart. The map would also establish what Harper called an “urban service boundary.” “The city has its city limits,” he said. “Beyond that there is a larger area that either is or can be sewered very efficiently. We are trying to define that area of where sewers can be established in a cost-effective and meaningful way, and we’re hoping to steer residential and commercial development inside that boundary so we can efficiently provide services to residents. Harper said the map also addresses existing conservation areas, as well as land use in the city. “We’ve identified 55 properties in the central area of the city that have some historical designation,” he said. “We want to highlight that feature and encourage further residential development downtown, as well as pedestrian business activities to improve the vibrancy of the downtown area.” “We’re very interested in hearing what the community has to say about our work so far,” said update committee chairperson Bart Lewis. “Our most important goal is to produce a plan that reflects the needs of the community as a whole.” As for Monday, Harper said the map was not yet complete, but said it would be loaded on Bluegrass ADD’s website — http://bgadd.org/anderson — by today (Wednesday).

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Flora and fauna part of discussion of Plum Island's future Plum Island workers come off the ferry at Harbor One Marina in Old Saybrook on Friday. Published September 23. 2012 12:01AM | Updated September 23. 2012 12:03AM Friday afternoon, the ferry from Plum Island brought its cargo of scientists and other workers back to the mainland after another day at the federal animal disease lab there, continuing a six-decade commuting routine now facing an uncertain future as debate about possible sale of the island heats up.Among the passengers on the two half-hour afternoon ferry trips from the island to docks in Old Saybrook were town resident Bruce Harper, director of science programs at the lab, and Charles Wenderoth, a Mystic resident who is responsible for engineering and environmental projects.Roughly half the 360 workers at the Plum Island Animal Disease Lab, run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ride the Old Saybrook ferry to their jobs. The other half hail from Long Island, taking a ferry out of Orient Point in the town of Southold."It's been a great place to work," said Wenderoth of his 20 years of employment on the 840-acre island, mostly undeveloped except for the portion that comprises the lab. "It's a huge refuge for birds and such, and I think it should be a preserve."Lately, Plum Island's high-security and sometimes storied lab that is the nation's only facility for research into foot-and-mouth disease, the highly contagious and destructive livestock virus, often shares the spotlight with the island's wildlife in discussions about the property's future.Even as local officials, environmental and community groups continue to advocate for a reversal of the 2008 decision to close the Plum Island lab and build a new, higher-security lab in Manhattan, Kan., they tout the island's unique flora and fauna, including some 57 rare bird species and the largest seal haulout in Long Island Sound.The pork chop-shaped island, situated between the southwestern tip of Fishers Island and the northeastern finger of Long Island, also provides habitat for 16 rare plants, one of the highest concentrations in New York state."It's a de facto nature preserve," said Scott Russell, town supervisor for Southold, the eastern Long Island community that includes Plum Island in its borders. "Our first position is that Plum Island should stay Plum Island. We want to reiterate the importance of keeping Plum Island a research facility for the federal government. It serves an important purpose. But if that is not going to happen, we'd like to reuse the research labs and keep the de facto preserve."The town planning board, Russell said, has recently begun the task of establishing zoning regulations for the island in the event it is sold. It was never zoned because federal ownership predated the town's adoption of zoning laws.The town, Russell said, is opposed to high- or low-density housing development on the island, even though a new federal report proposes both as possibilities."We don't have the infrastructure to support any kind of large-scale development," he said. "It's very hard to administer aid and services to an island." The town already faces those difficulties on Fishers Island, he noted. In addition to the island, the 9.5-acre ferry landing in Orient Point would also be put up for sale.Meetings on proposed sale of islandRussell and others in Southold are among those in both Long Island and Connecticut preparing for two meetings next month about the proposed sale of the island. The meetings are an opportunity for officials and the public to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed sale, a document released last month by the General Services Administration, the federal agency in charge of property disposal. It describes the rationale, impacts and alternatives to the sale. The draft statement, comment opportunities and final statement are required by federal environmental laws for the sale to proceed."If the federal government wasn't trying to sell the island, they'd be trying to buy the island," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, one of more than three dozen groups in the Preserve Plum Island Coalition. "This is one of the greatest government follies I've seen in a long time."State, local and federal efforts and investments have been working for years to purchase and protect more land in the Long Island Sound, named an Estuary of National Significance, for public access and wildlife habitat, she and others noted, so to try to sell a slice of land it already owns makes no sense.For the upcoming comment sessions, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is preparing to weigh in its view that Plum Island is "extremely important" for migratory birds, marine waterfowl and other wildlife and is designated an Audubon Important Bird Area, said Meagan Racey, service spokeswoman. The Environmental Protection Agency's Long Island Sound Office, likewise, plans to emphasize the island's ecological values and public access potential, said Mark Tedesco, office director.Connecticut members of the Preserve Plum Island Coalition include Audubon Connecticut and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment-Save the Sound. Leah Schmaltz, the organization's director of legislative and legal affairs, said Save the Sound has been focusing on educating the public and the state's congressional delegation in advance of the public meetings.Along with the job impacts of losing the lab, she said, her group is also concerned that putting the island up for sale would risk losing "some of the most critical habitat on the Sound." And though some may consider it doubtful that a housing development could be built on the site of a former infectious animal disease lab, "you never know," Schmaltz said. "People's memories are short."Bound by legislationIn the draft statement, the GSA notes that it has been bound by legislation passed by Congress in 2008 to sell Plum Island if the decision was made to build a new lab elsewhere. The most optimistic timeline for opening the new facility, however, is 2021, meaning the Plum Island lab has at least nine more years of operation so that its work, considered essential for the nation's farm economy, continues uninterrupted.In addition to research and vaccine development for foot-and-mouth virus and other livestock diseases, the lab also conducts about 30,000 diagnostic tests per year for foreign and domestic animal diseases, and runs education programs for veterinarians.Given that funding for the $1.4 billion Kansas lab, to be called the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility and located at Kansas State University, has yet to be authorized, some consider the GSA's steps toward sale of Plum Island premature at best."If it doesn't happen or it's delayed, all of a sudden they're going to have to lease the island back," Wenderoth said.Fellow lab employee Harper said design work on the new lab is proceeding, even if funding for construction has yet to be found. In the meantime, he noted, Plum Island scientists are continuing working on vaccines, training veterinarians and taking on new projects, seemingly unaffected by the debates about the fate of the lab and the island."We're actually doing more work there now than we were five years ago," he said, noting the May licensing of a new vaccine developed by lab scientists.The new lab that would replace the Plum Island facility would be built with higher-level bio-security features, enabling research in a wider array of animal diseases. Unlike foot-and-mouth and other diseases now studied on Plum Island, some of these are zoonotic - diseases that can be transmitted to humans. No such facility currently exists in the United States, and increasing risks due to global trade and terrorist threats make it necessary for such a lab to be established both to prevent and respond to future outbreaks, according to the Department of Homeland Security.Animal diseases lab in the middle of cattle country?While few doubt the need for such a lab, groups based in Long Island and Connecticut, as well as those near Manhattan, Kan., question the wisdom of locating it in the middle of cattle country. The Department of Homeland Security, for its part, holds that it is committed to the Kansas location, selected after a three-year process. On its website, the agency states that it will not revisit the issue or seek alternatives, and that with modern technology, a highly safe, secure facility can be created.That doesn't stop groups such as R-CALF USA, which represents calf producers, from continuing to lobby against locating the lab in Kansas."R-CALF has done everything in its power to discourage moving a lab for the study of foreign animal diseases to the middle of cattle country," said Max Thornsberry, veterinarian and chairman of the group's Animal Health Committee. "It just doesn't make any common sense. We have a perfectly functioning lab. If you need to update it, update it."Like R-CALF, the grassroots group No NBAF in Kansas believes the risks of diseases escaping from the facility and infecting livestock - and people, in the case of diseases like Rift Valley Fever that would be studied - are just too great in a populated area in close proximity to cattle farms like Manhattan, compared to an island in Long Island Sound."Simply having it on an island can make a huge difference in the risk to the economy" from diseases that could escape and infect livestock, said Tom Manney, a member of the No NBAF group's steering committee and retired chairman of KSU's biosafety institute. "It should remain on Plum Island."In addition to arguments about the risks, others are calling attention to the 24 contaminated sites on Plum Island that the draft report says need to be studied and will probably need remediation. Randall Parsons, conservation finance and policy advisor at The Nature Conservancy's Long Island office, said there is a fundamental flaw in the notion that the island could be sold and used to finance the new lab."The problem with seeing Plum Island as a cash cow for the federal government is the cleanup, and the fact that Southold doesn't want it used for residential development," said Parsons, whose group recently worked with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation on a report documenting what's known about the island's biodiversity.Ideally, Parsons said, the island should be put under formal management as wildlife habitat, with some limited public access if possible, and the lab kept open and upgraded."It would be fundamentally a mistake to take it out of public ownership," he said.j.benson@theday.com Public meetings on proposed sale of Plum Island • Oct. 17, Saybrook Point Inn, 2 Bridge St., Old Saybrook.• Oct. 18, Greenport High School auditorium, 720 Front St., Greenport, N.Y.For both meetings, doors will open at 5 p.m., with General Services Administration presentation beginning at 6 p.m. followed by public comment until 8 p.m.Written comment will be accepted until Oct. 26. For more information, visit www.plumislandny.com. Report: Sale of Plum Island would have no significant adverse environmental impacts Plum Island advocates speak out against proposed sale Stop study, save Plum Island sanctuary Preserve open space for all

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Victim's family gets first glimpse at accused killer Published October 15. 2012 11:00AM | Updated October 15. 2012 12:42PM Homicide victim Tynell "Blue" Hardwick's mother never thought her family would get its day in court, but on Monday, almost four years to the day after her son was fatally shot outside a Norwich bar, she watched her son's accused killer stand before a New London judge.The Southeastern Connecticut Cold Case Unit last month charged Jose E. Ramos, 29, who also known as "Kool-aid," with gunning down Hardwick as Hardwick exited Rumors Bar & Grill at 88 Boswell Ave. on Oct. 10, 2008.Tears streaming from her eyes, Sheila Harris could only cry as she watched Jose E. Ramos come out of the courtroom lockup, look past Harris and nodded to members of his family sitting nearby.Harris had come with a large contingent of family members to watch as Ramos, who has been held in lieu of $2 million bond, was presented before Judge Susan B. Handy. Detectives had advised them to skip Ramos' initial arraignment following his arrest, Harris said. She said she realizes the court process will take some time."It's like starting all over again," said Melvin Hardwick, the victim's father.Hardwick, who grew up in the Hartford area, had moved to Norwich to be with his girlfriend, his father said. He had a young daughter who is now almost 11."I was living down south when this happened," Hardwick said. "When I got the call, I thought it was my mother. It was my son. I'm just glad he didn't suffer."The father did not know why someone would want to kill his son, but said detectives told him his son was shot in the back of the head. Ramos allegedly waited outside the bar, where Hardwick had become a regular. Details of the state's case against Ramos will remain sealed at least through Oct. 22, when he makes his next court appearance.Ramos will be represented by Public Defender Bruce A. Sturman, who will notify the court whether Ramos wants to pursue a probable cause hearing. Defendants in murder cases are entitled to such a hearing within 60 days of their arrest. At the hearing, the state would have to prove to a judge that it has enough evidence to prosecute Ramos.Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla will be prosecuting the case.

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Day Archives Philadelphia Casino Gets Court Go-Ahead Published April 04. 2008 12:01AM | Updated December 12. 2009 2:20AM Day Staff Writer Philadelphia — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the city of Philadelphia must award a zoning permit and other approvals that Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia has needed to push forward in its development along the Delaware River. In its decision, the high court ruled that the City Council deliberately attempted to delay the construction of both the Foxwoods casino and the SugarHouse casino, another slots parlor planned for the waterfront location. SugarHouse received a similar ruling from the court in December. According to the ruling, the Foxwoods project is “declared to be fully approved and shall require not further approval as if City Council for the City of Philadelphia had approved the same,” according to the ruling. The project's development plan was approved by the city's planning commission in August last year and had since been at a standstill. Jim Dougherty, general manager of the Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia project, said Thursday that this ruling allows work to finally move forward. “We're ecstatic about the court ruling in our favor,” Dougherty said. “This clears a major hurdle for us.” Dougherty said the project now needs to obtain some permits from the state, particularly from the Department of Environmental Protection, but does not expect any major delays, as that process has been ongoing. Once the project breaks ground, Dougherty said, the building cycle will last for about 22 months. The project will cost nearly $1 billion. The 3.7-million-square-foot waterfront project is planned for a 16.5-acre parcel in South Philadelphia. The project will be constructed in three phases and includes 5,000 slot machines, a 500-room hotel, a 21,000-square-foot spa, restaurants, retail shops and entertainment space. Dougherty said he is eager to get the process going and start creating jobs and bringing in revenues that have been promised to the city. “We're ready to move forward,” he said. h.allen@theday.com Article UID=38377007-43b4-4067-a5ef-763746d68577 Commenting on this article has been disabled. Mohegan Tribe signs on as partner in Philadephia casino venture

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Boston bombs said to be made from pressure cookers Published April 16. 2013 12:00PM | Updated April 16. 2013 1:19PM Washington (AP) — The two bombs that ripped through the crowds at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 170, were fashioned out of pressure cookers and packed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings, a person briefed on the investigation said Tuesday.The details on the apparently crude but deadly explosives emerged as investigators appealed to the public for amateur video and photos that might yield clues, and the chief FBI agent in Boston vowed "we will go to the ends of the Earth" to find those responsible.A person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was still going on said that the explosives were put in 6-liter pressure cookers, placed in black duffel bags and left on the ground. They were packed with shrapnel to inflict maximum carnage, the person said.The person said law enforcement officials have some of the bomb components but do not yet know what was used to set off the explosives.A doctor treating the wounded appeared to corroborate the person's account, saying one of the victims was maimed by what looked like ball bearings or BBs. Doctors also said they removed a host of sharp objects from the victims, including nails that were sticking out of one little girl's body.At the White House, meanwhile, President Barack Obama said that the bombings were an act of terrorism but that investigators do not know if they were carried out by an international organization, domestic group or a "malevolent individual."He added: "The American people refuse to be terrorized."Across the U.S., from Washington to Los Angeles, police tightened security, monitoring landmarks, government buildings, transit hubs and sporting events. Security was especially tight in Boston, with bomb-sniffing dogs checking Amtrak passengers' luggage at South Station and transit police patrolling with rifles."They can give me a cavity search right now and I'd be perfectly happy," said Daniel Wood, a video producer from New York City who was waiting for a train.Similar pressure-cooker explosives have been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to a July 2010 joint FBI and Homeland Security intelligence report. Also, one of the three devices used in the May 2010 Times Square attempted bombing was a pressure cooker, the intelligence report said."Placed carefully, such devices provide little or no indication of an impending attack," the report said.The Pakistani Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the 2010 attempt in Times Square, has denied any role in the Boston Marathon attack.The two bombs blew up about 10 seconds and around 100 yards apart Monday near the finish line of the storied, 26.2-mile race, tearing off limbs, knocking people off their feet and leaving the streets spattered with blood and strewn with broken glass. The dead included an 8-year-old boy."We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated," said Roupen Bastajian, a state trooper from Smithfield, R.I., who had just finished the race when he heard the explosions.Federal investigators said no one had claimed responsibility for the bombings, which took place on one of the city's biggest civic holidays, Patriots Day."We will go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime, and we will do everything we can to bring them to justice," said Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge in Boston.He said investigators had received "voluminous tips" and were interviewing witnesses and analyzing the crime scene.Gov. Deval Patrick said that contrary to earlier reports, no unexploded bombs were found. He said the only explosives were the ones that went off.FBI agents searched an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere overnight, and investigators were seen leaving with brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag. But it was unclear whether the tenant had anything to do with the attack.A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of the investigation said the man had been tackled by a bystander, then police, as he ran from the scene of the explosions.But he said it is possible the man was simply running away to protect himself from the blast, as many others did.At a news conference, police and federal agents repeatedly appealed for any video, audio and photos taken by marathon spectators, even images that people might not think are significant."There has to be hundreds, if not thousands, of photos and videos" that might help investigators, state police Col. Timothy Alben said.Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said investigators also gathered a large number of surveillance tapes from businesses in the area and intend to go through the video frame by frame."This is probably one of the most photographed areas in the country yesterday," he said.At least 17 people were critically injured, police said. At least eight children were being treated at hospitals. In addition to losing limbs, victims suffered broken bones, shrapnel wounds and ruptured eardrums.Dr. Stephen Epstein of the emergency medicine department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center said he saw an X-ray of one victim's leg that had "what appears to be small, uniform, round objects throughout it — similar in the appearance to BBs."Eight-year-old Martin Richard was among the dead, said U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a family friend. The boy's mother, Denise, and 6-year-old sister, Jane, were badly injured. His brother and father were also watching the race but were not hurt.A candle burned on the stoop of the family's single-family home in the city's Dorchester section Tuesday, and the word "Peace" was written in chalk on the front walk.Neighbor Betty Delorey said Martin loved to climb the neighborhood trees, and hop the fence outside his home.The Boston Marathon is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious races and about 23,000 runners participated. Most of them had crossed the finish line by the time the bombs exploded, but thousands more were still completing the course.The attack may have been timed for maximum bloodshed: The four-hour mark is typically a crowded time near the finish line because of the slow-but-steady recreational runners completing the race and because of all the friends and relatives clustered around to cheer them on.Davis, the police commissioner, said authorities had received "no specific intelligence that anything was going to happen" at the race. On Tuesday, he said that two security sweeps of the route had been conducted before the marathon.The race winds up near Copley Square, not far from the landmark Prudential Center and the Boston Public Library. It is held on Patriots Day, which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution, at Concord and Lexington in 1775.Richard Barrett, the former U.N. coordinator for an al-Qaida and Taliban monitoring team who has also worked for British intelligence, said the relatively small size of the devices in Boston and the timing of the blasts suggest a domestic attack rather than an al-Qaida-inspired one."This happened on Patriots Day — it is also the day Americans are supposed to have their taxes in — and Boston is quite a symbolic city," said Barrett, now senior director at the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies. Carry on with caution, but not fear

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Murphy greeted by pleas for help with heating costs U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy meets Tuesday with members of the Thames Valley Council for Community Action in New London to discuss better funding for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program in Connecticut. Published October 23. 2013 12:01AM | Updated October 23. 2013 7:41PM New London - Nancy Paetzell worked her whole life and thought she would be able to live off Social Security in her retirement years.But in tears Tuesday afternoon, she told U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., that she is barely surviving on her $1,230 monthly Social Security check. She pays $825 in rent and tries to save $50 a week. But by month's end, she has cleaned out her savings account to pay bills. She is eligible for $15 a month in food stamps and receives help with heating costs through the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program."When I was growing up, you were told you'd have Social Security to take care of you," said the 77-year-old Norwich resident, who is receiving on-the-job training at Thames Valley Council for Community Action in the hopes of landing an office job to make ends meet. "How come I'm so poor? I'm poorer than I've every been in my life. I can't pay my bills. I never wanted to be so poor."Paetzell was one of four people directly affected by the automatic federal spending cuts known as sequestration who told their stories to Murphy during a visit to the TVCCA office.She told Murphy that cuts made in Washington are felt the hardest by the poor and the working poor."My parents told me stories of what they had to do to survive during the Depression," she said. "It's nice to use the word recession, but I think this is similar to the Great Depression."Murphy was in town gathering information on the affects on Connecticut residents of cuts made in Washington. He said he will bring the stories of struggling residents back to the Capitol, where members of the House and Senate will begin reviewing the budget.Murphy said he will lobby to stop more cuts, especially to LIHEAP, which was cut by 5 percent last year and will be cut by 5 percent in each of the next 9 years. The $5 billion program will be reduced to about $2.5 billion.Two years ago, Connecticut received $125 million in energy assistance. In 10 years, the amount will be about $76 million, Murphy said."It's not enough," he said. "Americans won't allow people to freeze to death in their own homes."As the funding goes down, the need for heating assistance is going up, according to TVCCA. Two years ago, the local TVCCA, which serves communities in southeastern Connecticut, had 8,500 applications for energy assistance. Last year, the number was 9,500.Lee Carenza, who is in charge of the program for TVCCA, said he expects to get more than 10,000 applications this year. The program awards grants of up to $585 to help pay for heating bills for income-eligible families. Two years ago, the highest grant was $900, he said.Deborah Monahan, executive director of TVCCA, said people who are working full time come into the office in tears looking for help and saying they have nowhere else to go.Wayne Lee, a retired Minneapolis police officer who works for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Sound Community Services, told Murphy he needs the energy assistance. He is recovering from a stroke, is still paying off student loans from 20 years ago and sleeps in a sleeping bag in the winter because it's warmer. His grant for energy assistance has been cut from $700 to $300.Sue Hostnik, who works full-time for United Community & Family Services, said she is living paycheck to paycheck raising her three children, ages 8, 15 and 16. She said she counts on the energy grant, which dropped from $700 to $300, to pay her winter heating bills."My heat won't get shut off, but in May, I have to pay what I owe," she said. "I tell the kids, 'Get out the sweatshirts and the extra blankets.'"Murphy said his counterparts in Washington "need to understand that even working full time, people can't pay their bills in Connecticut.""We will win this fight eventually," Murphy assured the group.k.edgecomb@theday.com U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and TVCCA executive director Deb Monahan hug Tuesday in New London before a meeting on funding for federal heating assistance. Extended shutdown could chill state heating assistance efforts

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Search resumes for missing Malaysian jetliner Published March 08. 2014 7:00PM | Updated March 08. 2014 11:26PM By EILEEN NG and CHRIS BRUMMITT Associated Press Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Planes and ships from across Asia resumed the hunt Sunday for a Malaysian jetliner missing with 239 people on board for more than 24 hours, while Malaysian aviation authorities investigated how two passengers were apparently able to get on the aircraft using stolen passports.There was still no confirmed sighting of wreckage from the Boeing 777 in the seas between Malaysia and Vietnam where it vanished from screens early Saturday morning en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The weather was fine, the plane was already cruising and the pilots had no time to send a distress signal — unusual circumstance for a modern jetliner to crash.Li Jiaxiang, administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said some debris had been spotted, but it was unclear whether it came from the plane. Vietnamese authorities said they had seen nothing close to two large oil slicks they saw Saturday and said might be from the missing plane.Malaysia’s civil aviation chief Azaharuddin Abdul Rahman said his country had expanded its area of operation to the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, on the other side of the country from where the plane disappeared. “This is standard procedure. If we can’t find it here, we go to other places,” he said.Finding traces of an aircraft that disappears over sea can take days or longer, even with a sustained search effort. Depending on the circumstances of the crash, wreckage can be scattered over many square miles. If the plane enters the water before breaking up, there can be relatively little debris.Investigators will need access to the flight data recorders to determine what happened.Terrorism is always considered a possibility, but the sudden disappearance of Flight MH370 has given extra emphasis to speculation a bomb might have been on board. Other scenarios include some catastrophic failure of the engines or structure of the plane, extreme turbulence or even pilot suicide.On Saturday, foreign ministries in Italy and Austria said the names of two citizens listed on the flight’s manifest matched the names on two passports reported stolen in Thailand. It’s unclear how common it is for people to get on flights with fake passports, but the news added to fears of terrorism.Azaharuddin said Sunday that authorities were “aware of the situation and we are doing an investigation at the moment.”Malaysia Airlines has a good safety record, as does the 777, which had not had a fatal crash in its 19-year history until an Asiana Airlines plane crashed last July in San Francisco, killing three passengers, all teenagers from China.Prof. Jason Middleton, the head of the Sydney-based University of New South Wales’ School of Aviation, said terrorism or some other form of foul play seemed a likely explanation.“You’re looking at some highly unexpected thing, and the only ones people can think of are basically foul play, being either a bomb or some immediate incapacitating of the pilots by someone doing the wrong thing and that might lead to an airplane going straight into the ocean,” Middleton said on Sunday. “With two stolen passports (on board), you’d have to suspect that that’s one of the likely options.”Just 9 percent of fatal accidents happen when a plane is at cruising altitude, according to a statistical summary of commercial jet accidents done by Boeing. Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said Saturday there was no indication the pilots had sent a distress signal.The plane was last inspected 10 days ago and found to be “in proper condition,” Ignatius Ong, CEO of Malaysia Airlines subsidiary Firefly airlines, said at a news conference.Two-thirds of the jet’s passengers were from China. The rest were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.Asked whether terrorism was suspected, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said authorities were “looking at all possibilities, but it is too early to make any conclusive remarks.”Greg Barton, a professor of international politics at Australia’s Monash University and a terrorism expert, said if the disaster was the result of terrorism, there is no obvious suspect. If it was terrorism, Barton expected China would be quick to blame separatists from the ethnic Uighur minority, as authorities did recently when 29 people were killed in knife attacks at a train station in the southern city of Kunming.“If a group like that is behind it, then suddenly they’ve got a capacity that we didn’t know they had before, they’ve executed it very well — that’s very scary,” Barton told AP. “It’s safe to start with the assumption that that’s not very likely, but possible.” Loading comment count...

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[09/24/12 - 06:50 AM]Chefs Return for Second Chance at the Ultimate Culinary Title in Food Network Primetime Event "The Next Iron Chef: Redemption"The new eight-week season runs from Sunday, November 4 through Sunday, December 23 at 9:00/8:00c. [via press release from Food Network] CHEFS RETURN FOR SECOND CHANCE AT THE ULTIMATE CULINARY TITLE IN FOOD NETWORK PRIMETIME EVENT "THE NEXT IRON CHEF: REDEMPTION" Web-Exclusive Battles at FoodNetwork.com to Determine Tenth Cast Member Hosted by Alton Brown, Eight-Episode Series Premieres Sunday, November 4th at 9pm ET/PT, New Iron Chef Crowned in Season Finale on Sunday, December 23rd at 9pm ET/PT NEW YORK - September 24, 2012 - A roster of acclaimed chefs return for a second chance to become a member of the Iron Chef culinary society this fall, with the premiere of The Next Iron Chef: Redemption on Sunday, November 4th at 9pm ET/PT. The fifth installment of this top-rated competition series also adds a few newcomers to the mix, who have had their own experiences of not quite winning the crown. The competitors are given new opportunities to prove their skills are Iron Chef worthy, while revisiting some of the memorable moments that sent them home in the past. The culinary battle-royale, hosted by Alton Brown and shot in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, tests the kitchen chops, masterful skills and fortitude of these supreme experts, and culminates with the naming of the newest Iron Chef on Sunday, December 23rd at 9pm ET/PT. Competitors are: returning from The Next Iron Chef: Season Two Nate Appleman, Amanda Freitag (Chopped), Eric Greenspan (The Foundry on Melrose, The Roof on Wilshire, Los Angeles) and Jehangir Mehta (Graffiti, New York); from The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs Elizabeth Falkner (Krescendo, New York), Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter, The Darby, New York, Chopped) and Spike Mendelsohn (Good Stuff Eatery, We The Pizza, Washington D.C.); and first time Next Iron Chef competitors with their own redemption stories, Tim Love (The Lonesome Dove, Western Bistro, The Love Shack, Woodshed Smokehouse, White Elephant Saloon, Fort Worth) and Marcel Vigneron (The Coop, Los Angeles). "This season's cast is filled with extraordinary chefs at the top of their game and they all know how fierce this competition is," said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Food Network. "The redemption theme heightens the season's drama with second chances and new opportunities, and viewers can expect culinary magic, intense battles and edge-of-your seat suspense." Redemption offers a Food Network first, as the tenth cast position will go to the winner of the web-exclusive "Road to Redemption" tournament taking place October 12th - 26th on FoodNetwork.com. Participants battling for their chance at Redemption's tenth slot are Duskie Estes and Robert Trevino, who previously competed on earlier seasons of The Next Iron Chef and newcomers Lee Anne Wong and Madison Cowan. "Our web-exclusive 'Road to Redemption' tournament adds a whole new layer to The Next Iron Chef experience," said Bob Madden, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Digital - Food Network Category, Scripps Networks Interactive. "This online exclusive will give our audience more of the content they crave and the opportunity to witness more excitement and energy from these skilled competitors. FoodNetwork.com is thrilled to play a part in selecting the tenth competitor for this season's cast." Exclusively on FoodNetwork.com, the "Road to Redemption" tournament begins October 12th with a battle between former Next Iron Chef contenders Duskie Estes and Robert Trevino, followed on October 19th by a competition between Iron Chef America challengers Madison Cowan and Lee Anne Wong. The winners meet on October 26th, where the final Redemption position will be awarded. Beginning in late September, a sneak peek and extended preview will be available at www.foodnetwork.com/nic. The Next Iron Chef: Redemption kicks off on "Redemption Beach," where the chefs' resourcefulness is tested in a grueling Chairman's Challenge with a devious twist: each must cook with the ingredient that sent them packing last time. Given another chance with this ingredient and only bare essentials, hot coals and one hour on the clock some rise to the occasion while others go down in flames. The two least successful chefs go to the Secret Ingredient Showdown, a sudden-death cook-off that leads to the first elimination. Upcoming episodes continue to push the limits, including a canned food to Kitchen Stadium-worthy cuisine challenge, a Las Vegas buffet battle with an appearance by legendary magician David Copperfield and a "last supper" showdown. Returning judges Donatella Arpaia and Simon Majumdar are joined by last season's winner and newest Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian on the judging panel, along with appearances from Iron Chefs Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon. The winner will join the ranks of chefs including Bobby Flay, Marc Forgione, Jose Garces, Masaharu Morimoto, Michael Symon and Geoffrey Zakarian as a member of the Chairman's team on Iron Chef America. The newly crowned Iron Chef's first battle in Kitchen Stadium will premiere on Sunday, December 30th at 9pm ET/PT. Viewers who want more can also visit FoodNetwork.com for exclusive photo galleries, behind-the-scenes videos, weekly fan polls, cast journals and more insider coverage. The Next Iron Chef is produced by Triage Enterainment in conjunction with Food Network and is based partially on the format Iron Chef owned by Fuji Television Network Inc. # # # FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers' best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring and empowering through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and averages more than 9.9 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine has tripled its rate base and delivers a circulation of 1.45 million. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24 hour networks in Great Britain, India, Asia and Africa. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Great American Country (www.gactv.com),HGTV (www.hgtv.com), and Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com), is the manager and general partner. · NEXT IRON CHEF, THE (FOOD)

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(Anthony Jenkins/The Globe and Mail) GARY MASON Only radical change will rebuild trust in the RCMP Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011 2:00AM EST If nothing else, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson’s shockingly forthright interview with The Globe and Mail this week demonstrated his deep understanding of the vast, complex mess he has inherited. As impressive was his willingness to talk about it openly. For most of its existence, the RCMP has been a very male-dominated and closed organization. One that has been unwilling to recognize and address its shortcomings and that has kept its problems to itself. This institutional closed-mindedness has created the culture that has led to the demise of our once great national police force. Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail Editorial cartoons, December 2011 That much, Bob Paulson gets. As someone who has chronicled the rapid descent of public trust in the Mounties, I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to hear a commissioner speak with such jaw-dropping candour. When he said that a litany of controversies has made some members of the force ashamed to say what they do for a living, I was flabbergasted. Most shocking of all was his intimation that the Mounties are likely just one or two scandals away from extinction – which is why there is some urgency to his mission of returning the force to its former glory. All of that is wonderful, of course, and certainly a positive start to the commissioner’s time in what is arguably the hardest job in the country. But for now, they are only words. How he follows through on his bold promises will be the key. The most recent scandal to dog the force is the harassment allegations that have been levelled by several current and former Mounties. The commissioner said he takes the charges seriously (good!) and that he convened an extraordinary meeting of his most senior officers to discuss how the force will be dealing with them. Harassment, he said, stems from a misuse of power and remedying the problem means changing people’s behaviour. He wasn’t specific about how he intends to do that. I asked him whether female RCMP officers and the public at large can be confident that his leadership group – those mostly male officers across the country charged with dealing with this crisis – are squeaky clean themselves when it comes to harassment. He admitted that he doesn’t know for certain and agreed it would be a good idea to find out. Yes, it would be – or else he could be dealing with a colossal embarrassment of his own making right out of the gate. I wasn’t impressed, either, when the commissioner protested the inclusion of the death of Houston, B.C., millworker Ian Bush among the list of examples of disgraceful conduct by members of the force. “I take issue with that,” he said, clearly agitated. While admitting that the shooting death of Mr. Bush while in custody was a tragedy, he said the facts of the case didn’t warrant the torrent of negative criticism the RCMP received over it. I suggest the commissioner review the facts again. The officer’s description of how he shot Mr. Bush in the back of the head while lying face-first on a couch with the 200-pound millworker on top of him is difficult to believe. At an inquest, the officer declined an invitation to demonstrate how the shooting occurred. Many, including one of the world’s leading forensic experts, felt the officer’s description of what happened was anatomically impossible. The way the RCMP investigated the shooting was problem-filled as well. The Bush death is a classic example of the circle-the-wagons mentality Mr. Paulson admits is a problem for the RCMP. He would be wise not to defend the force’s actions in the case too loudly. I was struck when the commissioner said he could barely breathe when considering the challenge he faces. He said he wished more people in the force felt the same way. I like that thinking. The new commissioner does have an unnerving test before him. Nothing less than the future existence of the force rests on his shoulders. We could well be witnessing the Mounties’ last stand. And that does require a few deep breaths, when you think about it. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson at the editorial board RCMP faces the Stetson's last stand Bob Paulson

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Beth Din stalls organ donation drive By Simon Rocker Lord Jonathan Sacks The founder of a campaign to encourage Orthodox Jews to carry organ donor cards has voiced frustration at the time taken by the Chief Rabbi to issue new guidelines on the subject. Lord Sacks's office said its views on organ donation would be available before Rosh Hashanah. But Robert Berman, who runs the Halachic Organ Donor Society (Hods), said he had been led to believe that the policy was due out last August. Mr Berman, who lives in Jerusalem, said that after meeting the Chief Rabbi in March 2009, he had agreed not to lecture on organ donation in the UK until the Chief Rabbi and the London Beth Din decided their position in the summer. He said: "I'm puzzled as to why it would take 16 months and counting for the Chief Rabbinate of England to review the halachic and medical issues surrounding organ donation." Arguing there had been no major new developments on organ donation in medicine or Jewish law over the past decade, he declared: "I hope this review will not drag on for years, as I fear it will. This issue is of an urgent life-saving nature and should be given priority." Two hundred rabbis from Israel, the USA and elsewhere support the carrying of the Hods card. While some rabbis still insist on the traditional principle that death takes place only when the heart stops beating, increasingly more rabbinic authorities, including Israel's Chief Rabbinate, have begun to accept brain-stem death as legitimate. A spokesman for the Office of the Chief Rabbi said for the past 12 months, the London Beth Din had been engaged "in careful consideration" of organ donations and living wills. Source URL: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/35736/beth-din-stalls-organ-donation-drive

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Funding is set to end for project that works to protect vulnerable people against fraud in Bradford Councillor Val Slater / Rob Lowson, T&A Reporter / RobL_TandA A project designed to protect Bradford residents against scams and fraud needs “vital” funding to allow it continue and expand, a senior councillor has warned. The Scams and Fraud Education for Residents (SAFER) project, financed by the Big Lottery Fund, provides education programmes delivered across Bradford and Leeds by West Yorkshire Trading Standards. Councillor Val Slater, who is chairman of the West Yorkshire Trading Standards Committee, said the project had sprung from a pilot initiative in her own Royds ward. “It has obviously gone down very well throughout the entire district,” she said. “Evidence has shown it is a very important project, particularly for older people from a more trusting generation who can be vulnerable to these type of scams.” The programme aims to raise public awareness of scams, fraud and doorstep crime in an attempt to give residents the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves from becoming a victim. The scheme is also complemented by a specialist debt advice service to support people who might have fallen foul of scams or fraud, or those who may need benefits advice. Since the project began across Bradford and Leeds in November 2012, 3,250 older people have taken part in community-based interactive workshops covering topics such as how to deal with scams, fraud, and doorstep crime, how to stay safe shopping online, and how to prevent cybercrime. More than 1,200 frontline workers, 400 volunteers and 280 community champions have been trained in becoming the ‘eyes and ears’ of their communities, helping to identify victims and signpost them to local support services. The debt advice service has raised £451,499 through maximising the benefits people are entitled to, and successfully managed or written off a total of £360,000 of debt. At present, the SAFER project has funding until this November in both Bradford and Leeds but WYTS is now applying for an extension to work with a further 30,000 individuals in the next two years and to expand the programme into all five local authorities across West Yorkshire. Coun Slater said: “Staff have been shocked at the extent of some of the scams that are out there, and it is very important that we keep getting this message across.”

