title: Knowledge management

text: A third proposed framework distinguishes between the exploratory creation of "new knowledge" (i.e., innovation) vs. the transfer or exploitation of "established knowledge" within a group, organisation, or community. Collaborative environments such as communities of practice or the use of social computing tools can be used for both knowledge creation and transfer.


title: Knowledge management

text: Knowledge may be accessed at three stages: before, during, or after KM-related activities. Organisations have tried knowledge capture incentives, including making content submission mandatory and incorporating rewards into performance measurement plans. Considerable controversy exists over whether such incentives work and no consensus has emerged.


title: Knowledge management

text: One strategy to KM involves actively managing knowledge (push strategy). In such an instance, individuals strive to explicitly encode their knowledge into a shared knowledge repository, such as a database, as well as retrieving knowledge they need that other individuals have provided (codification). Another strategy involves individuals making knowledge requests of experts associated with a particular subject on an ad hoc basis (pull strategy). In such an instance, expert individual(s) provide insights to requestor (personalisation). When talking about strategic knowledge management, the form of the knowledge and activities to share it defines the concept between codification and personalization. The form of the knowledge means that it’s either tacit or explicit. Data and information can be considered as explicit and know-how can be considered as tacit.


title: Knowledge management

text: Hansen et al. defined the two strategies (codification and personalisation). Codification means a system-oriented method in KM strategy for managing explicit knowledge with organizational objectives. Codification strategy is document-centered strategy, where knowledge is mainly codified as “people-to-document” method. Codification relies on information infrastructure, where explicit knowledge is carefully codified and stored. Codification focuses on collecting and storing codified knowledge in electronic databases to make it accessible. Codification can therefore refer to both tacit and explicit knowledge. In contrast, personalisation encourages individuals to share their knowledge directly. Personification means human-oriented KM strategy where the target is to improve knowledge flows through networking and integrations related to tacit knowledge with knowledge sharing and creation. Information technology plays a less important role, as it only facilitates communication and knowledge sharing.


title: Knowledge management

text: These categories overlap. Workflow, for example, is a significant aspect of a content or document management systems, most of which have tools for developing enterprise portals.


title: Knowledge management

text: Proprietary KM technology products such as Lotus Notes defined proprietary formats for email, documents, forms, etc. The Internet drove most vendors to adopt Internet formats. Open-source and freeware tools for the creation of blogs and wikis now enable capabilities that used to require expensive commercial tools.


title: Knowledge management

text: KM is driving the adoption of tools that enable organisations to work at the semantic level, as part of the Semantic Web. Some commentators have argued that after many years the Semantic Web has failed to see widespread adoption, while other commentators have argued that it has been a success.


title: Knowledge management

text: Just like knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing, the term "knowledge barriers" is not a uniformly defined term and differs in its meaning depending on the author. Knowledge barriers can be associated with high costs for both companies and individuals.


title: Knowledge management

text: Knowledge retention is part of knowledge management. It helps convert tacit form of knowledge into an explicit form. It is a complex process which aims to reduce the knowledge loss in the organization. Knowledge retention is needed when expert knowledge workers leave the organization after a long career. Retaining knowledge prevents losing intellectual capital.


title: Knowledge management

text: Knowledge retention projects are usually introduced in three stages: decision making, planning and implementation. There are differences among researchers on the terms of the stages. For example, Dalkir talks about knowledge capture, sharing and acquisition and Doan et al. introduces initiation, implementation and evaluation. Furthermore, Levy introduces three steps (scope, transfer, integration) but also recognizes a “zero stage” for initiation of the project.


title: Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice

text: Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Ciro René Maria di Savoia (born 22 June 1972) is a member of the House of Savoy. He is the son and heir of Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy and only male-line grandson of Umberto II, the last King of Italy. As heir-apparent to the disputed headship of the House of Savoy, Emanuele Filiberto also styles himself as "Prince of Piedmont".


text: Emanuele Filiberto grew up as an exile from Italy, because until November 2002 the Italian constitution prohibited the male issue of the Savoy kings of Italy from entering or staying on Italian territory. Since returning to Italy, he has made many appearances on national television, including his participation as a contestant in "Ballando con le stelle" (the Italian version of "Dancing with the Stars"), and the Sanremo Music Festival.


text: Emanuele Filiberto was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the only child of Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, a disputed head of the House of Savoy, and his wife, Marina Doria, a Swiss former water ski champion.


text: On 10 November 2002, he accompanied his father and mother to Italy, following revocation of the provision in the Italian constitution that forbade the male Savoy descendants of kings of Italy from setting foot in the country. On the three-day trip, he accompanied his parents on a visit to the Vatican for a 20-minute audience with Pope John Paul II. He also appeared in a TV commercial for a brand of olives, in which he said they made you "feel like a king".


text: On 10 July 2003, his engagement to Clotilde Courau, a French actress, was announced. The couple married on 25 September of that year at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. Among the 1,200 guests at the wedding were Pierre Cardin and Valentino Garavani, who had designed the wedding dress.


text: The Savoy family lives between Paris and Monte Carlo, in the principality of Monaco, Geneva and Umbertide, in the province of Perugia.


text: Emanuele Filiberto created the "Emmanuele Filiberto Charity Fund" and the "Prince Foundation of Venice", born in 2001. He also deals with the "Prize of Venice Prize".


text: As the chairman of the Dynastic Orders of Savoy, he is involved with a number of charities. In 2018, the Orders in fact supported several charitable works around the world, worth over 800,000 Euros. In 2021 more than 800,000 Euros was raised, all of which was used for charitable works around Italy and the world.


text: In July 2009 he made his contribution to the ceremonies for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy by inaugurating in Cortina d'Ampezzo the exhibition "Casa Savoia, storia di una Famiglia italiana", promoted by the "Prince of Venice Foundation". In the exhibition there are about 150 objects that belonged to the kings and queens of Italy. The event was sponsored by the Ministry of Cultural Goods and Activities and the Veneto Region.


text: Emanuele Filiberto stigmatized the attacks of the Northern League on the unification of Italy, launching his project for the celebrations of 2011.


text: The Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy, which Emanuele Filiberto is chairman of, contributes to a project of child surgery on the ships of Mercy Ships, active in the most inaccessible areas of the African continent. The project will started in early 2022 and 264 surgeries are planned for 197 patients in order to improve facial maxillo problems caused by labial and palate cancers that afflict many regions of Africa. This project essentially concerns children under the age of 17. A detailed report will be delivered to our Grand Chancellery by the international organization at the end of the 120 days scheduled for the mission and we will share the results with our awardees, our supporters and with all the readers of this official website of the Dinactic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy.


text: The Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy has "adopted” a room for one year at the Associazione Peter Pan Onlus, which hosts families of children with cancer in Rome. This was made possible by the contribution of all the Dames and Knights of the Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy. In addition to this, thanks to the generous support of two Thai members of the Savoy Knightly Forces, it was possible to offer an additional room within the same facility in 2020. The room, called “"Il rifugio di Gianni e Michele"” (Gianni and Michele’s refuge) hosted a family from Montenegro, the birthplace of H.M. Queen Elena, and is still occupying it because of the continuing treatment of a seven-year-old boy, who is being cared for at the haematology ward of the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome. Another room, called “"Il colle del gigliotigrato"” (the hill of the striped lily), hosted two Italian families from Apulia and Sicily. The children, aged five and six respectively, were treated in the oncology ward of the same hospital. The Grand Chancellery of the Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy, at the instigation of H.R.H. the Grand Master and H.R.H. Prince Emanuele Filiberto, has decided to renew the annual lease for 2021 and we hope that, thanks to your precious support, it will be possible to raise further funds to pay for a second room.


text: Emanuel Filiberto over saw the Mus-e Project where five cities across Italy (Turin, Milan, Rome, Fermo and Copertino in the province of Lecce) and over 250 children are involved in the Mus-e Project, which the Dynastic Orders of the House of Savoy have decided to support for the 2021/22 school year. This choice was made in order to give hope and moments of creativity to all these children who, also due to the Covid emergency, have gone through a particularly difficult period and are only now regaining confidence in the future.


text: Emanuel Filiberto as chairman of the Dynastic orders of Savoy has often stepped in for his father Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, the Grand master of the family orders which include, Civil Order of Savoy, Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, as he is head of the Royal House of Savoy. This means that the role of investing new knights into the orders for which ever motivational reason has fallen to Emanuel Filiberto. The role of electing these knights falls to the Junta. The Junta is responsible for voting in new Knight or Dame to the dynastic order on behalf of the grand master, Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples. There are always five members of the Junta to ensure that there is never an equal count in votes for and against a new possible new Knights or Dames.


text: As of 2022, Emanuele Filberto has been leading an effort to reclaim the family jewels belonging to the House of Savoy. The jewels are estimated to be worth $335 million and have been held by the Italian government since the abolition of the monarchy in 1946.


