LinkedIn is a helpful tool in your job search for both networking purposes and staying informed about current trends and issues in the field of education. Below are a few suggestions to effectively utilize LinkedIn as you begin your job search.
Groups: Click on the Groups tab to instantly connect with thousands of passionate educators around the country! Some education-focused groups to consider include National Science Teachers Association, Kappa Delta Pi, National Education Association, National Association for Music Education, and Council for Advancement and Support of Education, among many others. Once you join the group, search through the Members section to identify professionals to contact in your target school or geographic location.
Alumni research: Visit www.linkedin.com/alumni to research your college or university alumni according to a specific school, district, or geographic location.
Follow schools or districts: Type a school or district name in the Companies tab to search for its profile page. Once you identify the organization's profile page, click the yellow Follow button in the upper right-hand corner. The organization's updates and job openings will now begin appearing in your news feed, providing instant updates about your target places of employment.
News: Want to stay informed about current news in the education field? Have news articles delivered to your newsfeed and inbox! Under the News tab click Customize Your News and select Education Management to read articles related to issues and trends in education. LinkedIn will then begin displaying these targeted articles in your Newsfeed and sending you periodic emails with links to these informative resources!


TO a true wine enthusiast, the letters ABC have one meaning: anything but chardonnay. It's a polite way of indicating that a strident minority are bored with America's favorite white wine and are looking for something new and different.
What's more, it doesn't take much time in a liquor store to discover that plenty of wine fans feel the same about the popular reds -- cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel and yes, even merlot.
There are plenty of substitutes, of course: pinot noir is on a roll; the Rhone grapes -- syrah, mourvedre, grenache -- are popular; white grapes like pinot blanc, pinot gris and that flashy newcomer viognier are all welcome at most people's tables. Even the much-maligned riesling has its champions.
Face it, however: This list is tame stuff. To the true adventurer, it offers little. Fortunately, there is another wine world out there, a place where genuine rarities exist, where there are wines guaranteed to vanquish enological ennui. And it's open to anyone with a bit of imagination and some pocket change.
Many other off-the-beaten-path choices are quite serious. Les Vineux, for example, is an intensely sweet wine that an Oregon vintner, Andrew Rich, makes from frozen gewurztraminer grapes. The grapes are frozen after picking so that the water in them turns to ice and can be separated from the thick, sugary pulp. The remaining highly concentrated juice is then fermented.
Rarer still is a true ice wine. The Germans and the Alsatians make it when conditions permit. One is produced now and then in New York State, from the vidal grape. Vidal is a hybrid, a cross between native American varieties and a European grape known as trebbiano in Italy and ugni blanc in France. As in northern Europe, the grapes for this wine hang on the vine long after the regular harvest, until they are literally frozen by winter temperatures. The wine produced from this icy process also has a sweet taste.
The Napa Valley winemaker Philip Togni makes another dark, sweet wine he calls Ca' Togni, from a rare grape known as the black muscat of Alexandria. In the 17th century, when many of the great vineyards of Europe were still swamps or cattle pastures, the world's most prized wine was Constantia, from Cape Town. Constantia is once again produced in the vineyards of South Africa's Western Cape, but no one is sure how closely it resembles its ancestor. Mr. Togni thinks his Ca' Togni, of which he makes very little, is close to the mark.
Some rare wines turn up unexpectedly. When Joe Heitz started Heitz Cellars in the Napa Valley back in 1961, he found vines on his new property, which turned out to be grignolino, an Italian grape probably planted years before by an immigrant farmer. To this day, the rose wine Mr. Heitz continues to produce from those vines has a small but loyal following.
Some lesser-known wines have been here all along. The early settlers in California were casual about naming the vines they brought with them from the old country. Mourvedre, an important grape in Chateauneuf-du-Pape in France, they called mataro. Durif, another little-known French grape, became petite sirah, and the muscadet grape, from the western reaches of the Loire Valley, became pinot blanc. Some growers have reverted to the original names. A few wineries have made durif wines, and world-famous Ridge Vineyards regularly produces a mataro. Zinfandel, a grape whose origins were a mystery for a century, has been traced back to Italy where it was called primitivo and to Croatia where it was -- and still is -- known as plavac mali. There is some speculation in all this; nevertheless, several California wineries have produced primitivos that only a scientist could distinguish from zinfandel. But even America's adventurous winemakers will go only so far. At this point, there have been no California plavac malis.
Finally, there are some wine oddities that have remained obscure for good reasons. Take, for example, the mission grape, the first wine grape introduced in this country. Some months ago, in Los Angeles, I sampled wine made from this variety for the first and, I hope, last time. The mission grape arrived in California in the late 17th century from Spain by way of Mexico. Its name comes, of course, from the Franciscan and Jesuit missions where it was first planted. For well over a century, it was the principal American wine grape. Zinfandel and other more-refined varieties eventually edged it aside, but there are still hundreds of acres of missions planted in California and there are still people who drink the wine made from it.
But then plenty of people enjoy wine made from the Concord grape, whose bouquet reminded the English wine writer Jancis Robinson of the smell of ''a wet, cheap fur coat.'' Concord is still grown in New York State and Washington State. Where fine wines are concerned, Concord and mission grapes are obsolete. I picture their dull, clumsy wines favored by people who still use typewriters and drive DeSotos.
Fetzer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, 1994 Barrel Select. North Coast. About $13.
FOR consistent quality at a reasonable price, year after year, it's hard to beat Fetzer's Barrel Select line of wines. This rich, flavorful 1994 cabernet is an excellent example. The appellation is North Coast because the grapes come from vineyards in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino Counties. After fermentation, the new wine remains in contact with the grape skins for two additional weeks to gain extra color and richness. About 12 percent of the blend is what the winery calls a special cabernet from Howell Mountain in Napa County that was aged separately in American oak. There's quite a bit of oak here, but then this is a fairly big wine (almost 14 percent alcohol), and it handles the oak component well. Everything is in balance.


In an effort to reduce pollution and environmental toxins, San Francisco could become the first city in the nation to favor "green" products in purchases from window cleaner to electricity to playground equipment. The philosophy, known as the "precautionary principle," is a response to the growing incidence of disease some health experts attribute to pollution and environmental toxins. For instance, a 2004 report from the Breast Cancer Fund found that scientific evidence shows some 85,000 synthetic chemicals are contributing to breast cancer by altering hormone or gene function."We are seeing alarming increases in asthma, in cancer and chronic illness, but we don't why. We do know that many of the products we buy contain hazardous ingredients that are perfectly legal," said Debbie Raphael, toxics reduction program manager for The City. The precautionary principle has been guiding environmental policy in a number of European countries, but is just gaining attention in the United States, where cities in Oregon, New Mexico and a handful of other states are looking at creating similar plans.


WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has delayed the trial of a Kansas online gamer allegedly involved in a deadly hoax while federal prosecutors consider an alternative to prosecution that would spare him from the criminal justice system.
The attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita has applied for pre-trial diversion, and prosecutors have asked the court to delay Tuesday's upcoming trial so the application may be given full consideration.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren has postponed the trial to May 21.
Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statement during an investigation.
Prosecutors say he was playing a Call of Duty WWII video game when a dispute allegedly sparked the false call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at Gaskill's former Wichita home.


Drug dealers apparently need overnight shipping, too, local narcotics agents say.
York County drug enforcement officers recently noticed a spike in drugs being shipped through delivery services such as FedEx, UPS and DHL.
"Within the last month or so, we've seen a dramatic increase," Lt. Jason Dalton of the county's multijurisdictional drug unit said.
Five people have been arrested in drug-shipping schemes since August, according to police reports.


