A new council at the university of Papua New Guinea could soon be appointed, an academic who led last week's staff boycott says.
Linus Digim'Rina, the head of the Division of Anthropology, Sociology and Archaeology, is a key member of the National Academic Staff Association (NASA).
Dr Digim'Rina said almost all university staff boycotted their duties for three days last week, following the suspension of the council in January.
Higher education minister Pila Niningi cited allegations of corruption and sexual misconduct against the council in his decision to install an interim body.
But the interim council's composition angered staff which led to the boycott, Dr Digim'Rina said.
"We avoided describing it as a strike action because there was no resolution from NASA... So it was a voluntary call on individual members of staff, everybody who are concerned about governance issues."
On Wednesday last week, the minister accompanied by the government's chief secretary, Isaac Lupari, met with university staff and undertook to take three actions, Dr Digim'Rina said.
"One, complete the process of the appointment of the vice chancellor. Two, conduct an independent investigation into the allegations... And three, appoint a new council with a new composition, a new team altogether," he said.
"That's why we committed ourselves to return to classes last Thursday."
The staff presented a list of names for appointment to the council which is subject to approval by the National Executive Council (NEC), Dr Digim'Rina said.
"That will be presented to NEC on Thursday, deliberated and a decision reached," he said.
But some of the interim councillors could remain.
"The minister indicated during the presentation that he would like to keep not all but a few of his own appointees including the chancellor and that didn't go down well with university staff," Dr Digim'Rina said.
The chancellor, Jeffrey Kennedy, criticised NASA last week for taking industrial action on issues not related to employment.
Mr Kennedy said he expected his interim council to be in place until the end of the year but noted there was room for two more members to be appointed.
But the composition of the interim council does not adequately represent the university, Dr Digim'Rina said.
"A one sided majority of the members have come from management, corporate administration and real estate backgrounds," he said.
"There were also allegations rolling around... whereby the minister seemed to be bringing in friends and business partners into the council membership.
"Although it's only an interim council it's all to do with business. It's not representative enough of the academic programmes within the university or civic organisations within society."
Nevertheless, the need for new leadership "was recognised by university staff", Dr Digim'Rina said.
"The previous council wasn't necessarily performing at its best. We generally felt after so many years the council could have done a bit better," he said.
But its performance may have been hindered by previous administrators, including the vice chancellor and registrar, failing to implement council decisions in a timely fashion, Dr Digim'Rina said.
"I can say the previous council together with the previous administration, they were quite slow. The need for change was recognised by university staff," he said.
"And in a strange way the minister's intervention was quite necessary."
As for completing the appointment of the vice chancellor, Frank Griffin had come through a robust selection process under the previous council that staff were "proud of", Dr Digim'Rina said.
The minister, has appointed Kenneth Sumbuk as interim vice chancellor, who Dr Digim'Rina said was one of the candidates rejected during Professor's Griffin's selection.
But even though the minister had lost confidence in the previous council, he could not now claim to be sceptical of Professor Griffin, Dr Digim'Rina said.
"If that were the case the minister would have stepped in before the process was completed. Not after."


Normally, Ras promotes cell growth, but it can also cause uncontrolled cell growth when mutated or deregulated. As a result, this protein is a key player in many forms of cancer and is mutated in over 90 per cent of pancreatic tumours — one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
Working with researchers from Indiana University and Toronto’s University Health Network, the team tested a SHP2 inhibitor on mice with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer. Remarkably, the inhibitor reduced these tumours by over 80 per cent.
The researchers’ findings were recently published in Nature Communications.
Next, the team will work with a cancer surgeon at the University of North Carolina to treat mice that have human pancreatic tumours. If the SHP2 inhibitor is effective, the researchers will use this evidence to support future human clinical trials.
While their research is still in its early stages, Ohh and his team hope that their discovery will open up new perspectives in the field and potentially change cancer treatment.


One area where cool people display great sensitivity is on the issue of gay rights. This holds especially for fashion and Hollywood luminaries — many of the very types now sashaying through Havana. And as we’ve recently learned in the cases of Indiana and North Carolina, in the view of cool people, the very definition of gay rights can be pretty broad.
Whoops! Sorry! Seems I just described Castro’s Cuba, the world’s coolest place.
Women’s rights are also important for cool people. These rights — we’ve been given to understand by the ultra-cool Sandra Fluke — are extremely far-reaching and should include taxpayer-subsidized contraceptives for women.
Whoops! Sorry, again. Looks like I again described Castro’s Cuba, the world’s coolest place.
Cool people also make a big show of promoting peace. To hear them babble, armed conflict between nations has always been a historical abomination. So you definitely don’t want to be on record as being modern history’s scariest warmongers, to the point of wantonly bringing the world to the very precipice of nuclear war.
“We reject any peaceful approach! Violence is inevitable! To establish socialism rivers of blood must flow! If the nuclear missiles had remained (in Cuba) we would have fired them against the heart of the U.S. The victory of socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims!
And you certainly don’t want to make an icon of the racist, mass-murdering warmonger responsible for the hate speech quoted above, even if he was co-founder of your regime. You especially want to avoid plastering his image all over your fiefdom. Cool people might get the wrong idea and start mimicking the fashion sense of one of modern history’s earliest nuclear warmonger by adopting his berets as the coolest fashion item for the coolest fashion show in the world.


Cosmos' Ship of Imagination sails into the sunset (or is it just the sun?) this week, but not before plumbing the mysteries of dark matter. Finn gives dating another try on Adventure Time, Increase Mather rocks Salem, and a new character in Orphan Black's conspiracy appears. See all the details and clips below!
After Vincent (Jay Ryan) is arrested for murder, Cat (Kristin Kreuk) and the team must work together at all costs to clear Vincent's name. When they discover who turned Vincent in, they realize they have a bigger enemy to handle.
Felicia Day stops by to goof about the latest geeky goings-on.
Clarke (Eliza Taylor) and Finn (Thomas McDonell) escape one dangerous situation only to find themselves faced with a new enemy. Bellamy (Bob Morley) makes a heroic move to save Jasper (Devon Bostick). Raven (Lindsey Morgan) faces a new danger, and Murphy (guest star Richard Harmon, "Bates Motel") finally gets his revenge. Meanwhile, those remaining on the Ark are coming to terms with the inevitable.
When Robin gets frustrated with the Titans' disobedience he turns to... puppets.
With a friendly bee named Breezy as his wingman Finn decides to get back into the dating game.
Alec's newest invention could change the world—or destroy it.
A new player in the clone conspiracy turns up at Felix's door, sending him into crisis mode. With Cosima running out of options, Sarah struggles with the decision to surrender a crucial piece of leverage and make a deal with Dyad.
Kieren finds the strength to shed his contact lenses and cover up mousse in public for the first time. However, he's wrongly accused of freeing the rabids at the GP surgery and hauled in front of the increasingly tyrannical Parish council. Disappointed by his parent's reaction, Kieren seeks out Simon and is floored to discover he has disappeared.
Meanwhile, Simon returns to the city to receive instructions from the Undead Prophet. But his faith is rocked for the first time, causing him to question his beliefs.
The Ship of the Imagination makes a final journey to explore one of the biggest mysteries of the universe: dark energy. Meet one of science's greatest unsung heroes, Fritz Zwicky, whose prediction of supernovas paved the way for our larger understanding of dark energy, the unknown force in the universe that overwhelms gravity on the grandest scale. On our final voyage, discover the romantic message embedded in Voyager's Interstellar Golden Record and contemplate the spiritual experience of life on Earth as our cosmic journey concludes with Carl Sagan's unforgettable meditation, The Pale Blue Dot.
Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and the rest of the Night's Watch face the biggest challenge to the Wall yet.
In "Closer Than Sisters," Vanessa recalls the events that lead to Mina's disappearance.
Uh-oh. What will Increase Mather's presence mean for Salem?
The arrival of Cotton's father rocks the town of Salem; at the same time, Mary's power over George is compromised.


Marshall offers a classic look and the option of still using a headphone jack if you manage to burn through all that battery life.
The walls haven't caved in since Apple released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, so it seems almost inevitable that other smartphones will follow. It could eventually be the case that the headphone jack is assigned to the history books. And while that's bad news for anyone with a set of wired headphones they love, it spells opportunity for manufacturers.
One of the key problems with removing a headphone jack is you inevitably introduce battery life into the music listening equation. All-day battery life is a must, and Marshall's latest set of wireless headphones aim to meet that demand and then some.
The Marshall Monitor Bluetooth headphones boast 30 hours of playback on a single charge combined with 30 feet of wireless range. That's thanks to a combination of Bluetooth and Qualcomm's aptX audio codec compression algorithms, allowing for high quality real-time streaming.
Although wireless, the Monitors include a headphone jack allowing a friend to plug in their headphones and listen with you. Marshall also embedded a multidirectional knob on the left headphone allowing playback control of music and the ability to answer, reject, and end calls when paired with a smartphone.
At $249, the Monitor Bluetooth headphones are certainly not cheap. Included in the box is a protective carrying bag for transport once folded up, a detachable 3.5mm cord to take advantage of the music sharing feature, or to listen to music when the battery is drained, and a micro USB charging cable.
If these Marshalls don't fit the bill, check out our pick of the best wireless headphones for 2017. Of course, there's still plenty of choice for those of us who prefer not to have a battery so close to our heads.