text: In 2015 Emanuele Filiberto engaged in a public spat on Twitter with aristocratic journalist Beatrice Borromeo who broke the story of his father's confession on video regarding the death of Dirk Hamer. Vittorio Emanuele had sued the newspaper for defamation, but in 2015 after it won the case, Borromeo tweeted <nowiki>"</nowiki>Vincere una causa è sempre piacevole, ma contro Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia la goduria è doppia! ("Winning a case is always nice, but against Victor Emmanuel of Savoy there is double the pleasure"), and "caro @efsavoia goditi questa sentenza" ("dear @efsavoia enjoy this judgement") which provoked Emanuele Filiberto to defend his father. She had earlier confronted him on camera with a copy of a book on the murder by Hamer's sister, whose preface she had written.


text: In 2018, following the release of polling data by the "Istituto Piepoli" that showed 15 percent of Italians favoured the formation of a royalist party and eight percent supported him as future king, Emanuele Filiberto said he was contemplating the launch of a political party to advocate for the restoration of the monarchy in Italy.


text: Emanuele Filiberto is, by strict primogeniture in the male-line, the heir apparent of the House of Savoy, Italy's former ruling dynasty. In June 2006 his distant cousin Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta, declared himself to be head of the house and rightful Duke of Savoy, maintaining that Vittorio Emanuele had forfeited his dynastic rights when he married Emanuele Filiberto's mother, Marina Ricolfi Doria, in 1971 without the legally required permission of his father and sovereign-in-exile, Umberto II. Emanuele Filiberto and his father applied for judicial intervention to forbid Amedeo from using the title "Duke of Savoy". In February 2010, the court of Arezzo ruled that the Duke of Aosta and his son must pay damages totalling 50,000 euros to their cousins and cease using the surname "Savoy" instead of "Savoy-Aosta". The Duke of Aosta appealed the ruling and the dynastic dispute is still unresolved.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide (or acrylic amide) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH=CHC(O)NH. It is a white odorless solid, soluble in water and several organic solvents. From the chemistry perspective, acrylamide is a vinyl-substituted primary amide (CONH). It is produced industrially mainly as a precursor to polyacrylamides, which find many uses as water-soluble thickeners and flocculation agents. Acrylamide forms in burnt areas of food, particularly starchy foods like potatoes, when cooked with high heat, above . Acrylamide is highly toxic, linked to cancer in animal testing though not likely to be carcinogenic for humans, but its main derivative polyacrylamide is nontoxic. The possibility that this innocuous polymer contains traces of its hazardous precursor has long attracted attention. Because acrylamide is volatile and hazardous, it is mainly handled as an aqueous solution.


title: Acrylamide

text: This reaction is catalyzed by sulfuric acid, various metal salts, and the enzyme nitrile hydratase. In 2008, an estimated 750,000,000 kg of polyacrylamide were produced, mainly using the enzymatic route.


title: Acrylamide

text: The majority of acrylamide is used to manufacture various polymers, especially polyacrylamide. This water-soluble polymer, which has very low toxicity, is widely used as thickener and flocculating agent. These functions are valuable in the purification of drinking water, corrosion inhibition, mineral extraction, and paper making. Polyacrylamide gels are routinely used in medicine and biochemistry for purification and assays.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide can arise in some cooked foods via a series of steps by the reaction of the amino acid asparagine and glucose. This condensation, one of the Maillard reactions, followed by dehydrogenation produces "N"-(-glucos-1-yl)--asparagine, which upon pyrolysis generates some acrylamide.


title: Acrylamide

text: The discovery in 2002 that some cooked foods contain acrylamide attracted significant attention to its possible biological effects. IARC, NTP, and the EPA have classified it as a probable carcinogen. Although epidemiological studies (as of 2019) suggest that dietary acrylamide consumption does not significantly increase people's risk of developing cancer, genomic analysis has revealed widespread contribution of acrylamide exposure to human carcinogenesis.


title: Acrylamide

text: According to the EFSA, the main toxicity risks of acrylamide are "Neurotoxicity, adverse effects on male reproduction, developmental toxicity and carcinogenicity". However, according to their research, there is no concern on non-neoplastic effects. Furthermore, while the relation between consumption of acrylamide and cancer in rats and mice has been shown, it is still unclear whether acrylamide consumption has an effect on the risk of developing cancer in humans, and existing epidemiological studies in humans are very limited and do not show any relation between acrylamide and cancer in humans. Food industry workers exposed to twice the average level of acrylamide do not exhibit higher cancer rates.


title: Acrylamide

text: The Heat-generated Food Toxicants (HEATOX) Project was a European Commission-funded multidisciplinary research project running from late 2003 to early 2007. Its objectives were to "estimate health risks that may be associated with hazardous compounds in heat-treated food, [and to] find cooking/processing methods that minimize the amounts of these compounds, thereby providing safe, nutritious, and high-quality food-stuffs." It found that "the evidence of acrylamide posing a cancer risk for humans has been strengthened," and that "compared with many regulated food carcinogens, the exposure to acrylamide poses a higher estimated risk to European consumers." HEATOX sought also to provide consumers with advice on how to lower their intake of acrylamide, specifically pointing out that home-cooked food tends to contribute far less to overall acrylamide levels than food that was industrially prepared, and that avoiding overcooking is one of the best ways to minimize exposure at home.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide is classified as an extremely hazardous substance in the United States as defined in Section 302 of the U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (42 U.S.C. 11002), and is subject to strict reporting requirements by facilities which produce, store, or use it in significant quantities.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide is considered a potential occupational carcinogen by U.S. government agencies and classified as a Group 2A carcinogen by the IARC. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have set dermal occupational exposure limits at 0.03 mg/m over an eight-hour workday.


title: Acrylamide

text: The American Cancer Society says that laboratory studies have shown that acrylamide is likely to be a carcinogen, but that evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that dietary acrylamide is unlikely to raise the risk of people developing cancer.


title: Acrylamide

text: The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a clearinghouse for information about acrylamide that includes a database of researchers and data providers; references for research published elsewhere; information updates about the current status of research efforts; and updates on information relevant to the health risk of acrylamide in food.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide is also a skin irritant and may be a tumor initiator in the skin, potentially increasing risk for skin cancer. Symptoms of acrylamide exposure include dermatitis in the exposed area, and peripheral neuropathy.


title: Acrylamide

text: Laboratory research has found that some phytochemicals may have the potential to be developed into drugs which could alleviate the toxicity of acrylamide.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide is metabolized to the genotoxic derivative glycidamide. On the other hand, acrylamide and glycidamide can be detoxified via conjugation with glutathione.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide was discovered in foods, mainly in starchy foods, such as potato chips (UK: "potato crisps"), French fries (UK: "chips"), and bread that had been heated higher than . Production of acrylamide in the heating process was shown to be temperature-dependent. It was not found in food that had been boiled, or in foods that were not heated.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide has been found in roasted barley tea, called "mugicha" in Japanese. The barley is roasted so it is dark brown prior to being steeped in hot water. The roasting process produced 200–600 micrograms/kg of acrylamide in mugicha. This is less than the >1000 micrograms/kg found in potato crisps and other fried whole potato snack foods cited in the same study and it is unclear how much of this is ingested after the drink is prepared. Rice cracker and sweet potato levels were lower than in potatoes. Potatoes cooked whole were found to have significantly lower acrylamide levels than the others, suggesting a link between food preparation method and acrylamide levels.


title: Acrylamide

text: Acrylamide levels appear to rise as food is heated for longer periods of time. Although researchers are still unsure of the precise mechanisms by which acrylamide forms in foods, many believe it is a byproduct of the Maillard reaction. In fried or baked goods, acrylamide may be produced by the reaction between asparagine and reducing sugars (fructose, glucose, etc.) or reactive carbonyls at temperatures above .


title: Acrylamide

text: On April 24, 2002, the Swedish National Food Administration announced that acrylamide can be found in baked and fried starchy foods, such as potato chips, breads, and cookies. Concern was raised mainly because of the probable carcinogenic effects of acrylamide. Sales of chips in Sweden decreased by 30–50 percent during the following three days after the announcement.


title: Acrylamide

text: On August 26, 2005, California attorney general Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit against four makers of french fries and potato chips – H.J. Heinz Co., Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods Inc., and Lance Inc. – to reduce the risk to consumers from consuming acrylamide. The lawsuit was settled on August 1, 2008, with the food producers agreeing to cut acrylamide levels to 275 parts per billion in three years, to avoid a Proposition 65 warning label. The companies avoided trial by agreeing to pay a combined $3 million in fines as a settlement with the California attorney general's office.


title: Acrylamide

text: In 2016, the UK Food Standards Agency launched a campaign called "Go for Gold", warning of the possible cancer risk associated with cooking potatoes and other starchy foods at high temperatures.


title: Acrylamide

text: In 2018, a judge in California ruled that the coffee industry had not provided sufficient evidence that acrylamide contents in coffee were at safe enough levels to not require a Proposition 65 warning.


