The Les Clefs d'Or UAE executive committee visited Bahrain to elect the new executive committee for Bahrain Hotel Concierge Group (BHCG).
It also pinned four new members to the Les Clefs d'Or. The event was attended by H.E. Sheikh Khaled Bin Humood Al Khalifa, CEO of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority.
The interview process for the new Les Clefs d'Or members from the BHCG was conducted by: Abey Sam, UICH zone director Arabian & Western Asia and president of Les Clefs d’Or UAE; first vice president Kamal Jalayath; third vice president Oussama Itani; general secretary of the organisation, Mahesh Brid; and public relations officer Cleatus George.
The pinning ceremony was initiated by the founding president of BHCG and chief concierge of Four Seasons Bahrain Bay Hotel, Khalil Al Yaman.
Sheikh Khaled and Sam awarded: the first Bahraini female member of Les Clefs d’Or, concierge at Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, Saleha AlWazzan; concierge at Al Areen Palace & Spa, Mohammed Abdullah Jaber; chief concierge at Wyndham Grand Manama, Soud Abu Hanak; and concierge at Wyndham Grand Manama, Anthony Oketch with the Les Clefs d’Or – ‘Golden Key’. Members of the new executive committee for Bahrain Hotel Concierge Group were also announced during the ceremony.


As a Boston Bruins fan this might just be the Stanley Cup champagnetalking, but it’s possible I’m the only left-leaning person who’s OKwith goaltender Tim Thomas showing he also likes to play right wing.
As a Boston Bruins fan this might just be the Stanley Cup champagne talking, but it’s possible I’m the only left-leaning person who’s OK with goaltender Tim Thomas showing he also likes to play right wing.
In case you’re exhibiting concussion-like symptoms and don’t know what I’m talking about: The Boston Bruins were invited to the White House this week, but their MVP Thomas decided to stay away and have a Tea Party instead.
To be fair, Thomas’ statement was vague, which left it open to interpretation. A reader might guess that he doesn’t recognize the divine provenance of the Los Angeles Kings, believes it’s his right to defend his crease with a gun, and thinks that Mario Lemieux is the best Freedom-Canadian player ever.
Here’s what some media members actually said: He should turn in his U.S. medal from the Olympics. He hates the troops. And he may be a racist. All this while most were mocking his views as extreme.
The only people who seemed to support him were right-wingers who were happy to pile onto Obama.
It’s an interesting thing to discover that one of your heroes is your political opposite. It’s a bit like discovering that Stephen Hawking has a Confederate flag in his bedroom or Rowlf the Dog is a Scientologist. You admire them for reasons totally beyond what their politics are, and you’re not sure how to process it when given the new information.
So I don't care that Thomas took a stance I disagree with. In the sports realm, he’s a thoughtful, polite and intelligent interview, and on the ice he’s already proven he’s one of the best players in the world.
Thomas has done his bit for king and country. So to speak.


(Louisville, Ky.) -- The Appalachian Regional Commission is spreading $26.5 million in awards to nine states to assist struggling coal communities.
The commission said in a news release Thursday that the money is projected to create or retain more than 5,400 jobs and leverage more than $193 million in private investments in those areas.
West Virginia is set to receive about $7.6 million of the grant awards, while Kentucky will receive nearly $3 million and Tennessee about $1.5 million.
The commission says programs will support workforce training and education in manufacturing, tech, health care and other fields.
The other states receiving grant awards are Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The money was made available through the commission's POWER initiative, Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization.


EXCLUSIVE: Leelee Sobieski is set to star in CBS’ drama pilot Rookies, an ensemble cop show from The Color of Money writer Richard Price, which is executive produced by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal through their Tribeca production banner. She is the first actor cast in the James Mangold-directed pilot, about six NYPD rookies who balance their personal lives with learning the beat on the streets of Manhattan. Sobieski will play one of them, Gen (White House) Perry, a golden-haired California girl and former member of the White House Color Guard who can handle herself whether dealing with a gang-banger or a busted toilet. Rookies reunites Sobieski with CBS where she had a breakthrough performance in the TV movie Joan of Arc, which earned her an Emmy nomination, and recently guest starred on the drama The Good Wife.


I-495/Beltway Outer Loop between VA-236/Little River Tnpk (#52) and Braddock Rd (#54), right lane gets by by the work zone.
I-495/Beltway Inner Loop at I-66 (#49), left lane blocked by the work zone.
I-495/Beltway Inner Loop after VA-267/Dulles Toll Rd (#45), right lane blocked by the work zone.
I-495/Beltway Inner Loop ramp to eastbound MD-214/Central Ave (#15), ramp blocked by the long term work zone.
I-295 northbound at Suitland Pkwy (#3), single lane gets by by the work zone.
Good Hope Rd SE both ways between Naylor Rd SE and 18th St SE, road closure in effect by the police activity.
Suitland Pkwy both ways near I-295, proceed with caution, outbound ramp blocked by the new traffic pattern.
Beach Dr both ways between Joyce Rd NW/Military Rd NW and Maryland State Line, all lanes blocked by the long term work zone.
Rock Creek Pkwy southbound after Kennedy Center, left lane gets by by the long term work zone.
MD-295/Baltimore-Washington Pkwy southbound between MD-100 and Arundel Mills Blvd, right lane gets by by the work zone.
Baltimore-Washington Pkwy southbound before MD-198, left lane gets by by the work zone.
US-50 both ways on Chesapeake Bay Bridge, house trailers, empty box trailers or any vehicle that cannot safely cross the bridge will be prohibited by the wind restrictions in effect.
Sheriff Rd both ways between Addison Rd and Cabin Branch Dr, road closure in effect by the accident investigation.
I-95 southbound before US-17/Falmouth (#133), left lane blocked by the work zone.
I-395 northbound between I-495/Capital Beltway and Edsall Rd (#2), right lane gets by by the work zone.
I-395 northbound near VA-27/Washington Blvd (#8), left lane gets by by the work zone.
I-395 southbound between VA-7/King St (#5) and VA-236/Duke St (#3A), 2 left lanes get by by the work zone.
I-395 southbound ramp to westbound VA-236/Little River Tnpk (#3B), ramp blocked by the work zone.
I-66 eastbound after VA-286/Fairfax County Pkwy (#55), right lane blocked by the work zone.
I-66 westbound after Roosevelt Bridge, left lane gets by by the work zone.
I-66 westbound after VA-123 (#60), right lane blocked by the work zone.
Two leaders from Verizon, Steve LeFrancios and Craig Bowman, sat down for an interview on how improvements to the network can help federal agencies hit their goals.
A Silver Spring, Maryland, man has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for killing another man inside an RV in Burtonsville.
The recall expansion covers a dozen 3 Series, 5 Series and Z4 models from the 2006 model year. Two years ago the company recommended the vehicles be parked outdoors until problems are fixed. The expansion brings the total number of vehicles recalled for the problem to about 925,000.
FERS employees: What if I wait until age 70 to retire?
Dan Magneson, a GS-482-11 fish biologist since December 2002, explains his thinking behind working a little longer than he expected.
People do relocate because of taxes, and a huge chunk of the federal workforce is concentrated in states with high taxes.


Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has inaugurated the restoration of an ancient Hindu temple complex in Punjab, a symbolic gesture that may appeal to the Muslim nation’s minority communities and soften the country’s image abroad.
However, the visit on Jan. 11 and other recent overtures to minority faiths and women, including the passing of pro-women legislation, could also alienate powerful religious hardliners opposed to social change, Reuters reported.
The government has in the past year passed a bill that removed a loophole in existing law that allowed people convicted of so-called “honor killings” to walk free if they were pardoned by family members, while a Punjab law was recently passed tp protect women from domestic violence.
Sharif’s visit to the 900-year-old Katas Raj temples, one of the holiest sites in South Asia for Hindus, comes at a time when relations with Pakistan’s Hindu-majority neighbor India are at a low ebb and show few signs of improving.
“In my personal view, we are all are equal — Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians — and people belonging to other religions; we are all one,” Sharif told Reuters after a Hindu ritual was performed at the temples, located in the village of Katas some 110 km south of the capital Islamabad.
At the ceremony, attended by senior Christian, Sikh and Hindu leaders, Sharif chastised hardline Muslim scholars who use “strange interpretations” of Islam to preach hate against other religions.


FILE - A man in his 60s riding an electric scooter was hospitalized in critical condition Saturday after police say he hit a parked car.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man in his 60s riding an electric scooter was hospitalized in critical condition Saturday after police say he hit a parked car.
The man, whose name was not released, was northbound on a privately owned scooter when he crashed into a parked car on 300 West near 400 South, said Salt Lake Police Lt. Jenn Diederich.
A witness performed CPR on the man at the scene, Diederich said. He was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery.
The scooter was not one of those scattered throughout the city that people can rent by the minute, she said.


