President Donald Trump may want Americans to think that Democrats are the ones holding up an immigration deal to protect DACA beneficiaries — but Republican partisanship is the real culprit.
House Republicans may have a bill — sponsored by Virginia Rep. Chairman Bob Goodlatte — ready to go to address Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals beneficiaries; his proposal is being pushed by many powerful House Republicans. According to the bill, which is unlikely to receive any Democratic support, according to Politico, was developed by GOP members of Congress from a number of factions within the party, including House Freedom Caucus conservative Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas and Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., who's running for Sen. Jeff Flake's seat later this year.
The Goodlatte version of the bill would increase border security and immigration enforcement as well as require verification of workers, according to CNN. It would even more conservative than the Senate version of the bill supported by Republicans John Cornyn of Texas, and Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The Senate bill would replace the visa lottery program with alternatives like temporary protected status and eliminate chain migration, although not for everybody as Trump has requested, according to Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., during a Sunday appearance on "This Week."
The fate of Goodlatte's bill is uncertain. House Speaker Paul Ryan has not yet committed to a vote on the bill, perhaps because the conservative measure won't get the bipartisan support that Ryan repeatedly stated was a prerequisite for any DACA legislation. The bill is also hindered by the fact that it would be very unlikely to pass in the Senate, where Republicans only have a 51-49 majority over Democrats. Finally, the bill's prospects are dampened by the fact that senators from both parties were able to reach a deal to create a path to citizenship for individuals would benefit from DACA — that is, the so-called Dreamers who came to the United States illegally when they were children.
Still, Trump blamed Democrats for his bill's failures.
"Well, I don’t think the — honestly, I don’t think the Democrats want to make a deal," Trump told reporters before a dinner with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "I think they talk about DACA, but they don’t want to help the DACA people."
He added, "I think you have a lot of sticking points, but they're all Democrat sticking points, because we are ready, willing, and able to make a deal, but they don’t want to. They don't want security at the border. We have people pouring in. They don’t want security at the border, and they don’t want to stop drugs. And they want to take money away from our military, which we cannot do. So those are some of the sticking points."
Trump reiterated these points on Twitter throughout the weekend.
Yet the bipartisan Senate deal also has an uncertain future. In part this is because House conservatives are worried that Ryan will try to force a more moderate Senate deal on them, reviving many of the political wounds that played a role in House Speaker John Boehner being driven out of his leadership position in 2015. That said, the difficulties can also be attributed to Trump denouncing the Senate plan as a "step backwards."
Trump has repeatedly mischaracterized the DACA program in the past, such as by depicting it as intended to keep unsafe immigrants out of the United States.
"The DACA program, it's something that you need to be not a criminal to receive DACA. Like, you literally have to pass an extreme background check and you need to do it every two years. So if it any point you committed a crime within the two years you had DACA and reapplied again, that is taken away from you," Pamela Chomba, northeast organizing director for FWD.us, told Salon in September.


(CNS): Despite the damning public criticism of the members of the Constitutional Commission by the country’s leader, the commissioners will be going ahead with their public meetings in order to continue their research into how government and the constitution are working, how politicians are advised and what changes people want to see, if any, to the constitution to achieve the goal of good governance. Although Premier McKeeva Bush, derided comments made by Wil Pineau and Julene Banks about the advisory district council law and the current North Side advisory council, the teamis starting its public meetings in that district as planned, unperturbed by the comments.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly last month, Bush said their poor performance was embarrassing as they had “gotten so far adrift” from their “real role”. He accused them of misusing their position and trying to influence public opinion.
I was at the meeting in North Sidelast night.
The members of the Constitutional Commision were very professional with providing for this important forum for education about our Contitution. Especially in seeking input from the audience and providing answers to questions.
Mr. Miller also contributed greatly.
The Premier would do well to watch such proceedings….with a willingness to learn how to behave more professionally….more like a proper Statesman!
Based upon what I understand the district commissioners are to be appointed and not elected. I don’t think another level of elected official is necessary in such a small electorate.
Ezzard acted prematurely and on his own to "elect" the North side commissioners and as usual it was "Ezzard’s way".
Listening to Steve McField explain the constitution’s description of the district commissioners makes it clear to me they were not intended to be another layer of elected politician.
If the constitution intended for the district commissioners to be elected then a description of the election process and length of term would have been included.
Hmmm… There is no surprise to me at all that Will see’s the immediate need for this consultation with the Caymanian people. This is in no way a time for joking,but i must say it is inspiring to see Will pro-active vs the frame of the champion of the chamber & the notorious puzzled look. Well Will, Mac isn’t happy at all & a scrutinized government isn’t his favorite dish,by far. Will the applause is building if you can hear it,but for a thunderous roar,tighten a few more threads down on exploited immigration.
"He said they were indicating their support for the MLA for North Side while opposing the UDP government."
Well, that just about says it. Pardon me for informing the Premier and pardon the Commissioners for doing the same….but…..as Mr. Miller is a duly elected representative of his constituency he is… by all accounts…. part of the government. And it is not as the Premier wished His government or a UDP government. It was elected by the people in a democratic country to carry out Their wishes not as he again wished… his wishes.
Wish he didn’t need those reminders.
I will try to be at whatever meetings I can attend no matter what district because ……whatever happens anywhere on this island affects me and I want to be informed and have a voice…Thank you Commissioners. BTW Does Mac Dicktator ever read all the negative comments about him? For sure this would make any idiot realise he is not as popular and well-liked as he thinks he is. Oh I forgot, he’s the one who didn’t finish school and probably can’t read. What a tragedy for a premier…what a tragedy for these islands, what a tragedy for the Mother Country…Take it on Commissioners…. we are with you all the way.
Well aint that that pot callin the kettle, LMAO! Keep up the good works commissioners, you seem to be the only ones listening to the people and understanding their wishes right now!
Excellent – I will attend 19 May meeting in my district and encourage all Caymanians and residents to do the same.
Well done – please don’t be bullied. We all need to stand firm against the current dictatorship otherwise we are in danger of becoming another Cuba or similar to several middle Eastern countries who are currently fighting for freedom.
Stand firm Commissioners. You would have heard from the various radio talk shows that you have the support of Mr. Miller, Mr. McLean, Mr. Clifford and others. So you have men of courage behind you to fight the tyrant. Go Commissioners !!!
Hello Freedom Commissioners,you have taken on a worthy yet unthankful task, may you succeed in your endeavours, but frankly you need to broaden your audience.
The venues you are soliciting the public to are venues not accessible to a majority of the people and give your efforts a smell of onlyappealing to a certain level of the society.
What about areas like George Town Central, Rock Hole, Windsor Park Le Bush North West Point etc etc. etc. One may argue that if people want to know they will come, but there is a contra argument and that is if you want to inform and educate the public and fully engage them in discussion, then there must be additional steps to do so..
If you have advertised elsewhere that you are going to take steps for a further outreach, then I stand corrected. If not , food for thought.
Let Freedom Ring, from the Furthest corner of Grand Cayman to the highest point of our Sister Islands.. Let Freedom ring in our Schools. Let Freedom Truly ring.
Long LIve the Cayman Islands, Long LIve Her Majesty the Queen.
Thank you Commissioners. You have our unwavering support !
We the people want elected district councils and WE want single member constituences without any further delay !!!
The Constitutional Commissioners are to be commended. They have my respect for pursuing what is right in the face of bullying.
I am one Caymanian that has had enough of one man rule. Open discussion of the Constitutional aspects of the festering problems of this country are required in order for us to rid ourselves of despots and patronage.


Here’s Rep. Chris Lee (D) from Hawaii standing in front of a camera and making an announcement about steps being taken to combat the “predatory behavior” of video game publishers, with particular emphasis given to Electronic Arts and its inclusion of loot boxes within Battlefront II.
And I mean particular emphasis: the video is titled “EA predatory behavior announcement”, and Lee specifically calls out Battlefront II, labelling it a “Star Wars-themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending money”.
People are more powerful than they think. While we are stepping up to act in Hawaii, we have also been in discussions with our counterparts in a number of other states who are also considering how to address this issue. Change is difficult at the federal level, but states can and are taking action.
Even so, elected officials can’t do it alone. They need your support and you can compel action wherever you live by calling and emailing your own state legislators and asking them to act. But don’t stop there. Call your allies. Call your pastors and teachers and community leaders. Ask them to call your state legislators as well. Their voices are politically powerful.
I believe this fight can be won because all the key bases of political support across the country are on the same side. The religious community, the medical community, the education community, consumer advocates, parents, even many business leaders and local chambers of commerce. This is a fight that unites everyone, even the most polarized conservatives and progressives. Doing something is a political win for Democrats and Republicans alike. And frankly, we don’t need to change the laws in every state - we just need to change a few and it will be enough to draw the line and compel change.
These kinds of lootboxes and microtransactions are explicitly designed to prey upon and exploit human psychology in the same way casino games are so designed. This is especially true for young adults who child psychologists and other experts explain are particularly vulnerable. These exploitive mechanisms and the deceptive marketing promoting them have no place in games being marketed to minors, and perhaps no place in games at all.
Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one. You have the power to get involved and decide this and the choice is clear: stand up now, or let this be the new normal from this point forward.
One state introducing measures to combat loot boxes—seen by many, and an increasing number of official bodies, as a form of gambling—wouldn’t make too big of a difference in the global scheme of things, but if “a number of other states” from the US were to possibly join forces, as Lee is suggesting, that would be a different story.
Lee’s proposal would see legislation introduced in Hawaii that would prohibit the sale of games featuring loot boxes to minors, and believes “these issues should be addressed before this becomes the norm for every game”. He also mentions “prohibiting different kinds of mechanisms” within games.
It’s worth remembering that this is simply a preliminary announcement. But it’s still a sign that after all the protests over the game’s payment and progression systems amongst its target audience, there may be genuine cause for action at a legislative level as well.