title: Acrylamide

text: Although acrylamide has known toxic effects on the nervous system and on fertility, a June 2002 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization attempting to establish basic toxicology (threshold limit value, no-observed-adverse-effect levels, tolerable daily intake, etc.) concluded the intake level required to observe neuropathy (0.5 mg/kg body weight/day) was 500 times higher than the average dietary intake of acrylamide (1 μg/kg body weight/day). For effects on fertility, the level is 2,000 times higher than the average intake. From this, they concluded acrylamide levels in food were safe in terms of neuropathy, but raised concerns over human carcinogenicity based on known carcinogenicity in laboratory animals. Pre-treatment of potato slices by asparaginase prior to frying reduced the acrylamide contents in the processed chips up to 81% compared to untreated control.


title: Acrylamide

text: Cigarette smoking is a major acrylamide source. It has been shown in one study to cause an increase in blood acrylamide levels three-fold greater than any dietary factor.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Minute Maid Park is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 as the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. It has a seating capacity of 41,168, which includes 5,197 club seats and 63 luxury suites.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The stadium has a natural grass playing field. It was built as a replacement for the Astrodome, the first domed sports stadium ever built, which opened in 1965.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In 1909, during the time when West End Park was Houston's premier residential area, the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway Company commissioned the design of a new union station for the city from New York City-based architects Warren and Wetmore. The location called for the demolition of several structures of Houston prominence. Horace Baldwin Rice's residence and Adath Yeshurun Congregation's synagogue among other structures were removed.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: With an original estimated cost of US$1 million, Union Station was constructed by the American Construction Company for an eventual total of five times that amount. Exterior walls were constructed of granite, limestone, and terracotta, while the interior used an extensive amount of marble. It was completed and opened on March 1, 1911. At the time, Houston, with 17 railways, was considered the main railroad hub of the Southern United States. This is also evident by the Seal of Houston, which prominently features a locomotive. Two more floors were added the following year.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The station served as the main inter-city passenger terminal for Houston for over seven decades thereafter. Passenger rail declined greatly after World War II, and the last regularly-scheduled train, the "Lone Star", moved its service to Houston's current Amtrak station on July 31, 1974. With this move, the building became only office space for the HB&T as well as the Missouri Pacific Railroad.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: On November 10, 1977, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In August 1995, Astros owner Drayton McLane, then leasing the Astrodome from Harris County, commented to the "Houston Chronicle" that he was not in the market for a new ballpark. In reference to Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium and Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, McLane noted, "[...] I remember when those were built in the 1970s and those were as good a stadiums as there were. They were the most modern stadiums in the world, and now they're saying they're all bad. That they can't make a go of it without a new stadium. It helps, but there are other things involved."


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Later that year, Houston's NFL franchise and joint-tenant of the Astrodome, the Houston Oilers, announced they were leaving to Nashville, Tennessee in order to have a new stadium built for the team there. Citing a lack of adequate luxury boxes, in October, Astros vice-president Bob McClaren claimed that renovations to the Astrodome would help increase revenue. Drayton McLane pointed toward Astrodome renovations as necessary saying "It's 30 years old and not a lot of money has been spent to remodel it." According to the organization, the team was in danger of being sold to a Virginia businessman who was expected to move the Astros to the Washington D.C. area because of poor revenue.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In June 1996, University of Houston alumnus, BMC Software and San Diego Padres owner, John J. Moores, who wanted to own the next NFL franchise in Houston, met with Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos, Jr., and other local Hispanic leaders in regard to the future of a football-only Astrodome and a new baseball-only ballpark in Downtown Houston. Meanwhile, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels pieced together a plan to build a new ballpark next to the Astrodome in the Astrodomain. The Astros echoed the Astrodomain location sentiment because they believed construction time would be shorter. Eckels, who convinced then Mayor Bob Lanier of the lack of viability for the ballpark in a downtown location, was quoted as saying, "They keep telling me about these miracles in other cities, but it doesn't work in Houston [...] If we are going to put this stadium some place, let's stick with a proven place." This plan was considered to be nearly finalized when the Astros and Harris County agreed to a US$250 million county-funded stadium whose overrun costs would be funded by the Astros.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In August 1996, Houston's Union Station received a US$2 million grant from the Texas Transportation Commission for renovation in a separate project. Plans for the new ballpark's location drastically changed by September mostly in response to Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay's input and pledge to substantially contribute to funding if placed downtown. It was at this time where the Union Station location was proposed by Lay. Upon an agreement between all of the leadership entities, the idea of a retractable roof stadium was confirmed for the new ballpark. A November referendum was planned for Harris County residents to approve the deal.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The Harris County referendum that took place on November 5, 1996, to help fund the ballpark passed by a narrow margin of 51% to 49%. In response to the referendum, during the 75th Texas Legislature Texas State Senator John Whitmire of Houston sponsored a bill supported by five of the six area Harris County senators that would create the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. With companion House Bill 92 authored by Houston-born Representative Kim Brimer voted upon and adopted by both chambers, the authorization for creation of a sports authority was approved. It was signed into law by Governor George W. Bush on June 2, 1997. The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority would assist in financing for the new ballpark as well as allow for renovation of the Astrodome by allowing for special county-wide taxation of rental cars, tickets, parking, and hotel use.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In June 1997, with the ability to create a sports authority signed into law, concurrent votes of the Harris County Commissioners' Court and the Houston City Council to establish the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority on effective September 1, 1997. Its chairman and 12 other directors were jointly appointed by the Mayor of Houston and Harris County Judge. The institution remains in existence today.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The ballpark was named "Enron Field" after a $100 million, 30-year naming rights deal was made with Enron on April 7, 1999. After the Enron scandal of 2001, the Astros and the now-bankrupt Enron came to an agreement to end the deal and rename the stadium in February 2002.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Early stadium sketches from Kansas City-based HOK Sport (now Populous) using the working title "The Ballpark at Union Station" were released to the public on October 11, 1996, where Astros President Tal Smith was open about his suggestions for the stadium including the location of the flagpole in center field and a traditional dirt path from the pitcher's mound to home plate. While the dirt path was not implemented, the flagpole idea became known as "Tal's Hill" and remained a signature feature of the ballpark until 2016.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The design of the new park integrated the former Union Station building's main concourse, reutilizing the space for a clubhouse, cafe, team store, and office space. A large model train was also included within the park's design as an homage to the station.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In late 1997, it was announced that local Brown & Root would manage construction of the stadium, while Populous with Walter P. Moore would design it. The electrification of Minute Maid Park's retractable roof was developed by VAHLE, Inc.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Groundbreaking for The Ballpark at Union Station was on October 30, 1997. Its groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, Astros owner Drayton McLane, Harris County Judge Robert Eckles, Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee, and Harris County-Houston Sports Authority Chairman Jack Rains.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Statues of longtime Astros players Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio are located in the exterior of the ballpark in a space known as The Plaza at Minute Maid Park. The two former teammates are depicted playing baseball with each other. The plaza also displays pennants for all Astros division and league championships, as well as two World Series titles. There are also several plaques to commemorate notable Astros and their achievements.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The ballpark was first named "Enron Field" on April 7, 2000, with naming rights sold to the Houston energy and financial trading company in a 30-year, $100 million deal. However, Astros management faced a public relations problem when the energy corporation went bankrupt in 2001 due to a financial scandal. Quickly wanting to distance themselves from Enron, Astros ownership asked to prematurely end naming rights, but Enron refused. On February 5, 2002, Astros ownership filed a motion with the court overseeing the company's bankruptcy to force Enron to make an immediate decision on the matter. By February 27, the two entities agreed to end the naming rights, and settled with the Astros paying $2.1 million to Enron. Without a naming rights agreement in place, the ballpark became officially known as "Astros Field".


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The Astros sold naming rights of the ballpark in 2002 to locally based Coca-Cola subsidiary Minute Maid for $100 million over 30 years. Its official name was then changed to "Minute Maid Park".