Since August 15 we have only experienced five days with high temperatures under 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and only one of those days was below average for the date. All the others have been above average, and at times well above average.
Yesterday’s record of 97 degrees at Denver International Airport was a whopping 15 degrees above normal for this time of year.
With another scorcher on the way today, and only a few degrees cooler in the forecast for Sunday, you may be asking yourself if this will ever end. If so, you are in luck.
Temperatures for this coming week look to be dramatically cooler, with highs Tuesday forecast to be some 20 degrees cooler than our forecast highs today. The question will be just how good of a shot of cooler air we will get. High temperatures would likely be more or less 80, but a stronger shot could mean highs near 70 mid-week. For now, will go somewhere in the middle.
In addition to the cooler temperatures, expect an increased chance for showers and thunderstorms for the coming week. Our best shot at moisture appears to be Tuesday and Wednesday, but some models, such as the 12z GFS, try to keep a good amount of moisture in the area through the end of the week.
The long term outlook is still up for debate. Some of the extended models show a persistent dome of warmer than average weather over the central United States days 10 to 20, while others keep us closer to normal with an even better shot of cooler air arriving by day 14.
[Denver Post/John Epperson] A landscaper tends a young at the Superior Marketplace near U.S. 36 and Marshall Road.
Maybe it’s the grand I’ve spent on dead and broken trees over the past year, but here’s another lecture about weather and our wooded, expensive friends. We’ve weathered a year of drought. Last winter’s snowpack of weak, and we’re off to a grim start so far this season. As of last week, all of Colorado was in some stage of drought, and much of the state is weathering “extreme” or “exceptional” conditions, says the U.S. Drought Monitor.
So cut your the quiet giants of your yard some slack, or they could get even with a branch through the roof on a windy day.
The Colorado State Forest Service at Colorado State University said Monday to give your dormant trees some love, especially the younger ones, this winter.
“It’s very important to prepare your trees for winter’s cold, arid conditions, and also to continue watering them during drier periods over the next several months,” Keith Wood, community forestry program manager for the Colorado State Forest Service, said in a press release.
In the city, that means breaking out the buckets and or a hose every two to three weeks if there hasn’t been a good covering of show. Wood advised watering on days when the temperature gets to at least 40 degrees.
Weather worriers couldn’t have teed it up more perfectly for Colorado Winter Weather Awareness Week. The annual week of information and preparedness began Sunday with perfect fall weather, near the peak of the leaf-change across much of the state. By the end of the week, some Coloradoans could be slipping and sliding in sub-freezing temperatures.
The Denver metro area enjoyed high temperatures in the low 70s Monday, and Tuesday could be even warmer. City temperatures will fall back to average for the date, 62 degrees, on Wednesday before giving way to cold and possibly snowy temperatures by the weekend, with better chances for snow above 10,000 feet. The Pacific storm system headed our way dropped 2 feet of snow on the northern California mountains Monday.
Gov. John Hickenlooper’s signed a proclamation last month declaring the week-long observance and noted Colorado leads the nation in avalanche deaths. The governor said slides had “claimed the lives of hundreds of individuals in the past several decades” — 241 since 1950, to be exact, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Boulder. Last year high country experts said the avalanche risk was the highest in 30 years.
[Dustin Schaefer\Loveland Ski Area ] A low pressure system and cold front brought a welcome round of snow to the Colorado high country this week, evidenced by this photo at Loveland Ski area Tuesday.
Let’s be real. Snow can fall in Colorado all year-long, if you count the highest peaks. Nonetheless, forgive me for being giddy about reports of the white stuff from equally ebullient ski resorts Tuesday.
Even with my tomatoes finally getting fat and rosy, I’m ready for this long, hot season to turn to dry leaves, corduroy pants and a foot of two of snow before Halloween.
I was in Minnesota last week, and my soul is still full. After 10 autumns in Colorado — where the leave change is green to gold to gone in what seems like 10 minutes — I’d lost sight of what a brilliant Calico quilt fall can bring. Lake Superior’s splashy colors reminded me of growing up in the rugged South, where stunning fall beauty is around every turn in the road. The fall’s reds, yellows, corn-stalk browns and the disappearing greens -were so delicate and perfect it seemed impossible to deny the hand of God. The upper Midwest in September made me question again my worthiness to look at any one color on the palette too long, like I was using up someone else’s share.
Autumn’s wardrobe change is simple science, really. Shorter days and cooler weather shuts down the photosynthesis that keeps leaves green and mask the yellow and orange carotenoids that are always there. The stored sugar in maples and oaks produced reds and browns, and tall pines drop needles and cones just trying to fit in. In the Colorado mountains, the aspen are turning a shade of Missy Franklin gold.
Killer snow ends the leaves’ big show around here. Last year a big storm pummeled us on Oct. 26, that’s one month from Wednesday. The average date for the first freeze in the city is Oct. 7 — aka, a week from Saturday. The average date for the first snow is Oct. 18. I noticed the first yellow leaves collecting on the fairway-green grass of my back lawn this morning.
Weather is such a toy box for those of us who love the magic of science, the intensity of change and unexpected gifts from Heaven. With a summer of wilting heat, crop-killing drought. deadly wildfires and a senseless mass murder behind us, I’ll gladly be the first to stick out my tongue, catch a flake or two and say a thank you.
Gratitude for what we’re given has a way of getting bigger as it rolls downhill, at least I hope.
If you’re one of those analytic people who believe the future will be pretty much like the past, then breathe a sigh of relief if you’ve had enough of 2012’s infernal heat.
The past 30 years of weather averages tells us that high temperatures peaked on Aug. 1, when the normal daily high since 1982 is 90 degrees. The mercury curves slowly downward in August to a daily high of 84 degrees in Denver by Labor Day. And, of course, September is, as my favorite Alabamian would say, like a box of chocolates (you never know what you’re going to get). After all, in 1961 snow fell on Denver on Sept. 3, and the city shivered through its first freeze on Sept. 18 in 2006 and on Sept. 14 in 2003.
So I’m saying just sweat it out a few more days.
Cross your fingers, Front Range, there’s a chance of some rain the next couple days, but mostly it looks like spotty afternoon downpours. We’re down to this, begging.
Denver has a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, when the chances of rain climb to 40 percent. Temperatures should cool off to around 90 through the end of the week in the Denver metro region.
The rain, if it falls, could not be more welcome. All of Colorado is in a drought, and some places much more so than others. The U.S. Drought Monitor finds that 70.46 percent of the state is in “extreme” to “exceptional” drought. At this time last year, just 16.88 percent of the state was in that category, according to federal climate analysts.


One hundred years ago this week, in small pockets along the Western Front, soldiers fighting in World War I laid down their arms for a temporary Christmas truce.
Some say it began when soldiers on one side of no man's land began singing carols in their trenches and their adversaries recognized the tunes and started singing back. Others say it was a series of formal agreements between commanders that harkened back to a more gentlemanly age of warfare. For whatever reason, the soldiers chose to recognize, for a brief moment, that what united them was greater than what divided them and partook in a bit of Christmas cheer.
As you read this, I'm celebrating the holidays with my soon-to-be in-laws in Waterford, Ireland, where there will be no shortage of Christmas cheer. Just before I left the States, I completed a draft of a chapter for a forthcoming volume Rick and Jeff Henig are editing on educational philanthropy. They tasked me and AEI's Jenn Hatfield with studying the "backlash" to education philanthropy that has sprung up in the past decade or so.
You have seen it in outlets from all parts of the political spectrum: "Bill Gates' Reckless Meddling with US Education through Common Core," "What Bill Gates really thinks of the Common Core State Standards," and "Why are Walmart bankrolling billionaires phony school 'Reform' in LA?"
After conducting a series of interviews with folks enmeshed in this fight, I can't help but think that many people are stuck in ideological and rhetorical trenches, not unlike the soldiers on the Western Front.
In that spirit, I'd like to offer a couple of ideas for an Education Reform Christmas Truce. Today I'll highlight where I think folks are getting entrenched, and on Wednesday I'll try to offer a path out.
We interviewed folks from across the political spectrum. Although they have been temporarily united in opposing certain philanthropists' efforts (most notably the Common Core), those on the left end of the political spectrum generally saw themselves as adversaries to those on the right end of the political spectrum, and vice versa. But, when they got to talking about how they think schools should work and how the other side is screwing them up, there was a great deal of similarity.
In reality, neither side actually wants what the other thinks they do.
Conservatives think that markets break up vested interests by promoting competition and allowing small organizations to emerge to meet a need. By giving families the same amount of money (or a need-based allocation) through a "voucher," policy creates a level playing field and an opportunity for smaller, community-based entrepreneurial organizations to spring up to educate children. Liberals see democracy as the way to break up vested interests by giving each individual equal representation in elections. By putting power in the hands of school boards, small democratic communities can create the schools that they want that reflect their values, and that value all of their children equally.
See the similarities? Breaking up unresponsive, monolithic institutions. Empowering the little guy. Giving schools freedom to reflect the values of the communities in which they are located. Folks across the spectrum can seemingly get behind this.
Conservatives recognize human fallibility, and are therefore skeptical that centrally-determined formulae can effectively evaluate children, teachers, or children. This is why they like markets, because markets take into account large amounts of information and competing value systems. Liberals recognize human diversity, and are therefore skeptical that centrally-determined formulae can fairly evaluate children, teachers, or children. This is why they, a la Montesquieu, like small democratic communities.
What these folks need to understand is that their enemy is not, in fact, each other. It is the people who want to standardize and routinize the evaluation of schools and teachers and narrow the aims those schools are required to pursue.
In this way, I think improving education can be a bipartisan issue, but not in the way you usually hear it. When Secretary Duncan says that education can be bipartisan, he means that centrist Republicans can coalesce around an essentially center-left technocratic vision of how to operate schools. They want centralized standards, test-based school and teacher accountability, and limited "quality" choices for students.
But the inverse is also true: there is bipartisan resistance to centralization and rote test-based accountability systems. While conservatives are more naturally disposed to like standards and accountability, they are nervous about a single, centralized set of expectations with overly prescriptive definitions of student, teacher, and school quality. They also have little faith in bureaucrats to implement standards effectively, even if the standards are "high quality" (whatever that even means). Liberals are naturally more averse to school choice (because they believe choice schools can become vehicles for racial or socioeconomic segregation), but in many ways they dislike large-scale centralization even more than conservatives do. They see the denizens of state capitols or Washington as "The Man," outsiders who show up with little understanding of local context, a laundry list of demands, and few tools to help.
Given all of this, I tend to think that there is enough common ground to call a truce. On Wednesday, I'll talk terms.


