With the Republican primary race for governor taking an aggressive turn, Jim Oberweis asked Judy Baar Topinka to apologize Tuesday for criticizing his TV attack ads while Topinka said he was trying to "bully" her because she is a woman.
The crossfire came during and after the third broadcast debate among the four major GOP contenders in the primary election. Reflecting the growing personal nature of the race, Topinka turned away as the hourlong broadcast ended and rebuffed an offer from Oberweis to shake his hand.
The debate, sponsored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and broadcast by ABC stations in Springfield and Champaign, was ostensibly to focus on business issues. It came with only two weeks to go in a primary campaign that has, until recently, done little to attract voters' attention.
But as with previous encounters featuring Oberweis, Topinka, state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington and Chicago businessman Ron Gidwitz, the disputes surfaced largely after the formal debate had ended.
Topinka contended that Oberweis' attacks on her show he "may have some difficulties dealing with women." Oberweis countered that Topinka was again "caught not telling the truth."
Seeking a middle ground among voters, Brady warned of the damage caused to the eventual GOP nominee by too much personal sniping in the primary contest.
"If we're going to beat [Democratic Gov.] Rod Blagojevich, we've got to rebuild the strongest Republican Party we can in Illinois and that means uniting. Unfortunately, some of the other candidates are dividing the party," said Brady, who portrayed himself during the debate as "above the fray."
Much of the attention focused on how Oberweis and Topinka would deal with each other in their first face-to-face meeting since Oberweis last week began airing controversial ads attacking the integrity of Topinka, the three-term state treasurer.
In response to Oberweis' ad and an earlier attack ad aired by Gidwitz, Topinka ran her own commercials criticizing the two as "venomous" and "phony" while featuring former Gov. Jim Edgar to tout her truthfulness.
During the debate, Oberweis, an Aurora dairy owner and investment manager, tried to defend the veracity of a sworn statement that his campaign obtained from Martin Kovarik, who worked as Topinka's deputy treasurer a decade ago. Kovarik also said he had a romantic relationship with her then.
Kovarik charged Topinka had state workers campaign for her on state time and said Topinka told him to order the shredding of a document with a list of politically connected investors in a controversial state hotel-loan deal.
But in several instances, the sworn statement from the 73-year-old Kovarik, released to the media Monday by Oberweis' campaign, is inconsistent with Kovarik's previous public comments and with decade-old news accounts.
"When you talk about information from 10 years ago, you're going to get the big picture right, but there may be some details that may be missing and I certainly accept the fact," Oberweis said.
"But I think it's clear that his allegations fully justified our claims that Ms. Topinka--who had said that our advertisements were inaccurate--was 100 percent wrong and I've been waiting for an apology from her, which we haven't gotten yet," Oberweis said.
Topinka has denied issuing such an order and said she doesn't believe in shredding public documents. When Oberweis tried to bring up Kovarik later in the debate after a question on smoking bans, he was booed by some members of the audience in the Hoogland Center for the Arts, which included supporters of the four candidates.
After the debate, Topinka said that if Oberweis wanted an apology, "he's going to have a long wait, sweetie--yeah, a long wait."
"This man thinks he's going to bully me--he thinks he's going to bully me because I'm a woman. Well, forget it. I am not bullied," Topinka said. "I don't fall to bullying or intimidation or any of this kind of trashing he is doing. He has just taken politics in Illinois to a new low, which is saying something in Illinois."
After the debate, Gidwitz criticized Topinka for making Kovarik her top deputy.
"I think that's the kind of thing that is very inappropriate, particularly on a public payroll, to hire somebody you had a romantic interest in," Gidwitz said. "I wouldn't do it and frankly, it wouldn't be done in a private organization without having a lot of public conversations about that appropriateness, and I'm sure that didn't take place in this situation."
In other election news Tuesday, campaign finance reports for the period from Jan. 1 through Feb. 19 show Blagojevich raising $206,377, adding to the $15.5 million that he started the year with for his re-election effort.
His Democratic primary challenger, Edwin Eisendrath, reported raising $552,328, including $200,000 from his mother, Susan Manilow. She contributed an additional $500,000 on Friday. Eisendrath is expected to unveil a new ad campaign Wednesday.
Topinka reported total receipts of $426,758, while Gidwitz reported $4.1 million, a total that included $1.6 million in loans from himself and $2.2 million from the sale of investments.
Oberweis showed total receipts of $517,340, including $462,369 from the conversion of some stock to cash. He also made two loans to his campaign in recent weeks totaling $900,000.
Brady had total receipts of $211,441, including a $100,000 loan he made to himself.


After thousands of nominations and votes from motorists across the province, CAA Manitoba has released a list of the top 10 roadways as part of its Worst Roads campaign.
As reported earlier, St. James Street in Winnipeg was the number one worst road, according to drivers. The remaining list is made of up seven Winnipeg roads and three major Manitoba highways.
CAA Manitoba will present this data, including a full provincial report, to government officials.


The whale shark is the biggest fish in the ocean, but one of the hardest to spot and least understood. Research at Georgia Aquarium is changing that.
Dr. Alistair Dove, a leading marine biologist and Georgia Aquarium’s director of research and conservation, spoke with MNN and explained the aquarium’s current whale shark research efforts, showing the connection to both human health and marine conservation.
MNN: Why is the whale shark research at Georgia Aquarium considered so significant?
Dr. Dove: I think it’s incredible that we know so little about the largest fish in the world. In 2015, we can fly by Pluto, but we don’t know where whale sharks mate or where they give birth. It’s never been seen. The chance to answer these questions in the course of what we do here at Georgia Aquarium is tremendously exciting to me.
I’m also excited about the ability to translate what we learn into conservation measures. I love turning research into strategies that change the plight of animals in their natural setting. For example, we’ve worked with the Mexican federal government to set up a marine protected area for whale sharks, and we’re currently working with the cruise ship industry to get them to modify practices so whale sharks are protected from the risks of ship strike.
MNN: What are the benefits of having whale sharks in the aquarium setting?
Dr. Dove: There are certain types of research you can only do in the field, and there are certain types of research that you can only do in the aquarium. It’s been really wonderful to pursue both lines of inquiry at the same time. That’s where the magic really happens.
For example, we’ve never been able to take a blood sample from a wild whale shark. But we have learned how to take blood from the whale sharks at Georgia Aquarium. That’s allowed us to better understand them and publish studies of their hematology, or blood cells, as well as their biochemistry. That’s not possible with wild animals.
There are things that we can do at Georgia Aquarium that have really been bonanzas for some of our research partners from all sorts of universities. When they receive access to the collection, it’s like watching kids in a candy store.
We also get to share the whale shark experience with all of the guests who visit every day and create a tangible connection. They go away, and they’ll never forget seeing the whale sharks in person. Maybe they even go away with a new appreciation of our oceans and how their own behavior affects the ocean’s biology in terms of creating waste and pollution.
MNN: What is the whale shark genome research project, and why is it so groundbreaking?
Dr. Dove: In partnership with Emory University, we recently published the complete genome of the whale shark, the first shark of any kind to have its complete genome sequenced. It gives us an enormous starter set of genetic information about the whale shark that allows us to ask all kinds of questions about the origins of the species—why it is the way it is and how the biology of whale sharks relates to our own human biology.
Some of the questions we’re most interested in relate to the immune system. Sharks were the first group of animals to evolve an adaptive immune system, so they were the first to have antibodies in their blood to fight specific diseases. If you look at more primitive fish, they don’t have antibodies. We ourselves use antibodies when our bodies fight off disease. So if you want to understand where our immune system came from, looking at the genes of whale sharks is a great place to start.
Publishing the complete genome has taken about five years of continued sequencing efforts. What you’re trying to do is understand the genetic blueprint of the whole animal. Rather than looking at individual genes, you’re looking at all the DNA from the beginning to the end of every chromosome. In the case of whale sharks, the genome is about seven billion letters long—the size of multiple encyclopedias.
MNN: What does the behavioral observation research program at the aquarium entail?
Dr. Dove: Our behavioral observation research has been ongoing for almost six years now. We work with researchers from Georgia State University and a number of dedicated volunteers to understand the behavior of the whale sharks that are in our care. A lot of dedicated volunteers spend a lot of hours watching the whale sharks and writing down everything that they do.
MNN: What is the conservation status of the whale shark?
Dr. Dove: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the whale shark as vulnerable, that’s one step up from endangered. It’s also what we’d call “data deficient;” we simply don’t know how many whale sharks there are out there. There is no global estimate of the whale shark population.
We hope it doesn’t progress from vulnerable to endangered. If it does, one of the big problems they will face is they live a long time and take a long time to mature, so the population is not very resilient. If you knock them back, it’s going to take decades to recover.
MNN: What are the biggest challenges and the biggest rewards of your whale shark research?
Dr. Dove: It varies whether we’re in the field or in an aquarium setting. In terms of what we do in the field, the most challenging aspect is the remoteness of the oceans. If you want to see whale sharks, you have to go to far-flung locations like the Galapagos, the Azores, St. Helena, the Philippines and the Maldives. These are all difficult, remote locations to get to. It’s also the most gratifying part because you get to go to the Galapagos, the Azores, St. Helena, the Philippines and the Maldives. These are wonderful places to experience biology in some of the most untouched parts of the world.
In terms of the aquarium setting, the biggest challenges relate to the sheer size of the animals. We really don’t want to interfere with them. We try to do our research as part of the preventive medical care and the husbandry care that we provide. We don’t do manipulative research with the animals for its own sake.
MNN: What is the ultimate goal of the research?
Dr. Dove: What we’d really like to do is develop the whale shark into an ambassador for the oceans, in part because of its size and charisma. Whale sharks help people start to learn and understand what happens in the open ocean, an ecosystem that is really important to all of our lives. Half of the oxygen that we breathe comes from the ocean. The ocean is also currently absorbing about 90% of the trapped heat from the greenhouse effect. Climate change would be a whole lot worse if the ocean weren’t soaking up all that heat for us.
The ocean has also become the recipient for the end products of our modern consumer lifestyle—plastics, carbon dioxide, pollution and fertilizers. These all end up in the ocean, and they affect the lives of animals like the whale shark.
Interested in learning more? See the latest posts from Dr. Dove and whale shark research on the Georgia Aquarium Blog. And, check out Georgia Aquarium's webcam to see the whale sharks in Ocean Voyager.