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Bury war veteran meets Prince Harry Dennis Walton with Prince Harry and Jack Dixon, right / Saiqa Chaudhari, education reporter / saiqa2 A BURY war hero had his service to the country recognised by Prince Harry at a special remembrance service. Colonel Dennis Walton, aged 94, is honorary president of the Royal Artillery Association Central Lancashire Branch. He shook hands with the Prince in Italy for the 70th anniversary commemorations of the Batlle of Monte Cassino, one of the most significant conflicts of the World War Two. Mr Walton was accompanied on the visit by Sgt Jack Dixon, branch chairman of the association. They have known each other since the 1950s when they were with the now disbanded 253 Regiment of the Royal Artillery based in Bolton. They were guests in Italy of the Not Forgotten Association. Mr Walton saw action in the battle to cross the Rapido River, where American forces were trying to reach heavily defended Nazi positions. He said: “I was a mobile gun officer trying to bring fire down on the other side of the river. The enemy had guns, mortars; they massacred the Americans. “I could see the bodies floating down the river. I still think, ‘Could I have done better?’” Prince Harry spent more than than an hour chatting to veterans following the service at Cassino War cemetery. The Battle of Monte Cassino was a crucial campaign that saw Allied forces launch four major attacks to destroy Nazi forces holding a strategically important rocky outcrop, home to the 1,400 year-old Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino. The monastery was bombed and destroyed but was rebuilt. Prince Harry said: “At the end of the day this has always been referred to as the forgotten campaign — to me that makes no sense at all. Those guys in there are as important as everybody else.” The Prince also defended his great-aunt Nancy Astor from the much-reported claim that she described the men of the 8th Army fighting in the Italian campaign as “D-Day Dodgers”. He said: “She always denied she ever made that remark. In fact, she swore to her dying day that she never said it. “She had three sons and four nephews fighting in the war, including in Italy, so it seems very odd that she would say such a thing. The story just doesn't make sense.” Commenting about Lady Astor's supposed remarks, Mr Walton said: “I don’t think she probably meant what she said because it was so stupid.”

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Dad's gift to the family? Cooking dinner Yet only 13 percent of home meals are prepared by men Courtesy of David Grotto “Cooking is part of what it means to be a father,” says nutritionist David Grotto, here with his wife and three daughters. But even though Grotto prepares dinner several times a week, most of the daily cooking falls to his wife. By Janet Helm, R.D. msnbc.com contributor In other words, working women are too busy to cook, but fathers don't view planning and preparing the family meal as valuable as other duties, so they don't focus on their sauté skills. The amount of time spent cooking predicts obesity rates more reliably than female participation in the labor force or income, Harvard researchers have found. But someone needs to be preparing the meals and we can’t just expect mom to do it. Dads and children need to join them there. Getting dads in the kitchen Maybe the launch of new cooking shows, food magazines and websites devoted to the male cook will give enough of a masculine spin on the family meal to get guys more involved. For example, the Food Network has been trying to attract a larger male audience with machismo-infused chefs like Guy Fieri who hosts three shows, including “Guy's Big Bite.” ManTestedRecipes.com, is described as a “virtual man-cave where men can talk about food, post and comment on recipes, is a new social food site catering to the food interests and preferences of men. And a new men’s food magazine, "Deen Bros. Good Cooking", created by the sons of Food Network star Paula Deen, also seems to embrace the “dude food” philosophy. Still, Grotto believes the “guy’s club” approach to cooking may not be the solution to what families really need — quick and easy ideas for nutritious meals, “not complicated Food Network-style extravaganzas.” Unfortunately, many men don’t feel they have the cooking skills to feel comfortable in the kitchen. “They just don’t want to botch it up,” he said. “It’s like not wanting to ask for directions when driving.” Janet Helm is a Chicago-based registered dietitian and author of the blog "Nutrition Unplugged." © 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints

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by Total Food Service Bay Ridge’s Sammy Kassem To Be Honored As The Vendy Awards’ “Most Heroic Vendor” Kassem Honored for Perseverance in the Face of Immense Opposition from Anti-Vendor Restaurant Owners. Award to be Presented at the 2012 Vendy Awards, September 15th on Governors Island. The Vendy Awards has announced its firsthonoree of 2012, naming Bay Ridge vendor Sammy Kassem as this year’s “Most Heroic Vendor.” Sammy, who has withstood immense opposition from anti-vendor business owners in his community, is being honored for his perseverance and commitment to street vendors’ rights. The Vendys’ Most Heroic Vendor award recognizes the many non-culinary contributions vendors make to New York City. From spotting fires in Columbus Circle to spotting car bombers in Times Square (yes, that was a vendor!), vendors make hundreds of small contributions each day that often go unrecognized. This year’s most heroic vendor is Sammy Kassem, a 21-year-old halal food vendor in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Over the last several months, some brick-and-mortar restaurants in the area have tried to force Sammy out of his usual spot at on 86th & 5th, even going so far as to nail park benches to Sammy’s vending area to keep his cart out. Sammy has stood strong in the face of this anti-vendor harassment, rightly asserting that hard-working street vendors have the same right as restaurant owners to make a living in the community. “I am deeply honored to receive this award from the Street Vendor Project, and to see that my advocacy has accomplished something in my community,” said Sammy Kassem. “This award is not just for me, not just for 86th St., but for all street vendors in New York City. We work hard, we do our jobs, we support our families, and we defend our rights. I hope this helps raise awareness in my community that all Americans have the right to make an honest living.” “Up against circumstances that would break most people, Sammy has triumphed,” said Sean Basinski, Director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center. “Even as he continues to face threats, harassment, and even physical barriers to running his business, Sammy returns to work each day to make a living for his family and to serve his loyal customers the food they love. Sammy is an inspiration vendors across the City, and I’m proud to present him with the well-deserved Most Heroic Vendor award.” The Vendy Awards are an annual event organized by Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, a membership-based organization of more than 1,500 vendors. SVP’s famed Vendy Awards have determined New York City’s top street chef for 8 years, and have become one of the most beloved and widely-anticipated food events in New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Sammy will be presented with the Most Heroic Vendor award at this year’s NYC event, which will take place on Saturday, September 15th at Governors Island. General admission tickets are available at nycvendys2012.eventbrite.com. In addition to competing for the Vendy Cup, Rookie of the Year, Best Dessert, and the People’s Taste Award, a new crop of finalists will compete for Best Market Vendor, a category honoring a new breed of mobile vendor popping up at local street fairs and outdoor markets. This year’s judges include Food & Wine Magazine’s Restaurant Editor Kate Krader, chef and owner of BaoHaus Eddie Huang, and hip-hop group Das Racist. Members of the press should request a press pass HERE by September 5th. Follow the Vendy Awards on Twitter for the latest news and announcements at @vendyawards, or find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/VendyAwards. ABOUT THE STREET VENDOR PROJECT AT THE URBAN JUSTICE CENTER The Vendy Awards are an annual benefit event for the non-profit the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center. The Street Vendor Project is a membership-based project with more than 1,500 active vendor members who are working together to create a vendors’ movement for permanent change. The Street Vendor Project is part of the Urban Justice Center, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation and advocacy to various marginalized groups of New Yorkers. To join their list of supporters, please click here. Total Comments (0)

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« Smell of sweet success for T... Troop leader shows spirit of...» Cadet receives milestone award Special to the Town Crier Save | Post a comment | Brendin Peters, of the Civil Air Patrol's Youngstown ARS Composite Squadron received the General Billy Mitchell Award, presented by Col. Reinhard Schmidt, the 910th Airlift Wing Commander on Monday, Jan. 30. The Mitchell Award is earned by less than 15 percent of all Civil Air Patrol cadets across the nation. Peters, of Poland, was promoted to cadet second lieutenant, marking his completion of the second phase of the cadet program. To be eligible for this promotion, Peters had to pass a series of leadership, aerospace and physical fitness tests, attend character development training, and an encampment that introduced him to military life. Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force, has been teaching cadets valuable life skills since 1946. Youth ages 12 to 18 may join the program which focuses on aerospace education, emergency services training, and cadet programs. The award is given in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, former deputy chief of the Army Air Service and military aviation visionary, and has been in existence since 1964. It marks the end of the enlisted phase of the cadet program and marks the beginning of the cadet officer phase. The promotion to cadet second lieutenant also makes cadets eligible for scholarships and advanced placement opportunities upon enlistment in the military. Article Photos Photo special to the Town CrierBrendin Peters of Poland and a member of the Civil Air Patrol’s Youngstown ARS Composite Squadron received the General Billy Mitchell Award, presented by Col. Reinhard Schmidt, the 910th Airlift Wing Commander last week. C/2nd Lt Peters has been an active member of Civil Air Patrol for four years, serving the past two years at Youngstown's ARS Composite Squadron in Vienna. He has completed the Model Rocketry Program, earning him the Model Rocketry Award; became qualified in both Basic and Advanced Radio Communications; and is working toward his Basic Ground Team member certification. Peters has served in various leadership positions within the squadron, currently holding the Charlie Flight Commander position, where he is primarily responsible for supervising and mentoring an average of ten cadets. In the past, he has been the Cadet Orientation Program instructor allowing him to teach incoming cadets the basics of the program. In addition, he is the Assistant Group III Cadet Advisory Council representative. The CAC recommends solutions and looks for opportunities to improve the cadet program within Civil Air Patrol. As a member of drill team from 2009-2011, Peters had the opportunity to participate in a winning team. During this time, the team placed first at the Great Lakes Region and went on to compete in the National Cadet competition. Having previously earned his community service ribbon, Peters is now working toward earning a second bronze star with approximately 180 hours of volunteer time. He is focused on a future in the Air Force. Save | Post a comment | Subscribe to The Town Crier Youngstown Weather Forecast, OH The Town Crier 240 Franklin St. SE , Warren, OH 44483 | 330-629-6200 © 2016. All rights reserved.| Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

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» CONCERN IN DOWNSTREAM STATES Ethiopia diverts Nile for huge $4.7bn hydro dam Addis Ababa, May 29, 2013 Ethiopia has begun diverting a stretch of the Nile to make way for a $4.7 billion hydroelectric dam that is worrying downstream countries dependent on the world's longest river for water. The Horn of Africa country has laid out plans to invest more than $12 billion in harnessing the rivers that run through its rugged highlands, to become Africa's leading power exporter. Centrepiece to the plan is the Grand Renaissance Dam being built in the Benishangul-Gumuz region bordering Sudan. Now 21 percent complete, it will eventually have a 6,000 megawatt capacity, the government says, equivalent to six nuclear power plants. "The dam is being built in the middle of the river so you can't carry out construction work while the river flowed," said Mihret Debebe, chief executive officer of the state-run Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, at a ceremony at the site. "This now enables us to carry out civil engineering work without difficulties. The aim is to divert the river by a few metres and then allow it to flow on its natural course." Ethiopia's ambitions have heightened concerns in Egypt over fears the projects may reduce the river's flow. Addis Ababa has long complained that Cairo was pressuring donor countries and international lenders to withhold funding. Ethiopia's energy minister moved to dispel fears over the dam's impact. "The dam's construction benefits riparian countries, showcases fair and equitable use of the river's flow and does not cause any harm on any country," Alemayehu Tegenu said in a speech. Mohamed Bahaa El-Din, Egypt's Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, said Cairo was not opposed to Ethiopia's development projects as long as they did not harm downstream countries. "Crises in the distribution and management of water faced in Egypt these days and the complaints of farmers from a lack of water confirms that we cannot let go of a single drop of water from the quantity that comes to us from the Upper Nile," he said. A panel of experts from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan is set to announce its findings on the impact of the Ethiopian dam on the Nile's flow in the next two weeks. - Reuters Ethiopia | Nile | dam | More Construction & Real Estate Stories

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DN's 'Boat Kids' a big hit in Japan By Adam Spencer, The Triplicate February 27, 2014 10:48 am Teens were instant celebrities, welcomed by student counterparts, leaders and the media Interviewed by the Japanese media, Del Norte High students were frequently the center of attention during their recent visit to Japan. Photo courtesy of Bill StevenWhile walking down the streets of cities in Japan, there were times when locals on the sidewalk would point to the group of six Del Norte High School students and excitedly exclaim “the boat kids!” In English. “You couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing the kids. They were on every news channel and in every newspaper,” said Cindy Henderson, Del Norte County’s emergency services manager, who recently returned with the six students and four adults from a “very high-profile” trip to Japan. The "Miracle Boat." Photo courtesy of Bill StevenThe “boat kids” and their adult counterparts finished a five-day trip to Japan last week, completing the cultural exchange that started when a 20-foot fishing boat was sucked to sea from a Japanese high school during the March 2011 tsunami and washed ashore in Crescent City more than two years later. When Lori Dengler, a geologist professor and tsunami expert from Humboldt State University, traced the boat’s origin back to Takata High School in Rikuzentakata, Japan (a story that Dengler retold in Crescent City on Wednesday night), the town that had experienced nearly 2,000 fatalities said it would like to have the boat back. A group of students from Del Norte High volunteered to clean the vessel and work toward returning it to the city that had experienced the second-highest death toll from the tsunami in all of Japan. The Del Norte delegation’s trip was mostly funded by the TOMODACHI Initiative, “a public-private partnership, born out of support for Japan’s recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake, that invests in the next generation of Japanese and American leaders through educational and cultural exchanges as well as leadership programs,” according to the group’s website. The Del Norte High students pose with Caroline Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Japan. Photos courtesy of Bill Steven and TOMODACHI InitiativeWhat started as one group of American high school students doing a good deed for another high school across the Pacific turned into a grand show of diplomacy. “One of the biggest things about this trip is that it became so political,” Henderson said. Instead of a school-to-school, city-to-city exchange, the U.S. Embassy paid a visit to the Del Norte delegation in Japan and said, “‘you are truly ambassadors of America’” and “‘this is a really good grass-roots bridge between Japan and America,’” Henderson recalled. Due to the complexities of flying out of weather-delay-prone Northern California, the “boat kids” are lucky they even made it. Planes, trains, automobiles After the plane from Crescent City to San Francisco was delayed several hours on Valentine’s Day, the Del Norte delegation missed its connecting flight to Tokyo by 45 minutes. Conveyor belts are being used to raise the level of the ground 29 feet higher to safeguard against future tsunamis. Photos courtesy of Bill Steven and TOMODACHI InitiativeHenderson and Del Norte Sheriff’s Office Commander Bill Steven took turns waiting in line for hours to arrange new flights, but there were only enough seats for six people on Saturday’s flight to Tokyo. The rest took a chance on the standby list, and luckily all were given seats 10 minutes before the 11-hour flight took off. Upon arriving in Tokyo, the group was chaperoned by Amya Miller, an American who has served as the public relations representative for Rikuzentakata since before the tsunami. Miller’s handle on the local language proved priceless when the group had to talk its way onto a bullet-train heading north from Tokyo, after missing their scheduled train. After the three-hour ride, the Del Norters transferred to a smaller rail for an hour ride before being loaded into a passenger van to drive to Rikuzentakata through an unseasonal snowstorm, finally reaching a hotel at 3 a.m. Monday, Japan time. Less than five hours after checking into their hotel, the only hotel yet to be rebuilt in Rikuzentakata where almost all of the buildings were destroyed, the “boat kids” went to Takata High School to meet a student body thankful for having its boat returned. Griffin Walker and Halie DeArman pose with Takata High School students. Photos courtesy of Bill Steven and TOMODACHI InitiativeA round of applause delivered by highly organized rows of uniformed Japanese students and a dozen reporters and television cameras greeted the Del Norters, who took turns at a podium to explain the gifts they brought. A basketball, baseball, football, soccer ball, etc., signed by the entire respective Del Norte High sports teams were among the gifts, as well as bracelets for each of the 500 Takata students with the name of both high schools, symbolizing a bond between them. The Del Norters also received bracelets from the Japanese students, but theses were created with pieces of pine trees that had been killed during the tsunami and engraved with a picture of the “miracle pine.” Like the “Miracle Boat,” the 88-foot tree was another symbol of hope for the Japanese town, as it was the only one out of 70,000 pine trees that was left standing after the tsunami. When the tree started to die later from seawater damage, Rikuzentakata city officials cut it down, treated the wood with preservative, inserted a metal skeleton, and replicated the leaves and branches using synthetic resin. Takata High School’s student council presented the “boat kids” with thank you letters from the marine sciences department, which owned the boat. Del Norte High students cooked traditional Japanese food in a cooking class at Takata High School. Photos courtesy of Bill Steven and TOMODACHI InitiativeThen the Del Norte High students got to experience a day in the life of a Takata High School student, including cooking traditional Japanese dumplings in cooking class, learning how to sing in Japanese for music class, playing table tennis, badminton and volleyball in physical education class, and even attending an English class to practice with Japanese students learning the language. Bill Steven, a sheriff’s commander and father of one of the Del Norte teens, John, said that the students from each country were rigid at first, but it didn’t take long before they were bonding like any teenagers would. “Many of these students had never seen an American before — let along an American teenager, someone their age, so watching their interaction was just priceless,” Steven said. On Tuesday, the second day at Takata High School, the Del Norters learned how to draw in calligraphy and then heard a presentation detailing the destruction from the tsunami: One teacher and 22 students from Takata High School died. All students from Takata lost a parent, grandparent or someone else close to them. Eighty percent of the students’ families are still living in temporary housing, nearly three years after the destruction. The building that was Takata High School has been demolished, and the school is now operating in an old agricultural building more than an hour from the school’s original site. The Del Norters then went to the museum where the “Miracle Boat” is currently kept. They presented the museum’s keeper with a tapestry of Battery Point Light Lighthouse donated by the Del Norte Historical Society. During the boat visit, the group was informed that there are plans in the works to have the vessel moved to the Japanese equivalent of America’s Smithsonian Institution. After the visit to the museum, which is also inland from Rikuzentakata, the Del Norte delegation went back to ground zero of the tsunami to take in more of the devastation. Before rebuilding, the city is raising the elevation of Rikuzentakata by 29 feet using dirt from the neighboring foothills. Giant conveyor belts and cranes that are used to transfer dirt dot the skyline. Government greetings On Tuesday night, the group holed up in a hotel in Morioka, the capital of Iwate Prefecture, before encountering the governor of Iwate on Wednesday in a very formal meeting. The group was handed directions on how many steps to take before bowing toward the governor, what paths to walk, and where to stand for pictures. The group traveled to Tokyo on Wednesday night for Thursday’s meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, which proved to be much less formal. Del Norte High students look at one of the lone surviving structures, which they thought resembled the Surf Hotel in Crescent City. Photos courtesy of Bill Steven and TOMODACHI InitiativeAlthough Henderson has had her fair share of meeting with politicians, she said her favorite part of the trip “by far” was meeting with Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, because Henderson grew up following the famous family. She was struck by the easygoing nature of the meeting, sharing cookies with the ambassador. The group presented Kennedy with a varnished redwood box holding a stretch of rope that was attached to the “Miracle Boat” with a caption that reads: “This rope was the last connection between the Takata High School Boat and Japan before the boat was ripped away by the March 11, 2011 tsunami.” Kennedy was excited about the gift, which was put together by the Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group. It will be displayed at the U.S. Embassy, Henderson said. “She gets that symbolism, so she understands what it meant,” Henderson said of Kennedy. And in Japan, whether it be a rope, a pine, or a boat that landed in Crescent City, symbolism goes a long way. The delegation included Del Norte High principal Coleen Parker, Henderson, teacher Joyce Ruiz and her husband Ed Ruiz, sheriff’s Commander Bill Steven and the six Del Norte High students: Halie DeArman, Connor Field, Dakota Ford, Juan Ramirez, John Steven and Griffin Walker.

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White House Announces Plan to Tap Oil Reserve Thursday, 23 June 2011 06:45 By Neela Banerjee, Los Angeles Times | Report font size Washington - The Obama administration announced Thursday that it planned to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as part of a coordinated international effort to drive down high crude prices and revive the flagging economic recovery in the world's most industrialized countries. The oil will be released over the next 30 days, according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, constituting half the 60 million barrels that the nations in the International Energy Agency plan to bring to market. "We are taking this action in response to the ongoing loss of crude oil due to supply disruptions in Libya and other countries and their impact on the global economic recovery," Chu said. "As we move forward, we will continue to monitor the situation and stand ready to take additional steps if necessary." Crude oil prices have stayed at or above $100 a barrel since February. Fighting in Libya has caused a loss of about 1.5 million barrels of oil per day from global markets, according to the Energy Department. Despite the absence of Libyan oil, there is no shortage of oil in the world. But nervousness about unrest spreading to other Arab oil producers, speculative investment in the oil markets and the revival of the Chinese and Indian economies have pushed crude prices to painful levels. The decision to release the oil comes as the United States, by far the world's largest oil consumer, enters its peak driving season during the vacation months of July and August with gasoline prices hovering stubbornly at far higher levels than before the Libyan crisis began. "This is about addressing supply disruptions and their potential impact on global economic growth," said a senior administration official in a conference call Thursday morning. Police Contract and State Law Shield Cops From Accountability in Chicago - BuzzFlash Bill Nye: Climate Deniers Are Wrong - BuzzFlash Legalization of Industrial Hemp in the US Is a No-Brainer - BuzzFlash White House Announces Plan to Tap Oil Reserve

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Mobile registration project for Colombian refugees in EcuadorThis is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 27 March 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. By: Ron Redmond | 27 March 2009 A mobile team of 50 government workers supported by UNHCR this week began work on registering and providing refugee documents to some 50,000 Colombian refugees who have fled insecurity in their homeland and have settled in northern Ecuador. The so-called Enhanced Registration project is unprecedented in Latin America. It began on Monday in the small community of Muisne, in the province of Esmeraldas, and will continue for at least a year and cover every province along the northern Ecuadorian border. UNHCR is supporting the Ecuadorian government in this complicated logistical effort that will cost some $2 million - 80 percent of it from UNHCR. The remainder is to be provided by the government. At the moment, we still face a shortfall of $800,000 which we will have to raise with the cooperation of donor countries. The importance of the Enhanced Registration project is twofold: it shortens the waiting period for a government decision on asylum claims from several months to just one day; and it takes the asylum process to the field, where many refugees have been living for years and were unable to access asylum systems in urban areas because they didn't have the resources or because they feared being detained. In the first three days of the Enhanced Registration project, more than 200 people received refugee visas. As the mobile teams travel north in the Esmeraldas province, the numbers are expected to grow as the presence of Colombians is more numerous near the border. Those carrying out the project were recently hired and trained by the Ecuadorian government and UNHCR. In total, the project required the purchase of more than 40 computers, electric generators, nine vehicles, visibility materials and a implementation of a communications campaign, all procured by UNHCR. Currently there are 22,000 registered refugees in Ecuador, but the government and UNHCR estimate that the total number of persons in need of international protection could be close to 135,000. One month after the earthquake, humanitarian needs persist in Ecuador Refugee baker joins Ecuador earthquake relief effort Syrian refugee carries Olympic torch through Athens UNHCR delivers vital Ecuador quake relief to worst-hit areas UNHCR emergency airlift to aid Ecuador quake relief

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Historic Littleton inn closed indefinitely By PAUL FEELYNew Hampshire Union Leaderand BOB HOOKWAYSpecial to the Sunday News | January 18. 2014 9:00PM Thayers Inn in downtown Littleton is closed. (BOB HOOKWAY PHOTO) LITTLETON - A historic New Hampshire inn is closed until further notice, after suffering significant damage when a sprinkler pipe fitting burst earlier this month, sending enough water cascading down to cause a restaurant ceiling to collapse onto a bar four stories below. Managers at Thayers Inn and Bailwicks Fine Restaurant are reviewing estimates for the repairs needed before the hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, can re-open."We've been open since 1843, and we'll be open again after this," said Thayers Inn General Manager Harry Almeida. Almeida said the damage to the inn and restaurant, located at 111 Main St., was worse than the water damage stemming from a fire in March 2012."We're all shut down right now, because there is a lot of cleanup and rewiring of electrical panels and rewiring of rooms," said Almeida. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done. Right now we're working on cleaning things up, and then after the estimates for repairs are reviewed they'll start the repairs." The pipe fitting burst occurred in the attic of the inn at 4:35 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, after water froze in a cast iron pipe fitting that connected three pipes, said Almeida. The burst pushed the air out and sent water rushing in, said Almeida, who was ending his shift that day and was at Home Depot when he was notified of the emergency. Almeida said a high-pressure stream of water shot out from the pipe out for three to five minutes through several rooms and into Bailiwicks before the water could be shut off. "It looked like a fire hydrant spraying water inside," said Almeida. "It dumped a lot of water down. I was at a store, and got called back to shut down the water." No injuries were reported, but about eight guests had to be sent to narby hotels. Five of the 39 guest rooms sustained significant water damage.A small gathering of people in Bailiwicks were also evacuated. Damage to the restaurant included the ceiling collapse over the bar, and more than half a foot of standing water inside the dining area. As of Friday, there was no cost estimate of damage, and Almeida said bookings for guests attending two upcoming area weddings have been cancelled."We've managed to secure them rooms at other hotels," said Almeida. "They all have places to stay." Thayers Inn, a Littleton landmark, has hosted famous guests that include Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Richard Nixon, along with celebrities such as P.T. Barnum, Tom Thumb and Bette Davis, according to its website. The inn is owned by Thomas Carpi and Steven DiPietro, of Lynn, Mass.Bailiwicks owner Stacey Northrup of Littleton said Saturday she had to lay off a total of 37 workers from her two restaurants because she transferred more senior workers from Bailiwicks to her other restaurant, Bailiwicks on Mill, in St Johnsbury, Vt. "This was way worse than even after the fire. Everything had to be thrown away. We filled six large, round trash bins with food and other items that had to be destroyed; they couldn't be used."Appliances, including several refrigerators stocked with alcoholic beverages, were ruined at the eight-year-old business. If there was any good news, it was that disaster struck between lunch and dinner, and there was only one table of guests. "We were getting ready for Friday night dinner. The alarm went off, but we didn't think it was going to be an issue. There had been a problem with a sprinkler head earlier that day, but it wasn't an issue. We thought we'd just wait outside until the fire department came and reset the alarm," Northrup said. "Now, everything's uncertain. I have no idea when we'll be able to reopen. I'm guessing the inn will reopen before we do."Will the hotel and restaurant bounce back and resume business, Northrup was asked. "We have to," she replied. bhookway@newstote.com Snow gives drivers fits, cuts power to 5,300 Granite Staters headed to March for Life in D.C. Hassan told that finding qualified workers is difficult NH data security companies form partnership NH School Boards Association elects Pastelis president Milford's We the People team advance to finals Photostream

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City Hall: A half-cheer for beer; Alderman Levasseur drops lawsuit against Greazzo | New Hampshire Contact us City Hall: A half-cheer for beer; Alderman Levasseur drops lawsuit against Greazzo WHO COULD HAVE a problem with a beer festival? Well, 14 aldermen and a mayor, that's who - at least if the organizers of the event want their fees waived at a time when the city is facing a $7.5 million budget shortfall...A few months ago, Peter Telge, the proprietor of Milly's Tavern, approached city officials with the idea for the festival, which would showcase the products of the growing number of breweries in the region. Some of the proceeds from the event - to be held at Arms Park along the Merrimack River on July 26 - would benefit the New Horizons food pantry and shelter...Telge requested that the fee for a fair permit ($300) and a noise permit ($200) be waived, seeing as how the festival would be good for the city's economy and benefit the food pantry."I am hoping for this to become an annual event and raise some money for New Horizons and bring a lot of people to Manchester in the summer time," Telge wrote in a letter to the aldermen...The development director at New Horizons also championed the event, going so far as to submit its tax ID number as a nonprofit to support the claim for fee waivers. (Nonprofits usually enjoy exemptions from the fees, but not always.)..But as Mayor Ted Gatsas pointed out at Tuesday's aldermen's meeting, New Horizons can in no way be considered the organizer of the event; it was simply a beneficiary should the festival make a profit. Gatsas was flat against waiving fees for an event that was sure to take in a good amount of beer money..."I would think, here we are in a city talking about raising the tax cap, and we're waiving fees? That just doesn't make sense to me," he said. But Alderman Pat Long, whose nickname could be Mr. Downtown, said the beer festival was just the kind of event the city should take steps to promote. "The (event) is going to bring in people. This is the first brew fest event; other cities are looking for this, and it has the potential of growing," he said. "Our put-in is not financial; it's waiving a $500 fee."..The board initially voted to approve the waivers, but Gatsas issued a rare veto, and there weren't enough votes to override it. Then Alderman William Shea, ever the peacemaker, proposed waiving only the larger of the fees, the $300 fair permit. And this was passed without a veto. Cheers to that...THE DANGER of waiving fees, as Shea has pointed out more than once, is that it sets a precedent. Indeed, fee waiver requests seem to be in season these days. On Monday, the aldermen's administration committee considered waiver requests from the organizers of two farmers markets...One came from the Manchester Farmers Market, the one that's held on Concord Street next to Victory Park on Thursdays from June to October. The other came from the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, which wants fees waived for farm stands it wants to set up at four locations on four separate days over the summer months. The produce at the stands would be grown by refugees who are learning farming and marketing through the group's Fresh Start program...The committee denied the waiver for the Concord Street market on the grounds that it was run by established, professional farmers. But it granted the waiver for the refugees, whom the members of the committee agreed could use a leg up...Remember the lawsuit Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur filed against Phil Greazzo, in which he accused the former alderman of defamation for calling him a liar and other mean things? Levasseur has dropped it...But if you think this means the two have buried the hatchet, think again. Levasseur says he dropped the suit after he was able to get the insurance agent for the Manchester Dog Park Association to attest in an affidavit that its coverage had lapsed for a month last fall...Levasseur's allegation of a lapse is what first prompted Greazzo, the founder of the dog park, to publicly assail Levasseur's credibility and to eventually try to get him brought before the Conduct Board...Levasseur said he dropped the suit because he felt he had set the record straight about who was being truthful - and because Greazzo was attempting to drag the New Hampshire Union Leader into the case by accusing it of publishing disparaging comments Greazzo never intended to make public..."Once it became apparent that (Greazzo) was not going to apologize after calling me a liar for four months, it didn't seem worth going to court. My point was proven. The Aspen Insurance affidavit was enough of a remedy for me," he said...Indeed, Greazzo has no intention of issuing an apology. "His request to dismiss his own case shows it was frivolous and further illustrates his pattern of behavior," Greazzo said in a statement, referring to Levasseur. "He stalled at every turn, missed every deadline to provide the required disclosures and evidence to prove his case (like all other recent instances) and like all other cases claims victory despite facts to the contrary."..WHAT"S THAT they say about falling off a horse? Ever since the Manchester Water Works Commission moved to enact new restrictions on horseback riding on land adjacent at the Lake Massabesic reservoir, area equestrians have turned out to protest at City Hall and elsewhere. And even though the commission recently approved the restrictions, the horse riders have continued to urge the aldermen and the mayor to do what they can to reverse the decision...At Tuesday's meeting, the majority of the speakers during the public comment period came from the pro-riding contingent. And it seems they finally have the ear of some of the aldermen, if not Mayor Gatsas, who has deferred to the judgment of Water Works Director David Paris on the matter...Alderman Barbara Shaw said the equestrians raised legitimate points in questioning the science behind Paris' claims that horse waste could contaminate the reservoir. "I want to protect the water supply as much as anyone, but if you look at the big picture, the equestrian portion seems very insignificant compared to other variables that affect our water supply," she said...Alderman Dan O'Neil, the chairman of the board, said, "I think this is bigger than horses. It involves dogs, bicycles, motorized equipment. A lot of these people that spoke tonight are customers of the Water Works, and they're taxpayers in the city of Manchester."..No, it doesn't look like this issue will be riding into the sunset anytime soon.Ted Siefer is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News. He may be reached at tsiefer@unionleader.com and followed on Twitter @tbsreporter... More City Hall Paul Feely's City Hall: Out-of-town fee in the works for senior center 2 Paul Feely's City Hall: Special needs costs draw fire from city officials 47 Paul Feely's City Hall: Financial fireworks expected over school budget request 27 Paul Feely's City Hall: Aldermen get somber update on city's drug problem 2 Paul Feely's City Hall: Budget presentation was likely calm before the storm 5 NH Angle

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From 1955-2014, our community has UNITED each year to raise funds to improve the quality of life for thousands of people in the Lakeway Area. Our generous community has raised over 45 million dollars over these 60 years to support A COMMUNITY UNITED FOR 60 YEARS through the 24 member agencies of the United Way of Hamblen County. Hosting Logon Computer Services © United Way of Hamblen County

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Home / Top News / Special Reports Rights group cries foul against Bahrain Nov. 8, 2012 at 10:51 AM Follow @upi Comments BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A decision by Bahraini officials to strip the citizenship from 31 people is a blatant assault on basic liberties, said Human Rights Watch. The government in Bahrain announced this week that it revoked the citizenship of 31 people considered a threat to national security. Joe Stork, deputy director of Middle East affairs for the rights group, said there's no justification for equating political dissent with national security. "Bahraini authorities have been increasingly targeting opposition activists and this decision takes it to a new level," he said in a statement from Beirut. At least one of the people stripped of their citizenship belonged to the opposition al-Wefaq party, which the government blamed for some of the unrest in the country. Taimoor Karimi, a lawyer included in the list, told the rights group he wasn't aware he was targeted until he heard of it in the media. Bahrain was criticized recently for issuing a ban on public demonstrations until security was restored in the country. Two foreign nationals were injured in a series of bombings in Manama this week. The official Bahrain News Agency reports that a civilian vehicle was damaged by a bomb Thursday in the capital city. More than 40 people were killed during anti-government clashes last year. The government said it was committed to reforms outlined by an independent commission that examined last year's unrest. 4 arrested in deadly Bahrain bombing Bahrain leaves 31 activists stateless Topics: Joe Stork Latest Headlines