CLEARWATER, Fla., June 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tech Data Corporation (Nasdaq:TECD) today announced that it has further advanced its cloud strategy with the official global launch of TDCloud, powered by StreamOne™, the company's end-to-end provisioning, billing, and marketing engine providing scale and operational scope to solution providers. The award-winning Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store will now be available to partners in Canada, France and the UK, and will be introduced across Europe in a phased introduction over the coming weeks. The Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store is part of TDCloud, a dedicated business within the company that provides education, enablement and assistance with transitioning to cloud- and subscription-based models.
Through the Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store, solution providers and managed service providers (MSPs) can administer and control the entire cloud services delivery process in an app store-like environment. Everything from initial assessment and quoting to the provisioning and ongoing management of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Software-as- a-Service (SaaS) from trusted technology providers can be done quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively in one place.
"As we complete the phased rollout of the Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store, our partners in Europe will have simplified access to the very best cloud services from trusted providers, enabling them to manage business processes and billing smoothly," said Michael Urban, senior vice president, Broadline, CE, Services & Procurement, Tech Data Europe. "Tech Data can help our partners reinvent their businesses in the cloud era and, with StreamOne, provide the essential business processes to facilitate that transformation. Our experienced cloud and managed services consultants within our new Europe-wide cloud business unit will provide the professional expertise and support that enable both broadline and enterprise-focused resellers to feel confident offering cloud-based services to their customers."
"We are extremely excited to also be launching the Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store in Canada," said Sukh Randhawa, vice president, Business Operations, Tech Data Canada, whose responsibilities include expanding Tech Data Canada's cloud practice through consultation and enablement of service providers and channel partners. "It will help Canadian solution providers and vendor partners integrate and transition to cloud, opening up new revenue and profit streams for our reseller partners."
The Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store is highly scalable and can be used to manage multiple revenue models and billing cycles, including pre-pay subscriptions, licensing and renewals, and consumption-based usage. As part of its focus on constantly expanding the capabilities available to partners, Tech Data recently added full support for Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider program through the Solutions Store, making it easier for solution providers and MSPs to offer, provision, manage and support Microsoft cloud products and services such as Office 365 and Azure.
"The Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store and our global StreamOne platform were developed and built exclusively by Tech Data with a focus on creating an innovative experience of the highest quality for our channel partners," said Stacy Nethercoat, vice president, Product Marketing, TDCloud. "With the power of our StreamOne platform, solution providers and MSPs can expect the industry's highest service levels, streamlined access to all the right vendors, and easy-to-use capabilities in a single, fully integrated platform. We will continue to make significant investments in the platform's technical capabilities so solution providers can leverage our ecosystem without having to make those large investments themselves."


Mexico's government says it plans to use dolphins trained by the US Navy to try to save the world's most endangered marine species, the vaquita porpoise.
Environment Minister Rafael Pacchiano said that the dolphins would be deployed to locate and herd vaquitas into a marine refuge.
Mexico also permanently banned fishing nets blamed for the vaquitas' decline.
Scientists estimate that fewer than 40 of the mammals are still alive in their habitat, in the Gulf of California.
Mr Pacchiano said the dolphin project would begin in September.
"We've spent the past year working alongside the US Navy with a group of dolphins they had trained to search for missing scuba divers," he told Formula radio.
"We've been training them to locate the vaquitas.
"We have to guarantee we capture the largest possible number of vaquitas to have an opportunity to save them."
The Mexican government also said on Friday it was imposing a permanent ban on gillnets, used to catch totaba, which are highly valued in Chinese traditional medicine.
Image caption Could the latest ban on gillnets make a difference?
The nets are designed to trap the heads of fish but not their bodies, but are blamed for trapping and killing the porpoises as well.
Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who has campaigned to save the vaquitas, tweeted that the ban was "great news", thanking President Enrique Pena Nieto and environmental group WWF.
A temporary ban which had previously been in place since 2015 was seen as ineffective, leading the WWF to call for it to be extended and properly enforced.


BILLINGS — Prep soccer season came to an end for Great Falls High school Friday with Billings Senior’s 2-0 victory over the Bison girls’ team in a state tournament play-in game.
It would have been the GFH girls’ first trip to the state tournament in more than 10 years.
Both the third-seeded Broncs’ goals came off the foot of Bailey Woodring. Woodring rang the first home on a long shot in the 29th minute; the second came shortly after the half on a penalty kick in the 42nd minute.
“One of their goals was a questionable penalty kick, and that didn’t help,” Smith said.
GFH rallied for some late scoring chances but weren’t able to punch the ball through. Sarah Conway made eight saves in the Bison goal.
The Bison finish the season with a 3-11 record but were the last to fall of the four Great Falls prep teams. GFH beat Butte High 4-0 on Tuesday with its best performance of the season to advance to the second state play-in game.
“Our girls played a great game and have really turned the program around in these final few games,” Smith said, making note that this could be the end of a long-hapless streak for Bison girls’ soccer.
Saves: Great Falls 8 (Sarah Conway), Senior 4 (Zoe Wolf).


A pregnant EMS dispatcher helps a frantic mother deliver her baby over the phone.
When a woman went into premature labor in her Long Island home, she didn’t expect to see the feet of her baby come out first. That’s when she called 911.
A 911 worker – another mother-to-be – got the call and coached the Manorville woman in labor through a safe delivery of a beautiful and healthy baby girl, reported Newsday.
EMS dispatcher Christine Springer got the call just after 3 p.m. Tuesday. Her shift was about to end at the Yaphank emergency services dispatch center when the frantic call came in.
"She's out! The feet are out of her!" yelled Debra Guidice, the mother of the woman in labor, Newsday reported. According to the paper, it was the first time Springer handled a breech birth in her five years on the job.
Fortunately, the call ended happily – and quickly -- for everyone.
It only took four minutes for baby Nevaeh to pop out. She weighed 3 pounds, 9 ounces and was born about six weeks early.


Howard Hyde is editor of www.CitizenEcon.com and author of the book, Escape from Berkeley: An EX liberal progressive socialist embraces America (and doesn't apologize).
Welcome to the Left's blindness to its own interventionist addictions.
Katrina vanden Heuvel reminds us of the Left's sad economic illiteracy.
Is There Hope for Califrancia?
Why the Left's relief in California might be very short-lived.


Join us for a weekend full of hockey, beer and fun at the annual Honky Tonk Showdown at Ford Ice Center on June 20-23, 2019!
Schedule subject to change; Not all teams play Thursday.
Final rosters are due June 1, 2019 with players' USA Hockey numbers submitted to the Tournament Director. By submitting a registration for a specific level, you intend to compete at that level, no exceptions.
Teams are comprised primarily of experienced players 21 years of age and older with moderate to advanced skill level. Players may have up to high school playing experience, but most teams should have youth playing experience and at least several years playing as an adult. Some players may have played A, AA, or Junior hockey growing up, but may have lost a step or two or decided early on that Beer League was their way to go. Players with experience, but either older in age or slower than younger players may be within this division, as well. Games will have a moderate to fast tempo, as well as, moderate to advanced skill sets/hockey knowledge.
Teams are comprised primarily of decently experienced players 21 years of age and older with novice to intermediate skill level. Players may have up to high school playing experience, but most teams should have youth playing experience and/or several years only playing as an adult. Some players maybe less experienced players 21 years of age and older making the jump from the D division or may be playing at the Upper/Lower C league at Ford Ice Center. Players with experience, but either older in age or slower than younger players may be within this division, as well. Games will have a moderate to fast tempo, as well as, moderate to intermediate skill sets/hockey knowledge.
Teams are comprised of players 21 years of age and older primarily with beginner to novice level. Although some players may have five or more years of playing experience (either as an adult or youth), this experience is not to have exceeded the adult novice or beginner levels. Games will have a fun and positive environment while remaining at a slower pace with beginner skill sets and knowledge of the game.


Find out how rude you are! A new study has found that committing these 10 etiquette faux pas could make you a terrible houseguest.
If you're looking to be invited back to someone's house then you should probably take note of these etiquette rules. But first, take off your shoes and never ask us for the wifi password.
A new study has found that these are the top 10 things that guests do that homeowners find incredibly rude. So much so, that it could put you into their bad books.
Read more: How Many Can Your Dad Tick Off? Poll Reveals Top 50 Skills Dads Need To Be Great!
The survey found that 89 per cent of homeowners found that guests who use their phone around the table are rude, while 64 per cent revealed that they think guests should take off their shoes on the carpet.
The study also found that homeowners do like guests to respect a certain degree of privacy in their home, with 58 per cent of homeowners thinking it's rude to snoop in their bedrooms without permission and 52 per cent admit that they feel like they're being judged if a guest takes the liberty to look through the fridge.
Perhaps surprisingly, 24 per cent said they would expect a gift from guests, preferring a bottle of wine from dinner guests, compared to only three per cent who expect a gift from daytime visitors.
When it comes to guests’ furry friends, Brits are incredibly welcoming. While 87 per cent agreed that it was bad-mannered to put your feet on other people’s furniture, 61 per cent said they would be happy for guests to let their dog curl up on the sofa.
A spokesperson for DiscountFlooringDepot.co.uk, who commissioned the research, said: "Britain is a nation of proud home owners and these results give interesting insight into how many of us would prefer people to behave in our homes.
"However, my advice to people with houseguests who commit the occasional faux pas is to try and feel glad that any guests committing them simply feel comfortable enough in your home to treat it as their own."
What do you think is the RUDEST thing a guest can do when they are in your house?


