title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Colloquially, St. Louis County is often divided into Mid, North, West, and South sections. North County lies north of Interstate 70, West County lies west of Interstate 270, South County lies south of Interstate 44 and Mid County lies in the middle of the three main bordering highways (I-70, I-270 & I-44) and the St. Louis county-city line.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The Missouri River forms the northern border with St. Charles County, exclusive of a few areas where the river has changed its course. The Meramec River forms most of its southern border with Jefferson County. To the east is the City of St. Louis and the Mississippi River. The western boundary with Franklin County is the north–south line where the distance between the Meramec and Missouri rivers is the shortest, bisecting the city of Pacific, roughly two blocks east of Hwy OO/F (First street).


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The foothills of the Ozark Mountains begin in southwestern St. Louis County, with most of the rest of the county being a fairly level plateau. This western part of the county is the least developed, due to rugged topography. Bluffs along the Mississippi in the south of the county rise about 200–300 feet above the river. A major floodplain area is the Chesterfield Valley, in the western part of the county, along the Missouri River. It was formerly called "Gumbo Flats" after its rich, dark soil; it was submerged by at least ten feet of water during the Great Flood of 1993. The Corps of Engineers constructed a higher levee, and the county has permitted construction in the floodplain.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The Columbia Bottom is a floodplain in the northeast of the county at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers; this is preserved as a conservation area open to the public. The Missouri Bottom area between the two other floodplains had been developed for agriculture, but it is being increasingly developed for residential, business, and industry. The River des Peres drains the interior of the county before flowing into constructed underground channels into the City of St. Louis. It was allowed to resurface, where it forms the boundary between southern portions of St. Louis City and St. Louis County. Other streams include Coldwater Creek, Bonhomme Creek, and Creve Coeur Creek, flowing into the Missouri River; Keifer Creek, Fishpot Creek, and Grand Glaize Creek, flowing into the Meramec River; Deer Creek and Gravois Creek, flowing into the River des Peres; and Maline Creek, flowing into the Mississippi River. The highest elevation is 904 feet/275 meters.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The bedrock is mainly limestone and dolomite, and much of the county near the rivers is karst terrain, with numerous caves, sinkholes, and springs. No igneous or metamorphic rock is exposed on the surface. A major outcropping of the St. Peter Sandstone formation, a fine white sandstone used for making clear glass, is mined in the southwest corner of the county in Pacific. Brick clay mining was once a major industry in the county. The Charbonier Bluff along the Missouri River is an outcropping of coal and was used a fueling station for steamboats. The "St. Louis Anticline", an underground formation, has small petroleum deposits in the north part of the county.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Before European settlement, the area was prairie and open parklike forest, maintained by Native Americans via burning. Trees are mainly oak, maple, and hickory, similar to the forests of the Ozarks; common understory trees include eastern redbud, serviceberry, and flowering dogwood. Riparian areas are heavily forested with mainly American sycamore. By the 1920s most of the timber in the county was harvested. Since that time, large parks and undeveloped areas in the western and southern parts of the county have grown dense forest cover. Old pastures are usually colonized with eastern red cedar. Most of the residential area of the county is planted with large native shade trees. In autumn, the changing color of the trees is notable. St. Louis County has the most recorded native species of plants in the state, but this is probably due to the intensive botanical research done in the area. Most species here are typical of the Eastern Woodland, but some southern species are found in swampland, and typical northern species survive in sheltered hollows. Invasive species, most notably Japanese honeysuckle, are common in some homesteads converted to parks; these are actively removed.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Large mammals include growing populations of whitetail deer and coyotes, which are becoming increasingly urbanized. Eastern gray squirrel, cottontail rabbit, and other rodents are abundant, as well as opossum, beaver, muskrat, raccoon, and skunk. Large bird species include wild turkey, Canada goose, mallard duck, various raptors like the turkey vulture and red-tailed hawk, as well as shorebirds, including the great egret and great blue heron. Winter populations of bald eagles are found by the Mississippi River around the Chain of Rocks Bridge. The county is on the Mississippi Flyway, used by migrating birds, and has a large variety of small bird species, common to the eastern U.S. The Eurasian tree sparrow, an introduced species, is limited in North America to the counties surrounding St. Louis.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Frogs are commonly found in the springtime, especially after extensive wet periods. Common species include American toad and species of chorus frogs, commonly called "spring peepers", that are found in nearly every pond. Some years have outbreaks of cicadas or ladybugs. Mosquitos and houseflies are common insect nuisances; because of this, windows are nearly universally fitted with screens, and "screened-in" porches are common in homes of the area. Populations of honeybees have sharply declined in recent years, and numerous species of pollinator insects have filled their ecological niche.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: St. Louis County has a mix of a humid subtropical climate and a humid continental climate, with neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature. The area is affected by both cold Canadian Arctic air, and also hot, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. The county has four distinct seasons. Spring is the wettest season and produces erratic severe weather ranging from tornadoes to winter storms. Summers are hot, and the humidity can cause the heat index to rise to temperatures above . Fall is mild, with lower humidity and can produce intermittent bouts of heavy rainfall with the first snow flurries usually forming in late November. Winters are cool to cold with periodic snow and temperatures often below freezing. Winter storm systems, such as Alberta clippers, can bring days of heavy freezing rain, ice pellets, and snowfall.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The average annual temperature for the years 1971–2000, recorded at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, is , and average precipitation is . The average high temperature in July is , and the average low temperature in January is , although these values are often exceeded. Temperatures of or below occur three days per year on average. The highest temperature ever recorded in St. Louis was , on July 14, 1954, while the lowest temperature on record is , on January 29, 1873.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Winter is the driest season, averaging about 6 inches of total precipitation. Springtime (March through May), is typically the wettest season, with under 10.5 inches. Dry spells of one or two weeks' duration are common during the growing seasons.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Thunderstorms can be expected on 40 to 50 days per year. A few of them will be severe with locally destructive winds and large hail, and occasionally accompanied by tornadoes. A period of unseasonably warm weather late in Autumn known as Indian summer is common—roses will still be in bloom as late as November or early December in some years.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The largest natural lake in the state is Creve Coeur Lake. It was originally an oxbow of the nearby Missouri River and is now the centerpiece of a popular county park.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Manchester Road (Route 100) follows an ancient path westward out of St. Louis, following the boundary between the Missouri and Meramec watersheds. It is one of only two routes to leave the county without crossing any rivers (the other being State Highway T).


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 998,954 people. There were 404,765 households with 263,423 family households. The population density was . There were 423,749 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 68.3% White (66.9% Non-Hispanic White), 35.3% African American, 0.2% Native American, 3.5% Asian (1.1% Asian Indian, 1.0% Chinese, 0.3% Filipino, 0.3% Korean, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.1% Japanese, 0.4% Other), 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.9% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races and 2.5% Hispanic or Latino (1.5% Mexican, 0.2% Puerto Rican, 0.1% Cuban, 0.8% Other).


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: There were 404,765 households, out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.00% were married couples living together, 12.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.00% were non-families. 28.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.05.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: In the county, the age distribution of the population shows 25.20% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.70 males.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The median income for a household in the county was $58,532, and the median income for a family was $72,680. Males had a median income of $45,714 versus $30,278 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,595. About 5.00% of families and 6.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.30% of those under age 18 and 5.30% of those age 65 or over.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: As of 2009, the largest employment sectors in St. Louis County are education and health (25.2%), trade and transportation (19.6%), and professional business services (12.7%). The county also has the highest per capita income in Missouri ($49,727), and nearly one-fourth of the state workforce is employed in St. Louis County, but it accounts for 27% of the state's wages. It is home to the eighth-strongest market for technology hiring, and the world's largest concentration of plant science Ph.D.'s. The St. Louis County Economic Council is the economic development agency of St. Louis County, and it is operated under the authority of the St. Louis County government. Among the largest employers in the county are Boeing (16,000 employees), Washington University in St. Louis (13,200 employees), and SSM Healthcare (12,400 employees). As of 2013, Express Scripts has approximately 4,500 employees, with a planned expansion of 1,500 jobs to be added over the five years from 2013 to 2018.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Unemployment in St. Louis County is well below the national rate of 7.7% (November 2012) at 6.5% (October); for monthly unemployment numbers since June 2012, see below:


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: St. Louis County owns and maintains more than 40 parks as part of its county park system, including playgrounds and nature preserves. It also operates several recreation centers, the National Museum of Transportation, and the Affton Community Center. In addition to parks owned by St. Louis County, the county is home to three Missouri state parks: Babler, Castlewood, and Route 66 State Park, and part of the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge and the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. Several municipalities in the county also own and maintain their own park systems.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: St. Louis County government is divided between executive power vested in the County Executive and legislative power vested in the County Council. The current county executive is Sam Page, who was appointed on April 29, 2019. The county executive's term is four years without term limits, and the position is elected by the population of the entire county. The council consists of seven members elected from separate districts within the county, with four-year terms beginning on January 1 following elections. In 1950, St. Louis County became the first Missouri county to adopt a home-rule charter under the Missouri Constitution, and the current charter was adopted by voters on November 6, 1979.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: The St. Louis County Police Department operates under the authority of the St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners and is the largest law enforcement agency in St. Louis County. Although it is directly responsible for law enforcement in unincorporated areas of the county, several municipalities contract with the county police for public safety services. Municipalities that maintain service agreements with the county police are Black Jack, Fenton, Ferguson, Grantwood Village, Green Park, Hanley Hills, Jennings, Marlborough, Norwood Court, Pasadena Hills, Twin Oaks, Valley Park, Vinita Terrace, Wilbur Park, and Wildwood. A total of 58 of the 90 municipalities in the county maintain their own police departments. Eighty-one of the local towns run their own courts.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: St. Louis County fire services are provided by 20 municipal fire departments and 23 fire protection districts. The fire protection districts exist as independent, taxing governments that are unrelated to the St. Louis County government, while the municipal fire departments are funded through municipal taxes and are administered by their respective cities.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: As of March 2016, there were 648,073 registered voters in St. Louis County, down from 708,283 registered voters in April 2013. At the federal level, the county is represented by Democrat Cori Bush of the 1st district, and Republican Ann Wagner of the 2nd district. Since 1992, the county has favored Democratic candidates in the presidential elections. Democrats are generally strongest in the northern portion of the county, which has a high Black population, while Republicans have historically dominated the western and southern parts of the county. In recent years however, Republicans have seen the western and southern portion of the county, made up of suburbs, become much more competitive. St. Louis County is a diverse, college-educated, suburban, and affluent county, with a large Black population, as well as a new influx of Asian Americans. These factors in recent years have pushed the county to become safer for Democrats. Historically, the Republican voters in this area were more moderate voters, fiscally conservative yet socially liberal. St Louis County overall is a Democratic stronghold, having voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in each election since 1992, and with increasing margins since 2000. In 2004, 2012, 2016, and 2020, it was only one of four counties in the state to vote Democratic. In 2020, Joe Biden won the county with over 60% of the vote, the best ever showing for a Democrat in the county.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: As of the 2014 elections, of the five senators (who have residences in St. Louis County) elected to the Missouri Senate, four are Democrats and one is a Republican. Of the 28 representatives elected to the Missouri House of Representatives, 19 are Democrats and 9 are Republicans. All of North County elects Democrats to the Missouri General Assembly, most of Mid County also elect Democrats, while most of West County and South County elects Republicans.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: Education in St. Louis County is provided by 23 public school districts, 20 private high schools, both a unified public library system and several municipal libraries, and several colleges and universities. Several of the school districts in the county also maintain a voluntary student transfer agreement with the St. Louis Public Schools that allows county residents to attend magnet schools in the city of St. Louis.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: St. Louis County libraries include the unified St. Louis County Library and several municipal library systems.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: In 1927, a $1 million bond was issued allocating funds for the construction of the first St. Louis County Hospital. Construction of the 200-bed, the non-segregated hospital began in 1929 in the city of Clayton. The hospital opened in July 1931 and ran until June 1986.


title: St. Louis County, Missouri

text: One-third of the county population lives in unincorporated areas, for which the county government provides services such as zoning, code enforcement, refuse disposal, and police protection. In addition to the county-level government, there are 90 municipal governments in St. Louis County that also provide services. These vary widely in population and area. The smallest towns in population are Champ with a 2010 population of 13, Country Life Acres (population 74), and Mackenzie (population 134); 14 county municipalities have a 2010 population under 500, and fewer than a third exceed 10,000. In area, the smallest town is Mackenzie () while 14 other towns are 0.1 square mile (0.26 km) or less. At the other end of the scale, Florissant has a population over 50,000, and Wildwood at the far west of the county is .


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Cate Le Bon (born Cate Timothy on 4 March 1983) is a Welsh musician and record producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released six solo studio albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. Vincent, Perfume Genius and John Grant.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Le Bon was born on 4 March 1983 in Penboyr, Carmarthenshire, Wales, and first gained public attention when she supported Gruff Rhys (of the Super Furry Animals) on his 2007 solo UK tour. She appeared as a guest vocalist on Neon Neon's 2008 single "I Lust U" from their album "Stainless Style". Under her original name she provided backing vocals on Richard James's debut solo album "The Seven Sleepers Den" in 2006. She also appeared on his second solo album, "We Went Riding", from 2010.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Her first official release was a Welsh language EP, "Edrych yn Llygaid Ceffyl Benthyg" ("Looking in the Eyes of a Borrowed Horse", similar to the English expression "to look a gift horse in the mouth"), on Peski Records in 2008. She also self-released the double A-side debut single "No One Can Drag Me Down" / "Disappear" (described by Gruff Rhys as "Bobbie Gentry and Nico fight over a Casio keyboard; melody wins!") on her website. Le Bon worked alongside Gorky's Zygotic Mynci's Megan Childs, who contributed violin, and Super Furry Animals and Thrills collaborator John Thomas, who added pedal steel.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: In January 2013, Le Bon moved to Los Angeles to further her career in the US. Her third album, "Mug Museum", was released November 2013. It was produced by Noah Georgeson and Josiah Steinbrick in Los Angeles, and featured Stephen Black (bass) and Huw Evans (guitar). During that year, she provided guest vocals on two albums: the track "Slow Train" from Kevin Morby's debut album "Harlem River" and "4 Lonely Roads" from Manic Street Preachers's album "Rewind the Film".


title: Cate Le Bon

text: In 2015, Le Bon collaborated with Tim Presley as DRINKS and released the album "Hermits on Holiday" in August 2015. DRINKS released their second album "Hippo Lite" in April 2018.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Le Bon released her fourth studio album, "Crab Day", on 15 April 2016 on Drag City to generally favourable reviews. The album was produced by Josiah Steinbrick and Noah Georgeson, and again featured Stephen Black (bass) and Huw Evans (guitar), with Stella Mozgawa (drums). She noted how the collaboration with Presley had made her realise "that I make music because I love to, not because I have to". On tour she was supported by Black and Evans and on occasion by Steinbrick and Josh Klinghoffer, a five-piece that also performs instrumental improvisations under the name BANANA.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: In January 2017, Le Bon released the four-track EP "Rock Pool" via Drag City. It includes her version of the track "I Just Want to Be Good" which she wrote for Sweet Baboo's 2015 album "The Boombox Ballads". In the same month Leaving Records released "Live" by BANANA, recorded live during the band's 2016 tour and Le Bon remixed Eleanor Friedberger's song "Are We Good?" from the album "Rebound" (2018).


title: Cate Le Bon

text: In 2018, Le Bon signed with Brooklyn based record label Mexican Summer (Ariel Pink, Jessica Pratt, Connan Mockasin). That same year, she joined John Cale of the Velvet Underground onstage at the Barbican Centre with the London Contemporary Orchestra.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Le Bon released her fifth studio album, "Reward" via Mexican Summer on 24 May 2019. It was followed by her sixth full-length studio album, "Pompeii", on 4 February 2022, again via Mexican Summer. Le Bon began working on "Pompeii" during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales.


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Le Bon's producer credits include: John Grant - "Boy from Michigan", H. Hawkline - "In the Pink of Condition", Tim Presley - "The WiNK", H. Hawkline - "I Romantasize", Alex Dingley - "Beat the Babble", Josiah Steinbrick - "Meeting of Waters", Deerhunter - "Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?"


title: Cate Le Bon

text: Critic Laura Snapes described Le Bon as "a ringleader who's prepared to stake out uncertain territory. Le Bon always keeps you guessing, making the old traditions of guitar-oriented rock feel arbitrary, too. Her nervy assessments of the world are filled with equal parts suspense and heart, and beautifully zany riffs, where the feeling of being frayed by uncertainty comes together into a strangely comforting patchwork." In an interview with "Pitchfork", Jeff Tweedy of Wilco stated that Le Bon was "one of the best out there making music now." Describing her sound, he said "it's really rare for people to have a specific sound anymore, but I can always tell when it's her playing guitar. Whenever I try to figure out her guitar parts, they’re way harder than they sound."