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Home / Top News / U.S. News Occupy arrests in Boston, Washington Oct. 11, 2011 at 2:43 PM Follow @upi Comments | License Photo NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Police arrested more than 100 protesters Tuesday in Washington and Boston as Republican and Democratic politicians split on support of the Occupy rallies. Boston police charged 100 demonstrators with unlawful assembly and being in a public park after hours. Washington police arrested six of the hundreds of people for unlawful conduct at the Hart Senate Office building on Capitol Hill. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., criticized Democrats for encouraging the demonstrations against Wall Street greed, which is in its fifth week. "People are afraid and I get it," The Washington Post quoted Cantor as saying. Last week, Cantor described the protests as a "growing mob." "We have elected leaders, stirring the pot if you will. That's not good," Cantor said, accusing the protesters of attempting to pit "one part of our country against another." Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said it's "important that we gain control and make sure the rules are followed." Tents and personal belongs were thrown away during the sweep of the tent city on the Rose Kennedy Greenway that began about 1:30 a.m., the Boston Herald reported. Davis said the arrests marked a change in the once-agreeable relations between the protesters and police. "The group that was here for the first 10 days was working very closely with us," Davis said, "but they warned us yesterday morning that a new group, the anarchists, wanted to take control." At least 40 tents were pitched on the site, north of the group's original occupation site.PHOTOS: 'Occupy' protests spread nationwide Boston police and Mayor Thomas M. Menino asked the group, part of a nationwide rally for a fairer U.S. tax structure and to draw attention to other social issues, to leave the second site by midnight, the Herald said. When police arrived at the campsite, they told protesters the park was closed to the public and asked them to leave. When the protesters stayed, police began pulling them from the crowd. "They just ripped the group open, and went for our tents," said protester Nicholas Hassell, 21, of Franklin, Mass. "They shouldn't be doing this. We have the right to exercise our freedom of speech." Occupy Boston set up a camp along Atlantic Avenue about two weeks ago, The Boston Globe reported. After the group expanded to the Greenway Monday, police warned them to leave. Earlier Monday, University of Massachusetts students joined Occupy Wall Street to try to draw attention to financial problems facing students. "Our fees went up $800 last summer," said Lindy Ngoteni, 20, a junior at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. "My friend had to take out loans just to pay for her health insurance. It's crazy." Harvard University junior Mark Warren, 20, told the Globe he was marching to protest what he said were unfair wages paid to maintenance and other workers at the school. "Harvard is the world's richest university," said Warren, who is from New York City. "It's an embarrassment to its students that its workers aren't paid more." In New York, where Occupy Wall Street spawned similar protests across the United States and abroad, Occupy Wall Street activists promised to march on the homes of five New York billionaires Tuesday to decry the planned expiration of a state millionaires' tax. They planned an afternoon march to the exclusive homes of News Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, conservative billionaire David Koch, financier Howard Milstein and hedge fund mogul John Paulson, march organizers said. The marchers planned to present oversize checks at each location to dramatize how much less the billionaires will pay when New York state's 2 percent tax on millionaires expires Dec. 31. "While everyone else is struggling and being asked to make sacrifices to get through the economic downturn, these folks are actually being given more money to line their pockets," Occupy spokesman Doug Forand told the amNewYork newspaper. "They live in luxury -- these folks don't need a tax break." The tax-law expiration is "fiscally, economically and morally wrong," Forand told the New York Daily News. Atlanta organizers planned to march to the Bank of America building Tuesday morning. The Occupy protesters say they are demonstrating against the richest 1 percent of the population, who hold 35.6 percent of the country's wealth, and what the protesters say is Wall Street greed that contributed to the global economic crisis. Their demands include wanting limits imposed on corporate donations to political campaigns. Occupy protesters facing eviction? Occupy Boston denies role in cop hacking Occupy Boston holds onto Dewey Square Cincinnati, Occupy protesters strike deal Topics: Mitt Romney, Rupert Murdoch, Jamie Dimon, John Paulson, Edward Davis, Thomas M. Menino, Eric Cantor, Occupy Boston , Occupy Wall Street, Bank of America Latest Headlines

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Home / Top News / World News Saudi woman seeks to paralyze speeder Jan. 27, 2013 at 10:44 AM Follow @upi Comments JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A young Saudi woman paralyzed in an auto accident says she wants a court to sentence the other driver to the loss of his ability to walk. The woman, who was injured on her honeymoon, has refused monetary compensation and is demanding retributive justice in the form of the other motorist being paralyzed as well. "There is nothing that will be just and fair except seeing the man who has caused all this to have the same fate," the woman, whose name was not released, told the Arabic daily al Okaz. The driver was convicted of reckless driving and speeding. His offers of financial compensation have thus far been rejected in favor of eye-for-an-eye retribution. The demand has posed a dilemma for the court in the city of Jeddah. Gulf News said the judge tried to convince the victim to change her mind and his postponed his sentencing to give the two sides another opportunity to strike a less-Draconian deal. But the woman has stuck to her demand. "I will not say that I wish I were dead because I truly believe in fate and in what God has written for me, but I also believe that justice has been ordained by God," she said. Saudi man explains why wife was driving 5 years, 300 lashes for Egyptian attorney Saudis defend woman's beheading Saudis behead girl for death of infant

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Muskogee, Oklahoma From Indian Territory Gazetteer 1901 In writing an industrial history of the Indian Territory no town will take up more of the annals than Muskogee. Situated on a crest of the prairies but four miles from the Arkansas river its commanding position not only gives it a beauty as far as its surroundings are concerned but one that is healthful, capable of fine drainage and with its level stretches an ideal spot for the large city it is destined to become. It is 117 miles south of Parsons and 157 miles north of Denison and is a division point on the M. K. & T. Ry which fact undoubtedly did much in its early days to further its growth, and which now helps greatly with the 75 or 100 families who are dependednt on the railroad for a livelihood. The population is 4254. 900 votes being cast at the last city election, and scarcely a day passes without new faces being added, the building, of which we will refer later attesting to this fact. Hard, soft and spring water supplies the town in addition to a large reservoir for industrial purposes, but the wide awake citizens are figuring on a plant to take water from the Grand river and it will undoubtedly be built in the nest 12 months, giving it the best supply in the Indian territory of clear pure water. At present a large main connected with a powerful steam pump gives partial protection, seconded by an active fire department. The chief articles of shipment are cattle, cotton, hay, corn, flour, oil cake, pecans, etc. A large number of heavy cattle raisers and buyers make Muskogee their home and cotton is cared for by two gins, one the round bale process. Large quantities of baled hay and corn are annually shipped and in the latter staple the increase will undoubtedly be steady as the country developes. In handling cotton seed the Muskogee Cotton Oil Co. have a capacity of 60 tons with arrangements for a heavy advance over that amount if needed. A roller flouring mill and a corn mill grind much of those grains for shipment. The Muskogee Ice & Power Co have a new ice plant equipped with the latest machinery and with a daily capacity of 15 tons. The Muskogee National Telephone Co. operates a local system and its connections with Wagner, Eufaula, Checotah, Ft. Gibson, Tallequah and other points promote the growth of the city as a jobbing centre. The Union Depot Hotel is a hostlery that is in every way a credit to the town both from an architectural and business standpoint. Of newspapers ther are seven, the Muskogee Evening Times, daily and weekly. The Phoenix, weekly, being the principal, both presentable newsy sheets. But it is in her educational institutions that the chief pride of the young city lies and it must be said that their refining influences have done much, not only directly in the town but on the entire territory and it is but the beginning of their useful career. Fully 15 to 18 years ago the Rev. Theo F. Brewer of the M. E. Church south established Harrell Institute, recently destroyed by fire and is now succeeded by Spaulding Institute a very substantial structure. Henry Kendall College, Rev A. Grant Evans president, with a capacity of from 100 to 125 students occupies a commanding slope in the centre of about 30 acres of ground in what is now the extreme west of town but which promises before long to be entirely surrounded with the residences of the wealth of the city. The school is under the care of the Presbyterian board and the half-tone engravings of their new and stately buildings attest as to its worth and also its growth from one small building in the centre of the town. The Baptists are represented by Bacone University. Rev J. H. Scott is president and in point of age it comes next after the Spaulding. They have a large 3 story brick building about 3 miles north of the city in a beautiful location and when new additions under way are finished their capacity of 95 to 100 students will be greatly increased. The Catholics are in no ways behind the educational work of this section and this fact is attested by Nazareth Institute under the direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the cut of whose buildings are shown in this book. They have large grounds in the southwestern part of town and with the thorough work that always characterizes their order they are proving a large factor in the upbuilding of the moral and intellectual welfare of the Indian Territory and their usefulness will undoubtedly expand in the years to come. Tullahassee Mission, across the Arkansas river is of great historical interest, being one of the oldest schools in the Territory and the Pican Creek Mission, Colbred, and Orphan Home, colored, both directly tributary to the city can truthfully be classed as part of her educational system. The white public school has a capacity of 300 students and the colored children are equally well looked after in a large 2-story building in the northwest part of town. Altogether few places of double its size can boast of the chances for education possessed by the people of Muskogee. In churches they are equally as well fortunate, the Presbyterians leading with a fine brick building costing $7,000 that is a model of beauty and convenience. The M. E. Church South have a very substantial stone building on the east side and are comfortably housed for some time to come. The Catholic, Episcopal and Baptist denominations have their own buildings while others are represented by organizations. In addition there are colored Baptist, M. E. and M. E. South church buildings all with good societies. Muskogee has always been the seat of official life in the Indian Territory, the United States Indian Agency for the five tribes having been located there almost with the establishment of the town and continued to the present time. Within a few years a U S Court for northern district of the Indian Territory having jurisdiction over Creek, Seminole, Cherokee and the governments represented at the Quapaw agency was established, Jno R. Thomas being judge at the present time with Geo A Gill as district judge. Deputy clerks are found at Vinita, Tallequah, Miami, Wagoner and Wewoka. The U S Marshal, Leo E. Bennett has 25 deputies on his force while U S Attorney, Pliney L Soper needs two assistants, the whole comprising quite an army who help naturally in the prosperity of the place. At the jail 25 keepers are needed to look after and guard from 150 to 250 prisoners continually confined there. A U S Commissioner, T. A. Sanson has jurisdiction over certain misdemeanors and civil cases involving less than $300. The Indian Inspector with 23 subordinates and the Territory School Inspector with 10, the Town Appraisers with 10 add considerable to the population. The Dawes Commission, coomposed of Tams Bixby acting chairman, T. H. Needles and Clifton R. Breckinridge who are engaged in winding up to a great extent the affairs of the five tribes have their headquarters at Muskogee and employ a small army of clerks, fully 80 being on their rolls and it is expected their work will continue for a period of at least six years. A more conservative business-like set of gentlemen than those who comprise the city government it would be hard to find, and as a consequence not only does the place show many improvements but they have what few cities can boast, a surplus in the treasury and no debts. Fully $250,000 worth of business blocks, manufactories and residences have been erected during the past year, many of them being fine stone or brick structures that would do credit to any town in the states. Lodges are represented by the Masons, including a Commandery, the Knights of Phythias, Woodmen of the world, Odd Fellows, Elks, etc. Most of the fuel for domestic purposes is coal furnished by thin veins adjoining town and it is only a question of time until large mines are opened either at or within a very few miles of the business centre. Oil of a good quality is found near by which will also soon be developed and will become a great factor for the place. All summed up few cities in the west have the advantages and possibilities in a material and intellectual sense as have Muskogee. Gazatteer and Business Directory of the Indian Territory (Buffalo, N.Y.: McMaster Publishing Co., 1901). p.165-167. ©Sue Tolbert 2001-2003

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More No sign Princess Diana was pregnant: pathologist 11.25.2007Diana, Princess of Wales, and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed in a frame grab from a closed circuit video footage taken in Paris Aug. 30, 1997, one day before the fatal car crash in which they were killed.AFP/Getty Images / National PostShareAdjustCommentPrintLONDON — The body of Princess Diana showed no physical signs of pregnancy, Robert Chapman, the pathologist who carried out her post mortem, told the inquest on Monday into the death of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed.But Mr. Chapman acknowledged that while her womb and ovaries did not show any of the normal signs of pregnancy, those would not have been seen if the pregnancy was less than three weeks old.“No, I did not,” he said when asked if he had noticed any sign of pregnancy.“If one is dealing with a pregnancy, the appearance will vary depending, of course, on the duration of that pregnancy, but an established pregnancy will show as a change in the size of the uterus, a change in the thickness of the lining and the presence of a gestation sac,” he added.Dodi’s father, luxury store owner Mohamed al-Fayed, says the couple were killed by British security services in a high-speed Paris car crash in 1997 on the orders of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband and Princess Diana’s former father-in-law.He says Princess Diana was pregnant with Dodi’s child.British and French police investigations have concluded that Princess Diana and Dodi died because their chauffeur, Henri Paul, was drunk and drove too fast through a Paris road tunnel, crashing the vehicle into a pillar.Mr. Chapman said a pregnancy of under three weeks’ duration would not necessarily have been noticeable.“I would say that from day one to seven, one could not or would not see anything. From day seven to fourteen, one might see something, although it is rather unlikely,” Mr. Chapman said.“Thereafter, there is an increasing likelihood of being able to see things which would indicate pregnancy,” he added.The inquest also heard that Princess Diana did not appear to have drunk any alcohol in the hours before her death, although tests showed that Dodi Fayed — who dined with her that night — had.Under British law, an inquest is needed to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally.The inquest, expected to last up to six months and cost up to 10 million pounds ($20.7 million), was opened after the conclusion of major British and French police investigations.Reuters © 2007 xShareNo sign Princess Diana was pregnant: pathologist

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Cheetah expert visits Vashon Dr. Laurie Marker— image credit: Courtesy photo May 5, 2010 at 7:00AM Cheetahs are the world’s fastest animal, traveling up to 68 miles per hour in pursuit of their prey. But without humans’ help, the big cats could be running out of time. The feline predators are no match for poachers and farmers who fear for their livestock’s safety. Dr. Laurie Marker — founder of a conservation fund aiming to save the imperiled cheetah — will visit Vashon next Thursday to discuss the efforts of her 20-year-old nonprofit in Namibia, which has worked with Namibians and others to help them live in peace with their cheetah neighbors. Islanders Dr. Kim Farrell and John Cornelison will share photographs of wildlife and landscapes from their recent trip to Namibia on Thursday as well. One of the world’s foremost cheetah experts and an award-winning conservationist, Marker has developed several programs to help preserve the cheetah population in Namibia — the largest population anywhere in the world — and in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Iran. “She has taken on a formidable task of saving an endangered predator from extinction,” said Islander Ellen Kritzman, a friend of Marker’s who helped secure the conservationist’s visit to Vashon next week. “She is world recognized.” The Cheetah Conservation Fund has helped farmers fend off cheetah predation by giving farmers herd dogs that scare the cheetahs. Marker and her fund have rescued cheetahs from the wild and given those who could not be returned to the wild a safe place to live their lives. And Marker has worked to create land conservancies in Namibia where cheetahs can roam freely. The cheetah, said Kritzman, is a beautiful creature. “I think it’s a magnificent animal, and it’s a unique kind of cat,” she said. “It’s the speediest animal on earth, but to be driven off or killed off by others, it’s had a hard time making a living.” Farrell said she was enchanted by the cheetahs she met when taking a tour of the Cheetah Conservation Fund headquarters. “When (Marker) called them, these three 1-year-olds came over, and when they came up they purred,” Farrell said, noting it was much louder than her cat’s purrs. “They’re beautiful. They’re fascinating. They’re amazing creatures, and they purr.” Marker’s accomplishments include a long list of awards, including the 2010 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an award once bestowed upon chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall. Marker’s work has made a difference in Namibia and beyond. The population of cheetahs is about 10,000 strong, and some estimates 15 years ago pinpointed the cheetah’s year of extinction at 2015. But thanks to the work of Marker and the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the majestic cats continue to thrive in their natural habitat. “Laurie Marker is a pretty phenomenal woman, really fascinating and charismatic and creative in terms of how she’s thought to problem-solve and save this endangered species,” Farrell said. Meet Dr. Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, and see photos from Islanders Kim Farrell and John Cornelison’s trip to Africa at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 13, in the Land Trust Building. The event is free, but donations for the Cheetah Conservation Fund are welcomed. Olympic swimmers visit Vashon Disaster expert to discuss Vashon’s vulnerability to earthquakes Bainbridge 38, Vashon 14.

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2 dead after car collides with tree POINCINA, Fla. - A 2010 Ford Explorer went up in flames after crashing into a tree near Cypress Parkway and Doverplum Avenue Sunday.Investigators said the crash left an elderly couple dead.Witnesses tried to save the couple, but the vehicle became too hot for them to rescue the couple.“I tried to get him out and the door was shut tight, and I started to break the window, and a few guys from the park came over,” said Chris Davis of Poincina. “(There were) about 10 of us, and we couldn’t get him out.”Investigators said they were looking into the possibility that the elderly driver suffered from a medical condition prior to the crash. They said initial reports showed no sign of mechanical issues or other vehicles contributing to the collision.The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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Murrieta protesters block bus carrying undocumented immigrants MURRIETA, Calif. >> A flight carrying migrants from overcrowded facilities on the Texas border with Mexico arrived Tuesday in Southern California but protesters blocked immigration authorities from taking the group to a suburban Border Patrol facility for processing.Several dozen protesters, some waving U.S. flags and signs denouncing illegal immigration, converged outside the site in Murrieta. The buses finally backed away from the facility. Their next destination was not immediately known.Earlier in the day, the chartered plane landed in San Diego with 136 migrants on board, a Department of Homeland Security official who was not authorized to be named when speaking on the issue told The Associated Press. Murrieta is about an hour north of San Diego. A day earlier, Murrieta Mayor Alan Long urged residents in the suburb of 107,000 people to call their elected officials and voice opposition to the plan. He said police in the city were ready for any security issues, though he acknowledged migrants were not to be released locally and do not have criminal records.The flight was part of a federal government effort to deal with a flood of Central American children and families fleeing to the United States to escape violence and extortion from gangs in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Last week, U.S. authorities announced the plan to fly migrants from the Rio Grande Valley to Texas cities and Southern California. More than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been detained after crossing the Texas-Mexico border since October in what President Barack Obama has called a humanitarian crisis. Many of the migrants are under the impression that they will receive leniency from U.S. authorities.The facility in Murrieta has no showers or beds and is designed only for temporary holds, said Gabe Pacheco, a spokesman for the San Diego chapter of the border patrol agents’ union.Another flight was expected to take 140 migrants to a facility in El Centro, California, on Wednesday, said Lombardo Amaya, president of the El Centro chapter of the Border Patrol union. The Border Patrol would not confirm that arrival date. The federal government is also flying migrants to the Texas border cities of Laredo and El Paso and to Arizona for processing._____Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana contributed to this report. Related Murrieta police gearing up for possible arrival of more migrant families Overflow crowd packs Murrieta High School for debate over migrant moms, their children

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Bombings In Iraq Kill 65 A Decade After U.S. Invasion By: AP/CBS (Posted by Melissa Brunner) Posted: Tue 4:22 PM, Mar 19, 2013 By: AP/CBS (Posted by Melissa Brunner) Home / Article BAGHDAD (CBS/AP) Insurgents sent a bloody message on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, carrying out a wave of bombings across the country Tuesday that killed at least 65 people in the deadliest day in Iraq this year. The nearly 20 attacks, most of them in and around Baghdad, demonstrated in stark terms how dangerously divided Iraq remains more than a year after American troops withdrew. More than 240 people were reported wounded. Violence has ebbed sharply since the peak of Sunni-Shiite fighting that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007. But insurgents maintain the ability to stage high-profile attacks while sectarian and ethnic rivalries continue to tear at the fabric of national unity. The bombings came 10 years to the day that Washington announced the start of the invasion on March 19, 2003 — though by that time it was already the following morning in Iraq. A new CBS News poll found 54 percent of Americans say going to war with Iraq was not the right thing to do. Nearly 7 in ten backed the war when it started. The symbolism of Tuesday's attacks was strong, coming 10 years to the day, Washington time, that former President George W. Bush announced the start of hostilities against Iraq. It was already early March 20, 2003, in Iraq when the airstrikes began. The military action quickly ousted Saddam Hussein but led to years of bloodshed as Sunni and Shiite militants battled U.S. forces and each other, leaving nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqis killed. A decade later, Iraq's long-term stability and the strength of its democracy remain open questions. The country is unquestionably freer and more democratic than it was during Saddam's murderous reign. But instead of a solidly pro-U.S. regime, the Iraqis have a Shiite-led government that is arguably closer to Tehran than to Washington and is facing an outpouring of anger by the Sunni minority that was dominant under Saddam and at the heart of the insurgency. Tuesday's apparently coordinated attacks included car bombs and explosives stuck to the underside of vehicles. They targeted government security forces and mainly Shiite areas, small restaurants, day laborers and bus stops over a span of more than two hours, according to police and hospital officials. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but they bore hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq. The terror group, which favors car bombs and coordinated bombings intended to undermine public confidence in the government, has sought to reassert its presence in recent weeks. The violence started at around 8 a.m. Tuesday, when a bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in Baghdad's Mashtal neighborhood, killing four people, according to police and hospital officials. It blew out the eatery's windows and left several cars mangled in the blood-streaked street. Minutes later, a roadside bomb hit a gathering point for day laborers in the New Baghdad area, killing two of them. The sprawling Shiite slum district of Sadr City was hit by three explosions that killed 10 people, including three commuters on a minibus. Hussein Abdul-Khaliq, a government employee who lives in Sadr city, said he heard an explosion and went out to find the minibus on fire. "We helped take some trapped women and children from outside the burning bus before the arrival of the rescue teams. Our clothes were covered with blood as we tried to rescue the trapped people or to move out the bodies," he said. "Today's attacks are new proof that the politicians and security officials are a huge failure." The deadliest attack was a 10 a.m. car bombing near the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Baghdad's eastern Qahira neighborhood, which killed seven people. Another car bomb exploded outside a restaurant near one of the main gates to the fortified Green Zone, which houses major government offices and the U.S. and British embassies, killing six people, including two soldiers. Thick black smoke could be seen rising from the area as ambulances raced to the scene. Just north of the capital, a mortar shell landed near a clinic north of Baghdad in Taji, killing two people, while a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in Tarmiyah, killing a soldier. Another roadside bomb missed a police patrol in Baqouba, hitting a passing car. One passenger was killed. A car bomb also exploded near a bus stop south of the capital in Iskandiriyah, killing five people. Two policemen were killed when another car bomb hit a security checkpoint near the town. In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt near police Maj. Ghazai al-Jubouri, the head of a local police force in the area, killing him and two bodyguards and wounding four civilians. Attacks elsewhere in Baghdad killed 23 people in the mainly Shiite neighborhoods of Hussainiyah, Zafarniyah, Kazimiyah, Shula, al-Shurta and Utaifiya. Underscoring the political tensions, Iraq's Cabinet also decided Tuesday to postpone upcoming elections in two provinces dominated by the country's minority Sunnis for up to six months. The two provinces affected, Anbar and Ninevah, have been at the center of the nearly three-month-long protests against Iraq's Shiite-led government. Provincial elections were scheduled to go forward elsewhere on April 20. The decision followed requests from the political blocs in the provinces, government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said. © 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sweden may reject thousands of asylum applications Most Popular Most Commented powered by Disqus WIBW on Facebook

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Belvidere Murder Victim's Family Speaks Out By: Marissa Sherer Email Updated: Tue 8:12 PM, Apr 23, 2013 By: Marissa Sherer Email Home / Article BELVIDERE (WIFR) – The family of the man murdered in Belvidere on Sunday is speaking out to clear his name. Richard Herman’s cousin says he’s not the man police made him out to be. “He’s not this gang person everyone is making him out to be." Ricky Herman’s cousin says she wants to set the record straight. "He’s a very kind hearted person, he has the biggest heart in the world," said Linda Sparks, Herman's cousin. The 33-year-old was shot and killed Sunday night at a gas station in Belvidere. Police say Herman was in a gang. His family says that’s not true. “He had tattoos so I think that makes people think that but definitely far from it, far from a gang member, far from it. Only because he got hurt by one doesn’t mean he is one.”Ricky or “Slickums” as they called him was a father of four girls, ages 9 to 14 and his cousin says his family was everything. “He was an amazing dad, an amazing family member, I mean he loved everybody. There was not one person in this family that at one point or another he would be like, I love you, you’re my favorite, you know? Everyone was his favorite.” Herman moved to Belvidere from Joliet to stay out of trouble and to make sure he wouldn’t end up running with the wrong crowd. His cousins say that makes his murder even harder to understand. “It’s just heartbreaking.” Herman’s family doesn’t think he knew the suspects. They were told he was in the gas station and there was some bumping and maybe some words exchanged and they say when he walked outside they shot him. Police haven’t made any arrests, but they’re looking for two suspects, Deontae Murray and Marco Hernandez. Fire Breaks Out at Olde Hotel in Downtown Warren You must be logged in to post comments.

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Ex-Cop Killed In Federal Courthouse Shooting Updated: Wed 5:28 PM, Oct 09, 2013 / Article Police say a retired police officer armed with two weapons fired up to two dozen shots at a U.S. courthouse in West Virginia before police returned fire and killed him. Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger identified the gunman in Wednesday afternoon's shooting as 55-year-old Thomas J. Piccard of Bridgeport, Ohio. He is a retired Wheeling police officer. At a news conference late Wednesday, Schwertfeger said Piccard was armed with an assault weapon and a handgun. He also said three on-duty security officers were injured by flying debris during the onslaught. West Virginia State Police say a man who fired shots at a federal courthouse in Wheeling has died from police fire. State police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous confirmed that the man died Wednesday. The U.S. Marshals Services says officers fired at the man after he shot up to two dozen rounds at the courthouse. Marshals Service Chief Deputy Mike Claxton says one person inside the courthouse suffered minor injuries. Baylous did not have the gunman's identity. The U.S. Marshals Service says the man fired between 15 and 25 shots at the court building with what they described as an assault-style rifle. Police are seeking a motive. The U.S. Marshals Service says a man who they believe was armed with an assault-type rifle fired up to two dozen rounds at the federal court building in a West Virginia city on Wednesday before security officers returned fire, critically wounding the gunman. One security officer within the Wheeling Federal Building was injured by flying debris, but there were no other injuries, said Chief Deputy Mike Claxton of the Marshals Service in northern West Virginia. The gunman, whose name was not released, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, Claxton said. He said investigators were seeking a search warrant for the gunman's home in hopes of determining the motive and if he acted alone. Asked if the gunman had any beef with the U.S. government, Claxton said, "We're really digging hard at this point to find out." Claxton said the man began firing from a parking lot across from the federal building. "He was observed in the parking lot very quickly after the first shots were fired," he said. Courthouse security and local police ultimately returned fire and hit the man. He did not know if there was an exchange of gunfire. The building houses a variety of courtrooms and related offices, including judges, prosecutors and law enforcement.

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Elections 27 Pythons Killed So Far in Florida's Python Hunt Posted: Tue 10:32 AM, Jan 22, 2013 / Article MIAMI (AP) -- University of Florida researchers are examining more than two dozen Burmese pythons harvested as part of the state's "Python Challenge." The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Tuesday that 27 of the invasive snakes have been killed so far in the competition that began Jan. 12. More than 1,000 people signed up to hunt pythons in the Everglades through Feb. 10 in the hopes of winning cash prizes. Competitors are allowed to keep the python skins, once researchers finish examining the snakes. Researchers say the large number of hunters will help them gather more information about the snakes' habits. It's unknown how many pythons live in the Everglades. The snakes are considered a menace to native Florida wildlife, and they face both state and federal bans.

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Southern Ky World War I Monument Destroyed By Airborne Truck By Phil Pendleton | Posted: Mon 5:32 PM, Feb 25, 2008 | Updated: Mon 6:11 PM, Feb 25, 2008 Some would say it's only a statue. But the loss in Jamestown runs deep. Since 1937 the doughboy statue paying tribute to soldiers killed in World War I stood as a monument in the middle of Jamestown. It came crashing down Tuesday night. Mayor Brooks Bates says a Jamestown officer saw a truck speeding south toward the statue. Seconds later, the truck hit the steps of the monument, and went airborne. The mayor says the truck, driven by Danny Wilson, 49, of Somerset, initially cleared the doughboy's top but then hit the flagpole. “Some estimates is that he would've cleared the monument...if he had not hit the flagpole,” says Bates. Police say Wilson was driving extremely fast. He's been charged with drunk driving. Court records show that's an offense he's faced before. “Part of the town is gone,” says Michael York of Russell County. “If it was a DUI driver, it could have been my child or your child.” The doughboy was an important reference point for many people in Russell County. Many would use the iron statue as a way of giving directions to places in the county, such as the Lake Cumberland destinations south of town. Now city officials are questioning how they're going to replace the doughboy, which could cost about $18,000 by some estimates. “We don't know what monies are available yet. We have a committee on it,’ says Bates. Also uncertain is if the statue can be repaired or if it will have to be replaced. Gran, Hinshaw take over Wildcats' offense Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

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WQXR News Possible Settlement for 9/11 Workers Sarah P. Reynolds Enlarge Rescue workers and other 9/11 first responders rally near Ground Zero to address their long-term health needs, on Sep. 8, 2007 ((Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)) A federal judge has signed a revised legal settlement for ground zero workers that could pay them as much as $712.5 million. The Associated Press reports the plaintiff's lawyers have also agreed to reduce their fees from one third to one fourth of the settlement; one of the reasons the judge did not agree to the earlier proposal back in March. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein who has been overseeing the lawsuit since 2003 rejected the earlier settlement saying it was too low, but after three months of negotiations and a new settlement in front of him, he is calling it a "very good deal." There are approximately 10,000 workers involved in the lawsuit and he is encouraging them to approve the deal. 95% of them must sign on for the settlement to be final. One of the plaintiff lawyers, Marc J. Bern says, "This settlement ensures guaranteed, immediate and just compensation to the heroic men and women who performed their duties without consideration of the health implications" the New York Times reports. Mayor Bloomberg said this morning on his weekly WOR interview, the settlement in the lawsuit is "the best deal." He encouraged workers who have been sickened to seriously consider taking it. The rescue and clean up workers sued the city because of respiratory illnesses and other injuries they say they suffered from the dust at the World Trade Center site. They claim they were not provided adequate protective equipment and supervision on the job. THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH TODAY'S NEWS: Mayor Bloomberg says the settlement is "the best deal." WQXR News

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Only on 12: Man Accused of Vehicular Homicide Speaks Out By: Stephanie Baker Updated: Fri 3:12 PM, Feb 03, 2006 / Article February 3, 2006Investigators are still trying to figure out exactly what happened in the deadly six-car accident Sunday night on Bobby Jones Expressway. Investigators believe it all started because two vehicles were racing. The driver of one, Lawrence Skinner, died in the wreck. The other driver accused of racing was arrested and charged with several counts of vehicular homicide in the first degree. Only on 12, that man says he is innocent. Christopher Bush Jr. spent three nights in the Richmond County jail, and he says that is three nights too many. Bush says he was trying to stay away from the driver who deputies say could have been drinking. Bush tells News 12 He got out of the fast lane to let the truck pass, and the accident happened moments later. Four people tragically died after deputies say the truck flipped into westbound Bobby Jones. Christopher Bush Jr. says he saw the whole thing. "I feel for the families desperately because they lost their family," Bush said. He says he remembers moving into the slow lane to get out of the way of the pickup truck driver, 44-year-old Lawrence Skinner. One thought ran through his head. "What was this man thinkin’? How could he be drivin’ like this?” Bush said. And then the accident happened. "The traffic was laid out like a checkerboard and he wanted to weave from the slow lane to the fast lane and he lost control and that's when he went across the median. I wish something could have been done before this happened so all of this could have been taken care of before it started," Bush said. Deputies suspect Skinner may have been driving drunk. But some say Bush is partly to blame as well. A witness told officers Bush was racing James Skinner on eastbound Bobby Jones right before the crash happened. "He was in jail several days before being released," said Major Richard Weaver, Richmond County Sheriff's Office. Bush says he didn't belong behind bars. "I can't describe that, it was a very awful feeling, I felt very out of place and unsure why I was there," Bush said. He says he didn't do it. "If I was in the slow lane, dealing with traffic with cars in front of me and cars behind me, I don't see how I could be racing," Bush said. "It’s very difficult to sleep knowing these charges are against me, I just wish the family could have their children back," Bush said. And now, he's trying to make sense of it all. "They say everything happens for a reason, but in this case, it's hard to understand why that happened for a reason," Bush said. The only man facing criminal charges is overcome with emotion for the victims and their families. "Nobody...nobody should have to go through this. Nobody. He should not have been on the road, none of this would have happened," Bush said. Bush says he was on his way to meet up with coworkers after leaving his niece's birthday party. His case is now being handled by the district attorney's office. Bush was bonded out on Wednesday afternoon, and no date has been set for him to appear again. The rest of the accident investigation has been turned over to the Georgia State Patrol, and they hope to have a full report in ninety days.