Kodak's ESP Office 2170 color inkjet multifunction printer (print, scan, copy, fax) aims at the home-office market, highlighting its affordable ink and its very economical purchase price ($150 as of 09/16/2011). Unfortunately no perfect multifunction exists at this price point; the ESP Office 2170’s particular weaknesses are minimal features, slow performance, and mediocre output quality on plain paper.
To Kodak’s credit, the ESP Office 2170 is very easy to use. Installation via Wi-Fi or USB is straightforward, and the control panel’s labeled buttons are refreshing in their one-to-one functionality. The unit also features a readable, if small, 1.5-inch LCD screen. The software handles all multifunction chores ably.
Paper-handling features on the ESP Office 2170 are minimal. The only input is the vertical 150-sheet feed at the back of the unit, and duplex printing is manual only. The output tray pulls out the front of the unit and holds approximately 50 sheets. The flatbed scanner under the automatic document feeder (ADF) handles up to A4-size paper, but it does not telescope to accommodate thicker material. Duplex scanning via the 25-sheet ADF is not available, and we noticed on two different units that paper skewed slightly as it entered the ADF, making us wonder about the quality of the feed mechanism.
Performance is passable. The ESP Office 2170 printed simple text pages on plain paper at 4.7 pages per minute (ppm) on the PC and 3.7 ppm on the Mac—speeds well below the average for each platform. Other speeds were right at the average for the category: 2 ppm printing color snapshots on the PC and 0.6 ppm printing a full-size color photo on the Mac; and 1.4 ppm printing a PDF document with a mix of text and color graphics on the Mac. Not surprisingly, photo quality on Kodak’s own glossy paper is superb: bright, crisp, and realistic. On the plain paper that most people use for most printing, however, text is dark gray rather than black and slightly soft; and images are dull-colored and grainy.
Kodak's ink costs are very low. The standard-size cartridges include a $10, 335-page black cartridge and an $18, 275-page tricolor cartridge, amounting to about 3 cents per page for black and 6.5 cents for color. That makes the cost of your average four-color page a mere 9.5 cents. The high-capacity cartridges offer more yield but little savings: Black costs $20 and lasts 670 pages (3 cents per page), while color costs $34 and lasts 550 pages (6.2 cents per page). Other models in this price range, such as the Canon Pixma MX420, tend to have higher ink costs.
The best way to look at the Kodak ESP Office 2170 is as a photo printer that also handles basic office chores in low volumes. If nothing else, its inexpensive inks make it far cheaper to operate than most others in its class. If you're looking for a true office workhorse, however, it would be worthwhile to spend a little more money up front for a better all-around model like the Epson WorkForce 635.
This inexpensive model offers bare-bones capabilities and speed for home offices, and its low ink costs are offset by disappointing plain-paper print quality.


Alt Disney once wanted the image of Mickey Mouse to be everywhere. But it’s safe to say he never wanted the icon of his family-friendly empire emblazoned on the chest of Azealia Banks.
In the video for her song “212,” the Harlem-born rapper wears a sweater with a smiling Mickey on the front. And if Uncle Walt could hear Banks’ sexually aggressive rhymes, he’d roll over in his frozen death chamber.
Banks, who turned 21 on Thursday, has become a darling of the hip-hop world, garnering shout-outs from the likes of Eve and Kanye West (who called her “the future of music”) thanks to the unprintably raunchy chorus of “212.” The ribald catchphrase has since been echoed on uncensored T-shirts, for sale via her Web site.
But the in-your-face rapper, who plays the Hot 97 Summer Jam today and Bowery Ballroom tonight, has more going for her than just a filthy mind.
As the music industry has jumped on the Banks bandwagon, so has the world of fashion, with Karl Lagerfeld inviting her to perform at his Paris home, and Alexander Wang designing her outfit for the Met’s Costume Institute Gala.
What’s most amazing about Banks’ early success, which came to a head with a raucous, much-lauded set at this year’s Coachella Festival, is that, in the long run, rapping may not even be her greatest strength.
Banks, who grew up in Harlem with her retail-saleswoman mom (her dad died when she was 2) and her two sisters, was bitten by the performing bug early. She joined the Tada! Youth Theater, a company for child performers, at about age 11, embracing musical theater.
While her talent was evident early on, so was her ability to use shocking language to get attention.
Banks briefly attended LaGuardia Arts High School — alma mater of Nicki Minaj, to whom she is frequently compared, and whom she disses on “212” — but dropped out to start recording.
While the song has brought her public acclaim, Banks has also learned some of the less pleasant aspects of fame.
“These fake people are all up in your face with their antics, and you’re just like, ‘uhhh,’ ” Banks told the BBC in January, adding that certain male journalists have taken the song’s risque nature as a license to be intrusive.
And while Banks has become a media and industry sensation, some believe that the buzz, coming as it has on a very limited body of work, should be taken with a grain of salt.


DENVER, CO, Oct. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - GrowGeneration Corp. (OTCQX: GRWG), ("GrowGen USA" or the "Company") one of the largest specialty retail hydroponic and organic gardening stores, selling to both the commercial and home cannabis markets, with currently 19 locations, today announced Zacks Small-Cap Research Analyst Steven Ralston, C.F.A. has initiated coverage of GrowGeneration Corp. Zacks' $7.40 per-share price target is based on TTM sales through the just-completed third quarter of 2018 and predicated on attaining an 8.3 industry average P/S multiple. Darren Lampert and Michael Salaman are presenting speakers at the Dawson James Small-Cap Conference, on October 30, 2018, in Jupiter, Fla. A copy of the Zacks report and the Dawson James presentation are available on our website at www.GrowGeneration.com.
Generally, the appropriate valuation methodology for retailers is based on P/E (Price/Earnings), which is a reasonable valuation metric for larger mature industry participants that can be characterized as slow-to moderately growing retail chains with a moderate amount of debt. However, if a retailer is in the early phases of its life cycle, the applicable valuation metric becomes Price-to-Sales (P/S), which combines the company's ability to generate revenues with the expectation that the growing revenue streams ultimately will manifest itself into increasing EBITDA and earnings as the emerging retailer expands its geographic footprint and its newly opened stores gain traction.
In the garden/nursery supply space, the marketplace is saturated with traditional big-box home improvement retailers (Home Depot, Lowes and Tractor Supply) and also by thousands of mom-and-pop nursery and garden supply stores, along with a handful of public chains, which all attempt to satisfy the needs of growers. These latter specialty retailers commonly turn to unique targeted product selections and higher levels of customer service to generate traffic and sales in order to secure a competitive edge. The current P/S valuation range for large home improvement retailers (Home Depot, Lowes and Tractor Supply) with moderately growing sales profiles is low, between 1.3 and 2.2 times TTM revenues with a mean P/S valuation of 1.6 times. Moving up the value chain to companies targeting opportunities in the nascent cannabis industry, P/S multiples are dreadfully higher, between 34.3 and 138 times TTM revenues with a mean P/S valuation of 79.5 times even after eliminating Cronus Group and Tilray, both of which sport hefty triple-digit P/S multiples. We believe that the comparable companies to GrowGeneration lie between the extremes of slow-growing big-box home improvement chains and speculative marijuana plays.
GrowGeneration is in the emerging growth phase of its corporate history and in the early stage of establishing its hydroponic supply store footprint. In addition, the company has already embraced digital retailing by pursuing several e-commerce initiatives. The full potential impact of management's store expansion strategy has yet to be observed financially. Comparable companies to GrowGeneration should be within the cannabis-related industry and be specifically providing supplies and/or services to cultivators of cannabis. We believe that the appropriate valuation comparables are KushCo Holdings, Generation Alpha, Medicine Man Technologies, Scotts Miracle Gro and Terra Tech.
Due the character of the company s enterprise, namely a small-capitalization company in the specialty hydroponic and garden supply retail business with a fast-growing sales profile, we expect GrowGeneration to attain at least an industry average P/S ratio of the comparable cannabis-related companies listed above. On projected TTM sales through the just-completed third quarter of 2018, our share price target is $7.40, which is predicated on attaining an 8.3 industry average P/S multiple.
Steven Ralston, is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and has over thirty years of experience in the securities and investment industry, including Director of Research at First National Bank of Maryland, portfolio manager of General Accident's domestic and Canadian equity pension portfolios, and co-manager of Blackrock's $2.3 billion Large Cap Growth Fund. He received his initial investment training at Merrill Lynch and Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland.
GrowGen USA owns and operates specialty retail hydroponic and organic gardening stores. Currently, GrowGen USA has 19 stores, which includes 6 locations in Colorado, 6 locations in California, 1 location in Las Vegas, 1 location in Washington, 3 locations in Michigan, 1 location in Rhode Island and 1 location in Oklahoma. GrowGen USA also operates an online superstore for cultivators, located at HeavyGardens.com. GrowGen USA carries and sells thousands of products, including organic nutrients and soils, advanced lighting technology and state of the art hydroponic equipment to be used indoors and outdoors by commercial and home growers. Our mission is to own and operate GrowGeneration branded stores in all the major legalized cannabis states in the U.S. and Canada. Management estimates that roughly 1,000 hydroponic stores are in operation in the U.S. By 2020 the market is estimated to reach over $23 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 32%.