Description: Perform electrical, electronic, and mechanical maintenance, troubleshooting and repairs on complex material handling systems. Maintain records to ensure accountability of time, parts and repairs to meet regulatory compliance. Perform maintenance, troubleshoot and repair of 480V 3 phase electrical control circuits, motor control circuits, Device Control circuits, PC and PLC control systems. Perform maintenance, troubleshoot, and repair of facility systems including energy management systems, fire control systems, alarm systems, 2 way radio systems, and dock door systems. Perform maintenance, troubleshoot, and repair on a fleet of lift trucks including, reach trucks, pallet riders, tugger trucks, and various other vehicles used in the distribution warehouse. Experience with 3-phase 480-volt industrial electrical systems and motor controls Experience with PLC/Control systems Experience in plant & Industrial maintenance Ability to work independently in a team environment with a customer/guest focus Able to be certified to operate power equipment, operate maintenance tools, saws, drills, etc., work from blueprints/sketches Use safe lifting techniques; lift and carry necessary materials and equipment Target merchandise discount. Competitive pay. Flexible scheduling.


306 Hollywood is a magical realist documentary of two siblings who undertake an archaeological excavation of their late grandmother's house. They embark on a journey from her home in New Jersey to ancient Rome, from fashion to physics, in search of what life remains in the objects we leave behind. A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting.


WAUKEGAN, Ill. -- An employee at the Waukegan Yacht Club is being credited with helping two men escape serious injury after their car went into Lake Michigan Tuesday afternoon.
From his office window, 27-year-old Dave Shaw saw the car crash through a cement planter. The experienced lifeguard ran out and jumped into the water. A second yacht club employee threw-in a life preserver.
Witnesses tell us one man in the car stayed in the vehicle for a while finishing a cigarette.
The other occupant ignored a life preserver.
Police recovered the car and are searching it for evidence.


DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Raasean Davis had 21 points and 11 rebounds as North Carolina Central easily beat Maryland-Eastern Shore 78-53 on Saturday.
Zacarry Douglas had 15 points for NC Central (11-13, 6-4 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference). Larry McKnight Jr. added 13 points. Jibri Blount had 12 points for the hosts.
Ryan Andino had 13 points for the Hawks (4-22, 2-9). Gabriel Gyamfi added 10 points. Bryan Urrutia had 10 points and seven assists.
A.J. Cheeseman, whose 10 points per game entering the matchup led the Hawks, shot only 20 percent in the game (1 of 5).
The Eagles improve to 2-0 against the Hawks this season. NCCU defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 61-48 on Jan. 12. NC Central takes on Delaware State at home on Monday. Maryland Eastern Shore matches up against NC A&T on the road on Monday.


Exhorting students to serve their nation former union HRD minister Joshi told the students that Prof Barkatullah Bhopali had served in many countries but he didn’t settle down abroad. He came back and served his own country.
Bhopal: Former union HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi feels difficulties students face in getting into the USA for studies or research work have increased after Donald Trump becoming the president but if a student gets a chance he should go there for a research work.
Joshi was speaking at the convocation of Barakatullah University, Bhopal on Monday.
In the programme, Joshi was conferred upon a degree of doctorate of Science.


Saturday, Aug. 25, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Escape Velocity, 19 E. Bijou St.
Free; for more information, call 578-8847 or write to comics@escapevelocity-comics.com.
Propped against a wire book holder, a fairly flimsy black-and-white booklet called Velvet Garden, faced the throngs at last spring's GalaxyFest. The booklet sat at Ryan Davis' vendor table, and enough people bought his pitch — and the "rough" of his new comic — to fund a limited run of a full-color glossy version.
In June, at the 2012 Denver Comic Con, he made more than 100 sales, enough to publish the next issue.
Davis is a 30-year-old with a dream: He wants to break into the big time in the comic book industry. He and his partner, Colorado Springs artist Gunther Goltz, have come up with what they hope will be a winning story that will catch the attention of big names.
"There are basically two ways of breaking into the business," says Steven Seagle, the Colorado Springs-bred co-founder of Man of Action Studios (creators of Cartoon Network's Ben 10), supervising producer for Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-man series, and veteran comic book writer for both DC and Marvel Comics. "You can either produce your own comic, or you can know someone in the business.
"If you produce your own comic," he advises, "do it from top to bottom. Find a way to get it out to the world. Self-publish it. This is your calling card."
Velvet Garden is based on a 1980s urban legend about a psychoactive video game machine called Polybius, released by the U.S. government as an experiment in mind control. Davis and Goltz will officially unveil the second issue Saturday, Aug. 25, at Escape Velocity, the comics-and-graphic-novels store where they both work. But they've been selling and giving out samples for several weeks.
With Velvet Garden, they're actually debuting the three-volume, 18-issue series with Volume No. 2. Davis, who wrote the story, and Goltz, the illustrator, decided that it would showcase the story line better than the first volume, a prequel that goes into the game's background.
"In the first issue, the reader learns about Hitler's experiments with mind control, and some of the machines he built, but we didn't want readers to think the series was a World War II story, because it's not," Davis says. "So, we went with the second volume, which takes place in the '80s."
The first (chronologically) of the three-volume set is called Wicked Garden, and the last, which is set in Colorado Springs, is titled Neon Garden. All three will eventually be made into distinct graphic novels, each made up of six serialized comic books.
Though he's been in the business for a decade, Davis has worked with the single focus of breaking into the industry for about a year. That started with co-creating a publishing company called Ruby Carriage, through which he produced several Internet-based comics before this current endeavor.
Having a central location or imprint where people can find all his work makes things easier, but doesn't cover all the bases. Seagle says most comic fans still want something they can hold, and publishers want to see good-quality artwork.
"The quality has got to be great. It has to be the same as, say, your favorite comic, but in an original voice only you can provide ... you also have to basically give the thing away."
On that topic, they're well supported by Escape Velocity, which allows them to carry the comic in the store. "Where I work ... I can't say enough. They're committed to getting graphic novels and comics out there," Davis says.
Their goal is to have all six issues of Velvet Garden completed and compiled into a graphic novel by the next Denver Comic Con, which runs from May 31 through June 2, 2013. Each issue they release locally brings them closer to that goal, with the profits from the previous issue funding the next.
Even if they don't meet that goal, however, they'll have a body of work to show off and present to prospective publishers.
"The first question most comic book professionals ask, however, is: Have you already done one?" says Seagle.
To that question, Davis and Goltz will be able to reply with a resounding, "Yes. Want some copies?"


Earlier this afternoon, Engine 25 and Ladder 26 were dispatched to the Seacoast Shores area of East Falmouth for a 12 year old person who was stuck in a tree.
The crews arrived to find the child approximately 40 feet in the air with his leg caught between a branch and the tree trunk.
Utilizing several ground ladders the crew were able to access the child and get a safety rope in place. He was eventually freed and assisted to the ground with no injuries.


Would project harm Silver Creek?
The Silver Creek water system near Picabo is the stuff of legend for anglers. Acclaimed author Ernest Hemingway made the area around what is now the Silver Creek Preserve a favorite haunt, and people from as far away as Scarsdale, N.Y., and Danville, Calif., have recently copped to their passion for the region in letters to Blaine County.
So it’s no wonder that a large-scale project proposed for the Kilpatrick Pond portion of Silver Creek has stirred up controversy. County Commissioner Larry Schoen said during a meeting last month that he believes the amount of public comment on the proposed waterway renovations was among the highest he had ever seen.
“There’s a lot of passion on this issue,” he said.
Two separate projects have been proposed, projects which Dayna Gross, Silver Creek watershed manager for The Nature Conservancy, said have been in the works for over 20 years. The Nature Conservancy manages the protected Silver Creek Preserve.
Gross said species in the system, including rainbow trout and invertebrates, rely on relatively cold water to survive. However, a dam built more than 100 years ago across the stream to provide water for irrigation is causing a temperature spike in the system, she said.
While The Nature Conservancy has a dredging plan of its own, most comment seems to center on the diversion dam and the accompanying Kilpatrick Pond, both of which are the subject of a stream alteration permit requested by the Picabo Livestock ranching operation.
The dam, built on property owned by Picabo Livestock, created the Kilpatrick Pond at the beginning of the last century and resulted in a large amount of sedimentation. The proposals from The Nature Conservancy and Nick Purdy, owner of Picabo Livestock, propose replacing the dam, dredging the pond and using the sediment to fill in areas of the pond, creating wetlands and narrowing the channel.
Charles Brockway Jr., partner in Brockway Engineering, said last month that new channels dividing what is currently Kilpatrick Pond into two “flow paths” will not be too narrow for safe and enjoyable fishing, whether from a float tube or using waders.
A report from Brockway states that the pond currently has “excessively wide, shallow conditions” that not only can harm aquatic life, but which also makes it difficult for Purdy to divert agricultural water.
Brockway’s project description, included in his application for a stream alteration permit, states that construction would begin with the insertion of a large water-filled bladder known as a coffer dam into the stream channel upstream of the pond.
The dam would divert all of the water from the pond into an enlarged irrigation ditch, and the water would be returned to the system 450 feet downstream, essentially drying out the project area and allowing for work to be completed in the pond. Brockway said this work would take place during low flows in fall and winter.
Once the coffer dam is in place, the existing 100-year-old diversion dam downstream of the pond would be replaced with a concrete dam. The new dam would allow water to flow over the top, as with the current dam, but cooler water from the bottom of the channel would be allowed to flow under the dam as well. Trout would be able to use a fish ladder to get over the dam during migration.
While the pond is dry, 15,900 cubic yards of sediment would be dredged and excavated from the bottom of the pond. Part of this sediment, roughly 4,350 cubic yards, would then be used to create wetlands in what is currently the center and southwestern areas of the pond. Sediment would be used to build banks, which would be stabilized through sod and vegetation.
The remainder of the sediment would be dispersed along the banks of the pond above the high water mark.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game, represented by Magic Valley Region supervisor Jerome Hansen, stated in a letter dated November 2012 that if the project can be proven to lower water temperature in the area, the project would produce an “overall benefit” to cold water fish species in the system.
“The project will either benefit the cold water fish community or have a neutral impact,” Hansen wrote.
But statements approving the project from The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Quality have been dismissed by some members of the public, who wrote statements opposing the project.
Jeremy Silvis, a fishing guide for Sturtevants Mountain Outfitters, stated in a letter that he worries the narrower channels would become too crowded with people for adequate fishing, and that the channels would be too narrow for floating tubes to pass.
David Glasscock, a fishing guide with Picabo-based Idaho Angling Services, sent seven letters to the Blaine County Land Use and Building Services department opposing the project. Glasscock said he’s not convinced water temperatures impact trout populations in Kilpatrick Pond.
But other outfitters have said they disagree. Greg Loomis, another fishing guide with Sturtevants Mountain Outfitters, said Glasscock did not have reliable data to support his claims. Loomis said he’s seen insect populations and rainbow trout populations in the area decrease as a result of increasing water temperature caused by the low-flowing pond, and he’s seen fishing improve in restored areas of Silver Creek over the past few years.
Schoen said he is not sure when the next public hearing on the matter will be held, but that it would be after the Idaho Department of Water Resources provides its thoughts on the project.
“Their permits and conditions are a precursor to any decision by us, under [county] code,” he said Tuesday.
Schoen said the county is still accepting public comment on the project. An unscientific poll taken by the Idaho Mountain Express in late March showed that 71 percent of readers were opposed to the project; however, comments submitted to the county so far are 71 comments in favor, 31 opposed.