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I think Mel B is being modest The Sunday Mirror makes space for Mel B to muse - apparently randomly - on her life:I don’t have a fame-ometer, so I don’t know if I’m as famous in the States as in Britain. I live in LA, where everyone’s famous – you’ll do your food shopping and you’ll be standing next to Gwyneth Paltrow. I’ve been really lucky that people have always been very respectful, and chirpy and cheerful and nice. I’ve never had any freaky experiences – touch wood.Yes. Every single person in LA shops in the same supermarket, with all the famous people picking up their rostis next to the guys who clean the toilets on the Universal studio tours. Because they're famous, too. I imagine what Mel B means when she says "everyone is famous in LA" is "I move in incredibly small circles and never come into contact with people who aren't full of themselves".This fame-ometer thing is a bit puzzling, though: does Mel B really not have a clue where she might be in the US pecking order by, say, looking at magazines (where her name crops up most often as "mother of Murphy's child...") and if she doesn't have this magical device, what makes her think she has a high level of fame in the UK?But what does the future hold for her?I could never be as successful as the Spice Girls – there were five of us in that group, and alone you can only do so much.Yes, it's impossible to be successful on an international, stellar scale if there's only one of you. That's one of the things McCartney and Madonna find so galling. More from No Rock on mel b,

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NCUHS won't have principal next year... Tag Archives: Lowell Six Lowell Six wind turbine protesters convicted of trespassing Posted on August 22, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar Eric Gillard, the brother of one of the Lowell Six, holds a sign in front of the courthouse. Photo by Paul Lefebvre by Paul Lefebvre copyright the Chronicle 8-22-2012 NEWPORT — It took a jury of nine women and three men four hours to find wind opponents known as the Lowell Six guilty of unlawful trespass, following a one-day trial here in Superior Court. The verdict appeared to reflect a trial in which a straight law and order issue trumped a disputed property boundary. Conflicting testimony over the dispute may have confused the jurors as about an hour or so into their deliberation, they sent a note to the judge. They wanted to know if there could be a legal owner when a property is in dispute. And if the dispute was still current. Trial Judge Martin Maley complimented the quality of the questions, but ruled each irrelevant. “Do the best you can based on the evidence you heard,” he instructed them. Disputed property boundaries were the key to the defense case: If the state could not prove that the protesters were standing on property that was in the lawful possession of Green Mountain Power (GMP), then the defendants could not be convicted of unlawful trespass. The prosecution argued that GMP was in lawful possession of the property, and that the protesters had broken the law when they refused to leave the land that had been posted by the company. The trial was the first to be held involving protesters against the Lowell wind project that is being constructed by GMP. Each of the six were arrested on December 5, 2011, when they refused police orders to leave posted property on Lowell Mountain while blocking the path of heavy construction vehicles. Although the six presented their case as a group, the jury found each guilty as individuals. Six more protesters are scheduled to be arraigned next month for a similar confrontation on the same mountain earlier this month. Held Wednesday of last week, August 15, the trial was surprisingly silent on the underlying and highly charged issue that caused the defendants to break the law. Before the jury entered the courtroom, Judge Maley warned he would only allow limited testimony on why the defendants were on the land. And nothing, per se, on wind itself. The jury, he said, knew what the case was about. “It’s not a secret to them.” So wind remained the elephant in the room: the one everyone knew was there and agreed not to see. Surprisingly, the only one to raise it as an issue was prosecutor Sarah Baker, when she sought to challenge the intent of the defense’s star witness, surveyor Paul Hannan of Calais, formerly of Holland and at one time a Kingdom legislator who served in the House. Placed on the stand as an expert witness by defense attorney Kristina Michelsen, Mr. Hannan was prepared to provide the rock-bottom kind of testimony the defense needed to support its case. Mr. Hannan testified that he had 31 years of experience as a surveyor and the credentials to qualify as an expert. The rules of evidence, however, say that either side can challenge an expert’s witness. And when her turn came, Ms. Baker proceeded vigorously. First she asked Mr. Hannan about his association with Sterling College, and learned that during the years 1990 and 1991, he was one of the faculty members who accompanied students on three-to-four-day expeditions on Lowell Mountain. The prosecutor pressed on. Did he have any prior knowledge of Don Nelson — who allowed the students to use his property and who also is in a property dispute with GMP concerning the boundary line between his land on the mountain and the adjourning site where the utility is constructing its wind project. No, said Mr. Hannan. Ms. Baker may have thought she had found a chink in the defense’s armor when she abruptly asked the witness if he had any association with any anti-wind group. Instead, the question brought a prompt objection from attorney Michelsen, along with a few hisses and murmurs from the 35 or so spectators in the gallery, a largely anti-wind crowd. Judge Maley sustained the objection and Ms. Baker sat down, taking with her any references that the industrial wind project on Lowell Mountain had anything to do with the case. There was a stirring in the closing moments of the trial when one of the defendants, Dr. Ronald Holland, took the stand. The doctor’s name had surfaced earlier in the trial when Deputy Sheriff Phil Brooks testified for the state. Of the ten protesters on the mountain that day, the deputy said he only knew Dr. Holland from previous personal and professional encounters. He went on to testify that about two weeks prior to the December 5 confrontation, he received a call at home from Dr. Holland. The doctor, according to the testimony, told the deputy he was going to the mountain that day to protest and wanted the deputy to arrest him. “I informed him I was off duty and it wasn’t going to be me,” Deputy Brooks testified, adding that he passed what he characterized an “odd request” on to the State Police, who didn’t do anything either. That testimony was before the jury when Dr. Holland took the stand late in the day. The 67-year-old resident of Irasburg told jurors that days prior to the confrontation with police, he had gone onto the site and measured with twine the distance where he believed Mr. Nelson’s property ended. And on the day of the confrontation, he testified he went to the limit of that measured distance. But in a question that had nearly everyone in the courtroom leaning forward on the edge of their seats, Ms. Michelsen asked the emergency room doctor why he had climbed to the top of Lowell Mountain on December 5, 2011. He paused and bowed his head a moment before answering that he had gone there to “protest the taking of Don Nelson’s property.” Defendant David Rodgers, 69, of Craftsbury followed Dr. Holland to the stand and testified that he too believed he was on the Nelson property when police moved in to arrest him. He testified that Dr. Holland had tied a block of wood to the end of a string as a means of measuring the property’s boundary. And that he was “very careful not to” trespass on the land GMP is leasing to erect its 21-turbine wind plant. The procession to the stand might have continued had not the prosecution agreed to stipulate that the remaining four defendants had followed the doctor’s lead. But if the defense thought a protest over property rights could overturn the confrontation that followed, the jury saw it differently. Nor did any witness refute or challenge the deputy’s testimony over what happened that day. Deputy Brooks testified he received a call around nine that morning from GMP, informing him that protesters were on the mountain blocking heavy equipment from working on the wind project. Police arrived roughly two hours later, and observed that the group was blocking cranes and big trucks. “They were stopped on either side of where the defendants were,” he testified. Deputy Brooks testified that prior to December 5, GMP had shown him a map of the project and its property boundaries. And when confronting the protesters, he said he gave everyone the opportunity to step back behind the property line between GMP and the Nelson farm. Of the ten protesters, three complied with a police order to step aside. Six refused and were placed under what sounded like a gentleman’s arrest. The deputy said he chatted cordially with the defendants and discussed everything but the project going on around them. “I limited myself to that,” said Deputy Brooks. The biggest problem police encountered that day, the deputy added, was finding a way to transport their prisoners off the mountain. Police also arrested a seventh individual, Chronicle publisher Chris Braithwaite, who is challenging his arrest on grounds he was there doing his job as a reporter. GMP’s intent to keep people off the site and the property it has under lease was deliberate and thorough, according to its project manager Charles Pughe, who also oversaw the posting. “We cleaned out several stores,” he said, speaking of the no trespassing signs the company purchased. “We had to have so many of them.” Mr. Pughe testified that the land was initially posted for safety and to keep hikers out of harm’s way. But he also noted that problems with people at the site began appearing sometime in October, as campers began to gather on the neighboring Nelson land. Terms of the lease gave GMP authority to exclude or allow access to anyone the company chose, he said. Mr. Pughe was off site the day the protesters were arrested. But under cross-examination by Ms. Michelsen, he said, he could tell from photographic evidence — including photographs taken by the arrested journalist — that the protesters were on GMP’s leased property at the time of their arrest. He estimated the face of the turbine would be about 200 feet away from the Nelson boundary line. From the moment he took the stand it was evident that Don Nelson was not going to be a friendly witness. He gave mostly monosyllabic responses to the prosecutor’s questions, and when asked to read a document, he shrugged and said he didn’t have his glasses. That brought a query from the bench “Need your glasses, Mr. Nelson?” asked Judge Maley. “Don’t have them with me,” replied Mr. Nelson. The prosecutor decided to try a different tack by asking the witness if he had given Dr. Holland permission to go on his property. “My land is open. People come and go,” he replied. “I don’t invite or not invite. We don’t post it.” When Ms. Michelsen’s turn came to ask the questions, Mr. Nelson said that Dr. Holland had come to see him about the boundary dispute, and that he had provided him with the coordinates that were in disagreement. According to his testimony, the dispute began years ago with the landowner who leased the land to GMP. At the time, the witness testified, there was a difference of roughly 420 feet. For its final witness, the state put on the surveyor who recently bought out a surveying business in Derby Line that surveyed the Nelson property several years ago in hopes of resolving the boundary dispute. Andrew Nadeau testified that the previous owner had surveyed the property in dispute in 2007, and that he had spent in excess of two weeks surveying it as well. But the surveyor who spent the longest time on the stand turned out to be the expert for the defense, Mr. Hannan. Throughout his testimony, Mr. Hannan repeatedly testified there were fundamental mistakes in the 2007 survey — that affected the boundaries of lots leased by GMP. He told jurors that in surveying the same ground, he found that markers had been inappropriately defined. He said there must be corroborating evidence to define a marker or monument that had been used in the past when the land was first surveyed. And such markers, he added, could be used to determine boundaries. “When is a stone pile a stone pile or a monument?” he asked at one point. Jurors already had heard from Mr. Nelson that surveying is not an exact science, and depends in part on the quality of surveys done in the past. Mr. Nelson noted that he and his neighbor had tried to settle survey discrepancies on their abutting lands through an agreement. Their boundary dispute was rekindled, however, when the agreement came unraveled. Mr. Hannan testified that in surveying the land for the Nelsons, he found almost no markers on the ground that were left when the land was first surveyed in 1790. And he told the jurors that the monuments defined by the 2007 survey were inaccurate. Closing arguments were short, lasting about five minutes apiece. Each attorney offered similar arguments to those they had made in their opening statements. The verdict clearly took the defense and its supporters by surprise. After asking the judge to poll each juror for a verdict, Ms. Michelsen said she would be filing post trial motions. The court gave her ten days to submit them. Prosecutor Baker said she would be requesting a restitution hearing, which means the state will try to convince the court to order the defendants to pay compensation to GMP. The late hour verdict led the defendants to call off a press conference they had planned to hold at the conclusion of the trial. In a press release Monday, Dr. Holland was quoted as saying: “We are obviously disappointed with the verdict but respect the jury’s efforts. This is, and will continue to be, a complex case that rejects the simple and disingenuous offerings of Green Mountain Power. We will continue to educate Vermonters on the science and math of ridgeline wind-generated electricity.” As Mr. Pughe was walking away from the courthouse, he said he hoped the verdict would make his job easier. The remaining four defendants of the Lowell Six are: Ryan Gillard, 23, of Plainfield; Suzanna Jones, 50, of East Hardwick; Ann Morse, 48, of Craftsbury; and Eric Wallace-Senft, 46, of West Woodbury. contact Paul Lefebvre at [email protected] For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle‘s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital. Posted in Editor's Picks | Tagged Andrew Nadeau, Ann Morse, Charles Pughe, Chris Braithwaite, court, David Rodgers, Don Nelson, Eric Wallace-Senft, Green Mountain Power, Judge Martin Maley, Kristina Michelson, Lowell, Lowell Six, Paul Hannan, Paul Lefebvre, Phil Brooks, Ronald Holland, Ryan Gillard, Sarah Baker, Suzanna Jones, trials, wind Categories Editor's Picks

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Consortiumnews Independent Investigative Journalism Since 1995 Main menu AboutArchivesFrom the Archive SeriesIn Case You Missed…October Surprise SeriesVideo InterviewsVIPS Memos America’s Need for a ‘Public Good’ May 9, 2011 America’s Christian churches have failed to provide moral leadership on behalf of a “public good,” observes Rev. Howard Bess. May 7, 2011 By the Rev. Howard Bess Editor’s Note: On the Christian Right, it has become an article of anti-historical faith that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation,” thus making Jews, Muslims, atheists and other religious minorities second-class citizens who must accept Christian dominion over government policies. Ironically, this insistence on a country controlled by a deformed concept of “what would Jesus do” i.e. persecute gays, repress women and stigmatize non-Christians has merged with a “free-market” extremism that sees no role for government helping the poor who were at the heart of Jesus’s ministry, a contradiction addressed by the Rev. Howard Bess in this guest essay: The United States was never meant to be a Christian nation. Instead, the Founders envisioned a secular state in which religion would be pursued with complete freedom, but they also understood the need for the young nation to have a moral compass. James Madison, one of the chief architects of the U.S. Constitution, wrote: “The public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued.” Madison recognized that for America to achieve its promise, it had to maintain a public virtue, a virtue that could not be captured or insured by a written document such as the U.S. Constitution. Religion had the power to give meaning to that public virtue. After all, the core ethical message of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures support Madison’s idea of “the public good.” They recognizd that a people’s moral well-being demands that we answer “yes” to the question “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Old Testament laws of hospitality demand that a moral people provide for the vulnerable. The needs of sojourners, widows, orphans, the blind, the lame and the poor are a part of the “public good.” And at times of national stress from the days of the nation’s founding religious people often did bring these moral values to the table. Notable examples were the roles played by religious leaders in the Abolitionist movement to end slavery and in the last century to bring voting rights to women and civil rights to African-Americans. At such key moments, religious people demonstrated the ability to shape the conscience of the nation. The 1960s and 1970s could have been American Christianity’s finest hour if its leaders had been up to the challenge of guiding the nation through a period of turmoil, but mostly they were not. America was fighting a senseless war in Vietnam that produced chaotic anti-war protests at home. Racism was challenged. Women demanded their full partnership in society. Patriarchal marriage was battered. The seeds of gay rights began to sprout. Yet, with the exception of the African-American churches under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., the social revolution that took place found little moral direction from ministers and established religions. Many churches escaped from the public chaos into a message of personal salvation, which was enhanced by the ecstatic experiences of Pentecostalism. High-tech entertainment was added to the churches’ tool bag. Passion for the “public good” was lost in the process. In retrospect, during the last half of the 20th century, while Billy Graham was filling the world’s largest stadiums and televangelists were dominating America’s television screens, the moral sensibilities of the nation were turned over to the pursuits of the super-rich and the rule of giant corporations. Neither operated with the restraint of conscience. Wealth and power guided their operations. So, today, the United States is at a crossroads in its history. We are a nation at a pinnacle of world influence, an empire with unparalleled wealth and power. Yet, as America has attained its place as the world’s dominant empire, public virtue has weakened to a point of impotence. I recently saw a cartoon by William Haefeli that caught the essence of this dilemma. Four adults are in the midst of dinner conversation as one remarks, “I’m in the market for an easier religion.” Yet, this easy religion will never provide moral direction for the nation. The current economic crisis is the fruit of this folly. At the center of the financial collapse were corporations that were “too big to fail.” From the perspective of a government lacking a moral compass, there was no choice but to bail out the most selfish and corrupt influences that have ever threatened the nation. Corporations by definition have no soul and no ethic beyond the bottom line of profit. As corporations have evolved in America, people are no longer in charge of corporations; corporations are in control of people who have become nothing more than puppets on corporate strings. During the recent financial scandal, most of America’s religious leaders and institutions have remained silent, complicit in America’s moral and ethical demise. They should have known better. I would like to lay the blame for this failure on the large corporations and on those who have bought in to their riches. However, the real blame falls to religious institutions and leaders who have abandoned the nation’s need for public virtue. Unless we regain our moral compass, the Founders’ dream of a nation built on the common good will be a dream that died. The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His e-mail address is hdbss@mtaonline.net. ← Politics of Revenge and Submission The Curious Bush/Bin Laden Symbiosis → Thank You, Readers! Between major fund drives, we rely on the occasional donation and money from the sale of books, including a new offer for Robert Parry's five-book set. (See below for details.) Winner of the I.F. Stone Medal from Harvard’s Nieman Foundation Exclusive Five-Book Set Order Parry's Five-Book Set (and Others) Search this Site Connect with Us Sign up for regular email updates First Name: Last Name: Email: Optional Member Code Categories Budget Consortiumnews.com Lost History The Bush-43 Administration Older Stories by Month Copyright © 2016 Consortiumnews. All Rights Reserved.

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News Lifestyles Sports Opinion Legals Sections Ads Jobs Local Classifieds Customer Service Extras Local News « Facility: Hauler must live b... Last year for Daffodil Days...» Eunoia continues to expand Meg Alexander - Staff Writer , Save | Post a comment | FAIRMONT - The need for mental health services in the Fairmont area is clear looking at the growth Eunoia Family Resource Center has experienced since Dr. Ramie Vetter founded the clinic five years ago. In 2011, he hired a second psychologist to join him, Dr. Emily Ovrebo, and then in 2012, when Eunoia relocated to a larger site, Vetter added a third psychologist to help meet demand. Dr. Scott Dugan is new to Fairmont, but not southern Minnesota. He previously worked for Sioux Trails Mental Health Center in St. Peter, which is where he met Ovrebo and how he learned that Eunoia was looking for another therapist. Article Photos READY?TO?LISTEN?— Dr. Scott Dugan, posing with his Sigmund Freud coffee mug, is the newest psychologist to join Eunoia Family Resource Center in Fairmont. Dugan knew from a young age that he wanted a career in health care. At 2 years old, he would cart his Fischer Price medical bag everywhere he went, with dreams of becoming a doctor. Not until his own experience with therapy as a teenager did he think about going into mental health. "A pre-med chemistry course helped determine medical school might not be the best option," he said, laughing. With his interest in the liberal arts, he felt psychology was a better fit, so he completed his undergraduate schooling with degrees in psychology and history, from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. After working as a social skills trainer for people with severe and persistent mental illness, and then a case manager for individuals with developmental disabilities, he returned to school to further his training, graduating from the University of Denver as a doctor of psychology. Dugan works with patients age 5 through adults. His expertise includes evaluations using the Marschak Interactive Method, which looks at the interaction between two parties, typically a caretaker and child, based on four levels of relationship: engagement, nurturance, structure and challenge. "It's not a standardized psychological test," he said, but by assigning the two people a variety of tasks, he is able to observe, take notes and evaluate where the relationship needs work. The Marschak method, or MIM, is an example of the practical aspect of psychology. "Psychology today is trying to get across to the public that we're not reading people's minds," Dugan said. As a therapist, Dugan has a laid-back approach: He doesn't assign homework or make his patients journal. He expects them to talk to him about what's on their mind, live their lives between sessions, and apply his advice as they see fit. "A common metaphor I use is that I'm their coach and their cheerleader," he said. "I help them develop a game plan, and they have to go play it. When the plays go well, I cheer them on." Dugan and his wife, Angela, who is also a psychologist, live in North Mankato with their 2-year-old daughter. © Copyright 2016 Fairmont Sentinel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Home > VOL. 128 | NO. 185 | Monday, September 23, 2013 From (email): Message: Las Vegas REIT Buys Downtown Parking LotsAffiliates of Las Vegas-based real estate investment trust MVP REIT have paid a combined $3 million for two Downtown parking lots at 212 Poplar Ave. and 216 Court Ave. MVP PF Memphis Poplar 2013 LLC bought the Poplar parking lot for $2 million, while MVP PF Memphis Court 2013 LLC bought the Court parking lot for $1 million. The seller was OC Parking Memphis Poplar LLC – an affiliate of Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based CoveredBridge Ventures – and both sales were special warranty deeds dated Aug. 28. The 212 Poplar parking lot is 0.9 acres and sits across from the Criminal Justice Complex at 201 Poplar Ave. Its 2013 appraisal is $514,600, according to the Shelby County Assessor of Property. And the 216 Court parking lot is 0.5 acres between Third and Fourth avenues. Its 2013 appraisal is 294,200, according to the assessor. No financing was associated with either purchase. Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports – Daily News staff Saddle Creek to be Expanded, RenovatedTrademark Property Co. of Fort Worth will demolish 20,000 square feet of existing space in its Saddle Creek South development in Germantown and add 40,000 square feet of retail space in the area between that and Saddle Creek West. The company’s announcement Friday, Sept. 20, of the renovation and expansion plans comes after a feasibility study Trademark commissioned after it took over operation of the development in 2011. Saddle Creek, on Poplar Avenue west of Germantown Road, opened in 1987. The plan includes new building exteriors for Saddle Creek South and West. Work begins late this year or early next year. – Bill Dries Enoch Joins Team at BankTennesseeChristy Enoch has joined Collierville-based BankTennessee as a treasury management and deposit operations professional. She’ll help BankTennessee business customers take control of their cash flow and streamline their banking practices through use of the bank’s suite of technology-based products and services, and she’ll also work with the bank’s deposit operations team. Enoch has about 10 years of banking experience and most recently was with Trust One Bank and Paragon National Bank. – Andy Meek Mississippi Jobless Rate Drops in August Mississippi’s unemployment rate ticked down to 8.5 percent in August as workers kept leaking out of the labor force. A separate survey showed state employer payrolls fell slightly. Both sets of figures – adjusted to cancel out normal seasonal changes – were released Friday by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s the lowest state jobless rate since February 2009. Mississippi’s unemployment rate had initially been estimated at 8.5 percent in July, but that was revised up to 8.6 percent. The state jobless rate was 9.3 percent in August 2012. The labor force declined by more than 4,000 people, continuing a trend of fewer people looking for jobs. Mississippi’s labor force has fallen every month in 2013. Mississippi had 110,000 unemployed people in August, down 700 from July, and also down from 124,000 in August 2012. There was a 3,600-person drop in the number of people who said they had a job, driven by the decrease in the labor force. Mississippi tied with Tennessee and New Jersey for the eighth-worst jobless rate among the states. Nevada retained the nation’s worst jobless rate at 9.5 percent, while North Dakota was again lowest at 3 percent. The national unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent in August from 7.4 in July. It was also below the 8.1 percent level of August 2012. The unemployment rate is calculated by a survey that asks how many people are looking for a job. A second survey each month asks employers how many people are on their payrolls, a measure many economists use as their top labor market indicator. Arkansas Unemployment Stays at 7.4 Percent The Arkansas unemployment rate for August remained steady at 7.4 percent. Officials with the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services said Friday that the number of employed people declined during the month, but not enough to move the number. Overall, the state’s civilian labor force fell by 4,800, with 5,300 fewer employed and 500 more unemployed people. A year ago, the August unemployment rate for Arkansas was 8.1 percent, so the jobless rate has dropped by eight-tenths of a percentage point over the last 12 months. Low Mississippi River May Affect Industries The Army Corps of Engineers says the Mississippi River may reach low water conditions that could negatively affect operations at facilities and industries along the waterway in coming months. The corps’ Memphis office said last week that the Mid-South area, which includes parts of Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, experienced below-normal rainfall during the summer. The corps says that could lead to low water levels that could force some businesses along the river to seek special operations permits. The river also experienced low water levels in 2012, a year after a flood inundated farmland and homes in the region. Last year’s low water levels led the corps to dredge the river and many of its harbors, in order to allow safe transport of materials on the heavily traveled commercial waterway. Kroger CEO Dillon to Retire in JanuaryKroger CEO David Dillon will retire from that post when the new year begins but will stay on for another year as chairman. President and Chief Operating Officer W. Rodney McMullen will step into the CEO role as part of its long-term succession plan. Dillon’s retirement is effective on Jan. 1, which is also when McMullen will take over the CEO position. The nation’s largest traditional supermarket operator said Friday that Dillon, 62, will continue to serve as chairman through Dec. 31, 2014. He’s served as CEO since 2003. McMullen, 53, has served as president and COO since 2008 and as a board member since 2003. He’s held a variety of roles at Kroger, including vice chairman and chief financial officer. His successor will be named at a later date. Last week Kroger Co. reported that its second-quarter profit climbed as it booked lower charges and tried to build shopper loyalty with improved offerings. Kroger, which also owns also Ralphs, Fry’s and other chains, is based in Cincinnati. Like other supermarket companies, Kroger is trying to adapt to a shifting industry. Shoppers are increasingly getting groceries at big-box retailers like Target, drugstores and dollar stores that have expanded their food sections. Specialty chains such as Whole Foods are playing a greater role, too. To keep pace, Kroger has worked on shortening checkout wait times, expanded its store-brand lineup and invested in making its loyalty program more sophisticated. The company also recently bought Harris Teeter, a regional grocer that has locations in eight states. – The Associated Press Target to Hire Fewer Holiday Workers Target plans to hire about 70,000 seasonal workers for the holiday shopping season, down about 20 percent from a year ago. The discounter is aiming to be more efficient in its hiring practices. The move to hire 18,000 fewer temporary holiday workers versus last year’s 88,000 comes as the Minneapolis-based chain saw that its own permanent employees wanted to get first dibs on working extra hours for the holiday season. Target Corp. said it also wants to respond more quickly to the peaks and valleys of customer traffic, which have become more pronounced for many stores as shoppers time their buying for when they believe they can get the best deals. “We’re getting smarter in terms of anticipating how many resources we need when guests are really going to be shopping the hardest,” said Jodee Kozlak, Target’s executive vice president of human resources.

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example: life, funny (comma separated)example: Einsteinexample: one small step for manSearch HelpAdvanced Search “I did not expect the latest incident to happen as I had believed the Japanese government would conduct inspections and make sure (that the conditions for beef imports were sufficiently met) before the actual importing.” Yasuhiro Yoshikawa “This latest incident happened to one of the world's top players, playing for a top team in a top league.” “I'm not thinking about becoming the first Japanese player in the NHL. Sure, if it happens, I'll be happy but right now I've got a lot of work ahead of me.” Yutaka Fukufuji Happens “It's not a good idea to put your wife into a novel; not your latest wife anyway.” “Obviously, there are not enough Japanese children in each county in eastern North Carolina for all of us to have individual schools. Using a regional approach enables us to provide that degree of education so that when they're back in their country, they're even with all their classmates.” Wanda Yuhas “This latest incident is tragic and very disturbing.” Marty McOmber “If the yen continues to strengthen, then it's not a good thing for the Japanese because their exports aren't going to be competitive into the U.S.. I think as you get to 105 and pull below, it's going to hurt the Japanese stock market. So, too strong of a yen is not good.” Tom Benfer Continues

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Too $hort To Release EDM Album Too $hort to release EDM album Tweet Posted February 17th, 2014 @ 5:03pm Listen to Too $hort on iHeartRadio Rapper Too $hort is gearing up to release a new album based on electronic dance music beats. According to Allhiphop.com, the eleven track album is titled Weird Science and will feature one original song and ten remixes with Too $hort providing rap lyrics over EDM beats. The album will be released on March 25th via MalLabel Music. The label's founder says they decided to collaborate with Too $hort after years of incorporating hip-hop music into their events. He also believes that Too $hort will "work well with our audience." Too $hort and MalLabel have already released the title track to the album through MalLabel's Soundcloud account. The track features San Francisco rapper Oh Blimey." (WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE) Recommended Stories

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Woman fatally falls out window in Central Islip April 6, 2010 2:48:07 PM PDT CENTRAL ISLIP -- A woman plunged out of a window of a Central Islip building, and detectives believe the death was an accident. Like many of his neighbors, Joe Capellini was stunned to hear the news. The woman known as Roseanne plunged to her death after falling out of the window of her third-story apartment just after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. "She was such a loving person," he said. "Not a mean bone in her body, and we always cared for each other." Police are investing what appears to be an accident, but the 50-year-old was legally blind, according to friends. No one from the Court Plaza Senior Apartment complex on Hoppen Drive would comment on how the woman fell to her death, but those who live and work there are devastated. Roseanne was pronounced dead at the scene. Suffolk County police said their preliminary investigation indicates the death was an accident. Load Comments

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Why Race Still Matters May 18, 2009 Issue [1]Gerald J. Beyer [2]Catholics and the Rise of Barack ObamaThe election of the first African-American president undoubtedly represents a milestone along the road to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "beloved community.” Yet we must not be tempted to think that racism and discrimination no longer preclude many people from full participation in American society. Some pundits are hastily proclaiming that President Barack Obama's victory proves that we are a "post-racial” nation, one in which race no longer matters. The election results are encouraging. More whites, including more young white voters and more poor white voters, voted for Barack Obama in 2008 than voted for John Kerry in 2004. But John McCain, the G.O.P. nominee, garnered 55 percent of the vote among all whites, and some whites openly declared they would not vote for a black candidate. The election of the first black president, although a cause for joy, did not dismantle racism in one fell swoop. Even if the scope of the problem has diminished, no one should deny that our nation has yet to confront fully its legacy of racism. The Catholic Response Catholics are not immune from the need to address racism in the United States. Barack Obama's thoughtful, carefully nuanced speech delivered in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008, should have sparked long-overdue discussions on race in Roman Catholic parishes, schools, institutions and families across Amer ica. Yet this did not happen widely, and most parishes still do not recognize racism for the threat that it is to the unity of the people of God. Instead of a meaningful conversation about race among Catholics in the final months of the campaign, disheartening reports were published in the media about Catholics who would not vote for any black presidential candidate. To be clear, Catholics of good conscience could certainly find legitimate reasons not to vote for Obama. As Bishop Blase Cupich prophetically declared in these pages, however, "to allow racism to reign in our hearts and to determine our choice in this solemn moment for our nation is to cooperate with one of the great evils that has afflicted our society” (Am., 10/27/08). In recent decades the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, organizations like Catholic Charities USA and contemporary Roman Catholic theologians have produced important works on racism. Barack Obama's assessment of race and American life and his proposals to remedy its problems strikingly resemble those of the bishops and other Catholic thinkers. Given this convergence, Catholics should heed President Obama's call to overcome our nation's painful past and its persistent racism and discrimination. The Evil of Racism: The Status Quo Barack Obama's description of the state of affairs in the United States echoes what the U.S. bishops stated in their pastoral letter Brothers and Sisters to Us (1979) and reiterated in a research report on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of that letter. President Obama recognizes that much progress has been made over the last several decades. He believes that the uniqueness and greatness of the United States has allowed Americans of African descent like himself to succeed. Yet he maintains that injustices against African-Americans and other minorities perdure and that much work remains to be done to make the American dream possible for all Americans. In Obama's view, the educational achievement gap between black and white students stems from the inferior schools that many African-Americans were and still are forced to attend. The wealth and income gap between blacks and whites can be attributed to the numerous forms of discrimination that blacks historically experienced, like lack of access to loans and mortgages for African-American business owners and families and systemic exclusion from employment and unions. Today, many African-Americans lack economic opportunities, which places a strain on their families and communities. Many black communities are without basic services and amenities like parks and police protection that most middle-class Americans take for granted. Obama also contends that the racially charged events in Jena, La., in 2008 revealed "glaring inequalities in our justice system,” including unfairly harsh penalties for first-time nonviolent offenders. Obama implied in a speech at Howard University in 2007 that these unjust sentences are disproportionately meted out to minorities. He also decried racial profiling and the attempt by the Justice Department under George W. Bush to eliminate affirmative action programs at American institutions of higher learning. Mr. Obama concluded that "profound institutional barriers” preclude many Americans from among all races from having equal access to good schools, productive jobs and health care. The U.S. Catholic bishops’ assessment is similar. In 1979 the bishops wrote that racism is an evil that "endures in our society and in our church.” They called for a number of measures to be taken within the church and more broadly in American society to combat racism. They urged all Catholics, for example, to reflect on their personal racial biases and to do everything in their power to eliminate this "radical evil” that generates unjust and oppressive social structures. Unfortunately, the bishops’ own update and report in 2004 revealed that racism is still not widely discussed in the church. Only 36 percent of Roman Catholics in the United States reported that they had heard a homily that addressed racism, and only 18 percent of bishops have issued statements in their dioceses concerning racism. The report also found white Catholics more opposed to public policies designed to attenuate racial inequality than they were in the past. The report expressed concern that while blacks were increasingly represented in leadership positions within the church, more effort had to be made to boost minority representation among staff at all levels of church ministries. This remains a particularly urgent task, given that many of the church's social ministries serve groups made up predominantly of minorities. In pastoral letters and statements, some individual bishops have unequivocally condemned the sin of racism. In 1998, for example, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia published a pastoral letter, Healing Racism through Faith and Truth, in which he referred to racism as an "intrinsic evil” that impedes one's ability to love God, since one cannot love God if one does not love all of God's children. The cardinal leveled a stinging critique: "Our American history from its inception, tragically, has been influenced by the historical circumstance that an exception was made. The flawed concept that "all men except’ was adopted in practice. Some among us were not to be considered equal. A distinction based on race was set in motion in American life. This distinction in many and varied guises has remained a sin deeply rooted in American life.” Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has described the entrenched forms of racism that characterize contemporary American life. In his 2001 pastoral letter Dwell in My Love, he addresses primarily four types. Spatial racism is the creation of "patterns of metropolitan development” by whites through which they cordon themselves off in affluent suburbs or gentrified urban areas far removed from blighted neighborhoods where mostly poor African-Americans and other minorities reside. Institutional racism manifests itself in institutions created by whites it privileges a white Anglo-American cultural and racial perspective and "ignores the contributions of other peoples and cultures.” Like Barack Obama, Cardinal George and his brother bishops are concerned that minorities "are often treated more harshly than other citizens in their encounters with the criminal justice system.” The dearth of minority leaders and the devaluation of their cultures in American institutions often give rise to the third type of contemporary racism, according to George: internalized racism. This occurs when members of minority groups adopt the negative stereotypes about themselves that have been perpetuated by the majority. Finally, individual racism is a conscious, personal bias that infects the hearts of people who perpetuate racist attitudes through racial slurs, hate crimes and other more subtle means. Barack Obama's words and the bishops’ teaching on the persistence of racism in the United States largely mirror one another, and their analyses are confirmed by statistics. Catholic Charities USA recently released a study titled Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good, which contends that Hurricane Katrina unveiled the too-frequently disguised poor in the United States, who remain largely unnoticed as a result of racism. The catastrophe also spotlighted the historic injustices that "advance the welfare of white Americans and impede the opportunities of persons of color,” including institutionalized slavery, the "separate but equal doctrine,” which created inferior educational institutions, the legal exclusion of African-Americans from unions and "redlining.” Redlining, in which the Federal Housing Administration engaged during the 1940s and 1950s, granted 98 percent of mortgage loans to whites, denying blacks one of the primary means of generating wealth in this country. These and other racial injustices led to the "state-sanctioned unjust impoverishment” of blacks and other minorities, which continues. Today 33 percent of African-American children live in poverty, 28 percent of Latino children and 27 percent of Native American children by contrast, 10 percent of white children live in poverty. The most extreme poverty afflicts geographic areas populated mainly by minorities. White families possess on average 10 times more wealth than do families of color. This "wealth gap” has grown since 1998, with white families enjoying a 20 percent boost in their net worth, while African-American families have seen their wealth decrease. This stems in part from inequalities in the workplace, where white males occupy more than 90 percent of executive corporate positions. As the Catholic ethicist Barbara Hilkert Andolsen has noted, unemployment rates rose among blacks during the economic recovery from 2001 to 2005-some of the rise attributable to overt racism. Studies show that job candidates with "names that sounded black, such as Lakisha Washington or Jamal Jones” are 50 percent less likely to be given a job interview than are white candidates with similar credentials. Dismantling Racism, Building the Kingdom Although President Obama has lamented the failure of Americans to eradicate many of the injustices African-Americans still face in the United States, he distanced himself from his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with what is called in Christian theology a "strong” doctrine of grace. In his speech in Philadelphia, Obama maintained that Rev. Wright had erred in claiming that racism is endemic to the United States in the sense that the incorrigibility of white oppressors will continue to breed racial oppression because they and the system they dominate cannot change. In theological terms, this is tantamount to stating that God's grace cannot overcome the propensity of white oppressors to keep their black brothers and sisters down. In Obama's view, however, some of the shackles of prejudice have already been broken. Theologically, he appears to see God's grace already at work in the conversion of many whites and in the gradual improvement of society. Obama maintains the hope that racism will eventually be purged from America. Anyone who reads his speeches or books, however, understands that Obama knows this will be an arduous task. The president has proposed measures to move us toward this goal. Among them are more vigorous enforcement of civil rights by the Department of Justice, rectifying inequities caused by pay discrimination, ensuring that children of minorities and the poor have good educational opportunities, the elimination of racial disparities in the judicial system and fair access to credit for minorities. Obama's hopeful stance on racism resembles the best thinking in Catholic theology on the powerful presence of sin in the world and the ability of God's grace to overcome it through the action of the Holy Spirit, working in and through God's children. This teaching is beautifully expressed in the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World” (Gaudium et Spes). Here the bishops of the Second Vatican Council describe human activity infected by sin but "purified and perfected by the power of Christ's Cross and Resurrection.” They contend that creating a more just and peaceful society contributes to the building of the kingdom of God. In other words, with the aid of God's grace, "we shall overcome.” The U.S. bishops also translate this Catholic optimism into specific policies, resembling those of Obama. Cardinal George, for example, urged fair access to decent housing and credit for minorities, good schools, "equal pay and employment for women and minorities,” an equitable justice system and "voting for public officials committed to racial and systemic justice.” And Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis argued in 2003 that we can and must address the many "root causes” of racism and promote the economic and social rights of the poor, thereby enabling minorities to participate fully in society. Succinctly stated, both Obama and the bishops believe in the power of humans to be instruments of change, aided by God's grace. Would that all Americans recognize the work that still needs to be done and affirm our ability to do it.Gerald J. Beyer is assistant professor of theology at Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pa. Source URL: http://americamagazine.org/issue/698/article/why-race-still-matters Links:[1] http://americamagazine.org/toc-past/2009-05-18 [2] http://americamagazine.org/users/gerald-j-beyer

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sponsored by Concerns about furnace fuel Indiana blast probe [November 13, 2012] INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- As investigators try to determine what caused a deadly explosion that ravaged an Indianapolis subdivision, an expert says people shouldn't be alarmed by a homeowner's suggestion that his faulty furnace could be to blame. Investigators have been looking at gas meters and pipelines as they try to figure out what happened Saturday night when a blast killed two people, obliterated two homes and left dozens more uninhabitable. John Shirley and his ex-wife own one of the homes leveled in the explosion. Shirley, 50, of Noblesville, said his daughter told him recently that the furnace had gone out in the house she shares with her mother and her mother's boyfriend. He said his daughter told him the furnace was working again, but he wondered if a leak from the furnace could have led to the explosion that killed a couple next door. No one was in Shirley's home at the time of the blast, he said. Scott Davis, president and principal engineer of GexCon US, an explosion investigation firm in Bethesda, Md., said it's hard to believe a furnace could cause the damage seen in the Indianapolis neighborhood. He noted that most furnaces have multiple safety switches that must be triggered before any gas is used. "For a furnace to allow that much gas through, you'd have to defeat many of the safety features," he said. Public Safety Director Troy Riggs said investigators will treat the area as a crime scene until they rule out foul play. Local and federal investigators say it's too soon to rule on a cause but are slowly weeding out some possibilities. The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to check the integrity of a gas main and other lines serving the neighborhood, and local gas supplier Citizens Energy said it also was checking gas lines. "It's too early to speculate that this might have been caused by a gas leak," Citizens Energy spokeswoman Sarah Holsapple said. Gas explosions have leveled neighborhoods before, including a 2011 explosion that killed five in Allentown, Pa., and a blast in 2010 in San Bruno, Calif., that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. Both of those cases were tied to gas pipelines. A gas leak in a Colorado home last month sparked an explosion that sent five people to a hospital and damaged several nearby homes. Davis said he's seen a home explosion caused by a malfunctioning furnace before, but it did not level the house. For an explosion to occur, he said, the amount of natural gas in a confined space must reach a certain level before it can ignite. In many cases, ventilation or a low flow of fuel prevents an explosion from being strong enough to level multiple houses, he said. Holsapple said investigators are looking at the gas meter for the home believed to have been the starting point for the blast, but she wouldn't comment on whether the house had unusually high gas usage in recent days. The blast Saturday sparked a massive fire, blew out windows, collapsed ceilings and shook homes up to three miles away, forcing about 200 people out of their homes. The bodies of Jennifer Longworth, a popular second-grade teacher in the nearby suburb of Greenwood, and her husband John, a product developer for a consumer electronics company, were found in the basement of their home, which was destroyed. Some residents who survived have been allowed to reoccupy their homes, and others will be escorted in to spend an hour to retrieve belongings in the coming days. Adam Collins, the city's deputy code enforcement director, said 29 houses remained uninhabitable Monday. Barry Chipman, whose house was damaged but is still habitable, hopes those who've lost their homes will rebuild. But he acknowledged Monday that the fabric of the close-knit neighborhood has been altered permanently. "It's never going to be the same when you've had people lost their lives," he said. [Associated Press; By TOM LoBIANCO and CHARLES WILSON] Associated Press researchers Lynn Dombek and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

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Spain To Unveil Economic Overhaul Plan By editor Originally published on April 26, 2013 4:59 pm Transcript RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Spain has lived through years of punishing budget cuts and austerity. This morning, its government unveiled a new economic plan which eased budget targets but acknowledged that recovery was still a long way off. Thousands took to the streets in Madrid overnight, protesting the country's past measures and tax hikes that have left many without jobs. Lauren Frayer reports from Madrid. (SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST) LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Spaniards surrounded their parliament with loud rallies overnight. Their anger about austerity has been fueled by new unemployment figures. Now more than 27 percent of Spaniards are out of work. They chanted slogans against the prime minister, political elites and European Union leaders in Brussels. Lost in the crowd here, and a little bewildered, is Noe Beauvois, an exchange student from Brussels. NOE BEAUVOIS: I don't feel any anger for me. But I think that there are like anger against the European Union and all the leaders who just want to impose a very hard condition of living. FRAYER: Beauvois was sitting in class when police raided his university yesterday. They arrested students who'd allegedly been stockpiling Molotov cocktails for the latest protests. Quite an introduction to Spain, he says. BEAUVOIS: The young people especially just don't know what to do. It's like they are stealing their dreams. I don't know how to say it. FRAYER: It does feel hopeless. Fifty-seven percent of Spaniards under age 25 are unemployed and that doesn't include students. Many are moving abroad. Sandra Maldonado is off to Russia to find work as a foreign language editor. SANDRA MALDONADO: My goal is to stay there and to work there because here it's true that there's no jobs. FRAYER: Immigrants who came to Spain for a better life are picking up and leaving too. Macodo Pierre came to Madrid from Senegal in West Africa. Laid off from construction, he's selling bootleg DVDs on a street corner, trying to earn money for a ticket home. MACODO PIERRE: (Foreign language spoken) FRAYER: When I arrived in Spain six years ago, it was easy to find a job, even without working papers, he says. But now that I'm legal, the economy has turned bad and I can't find work. Last year, Spain's population shrank for the first time. Economist Gayle Allard says this should all be a wake-up call for the eurozone's fourth largest economy. GAYLE ALLARD: This is the call for a change in the austerity focus. You cannot, you cannot try to reduce deficits in a country with six million people out of work, half of whom have been out of work for more than a year. FRAYER: Even the European Commission president in Brussels said this week that austerity has reached its limits. In his 18 months in office, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has implemented the deepest budget cuts in Spain's democratic history, and 1.3 million jobs have disappeared in that time. Now the government says it'll ease up, spreading budget cuts over the next two years and hiking income tax instead. (SOUNDBITE OF BANGING) FRAYER: That could bring some small relief to people like Maria Serret, a secretary on a smoke break outside her Madrid office. She devotes part of her paycheck every month to her elderly father's care and worries about getting by. MARIA SERRET: (Foreign language spoken) FRAYER: He has a pension but it's not enough, she says. He's in a wheelchair now, so we had to renovate his house and hire a nurse. I'll have to pay more from my salary if his pension is cut. And her salary has been slashed in the past year too. But Maria shrugs and says at least she has a job. She considers herself one of the lucky ones. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Madrid. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.Related Program: Morning Edition View the discussion thread. Connect with us!