THE first trailer for Marvel's star-studded Avengers: Infinity War has dropped, sending film fans into a tailspin of excitement on social media.
The highly anticipated film brings together the major players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), including the Avengers and Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Thor and Black Panther, among others.
Infinity War, the 19th film in the MCU and a sequel to 2012's Marvel's The Avengers and 2015's Avengers: Age Of Ultron, has been described as an "unprecedented cinematic journey 10 years in the making" and "the deadliest showdown of all time".
In the trailer, the battle is on as the superheroes join forces to defeat intergalactic despot Thanos, played by Josh Brolin, whose goal is to collect the Infinity Stones in an evil bid to take over the world.
It's an epic, action-packed glimpse at the blockbuster effort, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
With an ensemble cast that reads like a who's who of Hollywood - including Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston and Zoe Saldana - the film's trailer had fans across the world chomping at the bit.
One fan commented: "The scale of this movie is crazy!!"
One enthused: "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO JUST GO ABOUT MY DAY AFTER THAT EPIC AF AVENGERS TEASER?!?!? TELL ME MARVEL!!!!!"
"OMG just saw the #InfinityWar trailer and pee'd my pants a little from excitement," another wrote.
Taking a pop at one of the MCU's biggest film rivals, another said: "#InfinityWar trailer was better than the entire Justice League movie."
One fan joked: "Wow, I think the #InfinityWarTrailer just made more money in the last 20 minutes than Justice League has in the last few weeks..."
Many said they were watching the trailer over and over again.
"Currently suffering from RIWTV (RepeatInfinityWarTrailerViewing)," one fan joked, while another said they were going to watch it "at least 10 more times" to calm their nerves.
Others had some concerns, largely about the number of big-name stars.
One said: "I'm scared there are too many characters to make a coherent and significant movie without cheapening them But I'm also so hyped! Bring it on!"
"There are way too many characters to believe that #InfinityWar will work, but Marvel has earned the benefit of the doubt. Plus this #InfinityWarTrailer is (fire)," another remarked.
Infinity War also stars Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman, Benicio del Toro, Tom Holland, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders and Paul Bettany.
Avengers: Infinity War will be released in cinemas in May 2018.


Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary – will this mean a remake of a remake?
Sources suggest that Halo: The Master Chief Collection is this year’s new Halo game, as a Modern Warfare remake is also rumoured.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be out in time for this Christmas and will contain Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4 – or at least that’s according to a rumour from Engadget.
For months now it’s been heavily rumoured that a remake of original Xbox game Halo 2 will be released this Christmas. But the announcement of Halo 5 last week seemed to suggest something else for this year’s Xbox One game.
A boxed set of remakes also doesn’t really fit the hints, but then it’s always hard to know how much companies are factoring in existing rumours into what they say.
As it it is though the rumours don’t have much meat on them, with nothing but speculation on the developer and no technical details. You’d assume that the Halo part of the package was an update of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary but that’s also not mentioned.
At the same time an even less convincing rumour has also emerged over the weekend, suggesting that a Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare collection is due out this year as well.


