title: Deedee Magno Hall

text: Deedee Magno Hall is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her work in the pop group The Party, and as the voice of Pearl in the animated series "Steven Universe" and its epilogue series "Steven Universe Future".


title: Deedee Magno Hall

text: Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Magno Hall is the child of a United States Navy sailor and a nurse, both Filipino-American immigrants. Her father is originally from Baguio, and her mother was raised in Manila. Magno Hall grew up in San Diego, California, and Orlando, Florida.


title: Deedee Magno Hall

text: Magno Hall began acting at a young age, lending her voice to the Disney show "The All New Mickey Mouse Club" (first recorded in 1988) from 1988-1991, and occasionally in 1992. She also appears as Jasmine on the "" soundtrack. She is credited as one of the students in the 1993 film "Sister Act 2".


title: Deedee Magno Hall

text: After "The Party", Magno went on to perform in musical theatre, most notable was her role of Kim in the Broadway production of "Miss Saigon", a role she later reprised on the national tour. She later played the role of Nessarose on the first national tour of "Wicked", from December 12, 2006 until November 16, 2008. She reprised the role in the San Francisco sit-down production at the Orpheum Theatre. Performances began January 27, 2009 with an opening night of February 6, 2009. She played her final performance on September 5, 2010, when the production closed. She joined the ensemble for the US tour of "If/Then" in October 2015, listed as "Cathy and others" and was the understudy for Elizabeth and Kate. Hall starred in the East West Players production of "Next to Normal" as Diana Goodman from May 12 to June 18, 2017.


title: Deedee Magno Hall

text: Magno Hall came to wider attention for providing the voice of the character of Pearl on the Cartoon Network program "Steven Universe" in 2013, and the follow-up series "Steven Universe Future" in 2019. Magno Hall provided both the spoken and singing voice for the character.


title: Deedee Magno Hall

text: Magno Hall is married to Cliffton Hall, who has starred opposite her in both "Miss Saigon" and "Wicked" national tours, and as Fiyero in the San Francisco production of "Wicked". He also played the role of Dan Goodman alongside her in East West Player's production of "Next to Normal". Most recently, they played opposite each other as Donna Sheridan and Sam Carmichael in a Guam production of "Mamma Mia!". They have two sons named Kaeden and Brycen.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The Pine Tar Incident (also known as the Pine Tar Game) was a controversial incident in during an American League baseball game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York City on Sunday, July 24, 1983.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: With his team trailing 4–3 in the top half of the ninth inning and two out, the Royals' future Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett hit a two-run home run off of Rich "Goose" Gossage (also a future Hall of Famer) to give his team the lead; however, Yankees manager Billy Martin, who had noticed a large amount of pine tar on Brett's bat, requested that the umpires inspect his bat. The umpires ruled that the amount on the bat exceeded that allowed by rule, nullified Brett's home run, and called him out. As Brett was the third out in the ninth inning with the home team in the lead, the game ended with a Yankees win.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The Royals protested the game, upheld by American League president Lee MacPhail, who ordered that the game be continued from the point of Brett's home run. The game was resumed 25 days later on August 18, and officially ended with the Royals winning .


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The visiting Royals were trailing 4–3 with two outs in the top of the ninth in a game being played at New York's Yankee Stadium. With U L Washington on first base George Brett came to the plate and reliever Dale Murray was replaced by closer Rich "Goose" Gossage. After fouling off the first pitch to the left, Brett connected on a high strike and put it well into the right field stands for a two-run home run and a 5–4 lead.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: As Brett crossed the plate, however, New York manager Billy Martin approached rookie home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested Brett's bat be examined. Before the game, Martin and other members of the Yankees had noticed the excessive pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until it was strategically useful to do so. Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson in a game against the Minnesota Twins. In Nettles' autobiography "Balls", Nettles claims that he actually informed Martin of the pine tar rule, as Nettles had previously undergone the same scrutiny with his own bat while with the Twins.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew, Drew Coble, Joe Brinkman, and Nick Bremigan, inspected the bat. Measuring the extent of the pine tar against the width of home plate, they determined that the amount exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(c) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than from the tip of the handle." Because of this, the crew determined that Brett's home run constituted an "illegally batted ball," and under the terms of the then-existing provisions of Rule 6.06, any batter who hit an illegally batted ball was automatically called out. The umpires concluded that Brett's home run was disallowed under this interpretation, and he was out, thus ending the game.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: McClelland searched for Brett in the visitors' dugout, pointed at him with the bat, and signaled that he was out, handing the Yankees a 4–3 win. An enraged Brett ran out of the dugout and confronted McClelland, requiring him to be physically restrained by his manager Dick Howser, several of his teammates, and crew chief Joe Brinkman. Despite the furious protests of Brett and Howser, McClelland's ruling stood.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The Royals protested the game. Four days later, American League president Lee MacPhail upheld the Royals' protest. In explaining his decision, MacPhail noted that the "spirit of the restriction" on pine tar on bats was based not on the fear of unfair advantage, but simple economics; any contact with pine tar would discolor the ball, render it unsuitable for play, and require that it be discarded and replaced—thus increasing the home team's cost of supplying balls for a given game. MacPhail ruled that Brett had not violated the spirit of the rules nor deliberately "altered [the bat] to improve the distance factor".


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: MacPhail's ruling followed his own precedent established after a protest in 1975 of the September 7 game played between the Royals and the California Angels. In that game, the umpiring crew had declined to negate one of John Mayberry's home runs for excessive pine tar use. MacPhail upheld the umpires' decision with the interpretation that the intent of the rule was to prevent baseballs from being discolored during game play and that any discoloration that may have occurred to a ball leaving the ballpark did not affect the game's competitive balance.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: MacPhail thus restored Brett's home run and ordered the game resumed with two outs in the top of the ninth inning with the Royals leading 5–4. However, he retroactively ejected Brett for his outburst against McClelland, along with Howser and coach Rocky Colavito for arguing with the umpires, and Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry for giving the bat to the bat boy so he could hide it in the clubhouse away from officials.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: After ordering the resumption of play, MacPhail and other league officials held a strategy session to anticipate tricks the Yankees might use to prevent the game from continuing, which included the possibility the Yankees might claim Brett or U L Washington missed a base, automatically ruling them out, and, depending on which, preventing one or both runs from scoring.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Indeed, the Yankees resisted the resumption of the game, and hoped to forestall doing so until near the end of the season to agree to it, to see if the game would have an effect on the standings or should be forfeited. Instead, the game was scheduled for 25 days after its suspension, to be resumed on August 18, 1983.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: For the resumption of the game, the Yankees announced that they would charge non-season-ticket holders a $2.50 admission fee (equivalent to $0 in ) to attend. Two lawsuits were filed against the Yankees and Bronx Supreme Court (trial court) Justice Orest Maresca issued an injunction, also requested by the Yankees, preventing the game from being resumed until the lawsuits were litigated. Maresca also cited the Yankees' expressed concerns about security problems resulting from confusion over admission to the game.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: That injunction was immediately appealed by the American League and was overturned by Supreme Court Appellate Division Justice Joseph Sullivan, who issued the extremely short and simple decision of "Play ball." The Royals, who were in flight during that day's legal battles, did not know that the game would be played until they arrived at Newark Airport.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The Yankees finally agreed to allow admission for the game's conclusion to anybody with a ticket stub from the July 24 game at no additional charge.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: August 18 had been a scheduled off-day for both teams. The Royals landed at Newark Airport in New Jersey. Brett did not accompany the team. Instead, he departed directly for Baltimore, where the Royals were scheduled to play the next day—although other sources indicate Brett waited for the rest of the team, passing the time playing hearts.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The game was resumed from the point of Brett's home run, with about 1,200 fans in attendance. A still-furious Martin made what some initially construed as a mere symbolic protest of continuing the game by putting ace starter Ron Guidry in center field (actually Guidry's second big-league appearance in center; he had played an inning there in 1979) and first baseman Don Mattingly at second base. Actually, the Gold Glove fielding Mattingly was replacing the second baseman from the July 24 game, Bert Campaneris, who was injured, and Guidry replaced original center-fielder Jerry Mumphrey, who had been traded in between (on August 10) to the Houston Astros. With Mattingly set to lead off the bottom of the ninth, the move allowed the substitution of another powerful batter (Ken Griffey) to play first base, and made the Yankees' top starter available to pitch if needed, all while avoiding "wast[ing] a possible pinch hitter or runner."