Amid a major controversy and protest over the delay in local council elections, the mandate of the committee dealing with demarcation of boundaries of local council wards has been extended till August 31, committee sources said.
Local Government Minister Faiszer Musthapha this week signed the extension letter as the committee’s previous mandate expired on March 31. He said this was done in view of the piles of complaints regarding the demarcation of wards of local councils throughout the country.
At least 5,000 complaints had been lodged by political parties and the general public.The extension letter noted that due to the workload and the complex nature of the complaints, the mandate of the committee had been extended with immediate effect.
A committee member told the Sunday Times that the earlier delimitation commission had used a caste basis to carve out some of the wards.
He said committee members were visiting every district to finalise wards in consultation with the people and political parties.An independent election watch dog alleged that the government was deliberately delaying the local council elections and using the delimitation issue as a cover for its own political agenda.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi proposed that the Government should hold elections to local councils where delimitation issues had been sorted out.
He said that of 336 local councils, some 200 had no issues about delimitation. “The Government, if it is genuine about its good governance concept, it should conduct polls to these councils immediately,” he said. He said some of the northern councils had been defunct for more than two years and the Government should be serious about the democracy it professed to practice.
Election monitoring bodies and watchdogs are expected to meet the Elections Commissioner next week to urge him to take an initiative to conduct polls to councils where there were no demarcation issues.


WITH as many as seven hurricanes expected in the region this summer, Attorney General Carl Bethel said the mandatory evacuation bill Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis promised last year is still in draft form and "difficult to craft because of constitutional limitations".
"Freedom of movement also means freedom not to move, no matter the threat," he said.
Mr Bethel was asked yesterday if the bill would be passed before the official start of the hurricane season next month. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) expects between three seven hurricanes this year.
One thousand people were flown to Nassau from the southern Bahamas last year before Hurricane Irma made landfall. Hundreds failed to heed the government's evacuation plea, however, prompting Dr Minnis on September 10 to say a mandatory evacuation bill would be tabled in the House of Assembly the following week. The bill never arrived.
"I think it is essential that we have a mandatory evacuation [law]," Dr Minnis said. "Not only that, we must have a manual for evacuations so that we will have guidelines. A storm may be a category one or two, and that may not be a requirement for evacuation. But we would look and a requirement may be for a category four or five (storm). Those are the things that have to be discussed."
Like Dr Minnis, Former Prime Minister Perry Christie said several times that mandatory evacuations were necessary, although his administration never moved to introduce a law allowing for it.
NEMA's forecasts for this season are based on 30-year average predictions and project a total of 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, three of which will be of Category 3 or above.
Their findings are in line with a preliminary seasonal forecast released by Colorado State University (CSU) last month.
CSU's report predicted this hurricane season will be "above average".
The report also included the probability of major hurricanes making landfall.
For the entire US coastline, this is 63 percent; 39 percent for the US East Coast, including the Florida peninsula; 38 percent for the Gulf Coast from the Florida panhandle; and 52 percent for the Caribbean.
In an interview with the Tribune on April 6, Chief Meteorologist Basil Dean urged residents to start making preparations.
"Tend to those roofs that may have some needs and also you want to ensure that your shutters and things are in good working order," he said.
"This is also a good time to do tree trimming because we are now into spring, so you want to make sure those things are taken care of especially those near power lines."
Soooooooo, how do we interpret The Bahamas Constitution .......... Article 25.2(a)(i)?????
What does it mean that - this right can be suspended where reasonably required in the interest of public safety?????
Why should the Government put its public servants at risk (public safety) to assist (private) civilians when a public catastrophe (hurricane, tsunami etc.) is approaching?????
How can anyone say that a mandatory evacuation plan is contravening their "freedom"???
Well mandatory evacuation orders also avoids liability or the government as is the intention in The United States. In other words if a mandatory evacuation order is given and you chose to ignore it, as the constitution guarantees you the right to do, then through the issuance of the evacuation order, the government excludes itself from any liability from the loss of life and/or injury resulting from any party refusing to obey the order. Some states and counties have gone as far as getting persons who refuse to leave a document indicating that they have been made aware of impending disaster and they have consciously made the decision to stay. Now where it becomes tricky is where minor children are involved and the question must be determined as to who has the greater power: the parents/ guardians or the state. The same applies for the elderly or persons suffering from mental challenges that may cause their judgement to be impaired or not functional. Sometimes this may require going before a judge and getting a specific order to have these persons evacuated for their own safety.
Agreed ......... No mandatory evacuation plan in place ...... But Bahamians are "free" to live wherever they want, "free" to stay in their flood-prone homes during a hurricane ....... and expect "free money" from the same Government who is pleading for them to get to higher ground for their personal safety.
Something surely does not sound right about this scenario .... But again, this is what an ill-disciplined people expect from a Government that does not like to be pro-active or prepared.
Well @ sheep runners at one point The Grove of East Street was known to be prone to flooding and orders were given that no additional homes could be built in that area. But some 10 to 25 years after the. fact, Pinewood comes along. And even though it was known to be prone to flooding, they allowed houses to built and sold to unsuspecting homeowners who continue to suffer from the flooding problem today. No stop order was ever issued for homes being built in the area or to stop property being sold. Even a requirement by Ministry of Works to raise foundations by two blocks could have saved homeowners thousands of dollars in lost furniture and personal effects and the discomfort of having their homes flooded every other year.


Pollution from human activities can be found at all points across the oceanâ€™s vast expanse, whether in the deep, at the surface, or in the organisms that live in it. Rivers carry waste, solid and liquid, and a wide range of other substances into the ocean. Discharges, spills and waste from shipping are another source of pollution. Pollutants discharged into the air are deposited into the ocean. Although considerable progress has been achieved in limiting some forms of pollution, others persist. New challenges, whether relating to particular pollutants, such as micro-plastics, or broader trends, like the rapid growth of coastal cities, will require sustained action encompassing scientific research, knowledge-sharing, and strengthened governance arrangements.
Mr. Kosi Latu was appointed the Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) at the 26th SPREP Meeting in September 2015, officially taking up the position in January 2016. With 26 Member nations on board, SPREP has the vital task of coordinating Members' activities at the regional level in order to manage and protect their environment within the context of sustainable development. Prior to his new position Mr. Latu was the Deputy Director General since 2008.
Before joining SPREP Mr. Latu was the Manager of the UNOPS Financial Compliance Programme based at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji from 2006 to 2008. Mr. Latu also worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, the United Kingdom for 11 years where he was the Deputy Director for the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division from 1995 to 2001, and Special Legal Adviser and Head of the Legal and Economic Division from 2001 until 2006.
Mr. Latu started his career as a state prosecutor with the Attorney General's Office for the Government of Samoa from 1990 until 1995. Mr. Latu's area of expertise and experience are in international environmental law, law of the sea and financial compliance. He is a graduate of Canterbury University in New Zealand.
SPREP is the Premier Pacific Regional Intergovernmental Organisation for the Environment established in 1991 and with 26 Member Governments, based in Samoa. Its key priority areas are: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management; Climate Change; Environmental Monitoring and Governance; and Waste Management and Pollution Control.
Peter Kershaw is a marine scientist based in the UK, with 34 years research experience, based, until 2014, in a Government-funded research laboratory (Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science), on many different aspects of marine environmental protection. This involved contributing to, and leading, multi-disciplinary research projects on the impacts of human activities on the ocean, usually with European or wider international collaborators. Topics have include the transport, fate and effects of radionuclides, metals, nutrients, organic contaminants and plastic litter; the impact of offshore activities such as fisheries and windfarm development; and an interest in socio-ecological systems for the sustainable management human activities.
Peter became involved with GESAMP (Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection) in 2008, and has been Chair since 2013. He has been co-Chair of Working Group 40 (Sources, fate and effects of microplastics in the marine environment â€“ a global assessment) since 2012. He currently splits his time between GESAMP and working as an independent consultant.
Nancy Wallace is the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationâ€™s Marine Debris Program. The Marine Debris Program is the federal lead for researching, preventing, and reducing the impacts of marine debris in the United States. Nancy is currently the Chair of the United Nationâ€™s Global Partnership on Marine Litter and the Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Marine Debris Workgroup. Nancy has worked on ocean policy related issues for the past 15 years. Her work includes resource conservation with the National Park Service, developing sustainable catch limits for U.S. fisheries and efforts to improve water quality in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Sybil Seitzinger is the Executive Director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), and Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions is a dynamic knowledge network that brings together leading researchers from British Columbia and around the world to study the impacts of climate change and to develop positive approaches to mitigation and adaptation.
Dr. Seitzinger joins PICS from her position as executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) based in Stockholm, Sweden. Prior to that, she was director of the Rutgers/NOAA Cooperative Marine Education and Research Program and visiting professor at Rutgers University in the US. She served as president of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography from 2006-2010.
Dr. Seitzingerâ€™s work at the IGBP involved facilitating and integrating the work of scientists and researchers across Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe on global environmental change. As a pioneering scientist, her work at Rutgers centred on land-atmosphere-ocean biogeochemistry, with a focus on changes in the global nitrogen cycle and how humans are affecting it.
Dr. Seitzinger holds a PhD in biological oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been awarded an honorary PhD from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She is highly cited, with more than 130 peer-reviewed publications to her credit.
Vidar Helgesen was born in BodÃ¸ in the North of Norway, on 21 November 1968, and grew up at NÃ¸tterÃ¸y in the County of Vestfold. Helgesen holds the Cand. Jur. Degree from the University of Oslo in 1998.
Helgesen served as state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2001-2005, under Kjell Magne Bondevik's Second Government.
Helgesen was a special adviser at the International Red Cross in Geneva 1998â€“2001. He was secretary-general of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), in Stockholm from 2006 until he was appointed minister by Prime Minister Erna Solberg in 2013.
Helgesen held the position as minister of EEA and EU Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chief of Staff at the Office of the Prime Minister from 16.10.2013 to 16.12.2015, when he was appointed as Minister of Climate and Environment.