In May the first showers sink heavy drops into the parched earth of Michoacan, Mexico. The wrinkled men of La Soledad, a town of barely 700, look at the sky and wonder, as they always have, about the seeds they've placed in the ground. Around the same time, maybe a bit before, the letters come.
There is no questioning the importance of the envelopes, carrying stamps and seals from both sides of the border. United States Postal Service Registered Mail. $10.38. The return address is Nestle USA, 216 Morton Street, Morton, IL, an address that nearly any adult in La Soledad will recognize. It's la Nestle; or, to workers who've been around longer, la Libby's. To some it's the letter from la calabaza. Pumpkin.
Illinois is the top pumpkin-producing state in the nation, and Morton is the self-declared pumpkin capital of the world. La Soledad, Michoacan, helps make it that. On thousands of acres around the canning plant, contracted farmers plant the proprietary seeds Libby's developed to produce pumpkins with more meat, fewer seeds, less water.
Inside the factory, somewhere between 50 and 80 percent of the seasonal workers come from tiny La Soledad. But this is not a story about illegal immigrants. Workers here have green cards and some are even American citizens. This is the tale of two towns separated by 2,000 miles and an increasingly tense border that are dependent on each other, though one of them barely knows the other exists.
The mailman brings fistfuls of the Nestle letters, written in English and Spanish. The arrangement: Seasonal jobs ranging from $7.97 an hour to $11.72 an hour, from general laborer to supervisor, wage scale negotiated by Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Local 627. Return to your old job or apply for a new one. Sign and return the form. We are looking forward to the 2006 pumpkin season and your return.
Pull off I-74 into Morton and you'll be greeted by three flags: the American flag, the Illinois state flag, and the Nestle flag. Below the Nestle flag, which depicts a mother bird feeding two babies, there's a message from the Swiss firm that is the largest food company in the world: "Nestle welcomes you to Morton." Behind this sign sprawls the dingy white factory, which processes as much as 90 percent of all canned pumpkin consumed in the United States. A skeleton crew watches the plant most of the year, but during the canning season, which everyone here calls the Pack, its machines never stop. On their conveyor-belt journey through the factory, pumpkins are cleaned, sliced, cooked, pulped, pureed, reheated, canned, recooked, cooled, and packaged. For ten weeks a year the factory smells like cooking squash.
Morton, population 15,000, is Peoria's comfortable neighbor; it's 98 percent white and a popular place for Caterpillar executives to live. The canning factory was built in 1925 and soon purchased by Libby's; in the 70s Nestle took over, keeping the Libby's brand name. The plant contributes fewer than 20 year-round jobs and a mere $33,000 in property taxes (less than 1 percent of the total taxes collected in Morton Township) to the local economy, but village president Norman Durflinger says it gives the town something invaluable: an identity. "We think pumpkin around here," he said. "I don't know what we would do without it."
That may be, but not many residents think about the 200 or so people who arrive in Morton every August when the pumpkins are ready for canning. Father Mark DeSutter, pastor of Morton's Catholic church, says the plant is a bit of a mystery. "It's right there. It's at a major intersection in town. We see the trucks come in, we see the pumpkins. But it's like they throw the switch in August and they throw it off in November and then it's just dormant." DeSutter says that in his seven years at the parish he's never met anyone who works there--neither seasonal workers nor managers. "We have a pumpkin festival," he says, "but it's not like the workers are marching in the parade."
All shifts are 12 hours a day, seven days a week, from mid-August till as late as November. If rain makes the fields too wet to harvest, it's a day off without pay.
Martha Ramirez is 45, though like many of her coworkers she looks older. This is her fifth season. She prepares for her night shift by taking four ibuprofen tablets. Naked cans come down the line at her and machines slap labels on them; her job is to feed labels into the machines. The movement makes her arms ache, from her hands up through her shoulders. She eats lunch at 2 AM, gets off work at 9, and falls asleep with a heating pad across her shoulders. It took her five days to get used to her schedule, but now, at the end of October, she says night when she means day.
One of just a handful of women from La Soledad, Ramirez has come with her husband, Pedro Quintero, who also works all night. They sleep in the bedroom of their apartment, and her aunt and uncle, Virginia and Rodolfo, sleep on a red metal-frame bed in the living room. Rodolfo, working the Pack for the first time, lost eight pounds in two weeks. Virginia wanted to work at Libby's but she has a bad leg; she's found a job in another Peoria factory where she can sit. The Pack jobs offer no benefits but workers get to take home pumpkins, and Ramirez cooks hers in water and piloncillo, a hard brown sugar. The apartment smells of sweet pumpkin.
In the 1970s the company provided dorm-style housing for its migrant workers. Now most of the workers from La Soledad rent cheap, run-down apartments for three months from landlords ten miles away in Peoria. Rafael Quintero and his godson pay $260 a month for a kitchen, two furnished rooms, and a bathroom. For a shower, there's a bucket and a Tupperware container they use to splash water over their heads.
Down the block from Rafael's apartment, men in bright hard hats gather on a street corner and wait for rides to the plant. Anchoring the corner is a store that workers call La Mexicana, though that's not its name. Once a week the Palestinian owner drives to Chicago to bring back Mexican goods: bags of pastries, chile lollipops. Across the street a backyard fence has become a clothesline--jeans hanging over the top and socks shoved through the chain link. Inside the fence a few gawky stalks of corn stand as a testament to the perseverance of culture.
The workers favor a single word to describe what it's like to work the Pack: enfadoso. Tedious. Annoying. Rafael, who's 59, has worked 15 seasons at the factory since 1976. This year he was paid $9.75 an hour to fill gas tanks and drive a forklift around the plant, as empty metal cans clanged constantly against an overhead conveyor belt. "It's not hard work," he says. "But it's enfadoso." In the end it's worth it. Some workers cash only a single paycheck during their stay in Morton, and after ten weeks they go home with $6,000, $7,000, maybe more.
Inside the lunchroom at Nestle, someone has hung architectural drawings of a church. Careful letters in red ink read iglesia de la soledad michoacan mexico. Two thousand miles to the south, Mingo Rodriguez is perched 45 feet off the ground at the top of a crude wooden ladder, balancing a five-gallon pail of cement mix on his shoulder. The sun and the weight of the pail draw beads of sweat from his 23-year-old face. He's helping to build a steeple to the iglesia that will eventually reach 77 feet. Work on the church--Nuestra Senora de la Soledad--is proceeding at an almost frantic pace because the migrants will soon be home for the holidays, not only those from la calabaza but nearly everyone with papers who can afford the trip.
In La Soledad's region of Mexico there is a hundred-year-old tradition of migration to the United States. In the plaza old men pass the day chatting and watching the occasional pickup pass by, but back in the 40s and 50s nearly all these men were braceros--contract farm laborers recruited by the U.S. government. Some remember their fathers talking about their own trips north in the early 1900s to lay railroad track out west.
After the bracero programs ended in 1964, many of the men kept going north illegally. When the U.S. government declared an amnesty in 1986, dozens became legal U.S. residents and began to seek legal residency for their relatives. The La Soledad diaspora is concentrated in Peoria, Dalton, Georgia, where there's year-round work in the carpet factories, and Chicago.
And this is how a church is built. Elias Ortega, who's a Chicagoan now, spends weekends looking for his paisanos, other natives of La Soledad. Parties are good for this, he says--baptisms, first communions. "We went to one party--we got $2,000 right there," says Ortega, visiting his mother in La Soledad. Soccer games are also good--La Soledad fields two teams in Chicago. Ortega is part of a Chicago-based committee that's collecting donations for the church; there's another committee in Dalton.
from Chicago drives to Peoria to collect from the pumpkin workers. This year it was Ortega. He asked for $200 a worker. Even the Palestinian store owner of La Mexicana chipped in that much.
The room Ortega is sitting in, the room he was born in 51 years ago, used to have a dirt floor. The walls were wooden planks, the roof grass. For light, the family filled a soda bottle with oil, stuffed one end of a rag into the bottle, and lit the other. Now the walls are brick and there is a spotless white tile floor. And a TV set--in fact an entertainment console. There's a refrigerator and stove, a telephone. There are two kitchens. There is a funny little clown that plays the trumpet if a loud noise sets it off. The house speaks for itself, and nearly everyone in La Soledad has a house that tells a similar story.
Ortega, who worked for six seasons in Morton in the 1980s, estimates that the pumpkin plant is responsible for some 35 percent of all the dollars that flow into this town. The first man from La Soledad to land a job at Libby's worked there in the early 1970s. After that "one brother comes, then another," says Jose Pimentel, who first made the trip in 1975. This has been a bad year for the calabaza workers--too much rain, too many days off. Workers who haven't already wired money home are coming back with just about $6,000 each. Even so, that's $400,000--to be conservative--that will find its way to La Soledad this month.
"The highway, the plaza, the church--all of it has been built with the help of the migrants. Where would we get that kind of money here?" says Ricardo Mora, a La Soledad native who works for Mexico's ministry of social development. The ministry oversees the "three for one" development programs that provide matching local, state, and federal government funds for projects launched by migrants, including Nuestra Senora de la Soledad. In Mexico, churches are considered property of the state and government funds can be used to construct them. The tab for this one: $325,000. Money from migrants has helped pave every road in town but one, build a fence around the school, and lay sewer lines. Residents who stay behind donate faenas--days of work. Ortega, who has helped collect $50,000 in Chicago and Peoria alone, is already thinking ahead to the next project: a town ambulance.
There is a saying in La Soledad that people use if you praise their lovely plaza, paved streets, beautiful house: "Thanks to God and el norte," they say. Often they're more specific. Thanks to God and Chicago. Thanks to God and Peoria. Thanks to God and Nestle.
Some years, calabaza workers charter a bus from La Soledad directly to Peoria. The bus this year crossed through a country much more openly hostile to immigrants than it has been in a long time. Yet Mike Badgerow, executive director of the Morton chamber of commerce, says the arrival of the workers is as reassuring in his town as the arrival of the Nestle letters is in La Soledad.
"It wouldn't actually feel right if they didn't come," he says. "It would make a lot of people wonder, are we losing the plant? You know, any company can decide, 'We can make more money canning somewhere else.' If we didn't see the migrant workers showing up I think everybody would be rumbling, 'What? Is the boot about ready to drop, or what?'"
Just about every farmer in a 50-mile radius of Morton grows Libby's pumpkins, most in rotation with corn and soybeans. The pumpkin festival in September attracted 70,000 people to town this year. And then there's October's annual Morton Punkin Chuckin' Contest, where massive air cannons and catapults are rolled out into empty fields to fling leftover pumpkins distances that approach a mile.
Martha Ramirez knows only one coworker who's American. "They're lazy," she says. "They can't take it. It's every day. There are [Americans] who work a few days and then leave."
Cristobol Rodriguez, 69, says he and others from La Soledad got jobs 24 years ago by waiting outside the canning plant until someone quit--usually on a weekend. "The Americans are not used to working Saturdays and Sundays," he says. He's come up every season since.
But outside the Peoria unemployment office, Lee Johnson says a job at Nestle would be better than nothing. Johnson, out of work since June, didn't know anything about a pumpkin factory in Morton. He's looking for a job that matches his skills--general labor, janitorial--and was just told there weren't any. Johnson thinks companies prefer immigrants. "I don't know if they think they're harder workers or they'll settle for whatever you give them, any amount of pay as long as they're working. You know, [we're] picky. If you ain't crossed the border, if you ain't Mexican, [you're] pretty picky."
A few miles away, Morris Ross, a janitor, is at a Kinko's printing up coupons for a Cajun restaurant he's starting. He knows about the factory but wouldn't consider working there. "A job like that is really lower than restaurants. Like a McDonald's. You're going to work hard at a McDonald's. But you're going to work twice as hard at the Libby's plant. When it comes to the mental stress, along with the wear and tear on your hands--you leave that to someone else. I wouldn't let my son do it. Hell no. I've always told him, 'If McDonald's won't hire you, you're going to the military.'" On the other side of the Kinko's counter, Sylvia Bellinger says her husband worked at Libby's for about four seasons in the late 70s. But when he found a permanent job he was glad to get out of there.
Nestle spokesperson Roz O'Hearn says that about 20 percent of Morton's seasonal workforce is local. But many workers who leave a Peoria address with the company may actually be from La Soledad. Some receive mail at a relative's address; others have settled permanently in the area. O'Hearn wouldn't say how many letters the company sends to Mexico.
"What exists in Mexico is a tremendous knowledge of the labor market in the United States," says Gustavo Lopez Castro, a scholar of Mexico-U.S. migration at the Colegio de Michoacan in Zamora. "In the instant that there is an opening, or that certain types of jobs will become available, that is known in Mexico. I have even seen cases where it was known in Mexico that jobs would be opening up before it was known in the local community. That's the type of information that circulates in the social networks. It's basic."
The Pack is over once rain and cold rot the pumpkins. This year's ended on October 31, a Tuesday. By Saturday the first of the pumpkin workers were returning to La Soledad. Some brought pumpkin seeds to plant in their gardens.
"It's a good job because it's temporary," says Jesus Murillo, who worked six seasons at Nestle beginning in 1979. "You work ten weeks. In those ten weeks you make a lot of money. You work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no time to spend any money, no time to go to a bar. It's just work, work, work. That's the main reason people go."
The job coincides with agricultural cycles people from the La Soledad region have followed for hundreds of years. Pumpkin workers leave their fields planted with corn or sorghum; the end of the Pack coincides almost perfectly with their harvest. But just a week in Morton can bring in more money than a year of farming. In bad years, farmers in La Soledad lose money. There are no farm subsidies, and there are few other jobs.
This circular migration--working in the United States for a finite period and then returning to Mexico--is what some people on both sides of the border would like to see more of. Migrants who stay for short periods in the U.S. use fewer services here, and they spend less time separated from their families in Mexico. It's a migration pattern that social scientists say changed as it became harder and more costly for undocumented migrants to cross the border. Another reason they weren't as quick to go home is that they began filling year-round factory and service-sector jobs in addition to agricultural jobs.
"There's a certain type of immigrant who still prefers to live in Mexico and keep his family in Mexico," says Juan Mora-Torres, associate professor in Latin American history at DePaul University and author of an upcoming book on early Mexican migration. "If you calculate it, it's a rational decision: work seasonally, return with some savings. As opposed to working here in the city, trying to make ends meet, seeing your family change and sometimes for the worse." But Mora-Torres said he was surprised to find immigrants to Illinois still coming and going on the basis of agricultural cycles. "I thought that was over," he says.
In a sense, says Mora-Torres, the Nestle situation is like a guest worker program brokered by individuals rather than governments: "That's why Mexico is so important for the United States. Mexico provides the U.S. with this vast pool of labor that is very flexible. It adjusts to the U.S. economy."
La Soledad's residents know how to wriggle around the laws to make this relationship work. Some of La Soledad's Nestle workers are U.S. citizens but most are permanent residents, which means they're supposed to live in the U.S. for at least six months of the calendar year. And many do--the Nestle money doesn't last forever, so they return to the U.S. to work another job before the Pack begins. It's doubly important to maintain U.S. residency because the wages they earn in the States aren't the only compensation they're eligible for. Legal permanent residents pay into social security and some collect unemployment when the season ends.
Those who stay too long in Mexico will probably ride the bus to Illinois rather than take a plane--even though the trip is longer that way and can be more expensive. It's understood that immigration officials ask fewer questions of those arriving by land.
Meanwhile, in Michoacan, the rains are ending, and La Soledad is coming alive. Padlocks are disappearing from front doors. The male voices are back, singing to the radio, hollering to wives and children. Windows shuttered for months let the sun in again. It will be months before the rain and the letters return. Months before the next crop of pumpkins is ripe. Months before the pilgrimage north.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Catrin Einhorn.