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In 2004, the Astros launched Wi-Fi throughout the ballpark, allowing fans to use the Internet while attending a game for a fee. In addition, the ballpark was the first major sports facility to use a separate video board exclusively for closed captioning for the hearing impaired of PA system and video board content, rather than appearing along the bottom of the main board.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In 2006, the Chick-fil-A cows were unveiled on the foul poles, saying EAT MOR FOWL, and the cows have Astros caps on. If an Astros player hits the pole, all fans in attendance get a coupon for a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. Hunter Pence is the first and second Astros player to ever hit the left field "Fowl Pole" when he did it twice in the 2007 season. Ty Wigginton became the third Astro to hit the left field pole on September 16, 2007. Kazuo Matsui hit the right field foul pole on August 3, 2009, with a two-run homer in the sixth inning to beat the Giants. Carlos Lee hit the left field pole on July 28, 2010, giving the Astros an 8–1 win against the Cubs. Two days later, Jeff Keppinger hit the left field pole to help the Astros win, 5–0, against the Brewers.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: After the 2008 season, the Astros' groundskeepers began installing of a new turfgrass playing surface at Minute Maid Park. The Astros also became one of the first to use the new Chemgrass, later known as AstroTurf after its first well-publicized use at the Houston Astrodome in 1966.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In honor of longtime Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton, the City of Houston officially renamed a portion of the Ballpark District to the "Hall of Fame District", and the portion of Hamilton Avenue that runs within that district to "Milo Hamilton Way" on April 8, 2009.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: For the 2011 season, the park added a large Daktronics HD screen nicknamed "El Grande" replacing the original one in right field. At high and wide, it is the fourth largest scoreboard in Major League Baseball, behind T-Mobile Park (home of the Seattle Mariners), Progressive Field (home of the Cleveland Guardians), and Kaufmann Stadium (home of the Kansas City Royals). The old screen was taken out and replaced by billboards. Additionally, a smaller HD screen was added on the far left field wall. The ring of advertisement screens around the park were replaced in favor of HD ribbon boards.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: After the Astros reverted to their original colors and logo in 2013, much of Minute Maid Park was repainted to navy and orange from brick red. Signs with the previous logo and colors were also replaced. More than of paint were used and over 1,000 signs were replaced.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In June 2015 the Astros announced Tal's Hill would be removed in a major renovation project during the 2015-2016 offseason, to be replaced with additional seating, concessions, and escalators for fans. This would result in center field dimensions of 436 feet (then the longest in MLB) being reduced to 409 feet. In addition, seating sections 256, 257, and 258 in the outfield mezzanine would be removed. However, the project had to be postponed due to the Astros' unexpected American League Wild Card championship and subsequent postseason appearance, along with the stadium's offseason event schedule. The renovation was completed during the 2016-2017 offseason. The flagpoles became out of play.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In April 2022, Minute Maid Park received Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology for two of its concession stands, becoming the first MLB stadium to incorporate cashierless stores.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: While primarily a baseball venue, Minute Maid Park can adequately host sports such as soccer and both codes of rugby. The venue can also play host to large-scale music concerts. It is not large enough to comfortably accommodate American football. However, the opening of BBVA Compass Stadium four blocks southeast on Texas Avenue for the MLS's Houston Dynamo in 2012 has effectively made its use for future soccer games moot.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Its debut as a soccer venue happened during the 2006 edition of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The stadium hosted the first leg of the quarterfinal between Portmore United of Jamaica (the "home" team) and Club América of Mexico.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Minute Maid Park hosted the 2020 Royal Rumble on January 26, one of the promotion's four annual flagship professional wrestling events. This was the first time it has hosted a WWE pay-per-view event.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Paul McCartney, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Nelly, Tim McGraw, Staind, Madonna, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga have all performed at Minute Maid Park.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The nationally syndicated TV talk show "Rachael Ray" held a mass wedding at the park following Hurricane Ike for 40 couples who were unable to get married after a company they paid to hold the weddings went bankrupt. Comedian Jeffrey Ross served as best man for all 40 couples. The ceremony was aired as part of a special episode of the talk show on November 21, 2008.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The stadium also is the host of the Houston College Classic college baseball tournament, part of the winter fan festival held in February. The tournament features local schools the University of Houston and Rice University every year, a pair of major conference schools, alternating between Big 12 members University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University, Baylor University and SEC member Texas A&M University, as well as two other teams from around the country.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: On May 9, 2015, Canelo Alvarez fought James Kirkland in the first boxing match fought in the stadium. Alvarez defeated Kirkland via knockout in the third round.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Minute Maid Park hosted a cricket match on November 11, 2015, the second in a series of three Cricket All-Stars matches played by retired greats of the game. Shane Warne's Warne's Warriors clinched the series 2–0. Keeping with the naming conventions from the previous match at Minute Maid Park, the ends were named after Nolan Ryan and José Cruz, two players that have their numbers retired by the Astros.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: On January 30, 2017, the stadium hosted "Super Bowl Opening Night" for Super Bowl LI at nearby NRG Stadium.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: From 2017 until 2020, the park hosted the final rounds of the Houston leg of the FIRST Championship. To avoid damaging the field while the Astros were in season, the competition fields were built on a stage over the infield dirt between first and third base.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Until 2016, center field featured a wide incline called Tal's Hill, named for former team president Tal Smith. The incline was inspired by similar features that used to exist at Crosley Field and Fenway Park. There was a flagpole in play on the incline, an element inspired by Yankee Stadium before its remodeling in the mid-'70s, and Tiger Stadium as well. Milwaukee Brewers player Richie Sexson once hit a ball off the flagpole. There was a mark there until the 2011 season, when the pole was repainted. The hill and the flagpole were scheduled to be removed following the 2015 season, but remained in place due to an unexpected playoff run.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: While Crosley Field's infamous left field terrace, which was half as steep (only 15°) as Tal's Hill (30°), was a natural feature of the site on which the park was located, Tal's Hill was purely decorative. On June 4, 2015, the Astros announced that they would be removing Tal's Hill as part of a $15 million renovation for the 2016 season. The center field fence was to be moved in from (which from 2000 to 2016 was the longest in baseball) to from home plate, but the center field renovations were delayed until after the 2016 season, due at least in part to the 2015 playoffs cutting into planned construction time.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The largest entrance to the park is inside what was once Houston's Union Station, and the left-field side of the stadium features a railway as homage to the site's history. The train moves along an length of track on top of the length of the exterior wall beyond left field when the Astros take the field during the first inning, when an Astros player hits a home run, and when the Astros win a game. It is driven by Bobby Vásquez, who goes by the name Bobby Dynamite. The train is an upscaled replica of the General 4-4-0 and is pulled by a cable which is operated by the driver. The engine's tender is filled with giant oranges in reference to Minute Maid's most famous product, orange juice. Prior to Minute Maid buying the stadium's naming rights, the tender was filled with logs.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In a challenge to home run hitters, former Astros owner Drayton McLane's office window, located in the old Union Station and directly above the Crawford Boxes, is made of glass and a sign below the window is marked 422 ft (135 m) from home plate.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The Crawford Boxes are a section of seating in Minute Maid Park running parallel to Crawford Street in downtown Houston, Texas. They are located in left field and span sections 100 through 104 (with all but the latter in fair territory).


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The home-plate-to-fence measurement there is only 315 feet (96 meters), one of the shortest in Major League Baseball. A 19-foot wall in front of the elevated boxes houses the hand-operated out-of-town scoreboard, displaying the day's other games.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Landry's, a restaurant group, owns the naming rights to the Crawford Boxes and runs various promotions for its restaurants there.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Games are typically played with the roof open only in April and May before the Houston summer heat arrives. The roof is occasionally opened during October playoff games.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The ballpark features 19,201 seats on the lower level, 7,132 seats on the second level, 880 seats on the suite level, and 13,750 seats on the upper level.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: The "Phillips 66 Home Run Porch" is located in left-center field over the field of play. It features a classic gasoline pump that displays the total number of Astros home runs hit since the park opened.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Under the Minute Maid Park ground rules, both Tal's Hill and the flagpole were considered in play. If a ball hit the flagpole on the hill and stayed in the field of play, it was in play. If it went out of the field of play (over the fence), it was a home run. The Hill was criticized numerous times owing to the incline having the potential to cause injury to fielders unused to it. However, there was never an injury to any player in relation to Tal's Hill.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Minute Maid Park is located in Downtown Houston in a centralized area of the city, and accessible via a short driving distance on Interstate 10 (Katy Freeway/East Freeway), Interstate 69 (Southwest Freeway/Eastex Freeway), and Interstate 45 (Gulf Freeway/North Freeway). Street parking, garage parking, and private lot parking are available, with an estimated 25,000 spots within walking distance to the ballpark. Taxi cabs and pedicabs are also commonly found near the surrounding ballpark area.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: Public transportation allows for accessibility via bus or light rail service. The METRORail light rail system has a station located one block south of Minute Maid Park, Convention District Station, served by the Green and Purple lines. The Red Line also serves the ballpark at Preston Station, six blocks to the west.


title: Minute Maid Park

text: In 2017, the park and the entire city suffered from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, which flooded many parts of the city with several feet of rain over four days. The Astros reported that despite water entering into the service levels of the stadium, Minute Maid Park remained in "good condition" when the storm cleared out. The lingering effects of Harvey forced the Astros to move their series against the Texas Rangers to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Astros returned to Houston on Friday, September 1 to help the initial recovery efforts. Minute Maid Park hosted the city's first post-Harvey sporting event, and the park's first double-header the next day in an interleague game against the New York Mets.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by the American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce. Described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", it was originally published by "The San Francisco Examiner" on July 13, 1890, and was first collected in Bierce's book "Tales of Soldiers and Civilians" (1891). The story, which is set during the American Civil War, is known for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is an early example of the stream of consciousness narrative mode.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Peyton Farquhar, a civilian who is also a wealthy planter and slave owner, is being prepared for execution by hanging from an Alabama railroad bridge during the American Civil War. Six military men and a company of infantrymen are present, guarding the bridge and carrying out the sentence. Farquhar thinks of his wife and children and is then distracted by a noise that, to him, sounds like an unbearably loud clanging; it is actually the ticking of his watch. He considers the possibility of jumping off the bridge and swimming to safety if he can free his tied hands, but the soldiers drop him from the bridge before he can act on the idea.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: In a flashback, Farquhar and his wife are relaxing at home one evening when a soldier dressed in Confederate gray rides up to the gate. Farquhar, a supporter of the Confederacy, learns from him that Union troops have seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it. The soldier suggests that Farquhar might be able to burn the bridge down if he can slip past its guards. He then leaves, but doubles back after nightfall to return north the way he came. The soldier is actually a disguised Union scout who has lured Farquhar into a trap, as any civilian caught interfering with the railroads will be hanged.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: The story returns to the present, and the rope around Farquhar's neck breaks when he falls from the bridge into the creek. He frees his hands, pulls the noose away, and rises to the surface to begin his escape. His senses now greatly sharpened, he dives and swims downstream to avoid rifle and cannon fire. Once he is out of range, he leaves the creek to begin the journey to his home, away. Farquhar walks all day long through a seemingly endless forest, and that night he begins to hallucinate, seeing strange constellations and hearing whispered voices in an unknown language. He travels on, urged by the thought of his wife and children despite the pains caused by his ordeal. The next morning, after having apparently fallen asleep while walking, he finds himself at the gate to his plantation. He rushes to embrace his wife, but before he can do so, he feels a heavy blow upon the back of his neck; there is a loud noise and a flash of white, and "then all is darkness and silence". It is revealed that Farquhar never escaped at all; he imagined the entire third part of the story during the time between falling through the bridge and the noose breaking his neck.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was first published in the July 13, 1890, issue of "The San Francisco Examiner" and collected in the compilation "Tales of Soldiers and Civilians" (1891).