A small, subdued house in Minneapolis here has won resounding applause from students of Prairie School architecture. The Purcell-Cutts House opened to the public this fall after four years of restoration by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the architectural firm of MacDonald & Mack.
"The spaces of that house, particularly the living room, I consider to be the epitome of the Prairie movement," said David Gebhard, a professor of architectural history at the University of California in at Santa Barbara.
The house was designed in 1913 by two ardent and prolific practitioners of the Prairie style, William Gray Purcell of Chicago and his Scottish-born partner, George Grant Elmslie, who were colleagues of Frank Lloyd Wright. "Purcell was a delightfully whimsical man," Dr. Gebhard said. Without taking itself too seriously, the Purcell-Cutts House is a little sermon on the Prairie style, reaching its ideological climax in the living room and dining room. In this 50-foot-long split-level space, the dining room is poised over the sunken living room like the prow of a boat.
"It is the most sophisticated and subtle part of the building," said Dr. Michael Conforti, chief curator at the museum.
Mr. Purcell and his family briefly occupied the house. In 1917, they moved to Philadelphia, and the house was sold in 1919 to the Anson Cutts family, the only other occupants. When Anson Cutts Jr. turned the keys over to the institute in 1985, with an endowment for restoration, the museum became the caretaker of a rare, unadulterated specimen from the Prairie School's heyday.
But the house was in "fairly desperate" condition, with structural problems and 75 years of grime, said Stuart MacDonald, the project supervisor. The biggest challenge was returning its faded color schemes and stencilwork to their original, subtle and at times whimsical glory.
As obsessed as Prairie Style architects were with spatial relationships, they were equally enthralled with the play of natural light on painted surfaces and with colorful decorative motifs in glass, grillwork, murals and stenciling that amplified but did not overwhelm their spaces. Mr. Elmslie is now recognized as the Prairie School sage of color and organic detailing. To revitalize these decorative elements, Alec Wilson, another Scotsman, was called into service.
The plaster walls in the living room and dining room have now been returned to their original dusky rose. The oak floors have been treated with a lavender grain filler and then beeswax so that they have a pearly lavender-gray cast. Panels of leaded glass windows on the east, west and south walls make these rooms a sanctuary for morning and evening light.
The house is a lesson in the difficulty of making one's ideals jibe with reality. Mr. Purcell, in keeping with the Prairie School philosophy, believed strongly in improving the lot of the average family with a style of native organic American architecture that was also affordable.
The unpretentious house is very much in keeping with Mr. Purcell's aim, except that its painstaking details absorbed a substantial amount of money. In 1913, at a time when the average house cost about $3,000 to build, Mr. Purcell's cost $14,500.
The Purcell-Cutts house, at 2328 Lake Place, is open the second Saturday of each month from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. Reservations can be made by calling the Minneapolis Institute of Arts at (612) 870-3131. Admission is free. Special tours can be arranged for a fee two weeks in advance by calling (612) 870-3140.


The first tech event of 2017 is also the year's biggest: CES arrives the first week of January, and like a tardy Santa Claus, it bestows the world with the gift of new consumer tech of every kind — phones, cars, TVs, drones, VR — you name it.
Looked at another way, CES tends to catapult new devices and technologies at the world like enormous gobs of spaghetti. The thing about spaghetti, though, is not much of it will stick. A large portion of the gadgets, gear and concepts shown at CES will never make it to store shelves, as cool as some of them may be.
Still, while many of the devices and gear on display may be suspect on an individual basis, taken in aggregate, they point the way for the industry (and its many sub-industries). CES doesn't create tech trends on its own, but it solidifies existing ones and focuses them by refracting them through a common lens: the consumer.
The rewards of Amazon's early lead in the smart-home war will become apparent at CES 2017 as companies announce several products with Alexa integration. This trend began with last year's show, but after the most high-profile announcement — Samsung's Smart Fridge — turned out be vaporware, things stalled for a while.
However, with Nest floundering, Google Home coming late, and other big players like Apple staying more or less silent (HomeKit has surprisingly little buzz in advance of the show), Amazon had no serious challengers, and the partners have come calling. Expect Alexa-powered light bulbs and lamps, loudspeakers, smart locks, sprinklers, and even apps to be all over CES. Yes, Google Home will also get some love, but it'll be a drop in the Alexa bucket.
CES could fill an encyclopedia with all the jargon that gets thrown around, but there's always one white-hot term that every company wants to include in its sales pitch. In previous years, the crown was worn by "4K," "smart" everything, "4G," and even "satellite radio," but the early winner for CES 2017 looks to be "AI."
Artificial intelligence apparently isn't just the domain of the big platform stewards like Facebook and Google — at CES, we'll see that wearables, sensors, cars and more can all be AI-powered. Of course, for many of these products, it'll just be hype. But the ones that can truly deliver a better experience by leveraging the power of AI could change the game for their categories.
Driverless tech and alternative fuels were the big story of last year's show. Although they'll both play a big part at CES 2017 (Faraday Future once again has a big reveal on day one), this year car companies will have to go beyond those now-expected technologies to wow audiences. It looks like they're doing just that — mostly by turning attention to the car's interior.
Concept vehicles, imagined for the driverless future, will be on display, as will some driver-centric technologies for the here and now. Think: windshields with heads-up displays (HUDs) and more connected-car gadgets similar to Automatic. Whatever the exact product is, you can bet it'll claim to be AI-powered.
From ransomware to creepy nanny cams, the very public hacks of the past several months have shone a light on the state of security for smart devices — and it looks really bad. In response, a new class of "privacy gadget" has arisen, typically a device that you plug into your home router that promises to safeguard your digital comings and going from prying eyes.
For other kinds of devices — especially ones that have anything to do with children — security features will have newfound prominence as well as, hopefully, ease of use.
2016 wasn't a a great year for wearables. There was weak progress from the Big Three (Apple, Google and Samsung), Pebble fell, and fitness mainstays Fitbit and Jawbone began to wither. That won't stop wearable tech from being everywhere at CES 2017, but most of it will be more of the same — poor man's copycats of the big players or single-purpose gadgets with no hope of capturing the mainstream.
The one exception is wearables for kids. By their nature, wearables don't require the same expensive tech as other mobile devices (like smartphones), plus the user interfaces are typically very simple. From a tech standpoint, that makes them perfect for children, and the single-purpose idea is a strength in this case: a wearable can help teach a basic skill (step counting is just math, after all) or good habits (like toothbrushing technique). Just as long as they don't forget security (see above).
There are a lot of options for mobile VR (Samsung's Gear VR and Google Daydream View among them), but for a "high end" experience like Oculus or Vive, you'll still need a tricked-out gaming PC. The thing is, not everyone who's into VR wants a big tower on or underneath their desk. Enter the gaming laptop.
Gaming laptops have been a thing for a while, but you could probably count the number of them offered out of the box on one hand. At CES, the field will expand dramatically, with graphics-intensive — and VR-ready — PCs debuting from several well-known manufacturers. And since these babies prioritize performance over form factor, they're going to be chunky.
On the other side of the VR coin, it's no secret the industry is working desperately for a high-end VR experience that's truly mobile — which is to say, doesn't tether your head to a PC. Intel has already announced such a device in Project Alloy, and it'll have a big presence at CES. Expect a fistful of smaller companies to vie for a piece of the stand-alone VR action with headsets of their own, though who knows if they'll be able to ship them before Oculus and Vive start selling their solutions.
Pokémon Go showed the world the potential of augmented reality, and tech companies have seen its success as a siren call. From devices to gadgets to full-on platforms, everyone with something to contribute to AR will be at CES 2017. Don't expect to actually see the next Pokémon Go — that phenomenon had more to do with the franchise IP than the actual AR experience — but you'll probably see the tech that powers whatever follows in its virtual footsteps.
Wireless audio has been with us for a long time, but the last several months have seen the sudden rise of wireless earbuds — earphones with no cords at all, not even one connecting the two sides. It's not a new concept; models like the Bragi Dash were winning CES awards years ago and Sennheiser pioneered the idea back in the day with the MX W1. What's changed is that Apple's AirPods and the ongoing Headphone Jack Saga™ have validated the form factor, not to mention given the category a high price tag. For CES exhibitors, that's the equivalent of blood in the water.
CES is traditionally a big TV show — and a show about big TVs — although the room for innovation in the category has gotten very slim. Everything is 4K now, high dynamic range (the hot display tech from CES 2016) is common, and the race for the biggest screen got old a decade ago. Ultra-thin OLED displays can still wow, but they'll be pretty much limited to LG's models. And curved? Please!
The story of TVs at CES 2017 won't be the tech as much as who's making it. Chinese brands like Hisense, LeEco and TCL have had a presence at the show for a while, but this looks to be their breakout year, with several major events, and product lineups that compete on tech and price. If you've been holding out for a 4K TV, this could be your lucky year.


LiAngelo Ball will try to break into the NBA after a tumultuous season in which he was suspended by the UCLA basketball team for a shoplifting incident in China, left the program and played professionally in Lithuania.
LiAngelo Ball has submitted the necessary paperwork to become eligible for the 2018 NBA draft, his agent, Harrison Gaines, confirmed to USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt on Tuesday.
Ball will attempt to join his older brother, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo, in the league after a tumultuous season in which he was suspended by the UCLA basketball team for an international shoplifting incident, left the program and played professionally in Lithuania.
Ball is expected to participate in the Professional Basketball Combine May 22-23 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. That is a secondary event for players showcasing their skills in front of NBA, G-League and international executives and scouts, and it follows the NBA-sponsored draft combine May 16-20 in Chicago.
Ball has averaged 15.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in nine league games for Lithuanian team Vytautas Prienu this season while playing alongside his younger brother, LaMelo.
After starring at Chino Hills High School in California, Ball enrolled at UCLA but never appeared in a regular-season game after a shoplifting incident in China. The 19-year-old and two of his teammates were arrested in Hangzhou, China, for stealing sunglasses and other items from high-end stores. All three players were subsequently suspended by the team.
Ball's father, LaVar, grew frustrated by the length of the suspension, pulled his son out of school and encouraged him to sign a professional contract overseas. LaVar Ball has previously said he wants all three of his sons to play for the Lakers.
LiAngelo Ball's draft prospects are immediately unclear, but he is unlikely to be a first-round pick. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard is expected to work out for "several NBA teams" upon returning from Lithuania, according to Yahoo! Sports, which first reported the news.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad. Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.