Earlier this year, we reported how the colorblind were blind to Google Maps traffic because many of them could not distinguish between the various shades of colors.
It has come to my attention from a Googler named Dave via the Google Maps Help forums that Google has made changes to some of the colors to help the colorblind distinguish between the various traffic colors.
We recently (last couple of weeks) made a change that was significantly driven by requests in this forum, to make the red (second-slowest level) a bit darker so it could better be distinguished from the green.
Dave from Google added that Google Maps is also "looking into other solutions."
Want to see the difference?
This is pretty cool of Google to try to help the colorblind.


Each month, CIO.com pairs a job-seeking reader with a tech resume professional in order to help them tell the right story to advance their careers. Here is a look back at some recent makeovers to help you craft a resume that jumps off the page.
Your resume offers employers a first glimpse into who you are professionally. If you aren't putting your best foot forward during this crucial phase of the job search, then chances are your resume is getting ignored or trashed.
As a prospective job seeker, you need to take the time to craft a resume that shows how you can add value to an employer's team and that doesn't happen by accident. The good news is you can do it. All it takes is introspection, some research and a trusted friend or colleague to help review and edit your resume. Armed with these tools you can create a resume targeted to the role you want and the employers you want to work for. To you help you get started, we rounded up some of best articles from our Resume Makeover series.
Want to be a part of a Resume Makeover? Drop us a note with your name, contact information and the role you looking for next. Please include resume makeover in the subject line.
Allen Bocian's resume was packed with skills, experience and knowledge, but his overall message was getting lost. Here's how Regal Resumes' Caitlin Sampson helped him focus his story.
Twenty-five years of successful consulting gigs left Malcolm Greene with a list of accomplishments a mile long and a reputation as someone who could solve impossible problems. But when this veteran IT pro decided to make a move into the C-suite, he faced a fundamental problem: He didn't have a resume.
In this edition, resume expert Caitlin Sampson helps an IT management consultant expand on his extensive experience while narrowing his focus -- and the move lands him his dream job.
Don't count on your "plain vanilla" resume to get you noticed -- your resume needs a personal flavor to catch the eye of recruiters and hiring managers. Here, expert Donald Burns adds his secret sauce to one CIO's resume to help him land his next role.
In this edition of CIO.com's IT Resume Makeover, expert Stephen Van Vreede helps remove the cloak of invisibility surrounding one candidate's resume and allows his true value to emerge.
Regardless of where your IT career takes you, maintaining a focus on your ultimate professional goal is the key to an effective resume. In the latest installment of our makeover series, resume expert Caitlin Sampson helps a candidate find her focus and land a great IT job.
Over the past year, our resume experts and career consultants have helped numerous IT professionals put their best foot forward. Here are the top 11 tips from our IT Resume Makeover series.
In today’s multimedia world, some job seekers are creating elaborate video game resumes, or adding infographics, video audio or design-intensive documents to their traditional resumes. So, is your old-fashioned text-based document passé?


Action Star Donnie Yen (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) has joined the cast of Disney’s live-action “Mulan,” an individual with knowledge of the project tells TheWrap.
Yen will play Commander Tung in remake of 1998 Disney animated film.
Niki Caro is directing the film, which stars Chinese actress Liu Yifei in the title role. Jason Reed, Chris Bender and Jake Weiner are producing, and Bill Kong is executive producing.
Yen made his movie debut in the 1984 Hong Kong film “Drunken Tai Chi” and came to wider attention with his portrayal of Nap-lan Yun-seut in 1992’s “Once Upon a Time in China II.” His international breakthrough came playing the title character in 2008’s “Ip Man,” based on Wing Chun grandmaster — and Bruce Lee’s teacher — Yip Man. He reprised that role in 2010’s “Ip Man 2” and last year’s “Ip Man 3,” where Yen starred opposite boxing legend Mike Tyson – and accidentally broke the champ’s finger during a fight scene.
Yen is repped by CAA, Bullet Films, and Bloom Hergott.


A federal lawsuit and a bust by the feds are shining some light on the links between prison guards and gangs in Maryland. It’s very unsettling. Baltimore City Paper investigative reporter Van Smith takes an in depth look at the situation.
BALTIMORE — In 2008, 31-year-old prison inmate Tashma McFadden filed suit against 23-year-old correctional officer Antonia Allison.
On Oct. 9, that suit survived Allison’s attempt to have it dismissed. McFadden, who is seeking $800,000 in damages, claims Allison is a member of the Bloods gang and arranged for his stabbing and beating while in pre-trial detention in 2006 at the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC).
Court documents in the case reveal that since at least 2006, prison authorities have been aware that correctional officers in Baltimore’s prison facilities were suspected of being gang members or having gang ties.
The issue first emerged publicly in April, when 24 alleged members of the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang, including three correctional officers, were indicted in federal court (“Black-Booked,” Feature, Aug. 5 ). U.S. District Court Judge William Quarles is presiding over both the BGF criminal case and McFadden’s civil case.
Posted: 10/22/09 at 10:58 AM under News Story.


Supporters of the Taiwanese National Party and allied groups bang pots and pans bearing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) emblem outside the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday after they filed a lawsuit against the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel alleging forgery, perjury and abuse of power.
A group made up of 26 civic organizations yesterday sued the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP), accusing it of forging documents, subornation of perjury and abuse of judicial power.
Led by Taiwanese National Party (TNP) Chairman Huang Hua (黃華), the groups filed the lawsuit with the Taipei District Court against the SIP, which they said cut a deal with former -Chinatrust -Financial Holding Co (中信金控) vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) to testify against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in an attempt to imprison him.
Koo, who was involved in a scandal over Chinatrust’s bid for rival Mega Financial Holdings Co (兆豐金控) — known as the Red Fire Case (紅火案), after the name of the offshore company used to conduct the illegal transaction — returned to Taiwan in 2008 after evading an arrest warrant and hiding in Japan for two years.
The banker testified at the time that he had donated about NT$300 million (US$10.4 million) of his illegal profits to Chen, currently serving a 17-and-a-half-year term for corruption and money laundering, as a kickback.
Koo’s lawyers told the Taiwan High Court in May that Koo did not remit the money to Chen, adding that he testified out of fear of being detained upon his return to Taiwan.
Koo was released on bail after returning from Japan and was sentenced to nine years in prison in October last year.
The SIP, including former prosecutor Yueh Fang-ju (越方如) who flew to Japan to persuade Koo to return, is suspected of coercing Koo to commit perjury, Huang said.
Despite the SIP’s conclusion on July 4 that no prosecutor had abused his power in the Chen case, the civic groups decided to file the lawsuit in the interest of upholding social justice and human rights, he said.
The Lee and Chen cases were both acts of “political oppression,” Huang said.
Dozens of members of the groups chanted slogans calling for “judicial reform” and saying “Taiwanese are innocent” in front of the court.
They also urged the establishment of a jury system.
This story has been viewed 4958 times.