SWAT members unload from a truck after arriving at a Greeley home in January 2016 where investigators say multiple people were living and engaging in drug activity.
It should go without saying drugs cause crimes.
The violence and larceny associated with the scourge of addiction are well documented, and it makes sense these sorts of crimes fuel the fears communities have when drugs make their way into their neighborhoods.
However, what’s less obvious is how often drugs lead to crimes not typically associated with them. According to Greeley Police officials, spikes in property crimes like auto and home break-ins as well as thefts, forgeries and identity thefts often are a result of the drug market.
In short, the criminal baggage that comes with drugs can make a long, deep impact that extends well beyond the community of drug users and sellers in direct contact with the drugs themselves.
We like Weld County’s use of drug court.
It’s an alternative to normal criminal court that treats drug addicts with rehabilitation as well as with normal discourse.
However, if the long, criminal reach of drug addiction is a stark reminder of anything, it’s of the importance of recognizing and preventing addiction before it takes hold of a person, or at the very least treating people before they enter the criminal justice system for committing a crime in an attempt to support a drug habit.
Drug use is one of the heaviest burdens we bear as a society. Until we get better at taking preventive measures, at stopping addiction before it starts, we won’t be able to make a serious dent in the ripple of criminal activity that comes along with drugs, including in the rates of local crimes committed against those with seemingly no connection to drugs.
Prevention is the key to ending this vicious criminal cycle.


Rand Paul and Frank Underwood would be best buds.
Senator Paul announced his presidential bid Tuesday, and for a moment, his jobs promise echoed Underwood's jobs proposal on the fictional show House of Cards.
On Tuesday, Paul said: "I have a vision for America where everyone who wants to work will have a job."
Stop the tape. Didn't Underwood, the president on House of Cards, say something really similar in season 3?
Yup: "If you want a job, you get one," Underwood said while giving a televised address about his jobs plan "America Works."
Of course, politicians make big campaign promises on the economy during every election. Paul isn't the first to guarantee jobs.
But hey, the parallels don't stop there. Underwood needs $500 billion to justify his fictitious jobs program. His solution: cut welfare and entitlements.
Paul will probably need money for his sweet-sounding jobs plan too. And we already know he wants to significantly cut down government spending on programs like medicaid and food stamps. Paul also wants to reduce payments on entitlement programs like social security and medicare.
"As I watch our once great economy collapse under mounting spending and debt, I wonder what kind of America will our children see?" Paul posed to his supporters Tuesday.
Although Underwood eventually runs for president in the show, he does tell candidates that cutting entitlements is a political no-no.
"We can't maintain the welfare state as we know it. Now, that's not a popular thing to say. Anyone running for office wouldn't dare utter those words," Underwood warned.
But would Underwood audit the Fed? We'll have to wait till season 4 to find out.


Global escalator supplier, Schindler group, on Monday said it has launched its best-selling range of elevators-the Schindler 3300 and the Schindler 5300, in the country.
MUMBAI: Global escalator supplier, Schindler group, on Monday said it has launched its best-selling range of elevators-the Schindler 3300 and the Schindler 5300, in the country.
The elevator will be used for mid-rise residential and commercial buildings, a press release issued here stated.
"Schindler has taken all the advantages of top-range elevators for high-rise buildings, and made them available in the residential and commercial segments," Chris Lindenmeyer, responsible for the company's operations in India, Russia, Middle East and Africa (EMIA) said.
Both the lifts are environment-friendly, energy efficient and operate at lower expenses, the release said.
The group also inaugurated a dedicated training facility for employees of the company here. The facility was inaugurated by Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Head, Doris Lethard.
The facility will train Schindler's engineers for the installation of the newly launched elevators, said the release.
The training centre is equipped with classrooms fitted with simulators, a conference room and an e-learning centre.
Schindler has a presence in around 130 countries. Some of the places where company has installed elevators are Bombay Stock Exchange building, Grand Hyatt hotel and Delhi Metro Rail Corperation as well as the Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai airports, amongst others.


AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jerrod Heard threw an 84-yard touchdown pass to John Burt on Texas’ first offensive play and D’Onta Foreman ran 93-yards for a third quarter score as Texas routed winless Kansas 59-20 Saturday night.
Tyrone Swoopes ran for four touchdowns for Texas, two in the fourth quarter. He also threw a 40-yard touchdown in mop-up duty in the Longhorns’ highest-scoring game in two seasons, a week after being shut out by Iowa State.
Foreman’s run was the third-longest touchdown run in Texas (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) history.
Kansas was within 24-14 late in the first half but had a drive end at the Texas 1 and the Jayhawks missed a short field goal on the final play.


Finger pointing: Sol Cooperman, the president of Trump Towers in section three, voiced his concerns about the plan to build a 40-story tower in Brighton Beach.
Eyes only: George Heitzman, a representative from the Department of Environmental Conservation, explained that the department won’t do the cleanup itself, but instead will oversee National Grid’s cleanup of the site.
This is really going to stink!
Construction of a 40-story residential tower that will sit atop a toxic field in Brighton Beach can’t begin until the site is cleaned — and that job is going to smell to the high heavens, the state told neighbors last week.
Chemicals including coal tar that are locked in the soil beneath Trump Village Shopping Center on Neptune Avenue at West Fifth Street will have to be carted away — and when they are, it will unleash a distinctly nasty odor.
“It smells like mothballs mixed with something that has been badly burned,” Gardiner Cross, a geologist with the Department of Environmental Conservation, said at a hearing on the plan at Lincoln High School on Feb. 12.
Before owner Rubin Schron can build a planned 40-story tower on the site of Trump Village Shopping Center, National Grid — which acquired the company that owned a former manufactured gas plant that once occupied the site — must remove the pungent pollutants that are trapped in the soil, which also contains cyanide, mercury, manganese, selenium, and an array of other chemicals and pesticides, according to a 2011 report.
The shopping center lot used to host the Dangman Park Manufactured Gas Plant, which operated from the 1880s to 1918. The soil was never cleaned before construction of the shopping center but Cross said the foundation of the shopping center has stopped residents from being exposed to the pollutants, and remediation is only necessary if the building is demolished — as its owner plans to do, to make way for the residential tower.
National Grid, which will pay for the cleanup, is responsible for presenting a cleanup plan to the Department of Environmental Conservation, but the company said it has not revealed the plan because the property owner has not yet presented a development plan.
The Department of Environmental Conservation said that because there isn’t a plan yet, it can only provide examples of past cleanup remedies used on some of the hundreds of manufactured gas plant sites throughout the state. Past methods have included capping the contaminants and excavation and removal of the toxic soil.
To trap the odor inevitable with the excavation of coal tar, Cross said workers would erect a large tent over the worksite and spray odor-control foam around the area. He said the trucks that transport workers and supplies are also cleaned before leaving the site.
“We haven’t had an odor complaint from a truck leaving a site in over a decade,” said Cross.
But an elected official at the meeting said that rather than worrying about the smell, he is more concerned about the health effects of the foul fumes — especially since many residents who live nearby are especially vulnerable to health threats.
“We have those that are sick, those that are frail, and those that cannot fend for themselves,” said Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay).
The cleanup process is scary, said to one local, but it is also terrifying to think about how the 40-story tower will affect the community that residents worked for generations to build.


Multiple witnesses on the scene told troopers that Tiffany Simison was driving so fast she could not maintain her lane.
An Alabama woman reportedly driving in excess of 100 mph on Interstate 10 Thursday night, struck a slower vehicle causing it to overturn.
Tiffany Simison, 27, of Saraland, Alabama, was westbound on I-10, with a 2-year-old passenger, when she failed to yield to slower traffic, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
The front of Simison’s 2015 Dodge Challenger collided with the rear of a 2007 Toyota 4Runner driven by Kendra Marra, 40, of Beachwood, New Jersey, shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday near mile marker 4 in Escambia County.
Marra’s vehicle was pushed off the roadway, collided with a tree line and then overturned, according to the accident report. Simison came to a stop .75 miles west of the crash.
Multiple witnesses on the scene told troopers that Simison was driving so fast prior to the crash that she could not maintain her lane. The witnesses estimated that at the time of impact Simison was traveling in excess of 100 mph.
Both drivers had minor injuries, and Marra was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital. The toddler, who was in a car seat, was not hurt.
Simison has been charged with reckless driving, according to the FHP.