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Mattingly, a lefty, became a rare Major League southpaw second baseman; no left-hander had played second base or shortstop in a big-league game since Cleveland Indians left-handed pitcher Sam McDowell was switched from pitcher to second base for one batter in a game in against the Washington Senators in order to avoid facing right-handed Senators slugger Frank Howard.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Before the first pitch to Hal McRae (who followed Brett in the lineup), Yankee pitcher George Frazier threw the first ball to first base to challenge Brett's home run on the grounds that Brett had not touched first base. Umpire Tim Welke (given incorrectly in some sources as Tim McClelland, the original home plate umpire) called safe, even though he had not officiated the July 24 game and seen Brett touch the bases. Frazier then threw to second, claiming that the base was touched by neither Brett nor U L Washington, the other player scoring on the home run, but umpire Dave Phillips signaled safe.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Martin went on the field to protest, and Phillips, chief of the new crew, pulled out a notarized statement, produced by MacPhail's administrative assistant Bob Fishel, signed by all four umpires from July 24 indicating that Brett had touched every base. Fishel had anticipated that Martin would protest the base touching and the umpires' personal knowledge of it.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Martin claimed to be surprised by the statement because he had spoken by telephone to the first base umpire from July 24, Drew Coble, who had said that he wasn't looking at first base when Brett had circled first base. As he exited, the umpires announced that the game was being played under protest by the Yankees.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Frazier struck out Hal McRae to end the top of the ninth, 25 days after the inning began. Royals' closer Dan Quisenberry retired New York in order for the save - Mattingly flying to center, Roy Smalley flying to left, and Oscar Gamble (pinch hitting for Ron Guidry) grounded to second - preserving the Royals' 5–4 win.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The loss placed the Yankees in fifth place, three and a half games out of first. Neither team advanced to the postseason.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The bat is currently on display in the Baseball Hall of Fame, where it has been since 1987. During a broadcast of "Mike & Mike in the Morning", ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian stated that Brett used the bat for a few games after the incident until being cautioned that the bat would be worthless if broken. Brett sold the bat to famed collector and then-partial owner of the Yankees, Barry Halper, for $25,000 (equivalent to $ in ), had second thoughts, repurchased the bat for the same amount, and then donated the bat to the Hall of Fame.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The home-run ball was caught by journalist Ephraim Schwartz, who sold it and his game ticket stub to Halper for $500 (equivalent to $ in ) plus 12 Yankees tickets. Halper also acquired the signed business card of Justice Orest V. Maresca, who had issued the injunction, and the can of Oriole Pine Tar Brett had used on the bat. Gossage later signed the pine-tar ball, "Barry, I threw the fucking thing".


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: The winning pitcher for the Royals was reliever Mike Armstrong, who went 10–7 that year in 58 appearances, notching career highs in wins and games. Armstrong said in a 2006 interview that, as the Royals were leaving for the airport after the resumed game, an angry Yankees fan threw a brick from an overpass at Kansas City's bus, cracking its windshield.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: "It was wild to go back to New York and play these four outs in a totally empty stadium," Armstrong said in 2006. "I'm dressed in the uniform, and nobody's there."


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Before a game against the Yankees at Kauffman Stadium on May 5, 2012, the Royals gave each fan who attended the game a replica baseball bat designed to look like the one Brett used with the pine tar.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: As part of the Royals' fiftieth season in 2018, before a game against the Yankees at Kauffman Stadium on May 19, the Royals gave 18,000 fans who attended the game a George Brett Pine Tar bobblehead to celebrate the incident and Royals victory. It depicts Brett, after his home run was nullified, rushing at the umpires in anger.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: In , Major League Baseball amended the official rules with a comment on rule 1.10(c) clarifying the consequences of using excessive pine tar on a bat. The comment codifies the interpretation of the rule issued by McPhail in his reversal:


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: If no objections are raised prior to a bat’s use, then a violation of Rule 1.10(c) on that play does not nullify any action or play on the field and no protests of such play shall be allowed.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: In 1983, folk and "hillbilly" artist Red River Dave McEnery released "The Pine-Tarred Bat (The Ballad of George Brett)" on Longhorn Records.


title: Pine Tar Incident

text: Country music artist C. W. McCall dedicated the 1985 song "Pine Tar Wars" to the event, composing a lyric that features an accurate telling of the relevant facts of the story. The lyric is strongly critical of Billy Martin, referring to him as "Tar Baby Billy".


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood in Clackamas County, Oregon, about east of Portland. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, it was built and furnished by local artisans during the Great Depression. Timberline Lodge was dedicated September 28, 1937, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: The National Historic Landmark sits at an elevation of , within the Mount Hood National Forest and is accessible through the Mount Hood Scenic Byway. Publicly owned and privately operated, Timberline Lodge is a popular tourist attraction that draws two million visitors annually. It is notable in film for serving as the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" (1980).


title: Timberline Lodge

text: The lodge and its grounds host a ski resort, also known as Timberline Lodge. It has the longest skiing season in the U.S., and is open for skiers and snowboarders all 12 months of the year. Activities include skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, hiking, biking, and climbing.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Timberline Lodge, a mountain lodge and resort hotel, is a four-story structure of about . The ground-level exterior walls are heavy rubble masonry, using boulders from the immediate area, and heavy timber is used from the first floor up. The central head house section is hexagonal and in diameter, with a six-sided stone chimney stack high and in diameter. Each of the six fireplace openings—three on the ground floor, three on the first floor—is wide and high. Two wings, running west and southeast, flank the head house. Oregon woods used throughout the building include cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock, western juniper and ponderosa pine.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: The architect of Timberline Lodge is Gilbert Stanley Underwood, noted for the Ahwahnee Hotel and other lodges in the U.S. national park system. He produced the designs. Then, his central head house was modified from an octagon to a hexagon by U.S. Forest Service architect W. I. (Tim) Turner and the team of Linn A. Forrest, Howard L. Gifford and Dean R. E. Wright. A recent graduate of the University of Washington, forest service engineer Ward Gano was structural designer.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Timberline Lodge was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project during The Great Depression. Eighty percent of the WPA's $695,730 total expenditure on building costs went toward labor. Skilled building trade workers received ninety cents an hour; unskilled laborers received fifty-five cents an hour. Some of the skilled stonemasons on the project were Italian immigrants brought in after working on The Historic Columbia River Highway and other roads in Oregon. About a hundred construction workers were on site at a given time, and lived at a nearby tent city. Jobs were rotated to provide work.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Materials costs were minimized by the skillful use of recycled materials. Women wove draperies, upholstery, and bedspreads. Hooked rugs were made from strips of old Civilian Conservation Corps camp blankets. Discarded cedar utility poles became newel-posts with their crowns hand-carved into birds, bears, and seals. Fireplace screens were fashioned from tire chains. Andirons and other iron work were forged from railroad tracks. WPA workers used large timbers and local stone from the site.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: "All classes, from the most elementary hand labor, through the various degrees of skill to the technically-trained, were employed," reported the WPA's Federal Writers' Project. "Pick and shovel wielders, stonecutters, plumbers, carpenters, steam-fitters, painters, wood-carvers, cabinet-makers, metal workers, leather-toolers, seamstresses, weavers, architects, authors, artists, actors, musicians, and landscape planners, each contributed to the project, and each, in his way, was conscious of the ideal toward which all bent their energies."


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Federal Art Project contributions to the project were directed by Margery Hoffman Smith, Oregon Arts Project administrator. Smith created many designs for textiles and rugs. She designed the iconic "snow goose", the bronze weather vane above the head house. Smith based the abstract forms incised into the lodge chimney on the art of the local Tenino people. Likely-acquainted with William Gray Purcell, a fellow resident of Portland, Smith saw the Prairie School aesthetic carried through in tables, chairs, sectional sofas, columns, bedspreads, draperies, lampshades, and pendant lighting fixtures. She commissioned murals, paintings and carvings from Oregon's WPA artists.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: During an inspection tour of government activities in the western U.S., President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Timberline Lodge on September 28, 1937. In his speech, he said:


title: Timberline Lodge

text: This Timberline Lodge marks a venture that was made possible by WPA, emergency relief work, in order that we may test the workability of recreational facilities installed by the Government itself and operated under its complete control.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Here, to Mount Hood, will come thousands and thousands of visitors in the coming years. Looking east toward eastern Oregon with its great livestock raising areas, these visitors are going to visualize the relationship between the cattle ranches and the summer ranges in the forests. Looking westward and northward toward Portland and the Columbia River, with their great lumber and other wood using industries, they will understand the part which National Forest timber will play in the support of this important element of northwestern prosperity.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Those who will follow us to Timberline Lodge on their holidays and vacations will represent the enjoyment of new opportunities for play in every season of the year. I mention specially every season of the year because we, as a nation, I think, are coming to realize that the summer is not the only time for play. I look forward to the day when many, many people from this region of the Nation are going to come here for skiing and tobogganing and various other forms of winter sports."


title: Timberline Lodge

text: He dedicated the lodge, saying, "I am here to dedicate the Timberline Lodge and I do so in the words of the bronze tablet directly in front of me on the coping of this wonderful building: 'Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood National Forest dedicated September 28, 1937, by the President of the United States as a monument to the skill and faithful performance of workers on the rolls of the Works Progress Administration'".


title: Timberline Lodge

text: FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt enjoyed a celebratory luncheon including salmon and huckleberry pie. In her "My Day" column, Mrs. Roosevelt praised the lodge's architectural features: "It is built exclusively of native products and by WPA labor. The interesting central fire place with its many openings is a feature I have seen in no other building of its kind and no where have I seen such big timbers used. All the furniture, all the hangings, all the iron work as well, were made by WPA workers. Here is a group of workers who have the makings of a handcraft organization, and I hope their work will be appreciated. Mr. Griffith, the state WPA administrator, must be happy over the work done here."