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Editors of a modern compilation described the story as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", Author Kurt Vonnegut wrote in 2005: "I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read the greatest American short story, which is '[An] Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,' by Ambrose Bierce. It isn't remotely political. It is a flawless example of American genius, like 'Sophisticated Lady' by Duke Ellington or the Franklin stove."


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: The real Owl Creek Bridge is in Tennessee; Bierce, who personally assisted in three military executions during his time as a soldier, likely changed the setting to northern Alabama because the actual bridge did not have a railroad near it at the time the story is set.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: The story explores the concept of "dying with dignity". The story shows the reader that the perception of "dignity" provides no mitigation for the deaths that occur in warfare. It further demonstrates psychological escape right before death. Farquhar experiences an intense delusion to distract him from his inevitable death. The moment of horror that the readers experience at the end of the piece, when they realize that he dies, reflects the distortion of reality that Farquhar encounters.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: It is not only the narrator who experiences the story but also the readers themselves. As he himself once put it, Bierce detested "bad readers—readers who, lacking the habit of analysis, lack also the faculty of discrimination, and take whatever is put before them, with the broad, blind catholicity of a slop-fed conscience of a parlor pig".


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Farquhar was duped by a Federal scout—and cursory readers on their part are successfully duped by the author who makes them think they are witnessing Farquhar's lucky escape from the gallows. Instead, they only witness the hallucination of such an escape taking place in the character's unconscious mind which is governed by the instinct of self-preservation.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: The plot device of a long period of subjective time passing in an instant, such as the imagined experiences of Farquhar while falling, has been explored by several authors. An early literary antecedent appears in the


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Tang dynasty tale, "The Governor of Nanke", by Li Gongzuo. Another medieval antecedent is Don Juan Manuel's "Tales of Count Lucanor", Chapter XII ( 1335), "Of that which happened to a Dean of Santiago, with Don Illan, the Magician, who lived at Toledo", in which a life happens in an instant. Charles Dickens's essay "A Visit to Newgate" wherein a man dreams he has escaped his death sentence has been speculated as a possible source for the story. Bierce's story, in turn, may have influenced "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway and "Pincher Martin" by William Golding.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Bierce's story highlighted the idea of subjective time passing at the moment of death and popularized the fictional device of false narrative continuation, which has been in wide circulation ever since then. Notable examples of this technique from the early-to-mid 20th century include H. G. Wells's "The Door in the Wall" (1906) and "The Beautiful Suit" (1909), Vladimir Nabokov's "Details of a Sunset" (1924) and "The Aurelian" (1930), Jorge Luis Borges's "The Secret Miracle" (1944) and "The South" (1949), William Golding's "Pincher Martin" (1956), Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" (1985) as well as Julio Cortázar's "", and Leo Perutz's "From Nine to Nine". Alexander Lernet-Holenia's novella "Der Baron Bagge" (1936) shares many similarities with Bierce's story, including the setting in the midst of a war and the bridge as a symbol for the moment of passage from life to death.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Among more recent works, David Lynch's later films have been compared to "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", although they also have been interpreted as Möbius strip storylines. A particularly strong inspiration for the 1990 film "Jacob's Ladder", for both Bruce Joel Rubin and Adrian Lyne, was Robert Enrico's 1962 short film "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", one of Lyne's favourite movies. Tobias Wolff's short story "Bullet in the Brain" (1995) reveals the protagonist's past through relating what he remembers—and does not—in the millisecond after he is fatally shot. John Shirley's 1999 short story "Occurrence at Owl Street Ridge" about a depressed housewife is modeled after Bierce's story and Bierce plays a minor role in it.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: Critics have noted a similar final act in the 1985 film "Brazil". In the 2005 film "Stay" (with Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling; directed by Marc Forster; written by David Benioff) the entire story takes place in a character's mind after a tragic accident. Similar to Bierce's story, in the "Boardwalk Empire" episode "Farewell Daddy Blues" (2013), Richard Harrow hallucinates a long journey home to his family before his death is revealed. In an interview with Afterbuzz, "Teen Wolf" writer and creator Jeff Davis said that the final sequence of the Season 3 finale (2014) was inspired by "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: An episode of the British TV series "Black Mirror" followed a similar plot. In the episode "Playtest", Cooper tests a revolutionary video game that causes him to confuse the game with reality. Similar to Bierce's protagonist, it is revealed at the end that the entire sequence of events has taken place in the short span of his death. In "Scrubs", the episode "My Occurrence" has a similar plot structure, where the main character J.D. believes that a clerical mistake was made with his patient Ben. J.D. spends the entire episode trying to get it rectified, only to realize at the end that this was all a fantasy to avoid the reality that Ben had been diagnosed with leukemia. The episode's title is also a reference to the story.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: The film Ghosts of War (2020 film) is about a group of soldiers who find themselves in a time loop. In one scene, one of the main characters briefly tells his fellow soldiers about "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", implying that they may be going through a similar situation. It is later revealed that they are in fact part of an experiment and the entire situation is taking place in their minds. The broken hangman's knot and lost traveler trope figure into the plot for the movie "" in which Ambrose Bierce is a character.


title: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

text: The story has also influenced music. For example, the fourteenth track on Bressa Creeting Cake's self-titled 1997 album is entitled "Peyton Farquhar". The heavy metal band Deceased retold the tale in the song "The Hanging Soldier" on its 2000 album "Supernatural Addiction". Adam Young has said that the story was the inspiration for the name of his 2007 electronica musical project, Owl City. The Doobie Brothers song "I Cheat The Hangman" was inspired by the story according its composer, Patrick Simmons. The song Mendokusai on Tellison's 2015 album "Hope Fading Nightly" features the refrain "We are all broken necked, swinging from the timbers of Owl Creek Bridge."