We look forward to launching the 53rd Annual CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish this holiday season!
The CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish program has become one of the largest distributors of toys to children in need in the Greater Toronto Area. The program also provides financial assistance to hundreds of agencies, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of children across the GTA enjoy a holiday experience. With the help of The Royal Bank of Canada, LoyaltyOne, as well as the generous donations from our loyal viewers and listeners, the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish in conjunction with Toronto Social Services assisted hundreds of thousands of people in need through toy and financial support.
The CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish was originally established in 1966 as CHUM’s Kid’s Crusade Foundation, for the purpose of assisting children in need and children’s charities. In 1973, the name was changed to the CHUM Charitable Foundation in order to broaden the scope of the foundation’s work, including the increase in requests for financial assistance from adults in need. In 2008, the program became known as the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish.
The CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish has become one of the largest distributors of toys to those in need in the Greater Toronto Area, as well as providing financial assistance to hundreds of agencies. The Bell Media family will celebrate its 53rd Annual CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish in this year's 2019 holiday season. With the outstanding support of CP24 and 104.5 CHUM FM, we reach both radio and television audiences for community assistance.
We welcome back The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), which celebrates 51 years with our program! With the continued support of RBC, Loyalty One and our other campaign partners and loyal donors, the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish hopes to bring the magic of the holidays to those in need of assistance this holiday season.
Thank you for your interest in volunteering for the 53rd Annual CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish.
We will be accepting applications as of October 2019. Please check back at that time.
Even the smallest contribution can make a difference! All financial donations of $20.00 or more are eligible for an income tax receipt. Our charitable registration number is 11885 9057 RR0001. Cheques should be made payable to the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish, and must include the name and mailing address of the person who should receive the tax receipt. Tax receipts will be issued to individuals who are part of a group donation; however, we will certainly recognize the group effort with a thank you letter. For group donations, please provide us with a list of donors’ names, the donors’ home addresses and the amounts donated. Tax receipts will not be sent to an individual’s work address.
Financial donations can be made online to the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish.
Where can donations be made?
Most RBC Royal Bank branches in the Greater Toronto Region.
Children in the age groups below are sometimes difficult to shop for and often overlooked by donors. Please use these helpful tips to help give a kid a Christmas.
Package should say ‘Infant Friendly’ or ‘Baby’s First’, ‘Infantino’, etc.


For Craig Carton's ticket resale fraud, the former WFAN and New Jersey 101.5 radio host should get up to seven years in prison, prosecutors say.
Take a look at the photo gallery from when “Boomer and Carton” was a hit radio show.
NEW YORK - For Craig Carton's ticket resale Ponzi fraud, the former WFAN and New Jersey 101.5 radio host should get from five to seven years in prison, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Friday, according to a report.
“Carton was involved in all aspects of the scheme ... His victims were people who believed they had formed a relationship with him. And his lies continued for months,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Quiqley wrote to Manhattan Federal Judge Colleen McMahon, according to another report.
But prosecutors said "Carton’s fraud was not the result of an isolated loss of impulse control or a one-time stumble," according to a report.
Watch Craig Carton break a two-month silence to talk about life since his arrest in the video below.
A former "Jersey Guy" on New Jersey 101.5 radio, Carton was found guilty of swindling investors out of millions of dollars in a ticket-reselling business.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 5. Prosecutors back following federal sentencing guidelines, which call for 70 to 87 months in prison.


Although scorned as irrational by academics, the felony murder doctrine persists as part of our law. It is therefore important that criminal law theory show how the felony murder doctrine can be best justified, and confined within its justifying principles. To that end, this Article seeks to make the best of American felony murder laws by identifying a principle of justice that explains as much existing law as possible, and provides a criterion for reforming the rest. Drawing on the moral intuition that blame for harm is properly affected by the actor’s aims as well as the actor’s expectations, this Article proposes a dual culpability principle, which justifies imposing murder liability for killing negligently in the pursuit of an independent felonious purpose. A review of current felony murder rules reveals that most jurisdictions condition the offense on negligence through a combination of culpability requirements, dangerous felony limits, foreseeable causation requirements, and complicity standards. In addition, most jurisdictions require felonious motive through a combination of enumerated felonies, causation standards, and merger limitations. Thus, felony murder law more or less conforms to the dual culpability principle in most jurisdictions. This sufficiently validates the principle to warrant its use as a critical standard. Many felony murder laws nevertheless fall short of the principle’s demands in some respects, and this Article identifies the reforms needed in each jurisdiction. More importantly, it provides the arguments of principle and precedent that lawyers and legislators will need to advocate those reforms.
Guyora Binder, Making the Best of Felony Murder, 91 B.U. L. Rev. 403 (2011).


The girl's official cause of death remains under investigation by the Marion County Coroner.
An 8-year-old girl who died Sunday after suffering apparent gunshot wounds has been identified as Kendrielle Brye.
According to the Marion County Coroner's Office, the girl's death remains under investigation, and the official cause of death is not available at this time.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to Indianapolis Fire Department Station 24 on East 38th Street shortly after 5:40 p.m. on a report of a shooting victim at the station.
Investigators were informed that a little girl with gunshot wounds had been brought to the station by her mother. Kendrielle was then transported to Riley Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
During the course of the investigation, detectives were led back to the Kendrielle's home in the 5600 block of Culver Street, police said. Investigators believe that is where the shooting took place.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the home and are working to recover potential evidence with the assistance of the Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency.
Police said Kendrielle's father, 40-year-old Kendall Brye, is wanted for questioning in the shooting. He was last seen driving a gray or silver 2016 Dodge Charger with Indiana collegiate plates with a plate number of IP1340.
Officials added that at one point, the father had his 3-year-old son with him. The 3-year-old has been accounted for and is currently in the care of a foster family.
Court records show that an arrest warrant was issued Monday for Brye in an unrelated case. Authorities allege Brye violated his probation by leaving his home on Sunday and failing to return.
Anyone who has information about the shooting is urged to call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.


The European Union has awarded its prestigious “ERASMUS+ Capacity Building in Higher Education” grant of USD 1 million to three universities in Bangladesh.
The institutions are Brac James P Grant School of Public Health, Brac University; International Centre for Climate Change & Development, Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), and Asian University for Women (AUW).
A signing ceremony was held in this regard at Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka on Wednesday, said a press release.
The tripartite partnership will implement the “Transformative Competency-Based Public Health Education for Professional Employability in Bangladesh's Health Sector” project, from 2019 to 2021.
The universities will design and offer competency-based public health curricula to ensure professional skills development and address the skilled-workforce shortage in the health sector.
The technical partners are Maastricht University, Netherlands, and Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.


I have a feeling that they go to separate moderators inboxes. Because when I had a question and PM'd them, the same one got back to me.
Yes, we all have separate inboxes. There is no giant inbox where all messages to moderators go.
So if we either don't understand a PM we get from a mod or admin we're allowed to ask in PM?
Am I allowed to say I have a really hard time reading really long PMs? What I describe as motorway length PMs cause I get halfway then my brain turns it to word salad and goes into information overload?
Maybe you need to clarify the rule so not wrong things can be read into it.
I wish I had been that lucky. I always get anxiety when I get pm from a monitor.
Ok! I didn't know that!
Exactly I just discover this myself!
Don't let Turtleboy fool you! He's bad to the bone!
I know many on the boards here are very sensitive & struggle with anxiety, but everyone has a completely anonymous screen name. No one knows who "emgreen" is, so even if I write something nasty about Turtleboy, he can't fly over from Ireland & beat my arse (he's a wuss anyways)! Thus (and this is just me), it's not really a great matter if someone happens upon a PM. I hope this perspective helps some of the people suffering from anxiety. I've never encountered an evil mod (with the exception of Turtleboy, that is).


Russell Westbrook could miss the start of the 2018-19 NBA season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder point guard underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Wednesday, the team announced in a press release. He will be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks, meaning he’ll likely miss the entire preseason and perhaps remain sidelined into the regular season.
The Thunder play their first preseason game Oct. 3 and their final one Oct. 9. They’re scheduled to begin the regular season against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 16, approximately five weeks from Wednesday. Westbrook could be cutting it close, and it’s reasonable to think the Thunder will exercise caution with their franchise player.
Westbrook experienced inflammation in his knee over the weekend, which led to the procedure. The timing isn’t great, as OKC begins training camp Sept. 25, but taking care of the issue now could help Westbrook avoid additional problems throughout the season.
Westbrook, a seven-time All-Star, is coming off back-to-back seasons of averaging a triple-double. He won the NBA MVP Award for the 2016-17 campaign.


Classical operas are being blasted out to a caravan of Australian camels, preparing them for a one-way trip to South Korea to star in a lavish production of Verdi's opera Aida.
Six dromedaries will be flown from central Australia to Seoul later this month, but strict quarantine laws mean they will never return to their homeland and will devote the rest of their lives to South Korea's tourist industry, said camel handler Janet Geappen on Saturday.
"They're getting used to the Aida opera. I've been playing it to our camels here and I swear they're swinging their tails to the music, I think they like it," Geappen told Reuters.
"Camels adapt very, very quickly to new things and new environments. The only thing you can't get them used to is the amount of people in the crowd, but we'll be looking at that as well," the cameleer said from Broome in Western Australia.
The Australian camels will be ridden by opera singers for their brief stage appearance in the September performance which will also feature horses and elephants, she added.
Celebrated tenor Jose Carreras will sing in the South Korean production of Aida, which is set in ancient Egypt and tells the tragic story of Radames, an Egyptian commander, and his secret lover Aida, an Ethiopian slave.
Australia has the world's largest wild camel population, with conservative estimates at 500,000. Camels were first brought to Australia in the 18th century to help explorers venture into the dry interior.