An elderly Maryland man with a long history of ties to neo-Nazi organizations walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday and opened fire, killing a security guard and sending visitors scrambling for cover, law enforcement officials said.
An FBI official said the shooter had been preliminarily identified as James W. von Brunn, 88, who was described by the Anti-Defamation League and other watchers of hate groups as a longtime white supremacist and anti-Semite.
"We've been tracking this guy since the late 1970s," said Heidi Beirich, research director of the Southern Poverty Law Center. "He has an extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and is extremely hard-core."
The gunman, who was shot by museum security officers, was in critical condition at nearby George Washington University Hospital, police said.
The security guard wounded in the attack, 39-year-old Stephen Tyrone Johns of Temple Hills, Md., an African American, died after being taken to the same trauma center.
Joseph Persichini Jr., head of the FBI's Washington Field Office, and other authorities said that they had no indications in advance that the prominent federal-government-affiliated museum might be targeted.
He said they would be intensively investigating the suspect's recent movements.
"The preliminary indication is that this incident involved a lone suspect," Persichini said.
Von Brunn is "certainly the guy we're looking at, but we have to do fingerprints and do other work. We have to make sure and be absolutely positive," said another FBI official, who was briefed on the shootings but spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Von Brunn was described as a close associate of neo-Nazi organizations who has railed against Jews and blacks for decades. He has also been linked to Holocaust-denial groups, which contend that the Nazis' systematic extermination of millions of Jews in Europe beginning in the late 1930s never happened.
He has had other brushes with the law, and in 1983 was sentenced to at least four years in prison for attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. Records show that he was arrested after entering the board headquarters in Washington in 1981 with a bag that contained a revolver, a hunting knife and a sawed-off shotgun.
Von Brunn told investigators that he wanted to hold board members hostage because he considered them responsible for high interest rates and other economic difficulties.
Hate-group watchers said that after his release from prison he went to work for a Southern California bookstore connected to the Institute for Historical Review, a top Holocaust-denial group in the U.S.
He dropped out of sight for part of the 1990s, but raised alarm bells in recent years with his creation of a virulently anti-Semitic website called Holy Western Empire.
In a lengthy autobiography on the site, Von Brunn described himself as an artist, author and former advertising executive who served as a PT boat captain in the Navy during World War II. He blames many of his life's misfortunes on encounters with minorities.
The site links to chapters from Von Brunn's raging anti-Semitic treatise "Kill the Best Gentiles," a self-published book in which he mourns the "browning of America" and claims to expose secret Jewish attempts to "destroy the white gene pool."
Von Brunn also penned a blog post on another website in which he said: "Hitler's worst mistake: He didn't gas the Jews."
A call to Von Brunn's house near Annapolis was not answered.
Pat Sadowski, 69, Von Brunn's ex-wife, said in an interview that the couple divorced 30 years ago because of his extremist beliefs.
"I am shocked by it. None of my family agreed with or were involved with his doings," said Sadowski, who was contacted by the FBI on Wednesday. "We detest it."
The shooting began about 12:50 p.m. Eastern time, when the gunman entered the museum through the main entrance with a rifle in plain view and immediately started shooting, according to Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier and other authorities.
The museum, which draws about 1.7 million visitors each year, typically has guards inside and outside and other security measures in place because of its focus on the genocide of Jews committed in World War II in Europe and other more recent atrocities. Visitors must pass through metal detectors, and their bags are screened.
Lanier said security guards immediately engaged the shooter, injuring him and sending tourists fleeing for cover in the crowded museum, which is just blocks from the White House and the Washington Monument.
Witnesses described a scene of quiet, then pandemonium once the shooting started. They said the shooter said nothing as he brandished the weapon.
Jessica Goley, 19, of St. Louis was on the first floor and heard five loud pops and security guards telling everyone to escape. "Guards said, 'Stay back!' Then everyone ran out of the back of the building," Goley said.
Charles Towater, 73, of Tampa, Fla., said that he and his wife, Susie, were outside, 50 feet from the entrance, when they heard six loud shots, and that after the shootings they saw an older man lying on his back, not moving, outside the doors.
Authorities in Washington were on edge about the shooting, which came on the heels of several other racially or religiously motivated shootings around the country, including the slaying of an abortion doctor in Kansas, the fatal shooting of three police officers in Pittsburgh, and the killing of one soldier and wounding of another in Little Rock, Ark.
Frances Townsend, President Bush's homeland security and counter-terrorism advisor from 2004 to 2008, said the key question of the investigation now was whether the alleged gunman was working alone.
"What the feds are doing now is scouring his phone records, Internet traffic and searching his residence to find out is there something more, some trigger they missed, or other individuals that he may be affiliated with," Townsend said.
"But if it does turn out that he is a lone wolf, those are the most difficult to pick up because there is no indication or warning that they will go from saying hateful things to doing hateful things."
There were no reports of precautionary closures of other Jewish museums on Wednesday, but museum officials across the country said they had beefed up security.
"We have tight security regularly," said Carolyn Bass, executive director of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. "Today we're making sure it's even tighter."
President Obama, who recently condemned Holocaust deniers in a speech, issued a statement saying he was "shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms."
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, called Wednesday's shooting a wake-up call.
"It just reminds us that even in America, perhaps the greatest democracy of the world, we have haters among us," he said. "It shows that there is a lot of work to be done in America to rid ourselves of bigotry and anti-Semitism."
Times staff writer Kate Linthicum in Los Angeles contributed to this report.


Now that he's a grown man (have you listened to 'Boyfriend?'), Justin Bieber is eyeing real estate. Rumor has it the Canadian superstar is interested in a Calabasas, Calif. mansion worth a cool $6 million.
TMZ reports that Bieber won't take just any deal on the house, even though it looks pretty awesome. He's been haggling with the seller, and if he doesn't get a price he likes, the site reports that the sale may well fall through.
The seller of the mansion set its asking price at just over $7 million, but Bieber's been trying to knock it down to somewhere in the $5.5 to $6 million range.
The house is sprawling and gorgeous, which would be reason enough for any rich young star to move in. However, Bieber's main attraction to the property is its privacy, as it is located over 20 miles outside of Hollywood. Its distance from Hollywood combined with its gates make it a lot less likely for some pesky paparazzi to take pictures of him coming outside to get the newspaper, doesn't it?
The site also reported that Biebs is eyeing some houses in the Hollywood Hills, as well -- but not the bachelor pad belonging to Ashton Kutcher!
UPDATE: TMZ reports that Bieber is thisclose to going into escrow, but is miffed that so many people know about the house -- which includes a wine cellar, sauna, spa and private movie theater! Nice.


House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) addresses the California Republican Party's Fall 2017 convention in Anaheim on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017.
When Steve Bannon took his self-described "civil war" against the political establishment to the California Republican Party convention Friday night, he was met with raucous cheers.
"The Republican establishment is finally getting the joke: They’re gonna have to step it up," Bannon told the crowd of several hundred party activists.
The Breitbart executive chairman and former top strategist for President Trump slammed former President George W. Bush. He compared California’s new “sanctuary state” law to South Carolina refusing to enforce federal tariffs before the confederacy seceded. And he gave a pep talk to Republicans in a state with zero statewide office holders, no power in the Legislature, and just 26 percent of registered voters.
The California Republican Party is lost in an identity crisis. The divide pits Bannon's nationalistic wing against the party's business-friendly establishment. That split was on display at the state GOP’s convention this weekend, and Bannon’s message resonated with many attendees.
"We are in a war right now with the establishment," said Judi Neal of San Dimas, who's president of a suburban Los Angeles County Republican club.
But for other Republicans, Bannon inspires deep unease – especially in a state Trump lost last year by 4 million votes.
Two hours east, away from the fanfare, Chad Mayes has just finished up lunch in his hometown, the small desert community of Yucca Valley.
Mayes used to be a regular at state party conventions. But he resigned as Assembly Republican Leader earlier this year amid criticism for negotiating a cap-and-trade deal with Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.
Mayes was planning to skip the convention even before Steve Bannon was booked. But he said he was shocked, and disappointed, that the California Republican Party chose to invite him.
And if Bannon is waging “civil war” upon the establishment, some Republicans are fighting back. Sacramento-based GOP strategist Mike Madrid flew down to the convention just to speak out against Bannon.
"As Reagan said, it’s a time for choosing," Madrid said. "So that’s why I’m here, that’s why I’m standing up, and that’s why I’m being vocal about this problem inflicting the party."
Then there are the Republicans who feel neither Bannon’s economic nationalism nor Mayes’s deal-cutting with Democrats offers the strongest path forward for the state GOP.
While more than a dozen people at the convention expressed those feelings privately to Capital Public Radio – none would say so on the record.
There are no prominent Republicans challenging Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein’s re-election bid next year. And of the two Republicans running for governor, neither businessman John Cox nor Assemblyman Travis Allen has gained much traction yet.
That leaves the California Republican Party still searching for a standard-bearer – a year before the 2018 midterms.


One of the principle maintainers of the Linux kernel, Greg Kroah-Hartman, has joined the Linux Foundation as a fellow, the same position held by Linux creator Linus Torvalds, the foundation announced.
Kroah-Hartman previously worked at Suse Linux, also as a fellow.
Kroah-Hartman is one of the chief developers working on the Linux kernel and handles a staggeringly large set of duties in maintaining the software. According to the Linux Foundation's most recent survey of Linux development, Kroah-Hartman contributed over 1,500 changes to the kernel, or about 0.8 percent of all changes made, between versions 2.6.12 and 2.6.35 of the kernel. He was the 10th most prolific contributor in that time period. Kroah-Hartman also helped compile the survey.
His speciality has been maintaining the Linux stable kernel branch, shepherding bug fixes and updates into versions of Linux already in production use. He also works on device drivers. He created and now maintains the Linux Driver Project, a collective of developers who maintain the many drivers needed for the OS kernel. He also maintains a number of important Linux subsystems including USB, tty (the basic Unix process that directs system output) and the sysfs virtual file system for holding device information in memory.
As a Linux Foundation Fellow, he will continue to execute these duties as well work with Linux Foundation members, participate in work groups and various initiatives to advance Linux.
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit organization devoted to further developing and maintaining the open-source Linux kernel. It is funded by companies that use Linux in their own products and services, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Novell and Oracle.
Other Linux Foundation fellows include Till Kamppeter, Janina Sajka and Richard Purdie. Previous fellows include Steve Hemminger Andrew Morton, Andrew Tridgell and Ted Ts'o.


A huge load of ice, the drug of choice for idiots, was headed to Australia, but got caught in a classic cop story tale . An outback cop stopped a car, found ice making stuff, police investigated, notified the US authorities, and hey presto, a mega-bust.
The father of an eight-year-old girl in Hercules, Calif., was shocked to find a small bag of methamphetamine in her Halloween candy. He took it to police who confirmed the contents and are now looking for whoever gave it to her.
Berlin	- German Member of Parliament (MP), Michael Hartmann, has admitted to using crystal meth. The police were notified by a drug dealer.
An Oregon couple, reportedly with little cash, gave their waitress a tip that consisted of crystal meth. The couple tried to pay with a gift card, but when they reportedly had little money, they gave their server an envelope with the drugs.
Albuquerque	- It began in 2008 with a pilot that drew 1.4 million viewers to AMC. "The Breaking Bad" series starred Bryan Cranston as Walter White, a 50 year old high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Brooklyn	- A 25-year-old Brooklyn man is suing the New York Police Department (NYPD) for unspecified monetary damages after being confined for suspected crystal meth possession. The "meth" turned out to be ordinary Jolly Ranchers.
Athens	- A new and very cheap drug is killing Greek youth who no longer can see a future for themselves. Sisa is a form of crystal meth being mixed with filler ingredients such as battery acid and engine oil. It makes users violent and kills within six months.
Chelsea	- Police arrested a 62-year-old Massachusetts man after thousands of dollars worth of crystal meth was found inside of a Valentine's Day teddy bear package.
Tehran	- Iranian law enforcement narcotics officials with help from a newly passed drug law, have turned up the heat on crystal meth drug traffickers.
When you think of Hawaii, you likely think of swaying palms and bodies in hula skirts. All of that's true, but there's more swaying than that. Folks actually sway enough from drugs to stagger, so hold on to your possessions when you visit.
A mother has been arrested after her 2-month-old baby died on New Years. Investigators found the baby had methamphetamine in her body.
Rosie O'Donnell after seeing her fellow celebrities transform because of fame, she thinks they act like crystal meth users.
Yards that look like the above one easily are dead give-aways for police to suspect meth usage or drug dealings, with children in the home.
Meth users often give their children a small amount of meth they have or have made to keep them quiet.
This is a typical kitchen of a druggie home, with drug-making paraphernalia mixed with children's food and drinks.
The condition of this living room accompanies the condition of the kitchen, bedrooms and the outside yard, all signs pointing to drug usage and little children in the home. Easy for police to spot when they are investigating the home or searching for someone who has meth to give as Hallowwen candy.