BP Plc, seeking to avoid paying what it says would be billions of dollars in unjustified claims, will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a court order on a settlement tied to its 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
“No company would agree to pay for losses that it did not cause, and BP certainly did not when it entered into this settlement,” the company said in a statement announcing its intention to appeal an order forcing it to pay what it calls fictitious claims of spill-related damage.
The company asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans yesterday to freeze the disputed payments while an appeal of the claims process is pending. The court yesterday lifted an earlier halt on payments. BP said it could be “irreparably harmed” if payments were made before final resolution of the dispute.
BP settled with most private-party plaintiffs in 2012, initially estimating the cost of the agreement at $7.8 billion. The company contends a flawed interpretation by the claims administrator has raised the price to $9.2 billion or more.
The New Orleans appeals court this week rejected BP’s contention that the claims administrator was paying for economic losses that weren’t caused by the spill.
Lawyers for spill victims contend BP is experiencing “buyers’ remorse,” and the settlement didn’t require businesses to prove a direct link to the spill. Claims payments were based on a formula, primarily depending on distance from the spill, using sample periods before and after the event. Businesses in the areas covered by the settlement were assumed to have suffered because of the spill’s regional economic effects, according to court filings.
The appeal is In Re Deepwater Horizon, 13-30095, 13-30315, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans). The lower court case is In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, 10-md-02179, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).


Rediff.com » Movies » Is Ash more beautiful than the Mona Lisa?
Is Ash more beautiful than the Mona Lisa?
It seems Ram Gopal Varma is very impressed with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's beauty. The director compared Aishwarya with Mona Lisa. 'I think Aishwarya rai is a thousand times more beautiful than Mona lisa,' he tweeted.
Hubby Abhishek Bachchan was quick to reply. '@RGVzoomin guess what???? Me too!' he tweeted back.
Bollywood stars are shocked with the murder of veteran crime journalist Jyotindra Dey on Saturday. The stars used twitter to condemn the murder.
Celina Jaitly was also shocked. 'A senior crime reporter shot dead in Mumbai by underworld. What is the city coming to?' she posted.
Madhur Bhandarkar was stunned. 'I'm stunned and benumbed by the sad demise of J Dey a courageous crime journalist.. R.I.P,' he posted.
It has been pouring for days now leaving various parts of the country flooded and causing trouble to the civilians as well as Bollywood stars.
Raima Sen was struggling to finish her shoot in Kerala. 'Rain rain go away want to finish my scenes and go home to mumbaiiiiIi' she tweeted.
A tree collapsed in Dino Morea's garden. 'So half a tree collapses yet again in my garden. The rains and it's might. Chaos. Took down some cables too, not sure if it's Internet or tv,' he tweeted.
Abhishek Bachchan's area turned into a lake. 'the rains come down and juhu, the area i live in, has become a lake!!! water sports anyone?' he wrote.
Anupam Kher hates to travel in this weather. 'On my way to Cochin again. And it is raining like nobody's business. Hate to fly in such a weather. Chalo wish me a safe flight.:)' he updated.
Neetu Chandra ended damaging her passport in rain. 'My passport got damaged in the rains. Have to go to Vegas day after,' she tweeted.
A merchant ship that was being towed to Gujarat to be dismantled for scrap broke away, and is now stranded at the Juhu beach. The ship has become quite an attraction for locals as well as many Bollywood stars.
Amitabh Bachchan was the first to spread the news. 'Hey ! NEWS NEWS NEWS ... A huge cargo tanker ship has landed up on Juhu Beach and grounded there .. perhaps broke ankor in rough sea. Was on my way to dub at 10, and within half hour this happened ... massive cargo tanker right up on the JuHu Beach, the main one !! Goodness ! How will they ever remove it .. incredible sight to see .. this massive ship sitting right up on the main Juhu Beach,' he tweeted.
Madhur Bhandarkar shared a picture of the ship.
Gul Panag plans to have a look today. 'So will go to see the stranded ship in Juhu today. (hope I won't need to use my boat)' she tweeted.
Shakti Kapoor also posted a picture of the view of the ship from his house. 'That was d stranded ship frm my house.amazing' he tweeted.
Meet the girls in Khatron Ke Khiladi!
Will these people dance with Hrithik on TV?


Shares of coffee retailer Starbucks are trading lower on Friday after the company reported weaker-than-expected revenue for its second fiscal quarter of 2016. Revenue was up 9.4% compared to the year-ago quarter, reaching $4.99 billion. This was just barely shy of a consensus analyst estimate for revenue of $5.03 billion. Shares are down about 6% at the time of this writing.
But is the market overreacting? Here are 10 reasons why the company's results looked solid despite the market's pessimistic reaction.
9%: Starbucks' 9% year-over-year revenue growth wasn't slow by any means. Sure, it's slower than the company's nearly 14% year-over-year growth in the trailing 12 months before Q2, but in a market where many restaurants and retailers are struggling to grow revenue, it's still impressive.
18%: It's easier to forgive Starbucks' slight miss on its top line when you take into consideration how meaningfully the company's bottom line increased during the quarter. EPS was up 18% in Q2 compared to the year-ago quarter, and in line with analysts' expectations.
18% (again): Starbucks' expansion to China is looking like a hit. Revenues in the market were up 18% compared to the year ago quarter. And transactions in the market were up 5%.
6%: Global same-store sales were up 6%. This is a seriously solid metric. Food retailers have been struggling to grow comparable stores meaningfully lately, yet Starbucks continues to push the envelope.
7%: Same-store sales were up 7% in the U.S., highlighting Starbucks' consistent ability to get more bang for its buck at established stores even in its highly saturated U.S. market. For comparison, consider Dunkin' Brands comparable Dunkin' Donuts store sales decline in the U.S. of 0.8% in its most recent quarter, or its paltry 1.4% growth in the metric in the full year of 2015.
900,000 new members joined Starbucks Loyalty program during Q4, up 16% from the year-ago quarter and 8% sequentially. This brings total active users of the consumer goods giant's loyalty program to 12 million.
Starbucks app. Image source: Starbucks.
22%: Loyalty members are spending 22% more than they were in the year-ago quarter, continuing to highlight how engaged Starbucks customers using the company's mobile applications spend more money than average customers.
100%: Mobile order and mobile pay usage "doubled," year over year. This means Starbucks is processing 8 million mobile order and mobile pay transactions per month.
17.3%: Starbucks investors can bask in the company's ongoing improving profitability. The company's operating margin hit a record 17.3% in Q2, representing a 30 basis point improvement compared to the year-ago quarter.
$864 million: A record operating margin combined with the company's highest revenues of any non-holiday quarter drove record operating income of $864 million.
Despite the market's skittish response to Starbucks' second-quarter report, the company isn't giving investors any solid reason to sell. Indeed, a sell-off is making the stock look a bit more enticing.
The article Starbucks Corporation Earnings: 10 Reasons Results Were Solid originally appeared on Fool.com.
Daniel Sparks has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Starbucks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


I hope that got your attention.
When meeting with clients, many competent financial planners include four words in their discussion that might cause many people to cringe. Initially, clients hear the four words and assume the insurance product the words describe is not for them. This conclusion is often founded on historical perceptions that might not be completely accurate.
There are many benefits associated with the purchase of the insurance product described by the four words. Some benefits are underwritten by an insurance company and other benefits are ancillary to the product. In my opinion, the most important reason to purchase the product is because of the options available to you, the insured. Yes, there is an insurance product that can provide options because of the resources available to the insured under the terms of the contract.
The four dreaded words that many ignore until it is too late are "long-term care insurance."
For most people, thinking about the reasons for needing this product are not pleasant. The reasons may be disheartening, but if and when the risks become reality, most people would prefer to have options to manage their health care.
Typically, the benefits available with this product include home care, assisted-living services and nursing-home care. Home care and assisted-living care may be more valuable to you than nursing-home care. Hence, home care and assisted care are two of the valuable options available with the purchase of the product.
When you review product choices with your financial planner, the financial adviser should discuss the New York State Partnership program as one product offering. The program is not state-run. The product is underwritten by insurance companies, and the contract is between the insured and the insurance company. New York state developed the program along with some state-admitted insurance companies, and the product might be an excellent choice for many New Yorkers.
As distasteful as the circumstances underlying the four words may be, I encourage each of you to spend some time with your financial adviser to review the benefits associated with long-term care insurance.


The total tab for RSW operations will approach nearly $125.5 million, up 2.2 percent over this year.
Count on bigger crowds at the terminal: The early projection calls for more than 9 million passengers, up 5 percent over the 2017/2018 budget estimate.
None of your property tax dollars go to support the airport, ever. RSW gets its operating funds from rental rates and fees charged to airlines, and also takes a cut from sales of goods and services at the passenger terminal.
Lee County Port Authority’s 375-member workforce won’t grow.
Port authority employees will get raises. They’ll vary according to job performance, but should average out to about 3 percent over the fiscal year.
Authority Executive Director Jeff Mulder is paid just over $247,032. There’s no raise on his horizon until late December, when Lee County commissioners will review his performance.