Dragon Ball has got its convention circuit on lock, and it seems a recent gathering has got Goku fans feeling good. Over on Twitter, a video has gone live from Kameha Con’s second year, and it turns out the event had a special panel is store for fans.
After all, five different Goku voice actors came together for a panel, and it ended with them doing a signature move.
Recently, a video from Kameha Con made its way online, and it features five familiar voices. A total of five actors from around the world came together to speak with fans, and they capped off the afternoon with a group Kamehameha.
So, if you thought one Goku was powerful, imagine the kind of damage five of them could do.
For those curious, the actors shown above are Kirby Morrow, Stephanie Nadolny, Peter Kelamis, Ian Corlett, Mario Cataneda. The group stood up after their joint panel ended, and they gave their go at Goku. Understandably, the crowd loved the group attack, and the only complaint surfacing from fans is the lack of Sean Schemmel. Some fans are hoping the actor can make a six-way Kamehameha happen down the line, so here is to hoping for the best at next year’s convention.
So, do you need a group Galick Gun from the franchise's Vegeta actors next...? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 11:00 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media. Dragon Ball Super: Broly will be releasing on Blu-ray and DVD on April 16.


Millcreek woman says PennDOT should consider alternatives to tree clearing along the interstates.
A concerned citizen has launched an online petition calling on the state to stop cutting down trees along Interstate 79 north of McKean and elsewhere.
The petition was started on the website www.ipetitions.com and is addressed to Gov. Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 1 officials. It cites numerous reasons to end the tree cutting, including environmental and safety concerns.
"This is such a serious issue," said Diane Esser, of Millcreek Township. Esser is the founder of Plant It Forward: A Community Tree Planing Initiative and I Am A Planet Kid, an environmental education program for children. She also is a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators.
Esser started the petition this week. As of Friday afternoon, 150 people had signed it.
PennDOT, through a private contractor, began removing the trees north of McKean starting in August as part of a $6.2 million interstate paving project. The project includes $603,366 for tree trimming and removal.
PennDOT began removing trees in the median because they were within a federally required 30-foot "clear zone," which is a buffer area that is free of obstructions where drivers can regain control of their vehicles and steer them back onto the road. PennDOT officials elected to expand that clear zone to 50 feet.
There were 68 crashes on Erie County interstates, including interstates 79, 86 and 90, in the past five years in which drivers drove off the road and into trees. In the 10-mile stretch where the road-paving project is occurring, there have been 25 crashes in which motorists struck a tree, two of which resulted in a fatality.
The contractor for the paving project, Union City-based Russell Standard Corp., is permitted to sell the timber, which can lower the cost of a project. Other trees have been removed or chipped on site.
Earlier this month, PennDOT spokeswoman Jill Harry told the Erie Times-News that fewer trees are being removed than originally anticipated.
PennDOT plans to remove more trees from the median farther south on I-79 in 2019. The tree trimming started near Hershey Road and extended south five miles. The remaining five miles of the project will extend about a mile south of Old State Road when work resumes in 2019.
Esser said Friday that PennDOT officials are being short-sighted in their approach to addressing safety issues.
Trees along the highway have several benefits, she said: They mitigate carbon and particulate matter emissions from cars and trucks. They serve as sun, snow and wind barriers for motorists. They're part of the natural habitat for deer and other wildlife that might otherwise cross into traffic. In the median, trees can stop cars from accidentally careening from one set of lanes to another, therefore preventing injuries to additional motorists, Esser said.
Cutting the trees, she said, further reduces the tree canopy, which can impact the overall health of the community.
A better alternative would be to install guardrails in areas of concern, she said.
Harry, the spokeswoman for PennDOT, said public feedback prompted the agency to re-evaluate its tree-clearing plans for the second portion of the project. Fewer trees will be cut than originally planned. PennDOT will maintain most of the trees outside the 30-foot "clear zone."
PennDOT officials are aware of the online petition, Harry said. The environmental assessments that Esser says need to be conducted in her petition are not assessments that PennDOT is required to conduct. However, Harry said PennDOT's maintenance crew were consulted about the impact the tree clearing could have on snow drifts and did not feel there would be a problem in the project area. PennDOT also evaluates the environmental impact of each project.
"If those issues existed," Harry said, "they would have been part of our assessment."
This winter, PennDOT will determine the type of vegetation to plant in the median.
Esser wants her petition to reach state officials. She also hopes it helps educate people about the environmental impact of tree clearing, she said.
"Our kids deserve better," she said.


London — Vitol cemented its position as the world's largest oil trader in 2018 and said it saw oil demand rising for at least for another 15 years before slowing amid global attempts to expand green energy.
The firm, run out of London, said its traded crude and products volumes rose to 7.4-million barrels a day (bpd) in 2018. In 2017, it said its volumes were 7.2-million bpd.
Total oil volume was 357-million tonnes, up slightly from 349-million tonnes the previous year, it said in a statement.
Crude continued to represent the bulk of those volumes, rising to 3.8-million bpd from 3.6-million in 2017. On the products side, petrol volume rebounded by 30% to 440-million tonnes while fuel oil and naphtha declined.
Its traded liquefied natural gas volume rose to 7.8-million tonnes in 2018, up from 7.4-million tonnes.
Turnover increased on the back of rising oil prices to $231bn in 2018, up from $181bn in 2017. Vitol did not disclose its net profit.
The Financial Times reports that the firm’s net income was $1.7bn, excluding a $200m hit for currency and depreciation, compared with $1.5bn in 2017.
Vitol said it recognised the trend towards alternative energy sources and was investing in technologies that may form part of the energy transition.
"We anticipate that oil demand will continue to grow for the next 15 years, even with a marked increase in the sales of electric vehicles, but that demand growth will begin to be impacted thereafter," it said.
The year was also marked by raising cash from major assets, namely Vitol's downstream businesses Viva Energy Australia and Vivo Energy that were both listed.
The firm also completed the acquisition of Noble Group's oil business, increased its stake in storage firm VTTI to 50% and bought a 50% stake in Brazilian retail network Rodoil.
A major upstream investment in Nigeria is expected to close later this year, the company said. Vitol is part of a consortium that agreed to buy Petrobras's interests in two major Nigerian oil blocks that produce about 370,000 bpd for $1.41bn.
Oil and gas production in its Ghana interest was ramping up to 85,000 bpd, it said.


Warning of an "invasion," he pointed to the migrant caravan that had come out of Honduras and was wending its way through Mexico. He then threatened to issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship.
This ignited the predictable hysteria of the media elite who decried his "racism," his "lying" and his "attack on the 14th Amendment." Trump, they railed, is sending more troops to the Mexican border than we have in Syria or Iraq.
Also, the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on those born in the U.S. and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." Children of foreign diplomats, though born here, are not citizens.
Nor is this a small matter.
The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 6 percent of U.S. births (250,000 per year) are to undocumented immigrants.
Yet that 250,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of immigrants now coming. In 2016, President Obama's last full year, 1.75 million legal and illegal immigrants arrived, a record.
Of America's most populous states — California, Texas, Florida and New York — the first two are already minority-majority and the latter two are not far behind.


Many educational institutions, places of worship and even towns currently pride themselves on their Fair Trade certification, but until recently, this has not been the case for Cornell. It was student organizing that took Cornell from a 0 percent Fair Trade campus to a majority Fair Trade campus.
“[The Cornell Organization for Labor Action] was the first to go to Cornell with the idea of Fair Trade,” said COLA member Nina Hudson Fixell ’07.
Over time, Cornell Dining has worked with Seattle’s Best to add more varieties and to minimize any cost differential for Fair Trade coffee. Presently, Cornell Dining pays the same for Fair Trade coffee as it does for other coffee products.
According to Wright-Riva, Fair Trade coffee is currently available at all Cornell Dining locations across campus. Cornell has partnered with Pura Vida for coffee service at all eight residential dining halls and with Seattle’s Best for all retail dining locations or cafés.
“Currently, all coffee in dining halls is Fair Trade, all espresso drinks are made with Fair Trade, nearly all of the cafés are 100 percent Fair Trade [excluding Libe and Tower cafés] and, in the non-100 percent Fair Trade cafés, all but three blends of coffee are [certified],” said Fixell.
Josh Ogle ’08 explained that he did not consider Fair Trade as a factor when buying coffee at his favorite study location, Libe Café.
“I don’t choose where I buy coffee based on whether or not it’s Fair Trade; it’s more for the convenience factor,” said Ogle.
Seattle’s Best has been Cornell Dining’s coffee provider since 2001, and the contract has been renewed several times.
“Cornell Dining will re-examine its coffee program during the fall semester of ’07,” said Wright-Reva.
When talking with possible vendors, Cornell Dining strives to find high quality coffee products, a commitment to exceptional service, a competitive price, the ability to meet very high supply levels, a commitment to Fair Trade products and outreach to students on issues around Fair Trade, such as grower practices and adequate wages.
According to Fixell, Seattle’s Best does not meet these requirements.
“We don’t want Seattle’s Best to continue as [Cornell’s] coffee provider because they are a subsidiary of Starbucks, a company whose public image is one of corporate social responsibility, but whose reality is something quite different,” Fixell said.
According to Oxfam, an international NGO dedicated to fighting poverty, Starbucks bullies the poor. Fixell cited instances of injustice abroad, at home and right here in Ithaca.
Oxfam has called on Starbucks to sign agreements recognizing Ethiopia’s right to control the use of their coffees’ trademarks — rights that will strengthen Ethiopia’s negotiating position with coffee buyers so that they can have a fairer share of profits from their coffee sales.
“Starbucks first blatantly opposed and then refused to sign the agreements, a measure which Oxfam estimates deprives Ethiopia of almost $90 million in coffee revenue a year,” Fixell said.
With two new locations in The Commons and in Collegetown and further plans for growth, some feel Starbucks threatens to monopolize the coffee business in Ithaca.
“[In the U.S.] while Starbucks has convinced the nation they are a worker-friendly company … they have consistently broken the law with impunity to stop workers from organizing unions to improve their working conditions,” Fixell said.
Starbucks customer Eva Olesky ’09 discussed this allegation.
When asked about their employers’ practices, Collegetown Starbucks baristas declined comment, explaining Starbucks’ employee practice of referring all media related questions to Alta Communications, the company’s public relations firm.
The firm was not immediately available for comment.
COLA would like to see Cornell replace Seattle’s Best with a new company that prioritizes Fair Trade concerns, such as Ithaca’s own Gimme! Coffee.
Starbucks customer Stephanie Casella ’09 had no knowledge of the accusations brought against Starbucks; instead, she quickly suggested another coffee company.
“As a Vermonter, I think that Cornell should bring Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to campus,” said Casella.
Wright-Reva gave no indication of Cornell’s intent in regard to the approaching fall ’07 contract decision.