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 85,268. making it the 11th largest municipality in Illinois. The town of Cicero is named after Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman statesman and orator.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Originally, Cicero Township occupied an area six times the size of its current territory. The cities of Oak Park and Berwyn were incorporated from portions of Cicero Township, and other portions, such as Austin, were annexed into the city of Chicago.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: By 1911, an aerodrome called the "Cicero Flying Field" had been established as the town's first aircraft facility of any type, located on a roughly square plot of land about 800 meters (1/2-mile) per side, on then-open ground at by the Aero Club of Illinois, founded on February 10, 1910. Famous pilots like Hans-Joachim Buddecke, Lincoln Beachey, Chance M. Vought and others flew from there at various times during the "pioneer era" of aviation in the United States shortly before the nation's involvement in World War I, before the field closed in mid-April 1916.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Al Capone built his criminal empire in Chicago before moving to Cicero to escape the reach of Chicago police. The 1924 Cicero municipal elections were particularly violent due to gang-related efforts to secure a favorable election result.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: On July 11–12, 1951, a race riot erupted in Cicero when a white mob of around 4,000 attacked and burned an apartment building at 6139 W. 19th Street that housed the African-American family of Harvey Clark Jr., a Chicago Transit Authority bus driver who had relocated to the all-white city. Governor Adlai E. Stevenson was forced to call out the Illinois National Guard. The Clarks moved away and the building had to be boarded up. The Cicero riot received worldwide condemnation.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero was taken up and abandoned several times as site for a civil rights march in the mid-1960s. Cicero had a sundown town policy prohibiting African Americans from living in the city. The American Friends Service Committee, Martin Luther King Jr., and many affiliated organizations, including churches, were conducting marches against housing and school "de facto" segregation and inequality in Chicago and several suburbs, but the leaders feared too violent a response in Chicago Lawn and Cicero. Eventually, a substantial march (met by catcalls, flying bottles and bricks) was conducted in Chicago Lawn, but only a splinter group, led by Jesse Jackson, marched in Cicero. The marches in the Chicago suburbs helped galvanize support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, extending federal prohibitions against discrimination to private housing. The act also created the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, which enforces the law.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: The 1980s and 1990s saw a heavy influx of Hispanic (mostly Mexican and Central American) residents to Cicero. Once considered mainly a Czech or Bohemian town, most of the European-style restaurants and shops on 22nd Street (now Cermak Road) have been replaced by Spanish-titled businesses. In addition, Cicero has a small black community.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero has seen a revival in its commercial sector, with many new mini-malls and large retail stores. New condominiums are also being built in the city.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero has long had a reputation of government scandal. By 2002, Republican Town President Betty Loren-Maltese was sent to federal prison in California, for misappropriating $12 million in funds.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Cicero has a total area of , all land. Cicero formerly ran from Harlem Avenue to Western Avenue and Pershing Road to North Avenue; however, much of this area was annexed by Chicago.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: On the south side of Cicero, there were two racetracks. Hawthorne Race Course, located in Cicero and Stickney, is a horse racing track still in operation. Just north of it was Chicago Motor Speedway at Sportsman's Park, which was formerly Sportsman's Park Racetrack (for horse racing) for many years. This Sportsman's Park facility is now closed, acquired by the Town of Cicero, and has since been demolished. Facilities of the Wirtz Beverage Group have been built on the west half and a Walmart built on the east half.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: As of the 2020 census there were 85,268 people, 22,698 households, and 17,508 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 25,836 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 19.22% White, 3.72% African American, 4.26% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 46.86% from other races, and 25.30% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 89.00% of the population.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: There were 22,698 households, out of which 83.62% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.83% were married couples living together, 19.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.87% were non-families. 18.99% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.63% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.06 and the average family size was 3.55.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: The town's age distribution consisted of 28.0% under the age of 18, 12.3% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 8.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.9 males.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: The median income for a household in the town was $53,726, and the median income for a family was $56,632. Males had a median income of $33,835 versus $26,101 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,040. About 11.4% of families and 13.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 15.3% of those age 65 or over.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: As of 2011, 52.5% of occupied housing units were owned properties, and 47.5% were rentals. There were 4,667 vacant housing units. The average age of home properties was greater than 66 years.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero is a factory town. As of 1999, about a quarter of the city contained one of the greatest industrial concentrations in the world. There were more than 150 factories in , producing communications and electronic equipment, sugar, printing presses, steel castings, tool and die makers' supplies, forging and rubber goods.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Most of Cicero is in Illinois's 4th congressional district; the area south of the railroad at approximately 33rd Street is in the 3rd district.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero is served by Cicero Elementary School District 99 and comprises 16 schools, making it one of the largest public school districts outside of Chicago. Elementary students attend the following schools, depending on residency: Burnham (K-6), Cicero East (4-6), Cicero West (PK-4), Columbus East (4-6), Columbus West (PK-4), Drexel (K-6), Early Childhood Center (PK), Goodwin (PK-6), Liberty (K-3), Lincoln (PK-6), Roosevelt (5-6), Sherlock (PK-6), Warren Park (PK-6), Wilson (K-6), and Unity Junior High (7-8), which is separated into East/West sections. East side being held for eighth graders & seventh graders on the West side. Unity is the second largest middle school in the country. High school students entering their freshman year attend the Freshman Center and then continue high school at Morton East of the J. Sterling Morton High School District 201. The McKinley Educational Center serves as an alternative school for 5th-8th graders and the Morton Alternative School serves as an alternative school for 9th-12th graders


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero is served by two major railroad lines, the BNSF Railway and the Belt Line Railroad. Public Transportation is provided by Metra BNSF Railway Line between Aurora and Chicago's Union Station with a stop at the Cicero station near Cicero Avenue and 26th Street. Currently, this station is undergoing a much needed reconstruction and expansion by Metra. Also, the CTA Pink Line provides daily service from the terminal to the Loop. Its station is also located in Cicero. Multiple Pace and CTA bus routes cover portions of Cicero.


title: Cicero, Illinois

text: Cicero is served by the Cicero Fire Department (CFD), with a staff of 68 professional firefighters and 24 paramedics. The CFD operates out of three fire stations.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is an action-adventure mystery video game in the "Sherlock Holmes" series developed by Frogwares. It is also the first game in the series to be self-published by Frogwares itself. Described as an "origin story", the game follows a young Sherlock Holmes as he investigates a mystery in his family's home on the Mediterranean island of Cordona after his mother's death. It is the first open world title in the series.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: "Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One" was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on 16 November 2021, with the PlayStation 4 version released on 28 April 2022. An Xbox One version was originally scheduled to release along with the PlayStation 4 version but has since been delayed indefinitely due to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: The plot follows a 21-year-old Sherlock Holmes at the beginning of his career as a "consulting detective". Following the death of his mother, Violet, the young detective returns to his childhood home on the Mediterranean island of Cordona. There, Holmes uncovers a sinister conspiracy lurking beneath the surface of a seemingly idyllic town where corruption and crime are rampant, and the locals shun outsiders. While investigating, Holmes must also reacquaint himself with his old friend, the enigmatic Jonathan (called "Jon"), who is described as "definitely not Watson".


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: In 1875, ten years after the passing of his mother, Violet Holmes, 21-year-old Sherlock Holmes returns to the island of Cordona alongside his companion Jon. Settling in his family's former residence, the dilapidated Stonewood Manor, Holmes encounters the eccentric gallerist Verner Vogel, who insinuates that Violet Holmes' demise may have undisclosed details. Previously assuming the cause of death to be tuberculosis, Holmes begins to investigate loose ends regarding the case. Tracing a former family friend, who is recently murdered, Holmes begins to piece together events through his patchy childhood memories and figures out that Violet was not, contrary to his brother Mycroft's assertion, suffering from tuberculosis but was in fact stricken with severe mental distress following the death of her husband Siger. A resident physician, a Swiss doctor named Otto Richter oversees Violet's therapy and employs a controversial and experimental approach by immersing Violet in the original conditions that led to her breakdown. Mycroft, using his contacts and influence, conducts a background check on the doctor but the search reveals little of use other than academic credentials and an estranged brother named Klaus.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: After Sherlock unlocks his mother's private museum of debunked, bizarre artefacts, he recalls an incident whereby Otto Richter is harshly berated by Mycroft, who later appears to have testified against the doctor on grounds of the latter's medical malpractice. As Holmes progressively regains his suppressed memories, his companion Jon is revealed to be an imaginary friend known only to Holmes brothers and communicable only to the younger Sherlock. Further revelations cause adverse effects on Jon, who pleads Sherlock not to pursue his mission any longer and move on. During the investigation of a murder in a masked ball at the mansion of a prominent member of the island community, Holmes encounters an elderly police officer, who provides Sherlock with the missing information to conclude his quest.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: In a climactic flashback, a ten-year-old Sherlock Holmes walks his ailing mother through their garden; Violet becomes violently agitated at her son's reminder that Siger Holmes is long dead and has a psychotic episode where she attempts to drown Sherlock in the garden pond, explaining Sherlock's severe hydrophobia. The player's choice of reasoning determines the ending; if the conclusion is that Sherlock (with the unwitting prompting of Jon) had tampered with Violet's medication, she is shown to suffer an allergic reaction, dying despite Otto Richter's attempted tracheotomy. Another possibility is that Richter euthanises the hopeless Violet and is arrested at gunpoint by Mycroft. In all cases, Mycroft returns and confronts his shaken brother. Sherlock and Jon have a bitter or tragic farewell depending on whether Sherlock blames Jon for his mother's death and/or for hiding the truth from him all along. Ultimately, Jon dissipates.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: Bidding farewell to his mother one last time, Holmes is confronted with Verner Vogel, whom he has deduced to be Klaus Richter, the younger brother of Otto Richter. Despite Holmes' explicit animosity to him, Vogel claims that by spurring him on to confront his past, he has turned Sherlock from a Sisyphus to an Ozymandias, allowing him to cast aside his fixations and setting him out unto the world. Ultimately, depending on Sherlock's choices, he is either exiled from Cordona for the death of his mother or out of ennui. After a short narration of his entry to the University of Cambridge, his interest in chemistry and his occupation in criminal investigation, the game concludes with the rendering of the very first encounter between Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the mortuary of Bath Hospital in the opening chapter of "A Study in Scarlet", with Sherlock shocked at the exact resemblance of his new flatmate to his lifelong companion.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: According to review aggregator Metacritic, the PC version of the game received generally favourable reviews, while the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions received mixed or average reviews. Reviewers praised it for its intriguing, engaging detective gameplay while criticizing its lack of polish, dull open world and inability to tackle social issues with grace.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: Tristan Ogilvie of IGN called "Sherlock Holmes Chapter One" as a decent detective game set in an open-world that is elementary. GameSpot praised its detective gameplay while criticizing its elementary nature. GamesRadar+ praised it, writing about how it "does detective puzzling like no other series" while calling it flawed, but fascinating. Fraser Brown of PC Gamer lauded the game for its smart writing. Push Square awarded the game six stars out of ten, praising the Sherlock Holmes mechanics while criticizing the open world as dull and frame rate with other technical problems.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: Frogwares announced that "Chapter One" became the fastest selling game in the series, though the developers did not give exact figures for deliveries or sales.