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Photo Credit: Cynthia I. Morgan Cynthia I. Morgan drove a big rig across the U.S. for twelve years before venturing on a one-year contract in 2003 with KBR in Iraq, where she became a civilian convoy commander in charge of up to thirty trucks delivering supplies to American bases throughout the war-torn country. After seven months back in the U.S., she returned to Kuwait and Iraq to keep driving. She lives, usually, in Tennessee. Get updates about Cynthia I. Morgan and recommended reads from Simon & Schuster. Plus, get a FREE eBook when you sign up! Cindy in Iraq By Cynthia I. Morgan Cindy in Iraq is Cynthia Morgan's hair-raising yet jubilant chronicle of her perilous year in war-torn Iraq as a truck driver -- the most dangerous civilian job in the war zone. In the summer of 2003, a friend in the National Guard stationed in Iraq wrote to Morgan about KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary that was hiring drivers. Morgan was from a family with a long military history; her oldest son was in the National Guard at the time. Wanting to do her part for her country and struggling... Plus, receive updates about Cynthia I. Morgan,recommended reads and more from Simon & Schuster.

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Farm Bureau supports wine in grocery stores File photoBottles of Dr. Konstantin Frank wine from Keuka Lake and other wines from the Finger Lakes and across the state could be sold in grocery stores if a proposal by Gov. David Paterson is approved by the New York State legislature. Albany, NY -- New York Farm Bureau, winemakers and grape growers support Gov. David Paterson's proposal to sell wine in grocery stores in New York state. The proposal deals with all wines, including those made in New York. "New York's wine industry is growing exponentially - from a mere 13 wineries in the 1970's to over 225 today," said Farm Bureau director of public policy Julie Suarez. "While liquor stores do sell a lot of New York wines, the total number of outlets has been relatively stagnant for at least a decade. It's simple math." "If I am going to survive in this state, my business needs more outlets to retail my wine," said Scott Osborn, Owner of Fox Run Vineyards in the Finger Lakes, recently ranked in the nation's top 100 wineries by Wine and Spirits Magazine. Osborn predicts the measure would create five new jobs on his farm to keep up with new demand. "My small business is located on a Main Street running right by Seneca Lake. I employ people, I pay taxes, and I attract 80,000 tourists annually to my vineyard. And yet, the liquor lobby would have you believe this measure would put all liquor stores out of business, and would hurt New York wines. It's the height of condescension to think that New York wines can't compete - we can and we will. Just give us a chance," said Osborn. Wine grape growers said that the proposal would also lead to greater wine grape plantings, land conservation, and rural economic development. "If wine is offered in grocery stores, suddenly more people are drinking wine, learning more about wine and serving more wine in their homes," said Doug Miles, Owner of Miles Wine Cellars, Seneca Lake. "Some studies show that as high as 80 percent of grocery store shoppers will never visit a liquor store, but would be comfortable buying wine to complement their weekly grocery list." New York's wine and grape industry contributes more than $6 billion to the state's economy. Tourism visitors to the state's wineries totaled more than 4 million in 2004. The wineries directly employ more than 3,000 people in New York. With almost 1,000 grape farms and more thanr 225 wineries, stretching from the shores of Lake Erie to the tip of Long Island, New York's wine industry has a lot to gain from adopting the governor's proposal, according to a Farm Bureau statement. Crime in Central NY

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U.S. Senate passes funding measure to resolve black farmers discrimination Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate has passed the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, which provides language to provide money for a settlement to resolve discrimination cases by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against black farmers. This was the 10th time the Natqional Black Farmers Association tried to get the funding passed in the Senate. The Senate finally did the right thing – they stepped up and told the world civil rights still matter in America," said John W. Boyd Jr., president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association. "Republicans and Democrats alike stepped up, but the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Reid and Senators Grassley, Kyl, Landrieu, Hagan as well as several others got this done not the least of which was staff from both sides worked behind the scenes tirelessly to make this happen," Boyd said. After leaving the Senate, the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, is set to go to the House of Representatives for ratification. Then it will go to President Barack Obama for signing. Boyd went on to say, "We call on the House to send this Bill to the President without delay – let’s give the farmers a Christmas filled with realized hope, not empty promises." Crime in Central NY

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For Jean-Francois, the disaster in Haiti hits home Ricky Jean-Francois has heard from his older brother but is still awaiting word about his grandmother and cousins living in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The nation was hit by a 7.0 earthquake Tuesday and much of the capital city, including hospitals, hotels and the presidential palace, is in ruins. Jean-Francois' father emigrated from Haiti to Miami in the mid 1970s. Jean-Francois, a 49ers defensive lineman, is in Miami now waiting for his phone to ring. He said he spoke briefly with his brother who said that he had to dodge a falling ceiling fan when the earthquake struck. When he went outside, his bother saw that much of Port-au Prince, a city of 2 million, had been flattened. "In Haiti, everything is made out of cement," Jean-Francois said. "There are barely any houses left standing." Jean-Francois said he was trying to rally the NFL and the players to pitch in to relief efforts. He said the nation, the poorest in the western hemisphere, has been struck by four hurricanes since 1998 but that this disaster is by far the worst. He said he hoped people not only would donate money but also physically help out in Haiti. He said he would use the NFL's presence in Miami - the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl will be held there next month - to rally support. Jean-Francois noted that the musician Wyclef Jean, who was born in Haiti and whose Yele Haiti Foundation strives to lift the nation from poverty, is spear-heading relief efforts. People can make a donation by texting "Yele" to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund. The $5 will be charged to your cell phone bill. The American Red Cross has set up a similar system. By texting "HAITI" to 90999, you can donate $10 to American Red Cross relief efforts for Haiti. The amount will be added to your cell phone credit card bill.

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Progress in Libya Posted by DipNote Bloggers March 29, 2011 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered remarks following the International Conference on the Libyan Crisis in London on March 29, 2011. Secretary Clinton highlighted her discussions with counterparts on a broad variety of issues, including the ongoing coalition military action in support of Resolution 1973, the transition as NATO takes over as the leader of the coalition mission, and the situation in Syria. Secretary Clinton said: "I began the day with a meeting with Dr. Jibril and two other representatives of the Libyan Transitional National Council to hear their perspective on the situation in Libya. We talked about our efforts to protect civilians and to meet humanitarian needs and about the ongoing coalition military action in support of Resolution 1973. We also discussed the need for a political solution and transition in Libya, and I reiterated the support of the United States on behalf of President Obama for the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people, and our commitment to helping them achieve those aspirations. "I also had the opportunity to meet with both Prime Minister Cameron and with Foreign Minister Hague. I expressed the United States' gratitude for the critical leadership that the United Kingdom has shown in building an effective international response to the crisis in Libya. We consulted on the way forward, the military, political, and humanitarian dimensions. And we also discussed events and broader trends across the Middle East and North Africa and our joint efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "I had the opportunity also to consult with a number of other counterparts about Libya because today's conference is taking place at a moment of transition, as NATO takes over as leader of the coalition mission, a mission in which the United States will continue to play an active, supporting role. Some of our coalition partners announced additional support and contributions today, which we welcomed. "In addition to our joint military efforts, we discussed the need for progress in Libya along the three nonmilitary tracks: First, delivering humanitarian assistance; second, pressuring and isolating the Qadhafi regime through robust sanctions and other measures; and third, supporting efforts by Libyans to achieve the political changes that they are seeking. "We also agreed on a structure for decision making going forward on both the military and political tracks. On the military side, we agreed that the North Atlantic Council with coalition partners fully at the table will be the sole provider of executive direction for NATO operations, similar to the ISAF approach for Afghanistan. On the political side, we agreed to establish a contact group to offer a systematic coordination mechanism and broad political guidance on the full range of efforts under Resolutions 1970 and 1973. And as I'm sure you just heard from the prime minister of Qatar, Qatar has agreed to host the first meeting of the contact group, along with the UK. "In a series of side meetings, I also had the chance to discuss a number of issues, including Syria. I expressed our strong condemnation of the Syrian Government's brutal repression of demonstrators, in particular the violence and killing of civilians in the hands of security forces. I also discussed efforts that are undertaken by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, particularly our joint effort to pass a resolution at the Human Rights Council that promotes tolerance and respect as well as free expression. And we greatly appreciate the OIC hosting a meeting of the International Contact Group on Afghanistan and Pakistan in Jeddah. I was also able to consult on a number of regional matters, including, of course, Libya with Foreign Minister Davutoglu of Turkey. "So it was a full day for all of us. We came to London to speak with one voice in support of a transition that leads to a brighter future for the Libyan people. I'm very pleased with the progress that we have made both today and in the days preceding it, and grateful for everyone who participated in the conference and in the broader effort in Libya. I think we are making a lot of progress together, and we could not do it unless we were representing the international community as we are." Sam S. | Liberia March 29, 2011 Sam S. in Liberia writes: Sec.Clinton. Thanks for good job in Libya. What is been done for the people in the Ivory Coast? Madam.Sec. we hope your have not forget about the criminal in Abidjan who has refused to leave office. My country have almost 200,000 refugees. Please for God do something to help the sub-region. Maryland, USA March 30, 2011 Laura in Maryland writes: Looks like Hillary is taking charge. On another note, is humanitarian assistance in Libya considered a MOOTW? DrG | West Virginia, USA March 30, 2011 Dr. G. in West Virginia writes: We need to use Ghaddafi's US frozen assets to pay for Libya's rescue Well Dr. G, It isn't our money, though I tend to agree with you that we've incurred expense as a result of the actions of ethical infants and they should pay for it. But I think the Lybian people may need that money to rebuild in a post-Ghaddafi scenario. However, it may be that whatever permanent government arises from the ashes will feel it is in Lybia's national interest to voluntarily write a check to us out of those frozen funds released to them, thanking us for going the distance for their shot at freedom, and so eliminating any percieved conspiracy theory that we've done this for a potential return on the back-end of the deal via oil leasing rights. Generally though, the thanks of a freed people is enough of a payback as future good relations have solid ground to be based upon. In theory, I'd be perfectly content to see my government rob dictators blind to pay for the wars they start with us. In this case the war was waged not on us, but on Ghaddafi's own people, so they have first dibs on compensation in my book. West Virginia, USA March 30, 2011 Pam in West Virginia writes: We must continue to support Secretary Clinton in her never-ending perseverence to bring about peace. Canada March 30, 2011 John in Canada writes: Go girl power! Good work mam, but the job has only just begun. You have a long way to go. Stop looking at this in a compartmentalized fashion. Look broadly at the region. It’s time to rock this for all its worth – peace can be a dirty business, until you clean house. palgye | South Korea March 31, 2011 Palgye in South Korea writes: Thank You ... We do health Care refrom in U.S. Mr President Barack Obama. it`s needing for us not for one, any other not propell to me, just my thinking. Libya's weapons to the militia and the food, water, medical supplies I think we should support. North Africa to develop democracy and capitalism, rather than a dictatorship, where people think their system is suitable. Both are already talking, but while watching the situation in Libya, to decide on their actions to think. If they can not support a national, volunteer?, An association of veterans of the ability of the initial to the militia, hoping to help a lot I think. Libya is the problem, and only after considerable progress, a lot of attention in Japan, expect to be connected. Already, as determined under the circumstances I will After getting me to forget my plight, has not been determined, once again, to consider the appeal period. Of course, support, or lack of militia in their efforts to goods that might be obtained from either inside or outside in anticipation, when trying to talk, erased ... Germany is in the desert of North Africa by solar and renewable energy production, tried to transfer to Germany, I remember the news. Back here, also get a small thing, everything, not losing, I think the possibility is robbery. PS: It is private. My father died a few days, you've I do not care about home, struggling upright, I was worried, Hyundai Heavy Industries produce parts of the robot is working in-www.hhi.co.kr-my sister's husband came to many of my colleagues gave relieve anxiety. Aldermen also-www.gyeongju.go.kr-of Gyeongju It came to me, not my relatives asking for their thoughts is because of friendship. And, Pohang--www.manseo.co.kr--(they are making factory in China, my uncle working in there, just working)and several companies of the small business .... Funeral, tomorrow, the last event of the traditional oriental. Suddenly, the right thing, is frustrating. Where to start in what, I'm talking to here, prepared with care in the past, but my father's death is ..... What to do? @ Palgye Very sorry to hear about your personal loss Palgye, my deepest condolences to you and your family. Be well my friend, EJ Sarah G. | District Of Columbia, USA March 31, 2011 Sarah in Washington, DC writes: I am pleased the United States is working with the international community to provide a brighter future for the Libyan people. @ Palgye, I am sorry for your loss. I want you to know that I enjoy your reading your thoughts on DipNote, and I hope you will continue to share your clever insights. You are a valued member of the DipNote community. South Korea April 3, 2011 Palgye in South Korea writes: @Sarah Thank You, my grief is very lessen... New Mexico, USA April 3, 2011 Eric in New Mexico writes: A thought has been developing over the last couple weeks and from what I've seen I think in order to "protect populations" and be sure of aquiring the right target (as Ghaddafi forces are using civilian trucks armed as "technicals" to avoid NATO aircraft), it may be helpful. Someone just compared this to a "football game" and I suppose they meant where the whole game was spent rushing and punting back and forth across the gridiron. What if we strongly suggested the "digging in" of opposition forces where they're at, and told them to save their ammo rather than have aircraft mistake them for Ghaddafi's forces and ask them if it's ok for them to let the professionals do what needs to be done to protect them and the rest of the civilian population. Not to dampen their spirits, but they pretty much a danger to themselves more than Ghaddafi's forces, given their lack of tactics. We could say "Watch and learn." and make it an educational oppurtunity, rather than "shock and awe". This is beyond any attempt at shock therapy to get Ghaddafi to get off his backside and leave. We got a ways to go before we can comfortably say we've eliminated Ghaddafi's capacity to make war on his people, and that's when he's no longer giving the orders. We should be clear about one thing, that this cannot end in stalemate. There are no winners, only losers if this drags on. Folks talk of the strain on our armed forces, but make no mention of the fact that like all you FSO's out there on the front lines of diplomacy, we now have a cadre of veterans to call upon to meet any crisis, and America is the stronger for it. Well we have other NATO members who are now establishing veteran forces in Afghanistan, but I doubt if most of their total men in uniform have ever fired at shot in conflict. Unlike some, I'm ok with handing off the military command to NATO, it's high time they get a real-time evaluation of whether all their training pays off or not. Looks like it has so far. But can they deliver the peace and take "all neccessary measures" to protect populations by enforcing it? I think there's a ways to go before we get there from here. Previous: An Update on PEPFAR in Côte d'Ivoire »« Next: Ambassador Grossman Discusses Pakistan at the Brussels Forum . Top stories delivered to your inbox. Europe and Eurasia Near East View more stories in this area » Strengthening Grassroots Democracy in Libya The Future of Moldovan Agriculture Lies Beyond Its Borders Time for Libyans To Seize the Moment Story Tags Syria 176 Libya 109 Latest Stories Colombia: Landmine Clearance Proves an Uphill Challenge For five decades, conflict between the Colombian military and armed groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)… more 0 Borderless Hack Istanbul: Harnessing Creative Talent to Benefit Syrian Refugees in Turkey Istanbul, with nearly 18 million inhabitants, is Turkey’s economic, cultural and media hub, not to mention one of the world’s… more 0 Global Health Diplomacy at the World Health Assembly Our humanitarian values inspire us to intervene and prevent diseases such as Malaria, HIV-AIDS, Tuberculosis, Ebola, and Zika. Yet, the… more 0 Pages……next ›last » Socials

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http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/09/14/starbucks-opens-first-ever-pop-up-store-in-tokyo/ Starbucks Opens First Ever Pop-Up Store in Tokyo Eleanor Warnock BiographyEleanor Warnock @misssaxbys Sep 14, 2012 8:09 pm JST Eleanor Warnock/The Wall Street Journal The counter, surrounded by the books used to order drinks. Competition is fierce in Japan’s cafe culture with a host of domestic chains like Caffe Veloce and Doutor Coffee locked in a turf war over who gets to administer caffeine fixes to the nation’s coffee junkies. Fast food giant McDonald’s Corp. even jumped into the fray in 2007 when it introduced its McCafe stores, specializing in espresso drinks. Not content to rest on its laurels Starbucks Coffee Japan, Ltd., which has nearly 1,000 stores across Japan and has the highest annual sales of any coffee chain in the nation, has come up with a new way to set itself apart from the competition. The chain has opened its first ever pop-up store in the world in Tokyo this week. The specialty espresso shop is aimed more at preaching to the choir than bringing new followers into the fold, at a time when McDonald’s sells a latte roughly half the price of what notoriously high-priced Starbucks offers. “We’re trying to get back to basics,” head of corporate affairs Norio Adachi told JRT about the store. “More so than attracting new customers, we’re aiming to strengthen communication with our core customers.” The outside of the Starbucks pop up store in Omotesando. Back to basics it is. At the store, tucked away on a small street in Tokyo’s trendy Omotesando district in a rented event space, there are no seasonal specialties or Frappuccinos. There are only nine choices, each a simple, espresso-based drink, including a white mocha, a soy latte, and two new limited time drinks, the Double Short Classic Latte and the Double Short Classic Cappuccino, both with a little more espresso and a little more sugar than their regular counterparts. Ordering, however, isn’t so simple. The airy, sparsely-decorated space is lined with books in varying shades of brown, each with the name of a drink written on the spine. Customers present the book representing the drink of their choosing to the register, and get to keep the book cover as a souvenir when their drink comes up. The book cover for the double short classic cappuccino, one of the limited-edition drinks. Customers get to keep the cover. The design is the brain child of designer Oki Sato, the co-founder of design company Nendo, where the mission is to give people “a small ‘!’ moment,” according to their website. Mr. Adachi explained the spacious layout is meant to encourage customers to take their time choosing and consuming their drinks. The store is the first ever of its kind for the chain, and a follow up is not currently planned, but based on the response, a similar project might also be a possibility in the U.S., he said. Two college students visiting the store, Toko Nakano and Eriko Kitaura, said they traveled from Yokohama, about an hour away by train specifically to check it out. “The concept doesn’t really come across well by just seeing it on the Internet, but the idea of taking a book and then exchanging it for your drink is really interesting,” Ms. Kitaura said. When asked if they were regular Starbucks customers, both girls nodded enthusiastically. “Every day,” said Ms. Nakano. Most of the customers JRT talked to were also regular customers at their local Starbucks, but said they were intrigued by the store’s design. The store is also stocked with limited edition tote bags and mugs bearing the store’s name, Starbucks Espresso Journey, that employees said drew 50-person strong lines each morning. Customers can also get the chance to learn latte-making from the store’s baristas, an opportunity that only goes to those who get there early enough to sign up. The store is open through Sept. 30. food & beverages Ridley Scott's 'Japan in a Day' to Open Tokyo Film Festival For Nissan CEO Ghosn, 58 Years Old is Not the New 40

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Israel OKs Controversial Law To Conscript Ultra-Orthodox Jews By Scott Neuman Mar 12, 2014 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Ultra Orthodox Jewish men attend the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hagar in Bnei Brak, outside Tel Aviv, in 2012. Oliver Weiken Originally published on March 12, 2014 1:20 pm Israeli lawmakers have voted to end the practice of exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredi, from national service, a move that opens them up to military conscription for the first time in the country's 65-year history. The Knesset passed the measure 67-1 with the opposition boycotting it in the 120-member legislature. Haredi Judaism is a branch of the religion that shuns modern secular culture. Adherents, including Hasidic Jews, are distinguished partly by their conservative and uniform attire. The Jerusalem Post reports: "The law has been heavily criticized by leading experts on haredi society. Last week, a group of 30 leading experts and analysts of the haredi community said that the law, which will provides for the imprisonment of any yeshiva student refusing to serve, would lead to a halt in the integration of the haredi community into national service. "They warned that the possibility exists that the arrest of yeshiva students could lead to civil rebellion against enlistment, violent protests and a decree from the leading haredi rabbis banning enlistment." The newspaper says the Movement for Quality Government, which has opposed the bill, would appeal to the High Court. "The change begins tomorrow morning and it is expected to transform the face of Israeli society unrecognizably," Yaakov Peri, from the Yesh Atid party, which has led the drive for draft reforms, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying. The AP says: "Since Israel's founding in 1948, the ultra-Orthodox, who make up about 8 percent of Israel's 8 million citizens, have largely been allowed to avoid military service in order to pursue religious studies. In contrast, most other Jewish men perform three years of compulsory service. "The stark difference in the society continues well into adulthood. Older religious men often don't work and collect welfare stipends while continuing to study full time. "The ultra-Orthodox insist their young men serve the nation through prayer and study, thus preserving Jewish learning and heritage. But the exemptions have enraged secular and modern Orthodox Israelis who say the ultra-Orthodox are not doing their fair share." Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. View the discussion thread. © 2016 WCAI

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Illiana Corridor achieves key financing milestone Indianapolis — The Illiana Corridor achieved another important milestone with the U.S. Department of Transportation declaring the project eligible to apply for a low-cost federal loan that could finance up to a third of the cost of construction. The loan, if approved, would be provided through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) at a reduced interest rate, representing a potential savings of as much as 20 percent on the project. “Today’s announcement will help to ensure that Illinois and Indiana can get the best deal on Illiana Corridor,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann L. Schneider. “Receiving the green light to proceed with an application for TIFIA funding is just more proof that the widespread support for our innovative public-private partnership continues to build.” “The Illiana Corridor project is creditworthy and a good candidate for TIFIA because it improves interstate commerce,” said Indiana Public Finance Director Kendra York. “Today’s formal invitation is an important step in securing the lowest cost financing that will result in lower pricing from the private developer teams for both states.” Today’s announcement means the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) are approved to negotiate with the U.S. DOT on the terms of the loan. Both states, in turn, would make the financing available to the shortlisted developer teams that are proposing to build and operate the proposed expressway. In addition to the ongoing work to select a development team, both IDOT and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) are wrapping up the final Environmental Impact Statement for approval later this spring. The Illiana Corridor is a proposed 47-mile access controlled highway that extends from I-55 in Illinois on the west to I-65 in Indiana on the east. The corridor is located in Will County in Illinois and Lake County in Indiana. IDOT and the IFA/INDOT plan to begin construction on the Illiana in the spring of 2015. When built, the Illiana Corridor will reduce truck traffic on local roads, improving safety, travel times and access to jobs. Beyond the regional benefits for freight and intermodal connections, the Illiana Corridor will provide an opportunity for jobs and economic development. Potential benefits include the creation of more than 9,000 construction jobs and thousands of long-term jobs amounting to $1.3 billion in wages over a 35-year period. For more information on the project, visit www.illianacorridor.org. Padre Dam water reuse video wins awards EPA proposes NPDES application and program updates rule Amtrak seeks Master Developer for Chicago Union Station USGBC announces LEED Pilot Credit: Building Material Human Hazard and Exposure Assessment CH2M selected as design-build partner for infrastructure projects in Texas and California DFI to host Helical Piles and Tiebacks Specialty Seminar View All News Upcoming Events

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Illinois House OKs Electric Increase, Veto Possible Filed Under: Ameren, ComEd, Electric Rates, Illinois Attorney General, Illinois House, legislation, Lisa Madigan, Pat Quinn, Smart Grid House floor at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. (AP File Photo) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (STMW) — The Illinois House approved a controversial measure Monday backed by Commonwealth Edison to raise electricity rates to pay for the modernization of its power grid, but there weren’t enough votes to turn back a threatened veto by Gov. Pat Quinn, the Sun-Times is reporting. Even though the legislation now moves to the Senate, the 67-47 House vote represented a victory for Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who argued along with consumer groups that the legislation amounted to a “blank check” for the powerful utility company. The utility needed 71 votes in the House to reach the threshold necessary to override a veto by the governor. The failure to do so strengthens Quinn’s hand in brokering his own deal with ComEd. “We believe it’s a positive development,” Quinn spokesman Grant Klinzman said after the vote. “We believe there are ways to encourage greater investment to upgrade the electric grid and create more jobs while protecting consumers.” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park), the bill’s chief House sponsor, acknowledged that “several” House members pulled off his bill unexpectedly but held out hope that the governor might still be able to be persuaded on the bill’s merits should the plan pass the Senate before Tuesday’s scheduled legislative adjournment. “I think he’ll look it over, and maybe he’ll change his ways,” McCarthy said. AARP Illinois — the retiree lobby that fought the utility bill — assailed the House vote and called on the state Senate to stop the legislation from even getting to Quinn. “Today’s decision by the House of Representatives to pass Senate Bill 1652 constitutes terrible news for Illinois consumers, as it will allow utility companies like ComEd and Ameren to impose nearly automatic rate hikes and secure company profits with virtually no regulatory oversight,” said Bob Gallo of AARP Illinois. Earlier, during House debate, McCarthy defended the legislation, saying it would lead to at least 2,000 new utility jobs and usher in both “cutting edge technology” and “outstanding reliability” to ComEd’s antiquated power grid. The aim, according to the utility company is to improve performance and conserve energy. “I believe it’s a great day for our House because we prove once against when we work together, we can do great things for the people we serve,” McCarthy said. Under his plan, the utility would be guaranteed 2.5-percent rate hikes during the next two years to help underwrite $1.5 billion in modernize ComEd’s grid, including the installation of so-called “smart meters” in all homes and businesses. The initial, built-in rate hikes proved to be a sticking point for opponents in the House. The measure “guarantees higher electric rates for our constituents, our seniors, our lower-income people, single moms, at a time when people are sitting at their kitchen tables trying to figure out how to make ends meet,” said Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago). Other critics pointed to a conflicting statement in March from John Rowe, chairman of Exelon Corp., ComEd’s parent. Rowe described his company as being “reluctant” to invest in smart-grid improvements “because it costs too much, and we’re not sure what good it will do,” Crain’s Chicago Business reported in March. “When I heard the CEO of Exelon say those words, that made up my mind,” said Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), another “no” vote. “I don’t think this is a good investment for our state, and I don’t think it’s a good investment for our constituents. And I think it’s a cost they’ll be reminded of month after month as they see their electric bills with these increases, which the CEO of Exelon said we’re probably not even sure what good it will do.” A ComEd spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment after Monday’s vote. (Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Man Charged With Killing 2 In Christmas Morning Nightclub Shooting Filed Under: Christmas Morning, fatal, Jose Duckins, nightclub, River West, Robert Warren, shooting, Taiwan Smith, Victor Hotel, Warehouse District Taiwan Smith is charged with the murder of a bouncer and a patron at the Victor Hotel nightclub in River West early Christmas morning. (Credit: Chicago Police) CHICAGO (CBS) — A West Side man has been charged with the Christmas morning shooting and killing a bouncer and a partygoer celebrating his 30th birthday at a nightclub in the River West Warehouse District. Taiwan Smith, 26, of the 3200 block of West Arthington Street, was charged with two counts of murder, aggravated battery and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the shooting outside the Victor Hotel nightclub, at 311 N. Sangamon St., police said. Bouncer Robert Warren, 34, and factory worker Jose Duckins, 30, were both killed in the gunfire when shots rang out around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, officials said. A third man was wounded. The suspect had been thrown out of the club earlier that night, but returned and “just started shooting,” according to police and Warren’s niece April Bullock. Warren, of the Rogers Park neighborhood, “was just doing his job and he was killed for no reason,” Bullock added. “He had kids — we’re all in shock.” Duckins, of the East Garfield Park neighborhood, had gone to the club with four or five friends to celebrate his birthday, his distraught little sister Voshunda Duckins said Sunday. He was shot at close range in the chest, relatives said. Both he and Warren — who was also shot in the chest — were pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital of Cook County. A 21-year-old friend of Duckins survived the shooting with a bullet wound to his arm. He was treated and released at Rush University Medical Center, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said. Duckins had bought his 4-year-old son Jose Jr. a remote control car, clothes and Transformers toys for Christmas, his sister said as relatives mourned Sunday at the family home. “He was a loving family man,” she said. “He was expecting another child and he didn’t deserve this.” Smith had been convicted on several drug and weapons-related convictions dating back to 2003, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was paroled in June after serving nearly three years of a six-year sentence for his most recent conviction, for narcotics possession. Smith was scheduled to appear in bond court later Tuesday. Comments

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Columbia County plan draws notice By Columbia County Bureau Chief To find out just how much interest there is in Columbia County's consolidation efforts outside the Augusta area, just ask Todd Glover. "About a month ago, I got a call from Pittsburgh, Allegheny County," said Mr. Glover, Columbia County's Management Services director. "They're looking to consolidate. And they were inquiring about how we were doing it." Inside Georgia, many other counties also seem to be watching Columbia County with thoughts of their own consolidation. The idea of incorporating a new city in the Evans-Martinez area and then consolidating it with the county government is something Columbia County commissioners unanimously agreed to consider in September, sending the issue on to the legislative delegation. Columbia County officials say what they're doing is different: not consolidating two existing governments, but getting the benefits of a consolidated government and the name recognition of a new city under only one government. "We're in essence creating a city and merging with it, which has a lot of positives in that we're not absorbing another bureaucracy and having to deal with those types of things," Mr. Glover said. "It's really something that's unique in the country, so it is going to garner a lot of attention," he said. Still, some of the same benefits apply to all counties considering consolidation in Georgia, with one of the largest benefits being franchise fees, officials have said. Columbia County has estimated it could receive as much as $5 million a year in such fees, which are collected from telephone, cable television, electricity and natural gas companies. "It's certainly a big factor because it can be a significant source of revenue for a consolidated government," said Betty Hudson, an attorney and public service associate with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. "Counties are not eligible to collect.'' Ms. Hudson said at least 10 counties in Georgia are talking about consolidation, and at least one is pursuing an initiative similar to Columbia County's. Reach Preston Sparks at 868-1222, ext. 115, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com. MANAGEMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 868-1222, EXT. 115 ELECTRICITY PITTSBURGH COLUMBIA COUNTY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESTON SPARKS GEORGIA CARL VINSON INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT MR. GLOVER COLUMBIA COUNTY COMMISSION COUNTY GOVERNMENT CARL VINSON INSTITUTE TODD GLOVER USD PRESTON.SPARKS@AUGUSTACHRONICLE.COM FUNDING ATTORNEY NATURAL GAS Trending this week:

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Cast your votes for the leaders, artists, innovators and icons who you think are the most influential people in the world. Though official voting for inclusion on the TIME 100 list has now closed, with Mir-Hossein Mousavi having won the honor, users can continue to vote for their favorites until the list is revealed on Thursday, April 29th Tweet Prev 37 of By TIME STAFFThursday, Apr. 01, 2010 Scott Weiner / Retna / Corbis Age: 59 Occupation: Late-night talk-show host Previous TIME 100 Appearances: 1 While he joked on the air about getting "fired" from The Jay Leno Show, most workers would love to get fired so well: he walked back into the job he never wanted to leave, as host of The Tonight Show. Despite an ugly public fight and the ire of Conan O'Brien fans, he returned to late-night No. 1 again — though with David Letterman closer than when Leno left. Next The Lost Creators Email