GRAPEVINE, Texas — A stronger economy was reason to celebrate at the 76th annual convention of the Truckload Carriers Association, although industry officials cautioned that the driver shortage and concern over the nation’s lack of highway funding could curb trucking’s ability to grow and meet shippers’ demands.
Canada could experience a shortage of 25,000 to 33,000 for-hire truck drivers by 2020, disrupting not only the trucking industry but the entire Canadian economy, according to a new study released by Conference Board of Canada.
American Trucking Associations released an analysis of the truck driver shortage, concluding that while the shortage is acute and limited to the truckload sector, long-term trends could cause it to explode in the next decade.


The channel made its way to the second position.
MUMBAI: When all the private news broadcasters are contesting for the pole position in English news genre, pubcaster DD India has made a surprise entry in the third week of BARC India rating at second position. Zee News and News18 India saw some movement in their position in both Hindi News (U+R) and urban market.
With the entry of DD India, all players, except Republic TV that maintained its top spot, moved down a slot which resulted in NDTV 24x7's exit from the top 5 list.
The English business news genre saw no changes as always.
Zee News dropped two slots to the fourth position compared to last week. News18 India and ABP News climbed a slot to second and third positions respectively.
The Hindi news (rural) genre saw no changes compared to previous week.
News18 India climbed two slots to the second position, whereas Zee News and India TV dropped to third and fourth spot respectively.


Hoping again to be a pioneer in promoting healthier eating, Santa Clara County supervisors on Tuesday approved the nation’s first ordinance that would prevent restaurants from using toys to lure kids to meals high in fat, sugar and calories.
The law prohibits restaurants in unincorporated parts of the county from giving away goodies unless the meals meet certain nutritional guidelines. More and more in recent years, fast-food critics say restaurants have encouraged families to make unhealthy choices by offering Iron Man Cyclone Spinning Robot Drones and Barbie Mermaid dolls with their kids’ meals.
Though the crackdown will affect no more than a handful of restaurants, county supervisors hope their vote will create a ripple effect in cities, other counties and the state — similar to how Santa Clara County helped to lead the way on forcing fast-food chains to post calorie counts on menus. They also hoped this latest push would prod the restaurant industry to take notice.
Judging from Tuesday’s standing-room-only crowd in the county board chamber and the ensuing national news reports on the vote, they succeeded.
California Restaurant Association spokesman Daniel Conway said his 22,000-member group was against the ordinance — and so were many county residents who think government is going too far.
Conway said a poll by his organization showed that 80 percent of county residents contacted said banning toys included in restaurant meal promotions is not an important issue for local government.
“The message they (supervisors) are sending is that parents are making the wrong choices and therefore they should no longer have the choice,” Conway said.
Under the ordinance, restaurants would not be able to offer toys for kids’ meals that exceed certain nutritional standards — more than 485 total calories, for instance, or more than 600 milligrams of sodium. That means, at Wendy’s, four chicken nuggets, mandarin oranges and low-fat milk would get a toy. But the crispy chicken sandwich, fries and chocolate milk would not.
The new law’s reach is limited, and applies to restaurants only in such areas as San Martin, Stanford University, San Jose’s Burbank and Cambrian neighborhoods and other small pockets that are not part of any city. Among a list of 151 eateries compiled by Yeager’s staff, up to a dozen could be affected.
While Supervisors Don Gage and George Shirakawa voted against the ordinance, the three supervisors who voted in favor — Yeager, Dave Cortese and Liz Kniss — hope their vote and its message will put the county at the forefront of the fight against childhood obesity.
It wouldn’t be the first time the board made headlines about the topic.
In 2008, the board voted unanimously to require menu-labeling for fast-food restaurants, putting the county out front along with San Francisco and New York City in setting a national standard for fighting obesity. California adopted its own version of the menu-labeling law in 2009.
During Tuesday’s meeting, a crowd of about 300 packed the board chamber and listened to county health officials cite statistics they say support the ordinance. Although the county ranks as one of the healthiest in the nation, one in four seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders in the county are either overweight or obese, and one in three low-income children between the ages of 2 and 5 fall into the same two categories. Latinos are disproportionately affected by the epidemic.
If these trends persist, they said, the next generation will have a lower life expectancy.
But when Amalia Chamorro, speaking on behalf of the state restaurant association, turned to ask how many of the audience — many of them Latino and several of them who work in the fast-food industry — would oppose the ordinance, the majority rose their hands.
Among about two dozen public speakers who addressed the board were local fast food franchise owners who said their menus already include healthy alternatives.
Furniture installer Stephen Hazel told the board that the ordinance was meaningless because families could just as easily patronize restaurants in neighboring cities that offer toys with meals. And next on their list of banned foods, he suggested, could be pizza and Taco Bell.
Parents spoke as well, some in favor of the ban, some against.
Tracy Nashner, a San Jose mother of two, told the board she opposed the ban because she didn’t believe there is a link between the toys and the obesity problem. “We don’t go for the toy,” she said, but for the food.
Saratoga Mayor Kathleen King, a parent of five children, one of whom is a special-needs child, said the toys influence her children’s meal choices. But she agreed with the ban and thanked the county for taking the lead in the debate. “I’m happy to see the county I live in taking a very proactive role,” said King.
The board did leave an opening for some negotiation with the industry after Cortese suggested that the board add a 90-day grace period for the restaurant industry to come up with alternatives that would meet the board’s standard.
The ordinance will return to the board May 11 for a final vote.
If the board’s version of the ban ultimately is adopted, Yeager said the county public health department will enforce the law with a $250 fine for the first violation, $500 for the second and up to $1,000 after that.
Contact Tracy Seipel at 408-275-0140.


Recently, several trial balloons have been floated by Leicester selectmen in reference to a proposed exit/entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike via Route 56 in North Oxford. While many residents of the surrounding towns may benefit from increased access to a major thoroughfare, it will create irreparable harm to Leicester and many of its residents.
The Worcester Regional Airport and the city have been looking for many years for an access road to get to the almost-forgotten airport. The proximity of Leicester compared to the loosely proposed exit/entrance and the very needy airport spells a traffic nightmare for the residents of Pleasant, Stafford, Auburn and Henshaw streets. Undoubtedly, Leicester will become a speed bump between the Massachusetts Turnpike and the airport.
As opposed to Mr. Brennan reaching out for opinions in the surrounding towns, I would strongly suggest that the selectmen hold an informational session with the residents of Leicester to get their reaction to this less than well-thought-out idea.
Many of us, including myself, believe we need more business in town to balance the tax revenues.
Yet this is not the answer.


(Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s pick to lead bank supervision at the Federal Reserve benefited from the government bailing out or rescuing two banks during the 2008 financial crisis, but that may not prevent his confirmation by a U.S. Senate controlled by a business-friendly Republican party, policy analysts told Reuters in recent days.
Randal Quarles, a former Wall Street lawyer and U.S. Treasury official who now runs an investment firm, was part of a team that invested in troubled or failed banks while he was an executive at private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP (CG.O). Those investments earned hundreds of millions of dollars for Carlyle, profits that would not have been possible without government support.
A spokesman for Quarles did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Carlyle declined to comment.
Democrats including Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown have said they intend to scrutinize Quarles’ ties to Wall Street during his confirmation hearing. Senator Elizabeth Warren described him as “straight off the Wall Street assembly line” in announcing her opposition in a statement.
But both the White House and Congress are controlled by Republicans, who have the ability to approve Trump’s nominees with a simple majority after Senate rules were changed in 2013. Under previous rules, the party in power would have needed at least 60 votes.
Quarles is viewed by many policy analysts as a business-friendly pick who benefits from having experience in the federal government and his business ties are unlikely to be viewed by senior senators his Wall Street ties as a handicap.
“Profiting in the markets isn’t a scarlet letter in this Congress,” said Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at Compass Point Trading & Research LLC, in Washington.
Before launching The Cynosure Group in 2014, Quarles was a partner and managing director at Carlyle.
While there, he played a key role in making a $75 million investment in Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc (BPFH.O), and was also part of a group that decided to jointly acquire failed lender BankUnited Inc (BKU.N) from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), alongside private equity peers Blackstone Group LP (BX.N), Centerbridge Partners LP and WL Ross & Co, as well as banker John Kanas.
Months after Carlyle’s equity infusion, Boston Private received a $150 million bailout from the Treasury Department, which it later repaid. Those taxpayer funds helped the firm weather the financial crisis, and allowed Carlyle to sell off its stake over time for a total of $150 million, effectively doubling its money, according to a Reuters review of share sales the firm disclosed in regulatory filings.
The FDIC had absorbed BankUnited’s losses at an estimated cost of $4.9 billion before selling healthier assets to the private equity consortium for $945 million. BankUnited later went public, with Carlyle selling shares worth around $428 million in portions through 2014, according to Reuters’ analysis of its disclosures.
The tallies do not account for dividends or other undisclosed costs. Carlyle would not provide precise numbers for returns on those investments.
Involvement with taxpayer bailouts helped sink the earlier nomination of General Electric Co (GE.N) executive David Nason for the Federal Reserve supervisory position. Nason withdrew from vetting after Republicans criticized him for having structured the bailout program inside the Treasury Department during the Bush administration.
But Wilbur Ross, whose WL Ross & Co was part of the consortium that invested in BankUnited alongside Carlyle, successfully became U.S. Commerce Secretary.
Quarles’ history on Wall Street may be a talking point during his confirmation hearings, but it is unlikely to bring down his nomination, lobbyists and financial regulatory lawyers said.
“At the end of the day, it’s really a ‘nothingburger,’” said Bob Kurucza, a partner in Goodwin Procter’s financial industry and investment management practice.