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Most work was complete at the time of the dedication. After some interior details were finished, the lodge opened to the public February 4, 1938.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Franklin Roosevelt's vision of winter sports at Timberline Lodge took hesitant steps the following year. A portable rope tow was installed, and construction began on the Magic Mile chairlift, which opened November 1939.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: In the lodge's early years, none of its four operators were willing or able to maintain it. By 1955, Timberline Lodge was closed.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Richard Kohnstamm, the next operator, recalled difficulties due to financing problems because the government claimed they owned it. Kohnstamm decided to maintain the place as if he owned it; he lost money during his first five years of operation, but his timing was fortuitous. He took over only a few years before skiing exploded in popularity in the late 1950s. That popularity helped the family generate a profit starting in 1960. Kohnstamm, "the man who saved Timberline", died at the age of 80 on April 21, 2006. Kohnstamm's son Jeff is the Area Operator of Timberline Lodge.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Exterior views of Timberline Lodge were used in "The Shining" (1980), Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of the Stephen King's 1977 novel set at the fictional Overlook Hotel. The staff and owners were concerned guests would be reluctant to stay in Room 217 if it were featured in a horror movie; the management requested the room number be changed to the fictional Room 237.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Other feature films shot at or around Timberline Lodge include "Jingle Belles" (1941), "Bend of the River" (1952), "All the Young Men" (1960), "Lost Horizon" (1973), "Hear No Evil" (1993), and "Wild" (2014).


title: Timberline Lodge

text: Brief exterior views of a snowy Timberline Lodge were used as a stand-in for a "Bavarian Ski Resort" in multiple episodes of "Hogan's Heroes". Director Boris Sagal was killed in an accident on the third day of filming the NBC-TV miniseries "World War III" (1982), after he walked into the tail rotor blades of a helicopter in Timberline Lodge's parking lot.


title: Timberline Lodge

text: In 2017, the first annual Overlook Film Festival was held at Timberline Lodge. The following year, the festival moved to New Orleans, Louisiana.


title: Robert Donner

text: Donner was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. He spent four years in the United States Navy and was stationed in California. After he completed his military service, he settled in the Los Angeles area.


title: Robert Donner

text: Donner's first role was an uncredited part in the 1959 John Wayne Western "Rio Bravo"; he also appeared in the sequels (which formed a loose trilogy), "El Dorado" and "Rio Lobo". He also appeared in "Chisum", "The Undefeated", and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". His best-known television roles were as the ex-convict/informant T.J. on "Adam-12", Yancy Tucker on "The Waltons" and as Exidor on "Mork & Mindy".


title: Robert Donner

text: Donner married producer/writer Jill Sherman in 1982. He died on June 8, 2006, of a cardiac arrhythmia.


title: Spaghetti alla chitarra

text: Spaghetti alla chitarra (), also known as maccheroni alla chitarra, is a variety of egg pasta typical of the Abruzzo region in Italy, with a square cross section about 2–3 mm thick. Tonnarelli are a similar pasta from Lazio. Ciriole is the thicker version of chitarra, approximately twice the thickness of spaghetti. Because the pasta are cut from a sheet rather than extruded through a die, "spaghetti alla chitarra" are square rather than round in cross-section.


title: Spaghetti alla chitarra

text: The name of this spaghetti comes from the tool (the so-called "chitarra", literally "guitar") this pasta is produced with. This tool gives the spaghetti its name, shape, and a porous texture that allows pasta sauce to adhere well to the pasta itself. The "chitarra" is a frame with a series of parallel wires crossing it.


title: Spaghetti alla chitarra

text: The origin of the "chitarra" is still not very clear, though a traditional recipe from the province of Teramo originated in the early 1800s or even before. It is also claimed that the "chitarra" originated from the province of Chieti. Before then, pasta was cut with a special rolling pin with notches to obtain its particular shape. Although its origins are from Abruzzo, you can find different versions and names in the southern part of Italy. It gets the name of "tonnarelli" in Lazio, "torchioli", "troccoli", or "truoccoli" in Basilicata and Apulia, or "cirioli Molisani" in Molise.


title: Spaghetti alla chitarra

text: The dough consists of durum wheat semolina and eggs, with no added salt. It is then worked and, after a rest of about 30 minutes covered, rolled flat with a rolling pin. The dough is then placed on the "chitarra" and pushed through with the rolling pin, so that the strings of the "guitar" cut it into strips. Pasta makers from Abruzzo bring down the cut dough by passing their fingers over it, as they would "play a guitar."


title: Spaghetti alla chitarra

text: In Abruzzo, "maccheroni alla chitarra" are most typically prepared with a ragu of pork, beef, and lamb. In particular areas of the Abruzzi (for example Teramo) the traditional condiment is tomato sauce with beef meatballs, so-called "pallottine". In Abruzzo, chitarra alla teramana, which is a traditional Abruzzo recipe, is a long thin squared spaghetti pasta served with tiny meatballs ("polpettine"). It is generally a first course meal ("primo piatto").


title: Spaghetti alla chitarra

text: A dried variation, without egg, is often marketed as spaghetti or maccheroni alla chitarra both within and outside Italy.


title: Rock You Like a Hurricane

text: "Rock You Like a Hurricane" is a song by the German hard rock band Scorpions, considered their signature song. The song was released as the lead single from their ninth studio album, "Love at First Sting" (1984). It was written by Klaus Meine, Herman Rarebell, Rudolf Schenker and arranged/produced by Dieter Dierks. The lyrics of "Rock You Like a Hurricane" also reference the title of the album on which it originally appeared – "Love at First Sting".


title: Rock You Like a Hurricane

text: "Rock You Like a Hurricane" reached number 25 in the US "Billboard" Hot 100, greatly contributing to the album's success, and MTV put the video in heavy rotation.


title: Rock You Like a Hurricane

text: In 2006, VH1 named "Rock You Like a Hurricane" number 31 on their 40 Greatest Metal Songs and in 2009 it was named the 18th greatest hard rock song of all time also by VH1. On 15 November 2010 it was named the fourth best riff of the 1980s. The racetrack depicted on the single's sleeve corresponds to the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, located in Spain.


title: Rock You Like a Hurricane

text: A new version was recorded in 2000 as "Hurricane 2000" on the album "Moment of Glory", featuring Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra backing the track. In the same way, it was titled "Hurricane 2001" when played on the follow-up "Acoustica". A third re-recording by the band features on their album "Comeblack", released in 2011. The 2011 "Comeblack" re-recording was featured in the 2014 ad for Fiber One cookies, the film "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse", and in an episode of the TV shows "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Stranger Things". A version recorded in Spanish by Steph Honde and Micki Milosevic under the name of Unprotected Innocence was featured in and on the score for the 2019 "Hellboy" film. Rachel Bloom recorded a version of the song for "Trolls World Tour" as her character Barb.


title: RPG-26

text: The RPG-26 "Aglen" is a disposable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by the Soviet Union. It fires a single-stage rocket with jack-knife fins, which unfold after launch. The rocket carries a diameter high explosive anti-tank single shaped charge warhead capable of penetrating of armour, of reinforced concrete or of brickwork. It has a maximum effective range of around . The similar sized rocket features a slightly heavier and more powerful HEAT warhead and more powerful rocket engine. The limited extension of the RPG-22 launch tube was found of little use. Therefore the RPG-26 has a rigid non-telescoping launch tube.


title: RPG-26

text: The RShG-2 (Russian: , "Reaktivnaya Shturmovaya Granata", Rocket-propelled Assault Grenade ) "Aglen-2" (Аглень-2) is a RPG-26 variant with thermobaric warhead. RShG-2 is heavier than the RPG-26 at and has a reduced direct fire range of . It is intended to be used against infantry and structures rather than armoured vehicles.


title: RPG-26

text: The warhead contains of thermobaric mixture, with an explosive yield roughly equal to that of of TNT. The solid rocket booster of the warhead in question was taken from the RPG-26 and the fuse taken from the TBG-7 warhead used by the RPG-7. The warhead has a stated penetration capability of of concrete and of brickwork.


title: Glen

text: A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower than a strath". The word is Goidelic in origin: "gleann" in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, "glion" in Manx. The designation "glen" also occurs often in place names.


title: Glen

text: The word is Goidelic in origin: "gleann" in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, "glion" in Manx. In Manx, "glan" is also to be found meaning glen. It is cognate with Welsh "glyn".


title: Glen

text: Examples in Northern England, such as Glenridding, Westmorland, or Glendue, near Haltwhistle, Northumberland, are thought to derive from the aforementioned Cumbric cognate, or another Brythonic equivalent. This likely underlies some examples in Southern Scotland.


title: Glen

text: As the name of a river, it is thought to derive from the Irish word "glan" meaning clean, or the Welsh word "gleindid" meaning purity. An example is the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland where nine glens radiate out from the Antrim plateau to the sea along the coast between Ballycastle and Larne.


title: Glen

text: The designation "glen" also occurs often in place names such as Great Glen and Glenrothes in Scotland; Glendalough, Glenswilly, Glen of Aherlow, Glen of Imaal and the Glens of Antrim in Ireland; Glenn Norman in Canada; Glendale, Glen Ellen and Klamath Glen in California, Glenview in Illinois, and Glenrock in Wyoming; Glenview, Glen Waverley, Glen Eira, Glengowrie, Glen Huntly and Glen Forrest in Australia; and Glendowie, Glen Eden and Glen Innes in New Zealand.