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Lauren Spierer (born January 17, 1991) is an American woman who disappeared on June 3, 2011, following an evening at Kilroy’s Sports Bar in Bloomington, Indiana. At the time, Spierer was a 20-year-old student at Indiana University. Though her disappearance generated national press coverage, Spierer is presumed dead and her case remains unsolved.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Lauren Spierer was born January 17, 1991, to Charlene and Robert Spierer; her father was an accountant. She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, an affluent town in lower Westchester County. Spierer graduated from Edgemont High School in 2009 and enrolled at Indiana University, where she was studying textiles merchandising. Spierer was active in the Jewish community at IU and had spent the previous spring break planting trees in Israel on behalf of the Jewish National Fund.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Spierer met her boyfriend, Jesse Wolff, and her friend, Jay Rosenbaum, years earlier at Camp Towanda, a summer camp in the mountain town of Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It was there she also met various other future IU students who later became Spierer’s circle of friends when she enrolled at IU in 2009.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: On the night she disappeared, Spierer was drinking with several friends. Wolff stated that he did not go out with Spierer or her friends that evening, texting back and forth with Spierer before he went to bed. According to witnesses, Spierer was very intoxicated. Bloomington police used video surveillance footage and witness statements to create a timeline of Spierer's whereabouts before her disappearance.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: The timestamps in bold indicate surveillance footage. The other times mentioned are on the basis of witness statements.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: In August 2011, police conducted a nine-day search of the Sycamore Ridge Landfill in Pimento (south of Terre Haute) for clues in the disappearance. The landfill is where trash from Bloomington is hauled after a stop at a transfer station. The Bloomington Police Department, the Indiana University Police Department, and the FBI took part in the search. As of May 24, 2013, investigators had received 3,060 tips on Spierer's disappearance, 100 of them received during the first half of 2013.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: In April 2015, the Bloomington Police announced that they were investigating a possible link between Spierer's disappearance and the murder of another IU student, Hannah Wilson. Wilson went missing on April 24, 2015, after visiting Kilroy's, the same bar that Spierer visited the night she disappeared. Wilson was last seen getting into a taxi in front of the bar and driving away. Her body was found the next morning in Brown County. A local man named Daniel Messel was arrested for the murder after his cell phone was discovered near the body. In July 2015, Dietl concluded that the two cases are unrelated and any similarities between the two cases were coincidental.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: On January 28, 2016, the FBI and other police agencies investigated a property in the 2900 block of Old Morgantown Road in Martinsville, approximately north of Bloomington. According to a statement released by the FBI, investigators were "following up on leads and tips in Morgan County regarding the disappearance of Lauren Spierer." The property was connected to a man, Justin Wagers, who resided there with his mother and stepfather. Wagers was suspected of exposing himself to numerous local women.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Investigators searched the property with cadaver dogs, which indicated potential evidence. Anthropologists conducted a dig and sifted dirt from the barn where the cadaver dogs hit, but found nothing. Investigators also towed a white truck from the property belonging to Wagers.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: A number of theories have emerged in reference to what happened to Spierer that evening. Spierer's parents have stated that they believe their daughter is dead. Based on her level of intoxication, they also felt that she may have been drugged while at the bar. "We felt somebody could have slipped something into her drink at Kilroy's," said Robert Spierer. The family has voiced suspicions about the men she was with that evening as well as Wolff, since they refused to take police-issued polygraphs and retained lawyers soon after Spierer's disappearance. While the parents have not made any specific accusations, they do believe the two know more than they have told police so far. The men responded that they have taken privately administered polygraphs, as well as one from the FBI. Since they do not trust the Bloomington police, they say, they have retained lawyers.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Regarding Spierer's level of intoxication, her friends and Wolff told police that she used drugs in addition to alcohol on the night leading up to her disappearance. Wolff's mother alleged that Spierer was asked to leave the summer camp where she met her son and Rosenbaum years earlier because of drug use. "This poor little girl is not with us today because of her drug abuse," she said. On September 2, 2010, nine months before her disappearance, Spierer was arrested on charges of public intoxication and illegal consumption. After her disappearance, police found a "small amount of cocaine" in her room.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Rosenbaum told investigators that Spierer consumed alcohol, snorted cocaine and crushed up Klonopin tablets that evening. Her rare heart condition—long QT syndrome—added to the danger of drug use. Police addressed rumors that implied Spierer may have overdosed and those with her may have hidden her body to avoid criminal charges. Bo Dietl, a private investigator hired by the Spierer family, doubts that a fatal drug overdose could be enough motive to hide her death; he cited the prevalence of drug abuse on the IU campus. "Every kid's buying pot, cocaine, drinking, pills," he said. "I mean, it's all over the place. So that really can't be the motive behind it."


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: The police have also acknowledged they have not ruled out other possibilities, such as abduction by a stranger. Spierer's parents have previously stated that they do not believe her disappearance was a random abduction.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: In 2017, Brown County prosecutor, Ted Adams, reported he believed Daniel Messel could be connected to Spierer’s disappearance. In 2016, Messel was convicted of killing another IU student, Hannah Wilson, in 2015. Wilson had only been reported missing for one day when her body was found in a desolate field; she had been bludgeoned to death. Messel’s cell phone was discovered at her feet. Messel has never been charged in connection with Spierer’s case.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: Spierer's parents filed civil lawsuits against Rossman, Rosenbaum, and Beth for their involvement with their daughter leading up to her disappearance. The suits accused the defendants of negligence, alleging they supplied Spierer with alcohol after she was already "visibly intoxicated," then neglected to assure she returned safely to her apartment, which likely led to her death. The family stated they hoped the lawsuit would lead to the defendants admitting more information about what occurred the night of Spierer’s disappearance. "I truly don't think it was a random abduction, I think that somebody that Lauren knew was responsible for the events of that evening," Spierer’s mother said. As part of the suit, they subpoenaed private cell phone and academic records spanning 134 days before and after the night Spierer disappeared, a move the defendants’ lawyers labeled a "fishing expedition."


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: In 2013, federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt dismissed the suit against Beth after determining he had no duty of care for Spierer.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: In 2014, Pratt dismissed the suit against the other two men, finding: "...there could be any number of theories as to what happened to Lauren and what, if any, injuries she may have sustained. Without evidence to prove these theories, it would be impossible for a jury to determine if whatever happened to Spierer was a natural and probable consequence of her intoxication, without any other intervening acts that would break the causal chain." Spierer's parents appealed the ruling, but the dismissal was upheld by a federal appeals court in 2015. Lawyers for the men have stated that their clients have cooperated fully with police and the private investigators hired by the Spierer family, and that all of them have passed private polygraphs. "They've been interviewed and interviewed and interviewed, and to say they've been less than forthcoming is just not accurate," said Chapman, who represents Beth and Rohn. To date, none of the defendants have been named as suspects in Spierer's disappearance.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: The HLN show, "Real Life Nightmare," detailed the Lauren Spierer case in an hourlong episode called "Night of No Return.” Spierer's case has been covered in multiple podcasts, including: Crime Junkie, True Crime Garage, Going West: True Crime, True Crime All The Time Unsolved, Trace Evidence, and Not Another True Crime Podcast.


title: Disappearance of Lauren Spierer

text: The intense press coverage of the disappearance has been dubbed an example of missing white woman syndrome, a phenomenon wherein the news media disproportionately covers missing-person cases that involve young, white, upper-middle class females. The "Indiana Daily Student", IU's student paper, ran a story that documented the disparity between their own coverage of Spierer's disappearance and their coverage of another local disappearance, Crystal Grubb, 29, who was also white but came from a working-class family wherein many relatives had criminal histories. Following Grubb's disappearance in 2010, the "Daily Student" ran a total of seven stories on the case compared to multiple front-page articles and the extensive national awareness of the Spierer case.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind the New York City Police Department. CPD currently has 11,710 sworn officers on duty, and over 1,925 other employees. Tracing its roots back to the year of 1835, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police departments in the world.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Chicago Police Department has a history of police brutality, particularly targeting the African-American community in Chicago. In 2017, the United States Department of Justice strongly criticized the department for poor training, lack of oversight and routine use of excessive force.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Superintendent of Police leads the Chicago Police Department. David O. Brown, former Chief of the Dallas Police Department, is the current Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1960, the municipal government created a five-member police board charged with nominating a superintendent to be the chief authority over police officers, drafting and adopting rules and regulations governing the police system, submitting budget requests to the city council, and hearing and deciding disciplinary cases involving police officers. Criminologist O.W. Wilson was brought on as Superintendent of Police, and served until 1967 when he retired. This position, in its current iteration, has existed as the head of the Chicago Police Department since 1960.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Starting salary for Chicago police officers in 2016 is $48,078, which is increased to $72,510 after 18 months. Promotions to specialized or command positions also increase an officer's base pay. Salaries were supplemented with a $2,920 annual duty availability and an $1,800 annual uniform allowance.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 2017, the composition of the department's sworn personnel by gender was 77% male and 23% female. The highest ranked women in Chicago police history was Barbara West, who was appointed the third highest rank cop (the Deputy Superintendent) in 2020.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Chicago Police Department became unionized at the end of 1980. Chicago police officers are represented by the Fraternal Order of Police. In 2020, Officer John Catanzara was elected as the head of the union. Cataranza has one of the worst disciplinary records in the department. Previously in 2017, Cataranza stated of Muslims: "Savages they all deserve a bullet." Later he defended the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol by Trump supporters, stating that: "They’re individuals ... They get to do what they want."