In a story headlined Cops under microscope in the Sunday Guardian of April 24, your reporter stated that one Prof Mastrofski of George Mason University is paid $5.7 million for a 12-month period, and that one of his recommendations is for policemen to undergo a survey next month on matters of police integrity, etc.
All that may be all right, but when your reporter stated that sources said the survey was the first of its kind in T&T, we, quite reluctantly, feel obliged to clarify this and a few related matters for the benefit of the public.
We feel compelledafter in-house consultationto break our discreet silence in this particular instance.
The director of the UWI Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice in November-December 2001 was invited to conduct a rather comprehensive sample survey of all ranks of the Police Service with the support of then Police Commissioner Hilton Guy, the Minister of National Security and the Office of the Prime Minister.
Designed as an empirical basis for improving police integrity, discipline and work performance, this 2001 survey examined officers views on the strengths and weaknesses of their police organisation, the viability of community policing, job satisfaction, crime management, and a set of core policing issues, including, of course, police integrity and discipline.
The report titled A Human Resource Survey of Policing and Organisational Readiness in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service was formally presented to Commissioner Hilton Guy in the presence of his executive officers on August 13, 2002.
The results and 14 recommendations were accepted as a means of following up on a number of policing, human resource and organisational issues. Implementation lapsed. Apparently, nothing was followed up. Maybe the Prime Minister and his two crime advisers are unaware of all this.
It is, therefore, a symptom of what is happening in the Police Service when in the same story your reporter quoted a member of the police executive who spoke as if he or she never knew about this 2001 survey or the 240-page report submitted to the Police Commissioner and other officials in 2002.
It would appear that certain senior policemen have been instructed to follow these George Mason consultants around, but when it comes to over-extended public relations, these policemen should know where the line is.
Why is the source of such information so anonymous? Is it public relations officer of the Police Service, Ann Mari Grant?
Who is the member of the police executive? Is it ACP Winston Cooper?
If the project is a professional, approved one, why the anonymous sources?
For the record and public benefit, here are some brief results from that police survey done three years ago. We present only a few relevant ones.
o 85 per cent said police work was very stressful.
It is a pity that these results and the attendant recommendations for the positive way forward were left high and dry.
Maybe Vidia Naipaul or Franz Fanon has the answer.
Successive governments have been clueless about the continuing escalation of crime in our nation. They would have you believe that it was imported from abroad. The fact is that we are relatively new at running a Government and/or governmental institutions, as we are less than 50 years old. So, we are still practising.
One must be cognisant that government officials are from among the masses and while much is expected of them, a society that is still mired in tribalism finds it difficult to emerge effectively and efficiently from the throes of chaotic social behaviour.
Our nation is not made up of entirely stupid individuals. We have a bit of everything from the good to the bad and indifferent. The problem here is that what is needed does not come from the top. Their examples foster a predatory and reactionary approach to matters that warrant human considerations. In fact, it is difficult to determine where the element of accountability begins or ends.
Crime escalates and nobody knows why. Our infrastructure rots and nobody knows why. The capital city can best be described as a rotting shell of its old self and nobody knows why. As the wealth from our natural resources increases, the decomposition of human life increases and nobody knows why. And the list continues.
It appears as though honest, capable and competent people continue to shy away from Government and as a result, we end up with less than the best. We have always been a corrupt society which predates Independence and that component is now leading us to ruin.
Statistically, I believe that those individuals who make up the overwhelming number of those murdered have been regarded as disposables. Had that not been the case, long-term solutions to the problems affecting them would have been enacted aeons ago.
We pay much attention to mas, fete, bacchanal and the cultural lime in which our raw genius emerges.
The legacy that we market abroad is that we are a happy, fun-loving people and I would argue that the same could be said of imprisoned animals residing in a zoo. It is time to get our priorities straight.
I find it distastefulnot to mention the fact that it is illegalthat organisations in T&T are not penalised for false advertising.
A food chain giant in England, which also has representation in T&T, was penalised for actually advertising their burger at a larger size in television commercials.
Nowhere was this stated in the ad.
Could the Consumer Affairs Division do something about this consumer abuse?
From time to time society reaches junctions and crossroads where decisions taken and corners turned influence the lives of generations to come.
The horrendous and senseless death of teenager Radha Pixie Lakhan serves as such an example.
Never must we as a people forget the tragic events surrounding her death.
Never must we allow another innocent child, (or person) to endure a similar fate.
We must act now to take such measures which will serve as reminders now and in the future.
May I start by suggesting the renaming of Spring Trace Siparia, (or another appropriate road), the Radha Pixie Lakhan Road, so that long after we are gone, the memory and story of this young girl will go on.
This is an urgent plea to the community at large to assist in doing something about the horrendous situation experienced at Costaatt.
I am a enrolled in the IT programme at Costaatt. Programming is a necessary class in this programme. There are several programming classes that one must take. Most of these classes are lectured by one individual.
The classes are disjointed, confusing, and riddled with contradictions by the lecturer himself.
Listening to this man is akin to reading about war and peace, repeatedly.
Powers that be within Costaatt admit that while some have complained, the complainants are too few to warrant any sort of action against this tenured professional, who supposedly went through a stringent hiring process before getting his present job.
They admit that essentially, nothing can be done, also due to the fact that this man teaches several classes, and apparently T&T is short on lecturers with the desired skills to replace him at this time.
Complaints against this lecturer have been rising for at least the past four semesters, with no action being taken other than to alienate the students who speak up; they are branded troublemakers, and students who are essentially not smart enough to keep up.
I beg anyone in the relevant offices to look into this matter. Speak with any student in the IT programme. This lecturer has no empathy, especially for those young students who travel from as far away as Point Fortin, Fyzabad, Siparia and Rio Claro to get to PoS by 8.30 am, to sit and learn nothing.
Surely, the quote of the week has got to be the recent grand charge made by T&Ts PM.
Trinidad has had major crime problems for two decades now, perhaps longer. Now all of a sudden hes prepared to lock everything down in order to solve this everlasting problem.
Im sure the upright citizens of T&T could and would put up with a few days of hardship to regain their once-lawful country.
And so, dear Mr PM, just give us a weeks notice, so we can stock our kitchens with enough food, and then you may indeed lock down the entire country, and lets weed out the bad Johns.
We can stand the grind in order to achieve real progress.
What a shame all of this is just bluster.
Even this writer, as a simple-minded Bajan resident, knows it when he sees it.
As Caricom citizens generally, we call your bluff, sir!
I wish to bring to the publics attention the matter of age discrimination that has been creeping up in our society.
Recently, I applied to a credit union for a loan to make a trip to attend my grandsons wedding.
I applied for $2,800 but was granted only $1,200. The reason given: I am too old.
At 78 years of age, I am just as old as Pope Benedict XVI. He was chosen over younger cardinals to administer to 1.1 billion faithfuls.
Where is the justification for denying my request?
God willing, I am going to outlive those who denied my loan request.


Godrej Appliances has announced its foray into the Rs 1,000-crore super premium home appliances market through the launch of the new brand NXW (Next World).
“We were operating in the mass premium segment till now. Through NXW, we are now tapping the 350-litre plus segment. The super premium segment is around Rs 1,000 crore currently and we are targeting a 15 per cent market share over the next three years,” said Kamal Nandi, business head and executive vice president, Godrej Appliances.
NXW will be launched across all the series of appliances in the future, including air conditioners, washing machines and microwave ovens, Nandi added. The super premium segment is currently dominated by multinational companies in India, including LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool. Godrej Appliances has a total installed capacity of three million units at its two plants — one at Mohali and another at Pune.
As far as the turnover for Godrej Appliances is concerned, Nandi said the company is eyeing a 30 per cent growth this fiscal. “Our turnover last year was Rs 2,750 crore. We are eyeing a 30 per cent turnover growth in FY16, which means that our turnover should be around Rs 3,500 crore by FY16-end,” Nandi said.


Uber has picked Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its next chief executive, as first reported by Recode and confirmed by Axios. A formal announcement could come as early as tomorrow.
Why it matters: Uber is the most highly-valued, pre-IPO tech startup in history — with dozens of venture capital firms (and their investors) having already baked in its success. It also has become one of Silicon Valley's most contentious corporate soap operas, while continuing to generate billions in revenue by having helped revolutionize global transportation.
Backstory: Coming into the weekend, there were two official finalists: Khosrowshahi and General Electric chairman Jeff Immelt. But Immelt got the sense by this morning that he didn't have enough support on the Uber board — despite (or perhaps because of) backing from former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick — and formally withdrew from consideration. That seemed to only leave Khosrowshahi, but multiple sources say that Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman reemerged as a serious contender, despite also having publicly bailed on the process late last month after her name leaked. In fact, Whitman was still in the mix as of early afternoon on Sunday.
Bio: Khosrowshahi has been CEO of Expedia since 2005, most of which time the travel site was part of IAC/InterActiveCorp (it spun out independently in 2005). Before that he served in other executive roles with IAC, and also spent time as an investment banker with Allen & Co. He currently sits on the boards of Fanatics and The New York Times Co.
Fun fact: Expedia was founded and initially led by Rich Barton, who once was a partner with Benchmark Capital — the VC firm that is Uber's largest outside shareholder, and the one suing Kalanick for fraud.
What's next? Uber is still missing a slew of senior positions, including chief financial officer, chief operating officer and global head of operations. It also needs to name an independent board chair, per an accepted recommendation of Eric Holder's recent report into sexual harassment and other negative aspects of Uber's corporate culture.
The story has been updated with the correct date Expedia was spun off.