Ex-WWE Star Brandi Rhodes Screw Ring Announcing I'm Wrestling For IMPACT!
Late wrestling LEGEND Dusty Rhodes' daughter-in-law, Brandi Rhodes, is gettin' involved in the family biz ... inking a deal to wrestle with TNA Impact Wrestling, sources tell TMZ Sports.
Brandi -- who's married to former WWE superstar Cody Rhodes -- has signed a deal to wrestle for TNA's Knockout Division a.k.a. super hot chicks who fight.
FYI -- Brandi was formerly a ring announcer (not a wrestler) for WWE ... before parting ways with the company earlier this year.
No word yet when Brandi will make her Impact debut.
In the meantime, check out the pics!


Levine thinks Barbie unfairly gets a bad rap. A doll is just a doll; it all depends on what you do with her.
Bradley Justice, a member of the club and owner of the Swell Doll Shop in Chapel Hill, said he thinks Barbie dolls have endured because they have changed through the decades, allowing children to see parts of their own culture in the dolls.
“For me, it’s that she’s always reflected the times,” he said.
Theresa Castro, a member of the club, was a 5-year-old when she received her first Barbie in 1965. Her doll was a model from two years earlier that took time to reach her home in Alaska.
Castro didn’t know quite what to make of the package that had showed up on her doorstep, but she quickly grew to love Barbies, particularly because the dolls offered a window into fashion. She learned to sew so she could make them clothes and is grateful they offered her a chance to be creative.
Erica Pettruci, 9, and Ashton Lawley, 9, both were impressed by the range of Barbies they saw on display at the show.
“I think it’s really amazing because you can see today and what your parents had,” Petrucci said.


Yellowstone is a wild place of fire and ice. The first son of the United States national parks system, and the first national park in the entire world, is a rich ecosystem of wild creatures and geothermal wonders. With snow capped peaks and alien-looking hot springs, Yellowstone’s diversity prompts millions to visit the high altitude Serengeti yearly.
While Old Faithful performs on schedule every hour or so, much of the park changes year over year. Hotbeds of geothermal activity spread and recede. The animals behave unpredictably, taking cues from weather, water level, and crowds. In one year a visitor may see only a handful of bison, but the next year, thousands may come into view at the same location on the same day. And the holy grail of Yellowstone, a bear sighting, is likely in some years and near impossible in others. (Check out these tips to safely exist among bears in the wild) This dynamism provides a unique experience even for repeat visitors.
From stopping at Bison traffic jams to kneeling quietly at a shady brook to watch a mossy antlered moose cooling off, Yellowstone provides a glimpse into what the United States looked like before being settled from coast to coast. Every American should feel obligated to visit two places in their lifetime: Yellowstone Park and New York City. One shows what we are, the other, what we were. Check out this gallery of Yellowstone beauty.


Movies at AMC Theater (Platte River Mall) – “Captain Marvel” “Dumbo” “Shazam” “Us “ “Missing Link” “After” Schedule subject to change, see amctheaters.com.
Ongoing Prairie Arts Center (416 N. Jeffers) – The Art Guild/Platte Painters art show. Open Tues-Sat each week, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sutherland School, north gym (401 Walnut) – ‘Slide into Spring’ fundraiser 5:30, Easter egg hunt 6:45 p.m. Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato soup, dessert, silent auction.
St. Pat’s Church Parish Hall (415 N. Chestnut) – Fish Fry. 7:30 p.m. $7/adults, $3/kids 10 & under.
Espresso Shop (419 N. Dewey) — Open Mic Nite, 7-9:30 p.m. Food and refreshments on sale. $2 donation requested.
Switchyard Grill & Pub (520 North Jeffers) – Live music by Bases Loaded, no cover, 8 p.m.
Maranatha Camp & Center (16800 E. Maranatha Rd.) — Family skate night, 6:30-9:30 p.m. $6 per person, ages 4 & under are free.
Platte River Mall (1000 S Dewey) – Easter Bunny, bring kiddos for pictures. 5-8 p.m.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites North Platte (300 Holiday Frontage Rd) – ADK Wine and Brew Tasting, fundraiser for teachers. Door prizes, 60 raffle items. 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Hershey Ball Park – Easter egg hunt, 9 a.m.
Platte River Mall (1000 S Dewey) – Easter Bunny pictures. Noon-6 p.m.
Pals Brewing Company (4520 S Buffalo Bill Ave) – Husker spring game viewing party, 1 p.m. From 7-9 p.m. Live acoustic music by Lexi Larsen and Kristina Craig in a “you can’t keep the good life down” flood relief concert.
Platte River Mall (1000 S. Dewey) – Easter Bunny pictures. 1-5 p.m.
D&N Event Center, 501 E. Walker Rd) – Big Train Show, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Admission: adults $4, children under 12, $1 (under 5 with paid adult free).
Sutherland Legion Hall (130 S. Maple St) – Breakfast for the public. Minimum donation $6. Children 5 and under free. 9 a.m.
Neville Center (301 E. 5th) – The story of the USS Liberty attack from a U.S. Marine survivor of a controversial 1967 Israeli attack. 3 & 7 p.m. No charge. Freewill offerings help offset expense. Stapleton Legion Post No. 324 is the chief sponsor.
Pal’s Brewing Co. (4520 S Buffalo Bill Ave) — Live music by James Burke. 2:30-5:30 p.m.
North Platte Community College south campus (601 W. State Farm Rd) – Musical instructors showcased in a faculty recital. Free and open to the public. 7 p.m.
Stapleton High School, Bronco Room – The story of the USS Liberty attack. 10 a.m. Freewill offerings will be taken to help offset expenses.
Eagles Club (620 N Chestnut) – Live music by Gary Phipps, $7 cover, finger food, everyone welcome.
Sutherland Public Schools, (401 Walnut) – Volleyball scrimmage – UNK vs. NJC of Sterling, Colo. No charge, 7:30 p.m.
Wayne Dowhower Softball Complex (W. 16th) – Veterans Appreciation. NPCC Knights vs. McCook Indians in softball doubleheader, 5 p.m. Veterans get free meal at east entrance.
Senior Center (901 E. 10th) — Dance to Ray Mullen. 7-9:30 p.m., $5. Bring finger food.
Quality Inn & Suites (2102 S Jeffers) – Taste of the Plains, Mid-Plains United Way, taste of art, food, wine & whiskey from around Greater Nebraska. 5:30 p.m.