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Opinion - Columnists His glorious title A couple weeks ago my mom told me the news: an uncle of mine was moving back to Iowa. He’s apparently done well in the corporation he’s worked for the past couple decades. The head noticed, and asked him to consider moving to take a position with increased responsibility. Of course, that also means he’ll have some great, new job title. Roughly 20 men and women would like American voters to do much the same for them come next November. Each of ... History Minute: Ray Winder of the Arkansas Travelers Baseball has been called the national pastime by fans and writers alike. Minor League Baseball in Arkansas owes its existence to Ray Winder, the longtime general manager and part owner of the Arkansas Travelers. Winder was born in Indiana and was a baseball fan his entire life. In 1915, Winder was hired by the Little Rock Travelers as a ticket seller. The team had originally formed in 1901, only to shut down in 1909. They were attempting to re... Moving closer to autumn The Arkansas River Valley received some much needed rain this week as other counties across the state were just starting to issue burn bans, and the dry conditions were definitely starting to worsen. August has always been a happening month for me as it means summer is winding down, and school is about to start. It also means that fall and the hunting seasons are quickly approaching. Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. The ... Joey Fisher History Minute Maud Crawford Her life was one of remarkable accomplishment in a time when women had few opportunities. However, the disappearance of Maud Robinson Crawford of Camden in 1957 overshadowed her accomplishments in life and has left many questions unanswered in the decades since. Maud Robinson was born in East Texas in 1891. After her mother’s death in 1900, she came to live with her grandmother in Warren. In 1911, she was valedictorian of her high school class... Man guilty of assault gets life — in matrimony An East Texas man who pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend was sentenced to life — in matrimony. Josten Bundy, 21, pleaded guilty on July 2 to assault with bodily injury for a February fistfight with the ex-boyfriend of Elizabeth Jaynes, 19. Bundy reported the ex was “saying disrespectful things” about Jaynes and admitted he eventually punched the ex in the jaw. Smith County Court-at-Law Judge Randall Rogers asked Bundy d... Best times come when you’re just passing through It is funny how fate sometimes plays a huge role in people’s lives. We all have our day-to-day routines and usually know what to expect from one day to the next, but then all of sudden something out of the ordinary happens. Just this past week I had one of those vey experiences, and it turned out to be a couple of the best days of my whole summer break. This past Sunday it was too hot to be fishing, hunting or even playing golf, so I was hangi... History Minute Matthew Lyon Matthew Lyon lived a life that made him a witness to some of the most important events and figures of early American History. He was a veteran of the American Revolution, a pioneer, writer, and respected famous politician in an age that included such American giants as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. And his journey would take him all the way to Arkansas. Lyon was born in Ireland in 1749 to a desperately poor family. At... Ken Bridges The apex of futility Last year The New York Times ran a story about Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York. It focused on his recent work on a number of social causes. The story itself was predictable, except for the following paragraph, which came at the very end. “But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smok... Rev. Nicholas Davelaar Victory over temptation I am not sure I am ready to declare that temptation to evil is good but it is certainly clear that it is often used by God for good. Immediately following the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit sent Him into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted by Satan. Because Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy chapter eight during the temptations, and because both Israel and Jesus were in the wilderness during times of temptations, it seems tha... By Pastor Steve Ellison The mysterious ‘R’ Club inquiry When I told my coworker, Ryan Smith, that I was going to spend some time in the morgue, he jumped out of his seat. "The morgue? Like, dead bodies?" "More like dead newspapers," I replied. Just through the front entrance, in a room behind the glowing green "The Courier" sign, are thousands of old newspapers, bound together and dusty like ancient tomes. We delve into this archive from time to time when we want to run an old photograph. This is w... Was he a robber or a flasher? Police say this guy decided to be both Police said a Pennsylvania robbery suspect has diversified his criminal portfolio by exposing himself to a shop owner before taking cash and a women’s outfit from a clothing store. Richland Township police Detective Kevin Gaudlip said Tuesday’s heist at the King and Queen Shoppe near Johnstown “was more than just your typical robbery.” Police said the man walked into the store and exposed himself. The befuddled store owner nonetheless helped h... 5 unbelievable reasons clickbait has ruined everything 5. No one cares about content In the days of yore, newspapers reckoned (or discovered) that readers read a headline, cutline and the first paragraph of a story — and that's basically all. Unless something hooked them into reading the rest, that's all a reader was willing to give you. So, much thought was put into the content placed in those sections. Newspapers wanted readers to read entire stories, so they devised strategies to draw readers i... Are schools’ confederate mascots an issue? The Fort Smith School Board passed a motion Tuesday night to ban the Southside High School fight song “Dixie” starting in the 2015-16 school year. The school also plans to remove the rebel mascot in the 2016-17 season. This isn’t the first time a school or a team has elected to abandon controversial mascot characters — Ole Miss abandoned Colonel Reb in 2010 for the Rebel Black Bear, which won a voting contest against the likes of Admiral Ackba... Feature makes it convenient to find your representative LITTLE ROCK — The House has launched an improved feature on its website designed to help Arkansans locate their representative, find contact information and learn more about the House districts in our state. Our website has always featured a “Find Your Rep” search tool at the top of the page. Now we have improved that function significantly to show you your representative, his or her picture and contact information, and maps that allow you to ... Fitness trackers are hot, but do they really help? NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of fitness trackers are climbing, and the biggest maker of the gadgets, Fitbit, made a splashy debut on the stock market Thursday. But will the devices really help you get healthier? Experts agree that getting people to set goals — and then reminding them of the goals — absolutely works, and the wearable devices are built to do that. But evidence people get healthier when using fitness trackers is limited because they are... A reminder of our history When Dylann Roof, 21, murdered nine people in a historically black church in South Carolina on Wednesday night, he was carrying out an ideology, which, when coupled with a corrupt conscience, results in a perpetual loss of life spanning centuries. But Roof, psychotic and plagued as he was, is not solely responsible for the murders. Because the ideology he carried out is, at least symbolically, supported by the state of South Carolina. The Conf... Levees and the era of neglect A column with the word “levees” in the headline probably won’t attract a record number of readers. Unless you live in a floodplain, they’re just big piles of dirt, right? Well, not really. The recent floods have drawn attention to Arkansas’ deteriorating levees. Really, “forgotten” is the better word. It turns out that, in many cases, no one’s really in charge of maintaining them, or even caring whether or not they exist. They were built when ... Steve Brawner She was very, very sick — of waiting A North Carolina woman got tired of the wait in a hospital emergency room, allegedly held a lighter up to one of its sprinklers and flooded the room with about half an inch of water. The scene inside the ER was “chaotic and disastrous” as “copious amounts of water” poured down Wednesday afternoon, according to a police report. Katlyn Milligan, 20, told police she waited in the ER of Carolinas HealthCare System-Blue Ridge in Morgantown for abou... Little Rock Fire Department: Oldest in state Controlling fire has been a concern for cities as long as they have existed. Little Rock has been no exception. The Little Rock Fire Department, the oldest and largest in the state, has undergone extensive changes in its long history. A volunteer fire department emerged early for the city since the early 1800s, but equipment and training were limited. By the 1880s, four stations existed across town for the department. In 1881, the LRFD ordered... My favorite country acts, songs We had fun a few days ago by naming some country music acts that are special to us. That wasn’t too hard at all, but here is the kicker! Then you had to add your favorite song by each. That made things a bit tougher. I’m going to give you my list. My wife agreed with several of my picks, but not all. Some of my choices you will call “obvious,” while you may not have heard of some others I went with. At any rate, here is my list. These are in n... Tommy Jackson

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Syrian Activists Live Stream Their Revolution By Kelly McEvers Feb 15, 2012 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Activists say this image, taken from a video uploaded to YouTube, shows Syrians outside a field hospital in Homs last week. AFP/Getty Images Syrian troops have fired rockets and mortars at neighborhoods in the city of Homs that have most fiercely resisted the government throughout the uprising. Mainstream journalists are barred from entering Homs, so a team of activists decided to record the offensive themselves. The activists positioned their cameras atop buildings in the city. Each morning the view is blue sky, a minaret, a sea of rooftops. Then come the booms. The offensive is mainly centered on the neighborhood of Baba Amr, which has seen an increasing resistance by civilians who have taken up arms and soldiers who have defected from the army. Day in and day out, the video stream is up and running, recording the government offensive in real time. Then, last Thursday, a rocket hit the house where the activists were stationed. The screen goes gray with smoke, but the camera keeps rolling. The picture of the rooftops eventually comes back into view. Activists call out to God as they discover the bodies of four women in the basement who were killed by the blast. Twitter and Skype are a flurry of messages. "Did I just watch someone die?" one activist writes. The rockets keep falling, volunteers help the injured and the camera team hits the streets. 'You Don't Think About Your Safety' Danny Abdul Dayem is TV-ready with his curly black hair, droopy eyes and flawless English. He records this indignant standup in front of five bloodied children who were injured by a rocket that day. Dayem has become a regular face in the coverage of the bombardment of Homs. With a Syrian father and a British mother, he's the perfect mix of local and international. His videos have been all over the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. In one video, shot in a field hospital, Dayem walks through gruesome heaps of dead and injured people. "We're not animals. We're human beings. We're asking for help," he says. "We're asking for your help. They're hitting us with rockets. They've not stopped with these for four hours now. They're gonna kill us all. "If you don't help us now, they'll kill millions, and no one'll find out about us. Please, someone help us." That same hospital itself was later hit by a rocket. The team immediately sent out a video of the aftermath. Dayem recently left Homs and sat down for an interview. Before Syria's uprising, he studied business management. Now he's one of the most wanted men in the country. "If they catch me, I'll be in pieces," he says. Still, Dayem says he'll go back to Homs soon. "You don't think about your safety," he says. "You just think about, 'I'm going to do as much as I can before they get me. I'm going to do as much as I can before a rocket comes on me or lands on me.'" Impact On Syrian Regime Zeynep Tufekci, who researches the power of social media in the Arab uprisings at the University of North Carolina, says Dayem and the activists' work documenting the violence makes it impossible for the international community to stand by and do nothing. But, she says, it also could make it difficult for the regime to consider any kind of peace agreement. "This kind of visual imagery of how horrific it all is might make it harder for the regime to negotiate something because they are probably thinking — and not all that incorrectly — that people are not going to forget this," she says. As for Dayem, he says he hopes that once the Syrian revolution is over, he can just go back to being a regular guy. "I just want to go back to my life — listening to music, seeing my friends — and forget about all this," he says. But he acknowledges it might be a long, long time before he gets there — if ever. Rima Marrouch and Lava Selo contributed to this report.Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. View the discussion thread. Our Partners

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Classifieds Directory Kids Citizens Bemoan the Corps Beach Plan By Janis Hewitt | May 8, 2014 - 2:08pm Members of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee let it be known on Monday that they are not too happy with the fix the Army Corps of Engineers announced April 23 to curb erosion on downtown beaches. The Corps offered only one option: a $6 million project to place 14,000 sand-filled geotexile bags along 3,100 feet of downtown shoreline, including the vulnerable stretch near the Royal Atlantic Motel, and to cover them with 45,000 cubic yards of sand. The plan had been downsized from more expensive ones described earlier in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. “We’re very disappointed. It all falls short. They were very promising in the beginning and now it’s an interim fix, East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said, adding that the 15-year life span of the latest proposal doesn’t offer a lot of protection. “But it doesn’t make sense for us to turn down free sand,” he said. At an earlier meeting with Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Legislator Jay Schneiderman, Steve Kalimnios, the owner of the Royal Atlantic, who said he has spent $2 million dumping sand on the beach there, had called the Corps plan “minuscule.” The councilman noted that the East Hampton Town Board is to create a coastal erosion committee to study poststorm conditions and long-term planning. “Geologically. if you see what’s happening and we’re under water, we need to think this through. Building on higher ground is not realistic. We should be looking at larger stabilization.” Mr. Van Scoyoc said it was time for the town to put more money aside for storm remediation. “Taxpayers have to understand that money is needed for sand. It’s part of our economy,” he said. Chris Poli, a surfer who often attends the committee’s meetings, said that while no one wants higher taxes it might be the only way to preserve the beach. “We’re going to need a lot of cooperation,” he said. Moving on, Mr. Van Scoyoc gave the committee an update on plans for the Kirk Park parking lot. He said the vegetated islands that have been used to delineate parking spaces will soon be removed to create more. A new entrance will be added on South Eagle Street to the west of the lot for easier access. Vehicles exiting will use the existing access on the south side of the lot, across the street from the ocean beach. • RELATED READING: Dose of Reality from Army Corps About the Author Janis Hewitt

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Search warrants seek evidence of drug addiction Deal reach for custody of children "The third day I was there, when I came back, he had told me, 'You know, they're killing me. They're killing me because I'm working too much. I'm rehearsing too much.' " Between 1 and 1:30 p.m. June 25, Chase said security asked her to leave the home, and she never saw Michael Jackson being transported to the hospital. She didn't learn of Jackson's death until later that day on the radio. Chase said that Murray was in the house often in June and she attributed the doctor's frequent presence to Jackson's rigorous rehearsal schedule for an upcoming series of concerts in London, England. Search warrants filed Thursday in court in Clark County, Nevada, and carried out at Murray's offices imply that investigators looking into his death believe the singer was a drug addict. In his interview with Chase, King pressed for details of evidence of drug use by Jackson: King: Did you notice oxygen tanks, because if it was Diprivan and they have to measure ... your blood pressure? They also need oxygen tanks if you're giving that drug. Did you notice them? Chase: I saw the oxygen tanks, yes. King: Where were they? Chase: I would see Dr. Murray carrying the oxygen tanks down in the mornings. King: On that morning or other mornings? Chase: No. I didn't see him that morning. I saw him in the afternoon, but other mornings. King: He would carry them down? Chase: Carry them down. King: They were portable oxygen tanks? Chase: Yes. Chase said she just recently learned the warrants to search Murray's offices cited her name as a suspected alias for Michael Jackson. "I was just made aware of that from my publicist. I think that is ... appalling. I have no clue what that is about," Chase said. She said detectives came to her home right after the death but did not ask her about her name being on any prescriptions. "I don't know what make of it," Chase told King. Chase, who said she's been a professional chef for about 14 years, said she's seen the Jackson children since June 25. "They're doing great. And I saw them a couple of weeks ago," she said. "And they look great and they're playing with their cousins and having a good time." Chase said she was first employed by Jackson in March but was let go. She said Jackson asked her to come back to their California residence in June and that the children were happy about her return. She said the children gave her a "box of happiness" on return that contained little gifts and letters. One of them read in part: "Dear Kai, thank you for the gifts and the gumbo. I hope you enjoy the gift. I think you'll like it. Love, Prince Jackson." Chase said she said no evidence that Michael Jackson was a poor eater. In fact, she said just the opposite was true from her observations. "He ate very well," she said. "He ate organic and fresh. He [was] into the health foods and juices and things of that nature." Chase briefly addressed other subjects: • On Katherine Jackson, Michael's mother: "I saw the interaction with them when I went to the home. ... They love their grandma, you know. It's a beautiful bond that they have together." • On Jackson's ex-wife having visitation rights to her children: "I think Debbie Rowe should see and raise her children." • On Jackson's planned London shows: "We started talking about bringing, you know, video games and stuff to the private jet. And it was just, you know, he was very excited about going on this -- doing this tour. This is his comeback." Life in the Jackson household -- from Chase's account -- was a loving and cheerful one and that he loved his three children. "You know, I would bring ... the lunches and set them on the table and they'd all come in and sit, close the door and they'd dine privately. And you would just hear laughter and story-telling and just beautiful things. Those were his babies." E-mail to a friend Share this on: All About Michael Jackson • Conrad Murray Top NewsFrom psychiatrist to 'Butcher of Bosnia'Why trial could take years

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The Pickett Lens 13 images from 2013 A luxury hotel during Gezi Park protest and sit-in, Istanbul, Turkey. Taksim Square during Gezi Park protest and sit-in, Istanbul, Turkey. Gezi Park, Istanbul, Turkey. Baab al-Salaam refugee camp, Syria. Near a rehabilitation clinic for injured Syrian refugees, Reyhanli, Turkey. School for Syrian refugees, Reyhanli, Turkey. Learning to write the letters a, e, i, o, and u in Mentao Refugee Camp, Burkina Faso. Fashion show, Istanbul, Turkey. Fashion show, Istanbul, Turkey. Anti-Morsi rally Alexandria, Egypt. Tahrir Square, post-coup, Cairo, Egypt. Along the Suez Canal, Port Said, Egypt. On the Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey. Curious to see what 2014 will bring. Happy New Year, everyone! Syria's children in the crosshairs Rama, 15, quadriplegic. Reyhanli, Turkey. Rama Korabi, 15, was walking to her elder sister's home in the Idlib town of Ariha, Syria, on July 9, 2012. A sniper shot her through the neck. She awoke in the Ariha hospital, where she had been taken immediately after the shooting. The bullet was removed, and she was transported to Aleppo to undergo an operation to remove bone fragments. Her injury had rendered her quadriplegic--unable to move her legs, arms, and torso, and unable to walk. (To learn more about Rama's hometown, read a recent report here about the long siege of Ariha, a key settlement along an important Syrian government resupply route. By McClatchy's Roy Gutman.) in societies not experiencing brutal conflict, where excellent medical care is readily available, people with spinal injuries are susceptible to serious complications. Rama returned to Ariha with her family, but developed pressure sores on her back. Her parents managed to get her out of Syria for another operation and further treatment in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, which is where I met her. Several rehabilitation clinics have sprung up in Reyhanli, where injured Syrians can recover after operations performed at Turkish hospitals. The accommodations are meant to be temporary. One recuperates, gets back on his feet, and leaves the clinic to make room for the next patient. But as more and more Syrians endure shelling, sniper fire, and other lethal weaponry, the clinics are filling up with severely injured patients, including many who are paraplegic and quadriplegic, with no place else to go. People who have spinal injuries need access to specialized, long-term medical care and living spaces. The health care system in Syria has been nearly destroyed, and affordable, wheelchair-friendly housing is difficult to find in rural Turkey. (Watch a great interview with volunteer conflict zone surgeon David Nott here. He returned from a five-week posting in northern Syria in October and talks about Syria's broken medical care system, injuries caused by snipers, and what he thinks the international community can do to help. From BBC's HARDtalk.) Increasingly, the residents of these clinics are children and teens like Rama. Rama's mother, left, and a friend lift her from bed to wheelchair. The United Nations estimates that 7 million Syrians have fled their homes and at least 10 million require emergency humanitarian assistance. More than 100,000 people, and at least 6,000 children, have been killed since Syria's uprising began in March 2011. If they can, the most severely injured seek medical care across the border in Turkey. Rama was staying in this particular rehabilitation clinic with around 80 other patients, 31 of them with some level of paralysis due to spinal cord injury. The director of the clinic, a Syrian lawyer named Yasir Alsyed, told me they see an additional 80-100 outpatients daily. Rama's mother helps her with her hijab, the Islamic veil. Rama and her family came to the clinic three months ago. She needed a procedure to drain the fluid from the sores on her back, and was also doing physical therapy sessions. Shy but friendly, Rama was incredibly positive and good-natured. "I want to take her home [to Syria] but there is nothing for her there," said Rama's mother, who declined to give her name. The United States and other western countries give millions of dollars in critical humanitarian and medical aid to organizations like the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which then distribute the lion's share of western aid to Syria. Unfortunately, for mostly political reasons, that assistance generally does not reach civilians in rebel-controlled areas. Both organizations recognize and continue to work through the government of Bashar Al-Assad, which allows the regime to control distribution of the aid. (There are other organizations like Doctors without Borders and the Turkish IHH, among others, working in rebel-controlled areas.) Rama in the room she shares with another patient. Patients stay in the rehabilitation center for free. Sometimes one or more family members stay with them. This recovery center is funded almost entirely by Syrian expats. Alsyed, the director, said a longer-term care house for people who have been paralyzed is desperately needed. "If we continue like this, the whole facility will be paraplegic patients," he said. Rama, at right, attends the rehab clinic's school--an improvised classroom. All of the children are different ages and academic levels, and some of them haven't been in school for a year or longer. The school is mostly a chance for them to get together and do something constructive, to bring a sense of normalcy and routine to their days. Nadal, 13, is in the foreground of the above photo. His home in Idlib was bombed, fracturing his legs in multiple places. Rama matches English words for colors with their Arabic equivalents. She said she enjoys school and wants to continue her studies, despite the difficult situation. Saleh, 13, from Idlib, in the classroom. He became paraplegic when he was injured in a rocket attack near his home. Patients and their families gathered in the clinic's courtyard to chant anti-regime slogans on the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising, March 15, 2013. At left is Malik, an 11-year-old amputee. He was in the early stages of learning to walk again with the aid of a prosthetic. Later in the day, the children and teens from the recovery center were invited to a kid's celebration, organized by a group of exiled Syrian opposition activists. Above, Maysa, 12, puts barrettes in her hair while getting ready for the party. Maysa, second from right, was shot in the back by a sniper in her village Kafr Rouma, in the Idlib countryside. Her father was also shot and killed. Intense fighting forced Maysa, her mother, and her siblings to hide in a cave for a whole month, until her mother was able to smuggle her into Turkey to get medical treatment. Maysa was so traumatized by all that had happened that she stopped speaking, but with time and therapy at the rehabilitation clinic, she started to talk again, and to smile. Maysa's roommate in the clinic is Khadija, at left in the above photo. Khadija, 18 and recently married, was injured when her town in the Hama countryside was shelled. She is also paraplegic. Rama winces in pain while being carried a bit too roughly down the stairs. She has some sensation in her back and can feel her wounds. Rama, at left, and the other teens and children living in the rehabilitation center waited outside the gates for the Syrian exiles to send transportation to take them to the party, where they would join other Syrian refugee children living in Reyhanli. They waited and waited. There was a sinking feeling as the time passed. Someone went back inside to ask if a van from the rehab center could transport them to the party, but there wasn't one available. Finally realizing that they had been forgotten, that no bus was coming to take them to a party, they went for a walk instead. Posted by Portraits after a coup in Egypt Nour Zakaria, 24, Morsi supporter, Rabaa Al-Adaweya Mosque, Cairo, Egypt, July 4, 2013. While in Egypt in early July, I worked for about a week with The Guardian (UK) newspaper and correspondent Martin Chulov. Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, was removed from power in a military coup on July 3, after millions of Egyptians demonstrated against him in cities throughout the country on June 30. For one of my assignments after the military takeover, I was asked to take portraits of Egyptians from all over the political spectrum in an attempt to gauge the overall mood in the aftermath of the coup. Khaled El-Qadi poses July 7 in Alexandria next to a poster of General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi before the start of a rally supporting the defense minister and commander-in-chief who announced the military takeover. El-Qadi is the Tamarod ("rebellion" in Arabic) coordinator in Egypt's second largest city. Tamarod called for the June 30, 2013 protests, held on the anniversary of Mohamed Morsi's first day in the presidential office, which led to his forced removal from power. Osama Yousef, 45, was photographed in front of graffiti depicting violent clashes between police and protesters, on Mohamed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square, Cairo, July 4. Yousef was in favor of removing president Mohamed Morsi from power. Mohammed Hani, 22, holding a poster of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in one hand and a small Koran in the other, at the main sit-in near Rabaa Al-Adaweya mosque in Cairo, July 4. Nancy Riyadh, 26, and her mother Yvonne Hanna, 54, members of Egypt's Christian religious minority, said they had been worried about the direction Egypt was headed and were relieved that president Mohamed Morsi was ousted. Tahrir Square, Cairo, July 4. Sheikh Muhammad Abdel Bari, an associate of the Muslim Brotherhood, in a mosque in Port Said, a military stronghold, on July 8. Members of the Brotherhood in Port Said were reeling from news that 50 Morsi supporters had been shot and killed by the Army in front of the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo that morning. Carmen Bedawi, 28, photographed July 4 at a coffee shop in an upscale Cairo neighborhood, said she was glad president Mohamed Morsi was forced from power. Tour guide Mohamed Mahmoud in Medinet Habu Temple, empty of tourists, in Luxor on July 9. Shortly before being removed from power by the Egyptian military, president Mohamed Morsi enraged residents in Luxor when he appointed Adel El-Khayat, who was a member of formerly violent Islamic group Gamaa Al-Islamiya, as governor. Egypt's tourism industry has been hit hard by all the turmoil of the past two years. Mahmoud kept a neutral position, saying "There is a future for Egypt only if there is reconciliation." Asmaa Fathi, 30, and her three children: 11-year-old Dima, 9-year-old Iman, and 3-year-old Abdullah, Tahrir Square, Cairo on July 4. Fathi celebrated the removal of president Mohamed Morsi. Abdul Muneim Ahmad, 35, with his shield, hard hat, and plastic stick to defend himself and other Morsi supporters from attack, near the entrance to the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in in Cairo, July 4. Posted by Red Istanbul Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey, June 8, 2013. On a purely aesthetic level, what do you get when you combine football fans (with flares), communists, and the Turkish flag? Answer: lots of red photographs. From Istanbul's June protests and clashes, here is the reddest set of photos I've ever taken on a single story: Holly Pickett Photography Photoshelter Site At War - New York Times Bag News Notes Greater Middle East Photo Lens - New York Times Lightbox - TIME Magazine Magnum In Motion MSNBC Photo Blog NPR The Picture Show Photojournalism Links The Russian Photos Blog This Is The What Too Much Chocolate

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"S.C. (Sam) Gwynne: Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference" The reporter and author whose book, Empire of the Summer Moon, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011, talks with host Marcia Franklin. The book traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. It also entails the epic saga of pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who becomes the last Comanche chief.G 7:30 am Outdoor Idaho "Climbing Idaho" Today's rock-climbing enthusiasts support climbing gyms, clubs and advocacy groups - no longer the exclusive band of wanderers of just a few decades ago. The heights they achieve throughout the state require skills, levels of expertise, techniques and climbing methods as varied as the state's terrain. Cameras follow as they seek to conquer nature's rock walls.G 8:00 am Oregon Field Guide The adventurer is on a quest for the modern-day equivalent of the Kasbah - the walled residential quarters that served as a refuge for African, Arab, Jewish and European traders, pirates and holy men traveling caravan routes. He begins in Marrakesh, travels over the mountains to Ouarzazate and treks to the desert on the country's far eastern border. He works his way up to Fes, north to Tangier and back to Rabat, ending in Casablanca.G 11:00 am Wild! "The Great Elephant Gathering" This film captures the stunning natural phenomenon of wild Sri Lankan elephants assembling in large numbers every year, a behavior found in very few places around the world. But with a dwindling elephant population and the encroachment of their natural habitat and food by an expanding human population, the gathering could be under threat.G 12:00 pm Globe Trekker "Milwaukee, WI - Part 2" Appraisers critique a 1772 needlework sampler and an 1890 Japanese bronze sculpture. A ruby and diamond bracelet, purchased by the owner's great-grandmother - a German countess - from Austria's Empress Eugenie in the 1890s, is valued up to $35,000. Part 2 of 3G 9:00 pm Standing Bear's Footsteps Wes Cowan delves into the history of John Brown's raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, an event precipitated by the raging emotions that preceded the Civil War. Cowan seeks to learn if a particular spear, or pike, may have been used by the group led by abolitionist Brown. Then Eduardo Pag�n wonders why U.S. troops were in Siberia during World War I, and Elyse Luray sizes up a Ronald McDonald costume.G <<Previous Month

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Watchdogs Not Celebrating Obama Group's Switch On Big Donors By Frank James Mar 7, 2013 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Jim Messina (left), the head of Organizing for Action and a former top Obama campaign and White House aide, watches President Obama make a statement in the White House Cabinet Room in 2010. Originally published on March 7, 2013 5:49 pm Caught between the gritty political realities of needing cash and being linked to a political leader who has repeatedly denounced money's influence in Washington while raising record sums, former campaign aides to President Obama appeared to side with the money. That had opened officials now heading Organizing for Action — which was formed from the Obama for America campaign committee to promote the president's second-term agenda — to charges of hypocrisy. Criticism for their refusal to swear off taking cash from corporations, lobbyists and overseas donors may have had the intended effect: On Thursday, the new OFA announced it wouldn't take such boodle. But if the former Obama campaign officials running OFA have decided to be the change they wish to see in the world (or at least to look like it), some government watchdog groups aren't buying it. The Sunlight Foundation's Lisa Rosenberg wrote a blog post titled "OFA — A Dark Money Group by Any Other Name," and called the group "a tiger that can't change its stripes." She was responding to Jim Messina, Obama's 2012 campaign manager who now runs OFA, who notified those on the organization's blast email list: "Organizing for Action's mission is to put power back into the hands of the American people. That's why we won't accept a single dollar from corporations, PACs, foreign donors or lobbyists. This is your movement, not theirs." In a piece on CNN's website, he went further: "While Organizing for Action is a nonprofit social welfare organization that faces a lower disclosure threshold than a political campaign, we believe in being open and transparent. That's why every donor who gives $250 or more to this organization will be disclosed on the website with the exact amount they give on a quarterly basis. We have now decided not to accept contributions from corporations, federal lobbyists or foreign donors." Rosenberg seemed to scoff at the statement, writing: "Under OFA's 'voluntary' system of disclosure, there is no enforcement mechanism to ensure that big money donors will be disclosed, or whether the group is sticking to its commitment to prohibit corporate and foreign contributions. There is nothing to prevent a CEO from writing a big check to OFA, only to be reimbursed from her corporate coffers — laundering a corporate contribution. The only legally enforceable rules that apply to OFA are the same ones that apply to every other dark money 501(c)(4) organization — and we know how well those work." The controversy wasn't only due to what seemed like OFA's willingness to take contributions from all comers. It also involved a reported plan to give the biggest donors access to the president several times a year. OFA's announcement underscores the difficulty the Obama team has had in matching the rhetoric of reform with the practical business of campaigns or of governing. It's a balancing act Obama himself has found tricky from his first presidential campaign in in 2008. Then, like now, he railed against the corrupting influence of political money. But he also decided against entering the public campaign financing system. If it was to reserve his ability to raise enough money to counter anything Republicans might throw at him, it worked, and then some. He outraised and outspent Republican John McCain by more than a 2-to-1 margin, swamping his opponent in available cash in the key final weeks of the race. As president, Obama has banned federal lobbyists from jobs in the administration, ostensibly to reduce special-interest influence, to the continuing unhappiness of many lobbyists. But he also granted waivers that let some lobbyists work in the White House or elsewhere in the administration. Bob Edgar, the former Democratic congressman who heads another Washington watchdog group, Common Cause, said in a statement: "I'm pleased to see that the President's associates have reconsidered their initial decision to solicit corporate contributions and sell access to the President through OFA and that they've pledged to make full and prompt disclosure of all gifts of $250 or more. ... But that's really just a start." Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. © 2016 Iowa Public Radio

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by Akshansh Assignment This iReport is part of an assignment: Impact Your World More from Akshansh My Essay Discussing Actions to Protect and Assist Stateless Peoples Bangladesh Death Penalty In United Kingdom Gay Rights in United Kingdom US Imperialism on Cuba Managing the Displacement of Coastal Populations from Rising Sea Levels in Bangladesh By Akshansh | Posted June 16, 2014 CNN PRODUCER NOTE I. Background: Today, more and more people are being forced from their homes by weather-related disasters, environmental degradation and changing climatic conditions. Over the past several decades, natural disasters have increased in force and frequency and are responsible for displacing millions of people. In addition, growing water scarcity, desertification, and decreased agricultural output are causing more people to migrate to support livelihoods. Access to scarce natural resources has the potential to give a birth to a conflict. In the future, climate change will increasingly harm Bangladesh’s populations through greater weather variability, water scarcity, and severe environmental degradation. But today, increased displacement due to more frequent large-scale natural disasters is challenging an already stressed international humanitarian system. Bangladesh suffers from regular natural hazards, including floods, tropical cyclones, storm surges and droughts. These hazards are already leading to the loss and destruction of housing, land and property, the loss of livelihoods and widespread displacement across the country. The effects of climate change are expected to exacerbate many of these existing hazards, as well as create new drivers of displacement. Many of these hazards are expected to disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable in Bangladesh, a country where more than 50 million people live in poverty. II. Issue #1: Over the last 100 years, Bangladesh has warmed up by about 0.5 degrees C and a 0.5 m rise of sea level in the Bay of Bengal. Climatic change is occurring all over the world due to greenhouse effects, and anticipated sea level rise is likely to destroy most of the existing coastal areas if preventive measures cannot be taken with integrated global effort. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that climate change would contribute to 0.6 meter or more of global sea level rise by 2100. The low-lying and least-developed countries like Bangladesh are very vulnerable against sea level rise. Bangladesh would face 30 cm to 50 cm sea level rise in 2030 and 2050 respectively. Sea levels in the Bay of Bengal have risen much faster over the past decades and as a result, low-lying and small islands are at a greater risk. Recent satellite images show that the South Talpatti has disappeared due to sea level rise. It is predicted that other small islands in the Bay of Bengal may disappear like South Talpatti in the coming decades. Solution: In order to help deal with these impacts UNICEF has been working across Bangladesh to help communities at risk of cyclones, floods, droughts and sea level rising, to adapt their infrastructure to climate changes. This has included the creation of ecological villages and neighborhoods, preparing communities and schools to reduce their risk to disasters, adapting their water supply and making sure their schools are safer places. This way, we can make a positive impact, ensuring that children in Bangladesh and their communities become more resilient to the increasing challenge that climate change poses for the country. Impact: The impact of the solution proposed can be greatly seen in the small areas of Bangladesh. UNICEF and other organizations are giving a great hand in alerting all the people before a cyclone hits their area. III. Issue #2: In the South-western Khulna region, a 5.18-mm/year sea level rise has been recorded which may result in an 85 cm increase in sea level by 2050. World Bank’s recent study on the impact of Sea level rise in Bangladesh revealed that 15 to 17 percent of the country’s land area (22135 to 26562 square kilometers) will be inundated within next 100 years by a 100 cm sea level rise. This will result in 1 million environmental refugees which a country like Bangladesh might not be able to accommodate. This might lead to the migration of many people in order for them not losing their lives. This is also a major reason for increase of stateless people. Solution: A great solution for the displacement of coastal populations’ problem would be if the civil society could support and improve the collaboration between policy makers in Dhaka and the affected communities. Effort should be made by the authorities of Bangladesh to find domestic solutions to displacement. The Government of Bangladesh and indeed the world need to take heed of the climate displacement crisis that is unfolding in Bangladesh. This is not an impossible problem to be addressed at some point in the future; this is a problem for now. Rights based solutions to climate displacement must be developed and implemented immediately. Impact: The civil society has started to support and improve the collaboration between policy makers in Dhaka and the affected communities. They have made few policies and laws on controlling areas that are easily prone to natural disasters due to climatic changes. The government of Bangladesh has also started to show some effort by helping out the extremely poor people that are mostly affected by these disasters by climatic changes. IV. Issue #3: During the monsoon season, few famous systems carry about 1.7 billion tons of silts per year causing severe turbulence in rivers. This results in gradual undercutting of riverbanks and leads to erosion. Sea level rise will strengthen upward tidal forces which alternatively will slow down the velocity of upstream water flow and cause more siltation and undercutting of river banks. When flooding happens, people living near the coast have to move very far away from that area, if they want to save their lives. Strong wave action and tidal forces will be significant causes of erosion in coastal areas. As a result, siltation will raise the river beds and will reduce the intensity of water flowing as well as hamper the breeding and nursing ground of the major open water fishery in Bangladesh. As the force of upstream water flow reduces, seawater tends to flow upstream. Such intrusion of saline water would effect to the coastal agriculture and fisheries. Saline water is water that you cannot drink. So many people got to move away from that area so that they can live their lives. Solution: Tropical cyclones have major economic, social and environmental consequences for coastal areas. Up to 119 million people are on average exposed every year to tropical cyclone hazard. Worldwide, from 1980 to 2000, a total of more than 250,000 deaths were associated with tropical cyclones, of which 60% occurred in Bangladesh (less than 300,000 killed in Bangladesh in 1970 by a single cyclone). Impact: The death toll has been reduced in the past decade due largely to improvements in warnings and preparedness, wider public awareness and a stronger sense of community responsibility. Media and newspapers have also helped in alerting all the people in the prone areas before the disaster hits them. More from this assignment - Impact Your World Pageant Feminist Limb-it-less Possibilities Found at UCF International Volunteer Day