title: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

text: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One would go on to win the Narrative category at the Central & Eastern European Game Awards (CEEGA).


title: Languages of Malta

text: Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. Maltese is the national language. Until 1934, Italian was also an official language in Malta, and in the 19th and 20th centuries there was a linguistic and political debate known as the Language Question about the roles of these three languages. The Maltese population is generally able to converse in languages which are not native to the country, particularly English and Italian. They can also somewhat understand Darija.


title: Languages of Malta

text: According to the Eurobarometer poll conducted in 2012, 98% of Maltese people can speak Maltese, 88% can speak English, 66% can speak Italian, and more than 17% speak French. This shows a recent increase in fluency in languages, since in 1995, while 98% of the population spoke Maltese, only 76% spoke English, 36% Italian, and 10% French. It shows an increase in Italian fluency, compared to when Italian was an official language of Malta, due to Italian television broadcasts reaching Malta.


title: Languages of Malta

text: According to the 2011 census, there were 377,952 people aged 10 and over, of whom 357,692 people (94.7%) declared that they spoke Maltese at least at an average level, 248,570 (82.1%) that they spoke English at least at an average level and 93,401 (43.7%) that they spoke Italian at least at an average level, out of a scale made of "Well", "Average", "A little" and "Not at all". French, Russian, Spanish, and German are the other main languages studied in secondary and tertiary education.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Greek was made an official language of Malta in 553 A.D. as part of Sicily by Emperor Justinian. Though Siculo-Arabic became officially used, Greek remained in use by the upper class until Norman rule which ended in 1194. Greek started to be replaced by Latin around 1130.


title: Languages of Malta

text: For several centuries, Malta was ruled by the order of the Knights of Malta, with members coming from different parts of Europe, when, beside Tuscan Italian, Latin was commonly used for official purposes such as at the Castellania.


title: Languages of Malta

text: During the rule of the Order of St. John many knights were French, and French was used by the community in everyday life. However, Italian remained dominant for official purposes. Despite this, it was often used for documentation and maps, because prominent military engineers of the order were French. French was the official language of the Maltese islands during the brief French occupation of Malta (1798-1800).


title: Languages of Malta

text: Maltese is the national language of the Maltese people, and one of the official languages of Malta and the European Union. It is a Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic; however, a majority of vocabulary comes from Sicilian and Italian, as described by Maltese linguist May Butcher. 52% of Maltese words are of a Latin origin, a result of significant influence from Italy (in particular Sicily) and, to a lesser extent, France. Malta holds the distinction of being the only country in Europe with a historically Semitic language. The Maltese language is written with a modified Latin Alphabet which includes the graphemes ż, ċ, ġ, ħ, and għ.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Various localities have accents and dialects divergent from standard Maltese. There has been a decline in the number of dialectal speakers, mostly because of exposure to standard Maltese in the media and the institutionalisation of education. The standard language also shows a more pronounced Italianization and Anglicization of the language.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Prior to its independence in 1964 Malta had a significant history as a British possession and, as a result, English is an official language in Malta. Government business is carried out in both languages, and most Maltese learn English in school. Secondary and tertiary education is conducted exclusively in English. Today, 88% of Malta's population speak English (about 400,000 people). However, only about 10% speak English as a first language (about 48,000), as the majority speak Maltese as a first language.


title: Languages of Malta

text: The variety of English commonly spoken in Malta is based on British English. It is also heavily influenced by Maltese and Italian, not only in vocabulary (most commonly by pronouncing Franco-Latin loan words in English in an Italian style) but extending to phonology, with the English being heavily accented, in a mixed dialect sometimes called Maltenglish; however, Received Pronunciation remains standard amongst Maltese individuals of a high socioeconomic bracket.


title: Languages of Malta

text: For many centuries and until 1934, Italian was the official language of Malta. Indeed, it was considered the language of culture in Malta since the Italian Renaissance. In the 19th century, Italian irredentists and Italian Maltese wanted to promote its use throughout Malta for plans to re-unify it to Italy as Malta was part of the Kingdom of Sicily up to 13th century. In the first decades of the 20th century, there was even a struggle within Maltese society and politics over the "language problem", which came to a head before World War II. In 1933, the Constitution was withdrawn over the Government's budgetary vote for the teaching of Italian in elementary schools. The use of Italian in official matters was politically motivated by the anti-reformist party and by the Roman Catholic Church as a form of status quo and conservative measures against the Protestant British.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Today, 66% of the Maltese population can speak Italian, and 8% of the population "prefer" to use it in day-to-day conversation, due to the large recent influx of Italian immigrants. Although Italian has been replaced by English as the official language, it is still used and is spoken commonly in certain professional workplaces by Italian immigrants. The percentage of speakers today, 66%, is in fact much greater than when the language was actually official, in 1931, when only 14% spoke it.


title: Languages of Malta

text: A large number of Maltese learn Italian through Italian television as Italian media broadcast reach the Maltese Islands.


title: Languages of Malta

text: In addition to Italian, many Maltese generally have some degree of proficiency in French, and quite a few understand or speak Spanish or German. Several other languages are studied too, and Arabic and Russian are offered in schools.


title: Languages of Malta

text: The Governmental Circular letter for the school year 2011–2012 shows the following language options should be available in schools:


title: Languages of Malta

text: The vast majority of people preferred English as their choice of reading, with English being preferred by 61.1% of the population for books and 70.89% for magazines. Only 35.8% of the population preferred to read books in Maltese, and 22.7% of them preferred it for magazines.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Regarding radio, Italian takes the place of English, with radio stations being predominantly in Maltese and Italian, with a few in English too.


title: Languages of Malta

text: According to a 2004 study, 82.41% of the population regularly listens to Maltese radio, 25.41% listens to Italian, and a smaller 14.69% listens to English radio.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Local television channels are broadcast mainly in Maltese and sometimes English. However, many people have access to foreign television channels from Italy, the UK, or other European countries, or from the United States, either via local cable or digital terrestrial services, or directly via satellite.


title: Languages of Malta

text: As of 2005, Maltese was not a commonly used language on the internet, with the majority of "Maltese" websites being written in other languages. Out of a survey conducted on 13 Maltese websites, 12 of them were entirely in English, with one being bilingual, but not Maltese.


title: Languages of Malta

text: Possible scenarios for the future of Maltese are a subject of speculation among scholars. Dialectal variation of Maltese is in decline. There is influence from English and Italian. There is a perceived language shift towards English amongst the Maltese, with lexological and grammatical patterns in Maltese increasingly anglicized. However this absorption of linguistic influences saturates the history of the Maltese language, which remains spoken by a very high percentage of the population.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: Carlos Hank González (1927–2001), nicknamed "El Profesor" ("The Professor"), was a Mexican politician and influential businessman. Originally a teacher, he was an entrepreneur who built political contacts along with a business empire, leading to various government and political positions at the state (State of Mexico) and national level. He was prevented from seeking the presidency due to laws requiring both parents to be Mexicans by birth, whereas his father was German. A leaked report from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) Hank González's involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering at one time posed "a significant criminal threat to the United States." The report was later denied by US authorities, as well as its source. US Attorney General Janet Reno clarified that the report was a draft "beyond the substantive expertise and area of responsibility of the NDIC", and that its release was unauthorized.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: Carlos Hank González was born in Santiago Tianguistenco in the State of Mexico. He graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Toluca as a primary education teacher and from the Normal Superior (Teacher's College) de México as a professor of history and biology. From 1947 to 1951 he was a teacher at the Secundaria Federal de Atlacomulco. To supplement his income, he sold candy on the side. He grew and exchanged his small businesses into larger ones, along the way adding names of prominent politicians to his list of contacts. He founded a business empire of banking and transportation interests. In 1999, Forbes estimated his wealth at about US$1.3 billion.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: He married Guadalupe Rhon, with whom he had five children, 3 boys and 2 girls. He is the father of Carlos Hank Rhon, Cuauhtemoc Hank Rhon, and Jorge Hank Rhon and grandfather of Carlos Hank González who now heads the company called Grupo Financiero Interacciones.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: Hank González's political career began when he moved from Atlacomulco to Toluca to take charge of the State of Mexico's Departmento de Escuelas Secundarias y Profesionales (Department of Professional and Secondary Schools) as well as the Oficina de Juntas de Mejoramiento Moral, Cívico y Material (Office of Committees for Moral, Civic and Material Improvement) between 1952 and 1953. The following year he was in charge of the treasury for the municipality of Toluca. From 1955 to 1957 he was the president of the ayuntamiento of Toluca.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: His federal service began in 1961 when he became a congressman ("diputado federal") for the XLIV Legislature. However, at the height of his political career, he served as the governor of the State of Mexico from 1969 to 1975 and was appointed regent of Mexico City in 1976. Federally, he served as Secretary of Tourism from 1988 to 1990 when he was then named as Secretary of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: He was considered one of the leaders of the old guard wing of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He began as chief of the Delegación del Sector Popular at district, state and national conventions of the PRI, then was a delegate for the party for the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche and Quintana Roo. He worked his way up to be a member of the Comisión Pólitica del Comité Ejecutivo Nacional, advising presidents of the party. His death not only left a vacant place in the party structure of the PRI but also signaled the end of a cycle in Mexican politics.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: Constitutionally barred from running for the Mexican presidency by a provision then in force which excluded those with a foreign-born parent from holding the office. His father, Jorge Hank Weber, was German and a colonel in both the German and Mexican armies. However, Hank González was influential on the PRI party, culminating in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: As mayor of Mexico City, he built the "Eje vial" system of roads and other projects designed to make the city more car-friendly.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: In 1997, Carlos Hank González suffered an embolism and died in 2001 of cancer, spending the last few years of his life in the United States for treatment.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: According to a report by the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) nicknamed Operation White Tiger, Hank González's involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering posed "a significant criminal threat to the United States." While U.S. law enforcement officials had spent years investigating Carlos Hank Gonzalez and his sons Carlos Hank Rhon and Jorge Hank Rhon, the assessment by several agencies marked the first time that all three had been alleged direct links to the operations of major Mexican drug organizations. The report drew on information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Customs Service, CIA, Interpol and others, that was later denied. The report alleges that intelligence agencies had intercepted conversations of the Hank family coordinating drug shipments. The document claims that the Hank family had laundered money on a massive scale, assisted drug trafficking organizations in transporting drug shipments, and engaged in large-scale public corruption, while being closely associated with the late Juárez Cartel leader Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Agents involved in the probe feared that Washington would conclude that Operation White Tiger was too controversial, and potentially too disruptive to Mexican-American relations for it to continue, and suspected it would eventually be blocked; as previous investigations of top Mexican politicians had been. Former Mexican official and politician Eduardo Valle, in an interview recovered by the World Policy Institute, described Carlos Hank as the "primary intermediary between the multinational drug trafficking enterprises and the Mexican political system". Eduardo Valle, founder of the Mexican Worker's Party, was a political oponent of PRI.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: Following the media revelations about Operation White Tiger, the Hank family, which has denied its alleged links to top Mexican narcotraffickers and the alleged protection the White Tiger report claims they provided, hired former U.S. senator Warren Rudman as their attorney to represent their interests in Washington. The lawsuit forced US authorities, particularly Attorney General Janet Reno, to publicly recognize the report was a leaked draft of an executive summary and "beyond the substantive expertise and area of responsibility of the NDIC." The sources of the report also denied its content after the lawsuit was presented.