In continuation of its strong performance over the prior few years, L’Oreal (OTCMKTS: LRLCY), the world’s biggest cosmetics company, continued its momentum in its annual 2018 earnings with a 7.1% rise in sales to 26.93 Billion euros. The company’s earnings were primarily driven by strong performance in the Active cosmetic & L’Oreal Luxe division, L’Oreal Luxe segments, and emerging new markets, particularly Asia-Pacific which grew +20.4%. All the top brands of the Luxe segment posted more than 10.6% growth and the Active Cosmetics Division posted 9.2% growth driven by the success of its La Roche-Posay and SkinCeuticals brands, the new impetus of Vichy, and the dynamism of CeraVe. The Consumer Products Division saw an outstanding performance in China. In the New Markets, especially the Asia Pacific Zone, China’s consumers’ aspirations for iconic brands remained strong.
E-commerce and Travel retail remained strong in 2018. With the acquisition of the Canadian company, ModiFace, the company’s digital acceleration has moved up a gear, which provided the most innovative technologies to enhance services and the beauty experience for all the brands. E-commerce sales have increased strongly and continue to rise rapidly, and now account for 11% of the total sales. Travel Retail, also was strong for EL as it broke the 2 billion euro barrier with an increase of 27.1%.
Driven by this strong performance, we expect L’Oreal to post strong growth in its full fiscal 2018 sales. Please refer to our dashboard analysis Takeaways From L’Oreal’s annual 2018 Earnings.
L’Oréal ‘Luxe’ and ‘Active Cosmetics’ Division continue to boost top line – Global growth of the prestige beauty segment is outpacing growth in the mass beauty segment. L’Oreal’s premium brands, as expected, earned the company higher profit margins. L’Oreal’s Luxe Segment delivered a strong 10.6% growth in 2018, driven by makeup and facial skin care sales in the Asia-Pacific region, especially China and Hong Kong, and by Travel Retail. L’Oréal Luxe has made a solid start to the year in Western Europe, particularly in Spain. The division is continuing to perform well in e-commerce.
L’Oreal’s Active Cosmetics segment achieved 9.2% sales growth with La Roche-Posay (launching Hyalu B5), Vichy, CeraVe, and Skinceuticals as the best selling brands. L’Oreal is one of the leading names in the active cosmetics market. In an effort to further grow this segment, L’Oreal’s newly acquired skincare brands, CeraVe, AcneFree, and Ambi have been performing well, too. L’Oreal’s leading market in the Asia Pacific Zone, driven by China, has now overtaken North America with sales exceeding 7 billion euros.
Accelerated growth in new markets of Asia and western Europe boost Sales – Sales from emerging markets which include Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle-East have been on a growing trend, constituting nearly 40% of the company’s total sales. Growth from Asia-Pacific topped with 20.4% y-o-y growth in 2018. In comparison, sales grew in single-digits from other geographies with a 0.2% in Eastern Europe and 0.2% from Africa/Middle-East.
Within Asia-Pacific, China has been a key driver with Chinese travelers being one of the highest spenders both in the domestic and international markets, making this market one of the focus areas for the company to boost its travel retail sales.
Outlook for fiscal 2019 – The company forecasts a confident outlook for the remaining fiscal 2018 with sales to continue to rise in 2019 reflecting continuing momentum from 2018. We believe that L’Oreal has the key advantages in terms of innovation, brand power, digital prowess, and the quality of its teams all over the world to continue to drive growth and hold on to its leading position in the Beauty market.


NINETEEN-year-old Natalie Bollinger was shot “execution style”, kneeling on the ground. The man in custody for killing her says she asked him to commit the gruesome crime.
JOSEPH Michael Lopez who was arrested on Friday for the shooting death of 19-year-old Colorado teenager Natalie Bollinger said he answered an ad she put on Craigslist for someone to kill her.
Denver 7 reports that Mr Lopez, 22, told police that shortly after Christmas he came across a bizarre ad while looking through the ‘Woman seeking men; section of Craigslist which was entitled ‘I want to put a hit on myself’.
He says after more than 100 texts he agreed to meet and kill her for a fee.
The affidavit states that he picked her up from her apartment on December 28 and that she said she wanted to be killed “on her knees ... executed from behind”.
Mr Lopez says Bollinger brought her own gun.
He says he tried to talk her out of it but she was determined and said she was having issues with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend, who reported her missing, had told officers his pistol was also gone from his house.
He then claims they both said a prayer, he got up, closed his eyes and shot the teen. He took off with Bollinger’s purse and the gun.
Bollinger’s autopsy shows she also had a high dose of heroin in her system.
Family and friends had told police that Bollinger had a history of suicidal thoughts but others said she seemed happy of late.
Legal experts told Denver 7 that even if Mr Lopez’s story checks out it is still murder. However, he might receive a shorter sentence if Bollinger did ask for assistance.
Police had initially suspected a man named Shawn Schwartz, 42, who Bollinger had accused on Facebook of stalking her.
Police have since dismissed Schwartz’s involvement.


Doncaster Lawn Tennis Club have netted the Sheffield & District LTA Ladies’ Division One title for the first time in more than 20 years, writes Steve Hossack.
The club has also made a flying start to their Yorkshire Ladies’ League campaign, winning all four of their opening games following promotion to the Premier Division.
“The club is really flourishing at the moment,” said joint club coach Liz Beaton.
“The title-winning team covers many age groups with the youngest being 14-year-old Elizabeth Morris and the oldest being in their fifties, but we have a great team spirit.
“We also introduced a second ladies team this year as there are so many ladies and junior girls who want to play team tennis.


LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—A group of young professional artists from New York City is out exploring the world and among the places they’ve been to are far-flung areas in the Philippines.
Their mission is to teach dance, music, theater and visual arts in the communities, specially to those without much access to the arts.
“Manila is a hub for the arts. It is very connected. But outside Manila, there are very few opportunities for students or for young people to become artists,” said Chelsea Ainsworth, a 26-year-old American dance teacher and performer for two New York dance companies.
Ainsworth has flown back and forth to the Philippines to give dance workshops to young children. She and five other former classmates at The Juilliard School, among them Filipinos Kendra Samson and Norbert de la Cruz III, started this program called Project Philippines in 2008.
Their first trip to the Philippines was in August 2008 in Dela Cruz’s hometown in Bobon, Northern Samar. They taught dance at San Isidro Elementary School for two weeks, before spending another two weeks teaching at the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA). Samson was a graduate of PHSA, a state-run art school atop Mt. Makiling in Los Baños.
The effort turned out so well they decided to return and teach in more schools in Samar, Laguna and Manila in June 2012. The program was also expanded to include music, theater and visual arts workshops.
Ainsworth recalled that one of the public schools in Catarman, Northern Samar, did not have arts on its curriculum. “(But) the teachers got so excited and touched they started developing an arts curriculum after we left,” she said.
A GIRL makes a face in an exercise during theater class.
To raise funds for their trips, the group would organize shows, perform at the Philippine embassy in New York or solicit help online. In 2013, they also raised funds for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in Samar.
13-year-old nonprofit organization in New York that also gives arts trainings in the United States, South Africa, India, Ecuador and Dominican Republic.
They were a team of eight volunteers that for five weeks held a series of workshops at Catarman National High School, PHSA, University of the Philippines Los Baños and Cultural Center of the Philippines Dance School.
“We were teaching them (students) not just dance but the fundamental building tools for social and emotional learning. We work on things like trust and communication,” Ainsworth said.
The workshops include games like uttering nonsensical phrases, such as “dum dum data,” but performing them with movements that actually trains body coordination, rhythm and ability to focus.
Another is a camp game called the “funky chicken,” where everyone acts or strikes a pose. This exercise enhances spontaneity and improvisation.
At the end of each day, the students are asked to write down their experiences on a journal. The weeks-long workshop also culminates with recitals, not only to assess the students’ performance but to encourage camaraderie and build self confidence.
“Even if a child goes through five years of artistic training, that doesn’t mean he will become a professional artist,” said Blake Wales, a 22-year-old American theater actor.
“But he would have the capacity to think like an artist and use those life skills—being able to look somebody in the eyes when communicating and being able to adapt in his community. To me, arts is the only subject that teaches these life skills,” he said.
The team believes Filipinos have a natural “knack for the arts” and a pool of potentials. The country, as they too observed, “is physically beautiful it is so easy to make an art here,” Ainsworth said.
Project Philippines plans more frequent visits to the Philippines in 2015. Another program they have is to develop a “pedagogy” with PHSA that would train high school students to replicate the art workshops in their own provinces.
“The next steps for the Philippines are to start connecting the provinces (to the field of the arts), start getting teachers to train so they can take it to their schools, or to train students to teach so that more people can experience that feeling of being onstage, the feeling of applause or the feeling of doing something the best that they can,” Ainsworth said.