title: Glen

text: In the Finger Lakes region of New York State, the southern ends of Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in particular are etched with glens, although in this region the term "glen" refers most frequently to a narrow gorge, as opposed to a wider valley or strath. The steep hills surrounding these lakes are filled with loose shale from glacial moraines. This material has eroded over the past 10,000 years to produce rocky glens (e.g., Watkins Glen, Fillmore Glen State Park and Treman State Parks) and waterfalls (e.g., Taughannock Falls) as rainwater has flowed down toward the lakes below.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The United States EB-5 visa, "employment-based fifth preference category" or "EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program", created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990, provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents—informally known as "green card" holders—by investing substantial capital to finance a business in the United States that will employ at least 10 American workers.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Most immigrant investors who use the EB-5 program invest in a targeted employment area (TEA)—a rural area or area with high unemployment rate in order to invest less capital.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The EB-5 program is intended to encourage both "foreign investments and economic growth." The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program is one of five employment-based (EB) preference programs in the United States.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Applicants traditionally had the choice of investing directly or through a "larger investor pool via regional centers (RC)", which are federally approved third-party intermediaries that "connect foreign investors with developers in need of funding, and take a commission." Regional centers are usually private, for-profit businesses that are approved by the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.


title: EB-5 visa

text: By May 1, 2017, there were 883 USCIS-approved regional centers and by 2014 the "vast majority" of EB-5 visas were "granted through regional center[s]." By 2015, the EB-5 program had become an "important source of capital for developers" and for the regional centers. If an EB-5 investment is made in a regional center, the jobs may be created indirectly through economic activity, as opposed to a direct investment.


title: EB-5 visa

text: As of April 23, 2020, 78,278 investors have applied for the EB5 program. Most investors—about 80 percent—come from four countries: China, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Large numbers of applicants have also come from Vietnam, India, Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria. In 2014, 85% of the 10,692 EB-5 visas issued were for Chinese nationals according to a study by Savills Studley, a "real estate services firm." On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed a law extending the Regional Center Program through September 30, 2020. On March 15 2022, President Biden signed a law extending the regional center program through September 30 2027.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The EB-5 visa provides a method of obtaining a green card for foreign nationals who invest in a "new commercial enterprise" in the United States. The EB-5 program "affords foreign nationals and their spouses and unmarried children under age 21 the ability to obtain a U.S. visa based solely upon a minimum investment in a for-profit enterprise that creates or retains a specified number of jobs". To obtain the visa, individuals must invest $800,000 (TEA) or $1,050,000, creating or preserving at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers excluding the investor and their immediate family.


title: EB-5 visa

text: If the foreign national investor's petition is approved, the investor and their dependents will be granted conditional permanent residence valid for two years. Within the 90-day period before the conditional permanent residence expires, the investor must submit evidence documenting that the full required investment has been made and that 10 jobs have been maintained, or 10 jobs have been created or will be created within a reasonable time period.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Commercial real estate projects result in job creation through construction work at first and eventually in the service industry, for example in hotels, restaurants, resorts and/or stadium development. For that reason, many of the EB-5 visa investments "target commercial real estate".


title: EB-5 visa

text: According to a 2022 study, most recipients of EB-5 visas are Chinese millionaires. Individuals from less developed countries and from authoritarian states were more likely to obtain the visas. According to the study, these findings suggest that "investor visas are used by elites in less developed countries to hedge against the risks associated with authoritarian rule. Such elites perceive investor visas as a foothold in a stable and democratic country that can provide an insurance policy or exit option."


title: EB-5 visa

text: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), published regulations making major changes in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, effective November 21, 2019. The rules say that states can no longer designate regional centers; this duty now belongs to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which manages USCIS. This rule is intended to eliminate gerrymandering of TEAs.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who, along with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), sponsored a bill in 2015 to curtail the fraud he found in the EB-5 program, supported the 2019 rule changes, particularly as the rule affected TEA designations.


title: EB-5 visa

text: "Barron's" reported that the November EB-5 changes would "likely result in some developments moving from wealthy hubs into more rural and distressed areas," as the EB-5 program finances various high-end condominium developments. Barron's also reported that the program generated around $5 billion a year for 10,000 visas.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Hotel and multi-use developments financed with EB-5 investments include Hilton, Hyatt Hotels, Marriott's, Starwood's SLS Hotel & Casino.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 2016 "Forbes" cited Hudson Yards, Manhattan as a "fine example" of one of the "very successful projects" resulting from EB-5 investments.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In southern California, EB-5 projects include Europa Village, in Temecula, the Hilton Garden Inn in El Monte, and the JW Marriott hotel at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.


title: EB-5 visa

text: One of the major infrastructure projects in the EB-5 program is the recently completed I-95/Pennsylvania Turnpike connector, which completed the longest north–south route in the Interstate Highway System. Interstate 95, running from Maine to Florida, serves over 110 million people and 10 percent of the total US land area. The development began as part of the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1956.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Select investors, especially from India, elect to invest in their own investment project. EB-5 direct investment projects include franchised restaurants, hotels, healthcare providers, preschools as well as other independent businesses. Funds can be pooled but it is more common for investors to have a controlling, majority interest in the business. Demand for direct investment opportunities has significantly increased as of July 2021 due to the lowered investment amount of $500,000 and sunset of the regional center program.


title: EB-5 visa

text: It is possible to invest in a franchise for the E2 visa (for as little as $100,000) then convert to an EB-5 visa as long as the job requirement and investment thresholds are met.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Congress created the employment-based fifth preference category (EB-5) visa program in 1990 to "create jobs for U.S. workers and to infuse new capital into the U.S. economy". At that time the program was directed towards "alien entrepreneurs" who would not only invest $1 million or $500,000 in a "new commercial enterprise" but would also "engage in the management of the new enterprise" creating ten full-time jobs for U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. In order to make the program more investor-friendly, Congress enacted the 1993 Appropriations Act which amended the EB-5 program to create the "Pilot Immigration Program" — the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (IIPP). Under the IIPP, foreign nationals could invest in a pre-approved regional center, or "economic unit [referred to as regional centers], public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, including increased export sales, improved regional productivity, job creation, or increased domestic capital investment". Investments within a regional center provide foreign nationals the added benefit of allowing them to count jobs created both directly and indirectly for purposes of meeting 10-job creation requirement. This was intended to help potential investors to meet "the program's stringent requirements" through passive investment. With the IIPP, the EB-5 visa became an investor's visa as opposed to an entrepreneur's visa.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In c.1995 former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials formed a company called AIS that acted as an intermediary between INS and immigrant entrepreneurs in the EB-5 program. Whereas EB-5 required an investment of $500,000 AIS only required $125,000 cash with the rest — $375,000 in the form of a promissory note. AIS claimed the promissory note would "be forgiven once the immigrant's permanent residency application was approved". The U.S. immigration agency, which was then known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), had interpreted the regulations regarding financial qualifications in a way that accepted this arrangement until c. 1998 when they were under investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). There were allegations that the INS was giving preferential treatment to AIS in EB-5 matters. The INS (now USCIS) changed their "interpretation of regulations regarding financial qualifications" as a result of the probe. In 1997 and 1998 two owner-operators of Interbank, Herndon, Virginia had "filed 320 false [EB-5] applications on behalf of 270 EB-5 immigrant investors. The INS raided Interbank in August 1998. The EB-5 program was temporarily suspended.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Although no one in AIS or INS was charged, in 2000 the two Interbank operators were arrested, then convicted and imprisoned on dozens of counts of "money-laundering and fraud" in the largest case of EB-5 fraud. INS District Director Warren A. Lewis said, "Visa fraud whether done on the streets by selling fraudulent cards or through an elaborate financial scheme is against the law and will be investigated and prosecuted." Hundreds of the immigrant investors "lured" to the United States had their permanent residency applications denied. Because of the INS investigation, the processing of 900 EB-5 cases was suspended, leaving immigrant families in limbo for years. When the GAO tabled their report in 2005 they concluded that immigrant investors were not utilizing the program because of the 900 EB-5 suspended files—some of which dated to 1995—as well as the "onerous application process" and "lengthy adjudication periods".


title: EB-5 visa

text: According to a Brookings Institution and Rockefeller Foundation 2014 report, starting in 2008 there was a renewed interest in the "under-utilized" EB-5 visa program as the number of "wealthy investors" and "ultra-wealthy individuals" in emerging markets abroad increased and the access to "traditional domestic financing" in the United States had decreased because of the Great Recession.