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Chicago Police Board is a nine-member agency charged with nominating candidates for the position of Superintendent to the Mayor, adopting rules and regulations for the department, and deciding disciplinary cases when the Superintendent files to discharge or suspend (for more than 30 days) a police officer. The Board is also charged with resolving disciplinary cases when there is a dispute between the Chief Administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Superintendent. The board is made up of nine civilian members who are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is an independent city agency which has the authority to investigate allegations of police officer misconduct and police shootings. It can make recommendations about disciplinary action and department policy, but cannot take such action itself. COPA was created in 2016, replacing the former Independent Police Review Authority.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: According to historian Sam Mitrani, the Chicago Police Department professionalized and grew in size during the 19th century in order to quell labor unrest. City policymakers cooperated with business elites in terms of structuring the police department. The Chicago Police Department remained beset by vast corruption well into the 20th century.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1825, prior to the creation of Cook County, in what would later become, the village of Chicago, was in Putnam County. Archibald Clybourn was appointed to be Constable of the area between the DuPage River and Lake Michigan. Clybourn went on to become an important citizen of the city, and the diagonal Clybourn Avenue is named after him. When the town of Chicago was incorporated to become a city in 1837, provisions were made to elect an officer called the High Constable. He in turn would appoint a Common Constable from each of the six city wards.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1855, the newly elected city council passed ordinances to formally establish the Chicago Police Department. Chicago was divided into three police precincts, each served by a station house. Station No. 1 was located in a building on State Street between Lake and Randolph streets. Station No. 2 was on West Randolph Street near Des Plaines Street. Station No. 3 was on Michigan Street (since then renamed Hubbard Street) near Clark Street. Political connections were important to joining the force; formal requirements were few, until 1895. After 1856, the department hired many foreign-born recruits, especially unskilled, but English-speaking, Irish immigrants.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1860, the detective forces were established to investigate and solve crimes. In 1861, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law creating a police board to become an executive department of Chicago autonomous of the mayor. The mayor was effectively stripped of his power to control the Chicago Police Department. Authority was given to three police commissioners. The commissioners created the office of superintendent to be the chief of police. The title is again in use today.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The first African American officer was appointed in 1872, but black police were assigned to duty in plain clothes only, mainly in largely black neighborhoods. In 1875, the Illinois General Assembly found that the police commissioners were unable to control rampant corruption within the Chicago Police Department. The legislature passed a new law returning power over the police to the mayor. The mayor was allowed to appoint a single police commissioner with the advice and consent of the city council.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1896, a parade of Chicago police officers was the subject of the first film ever to be shot in Chicago.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Women entered the force in 1885, as matrons, caring for female prisoners. Marie Owens is believed to have been the first female police officer in the U.S., joining the Chicago Police Department in 1891, retiring in 1923. Holding the rank of Sergeant, Owens enforced child labor and welfare laws.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Despite centralized policies and practices, the captains who ran the precincts or districts were relatively independent of headquarters, owing their jobs to neighborhood politicians. Decentralization meant that police could respond to local concerns, but graft often determined which concerns got the most attention. In 1895, Chicago adopted civil service procedures, and written tests became the basis for hiring and promotion. Standards for recruits rose, though policing remained political.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1906, the Department's Mounted Patrol was created to provide crowd control, and in 1908, the force was granted its first three motor cars, expanding in 1910 to motorbikes and boats. Female officers were formally appointed beginning on August 13, 1913, starting with ten officers. In 1918, Grace Wilson, possibly the first black female police officer in United States history, joined the force. In 1913, Alice Clement became the first female police detective for the Chicago Police Department.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 1917, the Chicago Police Reserves were formed, organized on a regimental basis. They were used to assist or replace regular officers in high-crowd events, such as Memorial Day, and during the 1918 flu pandemic, worked for two weeks to enforce stringent health regulations.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre led to the creation of the United States' first crime laboratory at Northwestern University, purchased by the Department in 1938.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Orlando W. Wilson, the first civilian superintendent, was appointed by the mayor in 1960. A former dean of criminology, Wilson introduced major reforms to the Department, including a new and innovative communications center, the reduction of police stations, a fairer promotion process, and an emphasis on motorized patrol over foot patrol. Vehicles were painted blue and white and given blue lightbars, introducing the familiar Sillitoe tartan headbands, and the official motto, 'We Serve And Protect'. In 1963, the Cadet Program was also introduced.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Grant Park led to major criticism of the Chicago Police's crowd control methods, with the Walker Report criticizing both the Department and the National Guard for use of excessive force, and called the events a police riot.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Department's Mounted Patrol was disbanded in 1948. The Department's Mounted Patrol was re-established in 1974, renamed simply as the Mounted Unit.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In August 1983, the Chicago Police Department's first African American superintendent, Fred Rice Jr., was appointed by Chicago's first African American mayor, Harold Washington, followed by the first Hispanic superintendent, Matt L. Rodriguez, appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1992.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The new Chicago Police Department Headquarters was opened on June 3, 2000, replacing an extremely aged and outdated building located at 1121 South State Street.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 2018, the Chicago PD began a “narcotics arrest diversion program” to help individuals without violent crime records who are habitual narcotic users. Working with Chicago-based Thresholds, an addiction recovery agency, the police give those suffering from substance abuse disorder one final chance: If they enter the program, charges against them are dropped.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest union for the CPD compared vaccine requirements for police to the Holocaust. The union head encouraged CPD officers not to get vaccinated.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Following the McDonald shooting, Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan requested that the Department of Justice (DOJ) conduct a civil rights investigation of the department. The agency released a report in January 2017, announcing an agreement with the city to work on improvements under court supervision. The report strongly criticized the police for a culture of excessive violence, especially against minority suspects and the community, and said that there was insufficient and poor training and a lack of true oversight.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The lack of training was one of the main targets of the DOJ report. The DOJ criticized the department for "check the box" training that relied heavily on PowerPoint presentations and included poorly executed training exercises in the field. The DOJ also observed recruits falling asleep during training.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In the aftermath of the investigation, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel approved the construction of a new training facility for the police and fire departments. The new building cost an estimated $95 million.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Chicago Police Department has a history of scandals, police misconduct, corruption, police brutality, and other controversies. Since 2019, the CPD has been subject to a consent decree requiring the department to enact reforms in discipline, supervision, training and recruiting of its police officers. This was in the wake of a 2017 Department of Justice report which found that the CPD had a history of civil rights violations by officers, including a "pattern and practice" of police brutality and abuse.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The Chicago Police Department did not face large-scale reorganization efforts until 1960 under Mayor Richard J. Daley. That year, eight officers from the Summerdale police district on Chicago's North Side were accused of operating a large-scale burglary ring. The Summerdale case dominated the local press, and became the biggest police-related scandal in the city's history at the time. Mayor Daley appointed a committee to make recommendations for improvements to the police department. The action resulted in the creation of a five-member board charged with nominating a superintendent to be the chief authority over police officers, enacting rules and regulations governing the police system, submitting budget requests to the city council, and overseeing disciplinary cases involving officers. Criminologist O.W. Wilson was brought on as Superintendent of Police, and served until 1967 when he retired.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Both Daley and the Chicago Police Department faced a great deal of criticism for the department's actions during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago from August 26 to 29, 1968.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: The convention was the site of a series of protests, mainly over the war in Vietnam. Despite the poor behavior of some protesters, there was widespread criticism that the Chicago Police and National Guard used excessive force. "Time" published an article stating:


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Subsequently, the Walker Report to the U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence called the police response a "police riot", assigning blame for the mayhem in the streets to the Chicago Police.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On December 4, 1969, Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were shot and killed by officers working for the Cook County state's attorney. Though the police claimed they had been attacked by heavily armed Panthers, a subsequent investigation showed that most bullets fired came from police weapons. Relatives of the two dead men eventually won a multimillion-dollar judgment against the city. For many African Americans, the incident symbolized prejudice and lack of restraint among the largely white police. The incident led to growing black voter disaffection with the Democratic machine.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On July 28, 1998, an 11-year-old girl, Ryan Harris, was found raped and murdered in a vacant lot in the city's Englewood neighborhood. The homicide caught the nation's attention when, 12 days after Ryan's body was found, authorities, with the blessing of police command, charged a 7-year-old boy and 8-year-old boy with the murder, making them the youngest murder suspects in the nation at the time. Semen found at the scene and subsequent DNA tests totally cleared the boys of the crime and pointed to convicted sex offender Floyd Durr. The boys each filed lawsuits against the city, which were eventually settled for millions of dollars. Durr pleaded guilty to the rape of Harris, but never admitted to her murder.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In the summer of 1999, two unarmed black motorists, Robert Russ and LaTanya Haggerty, were both fatally shot in separate incidents involving the Chicago Police. In the first incident, Russ, an honor student and star football player for Northwestern University, was shot inside of his car. This followed a high-speed chase and what the police claim was a struggle with the officer who shot him. In the second, Haggarty, a computer analyst, was shot by a female officer. Charges of racism against the CPD persisted. Both shootings resulted in lawsuits and Haggerty's family reached an $18 million settlement with the city.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In Malcolm Gladwell's book on the cognitive function of snap judgments, "Blink", well-known criminologist and police administrator James Fyfe said that Chicago police instructions in cases such as Russ's were "very detailed". He said that the record shows that the officers involved all broke procedure and let the situation become unnecessarily deadly for the suspect. For instance, after claiming to see Russ drive erratically, the officers engaged in a driving pursuit. The pursuit, labeled "high-speed", did not exceed 70 miles per hour, but Fyfe contends that the adrenaline rush of the chase, coupled with the officers' reliance in their numbers, led to their ignoring impulses to maintain rational thinking in a potentially non-deadly situation. They speeded up a process that both allowed and required taking things more slowly and methodically. Russ's car spun out on the Ryan Expressway, at which point several officers quickly approached his vehicle. According to Gladwell, the false safety of numbers gave the three officers "the bravado to rush the car". Fyfe adds, "The lawyers [for the police] were saying that this was a fast-breaking situation. But it was only fast-breaking because the cops let it become one. He was stopped. He wasn't going anywhere."