title: Carlos Hank González

text: Hank González appears in a prominent role in of the Netflix serial drama "". He is played by Manuel Uriza. According to experts in the field, the questionable mention of Hank in the show relies on the fact that he is not alive, therefore, Netflix is able to use his name without the risk of receiving a defamation lawsuit. This was confirmed by lead actor José María Yazpik who stated that "since Hank is already dead, his name can be used, while in other seasons, when faced with possible lawsuit, they opted to change the names".


title: Giclée

text: Giclée ( ) is a neologism, ultimately derived from the French word "gicleur," coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne for fine art digital prints made using inkjet printers. The name was originally applied to fine art prints created on a modified Iris printer in a process invented in the late 1980s. It has since been used widely to mean any fine-art printing, usually archival, printed by inkjet. It is often used by artists, galleries, and print shops for their high quality printing, but is also used generically for art printing of any quality.


title: Giclée

text: The word "giclée" was adopted by Jack Duganne around 1990. He was a printmaker working at Nash Editions. He wanted a name for the new type of prints they were producing on a modified Iris printer, a large-format, high-resolution industrial prepress proofing inkjet printer on which the paper receiving the ink is attached to a rotating drum. The printer was adapted for fine-art printing. Duganne wanted a word that would differentiate such prints from regular commercial Iris prints then used as proofs in the commercial printing industry. "Giclée" is based on the French word "gicleur", the French technical term for a jet or a nozzle, and the associated verb "gicler" (to squirt out). "Une giclée" (noun) means a spurt of some liquid. The French verb form "gicler" means to spray, spout, or squirt. Duganne settled on the noun "giclée".


title: Giclée

text: In addition to its original association with Iris prints, the word "giclée" has come to be loosely associated with other types of inkjet printing including processes that use dyes or fade-resistant, archival inks (pigment-based), and archival substrates primarily produced on Canon, Epson, HP and other large-format printers. These printers use the CMYK  (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) color process as a base with additional color cartridges for smoother gradient transitions (such as light magenta, light cyan, light and very light gray), up to 12 different inks in top model printers (orange, green, violet (Epson); red, green, blue (HP)) to achieve larger color gamut. A wide variety of substrates on which an image can be printed with such inks are available, including various textures and finishes such as matte photo paper, watercolor paper, cotton canvas, pre-coated canvas, or textured vinyl.


title: Giclée

text: Artists generally use inkjet printing to make reproductions of their original two-dimensional artwork, photographs, or computer-generated art. Professionally produced inkjet prints are much more expensive on a per-print basis than the four-color offset lithography process traditionally used for such reproductions. A large-format inkjet print can cost more than ten times that of a four-color offset litho print of the same image in a run of 1,000, not including scanning and color correction. Four-color offset lithographic presses have the disadvantage of the full job having to be set up and produced all at once in a mass edition. With inkjet printing the artist does not have to pay for the expensive printing plate setup or the marketing and storage needed for large four-color offset print runs. This allows the artist to follow a just-in-time business model in which inkjet printing can be an economical option, since art can be printed and sold individually in accordance with demand. Inkjet printing has the added advantage of allowing artists to take total control of the production of their images, including the final color correction and the substrates being used. As a result, numerous individual artists own and operate their own printers.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin (; born 4 February 1964) is a Russian politician who currently serves as the 10th Chairman of the State Duma (since 5 October 2016).


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: He is a former aide to President Vladimir Putin. The former Secretary-General of the United Russia party, he was a deputy in the State Duma from 1999 until 2011 and from 2016 to present day. From 2010 until 2012, he was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. He is also a former first deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia. Volodin engineered Putin's conservative turn in his third term. He is part of Putin's inner circle.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Volodin was born 4 February 1964 in the village of Alexeyevka, Khvalynsky District, Saratov Oblast, in a large family. His father was the captain of the river fleet; he died at the age of 51 in 1969. After the death of his father, he was brought up by his stepfather. His sister is an employee of a consulting firm, and his brother is a military pensioner. All of them, according to Volodin himself, live in the Saratov Oblast. His mother graduated from the Saratov Pedagogical College. After completing her studies, she refused a job assignment to Leningrad and remained in her native region, because she did not want to leave her elderly mother alone. She worked as a primary school teacher in a rural school.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Volodin graduated in mechanical engineering from the Faculty of organization and technology of the Saratov Institute of Mechanization of Agriculture in 1986, and then in law from the Russian State Service Academy under the President of the Russian Federation in 1995. He obtained a Ph.D. in law from the Interior Ministry's St. Petersburg Institute in 1996 with a thesis entitled, "A Russian Constituent Entity: Problems of Power, Law-making and Administration." He worked as a lecturer and assistant professor while he studied in Petersburg.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In 1990, he was elected as a member of the Saratov City Duma. Since 1992, Volodin was the Deputy of the Head of Administration of Saratov, since 1994 deputy chairman of the Saratov Oblast Duma and in 1996 he was appointed to the Vice Governor of the Saratov region.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In the Russian legislative election in 1999, he was a candidate of the political bloc "Fatherland – All Russia". After being elected Volodin became deputy chairman of the third State Duma, and from September 2001 he was the head of the "Fatherland – All Russia".