About 20 survivors gathered at Pearl Harbor on Friday to pay tribute to the thousands of men lost in the Japanese attack 77 years ago.
They joined dignitaries, active duty troops and members of the public in observing a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the time the bombing began on Dec. 7, 1941.
John Mathrusse was an 18-year-old seaman second class walking out of the chow hall on Ford Island to see a friend on the USS West Virginia when the bombing began.
"The guys were getting hurt, bombs and shells going off in the water. I helped the ones that couldn't swim, who were too badly injured or whatever and helped them to shore," said Mathrusse, now 95.
Mathrusse, who traveled to Hawaii for the event from Mountain View, California, remembers carrying injured people to the mess hall and setting them on mattresses grabbed from the barracks above.
Robert Fernandez, who was assigned to the USS Curtiss, recalls being petrified.
"I was kind of nervous too. I was scared. I was 17. I went to go see the world. What did I get into? A war," he said.
The 94-year-old from Stockton, California returns for the annual remembrance each year because he's now alone after his wife died four years ago.
Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said the nation can never forget the heavy price paid on that day. He cited 21 vessels damaged or sunk, 170 planes destroyed, more than 2,400 people dead, including servicemen and civilians.
"Despite these losses, it did not break the American spirit. In fact, it charged it," he said in a keynote address.
The survivors are declining in number as they push well into their 90s, and are increasingly treated as celebrities. They say people ask for their autographs and request to take photos and selfies with them.
"I am given a lot of attention and honor. I shake hands continuously," said Tom Berg, who lives in Port Townsend, Washington. Berg, who is 96, served on the USS Tennessee.
This year, no survivor from the USS Arizona attended the ceremony as none of the men were able to make the trip to Hawaii.
The Arizona sank after two bombs hit the ship, triggering tremendous explosions. The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, the greatest number of casualties from any ship. Most remain entombed in the sunken hull of the battleship at the bottom of the harbor.
Dozens of those killed in the attack have been recently identified and reburied in cemeteries across the country after the military launched a new effort to analyze bones and DNA of hundreds long classified as "unknowns."
In 2015, 388 sets of remains were exhumed from the USS Oklahoma and buried in a national cemetery in Honolulu. The Oklahoma had the second-highest number of dead after the Arizona at 429, though only 35 were identified in the immediate years after the attack.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has identified 168 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma since the exhumations three years ago. It has said it expects to identify about 80 percent of the 388 by 2020.
Several families were scheduled to rebury their newly identified loved ones on Friday, including Navy Seaman 1st Class William Bruesewitz of Appleton, Wisconsin.
His remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.


Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fears UEFA could be "scared" to force clubs to comply with the new financial fair play regulations.
UEFA are due to implement the system for the 2013-14 season, which will give them the right to ban teams from Champions League or Europa League participation if they continue to spend more than they earn.
With the Court of Arbitration for Sport set to hear the dispute between UEFA and Swiss club FC Sion, who responded to their exclusion from the Europa League by mounting a civil action, Wenger believes such litigation could eventually soften the stance of the European governing body, saying: "I am less optimistic about that than I was a year ago about it coming in."
He added: "When it comes in, it depends on with what kind of rules. I am not sure completely that UEFA has completely worked out all the rules that will make it work.
"UEFA has been challenged by the Sion case when they excluded them and it looks like they are scared they could be challenged by the big clubs if they bring it in by force.
"I am not sure they will be capable of imposing it. I am hoping they are because I am a big fan of it, but I am less convinced than a year ago."
Chelsea believes that for the club to continue to grow, they must one day move from Stamford Bridge to a larger stadium, much like Arsenal did when leaving Highbury for the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium in 2005.
Under the current regulations and bankrolled by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Wenger feels Chelsea - whom his side face in west London on Saturday - can remain at the top.
"The responsibility of people who work for a club is not only to win games but get the club to a better level and prepare for the future. The stadium is part of that," said the Arsenal boss.
"They still can [fulfil their potential] because at the moment they have a chairman who can compensate for the loss they have in the stands. As long as they have that, it will not be a problem. But the day they will have to live with their national resources, the size of the stadium can become a problem."


The floor plans for the presidential palace, the interior ministry and Paris' police headquarters were stolen.
The floor plans for the French president's Elysée Palace, the country's interior ministry and the Paris police headquarters were recently stolen from a contractor's car in Paris.
"The plans on a USB drive and discs had been given to a building contractor hired to install fibre optic cabling for video surveillance in the sensitive sites," writes The Telegraph's Henry Samuel. "Thieves made off with the plans after the contractor left them in his vehicle when he briefly parked it at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris to pick up a friend. Despite their sensitive nature, none of the blueprints were encrypted, making them easy to read or copy by any user."
"A statement from the Interior Ministry admitted that the information included layout plans for the Elysée, the ministry itself and several large companies," The Connexion reports. "Le Parisien, which revealed the theft, said that information on more than 9,000 buildings was included on the memory stick and hard drives. "
"Those plans are now in the hands of thieves, but it is not known whether it was a targeted swipe or an opportunistic crime," writes The Register's Anna Leach. "Still, if the crooks choose to look through the USB drive it won't be too hard for them to find the unencrypted, easily readable plans."


Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he was not one of the two individuals in a yearbook photograph showing one person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam denied on Saturday that he was one of the two individuals in a yearbook photograph showing one person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe.
Northam was sure, he said, because he'd remembered darkening his face on another occasion in his 20s.
During his Saturday news conference to address the growing controversy over the racist photograph, which was listed beneath his name in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook, Northam detailed using shoe polish to make his face darker during a dance contest where he dressed up as Michael Jackson.
"My belief that I did not wear that costume or attend that party stems in part from my clear memory of other mistakes that I made in the same period of my life," Northam explained. "That same year, I did participate in a dance contest in San Antonio in which I darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume."
Northam said looking back, he regretted "that I did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that" and added he spoke with a friend, a person of color named Seth, about his actions and why they were so hurtful.
He was asked specifically about this event and Northam detailed using polish to make his face darker and winning the contest.
"I had the shoes, I had a glove and I used just a little bit of shoe polish to put under, or on my cheeks," Northam said, using his fingers to show where he smeared the polish on his face. "The reason I used a very little bit is because, I don't know if anybody has ever tried that, but you cannot get shoe polish off."
He went on to say that he won the dance contest in San Antonio, Texas, because of his moonwalking skills.
"I dressed up... Michael Jackson ... I had the shoes, I had a glove, and I used just a little bit of shoe polish to put on my cheeks... It was a dance contest. I had always liked Michael Jackson. I actually won the contest because I had learned how to do the moonwalk."
Later, a reporter asked him about the contest and whether he could still do the moonwalk. Northam looked around as though he might demonstrate, smiled and then was cut off by his wife who told him it was "inappropriate circumstances."
More: Virginia's governor won't resign over blackface, KKK photo. What's next?
Northam used the news conference to say he would not resign despite demands from a growing chorus of prominent Republicans and Democrats. He also rescinded an earlier apology where he acknowledged he was one of the two people in the 1984 photo, instead now claiming that he'd never seen the yearbook or that specific photo before it was publicized on Friday.
While making a denial that he noted many voters in Virginia may not believe, the admission that Northam had darkened his face in the past on a different occasion did not sit well with many.
Immediately after the news conference was over, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez issued a statement calling for Northam's ousting.
"It's time for Ralph Northam to step aside and let Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax serve Virginians as their next Governor," he said in a statement.
Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton called on lawmakers in the state to remove him from office and said his "excuse" about dressing up as Michael Jackson showed his "mentality" toward the issue.
"I think he further damaged himself," Sharpton said on MSNBC. "And since he loves Michael, he should go back to the mansion and play 'Beat It' and start packing."


Britain rejected Venezuela’s request to withdraw $1.2bn in gold stored in the UK, according to reports. It was enough for the self-declared and US-backed ‘president’, Juan Guaido, to support the alleged move.
The Bank of England blocked Venezuela’s attempts to retrieve $1.2 billion worth of gold stored as the nation’s foreign reserves in Britain, sources told Bloomberg on Friday.
According to the media outlet, officials in Caracas have for weeks been trying to withdraw the gold, with Calixto Ortega, the head of Venezuela’s central bank, traveling to London in mid-December to seek access to the nation’s assets.
The talks were “unsuccessful,” as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the national security advisor to President Donald Trump, John Bolton, pressured their British counterparts to freeze the Venezuelan assets, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
By some estimates, Venezuela holds more than $8 billion in foreign reserves. According to earlier reports, the amount of Venezuelan gold kept in the Bank of England doubled in recent months, growing from 14 to 31 tons.
The Bank of England, along with press officials for Pompeo and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, declined to comment.
Despite the fact that the story was not confirmed, the alleged move of the British bank was swiftly praised by the self-proclaimed ‘interim president’ of Venezuela.
“The process of protecting the assets of Venezuela has begun,” Juan Guaido tweeted.
Guaido, the speaker of the national parliament, declared himself ‘interim president’ of the state earlier with week in opposition to Maduro. He was subsequently recognized as the “legitimate” leader of Venezuela by the US, Canada, and the majority of South American nations.
Maduro was backed by states like Mexico, Russia, China, and Turkey. He slammed the US for endorsing Guaido, ordering its diplomats to leave the county.
Moscow said it will continue to recognize Maduro as the sole democratically-elected leader of the country and called on others to not allow “destructive foreign interference” in Venezuelan affairs.
Venezuela has seen a series of large-scale anti-government protests in recent years. Some of them spiraled into riots and clashes with police. Nicolas Maduro blasted “foreign interference” as a source behind the unrest, while in particular accusing US officials of endorsing the rallies and Washington of planning to overthrow him. The anti-government protests were met with counter-demonstrations by Maduro supporters.