REGIONAL law firm Andrew Jackson has recruited senior solicitor Joanne Brennan to its growing property department.
With more than 20 years’ specialist experience covering both freehold and leasehold properties, Mrs Brennan will provide residential conveyancing services from the firm’s York office at York Science Park.
• ENGINEERING company Portasilo, which specialises in the design and manufacture of bulk material handling systems, has made two key appointments to strengthen its sales and project teams.
With almost 40 years’ experience of the industry, Kevin Storey joins the senior management team as head of sales.
The appointment marks a return to the Shepherd Group, which owns Portasilo, as Mr Storey started his career as an apprentice at Shepherd Engineering Services.
Also joining the company is Joe Ellerton who has been recruited to the drawing office as project engineering manager responsible for mechanical and electrical design.
• JANE TYLER, managing director of York-based RedBlack Software has joined the executive committee of the British Society of Baking (BSB).
RedBlack Software is the creator of the CyBake range of software solutions for retail and wholesale bakeries, with Mrs Tyler now the first person from the IT industry to be invited to the association’s top ranks.
Mrs Tyler was asked to join after presenting a seminar at the BSB’s autumn conference in October, 2014.
• A NEW senior account executive has been appointed by York insurance brokers, PB Curran, to spearhead its growth in agriculture and rural business throughout Yorkshire and the North East.
He is farmer’s son Edwin Southwell, an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Insurers and a chartered insurance practitioner, who has worked in farm insurance since becoming National Farmers’ Union York group secretary in 1981.
• EAST Riding law firm Murray Hills, with branches in Beverley, Bridlington and Hull, has appointed solicitor Phil Jones, as the firm becomes official short sponsors for Hull Kingston Rovers. Mr Jones started his new position in January to spearhead the busy conveyancing department in the firms Bridlington office.
• HARROGATE insurance provider NCI Group has announced two new senior appointments after taking on Andrew Mirfin as national account manager and Simon Berry as account manager.
The firm said the appointments will enhance its strategic growth plans across pet, motor, breakdown and claims services.
Mr Mirfin joins from Broker Network, part of the Towergate Group, and has more than 20 years experience working for large financial services firms including Aviva and Bradford & Bingley, while Mr Berry joins from Direct Line Group.
• PR and communications agency Acceleris has announced two senior management promotions.
The Harrogate firm’s managing director Peter Davenport is moving up to the role of chief executive and director Louise Vaughan, previously head of PR, is being promoted to managing director.


A view of tall trees and low walls encircling this oasis city is the first sign that the high-speed train has reached Hami in the Gobi desert, in the east of the mostly-Muslim Xinjiang autonomous region.
Outside the sleek, white metal snake of a train, nature’s palette slowly changes from pale yellow loess soil to dark, almost black, terrain, as the train cuts through the desert at speeds of more than 200 km/h, halving the travel time between Urumqi, the region’s capital, and Hami, to three hours.
The 530km route marks the first completed stage in a projected 1,775km line between Urumqi and Lanzhou, the capital of next-door Gansu province, far closer to the Chinese heartland.
Once, Hami – known for its sweet melons that grow in the desert oasis – was a busy trading post along the ancient Silk Road linking Asia and Europe. Now it may be poised to retake that role, as a key point on a “New Silk Road” project, introduced by President Xi Jinping, aimed at powering up the regional economy.
This high-speed railway route is a key part of that effort. It opened last month and every seat is full, the passengers comprising edgy young Han Chinese businessmen, Uighur traders with four-cornered doppa skullcaps and luminously headscarved women, each carrying what looks like dozens of plastic bags. Except for the mobile phones and plastic bags, the mix of people has not changed much since the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci came to Hami in 1605.
The project’s scope is vast, composing a network of intercontinental land and sea routes between China and central Asia. The land route, dubbed “the line” in Chinese, is to stretch all the way to Rotterdam, via Germany; the sea route, dubbed “the belt”, is to run from China, through southeast Asia all the way to the port of Piraeus in Greece, already part-operated by Chinese interests. From there, goods will fan out and up through eastern or western Europe, or into north Africa.
Because, to date, the main beneficiaries of the province’s industrial development have been the Han Chinese, which has prompted resentment among Uighurs, who account for 46 per cent of the population. Han Chinese now dominate the north of the region including the capital, Urumqi. The Uighurs fear they will be submerged culturally, economically and politically by the Han.
An upsurge in ethnic violence has turned Xinjiang into a heavily policed area. Buying a return ticket and boarding the train involved no fewer than six security checks, and police with machine guns patrol the platforms.
On the train itself, there are plenty of uniforms in evidence. In the dining car, Uighurs drink hot tea, cracking walnuts and producing their own bags of raisins, while Han passengers eat bowls of noodles, adding plenty of cumin and chili powder.
If the police and army presence represent the stick, measures like the “New Silk Road” are the carrot that Beijing hopes will win the hearts and minds of the Uighurs.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders’ meeting in November, Xi announced a €32 billion fund to invest in infrastructure projects as part of the plan.
Jian Chang, an analyst at Barclays Bank, believes the New Silk Road initiative will create trade and investment opportunities in infrastructure and construction, including transportation, ports, pipelines, power generation and environmental projects, as well as energy and resources exchanges, while lifting consumption and tourism along the “road”.
“Overall, we believe development along the New Silk Road could contribute to the sustainability of China’s growth at 5-7 per cent in the coming years and have a positive impact on China’s industrial upgrading and economic transformation,” says Chang.
Xinjiang is vast, accounting for one-sixth of China’s land mass, but it’s largely empty, with just 2 per cent of the population. The region sprawls, filled with natural resources, including the oil and gas China needs to fuel its economic rise. Those account for about 60 per cent of the province’s gross domestic product.
The roads of the province are full of tankers and heavy goods vehicles, building the infrastructure to move the materials out of Xinjiang.
Hami prefecture provides 12.5 per cent of China’s coal, with many wind and solar energy projects in the area, and the train route is dotted with derricks, seemingly at random, their booms bobbing up and down relentlessly. Some of the world’s biggest wind farms are here too.
As I pass through the oasis town, low-rise and cold beneath a stark blue sky, lined with mulberry bushes and shops selling melons, the social tensions aren’t far beneath the surface.
Recent years have seen an upsurge in ethnic violence in Xinjiang and in the Han heartland of China’s inland provinces, with attacks claiming scores of lives.
Beijing says Xinjiang is an inalienable part of China, though it was independent for some of the last century. Separatist activity increased in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of independent Muslim states in Central Asia.
The current violence here is often dated back to February 1997, when several demonstrators were shot in the northern city of Ili, or Ghulja, near the Pamir mountains, and in the ensuing riots nine died. Hundreds were injured in what became known as the Ghulja Massacre. Thousands of activists were rounded up. Mosques and religious schools were shut.
Violence has surged this year with a number of attacks by separatists, which China says are aided by overseas terror groups. About 150 people have died in ethnic violence, the latest coming last month when 15 people were killed and 14 injured during an attack in Shache county. Chinese security forces’ response to such incidents is ferocious and lethal, human rights groups say.
Earlier this year, 29 people were killed and 140 injured when eight knife-wielding attackers went on the rampage at the main train station in the southwestern city of Kunming, in Yunnan province, in March. Police shot four of the attackers dead.
The Kunming attack raised fears of similar terror attacks nationwide and security everywhere was stepped up. Weeks later, in May, a suicide bombing killed at least 39 people at a market in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi.
Scores of Uighurs have been jailed, and many executed, for terror activities and, in September, the high-profile Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment, charged with separatism and fuelling ethnic tensions.
The government has offered over 300 million yuan (€36 million) as bounty for tip-offs to aid the government’s crackdown on violent separatists in the region.
Xinjiang’s history, nevertheless, is a rich tapestry of cultures and nations intersecting.
The Qing, China’s last imperial dynasty, from Manchuria in the northeast, took control in 1755, but current rule by China is dated back to the late 19th century, when Manchu generals crushed a Muslim rebellion led by a Tajik Muslim warlord, Yakub Beg, who proclaimed an independent Turkestan in 1865.
He was an agent for Britain, which at the time was keen to counter Russia’s influence in the region and protect India, part of the strategic manoeuvring called the Great Game.
Beg ruled Xinjiang from 1866 to 1876, before the region was retaken in 1877 by Chinese troops and integrated formally into the empire.
After the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the area was ruled by brutally competitive local warlords; one Chinese warlord, Yang Zengxin, beheaded each of his enemies over the course of a dinner in 1916.
Increasingly, time is not on the Uighurs’ side. According to the 2000 census, the Han Chinese make up 40 per cent of the population, versus about 45 per cent Uighur, but the numbers of Han will have dramatically increased in the meantime.
Overseas, the Uighurs have their backers in the East Turkestan Liberation Movement and the World Uighur Congress, led by the exiled activist Rebiya Kadeer, a mother of 11. These groups accuse China of exaggerating the separatist threat to justify repression in the region.
In the dining car of the high-speed train, the passengers eating dried fruit and drinking tea show that peaceful co-existence is possible as the unforgiving desert landscape whips past.