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In 2003, he ran for a seat in the fourth State Duma and was elected as a Deputy from the Balakovo constituency, Saratov Oblast. In the fourth State Duma he was deputy chairman again and appointed first deputy head of the fraction of the ruling party United Russia which has been founded in 2001. Since 2005 he was the party's Secretary-General of its Council Presidium.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In 2007, he was elected to the Russian State Duma in its fifth session. Until October 2010, he was once more Deputy Chairman of the Duma.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 21 October 2010, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister under Dmitry Medvedev. as well as—after the dismissal of Sergey Sobyanin in connection with his approval to the Mayor of Moscow—Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Following the Snow Revolution protests against the outcomes of the 2011 Russian legislative election organized by several persons, including Alexei Navalny, who used Facebook, Twitter, and LiveJournal blogs to organize the events, Volodin, who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time and later became first deputy First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia and was responsible for domestic policy, was tasked with countering these efforts and began to rein in the internet using Prisma () which "actively tracks the social media activities that result in increased social tension, disorderly conduct, protest sentiments and extremist" by monitoring in real time the protesters discussions on blogs and social networks and perform social media tracking which later led to the establishment of the Internet Research Agency.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 28 April 2014, following the Crimean status referendum, the U.S. Treasury put Volodin on the Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN), a list of individuals sanctioned as "members of the Russian leadership's inner circle." The sanctions freeze any assets he holds in the US and ban him from entering the United States.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 12 May 2014, Volodin was added to the European Union sanctions list due to his role in the 2014 Crimean crisis. He is barred from entering countries in the EU, and his assets in the EU have been frozen.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Despite the fact that Volodin actively supports Vladimir Putin (for example, he says that "no Putin, no Russia"), many experts talk about his presidential ambitions. So in 2012, one of his friends in an interview with Reuters said that considers Volodin the future President, as "he has a desire to fly high". Another close to Volodin man said: "an ordinary person in the afternoon thinking about plans for the evening. Volodin does not think about plans for the evening—he has a plan for life. When he was Vice Mayor of Saratov, he already said to friends that he would become President of Russia." In addition, in 2015, the cleric Vsevolod Chaplin, commenting on the article in the "Izvestia" about the personal life of a number of political figures of Russia, also spoke about the presidential ambitions of Volodin.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: For the first time rumors that Volodin could become the new Chairman of the State Duma after the 2016 legislative election appeared before the election. However, this information has not been confirmed.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: After the 2016 legislative election, the previous Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin was appointed Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service. On 23 September 2016, President Vladimir Putin proposed to the United Russia to nominate Vyacheslav Volodin to the post of Chairman of the State Duma. The majority leader Vladimir Vasilyev said that the United Russia faction will support the candidacy of Volodin. Candidacy Volodin also supported the faction of the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia. On 5 October, Vyacheslav Volodin was elected Chairman of the State Duma, received 404 votes. His only rival was the communist Dmitry Novikov, who received 40 votes.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In 2021, Volodin was again nominated to the chairmanship of the 8th State Duma. His candidacy was again endorsed by the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia — For Truth. The only opponent of Volodin was again the candidate from the Communist Party Dmitry Novikov. On 12 October, Vyacheslav Volodin was re–elected Chairman of the State Duma, received 360 votes.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In October 2016, he was among the three most influential politicians in Russia (after presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev) by rating of the Center for Political Technologies. According to a survey conducted by the expert-analytical center of RANEPA, the level of recognition of Vyacheslav Volodin is at a high level. 83% of respondents know that he holds the post of Chairman of the State Duma. In addition, 78% of Russians have a positive or neutral view of Volodin's activities as Chairman of the State Duma.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 24 November 2016, he was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and on 26 December 2016 he was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: As Chairman, Volodin actively began to deal with the discipline of deputies. At first he forbade deputies to vote by proxy for other deputies. In this connection, the deputies have to attend the meetings in person. Fines for missing meetings without a valid reason were also introduced.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 6 March 2019, Vyacheslav Volodin, during a meeting of the State Duma, interrupted the report of the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin and did not allow him to finish his speech. Volodin accused him of being unprepared and offered to report again in a month (usually such reports pass only once a year). According to some deputies, this case is the first in the entire post-Soviet history of Russia.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 6 April 2019, Volodin proposed amendments to the Constitution allowing the State Duma to participate more actively in the formation of the government. According to him, the State Duma should at least participate in consultations when appointing members of the government (currently, the participation of the State Duma in the formation of the government is limited only by the fact that it must give consent to the President to appoint the Prime Minister). Volodin said that the participation of the State Duma in the formation of the government "would be consistent with the principles of proper balance of power" and "would provide a higher level of responsibility" in the work of Ministers. In July 2019, Volodin again called for the introduction of appropriate amendments to the Constitution in his article in the "Parliamentary Newspaper". Later, Volodin's proposal was supported by the leaders of all opposition parliamentary parties. In January 2020, Putin proposed introducing such amendments during his Address to the Federal Assembly.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: In November 2019, Volodin said that due to Ukrainian nationalism and an alleged oppression of ethnic minorities, there was a chance that some regions (oblasts) may separate from Ukraine.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 24 February 2022, Volodin said that "the purpose" of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is "to protect people living in Ukraine". He wrote on his Telegram that "demilitarizing Ukraine" is the "only path that will allow us to prevent war in Europe. Our only chance to stop the fighting and the humanitarian catastrophe." According to "Meduza", he was one of the first Russian politicians to publicly support the invasion. He has denounced Russians who oppose the war as "traitors". On 5 April 2022, Volodin claimed that the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha is a staged "provocation" by the West and Ukraine "aimed at discrediting Russia".


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 6 July 2022, Volodin warned that Russia could demand back the US state of Alaska, which was sold by Russia to the United States in 1867, if the United States continued to seize Russian assets abroad.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Russian citizens critical of the 2022 Russian mobilization have used social media and other electronic means (e.g. Twitter) to enquire en masse Russia's top officials and deputies, who supported war with Ukraine and mobilization, whether they themselves or their sons would go to the front. Most of them refused to answer or made excuses why it was not possible for them to go to war in Ukraine. Volodin said that the State Duma will support deputies who want to enlist in the army and go to Ukraine.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: Volodin has claimed that "Ukraine has lost the ability to exist as a state”, “Ukraine is occupied by NATO” and “[Ukraine] has become a colony of the US”, without providing evidence.


title: Vyacheslav Volodin

text: On 20 April 2017, at the meeting of the organizing committee for the Victory Day, which was held by President Vladimir Putin, the head of the Organization of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan Andrey Chepurnoy spoke. He criticized Senator Franz Klintsevich, Chairman of the Russian Union of Veterans of Afghanistan. He spoke about the letter of Klintsevich, in which he indicates Volodin as the next President. Commenting on this speech, Putin said that "the successor to the President is determined only by the Russian people in the democratic elections—and no one else". Later Klintsevich denied the words of Chepurnoy and called it slander. At the same time, one of the members of the Moscow organization "Safe Capital" said that Klintsevich really mentioned the presidential ambitions of Volodin. "At one of the meetings in 2016 with our organization Klintsevich said that it is necessary to support Volodin in all his endeavors, because he, according to Klintsevich, will be the next President of Russia". According to political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky, Volodin has presidential ambitions, but he is not going to be President "instead of Putin", and will agree to become president only if Putin offers him.


title: Say Say Say

text: "Say Say Say" is a song written and performed by English musician Paul McCartney and American musician Michael Jackson, released in October 1983 as the lead single to McCartney's 1983 album "Pipes of Peace". Produced by George Martin, the song was recorded during production of McCartney's 1982 "Tug of War" album, about a year before the release of "The Girl Is Mine", the pair's first duet from Jackson's album "Thriller" (1982).


title: Say Say Say

text: After its release in October 1983, "Say Say Say" became Jackson's seventh top-ten hit inside a year. It was a number-one hit in the United States (his sixth number-one single there), Canada, Norway, Sweden and several other countries, reached number two in the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten in Australia, Austria, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Switzerland and over 20 other nations. In 2013, "Billboard" magazine listed the song as the 41st biggest hit of all time on the "Billboard" Hot 100 charts. It has also been voted the ninth-best collaboration of all time in a "Rolling Stone" readers poll.


title: Say Say Say

text: The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1983, representing sales of 1,000,000 copies. The single was promoted with an influential music video directed by Bob Giraldi. The short film centres around two con artists called "Mac and Jack" (played by McCartney and Jackson).


title: Say Say Say

text: McCartney biographer Ray Coleman asserted that the majority of the song's lyrics were written by Jackson and given to McCartney the next day. Recording began at AIR Studios in London in May 1981. At the time, McCartney was recording "Tug of War", his second solo album after the breakup of his group Wings.


title: Say Say Say

text: Jackson stayed at the home of McCartney and his wife Linda during the recording sessions, and became friends with both. While at the dining table one evening, Paul McCartney brought out a booklet that displayed all the songs to which he owned the publishing rights. "This is the way to make big money," the musician informed Jackson. "Every time someone records one of these songs, I get paid. Every time someone plays these songs on the radio, or in live performances, I get paid." McCartney's words influenced Jackson's later purchase of ATV Music Publishing in 1985.


title: Say Say Say

text: McCartney played several instruments on "Say Say Say", including percussion, synthesizer and guitar (though it isn’t mentioned in the credits for the track). The harmonica was played by Chris Smith, the rhythm guitar was played by David Williams, Nathan Watts played bass and drums were played by Ricky Lawson. The song was engineered by former Beatles sound engineer, Geoff Emerick. The production of "Say Say Say" was completed in February 1983, after it had been refined and overdubbed at Cherokee Studios in California.


title: Say Say Say

text: George Martin, who had worked with the Beatles, produced the song. He said of his experience with Jackson: "He actually does radiate an aura when he comes into the studio, there's no question about it. He's not a musician in the sense that Paul is ... but he does know what he wants in music and he has very firm ideas."


title: Say Say Say

text: Jackson also spoke of the experience in his autobiography, "Moonwalk". The younger singer revealed that the collaboration boosted his confidence, as Quincy Jones—producer of "Thriller"—was not present to correct his mistakes. Jackson added that he and McCartney worked as equals, stating, "Paul never had to carry me in that studio."


title: Say Say Say

text: According to Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music Publishing, "Say Say Say" was performed in common time, with a dance beat of 116 beats per minute. It is in the key of B minor and sung in a vocal range from F to B. The lyrics to "Say Say Say" reflect an attempt to "win back" a girl's affection; "Deseret News" considered the song to be a "pleading kind of love song".


title: Say Say Say

text: Following the release of "Thriller" and most of its singles, "Say Say Say" was released on 3 October 1983 by Parlophone in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It remained atop "Billboard"s Hot 100 for six weeks and became Jackson's seventh top ten hit of 1983, breaking a record that until then was held jointly by The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Also in the US, "Say Say Say" reached number two on the R&B chart (behind "Time Will Reveal" by DeBarge) and number three on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. "Billboard" also stated that the recording earned "top spot as Jackson's best-performing Hot 100 chart single" after leading the US charts for six weeks.