SEATTLE  Andrew Triggs did his best to keep the Mariners powerful offense at bay, but eventually it broke through.
After allowing the first two runners to reach base in the fifth, Triggs hung a first-pitch slider to Nelson Cruz that was launched over the wall in left-center to break the tie and put the Mariners ahead 4-1 as the As eventually fell 6-3 for their third straight loss.
Triggs had allowed Mariners (17-11) base runners in each of the first four innings, but had managed to limit the damage to just one run before allowing the homer to Cruz. He proceeded to allow the next two batters to reach base after Cruz before getting pulled for Trivino. Triggs failed to complete five innings, allowing four runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts on 86 pitches as he fell to 2-1 with his ERA now at 5.20.
Giving up the home run with two outs, made it a little more painful for Triggs, especially after retiring Robinson Cano right before Cruz.
Jed Lowrie got the As (14-15) on the board first with a soaring solo home run off Felix Hernandez in the first innning. It was his seventh of the season, and allowed Triggs to take the mound with a 1-0 lead before he even took the mound.
After a red-hot April that saw him set a new Oakland record for most hits in the month, Lowrie seemed to carry over that success into the new month.
But following the home run allowed to Lowrie, Hernandez turned into the pitcher who has terrorized Oakland for years.
Entering the night 25-10 with a 2.61 ERA in 47 career starts against the As, Hernandez was sharp after the home run as he allowed just two hits after.
The As chased him out of the game in the seventh after Matt Olson followed up a Khris Davis walk by doubling down the right field line to put runners on second and third with no outs and found a way to bring in two runs off Nick Vincent on an infield hit and a ground out to cut the lead to 5-3.
As players were excited following the announcement that the team would open the 2019 season in Japan, an experience that is sure to be memorable for the many young players on the team. But the trip will have a special meaning for Sean Manaea.
Manaeas brother, Dane, is a U.S. Navy member currently stationed in Yokosuka, which is about 30 minutes away from the the Tokyo Dome, where the As will be the home team for a two-game series with the Seattle Mariners Wednesday, March 20 and Thursday, March 21.
Deployed to Japan the past year, Dane has not watched Sean pitch live since he started a game for Indiana State his sophomore season in 2012 against Purdue, where Dane was enrolled as a student at the time. Since then, Manaea has emerged into one of the top young pitchers in baseball, making a statement just over a week ago when he threw a no-hitter at the Oakland Coliseum against the Boston Red Sox.
Given the way Manaea has performed this this season, theres a good chance he gets the nod in one of those games.
He just hopes Dane, 28, is still stationed there by that time. He was in Spain the previous two year before transferring to Japan, so the possibility for another transfer is a realistic one.
With the opportunity to have Dane in the stands, Manaea said he wants the ball and is definitely hoping manager Bob Melvin selects him to start one of the games.
Melvin, who managed the As when the club opened the season in Japan back in 2012, is looking forward to the trip.
No corresponding roster move was made as of Tuesday night, but Brett Anderson was in the As clubhouse before the game and Melvin confirmed the left-hander would start Wednesdays game in Seattle.
Reunited with Trevor Cahill, Melvin would like to see Anderson provide the club with work similar to what Cahill has been able to do so far. In three starts back with Oakland, Cahill has gone 1-1 with an ERA of 3.00.


Confidence in the service and construction sectors rose in June but fell for the retail sector.
Confidence in Turkey’s service and construction sector rose in June, according to official data released by TurkStat Tuesday. The confidence index for the country’s retail sector fell.
Sector confidence indexes are a measure of investor confidence in the stability of their investment, which guides decisions about further investment and serves as a key indicator of the health of the Turkish economy.
This month, the service sector showed a slight improvement, rising to 98.1 points from 97.2 in May, an increase of 0.9 percent.
The seasonally adjusted construction sector index rose to 79.8 points from 79.2 points, a 0.7 percent increase.
Confidence in the retail sector fell to 102.4 points, down 1.4 percent from May’s 103.9 due to stock levels being above the normal seasonal level.
The indexes range between 0 and 200 points, indicating an optimistic outlook for 100 points and above and a pessimistic outlook below if they fall below 100 points.


Years ago, it was common to see lots of fans storm the field to celebrate a team's victory. The obvious security concerns and litigation threats of today, however, make such displays pretty much nonexistent. And television networks have long avoided showing footage of fans running onto playing fields during broadcasts of live sporting events, so as not to draw attention to dumbass behavior.
But this enterprising Browns fan timed his trespass exquisitely, didn't he? CBS' television cameras had just captured Mohamed Massaquoi's leaping catch with 43 seconds remaining in yesterday's win over the Dolphins. Massaquoi was soon being congratulated by teammates Benjamin Watson and Joshua Cribbs. And along came Some Dude, at just the right moment. Some Dude thus managed to earn a split-second of face-time before the production crew cut away to a crowd shot. Well done, dumbass.


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Administrators at the University of Missouri completed a reversal of their decision to close the university’s publishing house when they announced on Friday that the longtime editor in chief, Clair Willcox, would be rehired.
The move also could save the core of the operation — 41 authors who had works published by the university press asked for the rights to their works back unless Mr. Willcox was rehired.
“Victory Is Ours!” declared a post on a Facebook page, Save the University of Missouri Press, created by Ned Stuckey-French, a professor at Florida State University and an author with the press, and Bruce Joshua Miller, a sales representative for university publishers.
“I’m floating,” Mr. Stuckey-French said in an interview.
Mr. Wolfe said in an interview that the university was not changing course. His intention never was to close the press, he said, but rather to reinvent it in a more cost-effective technological model.
“We’re down this path and we’re continuing to move toward our goal of having a more adaptive, innovative press which attracts the best scholarly work on a global basis and publishes both physical print books as well as electronic,” he said.
When Mr. Wolfe announced that he would pull the $400,000 annual subsidy that the university system, which includes four campuses around the state, provides the press, the outrage pressured the administration into hastily announcing a new operation that it said would be more efficient. But that announcement sparked even more criticism. The announcement was short on details, and critics said it did not offer a bold, new, innovative system that the administration had promised.
The controversy highlighted a broader challenge that university presses are grappling with nationwide. Publishing scholarly works directed toward a niche audience, most do not generate profits, and they are finding it difficult to survive amid shrinking campus budgets and a digital publishing landscape.
Under the intense scrutiny, the Missouri administration, in late August, pulled back from its new model and announced that the university press would continue to operate with its current staff in its current location in Columbia. Administrators also announced that the Columbia campus would take over responsibility for the press from the system, and they created an advisory committee to examine ways to grow and innovate the press.
But the outrage did not spur this decision to change course, Mr. Wolfe said; rather it was the result of further discussions that helped administrators find a more effective model.
While press supporters saw the decision as a win, they remained unhappy that Mr. Willcox had not been given back his job. So they continued to lobby.
Mr. Wolfe conceded missteps had been made early in the process of deciding what to do about the press.
“There’s more people that should have been brought into this conversation,” he said, like authors, other university publishers and the staff of the Missouri press.


Join Associate Director of Admissions Abigail Carroll for an admissions chat. Bring the questions you’ve been wanting to ask and find the answers that will help you submit your best application to the admissions committee.
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If you are interested in donating fresh produce, please contact your local food pantry to inquire about donations, delivery, etc.
Monetary donations are encouraged; these allow each food pantry to shop for its needs.
Each pantry has designated days and times for distributions. Contact it directly about dropping off donations, organizing a food drive, and/or information about receiving services.
Call the Centre County Office of Adult Services at 355-6768 or Community Help Centre at 800-494-2500 for more information.


With the recent news that many of us expect to work to age 80, it's hard to be overly impressed with the Legislature's move to increase retirement age for state employees from 55 to 60.
In truth, any steps toward reconfiguring the state's unsustainable and convoluted public retirement system are welcome as long as the push continues to fix other flaws in the system.
Gov. Deval Patrick has now signed pension reform legislation that is expected to save taxpayers more than $5 billion over the next 30 years. In addition to raising the minimum retirement age, the bill also attempts to close a loophole exploited most recently by former Weymouth Mayor David Madden.
Madden in 2008 decided he wanted to retire at age 52. So he abandoned his job as mayor in the final week of his second term in order to work for five days in his former capacity as fire chief. The maneuver, which is being challenged in court, was designed to boost his pension from $43,200 to $79,800 a year.
The will now require that employees who move into a new job that carries a greater pension benefit late in their career hold that position for at least a year before becoming eligible for a larger pension check.
These and other changes to state pension law are needed not only to protect the state's fiscal solvency but also to protect taxpayer sanity.
A recent survey by Wells Fargo & Co. reports that 25 percent of the respondents said they'll need to work until at least age 80 because they will not have enough money to retire.
Living with such a reality makes it hard to accept that the retirements funded with taxes can begin 10 years earlier than the age at which people are eligible for Social Security.
But much more remains to be done. One area in desperate need of attention is the rampant abuse of disability pensions. While most of these tax-free pensions are for legitimate reasons, there are many cases in which ill-defined regulations and lax enforcement have allowed able-bodied public workers to enjoy this generous benefit based on dubious health claims.
Another area we hope to see addressed soon is "termination" pensions given to workers who lose their political jobs when a new administration is elected to office.
One of the most egregious examples of this was when former legislator and Plymouth County Sheriff Peter Forman went to work for acting Gov. Jane Swift. Before she left office, he was "fired" and started collecting an annual pension of $35,000 at the ripe old age of 43.
It's perfectly legal. He, like so many others, was simply availing himself of the bountiful benefits offered through the grace of government employment. But that doesn't make it right and the state must continue to chip away at sweetheart deals that make the whole pension system look bad.