The new Grousbeck Center for Students and Technology at Perkins School for the Blind.
WATERTOWN - I’m walking down a corridor in a new building at the Perkins School for the Blind. With me are the architect, Graham Gund of Cambridge, and Steven Rothstein, the school’s president.
We’re used to thinking of architecture as a visual art, not something you listen to. But this is a school for the blind.
I step back and forth between the room and the corridor. Yes, I can hear the difference. The sound of our voices in the room is slightly less reverberant than it was in the corridor.
Gund and Rothstein point to the ceilings. They make the difference. The ceiling above the corridor is lower, and it’s made of a material that reflects sound rather than absorbing it.
A richly modeled panel on an interior wall.
This is a building you can understand and navigate with your ears.
The building is the Grousbeck Center for Students and Technology. It’s a place with many purposes. It’s a social and recreation center for the Perkins students, with its own Internet radio station, student-run cafeteria, and space for performances, parties, and hanging out. It’s also a place to train teachers and parents from all over the world. (Perkins works with programs for blind and deaf-blind children in 66 nations.) And most noticeably, it brings together in one location a dazzling display of technology.
In one lobby, there’s a wooden scale model of the entire Perkins campus. When you reach out to touch one of the buildings, the building lights up and a voice is heard describing it and its history, while a text in Braille, with the same description, pops up at the model’s edge.
Information technology is transforming the lives of the blind, and Perkins wants to be a world leader in that movement.
Gund’s architecture, like the technology, presents itself to all the senses, not just the visual. The walls are mostly flat, for example, but now and then one is interrupted by a richly modeled panel. Thus a student can say to another student, “Meet me at the Bubble Wall,’’ or the “Wave Wall,’’ and the two can connect by touch. Touch works for the feet, too. When paths intersect or change direction, either indoors or out, the texture of the flooring or paving may change too, warning and explaining what’s happening.
Many of Perkins’s 200 students retain some degree of sight. Gund takes advantage of that, too, by making everything as intensely visible as possible. Interiors are flooded with daylight, but the light is modulated so that it’s of different intensities in different locations. Elements like electrical conduits, structural members, and air-handling ducts are often left uncovered in the rooms, rather than being hidden behind walls or ceilings, thus making the surroundings more easily discernible.
As Gund notes, the result is a set of interiors with an experimental feel. It’s as if Grousbeck were a work still in process, like a studio where anything can happen.
Grousbeck’s exterior has that same sense of being loosely assembled and open to change, but it doesn’t work as well. Materials are a mix of glass, aluminum panels, and red brick. Some visual games are played with changing colors in the panels, but there’s little of the passion and invention you get indoors. This is a conventional-looking building with an unconventional purpose. There’s a mismatch.
Grousbeck is a little out of synch with its surroundings, too. That’s partly because it’s competing with a magnificent array of older architecture. I’d never visited Perkins until recently and I was blown away by the original campus structures, which were built in 1912 to the designs of architect R. Clipston Sturgis. (Perkins opened in 1832 and moved to its present site 100 years ago.) Rising to a 180-foot bell tower in the Gothic style, the complex feels like a monastery and radiates a powerful civic presence.
An image of the Perkins School in 1913.
President Rothstein didn’t want Grousbeck’s architecture to mimic the great past. “This is about a new Perkins,’’ he says. “We’re guided by our history but not pigeonholed or burdened by it.’’ That’s fine, but an institution like Perkins needs to think about its collective identity. If every new building is a complete departure, the result, eventually, will be a mishmash of unrelated structures. A sense of unity will be lost. Grousbeck could have been every bit as contemporary as it is while still retaining the sense of being a member of a family of related buildings.
Gund had proposed some geometric patterning of the brickwork, to help key the new building to the more ornamental old campus. I don’t think it would have made much difference, but in any case the idea was vetoed by Rothstein.
But the exterior appearance isn’t what Grousbeck is about. It’s about creating a magical interior that can be explored by sound and touch. It reminds us that architecture is, or at least can be, an art of all the senses, not merely that of sight. And it reminds us, too, that good architecture is, among other things, a means of solving practical problems for people.
Grousbeck is named for the building’s lead donors, Wycliffe and Corinne Grousbeck. He’s co-owner of the Celtics and they have a son who’s a Perkins student. Total cost was a modest $10 million.


After opening to much fanfare three years ago, Coca-Cola is shutting down The Founders program, according to a published report in Innovation Leader. Under this program, the company nurtured young startups, hoping to siphon some of that entrepreneurial energy and pass it along to the big lumbering corporation.
Over the last several years, companies have recognized the need to innovate, and the larger the company, the more difficult it is. David Butler, who, according to the report, has left the company, ran the program as VP of innovation. The company launched the program with the idea of giving startups with cool ideas some seed money — a million or less — along with access to the vast resources only a company the size of Coca-Cola could provide.
Butler would scout the startups, then connect the ones he liked with an advisor, who could help them navigate the big company. These types of programs have popped up at large companies over the last several years, including such well-known and varied brands as McDonald’s, CVS, Fidelity and GE.
As Butler told me a couple of years ago at Web Summit in Dublin, when it works, the startup-corporation combination can be a powerful one: “Most large established companies have scale but lack agility. Startups have agility, but they’re looking for scale.” Put the two together and something beautiful could happen, or at least that was the hope.
While the idea was to create companies that would be independent and hopefully find other sources of funding (and customers), Coca-Cola was trying to gain something by bringing these startups into the fold.
The problem becomes giving the startup enough love without smothering it. A small company can’t always cater to the needs of its corporate benefactor, precisely because early stage startups by their nature lack the resources to take on too much too soon.
Butler told me earlier this year that the company liked to find startups, even before they formed. “We set up meetings with startups. We try to find founders before they develop and create the startup.” They would start with a thesis related to a big challenge or opportunity in the company. They established relationships with early-stage VCs and seed funders, typically talking to entrepreneur-in-residences, looking for that company that could help them before it launched.
Butler told me the company had funded 12 companies as of March when I last spoke to him. Among its biggest successes was Wonolo, an online staffing firm, which was funded early by Coca-Cola Founders, but has raised $7.9 million overall, including $5.7 million Series A in January.
Perhaps Butler was being prescient when he told me about the difficulties in pulling this off. “When the [startup and the corporation] combine, it’s quite interesting. You need a translator to help them understand what’s going on. That’s why a lot of platforms inside big companies fail and you have to take the time.” Unfortunately, the Founders platform appears to be no more, but the companies who have received funding will continue to receive internal support. They just won’t go looking for any more.
It’s hard to know if this is the start of a trend where companies back off this kind of corporate funding, or if Coca-Cola, whose CEO is stepping down, is just an isolated case of a company in transition.
Note: In an email received after this story was published, Coca-Cola confirmed the contents of this story including the fact the company has ceased The Founders program and David Butler has left the company. As reported, they will continue to work with the current crop of funded companies, but do not intend to fund any new ones under this program. “This does not change our holistic approach to innovation at Coca-Cola, which is to imbed innovation across our functions and throughout our global Business Units,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch.


Prior to pursuing his PhD, Arie worked as an R&D engineer and manager in large defense and communication firms.
Professor Arie’s research interests include the study of employee incentives, strategic competition between firms, and the design of employee roles in firms. His current research focuses on the internal design of firms and employee incentives when the employee’s task becomes harder with effort.
Who Pays for Switching Costs?


In honor of National S’mores Day we went to the experts for some advice on how to make a perfectly melted mess of chocolate-y goodness and fluffy ‘mallows (say that five times fast!).
The answer? Well according to s’mores guru Chelsea Von Peacock at Halcyon Southtown (1414 S Alamo) you have to “Let it sit there. Just let it melt.” Patience is the key to a perfectly toasted marshmallow.