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Home NEWS Isthmus Cover Stories The case against Russ Feingold The case against Russ Feingold His maverick image is backed only with bluster and cheap shots by Christian Schneider October 7, 2010 × Expand In the movie Singles, the character of Steve (played by Campbell Scott) approaches a woman at a bar and says he'd really like to meet her, but really doesn't have a smooth "act." She promptly points out that his "not having an act" is his act. For 18 years, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's "not having an act" has been his act. He rolls up his sleeves and shows up at hearing session after hearing session, portraying himself as a "maverick" limited only by the constraints of his own conscience. Despite growing up in a wealthy home and benefiting from a Harvard law degree, Feingold, 57, swept into office with homey, humorous ads that portrayed him as the underdog. And Wisconsinites bought it. Even I voted for him in 1992, the first election in which I was old enough to vote. (This is evidence that the voting age should be 30, as I likely thought a "filibuster" was an implement used to clean a bong.) Eighteen years later, it appears Wisconsinites have caught on to Feingold's act. If the polls are to be believed, our junior U.S. senator is between five and 10 percentage points behind political neophyte Ron Johnson, who joined the race less than five months ago. Perhaps Feingold's sagging poll numbers are a byproduct of nobody believing his self-appointed "maverick" status. Naturally, conservatives flinch when they hear Feingold characterized in this way, because the evidence suggests that Feingold is a doctrinaire liberal. When was the last time you heard a liberal say, "Gee, I'm not sure about Russ Feingold - he votes with the Republicans too much?" A recent poll found that 47% of Wisconsinites think Feingold is "too liberal," while only 4% say he's "too conservative." Indeed, most of the time when Feingold opposes legislation, it's for not being liberal enough. For instance, Republicans opposed a recent banking regulation bill because they thought it went too far; Feingold opposed it because it didn't regulate the financial system enough. Similarly, Feingold has opposed several Democrat-backed free trade bills and voted "no" on authorizing military intervention. Contrast this with fellow self-proclaimed Republican "maverick" John McCain, who underperformed in Republican areas because of his perceived "independence." The only way Feingold can be considered a "maverick" is because he occasionally breaks ranks with progressives to vote with the Democrats. During the remainder of the election season, Russ Feingold will be accused of many things. But he should never be accused of lacking a sense of irony. Take, for example, the signature achievement of his 18-year tenure: the Hindenburg known as the McCain-Feingold Act, to "reform" campaign finance. Feingold is fortunate that the public views campaign finance reform as superfluous; if he were responsible for a similar disaster regarding a legislative issue people actually cared about, he'd be a national laughingstock. In the past six years, the Supreme Court has dismantled the law, which was supposed to keep money out of politics (how's that working out?). In three separate cases, the court has struck down major provisions of Feingold's law as unconstitutional. There are prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who have a better winning percentage before the Supreme Court than Russ Feingold. Feingold's law was meant to restore public confidence in campaigns. And yet, during his bumbling campaign of 2010, Feingold himself has done a yeoman's job undermining the Wisconsin public's faith in "honest" elections. When Ron Johnson launched his campaign, Feingold started the attacks early. When Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul indicated that he'd be comfortable repealing a portion of the Civil Rights Act, Feingold tried to use this imbroglio to smear Johnson as a racist. "[Johnson] hasn't even said he supports the Civil Right Act," Feingold said in a June 16 interview with Politico.com. That Johnson also said nothing to suggest he doesn't support the Civil Rights Act was of no concern. Other Feingold attacks have similarly fallen flat. On MSNBC's The Ed Show, Feingold essentially called Johnson a communist sympathizer after Johnson made the innocuous observation that jobs were leaving America for China. And Feingold attempted to bottle the hysteria over the BP oil spill by falsely accusing Johnson of wanting to drill for oil in Lake Michigan. In June, Johnson attended some meetings in Washington, D.C., including a meet-and-greet with lobbyists. Feingold's attack dogs went on offense. "By going out to Washington, D.C., to meet with lobbyists and special interests, Ron Johnson makes it pretty clear whose side he's on," shouted a Feingold press release. Ironically, earlier in the campaign, Feingold criticized Johnson for being a millionaire. Wouldn't that mean Johnson isn't beholden to special-interest money? Apparently, according to Feingold, Johnson is "corrupted" either by his own money or other people's money, depending on what week it is. Furthermore, it only me took about three mouse clicks to find a list of political action committee contributions Feingold has accepted during his time in the Senate. The tally of special interest contributions collected by Feingold: 1,096 lobbyist contributions totaling $1,868,908. This from the self-professed King of Campaign Finance Reform. It's these types of baseless attacks that dissuade good people from entering the political arena - much more so than the influence of money on campaigns. Feingold's contradictions regarding "clean" campaigns merely serve as an appetizer to the feast of follies he has served up in his campaign. For instance, in his first ad, Feingold labeled himself a "penny pincher." This from a senator who voted for nearly $1 trillion in "stimulus" dollars that nobody believes stimulated anything except for the GOP's electoral chances in November. In the same ad, Feingold pushes a plan meant to show how fiscally conservative he is; he once proposed denying U.S. senators pay raises. Set aside, for a moment, the infinitesimal sum that plan actually saves taxpayers. Feingold is trying to cash in on the unpopularity of the very Congress in which he serves. The algebra looks like this: vote for wildly unpopular legislation, tarnish the reputation of Congress, then try to score political points by running against the Congress that you aided in casting into disrepute. Or take Feingold's television ad, which he calls "On Our Side," in which he proclaims his allegiance to "regular folks" over special interests. Yet one of the "regular folks" featured in the ad is a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO. According to Project Vote Smart, Feingold had a 94% rating from the AFL-CIO until 2009. "Maverick" indeed. Of course, contradictions themselves aren't that big of a deal. They are embedded in the human character. However, if I publicly express condemnation for Jersey Shore, but actually watch it, nobody loses his job. Feingold's contradictions matter, and the public has wised up to his charade. Feingold is trying to run a race that convinces people he's the most serious candidate by pitching puerile smears against his opponent. He is attempting to prove he is above Ron Johnson by taking up residence beneath him. Which leads us to Feingold's most portentous irony: Let's call it the "Russ-22." In order to defeat Johnson, he's going to have to attack him mercilessly. In doing so, Feingold must shed the nice-guy carapace he's worn for two decades, and Wisconsin voters may forget the reason they grew to love him in the first place. Three reasons to vote for Ron Johnson 1. He doesn't need the job. We should vie for elected officials who have been successful out of office. In politics, not needing the job is the best qualification for having it. 2. He's plainspoken. Johnson has run into some trouble on the campaign trail for speaking his mind. You know he'll tell you what he thinks, because it appears he can do nothing but. 3. His boots are on the ground. Johnson has spent 20 years creating jobs in the private sector. Wisconsin needs that kind of résumé to turn its economy around. Christian Schneider, a regular contributor since April, blogs at christianschneiderblog.com. Isthmus Cover Story

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News Opinion Journal Junction Blogs Weekender Sports Ads Classifieds Jobs Extras CU Contact Us Local Columns « Wage hike not the answer State parks system is at a c...» Reducing wages would be economic suicide By Sean O’Leary , Save | Comments (4) | Post a comment | "Let's raise the minimum wage to $30 per hour, and then we'll all make a good living." - Delegate Larry Kump (R-Berkeley) as quoted by Russell Mokhiber at his Morgan County USA blog. Don't worry. Larry Kump was only being facetious. Kump has no love for the minimum wage, which he views as a counterproductive government intrusion into the free market - a position he shares with numerous state legislators, particularly Republicans, many of whom would also repeal West Virginia's Prevailing Wage law that requires contractors working on state projects to pay employees at a rate comparable to wages in the private sector for similar work. And they would like to enact "Right to Work" laws that would undermine union organizing efforts by freeing individual workers from the obligation to join a union even if a majority of workers at a given employer vote for unionization. What would be the direct effect of these actions? Wages for working West Virginians would be driven lower than they already are - quite a trick in a state where more than a third of jobs pay a poverty wage, which means that a full-time worker's income is less than $23,550, the federal poverty line for a family of four. So, why would Larry Kump and those like him do such a thing? Do they hate low- and middle-income workers, whose wages would also be undercut? Probably not. They probably don't sit around plotting ways to make West Virginans poorer. The reason they want to cut wages is that they're focused on the interests of employers. Employers see wages and employees as costs and, as such, things that should be minimized in the interest of maximizing profits, which it is hoped will lead to increased investment and trigger economic growth, making up in additional jobs what's lost in the incomes of workers whose pay checks are slashed. This is the delusion of "supply side" economic thinking that among conservatives produces a relentless hostility to wage growth. At a macroeconomic level they argue that "upward pressure on wages" is a precursor to inflation and, therefore, something to be thwarted by monetary and fiscal policy. At state and local levels they insist that increasing wages leads to government deficits, higher taxes and, most ominously, reduced competitiveness, which discourages businesses from expanding, hiring and locating here. But, just as similarly delusional conservative prescriptions for cutting government spending and deficits in the face of recession has proven disastrous for European countries, cutting wages does not produce economic growth, especially in West Virginia. West Virginia has long offered among the lowest wage rates in the U.S. We also have low utility rates, low property costs and low taxes. But, that hasn't produced job growth. Why not? Look at what companies do when wages are low and profits are booming. Since 2001, when George W. Bush was president, private sector after-tax profits have grown from 16 percent of GDP to 23 percent while labor costs - wages, primarily - have dropped by 10 percent. Meanwhile, the number of jobs in the U.S. economy remained flat and overall business investment has dropped by 20 percent. In other words, the proceeds of reduced wages usually go into generating equity and profits, not job creation, which sadly makes sense since three decades of business school theory has proclaimed that companies' only mission is to enlarge shareholder value. So, while labor once made up two-thirds of operating costs, it represents far less today. This drive to cut labor costs and wages has crippled West Virginia because, among all states, ours is the most dependent on wages to generate wealth for its residents. Even though West Virginia has nearly six-tenths of one percent of the U.S. population, state residents hold only four-tenths of one percent of the nation's wealth. That's a third less than the average American and the difference mostly consists of corporate equity, of which we are almost bereft. Consequently, when corporate profits and equity grow, West Virginians benefit far less than other Americans and, when wages are stagnant or declining, West Virginians suffer far more. That's why years of cutting corporate taxes in West Virginia and low wages have merely shipped lots of money out of state and out of our economy with little offsetting benefit in the form of jobs or economic growth. It's also why reducing wages in West Virginia even further would constitute an act of virtual economic suicide. There is good news, however. West Virginia can, if we choose, use our wage dependency to stimulate the economy to a degree other states can't. The point is neatly summed up in a 2012 study by the Economic Policy Institute, which showed that, if West Virginia were to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour to $9.80, the result would be an infusion of more than $300 million into the state's economy among the people who need it most, which in turn would lead to the creation of about 800 new jobs. Russell Mokhiber and others are starting an effort to make it happen. But, success depends on people stepping forward as candidates to run for the House of Delegates and the Senate against those who are so steeped in conservative dogma that it blinds them to the stark reality of West Virginia's failed attempt to discount its way to prosperity. Are you willing to take up the challenge, or do you know someone who would? - Sean O'Leary may be contacted at seanholeary@gmail.com. This column and others may be seen at www.the-state-of-my-state.com. Save | Comments (4) | Post a comment | Subscribe to Journal News I am looking for:

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Listen Live Thursday Morning Political Mix: Healthcare Techs In Hot Seat By Liz Halloran Oct 24, 2013 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Good morning. This is Washington, so there will be hearings. Today's centerpiece of congressional inquiry bears the title, "Affordable Care Act Implementation Failures: Didn't Know or Didn't Disclose?" See where this is going? The morning gathering will be the first in a promised series of GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings into the implementation of Obamacare and its well-documented challenges. The witness list is stocked with contractors in charge of the administration's snake-bit health care insurance sign-up website. Here's the lineup: Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president, CGI Federal; Andrew Slavitt, group executive vice president, Optum/Quality Software Services, Inc.; Lynn Spellecy, corporate counsel, Equifax Workforce Solutions; and John Lau, program director, Serco. We anticipate finger-pointing. The Associated Press reports that the contractors in testimony prepared for the committee will attempt to shift blame for problems to the administration. Late changes and lack of coordination, they say, bollixed up the system. Slavitt in his prepared testimony, according to the AP, "blamed the administration, saying that a late decision to require consumers to create accounts before they could browse health plans contributed to the overload. 'This may have driven higher simultaneous usage of the registration system that wouldn't have occurred if consumers could window-shop anonymously,' he said." You can read submitted testimony for yourself here. Meanwhile, a handful of Senate Democrats, including two — Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas — who face difficult reelection races in 2014, have called on the administration to lengthen the Obamacare enrollment period. At The Hill, Cameron Joseph writes that "Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, have signed onto Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's , D-N.H., push to extend the time in which uninsured people can buy insurance. Pryor also expressed concerns with the law's individual mandate — set to take effect next year — if the exchange website isn't fixed soon." Says Pryor: "I believe, given the technical issues, it makes sense to extend the time for people to sign up. In addition, the administration should state clearly how the enforcement mechanism will work if people can't sign up in time. We all want to see the law work, and I hope the administration will take a hard look at this reasonable suggestion." Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who has overseen the health care act's rollout, is expected to testify next week. Immigration Also this morning, President Obama will attempt to reintroduce immigration into the Capitol Hill conversation, after weeks dominated by government shutdown, default, and health care battles. The political bottom line, succinctly put by Marc Caputo in the Miami Herald, is this: "Obama jumps into immigration reform Thursday. Does this mean it's dead or alive?" Here's his analysis: 1) The president wants to make good on his campaign promise to get it done, and this is a chance to work with the House. 2) The president knows the House won't pass it. So he wants the proverbial cat to die on their doorstep. And he wants Hispanics to know where the body lies. The fact that GOP House Speaker John Boehner this week declared an immigration overhaul "important," did little to change anyone's perception of the political reality in the House. In his morning speech, the president is expected to deliver what his aides characterize as a call for Congress to pass "common sense immigration reform." Ted Cruz's Better? Other? Half With Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz's recent elevation to the national stage, it was only a matter of time before his wife, Heidi, 41, began sharing the spotlight. Here's today's New York Times profile of the "vegetarian with a Harvard M.B.A." who's a managing director at Goldman Sachs. Writes Ashley Parker: "She works for Goldman in Houston, where she lives with the couple's two young children, and as her husband's fame has increased — depending on the audience, he is among the most pilloried or revered members of the Senate — she has maintained a low profile." And, finally, here's what we've also been reading about: -Name change voter ID law confusion in Texas, reported by the Texas Tribune. -Maryland Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Gansler's supremely ill-advised teen drinking party attendance, reported by the Baltimore Sun. -Debate in Illinois over minimum sentencing laws, reported by NPR's Cheryl Corley. Oh, and we don't care about the rooms in Mitt Romney's new house, hidden or otherwise. Leave the man alone.Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. © 2016 KENW

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Clear Lake Officer Hospitalized By Tyler Mickelson Published: April 19, 2013, 5:32 am CLEAR LAKE, IA – A Clear Lake police officer is in the hospital this morning, after his squad car was rear-ended by a drunk driver. The Clear Lake Police Department reports Lt. Paul Chizek was driving east on Highway 18, near 20th Street, when Steven Orta, 21, hit him from behind. It happened at 2:11 a.m. Chizek was able to radio for help from other officers after the crash. He was taken to Mercy Medical Center Emergency Room, and is being treated for injuries to his head. Steven Orta was arrested for not having a license or insurance, following too close, and Operating While Intoxicated. His brother, Ryan Orta, 29, was a passenger in the vehicle. Ryan Orta took off running after the crash, but was apprehended by another Clear Lake officer a short distance away. Ryan Orta was arrested for Public Intoxication. The truck is registered in Ryan Orta’s name. Both men are being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash. We’ll have more information on Lt. Chizek’s condition when it becomes available. Related Posts Chain reaction accident in Charles City Wanted man arrested for trying to steal change at Clear Lake Serta Woman accused of using counterfeit money facing more charges Cops: Boston must stay in place amid terror hunt Police Converge On Watertown, Mass. Photo Gallery

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Specially Trained FBI Agents Will Help Kidnapped Women Heal By Carrie Johnson Originally published on May 9, 2013 10:43 am Transcript STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: When Charles Ramsey talked with a 911 operator about the woman he'd found, the operator had this question. (SOUNDBITE OF 911 CALL) UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Can you ask her if she needs an ambulance? CHARLES RAMSEY: You need an ambulance or what? She needs everything. She's in a panic. I bet she's been kidnapped, so you know, put yourself in her shoes. INSKEEP: Put yourself in her shoes. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports law enforcement is trying to do just that. CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: A specially trained team of FBI experts has arrived in Cleveland to interview Amanda Berry, her six year old daughter, and two other missing women who emerged from that white house on Seymour Avenue. FBI Special Agent Steve Anthony says they've got a lot of work to do. STEPHEN ANTHONY: Much of the effort that we have that we're going to be doing over the next several days is going to be focusing on them. How could we in law enforcement help speed the healing and the recovery process and treat them with the dignity and the respect that they deserve? JOHNSON: That means making sure those victims get the care they need - physical and emotional. For now, the FBI says, the young women are overwhelmed, secluded with close family members outside the public eye. But they are in touch with counselors who work for Kathryn Turman in an FBI office dedicated to helping victims of crime. Thurmond spoke with NPR two years ago about the people she serves. KATHRYN TURMAN: There are so many things that we can't do for them. We can't alleviate their loss, but we do try to provide for those practical needs. And a lot of it starts with information. JOHNSON: Mai Fernandez says law enforcement is better equipped to help nowadays. She leads the National Center for Victims of Crime, a nonprofit group that's advocated for victims for nearly 30 years. MAI FERNANDEZ: Police forces have gotten much more sensitive to it. Prosecutors have gotten more sensitive to it. And the idea that you need to work with this person as, you know, a fragile human being I think really the whole criminal justice system is looking more at what the victim's needs are. JOHNSON: And in this case in Cleveland, Fernandez says, there are really tough issues in play. FERNANDEZ: We have a child involved here. And the sensitivity around that is tremendous. This child has probably never really known anything but the captivity that they've been experiencing all this time. JOHNSON: In a way, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, imprisoned for more than 10 years, have already beaten the odds. The FBI opens an average of 80 child abduction cases every year, but only about half of those victims are recovered alive. FBI agent Steve Anthony. ANTHONY: These three young ladies have provided us with the ultimate definition of survival and perseverance. The healing can now begin. JOHNSON: Advocates and other young women who have lived through that kind of horror say they need privacy most of all, even though the whole country wants to hear their stories. Mai Fernandez... FERNANDEZ: Victims are resilient. People can come out of this and be healthy, productive human beings afterwards. But we need to give them the time and the space to be able to do this. JOHNSON: The FBI is working overtime to recover evidence from the house in Cleveland and undertake the delicate process of interviewing the victims about what happened there. FBI officials say they'll stay as long as they're needed. Authorities could file criminal charges against the men suspected in the kidnappings in the next day or two. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. DAVID GREENE, HOST: While three women were saved in Cleveland, other people do remain missing. INSKEEP: Cleveland alone has dozens of active missing persons cases - among them the case of Ashley Summers. The FBI previously thought her disappearance was connected to two of the women found this week. GREENE: She disappeared just blocks from where they did in 2007 at the age of 14. INSKEEP: A chance to call attention to those still missing came last night. A kidnapping survivor, Jaycee Dugard, happened to be honored last night by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. JAYCEE DUGARD: What an amazing time to be talking about hope, with everything that's happening. GREENE: She was missing for 18 years before she was found in 2009. INSKEEP: Now, of the three women rescued this week, Dugard said, quote: "These individuals need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world. This isn't who they are, it is only what happened to them." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.Related Program: Morning Edition on KRVSView the discussion thread. © 2016 KRVS

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For Thanksgiving, Debunk Your Family's Chain Emails By editor Nov 22, 2011 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email Many families serve up a helping of political misinformation along with the sweet potatoes. Be prepared with PolitiFact's handy guide to chain emails and other viral messages. Marjory Collins / Library of Congress Originally published on November 24, 2011 11:51 pm At Thanksgiving dinner, there's probably a good chance you'll end up sitting beside your uncle. You love your uncle, but you could do without all those chain emails that he forwards to you, the ones that claim the government is forcing you to get rid of your light bulbs, that "Obamacare" is going to put a tax on home sales and that President Obama fits the biblical description of the Antichrist. (Note to uncles: We're not singling you out. Chain emails get forwarded by aunts, grandparents and plenty of other relatives.) So as part of our Message Machine partnership with NPR, PolitiFact has put together this handy guide to chain emails and other viral messages. Hide it under the green bean casserole and you can pull it out if your uncle brings up the chain emails. You should start by telling tell him that the emails are nearly always wrong. PolitiFact has checked 104 claims from emails and rated 80 percent of them "False" or "Pants on Fire." Only 4 percent of the claims have earned a "True." The emails, heavy on exclamation points and ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, are typically sent by conservatives who dislike Obama. Lately, though, we have seen a new phenomenon on Facebook, where liberal supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement have been spreading messages, some of which aren't accurate. (More about them in a moment.) The chain emails cover a few broad themes: Obama is unpatriotic! E-mails have said Obama complained that the troops were whiners (Pants on Fire), that he refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance (False) and that he wants soldiers to take a loyalty oath to him rather than the Constitution (Pants on Fire). Democrats have passed a secret tax! Some recent emails claim that because of "Obamacare," monthly Medicare premiums will more than double by 2014 (Pants on Fire) and that home sales will be taxed 3.8 percent (Pants on Fire) to pay for the new health care law. Another one in this genre says Obama's finance team is seeking a 1 percent tax on all financial transactions (Pants on Fire). Perks of office. Another theme in the emails is that members of Congress get excessive perks. The emails say members of Congress get full retirement pay after one term (Pants on Fire) and that congressional staffers and members don't have to repay their student loans (Pants on Fire). The government is coming for your guns/health data/light bulbs! Some of the conspiracy theories are truly wacky. During the health care debate, one claimed that under the public option for health care coverage, people would be implanted with data-storing microchips (Pants on Fire). A more recent email claimed the government was mandating that everyone get rid of their existing light bulbs (Pants on Fire). Another email said you must list your guns on your tax return (Pants on Fire). We're not sociologists, so we don't speculate on why conservatives have been spreading most of the chain emails — or why liberals have recently adopted a similar technique on Facebook for messages supporting Occupy Wall Street. This week, we checked a widely circulated Facebook post that said 1 percent of Americans are millionaires compared with 47 percent of House members and 56 percent of senators. We found the numbers were off, particularly for the share of Americans who are millionaires (actually 9 percent), so we rated it Half True. Likewise, many people were posting a message that said Republicans in Congress have introduced dozens of bills on religion, marriage, abortion and gun control, but zero bills on job creation. We found that was ridiculously false because the blog post it was based on included bills from both parties and there was no category for job creation. We rated it Pants on Fire. The Facebook messages and the chain emails have this in common: They are spread by people who are passionate about their political beliefs. That's not a new phenomenon, of course, but what's different today is that people can spread their passion so quickly, to so many people, through emails and Facebook. They impulsively forward the emails and postings without bothering to see if they are accurate. So tell your uncle to stop passing along the false emails — or check PolitiFact first. But it would be great if he could just pass the mashed potatoes. Bill Adair is editor of PolitiFact.com and Washington bureau chief for the St. Petersburg Times. Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. Transcript STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: OK. Chances are you've had a family member send you and the rest of the family a chain email making strong political claims. Or maybe you've had a friend post a political claim on Facebook and you notice it's being reposted again and again and again by others. Since some of these screeds could be repeated at your Thanksgiving table, we wanted to check whether they are true or not, so we've brought in Bill Adair, who's made a special study of these chain emails. He is editor of the nonpartisan fact-checking website PolitiFact.com. He's also part of NPR's project we call The Message Machine. Hi, Bill. BILL ADAIR: Thanks for having me, Steve. INSKEEP: OK. Let's jump right into some of the examples that we're talking about here. Here is a chain email that you've looked up that involves President Obama's health care law, and there's a claim here that says: Under the new health care bill, did you know all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8 percent sales tax? Holy cow, I didn't know that. ADAIR: Because it's not true. This is a sort of classic genre of the chain emails that we checked. There's this sneaky tax that you haven't heard about that's going to get you. And the reason you haven't heard about it is usually it's not true or they're taking something that applies to a very small group, as in the case here. They're referring to a Medicare tax in the health care bill that affects only the wealthiest individuals and families and only their investment income, and say it's going to apply to everybody and all home sales. Not true. INSKEEP: Every home sale - OK. And that's normal for these chain emails you've found, isn't it? I mean, you found - what percentage of them as you've checked them over time have actually turned out to be accurate? ADAIR: Only four percent have been rated true. So it's a safe bet if you get one that it's not accurate. INSKEEP: Nevertheless, let's plow on and see what we come up with her. This has to do with Congress. Of course, Congress has an approval rating as low as it's ever been, and I'm sure it will be even worse after people hear this quote: Monday on Fox News they learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. What an outrage, if true. ADAIR: It is an outrage. This falls into another theme we see a lot, which is Congress is getting a lot of perks. But in this case it's not true. Members of Congress and their staff members have to pay back loans like everybody else. The only thing that's even related to this is a very small federal program that actually will pay back student loans as part of the compensation to recruit new employees - not what they're talking about here though. So that one got a pants on fire. INSKEEP: Where does a really specific claim like that come from? ADAIR: See, I think that's the genius of these chain emails, is they start with a germ of truth and then they twist it way out of proportion. And then the chain email will kind of take on a life of its own. I think of them like organisms. They'll evolve and facts will change slightly. They'll even take on defense mechanisms with lines like I checked this out and it's true, you know, I checked this on Snopes, and it's true... INSKEEP: Which is the fact-checking website. OK. ADAIR: And in fact, Snopes or PolitiFact say it's false. But, you know, it's a defense mechanism. INSKEEP: What they're saying is don't bother to check this out, I already did that for you. ADAIR: Exactly. Never mind the man behind the curtain. INSKEEP: OK. A lot of people have passed around a claim that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has sponsored zero bills that would lead to job growth. In fact, this blog post here has a bunch of numbers. Quote: Republicans have introduced 44 bills on abortion, 99 on religion, 71 on family relationships, etc., etc., and zero on job creation. Is that true? ADAIR: It's not, and this a lot of us saw on Facebook circulated by many of our liberal friends. But what they did was they took a statistic that was accurate overall for Republicans and Democrats and attributed it to just Republicans. The other big flaw here, though, is... INSKEEP: What is a bill for job creation? ADAIR: Exactly. And so they're saying there were zero bills for job creation. Well, it turns out that's not a category. So there are no bills in that non-existent category. But, of course, the Republicans would say that many of their bills involving tax cuts would lead to job creation, just as the Democratic bills in government spending and other programs are their job creation bills. INSKEEP: President Obama's so-called jobs bill is actually something that deals specifically with tax cuts, with infrastructure spending, and that sort of thing. ADAIR: And it does not show up in that non-existent category either. INSKEEP: There's one more that you've got here that maybe falls in a little bit of a gray area as I look at the numbers, but it has to do with Occupy Wall Street and with concerns about income inequality and specifically about the huge salaries that CEO are pulling down. And it says that if you compare the average CEO to the average worker, the CEO is making $475 for every single dollar the worker is making. Sounds pretty awful. ADAIR: It does, and this has truly gone viral. We traced it back to a paper that some students did for a professor many years ago - like six years ago. And in fact, we couldn't find sourcing for the comparison to other countries. The accurate part of the message is that the ratio is high in the United States, that CEOs obviously get... INSKEEP: They are making a lot more money than people. ADAIR: But here there's nothing to back up their number, and yet this is a message that has gotten forwarded again and again and again on Facebook. And, again, it's about passion. INSKEEP: But that's one of the reasons that I say it's a gray area, and it's an interesting and almost sad example, because you have people who want to make this point that CEOs are making a lot more. Whether you think it's good or bad, you can document that. And yet people go with far more exaggerated numbers that sort of discredit them even as they try to make the point. ADAIR: In social media it's so easy to just click share with all your Facebook friends. Why bother checking out the facts if it looks right, if it supports your point of view? People are forwarding it. And I think you can pass along falsehoods much more easily than you could in the past. INSKEEP: Well, I've been clicking on share with PolitiFact.com, and Bill Adair, thanks for coming by once again. ADAIR: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.View the discussion thread. © 2016 KUNM

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Learn about KUOW and the future of 88.5 Obama: Health Care Site Is Troubled; Affordable Care Act Is Not By Bill Chappell Oct 21, 2013 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email "There's no sugarcoating it: The website has been too slow," President Obama said at the White House on Monday. Obama said the health care system's online problems are being addressed. Evan Vucci Originally published on October 21, 2013 12:05 pm The website that's meant to allow Americans to shop and sign up for new medical plans under the Affordable Care Act isn't working as well as it should, President Obama says. But he promised that the problems will be fixed — and he said the Affordable Care Act is bringing many benefits that aren't tied to those problems. "Nobody is madder than me that the website isn't working as it should — which means that it's going to get fixed," Obama told a crowd at an outdoor address at the White House. Since it went into effect at the start of October, the new system's HealthCare.gov website has been the subject of numerous complaints, as many users reported problems creating an account or logging in. Others say they got confusing error messages. Acknowledging the problems Monday, the president said, "There's no sugarcoating it: The website has been too slow" and people have had trouble navigating it. The problems were "aggravated" by the high level of traffic to the website, Obama said. Update at 2:50 p.m. ET: Sebelius Will Testify On Hill After initially resisting Republicans' requests to testify about the Affordable Care Act in Congress this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will appear before a House panel discuss the problems with the website. NPR's Julie Rovner reports for our Newscast unit: "HHS officials said Sebelius had a scheduling conflict and could not appear at a hearing called this Thursday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. But with pressure building over problems with the website the federal government built to enroll people in 36 states, HHS now says the secretary will work with the committee to find a day for her or other department officials to appear as early as next week." As The Hill reports, House Speaker John Boehner and other Republicans have been pressing Sebelius to testify. "Americans are looking for accountability," Boehner said after the president's remarks today. Our original post continues: The HealthCare.gov website has attracted more than 19 million unique visits, the Department of Health and Human Services reported Sunday. But the agency acknowledged that the online experience has been "frustrating." An early attempt to address the online system's problems backfired, when "a virtual 'waiting room' " caused more confusion, HHS said. The president spoke in the Rose Garden at the White House in an address that began around 11:30 a.m. ET. He was introduced by small-business owner Janice Baker, the first person to enroll in the new health program in the state of Delaware. Baker said she is saving money on the new plan. Reading letters aloud with similar stories, the president said the problems aren't with the Affordable Care Act but with the website — and that those issues are being addressed. And he said the health care overhaul has already begun helping Americans, such as senior citizens who Obama says are now saving money on their prescriptions. "You may not have noticed them, but you've got them," the president said of such benefits. And, he said, "they're not connected to a website." The president also stressed that the signup process has just begun for the coverage plans, which are set to take effect in January. And he said his administration has added more staff to call centers to help people who have questions or problems using the system. "We've got people working overtime, 24-7," he said. Obama recited the phone number — twice — for those call centers: 1-800-318-2596. "You can talk to someone directly, and they can walk you through the application process," he said. A prominent link to that and other phone numbers was added to HealthCare.gov over the weekend. The Department of Health and Human Services says it is "defining new test processes to prevent new issues from cropping up as we improve the overall service and deploying fixes to the site during off-peak hours on a regular basis." If you're curious about the plans, you could also use NPR's Obamacare cost calculator, which we published last month.Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. © 2016 KUOW News and Information

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Does The Canadian Rail Explosion Make Pipelines Look Safer? By Marilyn Geewax Jul 12, 2013 ShareTwitter Facebook Google+ Email A police photograph shows burned and wrecked crude oil carrying rail tankers piled up in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, on Monday. Dozens of people died in the disaster. EPA/Landov Originally published on July 12, 2013 10:48 am When an oil-laden train derailed last weekend, it turned into an inferno that killed dozens in Lac-Megantic, a small town in Quebec. This week, the Canadian tragedy is morphing into something very different. It is becoming Exhibit A in the political case for building pipelines — as well as for opposing them. How could the same tragedy prove opposite points? Listen in to the debate: "With the ongoing increases in shale oil production in states like North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, it's likely that shipments of oil by rail could double again within a few years, significantly increasing the likelihood of a rail disaster in the U.S., like the one in Canada," Mark Perry, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote on the conservative research group's website. Those vast new supplies of oil should be moved through pipelines, not on tracks, he argues. At the same time, pipeline opponents say the rail catastrophe bolsters their real point — that oil and gas are simply too dangerous to transport by any method over long distances. Lac-Megantic proves that it's time to leave fossil fuels behind and move on to much safer wind- and solar-energy options, the argument goes. The Canadian calamity will increase "public consciousness of the dangers inherent in transporting oil and oil products," Andrew Leach, an energy economist at the University of Alberta, wrote in an op-ed essay. Moreover, it will lead to "increased calls for alternatives to oil rather than alternative means of transporting oil." The word battle, being fought out in blog posts and editorial pages, has a focus: the Keystone XL pipeline. The White House is still weighing the potential impact of building a 1,179-mile, 36-inch-diameter oil pipeline, which would transport Canadian heavy crude oil to the Texas Gulf Coast. In March, the U.S. State Department released a Draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement saying the pipeline would cause "no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed Project route." Still, the Obama administration has not decided whether to issue a construction permit while awaiting further study. "The State Department is going through the final stages of evaluating the proposal," Obama said last month during a speech about climate change. Pipeline supporters say that no matter what environmentalists want to dream about for energy in the distant future, the reality today is that the world is thirsty for oil. And that means oil is going to move — one way or another — from the wellhead to the refinery. And right now, Canadian oil production is booming, so it needs to get to refineries and global markets. As oil production has surged in North America, energy companies have increased the number of U.S. rail shipments of crude oil and refined petroleum products to 356,000 carloads in the first half of this year, up 48 percent from the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Perry of the American Enterprise Institute argues that as these shipments increase, dangers will multiply for people living near railroad tracks. "The Keystone XL pipeline makes perfect economic and perfect environmental sense, and it's only politics that will hold up its approval," he said. Pipeline opponents say the Lac-Megantic catastrophe should push Obama to commit the nation to building a new infrastructure dedicated to solar and wind power sources. Stopping Keystone now "prevents a massive piece of essentially permanent fossil fuel infrastructure from being established," wrote Chris Tackett, the social media editor for Treehugger, a website focused on "sustainability." That final report is not expected until at least late summer or early fall. If the project gets a green light from the Obama administration, the pipeline would be carrying 830,000 barrels of oil every day from Canada to U.S. refineries.Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. View the discussion thread. © 2016 Valley Public Radio

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Babylon & BeyondObservations from Iraq, Iran, Israel, the Arab world and beyond Babylon & Beyond Home EGYPT: Activist to stand trial in military court for tunneling into Gaza An outspoken critic of Hosni Mubarak’s regime is expected to be tried in a military court Thursday on grounds of crossing into Gaza through illegal channels. Magdy Ahmed Hussein, a journalist with strong Islamist leanings, was accused of sneaking last month through tunnels that link the Egyptian frontier with the Gaza Strip. The tunnels have become a growing nuisance for the Egyptian government. Israel, United States and European countries frequently have criticized Egypt for not doing enough to control the smuggling of weapons to the Hamas government in Gaza. Hussein’s wife, Naglaa Qalyoubi, told the press that her husband went to Gaza to show his support to the Palestinians during the war. She added that he spent a week there and met with a number of Hamas officials. He was arrested Saturday on his way back to Egypt through the legal Rafah border crossing. Hussein served as the editor in chief of al-Shaab (Arabic for "the people") newspaper, the mouthpiece of the opposition Labor Party in the 1990s. After instigating large and violent protests over a book that allegedly undermined the Islamic faith, the paper was closed down and the party frozen in 2000. Despite the blow, party leaders pursued their activism online, creating a popular political website. In the same year, Hussein was convicted and sentenced to a jail term for libeling a former agriculture minister and deputy prime minister. On his party's website, an anonymous commentator defended him, saying: "The Egyptian government gave us and Magdy Hussein no other choice than [crossing illegally]. Is there any 'formal' way we can go there and express our support to our people in Gaza? O, Egyptian government! What can we do so you can let us cross into Gaza through legal and respectable channels? You have closed all doors, so what can we do?" Egypt has a long history of referring civilians to military courts, where defendants are denied the right to appeal. According to some local human-rights advocates, 34 cases with civilian suspects were referred to military courts between 1992 and 2000. The trial of about 40 senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2007 stands as the last case when civilians were tried before military judges. Local and international human-rights organizations have dismissed such a practice as an explicit violation of human rights. —Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo Photo: Magdy Hussein in an image from his party's website.The type below the photo says: "The Struggler Magdy Hussein. What's his fault? Is it that he called for the dignity of each free Arab against the Zionist entity? Is it that he expressed the will of the Egyptian street, unlike the regime?" Credit: Labor Party Website P.S. Get news from Iran, Gaza, Israel and the rest of the Middle East in your mailbox every day. The Los Angeles Times distributes a free daily newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East, including the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can subscribe by logging in at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates" and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box. Comments Advertisement

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Ric Mango to kick off Long Beach summer concert series < Previous page Courtesy City of Long Beach Ric Mango has been performing on the beach since 1985, and came out of retirement to play next week’s show. “Ric Mango has been performing in Long Beach for decades, and he’s consistently our most popular act,” said Tepper. “He loves Long Beach — he has a real connection with the people here — and I couldn’t think of anybody that would be more appropriate to kick off this summer concert series.” Mango said that he got his start singing when he was just three-years-old. His uncle would take him from bar to bar in Brooklyn, and he would sing for the patrons. He gained entrance into performing arts school by winning a singing contest, and by 14, he had inked his first record deal. In 1962, when Mango was 15, he joined the rock ‘n’ roll group Jay and the Americans, and his career took off. The band was popular in the ‘60s, and was known for hits like “She Cried,” and “Come a Little Bit Closer.” Mango said they even opened for the Beatles when they came to the U.S. Even though he had solo projects as well, he continued to perform with the group for decades. “There was a time when I could say, ‘you don’t know me, but you mother loved me,’” said Mango. “Now it’s, ‘you don’t know me, but your grandmother loved me.” After 57 years, Mango said he decided to retire from performing due to health problems. But he gladly came out of retirement for Long Beach. “It’s been a great life and a great run,” said Mango. “But everyone has to know when their time is up.” < Previous page City of Long Beach NY 11561, Ric Mango, Long Beach Herald, Summer Concert Series Print

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Pizza Hut, Home Depot Deny Copying Black Keys Work Filed Under: Band, El Camino, Gold On The Ceiling, Home Depot, Lonely Boy, Music, Pizza, Pizza Hut, Power Tools, Songs, The Black Keys Musicians Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys pose in the press room during the 2012 MTV Movie Awards held at Gibson Amphitheatre on June 3, 2012 in Universal City, California. (credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorneys for Pizza Hut and The Home Depot are denying that a pair of ads improperly used music by The Black Keys. The Grammy-winning band sued the companies in June, claiming they used the band’s music to sell pizza and power tools. The companies separately denied the band’s allegations in court documents filed Thursday and Friday in Los Angeles. Each company is asking a judge to have the band pay their attorneys’ fees if they win the case. The Black Keys claim The Home Depot Inc. used elements of its hit “Lonely Boy” in an ad for power tools. The band accuses Pizza Hut Inc. of using elements of the song “Gold On the Ceiling” to sell a cheesy crust pizza. Both songs appeared on the rock group’s seventh album, “El Camino.”