title: Say Say Say

text: Although the song had peaked at number ten in the UK, it began to fall steadily; McCartney subsequently held an early weekday live television interview, where he discussed the song's music video. This, along with screenings of the video on "Top of the Pops" (which normally played only singles that were rising in the charts), "The Tube" and Noel Edmonds' "The Late, Late Breakfast Show", helped propel the song to number two on the UK Singles Chart. "Say Say Say" reached number one in Norway and Sweden, and the single also reached the top ten in Austria, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. With wholesale shipments of at least one million units, the single was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.


title: Say Say Say

text: "Say Say Say" received mixed reviews from music critics. The lyrics were named the worst of 1983 by "The Buffalo News"<nowiki>'s</nowiki> Anthony , while the "Lexington Herald-Leader" stated in a review of "Pipes of Peace" that, aside from "Say Say Say" and "The Man", "McCartney waste[d] the rest of the album on bathos and whimsy". The "Los Angeles Times" Paul Grein also reviewed the McCartney album and opined that the singer had redeemed himself with the success of the "spunky" song "but plunged back into wimpdom with 'No More Lonely Nights'". Journalist Whitney Pastorek compared the song to McCartney's 1982 duet with Stevie Wonder, "Ebony and Ivory". She asserted that "Say Say Say" was a better song, and had a better "though slightly more nonsensical" music video, adding that the song had no "heavy-handed social content". Penn State's "The Daily Collegian" described the track as a good song, despite its ad nauseam broadcasts.


title: Say Say Say

text: "Deseret News" stated that the "pleading love song" had a "masterful, catchy hook". In a "Rolling Stone" review, the track was described as an "amiable though vapid dance groove". The reviewer, Parke Puterbaugh, added that it was an "instantly hit-bound froth-funk that tends, after all, toward banality". Music critic Nelson George stated that "Say Say Say" would not have "deserved the airplay it received without McCartney and Jackson". Salon.com later described the song as a "sappy duet" and said that McCartney had become a "wimpy old fart" to the music public. "Billboard" listed "Say Say Say" as Michael Jackson's all-time biggest Hot 100 single. In a 2007 article, a writer for the magazine "Vibe" listed "Say Say Say" as the 22nd greatest duet of all time. The writer commented that the song was "a true falsetto fantasy" and that it was "still thrilling to hear the sweet-voiced duo trade harmonies on the chorus". In 2005, Dutch musicians Hi Tack sampled "Say Say Say" on their debut single, "Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U)". The song featured Jackson's vocals from the original recording, plus McCartney's "Baby".


title: Say Say Say

text: On 6 October 2015, McCartney released a new version of the song in which the vocal roles of him and Jackson are reversed. It was remixed by Steve Orchard and Mark "Spike" Stent. On the new version, which is over three minutes longer than the original, the opening of the first is sung by Jackson instead of McCartney. Orchard said of the remix: "Paul remembered that there were two unused lead vocal performances by Michael and himself. We rearranged the vocal sequence and inverted the original performance so that Michael opened the first verse instead of Paul, to give the song a different take to the original version." More specifically, Jackson sings the parts that McCartney had in the original, and vice versa, for much of the song.


title: Say Say Say

text: The track appears on the 2015 re-issue of "Pipes of Peace". A radio edit of the new remix was released for streaming on 30 October 2015, while an instrumental version of it is available for download at paulmccartney.com. The radio edit was also later included on the anthology "Pure McCartney".


title: Say Say Say

text: To coincide with the release of the recording, McCartney released a new music video on his Facebook page on 6 October 2015. Directed and choreographed by Ryan Heffington, it featured a group of young dancers, filmed in black and white in Los Angeles neighbourhoods, with moves that are reminiscent of Michael Jackson's.


title: Say Say Say

text: The music video (or "short film") for "Say Say Say" was filmed in October 1983 and was directed by Bob Giraldi, who had previously directed Michael Jackson's music video for "Beat It". Cameo appearances in the video are made by McCartney's then wife Linda, as well as Jackson's older sister La Toya.


title: Say Say Say

text: "Rolling Stone" quoted Bob Giraldi who recounted McCartney's nervousness about the project:"Paul was terribly insecure about appearing next to Michael, in terms of dance" ... "And who wouldn't, if you're going to go onstage and be choreographed next to Michael Jackson?" "In all my years of working in film and commercials, I've worked with some of the worst divas and superstars of all time," said Giraldi. "Paul and Michael were not that."


title: Say Say Say

text: According to La Toya Jackson, during filming of the video, the McCartneys were staying at a property named Sycamore Valley Ranch, five miles from the town of Los Olivos, California, in the Santa Ynez Valley. Jackson visited them and expressed interest in someday buying the property. In 1988, he would do so, renaming it Neverland Ranch. The saloon portion was filmed at the 1880 Union Hotel in Los Alamos. McCartney flew in specifically for the filming. The video cost $500,000 to produce.


title: Say Say Say

text: In the short film, the duo play "Mac and Jack", a pair of medicine show con men who sell a "miracle potion". The salesman (McCartney) offers Jackson the potion, and claims that it is "guaranteed to give you the strength of a raging bull". Jackson drinks the potion and challenges a large man to arm-wrestle. Unbeknownst to a watching crowd, the man—along with Linda—is also in on the scam. After Jackson wins the rigged contest, the crowd of people surge forward and buy the potion. Mac and Jack then donate all of the money earned from the scam to an orphanage. After this scene, McCartney and Jackson star as vaudeville performers who sing and dance at a bar. On stage, the duo appear in clown makeup at one point and quickly go through a number of costume changes. Jackson flirts with a young woman portrayed by his real-life sister La Toya. When law-enforcement officers appear at the back of the venue, Mac quickly starts a small fire onstage and Linda hollers "FIRE!", emptying the venue and allowing the group to escape via backstage (yet somehow finding time to change into tuxedoes first). The video ends with Paul, Linda, and Michael as they drive off into the sunset. La Toya, who was handed a bunch of flowers by McCartney, is left at the roadside.


title: Say Say Say

text: The video also features appearances by director Giraldi as a pool shark who is conned by McCartney, Mr. T as the carriage driver, and Art Carney as an audience member for the vaudeville show.


title: Say Say Say

text: Giraldi said of Jackson and McCartney, "Michael didn't outdance Paul, and Paul didn't outsing Michael". He added that production of the video was hard work because "the egos could fill a room". The video introduced both dialogue and storyline, an element extended upon in "Michael Jackson's Thriller". In a 1984 study of music videos conducted by the National Coalition on Television Violence, the Jacksons were rated "very violent", citing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", "Thriller" and "Say Say Say" as well as Jermaine Jackson's "Dynamite" and the Jacksons' "Torture". In a list compiled by "Billboard" at the end of 1984, the music video was named the fourth best of the year, and the rest of the top four were also short films by Jackson.


title: Say Say Say

text: "The Manchester Evening News" later described the "Say Say Say" video as an "anarchic caper" that "plays out like an Emir Kusturica feature". PopMatters stated that the music videos of "Say Say Say" and "Goodnight Tonight" turned "a pair of otherwise forgettable songs into something worth watching". Steven Greenlee of "The Boston Globe" reflected that the video was both "horrifying and compelling", and stated the ridiculousness of a potion which could aid Jackson in beating somebody at arm wrestling. He added, "It's even harder to believe that the two of them didn't get the pulp beaten out of them in that bar for dressing like a pair of Chess King employees." The "Say Say Say" video was later included on the DVDs "The McCartney Years" and "Michael Jackson's Vision".


title: Say Say Say

text: Two authors later reviewed the short film and documented two central themes. The first is a "Child/Man" theme; the role of both a boy and an adult, which writer James M. Curtis states Jackson plays throughout the music video for "Say Say Say". Curtis writes that the bathroom scene involving the shaving foam is reminiscent of boys copying their fathers. He adds that the scene marks "the distinction between Michael's roles as a Child and as a Man". The writer also highlights the part where the singer supposedly becomes strengthened with a miracle potion, a further play on the "Child/Man" theme. Furthermore, Curtis observes that Paul and Linda McCartney seem to act as if they are Jackson's parents in the short film. The author also notes that in a scene where Jackson is handed a bouquet of flowers from a girl, it is a reversal of one from "City Lights", a 1931 film starring Charlie Chaplin, whom the singer greatly adored.


title: Say Say Say

text: The second of the two main themes in the music video is of African American history and culture, as some of the vaudeville scenes in the short film acknowledge minstrel shows and blackface. Author W. T. Lhamon writes that the video is set in the Great Depression, and that McCartney and Jackson "convey a compactly corrupt history of blackface" as they con their way to riches with the Mac and Jack show. Lhamon was critical of the pair and of the video because he felt that the African American theme had not been made explicitly known. The author expressed his view that aspects of the short film were historically out-of-synch with interracial relations. He stated, "Nearly everything in the video is backward. Mack's white hand continually helping black Jack on board, for instance, reverses the general process I have shown of blacks providing whites with their sustaining gestures." Lhamon added, "In a just world, Jackson should be pulling McCartney onto the wagon, not the other way around."


title: BET Awards

text: The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annually, are broadcast live on BET. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by artists; some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a televised ceremony.


title: BET Awards

text: The Award Trophy, inspired by three words - aspire, ascend, achieve, was designed by artist/sculptor Carlos "Mare139" Rodriguez. Outkast won the first award trophy during the first ceremony in 2001. In 2007, Society Awards, the New York firm who manufactures the award, enhanced the quality of the trophy design using plated steel and black crystal.