A man has been arrested after allegedly attacking a woman with a biscuit in Nashville.
An affidavit from Metro Nashville Police said officers were called to 2301 Murfreesboro Pike on Aug. 19 in response to a domestic disturbance. A Google Maps search shows a BP gas station at that address.
A woman told police that she was in the backseat of her boyfriend’s car when the suspect threw a biscuit that hit her in the face. The victim reported being in pain after the incident.
When they left the area, the suspect allegedly charged after her and punched the hood of the car, leaving a large dent. He then yelled, “I’ll kill you mother f***er,” the police report said.
The victim said she was “very much in fear” and believed she would have been hurt had her boyfriend and another person not intervened.
Police later arrested Jeffrey L. Tomerlin on a charge of public intoxication. Officers said he smelled of alcohol and his level of intoxication was so high that he may have been a danger to himself.
The affidavit also said he was an “unreasonable annoyance” to people in the area. He was eventually taken to an area hospital because police said he kept banging his head on the patrol car windows.


A layer of salt covered Atlantic Avenue in Boston in preparation for this weekend’s storm.
Our weekend storm is still on track, and Boston’s trend for less snow continues. I’m still thinking that the city will get just under 6 inches of snow with perhaps even less if the change-over occurs a little earlier. Notice that the 1- to 3-inch line isn’t too far away from Boston.
There could be a few snow showers Saturday afternoon as the winds turn easterly off the water. These showers won’t be the main event, but they could put a brief coating in a few spots right at the water’s edge.
Overnight, the snow will move into the area between 7 and 10 p.m. It will become steadier and heavier, falling quite hard around midnight with a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour.
While that’s happening, warm air will be flooding northward at high levels in the atmosphere, changing the snow to sleet. The exact time of the changeover will determine how much snow falls. Since it could be snowing as hard as 2 inches an hour, if we get two more hours of snow, you can figure we’ll be at the higher end of the snowfall totals (and perhaps even an inch or two over). I don’t think we’ll have less snow than I predicted on the above map, but it’s weather, so there are surprises.
On Sunday, the rain line will move northward and could get into Boston for a few hours. If you look at the loop above, you’ll notice the snow (blue) moves into the area overnight and then we get the rain (green) moving very close to the city before sleet (red) comes back in at the end. Almost everyone will experience more than one type of precipitation in the next 24 hours, and some areas will have longer periods of snow and sleet than others. The storm track is basically going to move over Boston and flood the area with warm air for at least a few hours, which is the reason it’s such a mixed bag around here. What a mess.
The forecast is easier up in northern New England, which will see mostly snow with perhaps a mix of sleet along the coast.
Some models are forecasting 4 types of precipitation around Boston in this storm.
Toward Sunday night, temperatures will plunge, and any leftover slush will refreeze solid. Temperatures on Martin Luther King Day will reach between 10 and 15 degrees with a gusty wind. It will feel very cold.
Readings will moderate on Tuesday, and a storm system in the middle of mext week will likely be mostly rain.


It's a rare occurrence indeed when a Maryland State Police Medevac lands in the middle of Bel Air, but that's exactly what happened around noon Monday, when one of the sleek helicopters touched down in the middle of Shamrock Park.
That was a rousing start to the week for 32 children participating in the Bel Air Police Department's Youth Camp, who had an opportunity to see the helicopter up close and personal.
As the Medevac gently landed, most of the campers stood on the stage of the park's William A. Humbert Amphitheater, some waving amid the noise and updrafts from the rotors.
Once the rotors had stopped, the children and some parents with phones and cameras, as well as a few passersby, made a beeline for the helicopter.
The five-man crew, which included pilots and trooper medics, spent about one hour talking with the children and adults about the various missions the AgustaWestland AW139 aircraft is used for, the helicopter's capabilities, their jobs as pilots and medics and what type of training and education is required.
The 32 children participating in the Bel Air Police Department’s Youth Camp kicked off their week-long session Monday with a visit from a Maryland State Police medevac helicopter crew.
"Kids are really a good audience," Senior Tpr. John Peach, a trooper flight paramedic, said later. "They're very open about things, very innocent and they ask a lot of really good questions."
Officer Rick Krause of the BAPD, who is the camp director, said the summer camp lasts for two weeks, and Monday was the beginning of the second week-long session. He said the camp, which is open to children ages 10 to 14, is sponsored by the Bel Air Police Explorer Post 9010, and the Explorers serve as camp counselors. Families are charged $40 per child to participate.
Krause said the helicopter visit was designed to get the campers "rocking and rolling, and then the next couple of days, it's a mini-police academy."
He said they will learn a variety of police skills, including weapons training, how to handcuff a suspect, how to search people, vehicles and buildings, conduct a crime scene investigation. They will also be able to play sports such as dodge ball, and do push-ups as a disciplinary measure.
"We get strong as we get corrected," Krause said.
Krause noted the children do not train with real firearms and ammunition, but they use "inert" rubber weapons.
"We teach the kids all police procedures," he said.
Bel Air Police officers, along with members of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, cleared a landing zone in the park.
Peach sat in the body of the helicopter, where he gave an overview of what the Medevacs and its crews do, and then he and his fellow crew members answered questions from the anxious campers seated in front of him.
Some of the questions included how many people can ride – five and how much does it cost to ride in a medical emergency – no charge, according to Peach.
He explained some of the equipment, including high powered cameras, one which he said could see people on the ground smoking cigarettes when the helicopter was deployed in Baltimore during the recent riots.
One camper asked Peach why he carries a knife among his gear, and he said the knife is needed in case he needs to quickly cut away any safety tethers.
"We're always tethered in," Peach said. "If we're not belted into the seat, then we have a tether."
Pilot Mike Andres explained the properties of physics that allow a helicopter's rotors to get the aircraft off the ground.
Andres said people commonly use the word "blades" to describe the rotors, but he said they are actually wings, with a design similar to an airplane's wings.
"Our wings spin, and that creates lift," he said.
State Police helicopters have four main missions, including law enforcement and criminal pursuit, search and rescue, homeland security and medical evacuations, according to Peach. He said they also assist state fire marshals in their investigations.
Andres said his crew, which is based at Martin State Airport in Baltimore County, has the call sign Trooper 1. They respond to incidents in Cecil, Harford, Kent and Baltimore counties, as well as parts of Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's counties.
Peach and fellow trooper medic Lt. Patrick King talked about the medical incidents they respond to, such as traffic accidents.
"In this region, you do get some farming injuries and some equestrian accidents," King said.
One adult in the crowd noted he had been injured in a farming accident during the late 1980s and was airlifted to the hospital.
In response to another audience question, Peach said trooper medics typically secure a patient who has had a traumatic injury, but their main mission is to get a victim to the hospital as quickly as possible, rather than provide medical treatment at the scene or in flight.
"[Patients] need what they term, 'cold steel and bright lights,' in other words, a surgical intervention," he said. "The big thing for us is time; time, in trauma, is lives."
Andres said State Police pilots are typically civilians who have several thousand hours of flight time before they come to the agency, rather than sworn troopers who would improve their flying skills on the job.
He said 2,000 hours is the minimum flight time for a pilot, and most have an average of at least 5,000 flight hours. Many pilots are former military – Andres said he is a retired Coast Guard pilot.
He said the pilot in charge on Monday's flight, Todd Hysan, is a retired Marine Corps pilot.
Andres told the audience that math and engineering skills are critical when flying a helicopter.
"It all involves computers, engineering and math," he said.
Peach said many trooper medics have prior experience as paramedics – he has been with the State Police since 2001, and he spent four-and-a half years before that as a paramedic with the Baltimore County Fire Department.
He said medics must also complete six months of training at the State Police academy.
"Medics are troopers first," he said.
Pilot Mike Andreas, right, speaks with the group from the Bel Air Police Department's Youth Camp about Trooper One, the Maryland State Police Helicopter he flies during a visit to the camp Monday afternoon.
Maryland State Police Lt. Patrick King, left, talks with Bel Air Police Department Youth Camp participant Ryan Hiebler about the vest King wears during flight in Trooper One, the Maryland State Police helicopter that landed in Shamrock Park Monday.