title: EB-5 visa

text: By 2010, foreign investors' use of the EB-5 program was far less than Congress had originally anticipated. In 2011, USCIS began making a number of changes to the program in hopes of increasing the number of applicants. By the end of the 2011 fiscal year, more than 3,800 EB-5 applications had been filed, compared to fewer than 800 applications in 2007.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Initially, under the first EB-5 program, the foreign investor was required to create an entirely new commercial enterprise; however, under the Pilot Program investments can be made directly in a job-generating commercial enterprise (new, or existing - "Troubled Business"), or into a regional center - a 3rd party-managed investment vehicle (private or public), which assumes the responsibility of creating the requisite jobs. Regional centers may charge an administration fee for managing the investor's investment and a "percentage of what they raise from the developers" which amounts to millions on large projects.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Since 2010, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has become more aggressive in regulating the program, prosecuting individuals not complying with regulations. At the same time, USICS has provided information on investors' expectations, reporting requirements, and added audits and site visits. Overall, participants in the program have developed their own best practices as well as educational initiatives to promote better understanding of legal parameters in immigration, financial matters and securities for those managing investor funds. EB-5 is one of the few government programs that creates jobs in the US without taxpayer costs.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The program reached capacity for the first time in August 2014 when the State Department stopped issuing EB-5 visas until the beginning of the next fiscal year, October 2014. By 2014, the number of EB-5 visas granted had more than doubled since 2009.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 2019, under the Trump administration, new rules for the program went into effect and the US Congress extended the program throughout the remainder of the year. The new rules increased the investment amount from $1 million (US) to $1.8 million (US), from $500K (US) to $900K (US) in Targeted Employment Areas. In order to counteract the uncertainty of the EB-5 program's being continued in an unpredictable fashion, and to extend the program until 2024, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2019, S. 2540. The bill would give DHS more authority over the program, establish and fund a system of audits and site visits, require more disclosures and oversights, and improve transparency and accountability.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 2020, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) co-sponsored a bill that would allow foreign investors to get involved outside of low-employment areas, lower the minimum investment needed to be made and allow some of the participants to move to the US during the period they waited for their visa. Co-sponsors were Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), M. Rounds (R-SD) and Cornyn (R-TX). Related Companies of New York was one of the biggest users of EB-5 funding, particularly for its Hudson Yards project, and spent over $280,000 in EB-5 related funding. The massive Hudson Yards project, which opened in 2019, had its roots in a little-remembered document, the Report of the Group of 35. The Group of 35 was a "wonky" urban policy consortium founded by Sen. Schumer calling for New York City to get more involved in commercial development. The Report, issued in 2001, recommended the development of Commercial Business Districts (CBD) as a strategy to remain competitive. The new CBDs were to be in downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, but the "...most radical idea..." was the positioning of a new CBD in Manhattan, now the site of Hudson Yards.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In March 2021, Grassley and Leahy introduced the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2021 to correct the "...fraud-plagued EB-5 foreign investor program." Leahy was particularly concerned with Vermont's Jay Peak Ski Resort fraud where developers were accused of taking hundreds of millions of investors' dollars. The bill calls for regular audits by the Department of Homeland Security and new disclosure regulations to protect investors and insure compliance with EB-5 directives. The Act also reauthorizes the EB-5 Regional Center program which was due to lapse in June 2021. Statutory authorization related to the regional center portion of the EB-5 Program expired at midnight on June 30, 2021, after an attempt to extend and improve the program was blocked by the U.S. Senate.


title: EB-5 visa

text: On March 15, President Biden signed a law that includes authority for an EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program and various implementation effective dates for the program. There were three major changes to the program in the new bill, including more regulation and government oversight. First, the bill authorizes EB-5 for five years, until September 2027. Previous versions were short-term renewals and last-minute extensions. Second are security provisions that preclude participants from taking advantage of the program; e.g., regional centers must act more transparently and comply with regulation from DHS. The third change is a “grandfather” clause that protects participants from being put into abeyance should the program expire during the term of their “good faith” investment. Additionally, investors were historically required to invest $500,000 plus a $50,000 administrative into an EB-5 project. The new requirement is an investment of $1,050,000 or $800,000 into a high-unemployment area.


title: EB-5 visa

text: According to the Savills Studley 2015 report, in 2011 out of a total of 3,463 EB-5 Visas granted, 2,408 of them — representing 69.5% — were from Chinese nationals. By 2014 out of a total of 10,692 EB-5 Visas granted, 9,128 of them — representing 85.4% — were from Chinese nationals. The authors of the report conclude that the "increase in the number of applicants to the EB-5 program has stemmed from an increase in interest from mainland Chinese". As Asia's economy flourishes, there's an increase of new money in China. In 2012 there were 1.5 million, by 2013 there were 2.4 million which is more than new money in Japan.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 2020, members of both houses of the US Congress called for the Trump administration to initiate a federal review of the EB-5 program. They called for the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in exploiting the program. Critics pointed out that almost 80% of the visas issued from 2012 to 2018 went to citizens of the People's Republic of China and that a large majority of EB-5 investor backlog is made up of Chinese citizens. Some financial experts have observed that the encouragement of foreign investment intrinsic to the program is precisely what the US needs to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, providing funding, for example, for the $1 trillion (US) infrastructure proposal being devised by the Trump administration. The US Department of Transportation would utilize the funding for traditional bridges and roads but would also preserve resources for rural broadband development and 5G wireless networks.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The original EB-5 law required investment in a Targeted Employment Area. This meant that the area for potential investment had to be either rural or have a "jobless rate" representing "150% of the national average". However, over time regions and states that wanted both the development and the employment, and developers became more skilled in "crafting" an acceptable targeted area (TEA)s, an "essential part of gaining USCIS approval". A June 2014 "Fortune" article claimed that, "after years of industry pressure, it's now USCIS policy to automatically accept any state designation of a TEA, even though states routinely approve gerrymandered districts that tack on distant high-unemployment tracts to allow EB-5 endeavors in wealthy areas".


title: EB-5 visa

text: By 2011 there were concerns raised about areas in New York that had been "strangely gerrymandered" in order that "relatively upscale and wealthy locations could qualify for TEA status" according to an article in "The New York Times" in 2011. A proposed China City program in that area received "pushback from locals against an EB-5-funded program" there.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Marriott EB-5-funded construction projects have been criticized for acquiring TEA status for wealthy and well-off regions including in Washington D.C., contradicting the original spirit of the TEA designation. In June 2014 when the $520 million-Marriott Marquis convention center hotel—D.C.'s new largest hotel—was officially opened on June 10, 2014, by Mayor Vince Gray, who announced Air China's maiden first direct flights between D.C. and Beijing. and hoped the Air China passengers would "stay in the Marriott Marquis". In a June 27 article "Washington City Paper" reported that it was "fitting" that Air China passengers stayed in the Marriott Marquis because they invested $5 million through the federal EB-5 visa program "earning green cards in the process". In the same article, other recent "major D.C. development projects using EB-5 funds" including Shaw's CityMarket at O development that "used $97 million of EB-5 funding" and earned "green cards for nearly 200 foreigners". A top priority of Mayor Gray's administration was to nurture a "stronger business relationship with China, the primary source of EB-5 funding in D.C. and nationally".


title: EB-5 visa

text: By 2014 the process by which an area could qualify for TEA status had eased considerably as reflected in the simplified description of the qualifying requirements published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, "Each immigrant investor must create 10 US jobs with an investment of $500,000 or more".


title: EB-5 visa

text: If the location of the proposed new business is not a TEA, the investor has the option to gather the relevant publicly available state or federal statistics on their own and submit it with their petition for USCIS to have a new TEA determination made. In California, the investor may petition the state government for designating a particular subdivision of the area as an area of high unemployment (over 150% the national average); however, this designation is not made by USCIS.


title: EB-5 visa

text: There have been significant recent changes to how project locations may qualify as TEAs. The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization regulation was published by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Federal Register on July 24, 2019, went into effect on November 21, 2019.


title: EB-5 visa

text: There is no centralized list of targeted employment areas. California, Florida, and Washington maintain lists of TEAs. The Washington State Employment Security Department designates which areas have high unemployment rates (HUAS) that qualify for EB-5 visa.


title: EB-5 visa

text: ""The EB-5 Regional Center Program creates jobs and spurs capital investment in communities across the nation.""


title: EB-5 visa

text: The 1993 Appropriations Act amended the EB-5 program to create the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (IIPP), which allowed foreign nationals to invest in an economic unit called a regional center, or "economic unit" [referred to as regional centers]. RCs promote economic growth, "including increased export sales, improved regional productivity, job creation, or increased domestic capital investment". Private entities or states can apply to become regional centers. Investments within a regional center provide foreign nationals the added benefit of allowing them to count jobs created both directly and indirectly for purposes of meeting the 10-job creation requirement. The EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program (RC) program, which was "enacted in 1993 for a period of five years", allows investors to "pool their investments into a larger project assembled by a regional center, for which indirect jobs may be counted". The five-year pilot program has been regularly reauthorized ever since. USCIS maintains a list of approved (but not necessarily endorsed or guaranteed) EB-5 regional centers by state, but without specific details.


title: EB-5 visa

text: RCs are USCIS-approved third-party entities, usually for-profit, private intermediaries, that "connect foreign investors with developers in need of funding, and take a commission". The RC approvals are decided by the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. By May 1, 2017, the USCIS 883 RCs were USCIS-approved. The USCIS — the agency that administers the program, the regional centers and the immigrant investor form the three prongs of the regional center program interaction. The Brookings-Rockefeller report included the program's "missteps" that "illustrate the vulnerability of a system dependent on the relationships between USCIS, regional centers, and investors".