Digital Shoreditch 2013: London's Tech City is the UK's "economy of tomorrow"
Digital Shoreditch, a celebration of the creative, entrepreneurial, and technological talent in East London's Tech City, kicked off this morning at Shoreditch Town Hall with an opening keynote from Hackney councillor Guy Nicholson.
Nicholson delivered his remarks in the venue's main assembly hall, which was colourfully decked out and resembled the main stage of a music festival more than it did a traditional tech conference. Focusing on the future of Tech City, Nicholson said that the rapid development of the technology sector represented the biggest economic change in the UK since the rise of industry in the 1700s.
"We are in the process of seeing a new economy emerge – an economy which, if one really does look quite hard at it, is the economy of tomorrow, as we move out of an industrial era and into a tech era," he commented.
According to the Labour counsellor, the government's role is to ensure that London's tech economy has the support it needs to continue to grow. He pointed to the tax exemptions enjoyed by startups and the £50 million government investment in Tech City as examples of how local authorities "can be the tool for all of us, to enable all of us."
It follows that the successes of East London's vibrant tech community are beginning to create a ripple effect for the area as a whole, with education in particular standing to benefit from an increased demand for skills - initiatives like the Google and Seatwave-backed Dev Camp for youngsters last summer immediately sprung to mind.
"This economy brings with it some great, great opportunities....opportunities not just for the few, but for the many," Nicholson noted.
He continued: "This idea of for the many and not just for the few: yes, of course we all wish to profit from our endeavours. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But how is it we reinvest that profit back into our endeavours?"
Going forward, Nicholson spoke of the importance of uniting London's Silicon Roundabout hub with other key tech spaces across the UK - like those found in Newcastle-Gateshead, Manchester, and Bristol. He also spoke of collaboration on a global scale, citing Austin, Brooklyn, Barcelona and Bordeaux as examples of creative communities that shared Tech City's vision.
"We can create the most extraordinary opportunities...The East End is a place of innovation - it always has been," Nicholson added.
Digital Shoreditch is set to run until 31 May and features more than 500 workshops and 20 interactive rooms, as well as a host of networking opportunities. Follow the link to find out more, or simply stay tuned - we'll be bringing you more great developments from Shoreditch Town Hall shortly.


Fashion designers like Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Ronaldus Shamask have made clothes from Junichi Arai's fabrics. Interior designers have turned his fabric into canopies. But for Mr. Arai, 58 years old, textiles are not just functional materials but also a medium for art. Mr. Arai, Japan's pre-eminent textile designer, has woven silk to look like a gossamer spider's web and, using computer-aided technology, has woven wool and nylon to make fabric with squares on one side and triangles on the other.
''It used to be that the finest fabric was silk,'' Mr. Arai said, ''but natural fibers will be changed by technology.'' He is working with a nylon-coated polyester that can be made into raincoats weighing less than four ounces. His fabrics, $25 to $125 a yard, are sold through decorators in the Ilana Goor showroom, the Designers & Decorators Building, 979 Third Avenue at 60th Street.


Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a problem affecting millions of individuals, with a prevalence rate of 28% to 30% for women (Cobia, Sobansky, & Ingram, 2004) and 14% for men (Breire & Elliott, 2003). Because of the psychological trauma associated with CSA and the potential impact on the survivor’s sexuality, a couple’s relationship satisfaction may be reduced and survivors may experience difficulty in maintaining healthy intimate relationships. How CSA impacts an individual has been studied extensively, but its effect on committed couple relationships has received much less attention in the literature. Additionally, very few studies have incorporated the non-abused partner’s perspective in the relationship and no current research has been reported on healthy couples with a history of CSA. The following is a qualitative research study exploring how eight couples reporting average to above average dyadic functioning and a history of CSA with one partner, show resiliency in overriding the potential negative impacts of CSA on their relationship. The experiences of healthy couples were studied through a phenomenological approach, gathering data from both partners using dyadic interviews in a semi-structured format.
The major findings in this study include the following themes: (a) the impact of childhood sexual abuse on intimate relationships; (b) developing and sustaining trust; (c) developing and sustaining communication/working through conflict; (d) developing and sustaining sexual intimacy; and (e) overcoming the impact of CSA. Discussion of the findings includes comparison to existing research on CSA and couple functioning, suggested future research, clinical implications including how psychotherapists could improve therapy with couples in which one member experienced CSA, and limitations of the study.
Doane, Brian C., "The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Qualitative Analysis of Healthy `Couples’ Perceptions" (2015). Dissertations. 737.


CHIANG MAI, THAILAND — A 25-year-old Canadian tourist in Thailand suffered a fatal accident after his zip line snapped causing him to drop 12 meters and fall down a hill, according to The Bangkok..
Students at a Queens elementary school will be greeted by grief counselors Thursday after a tragic accident took the life of one of their classmates. CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas reports from Queens.
Lyft shares have fallen 30% since the stock first hit the market in late March, and they've fallen 11% from the company's first closing price. But this kind of volatile trading isn't uncommon for newly..
Lyft shares have fallen 30% since the stock first hit the market in late March. Business Insider reports the company's fallen 11% from the company's first closing price. Volatile trading isn't uncommon..
Winona Ryder and John Turturro and five others were cast in David Simon’s upcoming HBO miniseries, “The Plot Against America.” Simon and Ed Burns are adapting the six-part miniseries from the..
Levi's Versus Lululemon: What's More Popular?
The death of denim isn't upon us--yet. Or, at least, that's what some investors can take away from Real Money's Stock of the Day, Levi's , earnings beat. in its first earnings report since it IPO'd,..
Jenna Bush Hager marked the one year anniversary of the death of her grandmother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, with a sweet tribute on social media.
Pinterest, one of this year’s more notable initial public offering “unicorns,” got its first bullish review from Wall Street.
Who Is Tiger Woods' Girlfriend Erica Herman?


Even before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured last Friday, people have been quick to assign blame for the explosions in Boston, assuaging their fears by holding someone responsible.
The goal was to eschew radicalism by pointing out that “Muslims view ‘Islamic extremists’ the same way most Christians view the Westboro Baptist Church.” However, Muslims abroad and at home were also worried that Islamic involvement would incite the waves of Islamophobic attacks we saw after Park51, the community center in Lower Manhattan, was announced.
They wouldn't have to wait long for an answer. The day after the attack professional Islamophobe Pamela Geller was already trying to pin Boston on Muslims, labelling the act one of violent “jihad.” When @EliClifton attempted to call her out for being a bigot, Geller tweeted back that the “blood [is] on your hands.” According to Geller, anyone who tries to defend Muslims is as responsible as they are.
Sadly, her logic reflected the harsh reality of police profiling after the Boston attacks. A New Yorker article detailed the way one runner’s apartment was torn apart by the FBI while his neighbors watched, helpless to stop it. The man’s body was ripped to shreds by the explosion, a victim like many others that day.
What made him different from the others who were also treated in the hospital? What made him a suspect? He was Saudi.
This is the new culture of internment for Muslims. Despite being a citizen, Tsarnaev won’t even be read his Miranda rights, and some are using his citizenship to argue for stricter immigration laws. We are trying to systemically take away the few rights he has as a criminal, those allegedly offered to everyone guilty of a crime in the United States. You can tell a lot about a people by how they treat those they perceive as their enemies.
What does Islamophobia say about us? On Tuesday, a plane departing from Logan Airport in Boston was delayed after two of the passengers began to speak Arabic to each other. The following day, still two days prior to Tsarnaev’s capture, a Bangladeshi man was jumped outside of an Applebee’s and a Palestinian woman was assaulted in Medford, Mass.
While she was walking down the street with her friend, a white man came up to Hema Abolaban, a local physician, and started harassing her. He shouted, “F*** you Muslims! You are terrorists! I hate you! You are involved in the Boston explosions!” He then punched Abolaban and kept insulting her as he walked away.
Abolaban claims that she didn’t say anything back to him, which is understandable. What do you say to someone who believes that you’re capable of unimaginable crimes, including the death of an 8-year-old child, because of the simple fact of your religion? All Americans were Bostonians last week. Why couldn’t that include Muslims?
If the Tzarnaev brothers wanted to scare us, they hit us at the right time, when Americans are particularly vulnerable. We look at Congress’ inability to pass wildly popular gun control laws and feel powerless, the product of a broken system that no longer protects us. Every Boston is an affirmation of cultural pessimism, an empire in slow decline. Terrorists become ciphers for phantom neuroses we dare not name, and due to the role of Islamic extremism in 9/11, Islamophobia acts as the easy emotional shortcut for our feelings of loss.
Patton Oswalt echoed Rogers’ sentiments. Oswalt wrote, “You watch the videos of the carnage, and there are people running towards the destruction to help out.” For Oswalt, it’s a reminder to “look [evil] in the eye and think, ‘The good outnumber you, and we always will.’"
This is how the world begins again — when we remember we aren't alone in it.
Take Marie Roberts. After her husband gunned down five children in an Amish school in 2006, Roberts went to the victims’ families to seek forgiveness and grace. In doing so, Roberts found strangers she learned to call neighbors, families she learned to call friends and a community she could call home again. There was no going back, but in building a bridge over the destruction, their families figured out a way to move forward.
Instead of continuing to hold Muslims responsible, we should ask what what we do if the culprits were "one of us." How would we help? Would we reach out as Muslims have? Would we shut down a city to hold a candlelight vigil, as Tehran did to support Americans after 9/11? Instead of forcing a nation of Muslims to be accountable for two radicals, we must all take responsibility for Boston. Each of us must clean up the mess by working together as a force for good, building a more peaceful, loving world.
Instead of searching for enemies in the wreckage, we need to start creating allies. All around the world, Muslims are standing with us. It’s time to stand with them.


Marsh-front lot on over half an acre. Cleared and ready for you to build your dream home! Possible seller financing option.