GENEVA -- The United States and Russia say they have resolved a number of issues standing in the way of restoring a nationwide truce to Syria and opening up aid deliveries, but were unable once again to forge a comprehensive agreement on stepping up cooperation to end the brutal war that has killed hundreds of thousands.
After meeting off-and-on for nearly 10 hours in Geneva on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov could point to only incremental progress in filling in details of a broad understanding to boost joint efforts that was reached last month in Moscow.
Their failure to reach an overall deal highlighted the increasingly complex situation on the ground in Syria -- including new Russian-backed Syrian government attacks on opposition forces, the intermingling of some of those opposition forces with an al-Qaida affiliate not covered by the truce, and the surrender of a rebel-held suburb of Damascus -- as well as deep divisions and mistrust dividing Washington and Moscow.
The complexities have also grown with the increasing internationalization of what has largely become a proxy war between regional and world powers, highlighted by a move by Turkish troops across the Syrian border against Islamic State fighters this week.
Kerry said he and Lavrov had agreed on the "vast majority" of technical discussions on steps to reinstate a cease-fire and improve humanitarian access. But critical sticking points remain unresolved and experts will remain in Geneva with an eye toward finalizing those in the coming days, he said.
"We are close," Kerry said. "But we are not going to rush to an agreement until it satisfies fully the needs of the Syrian people."
Lavrov echoed that, saying "we still need to finalize a few issues" and pointed to the need to separate fighters from the al-Nusra Front, which has ties to al-Qaida, from U.S.-backed fighters who hold parts of northwest Syria.
"We have continued our efforts to reduce the areas where we lack understanding and trust, which is an achievement," Lavrov said. "The mutual trust is growing with every meeting."
Yet, it was clear that neither side believes an overall agreement is imminent or even achievable after numerous previous disappointments shattered a brief period of relative calm earlier this year.
The inability to wrest an agreement between Russia and the U.S. -- as the major sponsors of the opposing sides in the stalled Syria peace talks -- all but spells another missed deadline for the U.N. Syria envoy to get the Syrian government and "moderate" opposition back to the table.
The U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura, briefly sat in Friday with Kerry and Lavrov. After missing an initial target date of Aug. 1, de Mistura had hoped to restart the intra-Syrian discussions toward political transition in late August. He suspended the talks in late April after a resurgence in the fighting.
Friday's meeting came a month after the Kerry and Lavrov met in Moscow and agreed on a number of unspecified actions to get the all-but-ignored truce back in force. However, as in Moscow, neither Kerry nor Lavrov would describe them in detail.
"We do not want to make an announcement ... that is not enforceable, that doesn't have details worked out, that winds up in the place that the last two announcements have wound up," Kerry said. "Until we have, neither of us are prepared to make an announcement that is predicated for failure. We don't want a deal for the sake of the deal, we want a deal that is effective."
And, underscoring deep differences over developments on the ground, Kerry noted that Russia disputes the U.S. "narrative" of recent attacks on heavily populated areas being conducted by Syrian forces, Russia itself and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia. Russia maintains the attacks it has been involved in have targeted legitimate terrorist targets, while the U.S. says they have hit moderate opposition forces.
U.S. officials say it is imperative that Russia use its influence with Syrian President Bashar Assad to halt all attacks on moderate opposition forces, open humanitarian aid corridors, and concentrate any offensive action on the Islamic State group and other extremists not covered by what has become a largely ignored truce.
For their part, U.S. officials say they are willing to press rebels groups they support harder on separating themselves from the Islamic State and al-Nusra, which despite a recent name change is still viewed as al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria.
Meanwhile, in a blow to the opposition, rebel forces and civilians in the besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya were to be evacuated on Friday after agreeing to surrender the town late Thursday after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that left the sprawling area in ruins.
The surrender of Daraya, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power.
Referring to Daraya, Lavrov said: "This is an example I think will get some following." He said the Russian military's reconciliation center in Syria has received a request from another area to organize a similar operation -- with Russian mediation.


Al Qaeda militants swept into the southern Yemeni town of Rada overnight and overran it within hours, in a key military advance by the Islamists, local and tribal officials said on Monday.
The takeover of Rada, 130 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of Sanaa, was the latest in a series of southern towns and cities to fall as Al Qaeda takes advantage of a weakened central government reeling from months of protests.
Rada lies only 30 kilometres from the main highway connecting the capital Sanaa and Yemen's southern and southwestern regions.
"Al Qaeda has taken over the town and is now the de facto power there," a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The government's security forces have retreated to their bases and militants are now manning the checkpoints in and out of the town," he added.
The official, a senior member of the local government, said the militants had also seized the town's central prison and police headquarters.
According to a local tribal chief, more than 100 prisoners were released, "including members of Al Qaeda." Two soldiers guarding the prison were killed, local officials said.
The takeover began late Sunday and was completed by dawn on Monday without any significant resistance from local security forces stationed in the area, according to tribal officials.
"There were barely any clashes at all," one local tribal leader told AFP.
Tribesmen have accused the government of complacency and said despite repeated warnings, the government had done little to prevent Rada's fall.
"We've been warning the authorities about the Al Qaeda threat for months. We told them that their actions and behaviour pointed to their intentions to take over," local tribal leader Sheikh Ammar Al Teiri told AFP.
"The government has absolutely no role here anymore," he added.
According to Teiri, local tribesmen decided to join forces and help protect the city from an Al Qaeda invasion, "but they showed up in such force it became clear that in this town at least, they were stronger than the state," he said.
The takeover of Rada was accompanied by what appears to be the formal appointment of a local "emir," or prince, to govern the newly seized territory, a posting given to the brother-in-law of slain US-born cleric Anwar Al Awlaqi.
Tareq Al Dahab, who is married to Awlaqi's sister, was named to the post, tribal officials said.
Anwar Al Awlaqi, the first US citizen to be put on a US list of militants targeted for assassination, was killed on September 30 in a suspected US drone strike in Yemen.
He was believed to be the leader of overseas operations for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group's deadliest global branch.
In August, the 15-member UN Security Council said it was "deeply concerned at the worsening security situation, including the threat from Al Qaeda," in Yemen.
AQAP and its local affiliates, the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), have taken advantage of almost a full year of deadly protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh to bolster their presence in the southeastern Shabwa province and nearby Marib.
Abyan province of southern Yemen, however, has been the main target of Al Qaeda's growing strength, with militants taking control of the provincial capital Zinjibar in May and capturing several other towns since.
Hundreds of militants and soldiers have been killed in battles between Islamist fighters and government forces trying to retake captured territories.


DOVER TWP. - Fred Couples, a former Masters champion and a two-time PGA TOUR Player of the Year, will return to the Treetops Resort to defend his title at the Tylenol Par-3 Shootout on Monday and Tuesday, June 30-July 1. Couples will face the fourth-ranked player in the world, Phil Mickelson; 2001 champion and $1 million hole-in-one winner Lee Trevino; and two-time major championship winner Fuzzy Zoeller at the spectacular Par-3 Threetops Course.
The event will be televised by ESPN on June 30 from 10 p.m.- midnight, and July 1 from 8-10 p.m.
The purse for the 18-hole tournament is $540,000 and an additional $1 million bonus is available for every hole-in-one. Each hole is worth $20,000, with a $10,000 bonus for the player hitting his shot closest to the pin. If the hole is not won, the money carries over to the next hole. If the hole is won, the player doesn't get the money unless he validates it on the next hole by either winning or tying the low score. No validation is necessary on playoff holes.
Tickets for the Tylenol Par-3 Shootout are now on sale, and may be purchased online at www.treetops.com or by calling 989-732-6711, Ext. 2499.
Daily passes can be purchased for $30 or two-day passes for $50.


– WWE Superstar Seth Rollins also commented on the New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 11 event from this week.
Thank you everyone for your support and for watching #wk11 . It was the greatest stage for me to show my vision for pro-wrestling.