title: BET Awards

text: The inaugural ceremony in 2001 was held at the Paris Las Vegas resort on the Las Vegas Strip. From 2002 to 2005, the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood hosted the awards. From 2006 to 2012, the ceremonies were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The ceremony was moved to the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in 2013.


title: BET Awards

text: The nomination process is handled by a voting academy made up of about 500 people from the music industry, involving the media, and bloggers. BET sends out ballots electronically and voters nominate deserving works and artists in all categories who they think should be nominated. Nominations and voting ballots are collated by Yangaroo, Inc., a leading digital distribution firm that works on many other televised award ceremonies, including those of BET's sister networks under parent company Paramount Global. The top nominees are determined in each category, and the winners are selected via the academy members' voting process.


title: BET Awards

text: The BET Lifetime Achievement, Humanitarian and Ultimate Icon Award recipients, along with the nominees for other categories are announced in a press conference. At the awards ceremony a mini-documentary is shown covering the honorees' life. The awards are given out separately. The Ultimate Icon Award was created in 2015 and presented in the ceremony.


title: BET Awards

text: The BET Lifetime Achievement Award is given a veteran artist or group who has made notable contributions to the music industry. The honoree is paid tribute to by current popular singers who perform the honoree's most recognized songs. The honoree will usually perform themselves after being paid tribute.


title: BET Awards

text: In 2002, at the second annual BET Awards, the category for the BET Award Humanitarian Award was created. The Humanitarian Award is given to a celebrity philanthropist who donates their time and money to a charitable cause.


title: BET Awards

text: In 2015 and 2018, at the fifteenth and eighteenth annual BET Awards, the category of the Ultimate Icon Award was created. It is given to a veteran artist whose career is deemed iconic by fans and critics alike for their notable contributions in the music, dance and music video fields.


title: BET Awards

text: This is a list of multiple nominated performers, athletes & actors with 5 or more career nominations. Beyoncé is currently the most nominated performer with 75 nominations, solo and with Destiny's Child.


title: Niconico

text: The site won the Japanese Good Design Award in 2007, and an Honorary Mention of the Digital Communities category at Prix Ars Electronica 2008.


title: Niconico

text: Users can upload, view, and share video clips. Unlike other video sharing sites, however, comments are overlaid directly onto the video, synced to specific playback times. This feature allows comments to respond directly to events occurring in the video, in sync with the viewer—creating a sense of a shared watching experience. Together with Hiroyuki Nishimura serving as director at Niwango until February 2013, Niconico's atmosphere and cultural context are close to 2channel's or Futaba Channel's. Many popular videos on this site have otaku tastes, such as anime, computer games, and pop music. Niconico offers a feature for users (not just the uploader of the video) to tag videos. Each video may have up to eleven tags, of which up to five the uploader may lock. Frequently, this functionality can be used not only as categorization, but also as critical commentary, satire, or other humor related to the video's content. The site is also known for its MAD videos and its medleys of popular songs on the website, most notably Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga. Niconico also distributed some original net animations, such as "Candy Boy", "Tentai Senshi Sunred," and "Penguin Musume Heart".


title: Niconico

text: The first version of Niconico used YouTube as a video source. When the site grew, YouTube's server infrastructure strained due to increased traffic and bandwidth, leading YouTube to make a decision to block access from Niconico. As a result, Niconico ceased operations, but two weeks later, the site relaunched with an on-premises video server. On May 7, 2007, Niconico announced a mobile phone version of the website. Since August 9, 2007, "Nico Nico Douga (RC) Mobile" has serviced mobile phones of NTT DoCoMo and au.


title: Niconico

text: As of October 31, 2011, Niconico has over 23,690,000 registered users, 6,870,000 mobile users and 1,390,000 premium users. Due to the limited server capacity, Niwango limits the number of free users who can access the website at peak times (7 p.m. to 2 a.m.), based on the time of registration. The website is in Japanese, and the majority of the site traffic is from Japan, although approximately four percent is from outside Japan, notably one percent from Taiwan. Niconico launched a Taiwanese version of the site on October 18, 2007. In July 2008, Niconico launched German and Spanish-language versions of the site, followed by an update for the Taiwanese-language version. An English-language version was added on October 17, 2012, superseding the Niconico.com website, with translation functionality allowing users to translate video descriptions into English or Chinese.


title: Niconico

text: On April 27, 2012, Nico Nico Douga announced it would be rebranding itself as Niconico. The site also introduced a new "Zero" update, which improves video resolution, along with various other upgrades.


title: Niconico

text: Niconico launched for the Nintendo Switch in Japan on July 13, 2017, and was the Switch's first third-party media app in any market.


title: Niconico

text: In 2010, a version in English was in the works, and in April 2011, an English-language beta website, Niconico, was launched. Unlike the Japanese counterpart of Niconico (nicovideo.jp), Niconico.com hosted videos from YouTube, DailyMotion, and Niconico. Similar to the pre-2007 version of Niconico, users can view the hosted videos via a version of the Niconico player, complete with commenting and tagging systems. Niconico.com later introduced video upload and (for Premium users) live streaming functionalities. The site also simulcast select anime titles from June 2011. On October 14, 2011, Niconico announced a partnership with Funimation Entertainment to form Funico, to handle licensing of anime properties for streaming and home video. With the implementation of English language features into Nicovideo.jp, Niconico.com was retired on November 19, 2012, and now redirects to the Japanese website.


title: Niconico

text: In October and November 2018, DDoS attacks from outside Japan led to disconnected services for some areas outside the country to combat these attacks.


title: Niconico

text: The main income of Niconico comes from premium membership subscriptions, advertisements, and Nico Nico Ichiba (Affiliate).


title: Niconico

text: Until early 2019, users need to register an account to watch videos on Niconico. There are two types of registered accounts; free (basic tier) and premium (subscription) accounts. The premium membership fee is ¥550 per month or ¥6,600 per year. As of January 2, 2012, they reached 1,500,000 premium members. Users can purchase a premium subscription via PayPal. Japanese users can also pay with mobile, credit card, Line Pay, and WebMoney.


title: Niconico

text: Niconico uses Google Ads and other web advertisements. On May 8, 2008, Dwango announced a partnership with Yahoo! Japan and plans to adopt search-related ads and other Yahoo-related services.


title: Niconico

text: Nico Nico Ichiba is a unique advertisement system in which users can place banners freely on each video page. Uploaders and viewers can choose which items they want to place in the advertisement banners. Users also can know how many clicks each banner accrued, and how many items purchased. Ranking info of numbers of items bought through Nico Nico Ichiba is also officially provided. Items available are from Amazon.co.jp, Yahoo Shopping, and Dwango mobile service.


title: Niconico

text: On October 30, 2007, Dwango and the JASRAC (a Japanese copyright holders' society) agreed to form a comprehensive partnership. For this agreement, Dwango will pay two percent of its earnings to JASRAC as copyright royalties.


title: Niconico

text: In the fiscal year from Q4 2010 to Q3 2011, Niconico has had a gross income of approximately 10.81 billion yen (US$139.1 million as of November 10, 2011), and posts a 670 million yen (US$8.6 million) operating profit.


Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS; ) is a Hindu denomination within the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. It was formed in 1905 by Yagnapurushdas (Shastriji Maharaj) following his conviction that Swaminarayan remained present on earth through a lineage of gurus starting with Gunatitanand Swami.


title: Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha

text: Since 1971, under the leadership of Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the BAPS has grown strongly. As of 2019, BAPS has 44 shikharbaddha mandirs and more than 1,200 mandirs worldwide that facilitate practice of this doctrine by allowing followers to offer devotion to the murtis of Swaminarayan, Gunatitanand Swami, and their successors. BAPS mandirs also feature activities to foster culture and youth development. Many devotees view the mandir as a place for transmission of Hindu values and their incorporation into daily routines, family life, and careers.


text: BAPS also engages in a host of humanitarian and charitable endeavors through BAPS Charities, a separate non-profit aid organisation which has spearheaded a number of projects around the world addressing healthcare, education, environmental causes, and community-building campaigns.


text: As of 2022, BAPS is facing a lawsuit in United States courts, where plaintiffs allege starvation wages, cruel work conditions, visa fraud, and passport confiscation at several temple construction sites across the country.


text: The basis for the formation of BAPS was Shastriji Maharaj's conviction that Swaminarayan remained present on earth through a lineage of "Gunatit Gurus" (perfect devotee), starting with Gunatitanand Swami, one of Swaminarayan's most prominent disciples, and that Swaminarayan and his choicest devotee, Gunatitanand Swami, were ontologically, Purushottam and Akshar, respectively. According to the BAPS-tradition, Shastriji Maharaj had understood this from his guru, Bhagatji Maharaj, who had Gunatitanand Swami as his guru.


text: Followers of BAPS believe that the Ekantik dharma that Swaminarayan desired to establish is embodied and propagated by the "Ekantik Satpurush" ("a most sublime saint"), the Gunatit Guru. According to Shastriji Maharaj, Swaminarayan had "expressly designated" the Gunatit Guru to spiritually guide the satsang (spiritual fellowship) while instructing his nephews to help manage the administration of the fellowship within their respective dioceses. As Kim notes, "For BAPS devotees, the dual murtis in the original Swaminarayan temples imply that Swaminarayan did install a murti of himself alongside the murti of his ideal bhakta or Guru".