Natural gas consumption is starting to decline in residential and commercial sectors in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Gas leaks have also declined in past years, but an explosion in East Harlem Wednesday that caused two buildings to collapse, seven fatalities, and many more injured or missing had residents concerned.
Authorities have said the cause of the explosion–which occurred right before investigators from Con Edison and firefighters got on scene–was likely due to a gas leak. There are reports of nearby residents who say they’ve been smelling gas for weeks, but no calls were made to Con Edison, 311, or 911 in that time period.
Recent reports released this year have pointed to the aging infrastructure and use of cast iron pipe mains as a problem. Authorities have not yet been able to pinpoint the cause of the the explosion.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an update to the incident noon Thursday that aging infrastructure is a challenge. “We know this is a fundamental challenge of New York City or any older city,” de Blasio said.
Natural gas is odorless, but companies like Con Edison add the chemical Mercaptan so customers who catch the “rotten-eggs” scent are alerted if there is a leak. New York State’s requirement is that the odor be detectable at 0.5 percent.
Con Edison spokesperson Sidney Alvarez says the danger threshold is when the gas is between 5-15 percent of the surrounding air. Below 5 percent or above 15 percent, the gas will not cause an explosion, he said.
Gas leaks are more pervasive than officials think, says Robert Jackson, who led a Duke University study on natural gas emissions.
The research team had examined the Washington, D.C. area over a two month period and found nearly 6,000 leaks of methane, the main component of natural gas. Dozens of the leaks could have caused explosions, and some had concentrations up to 10 times of what would cause an explosion.
Jackson wrote he was surprised to find that four months after the leaks were reported, the same locations had leaks again.
Century-old cast iron gas mains are one concern. Pipeline safety in the United States has increased in recent decades, but incidents involving natural gas pipelines still cause an average of 17 fatalities and $133 M in property damage annually, according to a Duke University report.
According to the American Gas Foundation, about 9 percent of distribution main services in the United States are considered leak-prone.
Con Edison CEO John McAvoy says the cast iron pipes can really last for hundreds of years. At a briefing in New York after the East Harlem explosion he said the company considers many factors when replacing them. In 2011, there was a water service main replacement on the same block and Con Edison had replaced 75 feet of main.
Currently 38 states have a program to accelerate replacement of natural gas delivery pipelines. There is no national study tracking gas leaks.
The cold weather causes some movement and contraction in materials from freezing as well. At the East Harlem site, Con Edison did checks Feb. 8 and 10 and found no leaks.
According to American Gas Association, natural gas utilities are installing plastic pipes at the rate of 30,000 miles per year.


FRESHMAN BASEBALL.- Practice on Soldiers Field at 4 sharp.
CAMERA CLUB.- There will be a meeting in Sever 6, tonight, at 7 o'clock. A full attendance is requested, as important business is to be attended to.
D. U. PLAY.- Rehearsal Acts I and II this evening at 8.
HARVARD FORUM.- An important business meeting will be held this evening in Sever 11 at 6.45. All members are urged to be present. Joint meeting will be held immediately after.
CHESS CLUB.- Meeting tonight at 7.30 in club rooms.
'VARSITY MANDOLIN CLUB.- Rehearsal this afternoon at 4.45 in L. S. S. 1.
'VARSITY BANJO CLUB.- Rehearsal tonight at 7 sharp.
'99, 1st at 5.00; 2nd at 4.30.
1900, 1st at 4.30; others at 4.00.
FRESHMAN BANJO CLUB.- Rehearsal tonight at 8 for banjos. The rest of club at 8.30 in 4 Apley court.
SHAKESPEARE CLUB.- The club will meet at Beck 42 this evening at 7.30 o'clock and read "The Winter's Tale."
PROSPECT UNION.- Tonight Professor G. H. Palmer will speak before the union at 744 Mass. avenue, Cambridgeport at 8 o'clock. The subject will be, "Roumanian Folk Songs." It will be a ladies night. Free to all. Harvard men are invited.


DENVER – Prosecutors in Colorado late on Monday formally identified the Idaho nurse charged in the disappearance of Woodland Park mother Kelsey Berreth and said she had been charged with one felony count of tampering with physical evidence in the case.
Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Scott A. Sells on Monday issued a summons for Krystal Jean Kenney Lee, 32, of Hanson, Idaho to appear in a Teller County Combined Court room for a first appearance on one count of tampering with physical evidence, a class 6 felony.
According to ABC News , who spoke with two of her relatives, Lee is expected to plead guilty in the case on Friday. The relatives said she has been cooperating with investigators in the case.
It’s unclear to which charge she could plead guilty, but multiple authorities told ABC News that Lee is suspected to driving Berreth’s phone to Idaho to dispose of it.
The criminal complaint against Lee says the alleged tampering with evidence occurred on either Nov. 24 or 25, or both.
“Between and including November 24, 2018 and November 25, 2018, Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, believing that an official proceeding was pending or about to be instituted, and acting without legal right or authority, unlawfully and feloniously destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed, or altered physical evidence with intent to impair its veracity or availability in the pending or prospective official proceeding,” the document states.
Prosecutors have charged Patrick Frazee , who was Berreth’s fiancé and the father of their child, with Berreth’s murder though her body has not been found. It’s unclear how Lee and Frazee might have known each other, but Frazee also faces three counts of solicitation, indicating he tried to get other people involved in his alleged plan.
ABC News reported Monday afternoon that the Idaho hospital at which Lee worked confirmed she "no longer works at the hospital."
Berreth has been missing since Thanksgiving and was last spotted in a grocery store in Woodland Park that day. Frazee was arrested on Dec. 21 in connection to her disappearance.
He was formally charged with murder and solicitation on Dec. 31. The three solicitation charges, which are second-degree felonies, accuse Frazee of commanding or trying to persuade another person to commit first-degree murder.
Police in Twin Falls said they thought they had found possible evidence on Dec. 22, but it’s unclear what that evidence was.
Authorities have said they do not believe Berreth is alive. There is another custody hearing involving Berreth’s daughter scheduled for Thursday ahead of Lee’s Friday appearance. A preliminary hearing in Frazee’s case is set for Feb. 19.


And where to go when you can’t get in.
CAN’T GET INTO THIS ONE?
“My favorite place to eat,” says Hilda Hoy, editor at e-mail magazine Sugarhigh. The farm-to-table American spot, which looks “like a cross between a farmhouse and the hold of a ship,” opened last summer after a yearlong stint as an apartment supper club.
Like Reinstoff, it is located in the back of an anonymous building. “They give you a whole smorgasbord of splendid appetizers,” says Hoy. “It’s really popular, but so off-the-beaten-path that it still feels like a secret.” Plus it’s cheap: Four courses, with wine, runs €39.
You are: A beer-obsessed middle-aged accountant from Moabit who makes weekly trips to the Brewbaker brewpub (Arminiusstrasse 2-4).
You’re drinking: Brewbaker Imperial Stout, a gloriously rich, dry, and dark brew from Berlin’s most innovative brewer.
You are: A young Mitte lawyer hanging out with fellow Schwaben (yuppies from prosperous West Germany) at the new Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt (Charlottenstrasse 55).
You’re drinking: Augustiner Edelstoff, a malty, toast-dry lager from the best of the big Munich breweries.
You are: A Charlottenburg housewife quaffing your lunch at the civilized garden restaurant Le Piaf (Schlossstrasse 60).
You’re drinking: Berliner Kindl Weisse, a tart local wheat beer, which most people drink with red raspberry or green woodruff syrup.
You’re drinking: Schultheiss Pilsner, a light golden pilsner brewed in a local mega-keggery.


So, I'm at the opening of the fancy new Apple Store on Manhattan's Upper West Side. They're talking about how awesome their retail is and whatnot. I'll have pictures up shortly. But for now, digits.
• They hit 170 million visitors this year, and 10 million people hit Genius Bars for personal training.
• Sales per store — $US26 million, which is just below what Macy's, Target and Best Buy make per store. But, if you look at the real estate, it's a slightly different picture. Apple Stores do sales of $US4300 per square foot which is five times the $US872 per square foot Best Buy does.
• Wow — over 100,000 applicants on file for jobs at the Apple Store worldwide, 10,000 people submitted applications for the new Upper West Side store. Just over 200 got a job.
• Apple realised they were going too small with their stores, so now all of their stores will be at least "three tables wide". In other words, they're going to be bigger. They're also going to be opening more stores next year, more like 50. More of them will be "significant stores", iconic ones like the Fifth Ave store with the Apple Cube. And they'll be going more international, adding stores all over Europe, like the UK, Paris and two in Shanghai getting those "significant stores".
OK, BIG NEWS. They're gift-wrapping for the first time ever. And you can reserve presents. Your Christmas is now officially complete. You're welcome.


People with children love to talk about shows for kids that are also secretly aimed at adults, as if they’re constantly blaring the opposite of those high-pitched noises that scare away teenagers and they have jokes that only adults can hear. “I know Yo Gabba Gabba is about dancing and being a good friend,” they claim, “but the music is actually really good. Of Montreal was on it once!” Yep, uh huh. Sure. We’ll check it out someday.
One of the biggest names in the “My kid loves it, but I also love it” genre is Disney’s Phineas And Ferb, a show about two stepbrothers who go on wacky adventures in their backyard. For its upcoming Halloween special, though, Phineas And Ferb isn’t even going to pretend that it’s not secretly pandering to adults. According to IGN, the special will feature Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reprising their roles as Shaun and Ed from Edgar Wright’s Shaun Of The Dead.
Obviously this doesn’t make any sense, since Shaun Of The Dead is a pretty violent R-rated movie that the real target audience of Phineas And Ferb probably has no knowledge of, but at least a small demographic of adults who watch Phineas And Ferb and also like romantic comedies with zombies will think it’s funny. Also, this won’t be the first time Pegg has stopped by the show, since he recently appeared as C-3PO and an Imperial officer in its Star Wars special. We know that episode was specifically made for kids, but it was actually pretty good. You should check it out. Oh, no! They got to us!