The father of 2-year-old Prince George and 8-month-old Princess Charlotte opened up about becoming a parent in a new ITV documentary, When Ant and Dec Met the Prince: 40 Years of the Prince's Trust, which airs Monday night in the UK.
"I'm a lot more, um, I'm a lot more emotional that I used to be," the 33-year-old Duke of Cambridge explains. "Yeah, weirdly."
"I never used to really kind of sort of get too wound up or worried about things," he continued. "But now, the smallest little things, I can feel, you well up a little bit more and you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more, I think, as a father, just because you realize how precious life is and it puts it all in perspective, the idea of not being around to see your children grow up."
From the birth of Princess Charlotte to Prince Harry’s claiming he was cooler than his older brother, 2015 was a big year for the royals. To see the family’s most regal moments, watch the video below.


Britain's railways have been judged worst for fares, efficiency and comfort in a study of rail services in Europe.
The report by the thinktank Just Economics said UK rail services were less affordable, less comfortable, slower, more inefficient and more expensive than those in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Frequency of trains was the only area in which the UK performed better.
"In terms of bang for buck, not only does the UK come bottom of the index of outcomes but it also spends a relatively large amount of money to achieve this woeful result. This means that it also comes bottom of the value for money league," said the report.
"Our under-performing railways carry a considerable cost both for passengers and for the public purse. Our calculations show that a more affordable, more comfortable and faster railway would generate a staggering £324bn in social value (£9.2bn a year) between now and 2050. This is the equivalent of £7 of value per average journey in that period.
"We also estimate that the social, economic and environmental benefits of achieving a modal shift from road to rail – in terms of reduced congestion, accidents and emissions – could potentially reach £154.8bn by 2050.
"When we combine this estimate with our previous figures showing improved outcomes for passengers, we calculate that the total social value of the strategic shift that we propose in this report is in the region of £479bn."
The report was released ahead of the government's response to the McNulty review on the future of the railways, which is expected to be published shortly.
Bob Crow, leader of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, which commissioned the study, said: "This latest research shows that the failures of privatisation are costing the UK hundreds of billions of pounds in social value.
"Instead of addressing that issue and looking at the cheaper and socially beneficial alternative of a publicly owned railway, McNulty proposes more cuts and even longer gold-plated franchises for the private train operators.
"Now McNulty and the train operators want to roll that model out across Europe, smashing up rail services from the North Sea to the Mediterranean."
The report's author Eilis Lawlor added: "Our research puts figures on what anyone who has been to France or Spain already knows – the UK's railways are poor value for money.
"Instead of profitability being the primary measure of success, the wider benefits of the railway need greater consideration.
"The government should act decisively and make an objective and transparent assessment of the best way to organise Britain's railways so as to maximise social, environmental and economic value."


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Comment: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY JW!!
Today my younger cousin will be visiting my family. He’s a student at the University of Ghana first year. Brilliant boy doing physics and mathematics combined. He’s the son of my mother’s half brother. A few years older than my first born. Every family member is welcomed in my house. I don’t hide in a polar land and spew hatred towards my family. He’ll be the first person to occupy my guest room in the new house. He keeps his head down and focus I’ll get him a good job after his national service.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY JW!!


Other NBA standouts in attendance were Otis Birdsong, Artis Gilmore and Michael Ray Richardson. They were joined by baseball’s Wade Boggs and Hal McRae, and former NFL greats Bo Jackson, Billy Joe DuPree, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, AJ Duhe and Nat Moore.
Ironically, Barry, who was noted for criticizing officials during his playing days and later as a broadcaster, believes all the hoopla over the officiating has been overblown.
The 6-foot-7 Barry scored more than 25,000 points in his pro career and was an uncanny long-range shooter.
He led the nation in scoring his senior year at Miami (37.4 ppg), the NBA in 1967 (35.6 ppg) and the ABA in ’69 (34 ppg), and he led the NBA and ABA a combined nine times in free throw percentage.
Still, he can’t fathom how Boston’s Ray Allen sets a record with eight three-pointers in Game 2 and then misses 13 straight from beyond the arc over the next two games.
Barry is most proud that two of his sons, Brett and Jon, followed him in the NBA and then into broadcasting. Rick and Brent are only one of two father-son duos to win an NBA title.
Richardson has been to all eight of the galas to help raise money for the 13th Avenue Dream Center and says he wouldn’t miss it for anything. He and Birdsong are picking the Lakers to win.
Birdsong, who has a sports marketing company, was an NBA point guard for 12 seasons and finished his career with 12,544 points. He says the antics of Boston’s Nate Robinson, who taunted several Lakers in Game 4, could backfire against his team.
“It could come back to haunt him. You don’t want to try and show your competitor up, and the Lakers are not going to forget that,” Birdsong said.
A Florida native, he currently lives in Little Rock, Ark., hometown of Lakers guard Derek Fisher.


CBC has obtained internal RCMP emails showing that Commissioner Bob Paulson has banned all senior officers from meeting MPs and senators without clearance from his office.
Internal emails obtained by CBC News show that RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has ordered all senior Mounties to get clearance from his office before committing to any meetings with MPs or senators.
Specifically, they are to notify a liaison office that co-ordinates RCMP strategy with the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
In an email dated March 22 from Paulson to more than 50 chief superintendents, assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners, the commissioner said that meetings or lunches with parliamentarians "can have unintended and/or negative consequences for the organization and the government. Therefore, should you or your staff receive such requests, I am directing that you advise my office and the chief strategic policy and planning officer."
A second email shows the effect of the new policy. It cancels a planned lunch between a senior Mountie and a parliamentarian because of "direction from Commissioner Paulson's office" that such meetings "have to first be approved by the minister's office. This email is to cancel the luncheon."
The development has opposition critics accusing the government of undermining the independence of the police. "There's a very large pattern in this government of trying to control information," said NDP MP Randall Garrison.
"It's not appropriate for the government to reach into the police operation. It's a very, very fundamental part of what we must be assured exists so that the police aren't doing the work of the government, they're doing the work of the public."
Garrison, who is the NDP critic for public safety, said "these memos raise some very serious concerns about whether the government is interfering in the operations of the RCMP to try and assist in controlling their political message. So I think it's very serious."
Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell, critic for an RCMP reform bill, C-42, said he feared the "politicization of the police force."
Mitchell added that muzzling debate would not help to solve problems of discipline and harassment inside the RCMP — the subject of Bill C-42.
"I don't see any downside to them dealing with these problems, openly exposing them, none at all. It will only lead to solving them and they can take credit for that," said Mitchell.
"All this control, all this media manipulation, all this messaging — centralized as it is — doesn't work."
Toews's office did not respond to a request to explain the new policy. Paulson's office, however, confirmed that it was co-managed with the minister's office.
RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Julie Gagnon said in a statement that Paulson "wanted to ensure that all information being sent to parliamentarians was co-ordinated through the strategic policy and planning directorate which manages the ministerial liaison function."
Gagnon also said the commissioner wished to "help ensure that the RCMP does not become embroiled in the political debate."


A Missouri House panel is looking at a proposal to restrict TV viewing in prisons to local over the air channels.
Currently, money from canteen sales within correction centers is used to pay for cable or satellite service. Inmates use their stipend pay, often for work they perform within the prison, to make purchases at the canteen.
House Republican J. Eggelston who sponsored the measure, notes the money for the stipends originates from taxpayers. He says it would be better used on other inmate programs.
“That money that was going there could be redirected to things that would benefit the prisoners in an educational capacity to help them be not be as apt to recitivize when they get released” said Eggelston.
As an example of ways the money could be redirected, Eggelston points to education, and getting inmates the documents they would need to get a job upon being released, such as social security cards, birth certificates and driver’s licenses.
Eggelston says the amount currently spent on cable TV or satellite throughout the Missouri Prison system totals nearly $1 million.
Democrat Bruce Franks Jr. thinks prisoners who work to pay for cable or satellite TV shouldn’t be penalized just because the money originates from taxpayers.
“They can’t come in and mandate how we spend our money that they give us, even inside of the capitol, that they pay us for the work that we do, and it’s the same way (for offenders)” said Franks.
The Department of Corrections is concerned that taking away cable TV or satellite could result in inmates having more free time leading to prison unrest. The agency contends the change could lead to a significant increase in assaults and affect the safety of both inmates and staff.
The department says television lets inmates stay abreast of current events in preparation for reentry into society, and states that removing satellite or cable will not result in any cost avoidance for taxpayers. A analysis by a legislative research office shows the proposal would have no impact on state or local governments.
The House committee debated the proposal Thursday among themselves with no individuals or groups testifying for or against it. It’s not known when the committee will vote on the measure, which is known as HB 163.