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Fyfe describes appropriate police procedure and contrasts the events that contributed to Russ's death thus,


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In April 2001, Joseph Miedzianowski was convicted of racketeering and drug conspiracy during much of his 22-year career with the department. In January 2003 he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. His partner John Galligan and 24 other drug dealers were also arrested as part of the same investigation.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In October 2001, Deputy Superintendent William Hanhardt pled guilty to running a nationwide jewel-theft ring that over twenty years may have stolen five million dollars' worth of diamonds and other gems. He had served with the department for 33 years and was sentenced to twelve years in federal custody.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In December 2001, Sergeant Eddie C. Hicks was indicted for operating a gang with other CPD officers. The group would raid drug houses, taking the contraband for resale. Hicks skipped a court appearance on June 9, 2003, and was placed on the FBI's most-wanted list. Hicks was arrested in Detroit on September 12, 2017, nearly 15 years after he fled on the eve of trial on federal drug conspiracy charges. Hicks, 68, has been the subject of an international manhunt since 2003, according to the FBI. He appeared in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday and was ordered held until he can be brought to Chicago to face the charges.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Since the early 1980s, official investigations have responded to numerous allegations against former Commander Jon Burge, who has been accused of abusing more than two-hundred mostly African-American men from 1972 to 1991 in order to coerce confessions to crimes. Alleged victims claimed that Burge and his crew of detectives had them beaten, suffocated, burned, and treated with electric shock. In 1993, Burge was fired from the department, and collected his police pension until his death in 2018. In summer 2006, special prosecutors completing a four-year investigation concluded that they had enough evidence to prove crimes against Burge and others, but "regrettably" could not bring charges because the statute of limitations had passed. In January 2008, the City Council approved a $19.8 million settlement with four men who claimed abuse by Burge and his men.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In October 2008, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, had Burge arrested on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury in relation to a civil suit regarding the torture allegations against him. Burge was eventually convicted on all counts on June 28, 2010, and was sentenced to four and one-half years in federal prison on January 21, 2011.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On May 6, 2015, Chicago City Council approved "reparations" of $5.5 million to victims of the torture, after spending $100 million in previous legal settlements. In addition, an apology was offered, and a promise to teach school children about these historical events.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: According to a 2020 study, torture was used against 125 black suspects (many of whom were found to be innocent) over the years 1972-1991. In 2009, the Illinois state government created the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission to investigate torture by police.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On November 19, 2002, Rachelle Jackson, a registered nurse, was on her way to work when she witnessed a vehicle accident involving a patrol car, in which Officer Kelly Brogan was dazed and her partner was unconscious. Fearing an explosion, Jackson removed both officers from the vehicle, and voluntarily went to the police station under the assumption of giving a statement after being informed that Brogan's service weapon was stolen. Instead, she was interrogated for two days with little food or sleep and no access to a bathroom. She was coerced into signing a statement that she had battered Brogan and taken her gun. She was jailed for 10 months before the charges were dismissed. Jackson was awarded $7.9 million by a jury in her lawsuit against Brogan and the city. In 2009, the amount was reduced to $1.9 million. More than half the original verdict was awarded for "intentional infliction of emotional distress."


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Skullcap Crew is a nickname given to a group of five Chicago Police officers in a gang tactical unit who have been the subject of abuse complaints by citizens. They have also won praise within the Chicago Police Department. They have been involved in more than 20 federal lawsuits.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In 2007, security camera footage surfaced of an intoxicated off-duty police officer, Anthony Abbate, punching and kicking a female bartender, Karolina Obrycka. This occurred at Jesse's Shortstop Inn on February 19, 2007, after Obrycka refused to serve him any more alcohol. Abbate was later arrested, charged with felony battery, and stripped of police powers after TV news stations aired the footage. The Chicago Police soon terminated Abbate from the force, but questions remained over the city's handling of the case.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Abbate was allowed to enter his courtroom hearing through a side door, in order to shield himself from the press. This generated controversy, and allegations surfaced that the police ticketed the vehicles of news organizations and threatened reporters with arrest. Superintendent Cline announced that he would demote the Captain who gave the orders, and launched investigations into the actions of the other officers involved.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On April 27, 2007, 14 additional charges against Abbate were announced. These included official misconduct, conspiracy, intimidation, and speaking with a witness. Abbate pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges during a brief hearing on May 16, 2007.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Referring to Abbate, Superintendent Phil Cline stated, "He's tarnished our image worse than anybody else in the history of the department." The video of the attack has been viewed worldwide on 24-hour news channels and has garnered more than 100,000 views on YouTube. In the wake of this scandal and a similar scandal related to another videotaped police beating at a bar, Cline announced his retirement on April 2, 2007. While both men have denied it, some believe that Cline retired under pressure from Mayor Richard M. Daley. Daley has since announced a plan to create an independent police review authority to replace the current Office of Professional Standards (OPS), which is under the jurisdiction of the police department.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On April 30, 2007, attorneys representing Obrycka filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the city of Chicago and Abbate and several other individuals. On November 13, 2012, a federal jury found that a "widespread code of silence" within the Chicago Police Department had allowed Abbate to feel that he could attack Obrycka without fear of reprisal. They also found that Abbate participated in a conspiracy to cover up the attack. The jury awarded Obrycka $850,000 in damages.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Abbate was convicted of aggravated battery, a felony, on June 2, 2009. Cook County Circuit Judge John J. Fleming rejected Abbate's claims that he had acted in self-defense. However, since Obrycka testified that Abbate had not identified himself as an officer during the attack Abbate was acquitted of official misconduct charges. Abbate faced up to five years in prison for the attack. On June 23, 2009, Abbate was sentenced to two years probation, including a curfew between 8 pm and 6 am, mandatory attendance at anger management classes, and 130 hours of community service.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On December 15, 2009, Abbate was officially fired from the Chicago Police Department after a mandatory review by the Chicago Civilian Police Board. The firing was a formality, as the Chicago Police Department does not allow convicted felons to serve on the force.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Chicago Police Officers Jerome Finnigan, Keith Herrera, Carl Suchocki, and Thomas Sherry were indicted in September 2007 for robbery, kidnapping, home invasion, and other charges. They were alleged to have robbed drug dealers and ordinary citizens of money, drugs, and guns. The officers were all part of Special Operations Sections (SOS). The officers had allegedly victimized citizens for years; however, allegations of their misconduct were not investigated until 2004. According to the State's Attorney, the officers repeatedly missed court dates and allowed alleged drug dealers to go free. Several lawsuits alleging misconduct on behalf of Finnigan and his team have been filed in federal court. Since the original indictments, Jerome Finnigan has also been charged with attempting to have several fellow officers killed. Since the scandal involving Finnigan, SOS has been disbanded.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On February 11, 2009, charges against Chicago Police Department officers Tom Sherry and Carl Suchocki were dropped. A Cook County judge dismissed all criminal charges accusing them of robbery and home invasion after some evidence was proven to be false, and witnesses in the case against Sherry and Suchocki were unable to place the officers at the scene of the crime. Charges against Herrera and Finnigan, however, are still pending. As of September 25, 2009, seven former SOS officers have pleaded guilty to charges relating to the scandal. The investigation is ongoing as police officers continue to come forward and cooperate with the state and federal investigation.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On June 7, 2011, Flint Farmer was fatally shot three times in the back by Chicago police officer Gildardo Sierra. Sierra and a partner had responded to a domestic disturbance call allegedly involving Farmer. When confronted by the police, Farmer fled. Sierra shot at Farmer multiple times, hitting him in the leg and abdomen. Publicly available police video shows Sierra circle the prone Farmer as three bright flashes emit from approximately waist level. The coroner who performed the autopsy on Farmer reported that Farmer could have survived the shots to the leg and abdomen, but any of the three shots through the back would have been fatal. Officer Sierra had been involved in two other shootings in 2011. Although the Chicago police department ruled the shooting justified, by October 23, 2011, Sierra had been stripped of his police powers and the FBI had opened an investigation into the incident. Eventually, no charges were brought against the officers. The city settled the civil case with Farmer's family for $4.1 million but did not admit fault.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Richard Zuley was a police detective who retired from the Chicago Police Department in 2007. After his retirement, multiple inquiries into overturned convictions that had relied on confessions he coerced triggered the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office to plan to subpoena Zuley's entire complaint history.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Zuley faces multiple lawsuits from individuals who claim he framed them, or beat confessions from them.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Lathierial Boyd was exonerated and freed in 2013 after serving 23 years in prison, based on evidence from Zuley and suppression of exculpatory evidence. He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, as well as suing the city, saying that Zuley framed him for a murder and attempted murder outside a nightclub in 1990. Anthony Garrett, who received a 100-year sentence for killing a seven-year-old boy, alleged Zuley beat his confession out of him.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: On February 18, 2015, Spencer Ackerman, reporting in "The Guardian," covered Zuley's alleged involvement in the torture and forced confessions of several homicide cases in Chicago. He said several inmates claimed abuse by Zuley.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: In addition, he revealed additional details of Zuley's participation as a US Navy Reserve lieutenant from late 2002 to 2004 in the interrogation and torture of Guantanamo captive Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Slahi was among several men classified by the US as high-value detainees, for whom the Secretary of Defense authorized enhanced interrogation techniques, since characterized as torture.


title: Chicago Police Department

text: Jason Meisner, writing in the "Chicago Tribune," reported that "The Guardian" characterized Zuley's use of torture as "brutal and ineffective". Memos Zuley wrote, quoted in the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's use of torture, described him using ""stress positions""—the shackling of interrogation subjects in painful postures for extended periods of time. Zuley currently faces lawsuits in Chicago for using these techniques against American civilians.