After spectacularly losing a local spelling bee as a youngster, the now 40-year-old Guy Trilby is determined to go back and change it. Having developed his spelling ability substantially over the decades, he decides to enter the National Quill Spelling Bee after discovering a loophole which states that anyone past the 8th grade cannot compete. Having given up on academic achievement before he passed 8th grade, the contest's judges struggle to deny him the opportunity to compete despite arrant fury from parents of potential winners who believe that his age now gives him an advantage. Initially rude and insulting towards his pre-pubescent competitors, he soon starts to develop a friendship with Chaitainya; an enthusiastic young boy with no friends who Guy takes under his wing. However, not everyone's happy with what Guy ends up teaching Chaitainya about the world.
Guy Trilby is a 40-year-old man who dropped out of high school as a young boy and remains bitter about losing a spelling bee. Thus, now older and wiser, he finds a way to enter the National Quill Spelling Bee by abusing a loophole which states that anyone past the 8th grade cannot compete. As he abandoned his studies before passing 8th grade, he decides that he has every right to qualify for the competition, to the annoyance of entrants' parents and contest officials alike as, of course, his age gives him an unfair advantage despite his educational failures. Along the way he meets a young boy named Chaitainya who appears to have no friends his own age and who Guy Trilby gladly takes under his debauched, f-word riddled wing.
A young girl, Luli, from a small town hitchhikes to Vegas with her father's pistol in an attempt to escape the abuse from her alcoholic parents. On the way, Luli meets Eddie - an unhinged man in a Stetson with dubious intentions - and Glenda, a red-headed druggie on the run. With the simple plan of finding a "sugar daddy", Luli gets into much more hostile situations than she bargained for.
For once, the film's title is hardly a coy allusion or abstract metaphor - Thumbsucker is a movie about, yes, a thumbsucker. More specifically, he's a 17-year-old thumbsucker, a fact that hardly endears him to his schoolmates or family. As would be expected in most any film about a socially awkward teen, the story is ultimately about his maturation (or lack thereof) into the adult world. What it ends up being, however, is more like the chronicle of some hardworking parents stuck with a truly problematic son who's about as unlikable as it gets.
As parents Audrey and Mike Cobb, Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio seem an odd choice, but it's an absolutely perfect one. Director Mike Mills may not have the best ear for story or subject matter (the source novel by Walter Kirn, should likely have been left on the unfilmed backlist) but he's dead-on when it comes to tone and casting. A pair of tired out working-class adults in a small Northwest town who can't quite accept being grownups, they have their two boys call them by their first names. Everything around them betrays this hope, of course, with Audrey working night shifts as a nurse at a celebrity drug treatment clinic just to catch a glimpse of an addict TV star she's got a girlish crush on, and Mike as the beaten-down manager of a sporting goods store unable to forget that but for an injury he could have gone pro.


Augusta Read Thomas is championing an expansive new composition center at the University of Chicago.
When composer and University of Chicago professor Augusta Read Thomas launched the well-titled Ear Taxi Festival here, in 2016, she appeared to have reached a personal high point.
For during six intensely packed days and nights, 500 Chicago-area musicians performed music by 87 living composers, including 54 world premieres, and more.
How could anyone soon top that galvanizing experience?
• The Grossman Ensemble, a newly created band of 13 new-music specialists performing three concerts at the university’s Logan Center for the Arts (Dec. 7; March 15; June 7). Repertoire will include 12 world premieres, including seven commissioned works. Each concert will be preceded by eight rehearsals, some open to the public.
• An experimental music series at the Logan Center Performance Penthouse featuring MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey leading his trio (Nov. 8) and CHIMEfest 2019: Live Electronics Symposium (May 2 and 3).
• Spektral +1, Plus One, in which Chicago’s innovative Spektral Quartet will collaborate with guest instrumentalists to play world premieres of works by graduate student composers at Constellation (Jan. 13).
• A Civic Orchestra of Chicago concert at Symphony Center featuring world premieres by U. of C. graduate students (Feb. 5).
• Visiting ensembles, with Yarn/Wire playing at the Logan Center Performance Hall (Oct. 13) and the ~Nois saxophonist quartet performing new works at the Hairpin Arts Center gallery (April 12).
It’s an enormous endeavor that has been long in the making.
“When I first came to the University of Chicago eight years ago, I had started to see the great synergies and the possibilities for building something like this,” says Thomas.
In essence, Thomas hoped to enrich the university’s long and distinguished history in contemporary music, composer Ralph Shapey having created the Contemporary Chamber Players there in 1964. That evolved into the Contempo presenting organization, which Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and U. of C. professor Shulamit Ran led until 2015, when U. of C. professor and composer Marta Ptaszynka took over.
The Grossman Ensemble, underwritten by the Sanford J. Grossman Charitable Trust, was designed to extend the legacy of the Contemporary Chamber Players.
“The idea is to have eight rehearsals, which is already an enormous luxury for a chamber orchestra, and have them spread out over three months,” explains Thomas. “It’s great for the investigation of sound, sculpting, tweaking, trying to just think it through for a second.
The Civic Orchestra concert also sounds promising, in that these talented young musicians will learn new scores written by university graduate students.
“I approached them at least two years ago: Was there any way we could put a project together?” says Thomas.
“I could have hired a freelance orchestra and put together a reading,” but multiple rehearsals by a committed ensemble clearly could yield a deeper, richer experience for everyone.
Characteristically, Thomas sees this opening season not simply as the culmination of years of planning but as just the beginning of something bigger.
She envisions the Grossman Ensemble, for instance, reaching well outside campus.
Though the university declines to specify the budget for this ambitious first season, Thomas is not modest about her goals for its financial future.
“I would like to raise $20 million so we can endow this and have it really just keep running,” she says.
“Look around the country at Google and Facebook and Apple and Exxon Mobile,” says Thomas.
“$500 million sounds enormous to me — I don’t even know how many zeroes that is. But it’s thrown around every day.


A Recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Instead of adding hot water to brown dust with freeze-dried marshmallows, NPR's Steve Inskeep decided to learn how to do hot chocolate right. Pastry chef David Guas walks Inskeep through his recipe for Mexican hot chocolate, which features vanilla beans, almond extract and cinnamon.
Below is David Guas' recipe for Mexican hot chocolate. Guas is the executive pastry chef for Ceiba Restaurant in Washington, D.C.
Combine milk, cream, cinnamon sticks and vanilla in a 1 quart stainless steel pot and bring mixture to a boil. Have prepared chocolate in a mixing bowl. Allow the heated liquid to steep (rest off the heat) for 5 minutes, then pour over the top of the chopped chocolate. Stir the chocolate mixture until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
Pour the warm mixture through a strainer and it is ready to serve. Serve immediately or refrigerate. To reheat, place chocolate mixture in a 2 quart stainless steel pot on low heat -- do not let sit, or it will burn. Stir mixture until warm. Immediately serve and place in 4 oz. portions with a dollop of slightly sweetened, softly whipped cream and a light dusting of cinnamon.


An Indian-American Muslim raised in Texas, Hussain is a deputy associate White House counsel who was also closely involved in shaping the major address the president delivered in Cairo last June, explaining Obama’s views to the Muslim world. In announcing Hussain’s appointment last week as the U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the president called Hussain “an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff.” Hussain traveled to Saudi Arabia and Qatar earlier this week with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Hussain’s allies have defended him against claims that he is soft on terror by pointing to a think tank study he co-wrote arguing that U.S. policy should emphasize that terrorism is antithetical to the teachings of Islam.
At the time Hussain spoke in 2004, the government's treatment of Sami Al-Arian was a cause celebre among Arab-American and Muslim activists, as well as many civil libertarians generally. Al-Arian was accused of raising funds for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but his trial in 2005 ended with some acquittals and a hung jury on other counts. The former University of South Florida computer science professor later pleaded guilty to one count of aiding a terrorist group and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.
Adding to the controversy about Hussain’s comments on “political motivated persecutions” is that they were deleted from a report on the conference that first appeared in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, a magazine on the region with articles from the Arab and Muslim perspectives.
In the current version of the story on the Washington Report’s website, there is no reference to Hussain’s comments, or even that he appeared at the 2004 conference. But earlier, cached versions of the same story do include the comments — initially adding to the mystery of why they were taken out and at whose request. The discrepancy was first noted in a story last Sunday in the Web-based Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.
A Washington Report editor initially said the author of its article requested the change because Laila Al-Arian’s comments had been misattributed to Hussain. However, in an e-mail to POLITICO, the author, Shereen Kandil, stood by her reporting and denied she ever made such a request.
In addition, both Laila Al-Arian and Kandil, who now works in the Obama administration at the Environmental Protection Agency, said they were never consulted before the passages referring to Hussain were deleted. The deletion took place sometime between October 2007 and this year, according to the Internet Archive, though the version available in Nexis was never modified.
The changes made some three years or more after his speech have led to speculation that Hussain was sanitizing his record to smooth his path to a White House legal post. However, the strident criticism he offered of the Justice Department’s handling of various alleged terrorism cases raises the possibility that his remarks could have posed a problem when he was applying for work at Justice in 2008. He joined the agency in the last year of the Bush administration as a trial attorney handling civil cases against the government, a Justice spokeswoman said.
While the audio shows that Hussain did utter the phrase “politically motivated persecutions” in the midst of his discussion about Sami Al-Arian, another comment Kandil attributed to Hussain, describing Al-Arian as being “used politically to squash dissent,” is not audible in the recording POLITICO obtained, which cuts off before any question-and-answer period.
Hussain’s remarks about Al-Arian appear to have been extemporaneous, but he seemed to have prepared in advance his denunciation of the Bush administration’s handling of other terrorism-related detentions and prosecutions.