ISTANBUL  Turkey holds the option of unilateral intervention in northern Iraq if Kurds declare independence and claim the oil wealth of disputed Kirkuk, considered the main spoils in the uncertain Iraqi equation.
Turkey’s sharp reaction challenges claims by Kurdish leaders that Kirkuk is a Kurdish city destined to be the capital of an autonomous Kurdish entity in a federated Iraq  or a fully independent one.
"Kirkuk is the Jerusalem of Kurdistan," Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani has publicly announced. Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) calls Kirkuk the heart of Kurdistan. "We are ready to fight and sacrifice our soul to preserve its identity," he said.
Turkey officially alleges "manipulations and irregularities" in the Jan. 30 elections where a unified Kurdish ticket claimed 59 percent of the vote in Kirkuk, with Turkomens gaining only 18 percent. It cites reports that Kurds from other areas were brought to Kirkuk to boost their votes against Turkomens and Arabs. Kurds say that their people driven out of Kirkuk in Saddam Hussein’s "Arabization" drive are coming back.
"Some people are looking the other way while mass migration takes place," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan said recently, referring to the United States. "This is going to create major difficulties in the future. Everyone must know that Turkey…won’t allow this geography to be delivered to chaos that will last for many years."
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said that "in case of fighting in Kirkuk, Turkey cannot remain a spectator." Kurdish leaders have warned Turkey that any intervention would lead to disaster.
Modern Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, ruled both Kirkuk and Mosul, another oil-rich city in the north, until they were ceded to Britain in the 1920s. Although it had legal right to a share of the oil wealth, Turkey gave it up for a lump sum in a decision Turks still regret.
How credible is the Turkish threat of military intervention in northern Iraq? Can it risk confrontation with the United States, still smarting over Turkey’s refusal to open a "northern front" against Saddam? On the other hand, the United States enjoys cordial relations with Kurds who backed it against Saddam.
Early sabre-rattling is soothing a Turkish populace concerned that their country is a mere spectator to vital developments in bordering Iraq. But a military strike is "highly unlikely," says Swedish expert Henrik Liljegren.
There are significant "restraining factors," Liljegren, former diplomat and now senior associate at the Istanbul Policy Center told IPS. He cited them as damage to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, international law, public opinion (particularly in Muslim countries) and above all the United States.
Turkey appears to be having as much trouble with the United States as with Kurds in northern Iraq. Its traditional "strategic partnership," while still active on paper, suffered a serious blow when the Turkish parliament voted against Turkey joining the war on Saddam, or allowing U.S. troops to cross its territory.
Recent opinion polls indicate that 60 percent of Turks are anti-American. Turks are particularly irked by the U.S. refusal to move against about 5,000 Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas holed up in mountains in northern Iraq bordering Turkey, despite declaring the PKK a terrorist organization.
When U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she sees no difference between Kurdish PKK guerrillas and al-Qaeda, Turkish columnist Semih Idiz wrote: "If that is the case, why aren’t you going after the PKK like you are going after al-Qaeda?"
The United States has said the PKK will be dealt with later, and that the current priority is developments in Iraq.
But Liljegren believes that should PKK guerrillas slip back into Turkey, rekindling fears of civil strife that took 30,000 lives in the 1980s and 1990s, Turkey can strike at them in Iraq in "self-defense" or "hot pursuit.” Turkey has maintained a few thousand troops inside northern Iraq for years.
The Turkish foreign ministry says its approach to Iraq has "a strategic perspective" and is not confined to PKK guerrillas, Turkomens or Kirkuk. But some analysts say the Turkish establishment, both military and political, suffers from a "Kurdish phobia" that drives it to seek military solutions.
Turkish analyst Dogu Ergil says Turkey should encourage Turkomen-Kurdish reconciliation rather than "driving a wedge between them."
Iraqi Kurds say publicly they do not harbor anti-Turkish designs, while never hiding the fact that full independence remains their ultimate ideal. In an unofficial ballot accompanying the Jan. 30 elections, some 95 percent of Iraqi Kurdish voters are reported to have favored independence. "When the right time comes, it will be a reality," Barzani has said.
Whatever form its takes, a strong Kurdish entity in landlocked northern Iraq would need friendly relations with Turkey, observers say.
"Despite mutual distrust, ours and the future of Kurds are interlinked," says Mehmet Ali Birand, a leading Turkish commentator on Kurdish affairs. "Kurds should know that without Turkey they will never ensure their security. On the other hand, Turkey should realize that without the Kurds, Turkey cannot influence what’s happening in Iraq. It might be a historic joke, but Turks and Kurds need each other."
Turkey: Into the Iraq Quagmire?


Best places to live: Waverley is home to Roman gladiators, schoolboy wizards and epic battles – but only on film.
Although only around 35 miles from the centre of London, the Surrey town of Godalming has made a virtue of staying out of the limelight.
Its heavily wooded hills and sprawling heathland areas are well known to walkers – as well as Hollywood film location scouts – and the surrounding town and villages have become a quiet refuge for commuters returning from the capital each evening.
But now the area’s low profile is under threat after it was identified as, in effect, the best place to live in Great Britain.
According to The Halifax, people living in the borough of Waverley, which is centred around Godalming, enjoy the best overall quality of life in the country.
It topped a list of areas because of its combination of relative prosperity, employment, good health, house prices and even weather.
Average life expectancy for a man in Waverley is almost 81 years, well above the national average and 97 per cent of people in the area were deemed to be in “good health”.
The average weekly wage is £888 – 46 per cent above the national average. Yet house prices are deemed to be affordable by London standard – averaging £325,000 for a property.
Councillor Tony Gordon-Smith, the mayor of Waverley, said: “I’m not at all surprised. “The quality of the people here is second to none: people are happy, help one another – and we do also have some excellent pubs.
Uttlesford in Essex, East Hertfordshire, Chilterns in Buckinghamshire and Maldon in Essex all made it into the top five in the list which is dominated by the south and east of England.
Selby, North Yorks, ranked 34th is the highest placed northern town in Halifax’s top 50 “Rural Quality of Life” list, which excludes larger towns.
The nearby Bourne Wood has become a favoured film location used as the backdrop for scenes in Gladiator, various instalments of the Harry Potter series and more recently War Horse.
Although home to Charterhouse, the public school, Godalming itself has kept a low profile, even by the standards of its near neighbour Guildford.
Residents still speak with pride of the electric street lighting installed in 1881, the first in the world, and the fact that Tsar Peter the Great once stayed the night in the King’s Arms Inn.
Located midway on London-Portsmouth highway, Godalming was once major staging post, especially for sailors travelling from the Admiralty to the fleet.
“The area lost its way a bit when the railway went straight through,” admits Cllr Gordon-Smith.
One regular visitor was Gen Charles Lennox, the 2nd Duke of Richmond, who according to Cllr Gordon-Smith used Church House in Godalming for his “cavorting” and died there in 1750.
died in Church House Godalming in 1750 while “cavorting”.
“The ghost that stalks the house still has a grin on his face,” he said.
He added that the area’s new status could men it will no longer be the “best kept secret” in the South East.
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: “Waverley has performed consistently strongly across a wide range of indicators for a number of years, and the latest survey found residents here now have the best quality of life in rural Britain.


Lake Hefner shooting aka Oklahoma City restaurant shooting. Pictured the suspect who was gunned down by a Good Samaritan.
Lake Hefner shooting: A good Samaritan is hailed a hero during Oklahoma City restaurant shooting which saw a suspect shoot and strike customers before being shot dead by an armed civilian.
An armed citizen has been hailed a Good Samaritan hero after shooting dead a suspected mass shooter at an Oklahoma City restaurant as the man sought to flee after shooting at a woman and her 12 year old daughter.
The suspect who has yet to publicly identified began shooting at random inside Louie’s Bar and Grill just off Lake Hefner about 6.30pm. Local media reported the assailant striking the mother and child as they were walking inside for the woman’s eldest daughter’s 14th birthday celebrations.
The mother was shot in the arm, and the girl was shot in her tailbone, but the bullet traveled to her stomach, KOCO reported.
Captain Bo Matthews told reporters the shooter, a white male who walked in and began randomly shooting, was the only person killed. He described the man’s death as ‘a blessing’.
Told Matthews, ‘It’s a blessing this was stopped [when it was]. Who knew when this guy was going to stop shooting people’.
The shooter had shot at least two people before he was taken down with a handgun – both who are in surgery for their injuries but are expected to survive.
Pictured, Lake Hefner shooting victims, Natalie Will (left0 was grazed on the arm, while her 12-year-old daughter, Niah Giles (right), was struck in the tailbone.
Lake Hefner shooting victims expected to survive.
A report via kfor cited the father/grandfather of the victims, Dennis Will, saying his daughter, Natalie Will, was grazed on the arm. The relative also told of his 12-year-old granddaughter, Niah Giles, being shot near the tailbone and undergoing surgery. Both mother and daughter were expected to survive.
Also injured was an adult male escaping the scene after falling and breaking his arm.
A fourth victim was identified about two hours after the shooting. That individual suffered a minor injury. It is not known if he was shot.
The un-named civilian who killed the suspected mass shooter was widely praised on social media as being a hero, particularly those who oppose limits on second amendment rights, pointing to the civilian’s actions as proof gun control doesn’t work.
‘A “good guy with a gun” prevented a potential mass shooting near Lake Hefner,’ one man wrote.
Then again, perhaps one could also argue limiting gun ownership in the first place would be a step in the right direction limiting much gun violence which remains a pervasive and ongoing daily routine in America.
Following the shooting, Matthews told of police having ‘100 witnesses’ and would be looking through CCTV footage in trying to work out what has happened.
Images taken from a KOCO helicopter showed police and dogs closely inspecting one particular car.
The shooter, who was reportedly wearing ear protection and eye glasses, has not been identified.
At this stage, police believe the shooting was random, and he had no link to the restaurant or anyone inside.
If you didn’t hear, a shooting in an Oklahoma restaurant was just stopped by an armed citizen. Three were injured, but the only one that died was the suspect. You probably won’t hear @davidhogg111 and the gun control lobby tell you about this since it doesn’t fit their narrative.
it’s important to realize after the lake hefner shooting tonight that #gunreform DOES NOT mean keeping the person that stopped the shooter (through concealed carry) from having a gun, it means making it a lot harder for THE SHOOTER to get a gun in the first place!