The Young and the Restless family has lost a beloved member.
Kristoff St. John, the actor who originated the role of Neil Winters on the long-running soap opera nearly three decades ago, has died. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to E! News that police were called for a possible alcohol overdose and found St. John dead in his home in Calif. around 2 p.m. on Sunday. Authorities have not disclosed any further details and the cause of his death is unconfirmed at this time. St. John was 52 years old.
"Few men had the unique strength, courage & sensitivity that @kristoffstjohn1 lived every single minute of every day. He impacted everyone he met and millions who he inspired and in turn admired him," attorney Mark Geragos said in a statement on Twitter. "On behalf of @MiaStJohnBoxer & @TheStJohnFamily thank you for all of your love."
A New York native, he got his start on television with brief appearances on shows like Happy Days and Wonder Woman. By the late 1980s, St. John landed a recurring role on Charlie & Co. before The Young and the Restless in 1991, on which he starred until his death.
St. John won two Daytime Emmy Awards for his performance on the show and was nominated an additional nine times.
"The news of Kristoff St. John's passing is heartbreaking. He was a very talented actor and an even better person," CBS Television Network and Sony Pictures Television said in a joint statement. "For those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him on The Young and the Restless for the last 27 years, he was a beloved friend whose smile and infectious laugh made every day on set a joy and made audiences love him. On behalf of the Y&R cast and crew, CBS and Sony Pictures Television, we offer our heartfelt sympathy to his family and loved ones, especially his two daughters, Paris and Lola."
St. John was married and divorced twice, first to Mia St. John, with whom he welcomed son Julian and daughter Paris. Julian died of an apparent suicide in 2014 at the age of 24. The actor was later married to Allana Nadal, with whom he had daughter Lola.
In 2017, he reportedly underwent psychiatric treatment after an alleged "scare" regarding his mental health.
Hs is survived by his two daughters and his fiancé Kseniya Mikhaleva, who he proposed to in August. "How did it happen ??? How ??? Why did you leave so early ???? and left me alone ..... I can't believe," she wrote on Instagram on Monday. "You were everything to me .... you were a loving father, a loving man,.....how love??we should doing a lot of things in future......"
Our thoughts are with the star's loved ones at this time.


Boxer Miguel Cotto talks during an interview, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in New York. Cotto will bid farewell to the ring when he faces Sadam Ali on Dec. 2 in Madison Square Garden _ his “second home,” as he calls it, where he will fight for the 10th and final time of his career.
Boxer Miguel Cotto poses for a portrait, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in New York. Cotto will bid farewell to the ring when he faces Sadam Ali on Dec. 2 in Madison Square Garden _ his “second home,” as he calls it, where he will fight for the 10th and final time of his career.
Boxer Miguel Cotto talks during an interview, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in New York. Cotto will bid farewell to the ring after facing Sadam Ali in a junior middleweight bout on Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden.
Boxer Miguel Cotto wipes away tears during an interview, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in New York. Cotto will bid farewell to the ring after facing Sadam Ali in a junior middleweight bout on Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden.
Boxer Miguel Cotto wipes away tears during an interview, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in New York. Cotto will bid farewell to the ring when he faces Sadam Ali on Dec. 2 in Madison Square Garden _ his “second home,” as he calls it, where he will fight for the 10th and final time of his career.
NEW YORK — The usually stoic Miguel Cotto gets emotional thinking about all the important family moments he missed in two decades as a boxer. Countless hours in the gym, training to become a four-time world champion, kept him away from his wife and four children for weeks and months at a time.
No more after this fight.
Cotto will bid farewell to the ring when he faces Sadam Ali on Dec. 2 in Madison Square Garden — his “second home,” as he calls it, where he will fight for the 10th time to finish his career. After 46 action-packed bouts in four weight classes, the 36-year-old Puerto Rican said he has no regrets about this decision to call it quits, and is looking forward to making up for lost time with his wife Melissa and his children, ages 10 to 21.
Cotto recalled a promise he made long ago to retire at 30 years old, one he obviously did not keep. That was almost seven years ago — he turns 37 on Oct. 29 — and since then he fought nine times against big-name opponents like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, two of the losses in his 41-5 record.
Cotto now guarantees there will be no going back on his word, saying he is “150 percent” sure he will hang up the gloves after defending the WBO super welterweight title he won in August against Yoshihiro Kamegai. He said it’s time to give his family the attention it deserves.
“I know they are proud of me, and they are crazy about the idea of having me with them every day,” Cotto said.
Ali, a 29-year-old from Brooklyn, is not a blue-chip opponent like many of the fighters Cotto faced since he made his professional debut in 2001, but the future Hall of Famer knows there is no need to risk much in his send-off.
Still, don’t expect Cotto to change his methodical attacking style for his last hurrah.
Whatever happens on Dec. 2, Cotto’s sparkling resume speaks for itself: In an eight-year span from 2007, he fought all-time greats like Mayweather, Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao, Zab Judah, Shane Mosley and Sergio Martinez, most of them in their prime. Pacquiao, Antonio Margarito and Austin Trout gave him his three other losses.
He won world titles in the super lightweight, welterweight, super welterweight and middleweight divisions. Listed at 5-foot-7, in many cases he faced much bigger opponents as he moved up in weight.
When asked to choose his favorite fight, Cotto did not pick any of the big-ticket bouts. Instead, he said it was his 2005 knockout win in Atlantic City over little-known Ricardo Torres of Colombia.
That was his 25th fight, and for the first time in his career, Cotto went down in the second round.
Cotto said he plans to maintain ties with boxing through his promotion company in Puerto Rico, where he also wants to help in the recovery process after the devastating Hurricane Maria.
But his main goal will be to become a full-time parent and husband.


Fern the Zebra Shark. Photos courtesy of the Aquarium of the Pacific.
By the Aquarium of the Pacific’s opening day on June 20, 1998, more than 30,000 households had purchased charter memberships; during its first day, 12,000 people (its maximum capacity) toured its exhibits.
On Wednesday, the aquarium will celebrate two decades of work in ocean conversation, education and community engagement, with much to look forward to, including the completion of its under-construction Pacific Visions wing, the first major expansion for the local institute.
“Over its 20-year history, the Aquarium has served as a community gathering place for people to learn about the ocean, its inhabitants, and each other so the public is better prepared to address the global societal and environmental issues we face, like climate change,” said aquarium President and CEO Jerry Schubel.
The aquarium was the first to successfully breed Pharaoh’s cuttlefish in 1999 and weedy seadragons in 2001, adding to its list of achievements in the realm of animal husbandry. In 2016, it was also the first aquarium to hatch and raise a giant sea bass. Other industry firsts include reproducing zebra sharks through artificial insemination, drawing a voluntary blood sample from a sea otter and developing large-scale touch exhibits for moon jellies and sharks.
Edi and Edison, the massive blue whale models seen “floating” above aquarium visitors in the great hall, were designed and built by the Larson Company in Tucson, Arizona, and transported to Long Beach in seven pieces.
Today, 11,000 animals live at the aquarium and is the nation’s fourth most attended. During peak season, over 400 employees and a volunteer corps of over 1,600 run the popular destination.
The aquarium installed its first webcams around 2001 in three exhibits. Today, there are eight webcams, including a seasonal one that was just made live in the penguin nursery (check it out here) where you can watch Magellanic Penguin chicks generally being their cute, fluffy selves, flapping their wings and more at any given time of day from your phone or computer.
The aquarium offers a guide for citizens to build a more climate-resilient Long Beach, based on its collaborative effort with Southern California-based universities, regional and city government agencies to publish the City of Long Beach Climate Resiliency Assessment Report in December 2015. You can find the guide here.
Upcoming events in celebration of the anniversary include a Summer Discounted Late Night, where on the 20th anniversary guests can visit the aquarium on Wednesday for $14.95 per person after 5 p.m. More information on discounted summer nights can be found here.
The aquarium is also holding an #Act4Ocean contest to encourage people to take action for the ocean individually or as a group and post it on social media. Posts that tag the aquarium can win prizes each month throughout the summer. For more contest details and ocean-friendly inspiration, check out the link here.
A celebratory lecture, Twenty Years of Achievements in Animal Husbandry and Conservation, with Sandy Trautwein, will take place on Thursday, August 30 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. More details and ticket information can be found here.


A judge has reportedly ordered a Colorado woman to decrypt her laptop computer so prosecutors may use the files against her in a criminal case involving alleged bank fraud.
The defendant, Ramona Fricosu, had unsuccessfully argued that being forced to do so would violate the Fifth Amendment protection against compelled self-incrimination, Wired reports.
“I conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer,” Colorado U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled Monday.
The case is being closely watched by civil rights groups, Wired reports, as the issue has never been fully considered by the Supreme Court. Authorities seized the laptop from Fricosu in 2010 with a court warrant while investigating financial fraud.
Blackburn ordered Fricosu to surrender an unencrypted hard drive by Feb. 21. The judge added that the government is precluded “from using Ms. Fricosu's act of production of the unencrypted hard drive against her in any prosecution," Wired reports.
Click here to read more on this report from Wired.com.


A guest on MSNBC’s “Am Joy” Saturday called President Trump “psychologically deranged” and implied he called Kirsten Gillibrand a “whore” on Twitter.
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!