You've probably seen, or at least heard of, Nancy Meyer's latest film The Intern. Starring Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro, it follows a 70-something man attempting to reenter the workforce. When the retired widower has difficulty finding employment, he opts for a senior internship at a digital fashion startup.
"That movie was kind of an aha moment for us," explains Dara Kaplan, president and partner of a New York City-based p.r. firm called Wunderlich Kaplan Communications (WKC). "How many times have we witnessed our friends, unable to dive back into the workforce after several years at home? Women over 40 shouldn't be cast aside for Millennials."
Wunderlich, Kaplan and their enterns.
Inspired, Kaplan and WKC's CEO, Gwen Wunderlich, started The Enternship. The four week program, which launched this summer, aims to help women over 40 reenter the workforce by teaching them practical p.r. and digital communications skills. Eight interns in their 40s, 50s and 60s are currently participating, including a former CNN producer and a lawyer. I caught up with the two leading women behind the initiative.
Kaplan: In one sentence, it's a program to help women over 40. These women have either been bought out of their companies, chosen to jump the corporate ship or are looking to change careers and break back into the workforce. We teach them the skills they need during flexible hours. Millennial may be the buzz word du jour, but we happen not to agree.
What inspired you to start the program?
Wunderlich: We were tired of watching friends and family members get passed over for their younger counterparts or denied jobs because they have "too much" experience. We received more than 600 applications for the program, and the one thing every cover letter had in common was that they felt defeated. Ageism hurts, and these women feel like, "Am I worthless at 54? Am I over the hill at 52? Why will no one hire me?"
Who are your eight enterns?
Kaplan: We chose eight women, including a lawyer, a former CNN producer, a graphic designer and a stay-at-home mom. 99% are working moms and all are over age 40 (some are even over 60). And they are unbelievable. Take Ronni Berke, an award-winning veteran journalist and producer. She recently accepted a buyout from CNN to work on more creative projects and currently freelances as a communications strategist and content creator. She is an experienced media pro with years of experience in breaking news.
What kinds of skills do your enterns learn?
Wunderlich: Essentially, the ins and outs of public relations. We teach women how to create p.r. campaigns, write pitches and press releases, how to pitch media. There's also hands on experience, like helping to run a party at one of our celebrity client's house in the Hamptons. Working events helps them grow their network, which, as we all know, is what p.r. is about.
Kaplan: Social media is also explored, which we've found to be a major pain point for older women. They want to learn about blogging, vlogging and other emerging communication technologies — they just need a little guidance.
What is The Enternship's ultimate goal?
Kaplan: To help women get back on their feet. It's funny, because we've seen first hand what a bit of confidence can do. And while we hope to empower women to get back in the workforce, we also want to create a movement — an understanding of the value of women. We're trying to urge other p.r. firms and female-owned businesses to hire talented, experienced women.
Wunderlich: It's estimated that there are upwards of 3 million women with advanced college degrees trying to reenter the American workforce. It was clear this was who we needed to focus on.
Would you ever expand to men?
Wunderlich: Never say never, but our second Enternship training program, which starts in September, will also be focused on women.


April 16, 2015 Lifestyles, Uncategorized.
A homeless man sleeps on a West Palm Beach bench.
Note: A rainy forecast has moved the SleepOut from the Meyer Ampitheatre to the United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches, off Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. and Village Blvd.
A sleeping bag, backpack and maybe a pillow.
It’s all many homeless people can call their own.
It’s also all you’ll need for tomorrow night’s SleepOut to support The Lord’s Place, a nonprofit which combats homelessness in Palm Beach County.
The SleepOut is designed to dramatize the plight of the estimated 3,200 homeless people in Palm Beach County.
Or, participants can donate and sleep in their own beds.
After nearly 30 years of living on the street, The Lord’s Place helped James Dixon move into the nonprofit’s first group home called Graduate House.
On Sunday in The Palm Beach Post’s Accent section, read the inspiring story of James Dixon, who stepped “out of the shadows” thanks to The Lord’s Place, ending nearly 30 years of homelessness.
After half a lifetime of alcoholism and drug addiction, the nonprofit helped Dixon with therapy and training programs.
Today, the former drifter who lived on the streets, is among The Lord’s Place’s first four men to make the transition from the homeless shelter to their own group home in Boynton Beach, called Graduate House.
Want to help others like Dixon?
Register for the SleepOut online or at 6 p.m. tomorrow at the United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches. Registration is $25.
The church’s address is 900 Brandywine Rd., West Palm Beach.
The program, highlighting the need for homeless shelters as well as job training programs, begins at 8 p.m. and ends Saturday morning at 7 a.m. Entertainment is included. Food will be available to purchase from Cafe Joshua, The Lord’s Place’s culinary education program.
Don’t want to sleep out? You can still participate by donating through the SleepOut website.


Another shortage threatens to threaten Americans' sense of wellbeing and security.
This time it's a shortage of SUVs.
The reason? When gas prices rose, Ford closed a truck plant and began assembling smaller cars. Now there are plenty of small Fords available, but Navigators, Expeditions and premium F-series trucks are scarce on the ground.
"It's one of those things that kept Ford out of the situation where they have to get government bailout money,” says Ford dealer Bob Utter.
"(But) all of a sudden we were right in the middle of the summer selling season, and we couldn't sell trucks in Sherman, Texas and this is a big truck market."
Under the terms of recently passed federal legislation, owners of sport-utility vehicles, pickups or minivans getting 18 mpg or less could receive a voucher for $3,500 if their new truck or SUV gets at least 2 mpg more than their old vehicle, provided they have owned the newer vehicle for at least a year.
The voucher could be up to $4,500 if the mileage of the new truck or SUV is at least 5 mpg higher than the old vehicle, The Wichita Eagle reports.
Although the regulations are still being written, the government is expected to implement the program — which calls for $1 billion in funding through November of this year — by early August.
Government officials estimate about 1 million new vehicles could be purchased.


A former policeman smothered his elderly and frail mother because he saw her as "a burden whose lingering existence was ruining his life", a court has heard.
John Stephen Green, 65, was said to be unable to wait any longer for his 88-year-old mother Bernadette to die so he murdered her.
The elderly woman's emaciated body was found at their family home in Aston-in-Ribble in May.
The Crown say his motive for the alleged killing was revealed in a series of text messages he sent to his daughter in the months leading up to Mrs Green's death on May 18.
Green "dehumanised" his mother, referring to her as "it" and and the month before stated he was looking after a "stinking corpse", jurors at Preston Crown Court were told.
Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said the defendant had lived with his mother at his former childhood home in Inkerman Street since 2009 after the failure of his marriage.
Neighbours thought they enjoyed a normal mother and son relationship as Mrs Green came increasingly to rely upon her son after she was taken to hospital in 2009 after a fall on the stairs.
The prosecutor said: "The defendant appeared to be a caring and attentive son.
"However, in the messages sent to his daughter towards the end of his mother's life, he claimed he felt trapped in a life that he regarded as a 'crock of crap' - tending to a woman he regarded not as his mother but as a burden whose lingering existence was ruining his life."
Jurors were read a selection of the messages, which the Crown say showed a common thread of "vitriol" and Green's belief he could only be free after his mother died.
In November 2016, Green wrote: "This is effing mental. When does it die? It's orribubble."
The following February, he said: "I hate her. I really, really hate her."
In March 2017, he texted: "Still alive. How do I holiday? She's wrecked, hate her but I'm stuck with responsibility. One day eh?"
On New Year's Eve that year, he wrote: "Just told the cow what she is."
In April this year, Green wrote: "Ain't that just typical? Sod's law. I've got out for a short while, I'm looking after a stinking corpse. Hey ho."
Just five days before Mrs Green's death, he texted: "Been a grim and gruesome five weeks here. Last two weeks horrendous, she's at death's door but nobody's opening it. Shouldn't be allowed."
Mr McEntee said the defendant later characterised the text exchanges as "dark humour" and indicated he was "just venting his spleen".
He added: "The prosecution say the sentiments expressed in those messages were certainly dark but they were in no sense humorous.
"We will invite you to conclude that his repetition in expressing such views, displaying anger - and you may think hatred - toward his mother reveals his underlying resentment for the position in which he professed himself trapped."
Green rang emergency services on the evening of May 18 and told an operator that attempts at resuscitation would be pointless as he was certain she was already dead, the court heard.
Mrs Green's body was found under dirty bedding within a "generally cluttered and dirty room", which Green explained was due to self-neglect by his mother who he said had given up on life following the death of his father.
Her death was referred to the coroner after it emerged she had not been seen by a doctor since October 2013.
A post-mortem examination revealed the body of an "emaciated female who had been the subject of severe neglect" with the "most readily apparent features" being an extensive area of black dead tissue around her buttocks.
Mr McEntee said the "clear evidence" from the Home Office pathologist was that Mrs Green died as a result of having been smothered.
The autopsy revealed no natural disease to cause or accelerate death, or to cause collapse, he said.
The prosecutor said he understood it was the defendant's case that he simply did nothing to harm his mother.
Green, an ex-officer with Lancashire Constabulary, denies murder.
The trial, scheduled to last up to six days, continues today.


Marvin Fong, The Plain DealerFormer Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora is on trial in Akron on federal racketeering charges.
AKRON, Ohio -- A retired Cuyahoga County employee took the stand late this afternoon in the Jimmy Dimora federal racketeering trial, telling a jury that the hiring of employees in the engineer's office, especially interns, was done for political purposes.
Patricia Gouker retired Dec. 31, 2009, after more than 32 years with the county. About 29 years were spent at the county engineer's office, where she rose from typist to director of human resources for that office.
She said this afternoon that "many of the students were political hires," but that a woman named Dana Rybak was selected for an internship in the sanitary engineer's office in 2008 "because we knew her parents."
was business manager and financial secretary for Journeymen Plumbers Local 55. He was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison on Jan. 20, 2011. He had pleaded guilty to stealing from the union and tampering with a witness. Dana Rybak's mother, Linda, was also a county employee.
-- two men who prosecutors say played a key role in several criminal schemes in which Dimora is implicated. Gouker was questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Kelley.
"I believe they went to a lot of dinners together, they played cards together," Goucker said of Kelley and Dimora. She said they went to Las Vegas together.
Dimora to Las Vegas in 2008.
enjoyed by Dimora and others in exchange for political favors, prosecutors said.