It's a case of the executive who came in from the cold at TZ Ltd.
Celebrity Apprentice boss/Yellow Brick Road executive chairman Mark Bouris is stepping back from his executive duties at the smart locker maker and handing the business back to one of its founders, John Wilson.
"I'm satisfied that this is a good time to retire after eight years as the executive chairman of TZ Ltd and I am happy to say that the TZ business can now be ably run by a very good management team," said Bouris.
After accumulating $187 million worth of losses, the company is threatening to break even ... some time soonish ... with forecasts it will achieve EBITDA break even this year.
Bouris will become a non executive chairman – with his $440,000 a year salary taking a cut of more than 50 per cent, according to a spokesman.
If CBD recalls correctly, Wilson stepped down as chief executive in May 2012 after the failure to secure a lucrative new deal sent the share price plunging 43 per cent to below 16c. It was a big deal at the time.
Not such a big deal now, given the stock is currently trading at 3c.
So Bouris announced recently that Wilson is returning to the fold as chief executive after a five year gig consulting to TZ Ltd. That's a long time in the wilderness.
Bouris probably feels a lot more comfortable stepping down with former TZ chairman, Anthony Sigalla, jailed for up to 10 years in February, after being found guilty of stealing more than $9 million from the company.
The announcement came just days after another former TZ executive, John Falconer, was refused bail at Sydney Central Local Court after being extradited from Thailand on related charges.
The costs are adding up for the billionaires who pulled the pin on Network Ten, so let's hope they've got a better idea of how to run the broadcaster if their new bid succeeds.
The only upside from Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce 'Jed' Gordon's short court action against Ten's administrators is that its complete failure – as revealed by Monday's judgment – will not be as expensive as you would suspect, given the staggering legal talent employed.
Justice Ashley Black said his preliminary view is that the plaintiffs: Gordon's Birketu, Murdoch's Illyria, and WIN boss Andrew Lancaster, should pay the defendants' costs.
Poor Lancaster only made the plaintiff's list because he is a creditor seeking $13,500 in unpaid directors' fees from Ten.
Hopefully his boss, Gordon, will spot him some cash to cover the legal bill that will follow this court case.
We should hope he is also getting a pay rise after Lachlan and Bruce so indelicately threatened to sue him and the other Ten directors if they continued to draw down on the loan facility they had guaranteed along with James Packer.
Just as well it wasn't Bruce's son, Andrew 'Jethro' Gordon, who represented their interests on the Ten board – it would have made for awkward Gordon family dinners when Bruce jets across from the Bahamas.
At least Justice Black gave everyone some value for money by schooling all concerned in how things could play out at Tuesday's creditors' meeting.
With Murdoch and Gordon lobbing a fresh offer on Friday, the smart money is on creditors voting to adjourn the meeting while they consider the improved offer.
The judgment means CBS can still vote as Ten's largest single creditor at Tuesday's creditors meeting, and will hold sway on the vote taken by value of debt owed.
The jury is out on who will hold sway when it comes to the other vote by the number of creditors. And the administrators hold the casting vote if the creditors are split between the two votes.
CBS still has the last line of defence, given it is now the only secured creditor to the tune of $172 million – after buying out the Commonwealth Bank debt facility and the guarantee held by Packer, Gordon and Murdoch.
It all means there could be a marathon battle for control of Ten that the network cannot afford. The administrators were trying to wrap up the broadcaster's salvage operations within 60 days ie. next week, for good reason.
The only winners from any delays will be Seven West and Nine Entertainment.
Things are moving at lightning speed at Amazon's local arm as it finally prepares to dip a toe in the Aussie market.
Amazon Commercial Services Pty Ltd, has already removed senior executive, Fabio Bertola, from the board as of last week and installed its country manager, Rocco Braeuniger, and his director of operations, Robert Bruce.
Amazon's associate general counsel for Asia Pacific, Diana Broadhurst, retains her board seat.


Joe Schmidt, Head Coach of Ireland.
We’ve grown so accustomed to heroics from Ireland’s rugby team in recent years that their capitulation to England in Dublin was one – or rather 80 – of those rub-your-eyes moments in international sport.
Was this a one-off debacle for Joe Schmidt’s all-conquering troops of 2018? Did it offer evidence that the Irish can be knocked out of their rhythm and stride by the brutal physicality of opponents such as Mako and Billy Vunipola?
Or was it just a rare blip for the side which won the Grand Slam, the IRB’s World Team of the Year accolade and beat Australia in an away series and the mighty All Blacks at home during the last 12 months?
We’ll soon find out, because Ireland’s next challenge is against the Scots at Murrayfield on Saturday and the momentum shift on the opening weekend of the Six Nations Championship means that Gregor Townsend’s personnel now have a terrific opportunity to inflict fresh misery on Schmidt’s men.
It could work both ways, of course. The visitors to Edinburgh have been heavily criticised for their lack of ideas and aggression in the 32-20 loss to England.
They will be fired-up, determined to come blasting out of the blocks, and the Scots will have to be ready to confront the tempest.
They certainly won’t have the luxury of space which was available against Italy for the first hour and, whereas the Azzurri had the haunted look of fellows forever loitering on the Via Dolorosa, the Irish are blessed with more than enough world-class stars to respond to adversity.
And yet the contrast between Johnny Sexton and Finn Russell provides another reminder of why Townsend can be quietly confident not just on Saturday, but also at the World Cup, where the countries will be in the same group.
Sexton loves establishing the tempo and rhythm at No 10. If he is allowed to dictate the proceedings, he can orchestrate chaos against any rivals.
Yet, he’s 33, and was strangely out of sorts on Saturday, leaving a few (fickle) fans across the Emerald Isle to query whether the bell might soon be tolling for him.
Russell, in contrast, has been a dazzling diamond in recent displays and if he keeps angling the ball behind the Irish defence, there’s no reason why it won’t reap dividends.
The Irish will still be slight favourites prior to the kick-off and Townsend is sufficiently smart to realise a backlash beckons. But he has helped to re-establish Murrayfield as a fortress and if his team can snaffle an early lead, the stadium will be rocking.
That has to be the goal, given the astonishing statistic that the Irish have lost the last 21 contests where they were trailing by more than a point at half-time.
In short, they like setting the pace, rather than chasing the game. Another fact which should offer the Scots optimism in what won’t be a fixture for the faint-hearted.


The Digital Watermarking Alliance, a group that encourages content owners to embed unique identifiers in media as a way to combat piracy and promote new distribution models online, released a study this morning on the prevalence of illegal downloading and the motives behind it. (Download the .pdf here.) Done by market research firm Interpret, it used an online survey to gauge how many U.S. residents were downloading media legally and illegally. Then it did what amounted to a push poll of 996 downloaders (again, both legal and illegal) ages 13 to 49, exploring their behavior in more detail and measuring their reaction to watermarking technology. Not surprisingly, given who was paying for it, the survey found that embedding watermarks (called "digital serial numbers" in the survey) could deter people from sharing content online. In particular, a third of the downloaders said they definitely or probably wouldn't use file-sharing services to obtain content if watermarks were deployed, and half said the same thing about uploading.
The initial survey found that legal downloaders significantly outnumber illegal ones. Specifically, 75% of the teens and 53% of the adults said they had paid to download media in the previous three months, vs. 34% of the teens and 21% of the adults who had used file-sharing software. But the second survey -- the one that talked only to those who had downloaded content -- produced a conflicting result. It found that only a fraction of those surveyed had used legal services exclusively. The vast majority of the rest made at least some use of file-sharing software.
A significant percentage of those who download illegally also pay for content. This is the "don't attack your customers" finding. On the other hand, even these "hybrid" downloaders showed a marked preference for free (and illegal) downloads over paid ones for music and TV shows. "For movie studios, [these hybrids] are the group most at risk for increased illegal movie downloading in the future. However, they also represent the lowest hanging fruit for converting illegal activity to paid downloads," the survey found.
"Passive" uploaders -- those who share files online because of the default settings of their software -- are more likely to be deterred by anti-piracy measures than "active" uploaders -- those who deliberately offer online the material they've bought, downloaded or ripped from rented DVDs. The population of passive uploaders is "vast," the survey found (roughly 80% of file-sharers fall into this category), and most members of this group have a hazy understanding of the legalities of their actions.
The DRM technology used by online movie stores contributes to piracy by making those outlets and the goods they sell harder to use. But so does the studios' strategy of releasing movies in windows, which results in legitimate outlets having less content than illegal ones do.
Although most illegal downloaders know they're violating the law, they don't believe they're downloading enough to be caught. The average BitTorrent users downloaded about two movies per month, but they told Interpret that they wouldn't face a serious risk unless they increased that rate to nearly 500.
One might assume that such surveys underestimate the amount of copyright infringement that's taking place -- after all, the participants are asked to admit to doing something that tens of thousands of people have gotten sued for. But unlike other illegal activities, file sharing is "something that people are perfectly happy talking about," Interpret co-founder Jason Kramer said.
Kramer and Raj Samtani, director of business development at Digimarc (a member of the Digital Watermarking Alliance), said one point of the study was to present watermarks as a less cumbersome alternative to DRM. "We've seen the stick really doesn't work," Kramer said. "The way we presented this to consumers is more of a carrot" -- part of a "new compact" between content companies and consumers. He framed it this way, speaking from the perspective of the studios and record labels: "If we're going to make this [content] available to you, if we're going to make it free of DRM, make it useful on multiple devices and not a big hassle for you, you're going to have to expect that if something illegal is done, we're going to have some sort of recourse."
Consumers have trouble accepting restrictions on the media they pay for, particularly when those limits make the media harder to consume. That's one reason the record companies ultimately dropped DRM from their 99-cent downloads. But Kramer said that when consumers understand the quid pro quo sought by the content companies -- that buying a copy of a movie or a song doesn't give the purchaser the right to share it with the rest of the world -- they're more willing to accept the terms of the deal, provided that the restrictions aren't onerous.
Samtani said he didn't believe encryption-based DRM "is going to be abandoned wholesale any time soon." Although watermarks are used today to trace content leaks and identify the sources of some infringements, the kind of system envisioned in the survey -- where infringing content can be detected as it travels through the Net -- would require a significant amount of work by ISPs and content owners. Some Hollywood executives harbor even greater ambitions for watermarks, using them to disable the playback of bootlegged movies. Such a feature may yet become routine in Blu-ray devices, although it remains a long shot for standard-definition discs.
Ideally, Samtani said, anti-piracy technologies like DRM and watermarks would be used not as a traffic cop but as an accountant, monitoring the flow of content online to support new modes of distribution. "We are at the early stages in some of those changes in business models," Samtani said. The shift enabled by new mechanisms such as watermarks will make the market much bigger, he added. "It's just a matter of getting through this transition, and getting people to embrace new modalities of doing business." That's no mean feat, but Samtani -- who used to work for a DRM company -- says he's seen a real change in the nature of the discussions with content providers. Part of that is a greater recognition of the need to balance the desire to protect content with consumers' interests. Said Samtani, "There are things you will hear about more openly in the next several months that I'm very, very encouraged about."