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 1994 the first two regional centers were established and by 2007 there were 16. As the banking crisis worsened and access to capital became difficult, the number of approved regional centers proliferated. For example, at the end of FY 2007 there were only 11 USCIS-approved regional centers. In 2008 the RCs "nearly doubled" and their numbers have mushroomed since then. By February 2, 2015, there were approximately 630 and by May 1, 2017, there were 883. Many of them operate in multiple states.


title: EB-5 visa

text: By 2015 the RC program had "generated billions of dollars in capital investment and created tens of thousands of jobs across the country". By 2015, RC applications represented over 95% of all EB-5 investments. EB-5 investors who use RC intermediaries do not have to actively manage a business, but they lose on the rate of return. The Savills Studley 2015 report recommended that investors who are concerned about maximizing profits benefit from investing individually.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In June 2015 Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced legislation to "extend and significantly improve the job-creating immigrant investor visa program" and re-authorize the "EB-5 Regional Center program". Senator Leahy said that, since 2005, the EB-5 program had "create[d] jobs and provide[d] access to capital in communities in Vermont and throughout the country, all at no cost to American taxpayers". Senator Grassley added, "The EB-5 regional center program was created to benefit American communities through investment and job creation. In many instances the program has helped combat a stagnant economy."


title: EB-5 visa

text: EB-5 Funding has helped rebuild the Las Vegas economy. The city had seen a boom in using regional centers and EB-5 funding to build new casino projects. In 2013 the first EB-5 project - the Downtown Grand was built followed by SLS, formerly the Sahara Hotel. Additional new casino projects obtaining EB-5 funding on the Las Vegas Strip included the Lucky Dragon Hotel and Casino, Dynasty Hotel Casino, Clarion Hotel, and Resorts World Las Vegas. Foreign investors are also being solicited to invest in Las Vegas' SLS Hotel & Casino.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission entered into a partnership with the Delaware Valley Regional Center (DVRC) in 2014 to raise half of the $416 million needed to construct the interchange between the turnpike and I-95. The EB-5 program will allow the Turnpike Commission through the DVRC to save about $35 million over traditional borrowing costs over five years. The total project generated over 5,300 permanent, full-time jobs which productively affected the region. The turnpike effort was supported by all levels of government affected. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's involvement enabled the DVRC to solicit and subscribe the needed 400 investors in the undertaking in 10 months.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Major developers formed their own regional centers with the goal of soliciting EB-5 investments. Silverstein Properties, for example, has marketed their Downtown Manhattan The Four Seasons Restaurant as an "EB-5 investment opportunity" on their website. Other projects that have received EB-5 regional center funding include the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, and the New York Wheel.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 2008 David Morris, an immigration lawyer with Visa Law Group and Angel Brunner, an economist and urban planner (formerly of the D.C.'s Neighborhood Development Company and the National Capital Revitalization Corporation) co-founded the DC Regional Center when they partnered on "their first big project, CityMarket at O". By 2014, Morris and Brunner dominated EB-5 projects in D.C. Brunner and Morris introduced EB-5 initiatives to the D.C. District government office administrator Adrian Fenty. Working through the DC Regional Center but separately from one another, Morris and Brunner were the intermediaries for a number of major D.C.'s EB-5-funded development projects. Morris raised $65 million for the Hyatt Place hotel, $55 million in EB-5 funding for Skyland Town Center, representing "110 green cards for foreign investors". Brunner "brought more than $80 million in EB-5 capital to D.C." including a Hilton hotel project "with $39 million in EB-5 investments", and a large residential development near the Navy Yard.


title: EB-5 visa

text: CMB Regional Center, based in Rock Island, Illinois, is an EB-5 regional center. To date, CMB has raised more than $3 billion in capital through 71 investment partnerships and it operates 16 regional centers within 22 states and Washington, D.C. According to "Transportation Today", CMB "projects stand to create some 175,000 new American jobs."


title: EB-5 visa

text: As a general rule, most EB-5 Regional Centers are established through the guidance of a qualified EB-5 expert or attorney. In June 2014, the PureLabs Scientific line of vitamins and supplements became the first in its industry to be organized as an EB-5 Regional Center, the NatureAll Co Inc EB-5 Regional Center, founded by entrepreneur Charles B. Shea As 2017, the NatureAll Regional Center has been disbanded and is no longer accepting investment capital.


title: EB-5 visa

text: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers some "EB-5 offerings" to be securities covered under U.S. securities laws. "[C]ompanies and individuals that sell EB-5 investments cannot "defraud investors, make false claims or fail to mention relevant information". However, the SEC has limited ability to "bring fraud claims where the funds solicited and the investors are based overseas".


title: EB-5 visa

text: The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sets guidelines for EB-5 projects and monitors compliance with immigration rules. Under EB-5 visa guidelines, "investors must put their capital at risk and the green card is not guaranteed". The USCIS also evaluates approvals for regional centers.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In 2013, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an investor alert to warn investors about an increase in fraudulent investment scams that exploit the EB-5 visa program. The SEC listed "warning signs of fraud" such as automatic, timely and/or guaranteed "promises of a visa or permanent resident status" and established the SEC Whistleblower Program to offer a monetary award for "exposing EB-5 fraud". Under the SEC Whistleblower Program, individuals are eligible to receive a reward for providing the SEC with original information about securities fraud, including EB-5 fraud. If the SEC uses the individual's information to bring a successful enforcement action, he or she is eligible to receive 10% to 30% of the monetary sanctions collected as an award. A whistleblower's tip about a $147 million EB-5 scheme has already resulted in a $14.7 million SEC award.


title: EB-5 visa

text: On August 24, 2015, the SEC filed civil fraud charges against Lobsang Dargey for his misuse of the EB-5 Visa program by misappropriating about $136 million from Chinese investors through his Path America entity. The SEC received a settlement offer in January 2017 that "signaled "a possible resolution to the high-profile case".


title: EB-5 visa

text: By 2016 scrutiny of the EB-5 program had increased as "investigators uncovered numerous cases of fraud, discovered individuals with possible ties to Chinese and Iranian intelligence using fake documents and learned that international fugitives who have laundered money had infiltrated the program." In that year Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a longtime critic of EB-5, described the program as one that had "long been riddled with corruption and national security vulnerabilities.


title: EB-5 visa

text: In March 2016 Taylor Johnson, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who had questioned the "vetting of individuals involved in a [EB-5] development project in Las Vegas" was fired. In response to her complaints, the Office of Special Counsel and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General undertook an investigation.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Vermont's EB-5 program was "burned" with the "massive eight-year fraudulent scheme" in which the owners of Jay Peak Ski Resort in Vermont misappropriated funds for a $350 million EB-5 project. It was the "most followed EB-5 fraud case" according to "Forbes". Foreign investors lost their investments in "Jay Peak, Burke Mountain and related projects in the NEK".


title: EB-5 visa

text: In June 2015 Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced the "American Job Creation and Investment Promotion Reform Act" to "extend and significantly improve the job-creating immigrant investor visa program" and to "address fraud and national security concerns". In September 2016, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) introduced legislation to "reform and reauthorize the EB-5 Regional Center program".


title: EB-5 visa

text: In February 2017 Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Grassley, a critic of EB-5, introduced a bill in February 2017 to terminate the program. In a joint statement they claimed that, "The EB-5 program is inherently flawed. It says that U.S. citizenship is for sale. It is wrong to have a special pathway to citizenship for the wealthy while millions wait in line for visas." Grassley and Feinstein say that "there is no reliable or verifiable way to measure how many jobs are created" and that "many of the wealthiest parts of the country have been incorrectly labeled as "high unemployment."


title: EB-5 visa

text: In April 2017 the EB-5 visa "cash-for-residency scheme" was under investigation by the FBI with a specific focus on the California Investment Immigration Fund because of its "alleg[ed] connection[s] to "abuses of the "controversial" program. The FBI raided a Los Angeles-area business in April, 2017 in which a father and daughter team were suspected of "orchestrating a $50 million" EB-5 visa fraud scheme.


title: EB-5 visa

text: Supporters of the foreign investor visa include Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York), along with some in the Obama administration. They say that the program "delivered billions of dollars into the American economy: $8.7 billion and 35,140 jobs since October 12". According to federal auditors the numbers were "not valid and reliable".


title: EB-5 visa

text: They "have capitalized on a lucrative government program that critics say has little oversight and loose rules".


title: EB-5 visa

text: Starting on May 6, 2017, a number of major media outlets began raising concerns about ethical implications regarding the way in which the EB-5 program was promoted to potential Chinese investors by Kushner Companies, because of Jared Kushner's pivotal and influential role in the Presidency of Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Chinese investors were shown a photo of Pres. Trump in a marketing slide show, suggesting the ease of getting a green card. "The Independent" headlined with "Trump and Kushner exploitation of presidency 'unlike anything we have ever seen before'.


title: EB-5 visa

text: A 2015 study found that the EB-5 investor visa program boosted investment in the United States during the Great Recession of 2008 to 2012. The study found "that Chinese wealthy private business owners are mainly participants in EB-5 for acquiring a U.S. green card on behalf of their young adult children. The rate of return of the EB-5 program for investors is a low-priority item, less important than return of capital."


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: The fourth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 18, 2005, and continued until May 25, 2005. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell also returned to judge. Carrie Underwood won the season with approximately 500 million votes cast in the season and 37 million for the finale. Underwood has since gone on to become an eight-time Grammy-winning country megastar. It was also the first season of the series to be aired in high definition.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: While in the past seasons celebrity guest judges have been invited to participate during the competition, this was the first season where guest judges were invited to participate in the auditions. The music celebrities featured were:


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Where there were four judges present, three yeses were required for the auditioner to proceed on to Hollywood.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: It is also the first season in which the age limit was raised to 28, in order to increase variety. Among those who benefited from this new rule were Constantine Maroulis, Bo Bice, Scott Savol and Nadia Turner.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Auditions for Season 4 started on August 4, 2004, in Cleveland, Ohio. An audition was originally planned for Anchorage, Alaska, but that was cancelled about a month before due to possible schedule conflict as a result of hurricanes affecting the Orlando auditions. Auditions were held from August to October 2004, and over 100,000 people attended the auditions for the first time.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: The audition episodes featured the Molfetta twins multiple times. They first auditioned in New Orleans but both failed, Rich Molfetta tried again in Las Vegas and got through to the Hollywood, but J.P. Molfetta failed in his audition in San Francisco.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: There were 193 contestants in the Hollywood rounds. They were split into two groups to perform on separate day at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The contestants first chose from a list of 12 songs selected by the producers. They were separated into groups of boys and girls but they performed solo with piano accompaniment and back-up singers. Those who failed were eliminated after all in the group performed. 95 contestants were eliminated after this round but one, Marlea Stroman, left on her own free will and became the first contestant ever to choose to leave the "American Idol" competition. The remaining 97 contestants competed in the second round which featured group performances. The songs for the groups were Four Tops's "I Can't Help Myself", The Temptations' Get Ready, Barry Manilow's "Jump Shout Boogie", The Marvelettes's "Please Mr. Postman" and The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go". 75 remained after this round.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: In the last round they performed a capella. After their performance, the contestants were divided into 4 groups in separate rooms. Two groups were eliminated and the number of contestants was cut to 44.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: After further deliberation by the judges, 24 semi-finalists, 12 women and 12 men, were then selected. At Pasadena Civic Center, each contestant took the elevator from their holding room to the floor above, and in a walk that would later be dubbed the "green mile", to see the judges who would then reveal their fate to them.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Because of the highly unbalanced finals in season 3 where female contestants formed the clear majority (8 to 4) of the final 12, rules for the semifinals were changed so as to give an equal number of male and female finalists. From this season to season seven, and again for season nine, 12 men and 12 women competed separately on consecutive nights, with 2 of each gender being voted off each week in the result shows until 12 finalists were left, 6 men and 6 women.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: In this season, guest judges were introduced in some episodes, and sometimes the mentor joined as judges.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: In the result shows, the bottom two vote-getters reprised their performances before the elimination was announced, or only the eliminated one performed after the result is revealed.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Judge Simon Cowell believed that Bice would have won the season, were he able to save his a cappella rendering of "In a Dream" for his final performance.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: The fourth-season finale featuring Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood aired May 24 May 25. It featured appearances by former auditioners, and celebrity cameos by Kenny G, Rascal Flatts, David Hasselhoff, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, George Benson, Billy Preston, Babyface and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The winner of the competition was Carrie Underwood, who would eventually become the second "Idol" winner to sweep all three major music awards (American Music, Billboard, and Grammy Award) in a single season (for 2006–07).


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: In a nod to the "Diana knew she'd been eliminated by the performance order" controversy of "Idol 3", neither contestant sang the winner's single, "Inside Your Heaven", before the results were announced.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Underwood's first single, "Inside Your Heaven", debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 14, 2005, and had first-week sales of 170,000 copies. One week later, runner-up Bo Bice released his version of the song, which debuted at number two.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: The computer program DialIdol, which allows voters to autodial their votes and uses the dialing results to make predictions about the eliminations, was in development during season 4. It was finished by Top 6 week and was used to predict the voting results from the Top 6 to Top 2. However, the dialing program was not made available to the general public until season 5.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: During the season, Corey Clark, a season two contestant who was disqualified for having an undisclosed arrest record, alleged in an interview on ABC's "Primetime Live" that he had an affair with Paula Abdul while on the show. The finale show included a parody segment spoofing the alleged scandal.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Votefortheworst.com, which campaigned voting for Scott Savol, made headlines when Savol outlasted Constantine Maroulis and made it into the final five.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: On the Top 11, the show had a voting error in which three of the contestants had their numbers mixed up. The Wednesday show which was supposed to be the elimination night made fans revote again as the numbers were fixed and Thursday was the elimination night.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Bo Bice was revealed to have been arrested on a felony cocaine possession charge in June 2001 at a strip club in Madison County, Ala., and was also arrested two years later for marijuana possession, public intoxication, and possession of drug paraphernalia.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Scott Savol was also revealed to have been convicted of a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct for domestic violence. However, no action was taken against either of them by the show producers because they had revealed their misdemeanors in advance.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: Season 4 of "American Idol" had an overall average viewership of 26.8 million and was the top show for the 2004–2005 TV season. Its Tuesday episodes averaged 27.32 million (ranked first) while the Wednesday episodes averaged 26.07 million (ranked third). It also drove Fox, for the first time ever, to become the top network in the 18-to-49 demographic for the season.


title: American Idol (season 4)

text: "Note 1: The Top 11 Wednesday night was a repeat performance night due to a mix-up in the phone numbers for the contestants. The result show was moved to Thursday."


title: Earth (American band)

text: Earth is an American experimental rock band based in Olympia, Washington, formed in 1989 and led by the guitarist Dylan Carlson. Earth's music is nearly all instrumental, and can be divided into two distinct stages. Their early work is characterized by distortion, droning, minimalism, and lengthy, repetitive song structures. Owing to their 1993 debut album "Earth 2", Earth is recognized as a pioneer of drone metal. The band resurfaced in the early 2000s, with their later output reducing the distortion and incorporating elements of country, jazz rock, and folk.


title: Earth (American band)

text: Dylan Carlson founded the band in 1989 along with Slim Moon and Greg Babior, taking the title "Earth" from Black Sabbath's prior name. Carlson has remained the core of the band's line-up throughout its changes.


title: Earth (American band)

text: Carlson was a close friend of Kurt Cobain, who sang lead vocals in the song "Divine and Bright", from a demo included on the re-release of the live album "Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars". Because police had twice confiscated guns from Cobain inside a single year, Cobain had Carlson purchase a shotgun for him on March 30, 1994. Cobain told Carlson the gun was for protection. Cobain would use the shotgun to kill himself six days later.


title: Earth (American band)

text: "Earth 2" was described as a "milestone" by "Terrorizer"s Dayal Patterson, which he described as "a three-track, 75 minute deluge of feedback and distorted guitars that marked the blueprint for what Carlson at the time coined 'ambient metal'". The band went on hiatus after the release of "" due to Carlson's personal problems, including heroin addiction, rehabilitation, his connection to Kurt Cobain's death, and incarceration. Carlson attributed the break primarily to his heroin addiction:


title: Earth (American band)

text: Earth reappeared around 2000 with a markedly different sound. Its music was still drone based, slow-paced, and lengthy, but it now included a drummer and featured strong elements of country music. Remarking on the stylistic change, Carlson was quick to point to the continuity with Earth's previous sound:


title: Earth (American band)

text: The press release for "Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method" (2005) stated the band's music shows "the influence of country guitarists/songwriters such as: Duane Eddy, Merle Haggard, Roy Buchanan and fuses it with the vibe of epic visionary composer: Ennio Morricone." The press release for "The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull" (2008) declares "Earth shows it's [sic] affinity with a nod to the best elements of the more adventurous San Francisco bands of the late 1960s and 1970s, and the more spiritually aware and exciting forms of Jazz-Rock from the same era". The press release for "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I" describes "inspiration from both British Folk-Rock bands the Pentangle and Fairport Convention".


title: 2022 World's Strongest Man

text: The 2022 World's Strongest Man was the 45th edition of the World's Strongest Man competition, an event that took place in Sacramento, California from May 24 to May 29, 2022. The contest was won by Tom Stoltman with this being his second consecutive title. Joining him on the podium were the 2019 and 2020 World's Strongest Man winners, Martins Licis and Oleksii Novikov respectively, who tied on points. In the event of a draw, the highest placing athlete on the last event ranks higher.


title: 2022 World's Strongest Man

text: Manuel Angulo, Nedžmin Ambešković and Kim Ujarak are the first representatives of Chile, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greenland in WSM history respectively. Angulo is also the first South American athlete to compete at WSM.


title: 2022 World's Strongest Man

text: The 30 athletes were divided into 5 groups of 6 athletes, with 2 athletes from each group progressing to the final of 10. The winner of each group progressed to the final, and 2nd and 3rd in each group would then advance to a 'Stone Off', from which the winner would also progress.


title: 2022 World's Strongest Man

text: A day prior to the competition, former director for World's Ultimate Strongman, Mark Boyd, leaked a secretly recorded portion of a conversation with Luke Stoltman, brother the eventual champion of the competition Tom Stoltman, in which he stated "... and here's the sneaky bit, so Colin's (Colin Bryce, director of Giants Live who assists in the running of the World's Strongest Man) gonna, not promised, but he says we will get more favorable groups, events, etc. in Worlds if we kinda play ball and then he can help push the Stoltman brand; if that makes sense in the Giant's Live, so basically what he did for Eddie (Eddie Hall)..." The audio was released shortly after the groups for the competition were announced, with some fans speculating on the level of difficulty of the Stoltmans' groups compared to others. Boyd has since deleted this video from his Instagram account. Prior to deletion however, he claims to have given several months for athletes to expose the corruption on their own, indicating that he also had contacted IGM directors to no avail.


title: 2022 World's Strongest Man

text: Stoltman released his own response video on YouTube later that day, in which he states that the clip was taken out of context, with the conversation being 90 minutes long, and explains that he simply told Boyd what he wanted to hear because he did not want to take part in Boyd's upcoming competition. Many took issue with Boyd's leaking of the conversation so closely to the World's Strongest Man competition date, leading to Boyd and Core Sports parting ways a few days later, with the company releasing a message stating they were not in support of Boyd's actions.