Alma Tauli and Kianna Juan combined for three hits as host Philippines crushed Malaysia, 11-1, even as defending champion Chinese Taipei notched its third straight shutout win with a 12-0 rout of Thailand in the 2018 Asian Junior Women’s Softball Championship at the Clark International Sports Complex in Pampanga.
Tauli pitched a no-hit, two strikeouts in two innings before turning the job to Juan, who closed out with one run and one hit in a two-inning relief job as the Blu Girls reasserted their supremacy over the Malaysians in scorching heat in a game reduced to four innings due to the 10-run rule.
“I have so much faith in our young players, and I know that they have the skills and the determination to deliver. Same goes to the other teams. I’ve seen how hard they work on the field to notch wins for their respective countries in spite of the searing heat here in Clark,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (ASAPHIL).
Japan, champion in 1997, 2004, and 2009, posted its third consecutive win with a 10-3 victory over China while Korea dealt India its second straight defeat via a 10-0 rout.


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Robert W. Williams, the persistent patriarch of the Tuskegee Airmen, who spent 43 years bringing the significance of that all-black flight squadron to the public's attention, has died.
Williams was 75 when he died Monday at his Pasadena home, his daughter, Robin Wood, said Wednesday.
Williams, a decorated pilot with the Alabama-based group in World War II, labored for more than four decades trying to persuade film and TV producers to record his story of the small group of black men who served their country despite entrenched racial discrimination.
Finally, in 1995, HBO produced a film that Times television critic Howard Rosenberg called "the latest in a string of historical pearls."
It starred Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Andre Braugher. Fishburne played Hannibal Lee, a character loosely based on Williams.
It earned three Emmy Awards, a Peabody, a Cable Ace Award and two NAACP Image Awards.
The film detailed how the "Fighting 99th"--the first squadron of black combat fighter pilots and the vanguard of nearly 1,000 black fliers--overcame racism for the right to serve their country, and emerged from the war wreathed with honor but with little public acclaim.
The Pentagon did not allow black men to serve as fliers until 1943, and only then because the Allies were suffering huge losses against Nazi Germany.
About 450 Tuskegee airmen--so named named because they trained in a segregated facility in Tuskegee, Ala.--fought over North Africa, Sicily and Europe. They destroyed 260 enemy planes, damaged 148 others and sank a Nazi destroyer. No U.S. bomber was shot down while flying under the protection of the fighter group.
Williams, a member of the 100th Squadron, part of the 332nd Fighter Group that also included the 99th Squadron, flew missions over Italy, Germany and Czechoslovakia, according to his friend and fellow fighter pilot, Oliver Goodall.
Williams received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Presidential Distinguished Unit Award.
Born in Ottumwa, Iowa, Williams was also an actor and president of True Image Productions. He was a regular on TV's "The Phil Silvers Show."
Before retiring in 1984, he also was a marketing and communications specialist with the Norton Simon Co. and Hunt-Wesson Foods.
Williams is survived by his wife of 45 years, Joan; three children; four grandchildren;and a brother, John.
Memorial services are scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday at Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church.
For the Record Los Angeles Times Friday September 12, 1997 Home Edition Metro Part B Page 3 Metro Desk 1 inches; 22 words Type of Material: Correction Williams obituary--The photo of Robert W. Williams, patriarch of the Tuskegee Airmen, that appeared in Thursday's editions was taken by D. Stevens/HBO.


Conflicting reports from different parts of the military caused confusion over what exactly happened at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Tuesday following a report of an active shooter.
The Department of Defense said Tuesday afternoon that there was no active shooter at Walter Reed and that reports of a shooter at the center were part of an exercise.
The US Navy said via Twitter that it had confirmed there was no active shooter.
“Was an ad hoc drill by tenant command,” the Navy tweeted.
However, the local military agency involved — Naval Support Activity Bethesda — contradicted that statement later Tuesday afternoon.
The confusion first started when the Montgomery County Police Department’s press office said it had received a call to assist on a report of an active shooter at Walter Reed.
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, had tweeted about the situation from inside the center.
A verified Facebook page for Naval Support Activity Bethesda provided updates of the incident as it unfolded.


Archives|Patents; An appeals court says a mathematical formula can be patented, if it is a moneymaker.
Patents; An appeals court says a mathematical formula can be patented, if it is a moneymaker.
IMAGINE that Albert Einstein were alive today and that he were just now formulating his theory of relativity. Could he get a patent on E=mc2 ?
Some patent experts contend Mr. Einstein just might be able to, thanks to a recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington.
The case in question -- State Street Bank and Trust Company v. Signature Financial Group -- had nothing to do with physics. Rather, at issue was a patent for a data-processing system for a so-called hub-and-spoke mutual fund partnership in which mutual funds pool their assets in an investment portfolio.
The appeals court's ruling has been long awaited by financial services companies, which have resisted the idea that innovative approaches in their industry should be patented. Indeed, Visa and Mastercard filed an amicus brief in the case saying that they were doing just fine without patents, thank you.
But to no avail. The appeals court ruled on July 23 in favor of Signature Financial, upholding its patent.
Translation: If your mathematical formula has a practical end, you can probably patent it.
''I believe this is going to cause a surge in patents relating to financial instruments,'' said Peter A. Roberts, chief executive of College Savings Bank of Princeton, N.J., who in 1988 received a pioneering patent for a computerized prepaid tuition program.
Some patent experts suggested that such an interpretation might have allowed Michael R. Milken, for example, to have patented the idea of junk bonds back in the 1980's.
But the ruling may have even wider implications.
E. Robert Yoches, a partner with the law firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner in Washington, said he thought the appeals court had made the right decision in the case. But he said the court had gone further than expected in its ruling.
The ruling seems to bolster software patenting guidelines issued three years ago by the Patent and Trademark Office, which expanded the definition of what kinds of software are patentable.
The last time the Supreme Court ruled in this area was in 1981, in the case of Diamond v. Diehr. Then the court held that three categories of matter are unpatentable: laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas.
Since then, the appeals court, which is the highest patent court in the land short of the Supreme Court, has deviated from this interpretation in a series of rulings.
''The direction the Federal Circuit has been moving is to say you can patent anything as long as it's economically valuable,'' said Richard H. Stern, who teaches computer patent law at George Washington University.
Stanley Amberg, a patent attorney in New York, said the appeals court had gone too far with the State Street ruling. ''The Federal Circuit has crossed over a critical line, and now holds eligible for patent protection any computer-implemented math equation in which the input are numbers and the output are numbers,'' he said.
Despite the advent of cell phones and headsets and special electronic orders, most large buy and sell orders on the New York Stock Exchange still involve paper transactions.
The Papyrus Technology Corporation in New York has patented a system using handheld devices that allow floor brokers to receive and execute orders electronically.
The exchange has developed its own handheld electronic device, which it recently introduced and which is being used by a small number of brokers. Mr. Patterson declined to comment on whether he thought the exchange's devices infringed his patent.
Mr. Patterson, Desmond Sean O'Neill and Stephen Tyler Carroll received patent 5,774,877, which is assigned to Papyrus Technology.


The New York Public Service Commission has approved a large-scale solar project in New York City proposed by Con Edison that will supply clean energy to about 800 to 1,600 low-income customers in its first phase.
As part of Con Edison's "Shared Solar" pilot project, customers in Brooklyn, Queens, and Westchester County enrolled in Con Edison’s low-income bill assistance program who receive bills directly from the company are eligible for the first phase of the program.
The "Shared Solar" Project is in line with Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s visionary Clean Energy Standard adopted by the Public Service Commission last year. Con Edison says their shared-solar program is a milestone in Governor Cuomo's Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy to fight climate change and grow New York’s economy.
Con Edison plans to install 3MW of solar capacity in the first phase of the project, with the selected customers expected to begin getting renewable energy by 2018. According to the company, as much as 11MW of solar capacity will be installed over a period of five years, eventually serving up to 6,000 customers.
Companies will competitively bid on contracts to install the solar panels on company roofs and grounds. There is no cost to participating customers who will be saving as much as $60 a year on their electric bills. Con Edison estimates the cost of the first phase of the program at $10 million.
Con Ed crews work around the clock restoring power to lines that have been damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
The is another upside to the program, besides helping low-income customers on their energy bills. Utility companies raise public awareness while increasing clean energy literacy when they talk about clean energy opportunities with the public. Doing so leads to increased participation in energy efficiency programs that will lead to healthier and more environmentally safe neighborhoods.
Another pilot project in Buffalo, New York was started by National Grid. The company is installing rooftop solar panels on 170 low- and moderate-income homes, including some community organization's offices on Buffalo's East Side. They recently announced they had reached 500-kilowatts of generating capacity.


Today we're going to look at four photos of dads in God's Word — Job, Noah, Abraham, and Eli. And, as you can tell, if you know your Bible, we'll be studying three good guys and one bad guy. We're going to learn what a father of the Word looks like from a positive and a negative perspective. We're going to look at the positive attributes that God honored in the lives of Job, Noah, and Abraham. Then we'll look at what God rebuked in the life of Eli. We can really draw lessons from both their failures and successes.
So, what should we look for? Good habits that show up in the great dads of God's Word! The first great dad we will see is Job. From his life we need to grab and copy his habit of prayer. And, by the power of God's Spirit, start making it characteristic of your life!
The Book of Job is perhaps the oldest book in the world. It is also perhaps the clearest view into the spirit world, the spiritual side of parenting, and the cosmic proportion of conflicts we face as we parent and lead as dads.
What is the key truth about the good dad Job? JOB PRAYED.
"So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings [according to] the number of them all. For Job said, `It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' Thus Job did regularly" (Job 1:5, NKJV).
Can we learn something about how to parent our families from Job's life? Yes, some powerful habits he had. There are five distinct elements of Job's parenting habits. You may want to even note these in your Bibles.
He knew what was going on in his children's lives. He knew their cycle of house visits, parties, get togethers, and so on. He was in touch on a daily basis with where they were, and where they were headed. He followed his children around in his heart because he had a godly concern and love for them. ARE YOU FOLLOWING YOUR CHILDREN'S LIVES? You and I will never pray effectively for those who are not regularly on our hearts.