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Keegstras Dollar Store can be found at Kelly St 3499. The following is offered: Clothing Stores. The entry is present with us since Sep 9, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Hudsonville there are 2 other Clothing Stores. An overview can be found here.
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President Donald Trump told former FBI director James Comey that he had serious concerns about the judgment of his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, according to memos maintained by Mr Comey.
The 15 pages of documents, obtained by The Associated Press, contain new details about a series of interactions that Comey had with Mr Trump in the weeks before his May 2017 firing.
Those encounters include a White House dinner at which Mr Comey says Mr Trump asked him for his loyalty, and a meeting the following month in which he says the president asked him to end an investigation into Mr Flynn.
According to one memo, Mr Trump complained about Mr Flynn at a private January 2017 dinner with Mr Comey, saying "the guy has serious judgment issues". He then blamed Mr Flynn for a delay in returning the congratulatory call of an international leader.
"I did not comment at any point during this topic and there was no mention or acknowledgement of any FBI interest in or contact with General Flynn," Mr Comey wrote.
Mr Flynn was fired a month later after White House officials said he had misled about his Russian contacts during the transition period. In a separate memo, Mr Comey says Mr Trump cleared the Oval Office of other officials, encouraged him to let the investigation into Mr Flynn go and called him a good guy.
In a Senate hearing in June, Mr Comey told Congress, "I knew there might come a day when I would need a record of what had happened, not just to defend myself, but to defend the FBI and our integrity as an institution and the independence of our investigative function."
The memos were provided to Congress earlier on Thursday as House Republicans escalated criticism of the department, threatening to subpoena the documents and questioning officials.
In a letter sent to three Republican House committee chairmen on Thursday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote that the department was sending a classified version of the memos and an unclassified version. The department released Mr Boyd's letter publicly but did not release the memos.
Justice officials had allowed some politicians to view the memos but had never provided copies to Congress. Mr Boyd wrote that the department had also provided the memos to several Senate committees.
Mr Trump claimed vindication after the release of the memos.
Mr Trump said the memos "show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION."
Mr Trump also accused Mr Comey of having leaked classified information, though the Justice Department said the memos it provided to Congress on Thursday were in unclassified form.
Mr Trump ended his tweet by saying, "WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?"
Mr Comey is on a publicity tour to promote his new book, A Higher Loyalty. He revealed last year that he had written the memos after conversations with Mr Trump.
Details from some memos were made public in media accounts in the days after he was fired. At the Senate hearing, Mr Comey detailed his conversations with Mr Trump.
One Comey memo recounts a February request from Mr Trump, during a private meeting in the Oval Office, that Mr Comey end an investigation into Mr Flynn.
Mr Boyd wrote in the letter that the department "consulted the relevant parties" and concluded that releasing the memos would not adversely affect any ongoing investigations. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign as well as possible obstruction of justice by the president.
Mr Boyd said the decision to allow the release of the memos "does not alter the department's traditional obligation to protect from public disclosure witness statements and other documents obtained during an ongoing investigation".
Mr Comey said in an interview on Thursday with CNN that he's "fine" with the Justice Department turning his memos over to Congress.
Last week, the Republican chairmen of three House committees demanded the memos by Monday. The Justice Department asked for more time, and the politcians agreed.


NEW YORK (AP) — In just four years, Justin Bieber has gone from fielding innocuous questions about his haircut to denying that he's in desperate need of rehab. Bieber's grown up and into tabloid territory, with his recent troubles making some question whether he's just the latest teen star gone wild.
In what could have been his worst week ever, the 19-year-old pop star struggled with his breathing and fainted backstage at a London show, was taken to a hospital and then was caught on camera clashing with a paparazzo. Days earlier, he was booed by his beloved fans when he showed up late to a concert.
Those incidents come after photos of Bieber appearing to smoke marijuana hit the Web, and some headlines have suggested that the ultra-popular star is going through a famous Britney Spears-style meltdown.
Others suggest he's struggling with a more common condition: being a teenager.
Donnie Wahlberg, who was just 14 when New Kids on the Block debuted on the music scene in the late 1980s to wild fan craze, said he remembers the pressure and hard times that came with being a teen celebrity.
"Justin Bieber's making mistakes that everyone makes and he's probably trying things and exploring things that most kids his age explore, but the problem is he's got 50 paparazzi chasing him around when he does it," 43-year-old Wahlberg said. "When we are 19 and 20, we think we can take on the world and we do forget that there is a lot of life left to live in front of us, and hopefully he'll get through these times and find his way into a long career and a healthy adulthood."
Bieber, his manager and his mother didn't respond to interview requests for this story. But the pressure was evident in the days following his collapse backstage at the O2 Arena, as the Grammy-nominated singer wrote on Instagram that he's sick of the "countless lies in the press" and that he would not be heading to rehab.
"I've accomplished more than I could've ever dreamed of, i'm 19 and it must be scary to some people to think that this is just the beginning," he wrote. "I'm a good person with a big heart. ... All this isn't easy. I get angry sometimes. I'm human. I'm gonna make mistakes."
Even mistakes seem like new territory for Bieber: Since breaking out at 15 he's seen five of his albums hit No. 1 on Billboard's 200 albums chart and nearly 20 songs crack the Top 40. He's had several world tours, launched a massively successful 3-D movie about his life and made deals that include his own dolls, nail polish and fragrances. He's got a social media presence that includes 52 million likes on Facebook and 36 million Twitter followers.
But does that leave any time to be a kid?
Nick Carter, considered the wildest of the Backstreet Boys, was also the group's youngest member when they began to dominate the music charts in the 1990s, and he recalls the days when he grew mad as an overworked teen who yearned for a normal life.
"I remember getting tired. I remember getting burned out and I'm like, 'Let me relax' and you have managers, and the record label ... and then before you know it, the artist gets resentful and starts to revolt against them and that's when you end up with a situation like what's going on," he said, referring to Bieber.
"In a lot of ways you're resentful and you're missing out with your friends, your childhood, you see all of your high school friends growing up ... and you're like, 'Oh, I got to go back on tour.'"
Vincent Herbert, the record executive who signed Lady Gaga and also discovered the teen R&B boy band Mindless Behavior and singer JoJo at 12, said that young singers need role models around them who are fit, and that there must be "time for music and time to be kids."
"I think sometimes young artists get to that (frustrated) point because they're young and it's a lot and it gets overwhelming. I don't think Justin Bieber is at that moment, I just think he had a bad week. That kid's a phenomenal artist, he's such a hardworking person, he's such a good kid," said Herbert.
But he acknowledges that for young artists, the pressure does sometimes lead to meltdowns: "No one's a machine — we're all human."
Spears became the poster child for that after she shaved her head and lost custody of her children, and more recently Demi Lovato checked into rehab because of an eating disorder and self-mutilation, though both have released successful music since. And many young members of Hollywood have been rebellious, used drugs and watched their careers falter, from Mackenzie Phillips to Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.
Carter said his bad attitude began to affect his business, and young singers must think twice about their actions even when they're at a breaking point. He says he's now working to rework those lost relationships.
"I probably messed up a particular movie I was going on an audition for because I showed up late and people looked at me like I was disrespecting them when really I was just out of my head," he said. "I've been for years right now scrounging and clawing and proving through my work and staying away from alcohol and trying to be the best person I can be to make up for all the things I've done, and that's been hard."
While Bieber, who was raised by a single mother in Canada, has held on to a pretty squeaky image, last year began to suggest some troubles: He vomited twice onstage during a concert in Glendale, Ariz., he was cited for speeding on a Los Angeles freeway and Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators questioned the singer after he reportedly scuffled with paparazzi who tried to photograph him and then-girlfriend Selena Gomez as they left a movie theater.
"What he's going through ultimately is just the passage of adulthood and to go through that with this kind of scrutiny — it's hard," said Bill Werde, the editorial director of Billboard. "He's going to have to decide if he wants that or not. He's going to have to decide if he can handle the sort of bad that comes with the good."
Both Carter and Wahlberg are reluctant to give advice to Bieber simply because when they were in his position, they wouldn't have listened.
"The facts are that he's going to do what he wants to do," Carter said. "What happened to me when I was that age was the same thing — it's power. Your parents are telling you, 'Please don't do this, please don't do that' and you're looking at them going, 'Who are you? I am me.'"