title: 2022 World's Strongest Man

text: At the current moment, IGM, the World's Strongest Man, and Colin Bryce have not yet responded to the controversy.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park (formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) is a famous avifauna sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, that hosts thousands of birds, especially during the winter season. Over 350 species of birds are known to be resident. It is also a major tourist centre with scores of ornithologists arriving here in the hibernal season. It was declared a protected sanctuary in 1971 and established as a national park on 10 March 1982. It is also a World Heritage Site.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Keoladeo Ghana National Park is a man-made and man-managed wetland and one of the national parks of India. The reserve protects Bharatpur from frequent floods, provides grazing grounds for village cattle, and earlier was primarily used as a waterfowl hunting ground. The reserve is locally known as Ghana, and is a mosaic of dry grasslands, woodlands, woodland swamps and wetlands. These diverse habitats are home to 366 bird species, 379 floral species, 50 species of fish, 13 species of snakes, 5 species of lizards, 7 amphibian species, 7 turtle species and a variety of other invertebrates.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The sanctuary was created 250 years ago and is named after a Keoladeo (Shiva) temple within its boundaries. Initially, it was a natural depression; and was flooded after the "Ajan Bund" was constructed by Maharaja Suraj Mal, then the ruler of the princely state of Bharatpur, between 1726 and 1763. The bund was created at the confluence of two rivers, the Gambhir and Banganga. The park was a hunting ground for the Maharajas of Bharatpur, a tradition dating back to 1850, and duck shoots were organised yearly in honour of the British viceroys. In one shoot alone in 1938, over 4,273 birds such as mallards and teals were killed by Lord Linlithgow, then Viceroy of India.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The park was established as a national park on 10 March 1982. Previously the private duck shooting preserve of the Maharaja of Bharatpur since the 1850s, the area was designated as a bird sanctuary on 13 March 1976 and a Ramsar site under the Wetland Convention in October 1981.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The last big shoot was held in 1964 but the Maharajah retained shooting rights until 1972. In 1985, the Park was declared a World Heritage Site under the World Heritage Convention. It is a reserve forest under the Rajasthan Forest Act, 1953 and therefore, is the property of the State of Rajasthan of the Indian Union. In 1982, grazing was banned in the park, leading to violent clashes between local farmers and the government.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text of the convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage. The criteria are regularly revised by the committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself. The UNESCO convention for listing goes on to explain the criteria the selection of Keoladeo Ghana National Park as a World Heritage Site under the Natural Criteria iv of Operational Guidelines 2002 and the description which follows is that the park is a "Habitat of rare and endangered species. The park is a wetland of international importance for migratory waterfowl. It is the wintering ground for the rare Siberian crane and habitat for large numbers of resident nesting birds". According to the revised Operational Guidelines of 2005, the park falls under Criteria (x) which states that to be conferred the status of World Heritage, the site should "contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation".


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Keoladeo National Park is south-east of Bharatpur and west of Agra. It is spread over approx . One third of the Keoladeo National Park is wetland with mounds, dykes, and open water with or without submerged or emergent plants. The uplands have grasslands with tall grass species together with scattered trees and shrubs present in varying density.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: A similar habitat with short grasses, such as" Cynodon dactylon" and "Dichanthium annulatum" also exists. Woodlands with thickets of huge Kadam trees ("Neolamarckia cadamba") are distributed in scattered pockets. The park’s flora consists of 379 species of flowering plants of which 96 are wetland species. The wetland is a part of the Indo-Gangetic Great Plains.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Water remains only in some depressions. This alternate wetting and drying helps to maintain the ecology of the freshwater swamp, ideal for water-fowl and resident water birds. Arrangement to pump water from deep tube wells to fill small depressions to save seeds, spores and other aquatic life also exist. They are also helpful in extreme years of drought.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: During 1988, mean maximum temperature ranged from in January to in May, while the mean temperature varied from in December to in June. The diurnal temperature variation ranged from in January to in May. Mean relatively humidity varied from 62% in March to 83.3% in December. The mean annual precipitation is , with rain falling on an average of 36 days per year. In 1988, only of rain fell during 32 days.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: In an area characterized by sparse vegetation, the park is the only spot which has dense vegetation and trees. The principal vegetation types are tropical dry deciduous forests intermixed with dry grasslands. Where the forest has degraded, the greater part of the area is covered with shrubs and medium-sized trees. The park is a freshwater swamp and is flooded during the monsoon. The rest of the area remains dry. Forests, mostly in the north-east of the park, are dominated by kalam or kadam ("Mitragyna parvifolia"), jamun ("Syzygium cumini") and babul ("Acacia nilotica"). The open woodland is mostly babul with a small amount of kandi ("Prosopis cineraria") and ber ("Zizyphus").


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: It is unlikely that the site would support such numbers of waterfowl as it does without the addition of water from Ajan Bund, a human-made impoundment. Soils are predominantly alluvial, some clay has formed as a result of the periodic inundations.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The open woodland is mostly babul with a small amount of kandi and ber. Scrublands are dominated by ber and karira ("Capparis decidua").


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Piloo ("Salvadora oleoides" and "Salvadora persica") are also present in the park and happens to be virtually the only woody plants found in areas of saline soil. The aquatic vegetation is rich and provides a valuable food source for waterfowl.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: During 2007 and 2008 attempts were made to eradicate the mesquite "Prosopis juliflora" and specimens of the asteraceous genus "Cineraria" to prevent the park being overrun with these invasive species and to assist natural vegetation in recovering.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Macro invertebrates such as worms, insects, and mollusks, though more abundant in variety and numbers than any other group of organisms, are present mostly in aquatic habitats. They are food for many fish and birds, as well as some animal species, and hence, constitute a major link in the food chain and functioning of the ecosystem. Land insects are in abundance and have a positive effect on the breeding of land birds.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Keoladeo National Park is known as a "bird paradise", since more than 370 bird species have been recorded in the park. Ornithologically, the park assumes significance in two respects: One because of its strategic location as a staging ground for migratory waterfowl arriving in the Indian subcontinent before dispersing to various regions. Further waterfowl converge here before departing to breeding grounds in the western Palearctic region. In addition, the wetland is a wintering area for massive congregations of waterfowl. It is also the only regular wintering area in India for the:


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Fish fauna of the park comprises 43 species, of which 37 enter the park along with the water from Ajan Bund, and six species are breeding residents. During a good rainy season the park receives around 65 million fish fry and fingerlings. The fish population and diversity are of high ecological importance as they form the food source of many birds.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The herpetofauna of Keoladeo National Park is diverse. Out of the ten species of turtles that are seen in Rajasthan, seven are present in this park. Besides this, there are five lizard species, thirteen snake species and seven species of amphibians. The bullfrog and skipper frog are commonly found in the wetlands. It is often easy to see a python out of its burrow and basking in the sun on a sunny winter day. The common monitor lizard, Indian porcupine and bi-colored leaf-nose bat have been seen in the same burrow as that of the python. The venomous snakes found in the park are krait, cobra and Russell’s viper.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The management objective is to allow the area to flood and dry out annually, rather than be maintained as a system of permanent marshes. Water for the wetlands is supplied from the dam outside the park boundaries. Usually, some 14.17 million cubic meters of water is the estimated annual requirement of the park. The water level inside the park is regulated by means of dykes and artificial embankments. The alternative arrangement of water in case of emergencies such as danger of marshes and water bodies drying out completely is ensured through four boreholes so that survival of the aquatic flora and fauna is not endangered before the arrival of monsoon. The boundaries of the park are clearly delineated by a thirty-two Kilometer long boundary encircling the park restricting the encroachment of humans and domestic cattle inside the perimeters of the park. The road from Bharatpur town which used to intersect the park was also closed and relocated outside the boundary to reduce the disturbance by visitors from the town which helped in bringing down the levels of pollution inside the park considerably. As opposed to most of the national parks in India and elsewhere, Bharatpur Bird sanctuary has no buffer zone. Due to the heavy density of population and more than 15 villages settled on the periphery of park, it was impossible for authorities to create a buffer zone around the bird sanctuary. Grazing and collection of firewood and grass was phased out from the park as far back as 1983.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The Siberian crane, which formerly lived throughout the entire Indo-Gangetic plains of India, is reported to be no longer found in the area. Its absence has been attributed to hunting by nomadic tribes along the species' 5,000 mile migration route from Siberia to Bharatpur.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: Some 2,500 cattle and domestic water buffalo were allowed in the area up until November 1982 when grazing was banned. Predictably, the ban led to a buildup of local resentment, resulting in an attempted forced entry into the park. Police opened fire and eight people were killed: tensions still remain high. The absence of grazing is causing management problems as vegetation, principally Paspalum distichum, a perennial amphibious grass, blocks up the channels. The Rajasthan government has rejected a proposal from the Bombay Natural History Society to allow limited grazing, since this would conflict with the law. Furthermore, recycled nutrients from the large quantity of dung deposited by livestock probably supported considerable numbers of insects.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: The presence of some 700 feral cattle within the park is cause for concern as they compete with wildlife for valuable forage. Larvae of the Lepidopteran "Parapoynx diminutalis" has also been a serious pest, and considerably inhibited the growth of "Nymphoides cristatum" during June–July 1986. High levels of pollutants in Ajan Bund are believed to be responsible for the increasing number of piscivorous birds seen in a dazed state and unable to fly. Fewer birds were recorded in 1984 than in previous years. Four sarus cranes and 40 ring-necked doves were found dead outside the park during 1988 and early 1989, possibly due to pesticide poisoning, and a study of the impact of pesticide use in surrounding areas on the park has been initiated in addition to studies on heavy metal contamination. Disturbance from visitors can be a cause for concern, especially during December and January when visitors come to see the cranes.


title: Keoladeo National Park

text: A non-native water hyacinth Icornia species was introduced in 1961, and has now proliferated to the extent that it is blocking the artificial waterways and filling the impoundments. This is significantly altering the habitat for many bird species, and is a serious management problem. Attempts to control the species have been ineffectual to date.