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If minimum wage is raised, who benefits? Congress has started a debate on raising the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage. The Senate rejected a big hike Wednesday. By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / Keisha Walker, for one, is happy that Congress is at least debating whether to raise the minimum wage. For her, boosting it to $7.25 would mean earning an extra $1 an hour – enough to pay for eight months of groceries or perhaps a few nights out.An office assistant for a low-income apartment complex in Atlanta, earning $6.25 an hour, Ms. Walker is one of 139,000 Georgians who would benefit directly from a minimum-wage hike. A technical school dropout and mom in her late 20s, she scratches together a living, relying on her fiancé to pay major bills."They need to raise it if only to help people pay for [rising] rent," she says, returning by bus from taking her two sons and a nephew to football practice. "It's getting so you can't survive in this country." Such a raise looks unlikely, with the Senate Wednesday voting down a wage-hike amendment and a House committee poised to do the same. Still, the debate focuses attention on people at the very lowest wage rungs. When adjusted for rising living costs, those earning minimum wage make less per hour today than they have in the past 51 years. A glimpse at this low-wage workforce shows a broad blend of faces and backgrounds from teenage lifeguards to single moms, from immigrants to grandmothers, that, together, wage-hike proponents say, form an alliance of the chronically underpaid.But whether the fortunes of these 8 million Americans, earning less than $7.25 an hour, would rise or falter under the first government-ordered wage hike in 10 years is the broader debate spreading from restaurant kitchens on Capitol Hill to the grocery store aisles of Atlanta."The typical minimum-wage worker is not a teenager earning side money," says Isaac Shapiro, an associate director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank in Washington. "Most minimum-wage workers, those most affected by the wage increase and those just above the minimum wage, their earnings can really be vital to their household economics."Big contributors to household incomeSome 48 percent, or 3.5 million, are between 25 and 64 years old who, on average, contribute more than half of the income in their households, experts say. Raising the minimum wage is a $18.4 billion proposition that is supported by 83 percent of Americans, according to the Pew Center for the People and the Press."This is an issue that has to do with the fact that economic growth is not being shared equitably among all Americans," says a spokesman for Rep. George Miller (D) of California, who had introduced a minimum-wage bill last year.Lanky, with a wide smile and a tight-knit straw hat on his head, Thomas, a Liberian immigrant who prefers not to give his last name, worked for five years as a gas-station attendant, never making more than $5.15 an hour. It was so little money he had to quit. He went freelance, selling mattresses on the street from the back of his beat-up Chevrolet truck. He rents a room with a friend in a flop house. He sends his extra money back home to Liberia – or gives it to needy people in his neighborhood. "There's no way you can depend on one job anymore," says Thomas. "You have to get out there and hustle, have two or three different things going, to make it work. Everyone is suffering. They all tell you the same story."According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, nearly a third of the workers who start at minimum wage are still working at that rate three years later. A quarter, also like Thomas, stop working – or at least leave official payrolls. Thirty-nine percent move up to better wages.In Atlanta, working full time at minimum wage amounts to a third of the $32,000 a year it takes for a no-frills life, says the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Only six percent of Georgia residents hold low-wage jobs, while states like Montana, West Virginia, and Alabama have the highest rates, around 10 percent. Twenty-one states have set higher-than-national minimum wage rates.One reason even some Republicans are mulling the wage hike is that the number of single mothers making minimum wage has nearly doubled in the last 10 years. Of Americans making less than $7.25 an hour, half are over 24 years old, and about half are primary household earners. Sixty-two percent are white, 16 percent are black, and 17 percent are Hispanic. Nearly twice as many are women than men."The relative value of the minimum wage has fallen by nearly 20 percent," says Heather Boushey, an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Resarch. "These families are already living at the bottom, and you're talking about families who didn't have a lot of frills to begin with."For Ms. Walker, the Atlanta office assistant, rising child-care costs mean that her weekly paycheck is not enough to stay employed, at least when school is out, so she took the summer off to care for her two boys, Derick and Rico. That means she has learned how to cook and takes the bus. Her boys' football program is subsidized. Movie nights are out. Cookouts in the park are in."I'm lucky to have someone who can help out," she says. "A lot of people don't."One of them is Mary Davidson, a single, 50-something dry-cleaning clerk in Charlotte, N.C.. Rising gas prices forced her to look for work closer to home. She found a job at $6.50 an hour, and she took it.Going out to eat is out of the question. But she finds solace in her church choir, but feels guilty even there. Her income, especially working only 20 hours a week, doesn't allow her the 10 percent tithe that is expected."I'm making $6.50 – that's no money!" she says. "People should understand, especially people at the White House behind a desk – put yourself in my shoes. Pay my money for your bills. See if you can make it!"Are minimums counterproductive?But some economists say the minimum wage does more damage than good, and see its diminishing value as a sign of its waning importance. After all, they say, the number of people who would be affected by the wage increase has decreased from 10 million in 1996 to some 8 million today, while average wages have risen from $12 to $16 an hour since the last hike.In fact, they say, upping wages will only create incentives for businesses to hire fewer low-skilled workers – which is what happened when at least 146,000 restaurant workers lost their jobs after the last minimum-wage hike, according to the National Restaurant Association. Minimum-wage hikes sweep to victory: What does that mean for US workers? (+video) Minimum wage at $15 an hour: Would it help or hurt? Chicago implements $10 minimum wage. Other cities aim for $15 by 2020.

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Good Reads: From Chinese dreams, to the Tsarnaevs, to a QWERTY challenger This week's round-up of Good Reads includes a vague dream for the Chinese, the Boston bombers' connection to radical Islam, why Obama has been so slow to respond to Syria's civil war, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere not seen since the Pliocene era, and a new keyboard configuration for mobile phones. By Gregory M. Lamb, Senior Editor / Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press/AP A user tries out the QWERTY keyboard on a smart phone. China asks its citizens to dreamA nation confidently on its way to becoming the biggest economy in the world ought to be chasing its own special dreams. So Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has taken on promoting “the Chinese dream” as his personal motto, and the Chinese character for “dream” has been declared the “character of the year” in China. But what do Chinese think about when they dream? In “Chasing the Chinese dream,” The Economist points out the term’s vagueness is both an advantage and a difficulty, a meme able to be fitted to many goals. Militarists see it as more than just an “American dream” of middle-class prosperity; it’s their dream of a powerful China preeminent on the world stage. Democratic reformers see a move toward Western-style personal and political freedoms. US Secretary of State John Kerry recently tried to lasso the term in the service of better Sino-American relations, proposing that Chinese and American dreams merge into a vision of a “Pacific Dream” that the two nations pursue together. But where it’s all headed is uncertain: When a people are allowed, even encouraged, to “dream,” the process may set off a series of unintended consequences.How radical were the Tsarnaev brothers?What caused Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to carry out their bombing of the Boston Marathon? We may never get a definite answer. But in “The Bombers’ World,” Christian Caryl in The New York Review of Books digs for facts and theories and concludes that despite possible links to radical Islamists “there are many other details of the Tsarnaev brothers’ case that make it seem starkly unique, more of an outlier than something that can be easily slotted into a larger pattern.” Those particulars include the Chechen culture, which places a high value on family and “honor” (and put immense pressure on Tamerlan, the older brother, to succeed when at the same time he was failing). Among the unanswered questions: Why was this particular Chechen family unable to assimilate into American culture when other Chechens have?Stopping a humanitarian disasterThe sectarian war in Bosnia in the 1990s taught American presidents two irreconcilable lessons: First, US involvement is indispensable when it comes to stopping a humanitarian disaster. Second, a US president has little to gain politically from intervening overseas and plenty to lose if it goes badly. Just ask President George W. Bush, who ignored the lessons, invaded Iraq, and suffered the consequences. In “The Thin Red Line: Inside the White House debate over Syria,” Dexter Filkins of The New Yorker paints a grim portrait of US alternatives in Syria. (“All the options are horrible,” says one former presidential adviser.) Disturbing reports indicating that the Syrian regime is using poison gas, perhaps sarin, (cautiously and selectively to not rouse world opinion) have upped the stakes. President Obama has looked tentative, perhaps for good reason – drawing a “red line” warning against the use of chemical weapons but then being vague in assessing whether they have been used or saying exactly what the US response would be. “People on the Hill ask me, ‘Why can’t we do a no-fly zone? Why can’t we do military strikes?’ ” a senior US official says. “Of course we can do these things. The issue is, where does it stop?” A future with ‘baked in’ heatBryan Walsh at Time magazine is among a throng of scientists and journalists noting that the level of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere is about to pass a significant threshold: 400 parts per million. Why should we care? “The last time CO2 levels were this high was likely during the Pliocene epoch, between 3.2 million and 5 million years ago,” he points out. “The Earth’s climate was warmer during the Pliocene than it is today – perhaps by 2 to 3 [degrees] C – and sea levels were much higher. It was a very different planet than the one we’ve lived on so successfully for thousands of years.” Passing 400 p.p.m. means that warming effects of rising CO2 are already “baked in” to Earth’s future for many years to come. The Keeling Curve, which has measured and documented the rise in worldwide CO2 levels over the past half century, is “a roadmap for our future,” he says, “a future that will almost certainly be hotter and wilder.”A keyboard for fat thumbsKALQ is an effort to redesign a keyboard for mobile devices that better arranges the pattern of letter keys for the ubiquitous two-thumb system of typing. But can any new arrangement ever replace QWERTY, the more-than-a-century-old arrangement of letter keys on, first, typewriters and now computers and even tiny phones and tablets? “Fact of Fiction? The Legend of the QWERTY Keyboard,” a post at the Design Decoded blog at Smithsonian magazine, notes that the origin of QWERTY remains “a little foggy.” The popular notion that the keys were arranged so as to not jam the mechanisms of early typewriters may not be true. A new theory suggests the arrangement was a convenience for telegraph operators, who were among the first workers to adopt touch typing. Once early typewriter companies banded together and agreed on QWERTY, and set up training courses to learn the system, the die was cast. QWERTY has become what’s known in the design world as a “path dependency,” too entrenched to be replaced even by a superior system. Other letter arrangements have been proposed over the years, most notably the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard in the 1930s, but none have typed over QWERTY. Will KALQ be the first? China must end cyberspying on US industry, look to its own innovation FBI didn't tell Boston about Tsarnaev warning, says police chief US balks as Russia prepares to deliver missiles to Syria (+video) Earth's cooling came to sudden halt in 1900, study shows Pakistan says U.S. drone strike violated its sovereignty View all Global News Blog

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One person stabbed during brawl outside Polish-American club NASHUA, N.H. - One person was stabbed during a brawl outside the Polish-American Citizens club in Nashua early Sunday.A suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree assault, but police are not yet releasing his name.Witnesses said the fight began as a verbal altercation around 1 a.m. that spilled onto the street. Dozens of people were reportedly involved."I just heard a bunch of noises and then my boyfriend looked out the window and someone was bleeding," said Deborah Harrison.The club's bartender said there had been about 90 people on the dance floor prior to the fight. The hall had been rented by a local adult softball group to give out awards.The bar manager said when she went outside, there were beer bottles flying and she had to dodge bodies as people were fighting everywhere.At some point during the fight, one person was stabbed.The condition of the victim is unknown.

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So Burlington upholds permit for methadone clinic By: Associated Press SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The South Burlington Development Review Board has voted to uphold a permit for a proposed methadone clinic for heroin and prescription drug addicts.The board voted 4-2 on Friday to deny an appeal from the school district, which argued that the facility could bring crime and traffic to the proposed site near the city's high school and middle school.The center would close two other smaller clinics in Burlington and South Burlington.

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Europeans Plan Widespread Protests Against Internet Censorship Protests against Internet censorship will blanket Europe this weekend, while Germany and Latvia announced Friday they would put the brakes on signing a copyright treaty that has sparked controversy across the continent. More than 200,000 people have committed to attending rallies in 200 cities to protest the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or "ACTA." "The map of planned protests is just breathtaking," said Holmes Wilson, co-founder of anti-ACTA group Fight for the Future. "You've got tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in small cities, in countries where large street protests are not common." Proponents of ACTA say that the treaty will help fight global copyright theft. Opponents, fresh off the SOPA and PIPA battlefields, argue that ACTA will harm free speech on the Internet. They also accuse the treaty's architects of holding negotiations away from the public eye. "This is truly the Internet's Arab Spring," said Fight for the Future co-founder Tiffiniy Cheng. "People are rising up against anti-democratic laws that stifle individual freedoms. And they're organizing spontaneously, without leaders, using tools available to everyone." SEE ALSO: What is ACTA? | ACTA 'Is More Dangerous Than SOPA' Public opposition to the treaty has already struck Europe. Last month, thousands of people in Poland took to the streets in protest while the European rapporteur for ACTA resigned after calling the negotiation process a "charade." It appears some European leaders have been listening to ACTA's naysayers. Germany and Latvia's decision to delay signing ACTA puts them in league with Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who have also halted the process. A German foreign ministry spokesperson said that the country needed "time to carry out further discussions" about the treaty, the BBC reported. ACTA was signed by the U.S. and Japan in 2006. Australia, Canada, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea signed on last year and the European Union signed last month, but no country's legislature has yet ratified the treaty. ACTA will go into force when ratified by at least six countries. Would you hit the streets to protest ACTA? Is ACTA just as bad as SOPA and PIPA? Let us know in the comments below. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, richterfoto ACTA, europe, PIPA, Politics, protests, stop online piracy act, US & World, World

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Beirut Residents Share Photos of Car Bomb Attack Aftermath A car bomb detonated in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon on Friday, leaving at least eight dead and many more injured, according to reports from the scene. Immediately following the attack, Beirut citizens and journalists began sharing pictures of the chaos on social media, particularly Twitter. The motivation behind the attack is still unclear. Beirut has seen it's share of violence in recent history, with a civil war lasting from 1975 through 1990, a 2006 war with Israel and smaller-scale secretarial fighting. In recent years, though, it's been a generally peaceful country — Beirut, the capital, was even ranked the top place in the world to visit by The New York Times in 2009. To see a sampling of what Beirut citizens were sharing in the aftermath of Friday's attack, view our Storify below. WARNING: graphic content that may disturb some readers. [View the story "Beirut Citizens Post Photos of Bomb Attack Aftermath" on Storify] beirut, lebanon, Middle East, U.S., World

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Pastor of the Week Chatter That Matter Bishop Victor T. Curry receives the “Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker Award” Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker | 4/24/2014, 9 a.m. Bishop Curry, Southeast Director for National Action Network and Senior Pastor New Birth Baptist Church, Miami Receives “Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker Award.” PRNewsFoto/Bishop Victor T. Curry, New Birth Baptist Church Visionary, social activist and influential religious leader Bishop Victor T. Curry was presented the Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker award at the 16th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards held at the 16th annual National Action Network Convention (NAN) in New York City. The event is held annually in April to mark the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's death. The award also honors those who are dedicated to fairness, racial harmony and principles that reflect Dr. Martin Luther King's values of non-violence. The event was co-hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton and talk show host Wendy Williams. The guest speaker of the night was U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Curry is the founder and senior pastor of the New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith International in Miami. He is also the pastor of the St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church in Dania Beach, Florida which has over 13,000 members and 80 ministries collectively. The award was established in recognition of pastor, theologian, civil rights leader Dr. Wyatt T. Walker, known as the "Harlem's Renaissance Man" for his various talents and careers. The highlight of the evening came when Reverend Doctor W. Franklyn Richardson, Chairman of NAN presented Bishop Curry the award. Curry began his speech with "To God Be the Glory" and shared a personal story of his days as a dishwasher at a Denny's restaurant. Curry said his boss once told him that he was the best dishwasher Denny's ever had. Curry then shared that he was inspired to be the best dishwasher after learning of Dr. King's life. He encouraged the audience to dedicate themselves to their work to inspire others. Bishop Curry's extended ministerial portfolio includes The New Birth Broad Casting Corporation and the stellar award-winning WMBM/AM 1490, the only 24/hour gospel media outlet in South Florida, that reaches more that 1.5 million listeners in Key West, South Florida and The Bahamas. President and founder of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton appointed Bishop Curry as the Southeast Regional Director in 2013. As the president and general manager of WMBM, Curry's "Tuesday Talk" radio show that keeps people informed on such issues as politics, youth, the Stand Your Ground Law and other issues that affect the Black community. Also of interest A pastor who “seeks the kingdom of God” Bishop Curry inducted into North Miami Hall of Fame Featured Videos Miami Dade County Public Schools Tweets by @TheMiamiTimes Miami Times 900 NW 54th Street Fax: 305-694-6211 Publisher Rachel J. Reeves garth@miamitimesonline.com editorial@miamitimesonline.com © 2016 Miami Times, All rights reserved.

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Emergency crews work to clean up debris after severe winds across Victoria By Melissa Brown, staff Sat 17 Aug 2013, 7:52 AM AEST Emergency crews are working to clean up debris left behind by another severe wind storm that has swept through Victoria, uprooting trees and damaging buildings.The State Emergency Service (SES) says there have been more than 700 calls for help since the winds picked up yesterday.Winds reached 141 kilometres per hour in the Alpine region in the state's north-east and 105kph in the Grampians in the south-west.There is also widespread damage across Melbourne. One beacon on Port Phillip Bay recorded winds of 105kph.It is the second severe wind storm in Victoria in a week.The weather bureau's Peter Blake says it is not unusual for this time of the year."With the high pressure system well north, we're getting a lot of fronts coming up from the south-west and you get very strong gradients and hence the strong winds develop from there," he said."We're going to see strong winds again on Sunday morning but probably not quite the same strength that we had on the Friday."The State Control Centre's Mark Cattell says Emerald, Moorabbin and Narre Warren were the hardest hit areas near Melbourne.Mr Cattell says there were 121 requests for assistance in the state's mid-west. SES across Victoria on alert for damaging winds Homes remain without power after wind storm Trees down after high winds sweep across Melbourne More Stories

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EDITORS' BLOG Last Updated: Monday, 21 April, 2003, 04:32 GMT 05:32 UK McCartney calls for cluster bomb ban Sir Paul McCartney has called for a ban on cluster bombs being used in war, and insists only "time will tell" whether the coalition forces were right to go in to Iraq. Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live's Nicky Campbell, he described himself as a "pacifist" who had concerns about the way the war had been conducted. "I felt that the UN all agreed that Saddam should be made to disarm. They didn't agree on how to do it," he said. Along with wife Heather Mills, Sir Paul is a vigorous anti-landmine campaigner and has expressed his disgust at the use of cluster bombs during the fighting. "It would be great to outlaw these cowardly weapons," he said. "What happens after the war finishes is that it's the civilians - mainly women and children - who get blown up. "A lot of people agree that there are other ways to do it. I don't want anyone to fight anyone," he added. Jackson debate The interview will be broadcast on Monday to coincide with the release of the War Child Hope album. Featuring artists including Sir Paul, David Bowie and Cat Stevens - with his first pop song for 25 years - profits will go towards charities aiding children in Iraq. Sir Paul, who is currently touring the UK, also waded in on the debate on US star Michael Jackson, calling him an "unusual guy". "I feel sorry for the kids being brought up under those veils whereas I was keen to send my kids to ordinary school and just throw them into the lion's den," he said. Sir Paul McCartney "It would be great to outlaw these cowardly weapons" The cluster bomb controversy Music stars unite for war charity Paul McCartney UK tour: Your views New dates for McCartney tour McCartney's show back on McCartney sings for birthday bash Five Live

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EDITORS' BLOG Last Updated: Friday, 22 September 2006, 12:38 GMT 13:38 UK 'Alternate' Maria quits musical Williams has wished Connie Fisher "every success with the role" The actress hired to share the role of Maria in The Sound of Music with talent show winner Connie Fisher has left the Andrew Lloyd Webber production. Emma Williams, who previously starred in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, had been contracted to appear in the West End show in two performances a week. In a statement, however, Lloyd Webber confirmed reports she had "withdrawn her services" from the musical. Fisher, he said, would perform in all eight shows a week "unless indisposed". Lloyd Webber drew criticism following reports that an "alternate" Maria has been lined up to share performing duties with the eventual winner of BBC One's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? The theatre impresario subsequently defended the plan, saying it was "absolutely normal" and necessary to protect Fisher's voice from damage. Theatre school graduate Fisher will now appear in every performance In an interview with BBC News 24, 23-year-old Fisher, a former call centre worker from Pembrokeshire, said she "would love to do eight shows a week" if she was allowed to. Williams, whose other credits include the BBC's Bleak House and the West End musical Bat Boy, is said to have "lots of plans" for the future, according to her agent. But she declined to comment on reports that the actress had been angered by the decision to reduce her participation in the show from four performances a week to two. In her joint statement with Lord Lloyd-Webber, Williams said she wished Fisher "every success with the role". The Sound of Music opens at the London Palladium in November. According to the Daily Mail, more than �6 million of tickets have been sold. Lloyd Webber defends Maria plans 18 Sep 06 | Entertainment TV Maria winner Connie's promise Connie wins Maria talent contest London faces fresh musical wave How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

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UIS News The latest news and information WUIS Statehouse reporter Vinicky wins national award WUIS Statehouse reporter Amanda Vinicky recently won first-place honors in the annual competition sponsored by Capitolbeat, the national organization of journalists covering state and local governments. The award, in the radio in-depth reporting category, recognized "Electric Rate Shock," Vinicky's series focusing on how Illinois fared after electric utility deregulation. Read more>> Donna McCracken Sunday Star Parties for people with disabilities Three Sunday Night Star Parties for people with disabilities are planned – on September 23, October 21, and November 18 – weather permitting. All sessions will be held in the UIS observatory. The parties are free, but reservations are required and should be made no later than Friday, September 14. Read more>> Graduate student to address statewide conference Ken Davis, a UIS graduate student in Computer Science, will be among the presenters at the 23rd Annual Telecommunications and Public Safety Conference, to be held in October in Springfield.Davis is a systems and security analyst with the Sangamon County Emergency Telephone System Department. His presentation will focus on helping 9-1-1 center managers become familiar with networking and security concepts so that they can make better-educated technical decisions. Read more>> Visual Arts Gallery presents "Topological Synapses" UIS' Visual Arts Gallery begins its 2007 fall season with "Topological Synapses" -- a series of abstract, three-dimensional works by painter Ioan Florea. The exhibit opens Friday, August 31, with an artist's talk at 5:30 p.m., followed by an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m.Florea is a native of Transylvania and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Romania. His work is represented in several American and European collections. Read more>> UIS' popular Friday night Star Parties to resume UIS' popular Star Parties will begin for the fall on Friday, September 7, and continue every Friday night through October 26, weather permitting. Star Parties are from 8 to 10 p.m. in the UIS observatory. John Martin, assistant professor of Astronomy/Physics, will be the host. Read more>> Papers of Abraham Lincoln featured in PBS program John Lupton, associate director/associate editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln -- a project of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and cosponsored by the Center for State Policy and Leadership at UIS -- will be featured in the Monday, August 27, episode of "The History Detectives" on PBS. In the segment, program host Elyse Luray talks with Lupton about his assessment of a possible Lincoln document.WILL Channel 12 will broadcast the program at 8 p.m. Charter Communications customers who receive PBS out of St. Louis can see it at 9 p.m. Read more>> Peoria alumni invited to After Work Social Peoria-area alumni, as well as current UIS students, are invited to an After Work Social from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 29, at Uno's, located in the Mark Twain Hotel, 225 Adams in downtown Peoria. Read more>> Auditions set for fall production of Picnic The UIS Theatre Program will hold open auditions for the first production of its 2007-2008 season – William Inge's classic drama Picnic – on Sunday, September 9, and Monday, September 10, beginning at 7 p.m. both nights, in the Studio Theatre. Call-backs will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11. Auditions are open to anyone, with or without experience. Rehearsals will begin Sunday, September 16. Read more>> Lunchtime series will focus on the Mississippi River "Of Time and the Mississippi," a four-part Lunch and Learn Series, will be presented at UIS beginning in September. Each program will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the PAC restaurant. Participants may attend one or all of the programs; however reservations should be made at least one week in advance of the event.The programs are: Tuesday, September 11, "Of History and the Mississippi"; Tuesday, September 18, "Of Time and Ecology of the Mississippi"; Tuesday, September 25, "Of Time, Music, and Literature on the Mississippi"; and Tuesday, October 2, "Of Time and Commerce on the Mississippi." Read more>> Twenty-five new faculty join UIS Twenty-five new faculty members have joined UIS for the 2007 fall semester. Eight will teach in programs within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; six will teach in the College of Public Affairs and Administration; six in the College of Education and Human Services; two in the College of Business and Management; and three will teach in the library.See brief profiles of the newest faculty, as well as a link to a webcast of the 2007 Fall Convocation>> Community invited to join musical groups Members of the community who are interested in sharing their musical talents are invited to join the UIS Band, Chorus, and Chamber Orchestra, now gearing up for the fall semester. Auditions are not required to join any of the groups, and participants can earn academic credit, if desired. Read more, including the rehearsal schedules>> Public invited to comment about UIS UIS will undergo a comprehensive evaluation visit October 22-24 from a team representing its accrediting agency, The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In preparation for the visit, UIS is seeking comments from the public about the university.The Commission requires that public comments be sought as part of the reaccreditation process, and will consider these comments in determining continuing status for the university. Comments, which cannot be treated as confidential, must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. Read more>> Professor and alums take top honors in national competition Charles Wheeler, professor and director of UIS' Public Affairs Reporting program, along with six PAR graduates, were among the winners of the annual competition sponsored by Capitolbeat, the national organization of journalists covering state and local governments. Wheeler received top honors for magazine commentary, recognizing his contributions as a columnist for Illinois Issues magazine. The six PAR alumni won a total of 10 awards, including four firsts. Also at the conference, three PAR graduates were elected to the Capitolbeat board.Wheeler noted that in the seven-year history of the Capitolbeat awards, PAR alums have won 41 of them, including 13 firsts. Read more>> Total lunar eclipse will occur August 28 A total lunar eclipse will be visible in the Springfield area, weather permitting, on Tuesday morning, August 28. Locally, the event will begin at 3:51 a.m. (CDT); totality will last until 6:23 a.m. Last contact with the earth's shadow will be at 7:24 a.m. (CDT). Charles Schweighauser, professor of astronomy and physics at UIS, said that if the weather is clear the eclipse can be viewed from anywhere the moon is visible using binoculars or a telescope, as well as with the unaided eye. The UIS observatory will not be open for the event. Read more>> Grad student is named Elder Abuse Caseworker of the Year Melissa Ross, a graduate student in the Human Services program at UIS, has been named 2007 Elder Abuse Caseworker of the Year. Employed with Senior Services of Central Illinois for nearly two years, Ross responds to intakes of alleged abuse cases and investigates the allegations.She said, "While I'm happy to receive this award, I am only doing my job. I really care about this issue and hope to be a great advocate for seniors in central Illinois." In conjunction with her award, Ross will attend a national conference on adult protective services this fall. Read more>> WUIS is first station in Springfield to go digital WUIS-WIPA, the local NPR affiliate at UIS, officially launched its digital signal on August 7, becoming the first radio station in Springfield to offer clearer sound and the possibility of more than one program stream.Bill Wheelhouse, station general manager, noted, "Even though years ago people were skeptical that anyone would listen to FM radio, FM ended up revolutionizing AM listening. In the same way, we expect digital to be the wave of the future."UIS Chancellor Richard Ringeisen said, "This is an important milestone for WUIS and the university. I'm especially excited about the learning possibilities for our students interested in journalism and broadcasting." Read more>> Cavalry band to present concert The 10th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry Regiment Band – a recreation of the original Civil War-era band – will perform in concert at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 4, in Union Park Plaza, across from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The concert is free and open to the public. The band is an affiliated ensemble of UIS Music. Read more>> UIS receives grant to expand campus recycling efforts Recycling efforts at UIS will be supported by a $27,550 grant from Opportunity Returns, a program initiated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to divert recyclable materials from landfills and to expand and enhance the state's recycling collection and processing infrastructure. UIS will use the grant to place collection bins at locations not previously served and to hire a recycling coordinator for the campus. Matching funds will come from UIS' Division of Student Affairs.UIS faculty members Tih-Fen Ting and Marc Klingshirn co-wrote the grant last fall with the help of student group SAGE (Students Allied for a Greener Earth). Read more>> Distinguished Lincoln Scholar Phillip Shaw Paludan dies Phillip Shaw Paludan, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War and historian at UIS, died August 1 after struggling with a long illness. Dr. Paludan held UIS' first distinguished chair – the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies – established in 2001.Speaking on behalf of the entire campus community, Chancellor Richard Ringeisen expressed deep sadness over Dr. Paludan's death. "It was a great privilege to count Phil Paludan among our faculty and to know him for the exceptional human being that he was," Ringeisen said. "His presence raised the stature of this institution, and so we are honored to have had him as long as we did."Margo Duley, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, noted that Paludan was "generous of his time and expertise with the undergraduate and graduate students who studied with him, and took his teaching responsibilities with great seriousness." Read more>> Posted by Search Blog: News UIS unveils statue of young Abraham Lincoln UIS breaks ground on first-ever student union building on campus More than 1,100 earn degrees at 45th UIS Commencement ceremony UIS dedicates new facilities to train DCFS investigators and first responders UIS to hold 45th commencement ceremony on May 14 in downtown Springfield Blog Archive WUIS Statehouse reporter Vinicky wins national awa... Visual Arts Gallery presents "Topological Synapses... Lunchtime series will focus on the Mississippi Riv... Professor and alums take top honors in national co... Grad student is named Elder Abuse Caseworker of th... WUIS is first station in Springfield to go digital... UIS receives grant to expand campus recycling effo... Distinguished Lincoln Scholar Phillip Shaw Paludan...

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Kid Rock’s ‘Made in Detroit’ T-Shirts Aren’t Actually Made in Detroit By Aylin Zafar @azafarFeb. 07, 2012 Share Made in Detroit RelatedSusan Tompor: Kid Rock's clothing line says 'Made in Detroit' -- but isn't The Detroit Free PressKid Rock’s shirts not always ‘Made in Detroit’ Washington Post Email Kid Rock is proud of his city, and he’s quick to represent it any chance he gets. The singer has done many a good deed to help Detroit’s struggling economy, including resurrecting the Made in Detroit clothing brand after it went out of business in 2005. However, a new report from Susan Tompor of The Detroit Free Press reveals that the brand’s T-shirts are not actually made in Detroit, but rather the Dominican Republic, India, Honduras and even Ohio. The company’s story is a poetic one, and it takes its hometown seriously, according to its website: “It was hatched in 1991 as a spark for a city that’d long been left for dead. It was a nod to the backbone that made this lace unlike another.” The site goes on to explain that the brand was brought out of bankruptcy in 2005 by Kid Rock, how has now “refueled” the brand, writing “It’s no wonder that an artist who stands for Detroit wouldn’t stand by when another bit of his city was taken down.” PHOTOS: Detroit’s Hair Wars Unfortunately, while the line exhibits a lot of pride, it’s not exactly keeping things in-house. Tompor writes that many of the Made in Detroit shirts no longer have labels to tell you where they’re being made, either. The company currently uses eight to ten different manufacturers, and often aren’t totally sure where exactly the shirts were made. Operations manager Tommy Dubak explains that though making shirts in the U.S. will be more expensive, it’s something the company is working toward. “We’re a small company, and we’re trying to do good for Michigan,” he told the Free Press. MORE: The Tragedy of Detroit

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