Patrick Vieira won it all – World Cup, Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, Series A, and Italian Super Cup. Stan went all the way to New York to hear those stories and check how Patrick manages a football club and star players like David Villa and Andrea Pirlo. Famous sports pundits Alison Bender (ESPN) and Tony Evans (London Evening Standard) join Stan in our studio to place some bets on the biggest football extravaganza.


The skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street, dubbed the "Walkie-Talkie tower", last month won the "Carbuncle Cup" -- an award given by Building Design magazine to the worst building in the U.K.
The tongue-in-cheek award seems mean, but the tower has caused a number of problems.
In July, the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph reported that the building was creating a wind tunnel that blew down shop signs and swept pedestrians off their feet. In 2013, the building's south-facing wall reflected sunlight onto the streets below, melting a car's bodywork. Non-reflective film had to be attached to the tower's windows as a prevention.
But the Walkie Talkie is not the only architectural mistakes that have been made. Here are 10 more unintended errors.


Before the Internet, editors compiled power lists using a complex system of favor-trading and slow-news-cycle holidays. Now, it's done by algorithm! Anyone can indulge their narcissism and quantify their own "influence." But only one can be on top. Or several.
What's true for the Internet is true for Twitter: on the Internet, you can make your voice heard, if not necessarily listened to. Are men listened to more than women, as is often the case in previous public discourse? It depends which evidence you choose to read.
While women represent a greater portion of the overall Twitter population, men edged slightly ahead in terms of Twitter's top influencers. Yet that power balance shifts when looking at influence across the entire Twitterverse as women hold a higher level of influence within the general Twitter population.
Recently, Twitter Grader helpfully compiled a list of the top 100 female users. Sitting at the very top: a conservative woman named Jan Simpson.
She has 78,153 followers, though she follows even more than that. She tweets aggressively and sociably. Although her profile lists "Operation Rescue," the rabidly anti-abortion group, Simpson's most recent tweets have focused on animal rights and Florida politics. Also, she doesn't seem too impressed by Sarah Palin. She contains multitudes.
Why did they have a separate list of female users and not one of men? Probably because the overall top 100 was a mix of institutional accounts (with Fox News at the top) and individual dudes. Simpson only clocks in at #25 on that one.
Plenty of these are aimed at the tech-savvy (or tech-curious) — Smashing Mag, Mashable, and RWW (Read Write Web), Google. The Onion, Breaking News, and Syfy are pretty obvious. Joko Anwar is an Indonesian filmmaker who clearly has figured out this social media thing.
And then there's the only woman on that list: Michelle Malkin. Does she need an introduction? If so, here's a recent tweet.
Factcheck: the number of vacation days Obama has taken to date is 48 versus Bush's 115. But who needs facts when you can have influence?


Tony Hoffman How to Catch a Glimpse of This Summer's Solar Eclipse Parts of Chile and Argentina, as well as a tiny Pacific island, will briefly lie beneath the Moon's shadow during July 2's total solar eclipse. Here's what you need to know.
Parts of Chile and Argentina, as well as a tiny Pacific island, will briefly lie beneath the Moon's shadow during July 2's total solar eclipse. Here's what you need to know.
If you missed last August's solar eclipse, or caught it and are keen to repeat the experience, you will have another chance to spend some precious minutes under the totally eclipsed Sun this summer.
Granted, the eclipse of July 2 won't be nearly as conveniently placed for North Americans as last year's event, in which the Moon's shadow raced across the United States from Oregon to South Carolina. Most of the action this time will be in South America, namely Chile and Argentina, and no part of the US will witness even a partial eclipse. But it will give some intrepid souls a chance to witness one of nature's grandest spectacles from a distant part of the world.
Total solar eclipses are not unusual—one happens somewhere in the world every year and a half or so. But for every one that passes across highly populated and easily accessible areas, there seem to be two or three that are mostly over open water or remote wilderness. This one is somewhere in between; although the path of totality passes near Buenos Aires, there is a high probability of cloudiness in the area, with about 70 percent cloud cover typical for July. More promising locations lie in central to western Argentina, as well as the Chilean coast near La Serena and the inland Elqui Valley. Also, many cruise-ship eclipse tours will intersect the path of totality, and a couple of more exotic options may also be available to a few adventurers.
The eclipse begins at dawn in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 miles to the east of New Zealand's North Island. The Moon's shadow tracks northeastward, threading a path between French Polynesia and Pitcairn Island, at mid-morning plunging tiny Oeno Island into darkness for 2 minutes, 51 seconds. The eclipse reaches its maximum duration of 4 minutes, 33 seconds over the open ocean near the track's northernmost point, some 1,200 miles west of the South American coast and 450 miles north of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). From there the Moon's shadow races to the east-southeast, finally reaching the Chilean coastline in the late afternoon. After the shadow treks across the Andes and through Argentina, totality ends at sunset just short of South America's Atlantic coast.
Only a handful of people will see the eclipse from Oeno (weather permitting), an uninhabited atoll accessible only by permission of the Pitcairn Island Commissioner. Most Pacific eclipse chasers will see the event aboard cruise ships, largely between Pitcairn and Mangareva in French Polynesia, which is relatively accessible.
In addition, at least two chartered LATAM airliners are due to fly into the eclipse path. Sky & Telescope magazine's flight will intercept totality off the Chilean coast, while astronomy professor Glenn Schneider—who has flown on or planned 13 airborne eclipse expeditions—is leading a trip that will fly from Easter Island to fly into the Moon's shadow near the point of maximum eclipse, and by flying in the same direction as the shadow moves, hopes to extend the duration of totality for the passengers up to about 9 minutes.
In late afternoon, the Moon's shadow finally makes landfall again, on the Chilean coast north of La Serena. Most eclipse-goers—several hundred thousand, by some estimates—will be near La Serena and in the inland Elqui Valley, where weather prospects are somewhat better. The northern part of the eclipse track crosses the Atacama Desert, and some of the world's great observatories—including the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory—will experience totality. The shadow will then cross the Andes into Argentina's Cuyo region, where weather prospects are relatively good, and cross that country before the eclipse ends at sunset.
If you can't make it to this eclipse, in December 2020 another total solar eclipse will cross both Chile and Argentina a bit south of the path of the July 2 event, this time putting part of Patagonia in the Moon's shadow, at midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Check out more details and some shots by the author of previous eclipses.
This composite series of images, taken by the author at the total solar eclipse of March 20, 2015 from Spitsbergen island in the Norwegian arctic, shows the progress of the eclipse from shortly after first contact (when the Moon first starts to "take a bite out of" the Sun) until totality.
A view of the entire path of totality for the July 2 solar eclipse, from Jay Anderson and Jennifer West's Eclipsophile meteorology site. The total eclipse starts in the South Pacific east of New Zealand, tracks between French Polynesia and Pitcairn Island, reaches its maximum duration of 4 minutes 52 seconds over open ocean, makes landfall on the Chilean coast in late afternoon, and ends at sunset southeast of Buenos Aires near the Atlantic coast.
This diagram, from the Eclipsophile eclipse meteorology site by Jay Anderson and Jennifer West, shows the average July cloud cover along the eclipse track in South America. When the Moon's shadow makes landfall north of La Serena, Chile, cloud cover averages just over 50 percent. It dips to 40 percent in the Elqui Valley, where many observers will be situated. Average cloud cover spikes to around 75 percent as the shadow crosses the Andes, while on the Argentine side of the Andes in the Cuyo region, with the mountains largely blocking Pacific weather patterns, cloud cover dips to 25 percent near Bella Vista, though at totality the setting Sun will stand at most a few degrees above the peaks there, so choose your location carefully. Cloud cover stays fairly low through central Argentina, but in eastern Argentina, which is affected by Atlantic weather systems, the average cloud cover increases, reaching nearly 70 percent when totality ends at sunset southeast of Buenos Aires.
A screenshot from the SkySafari 5 Pro app showing the eclipse circumstances from Oeno Island, with the planets labeled. The bright star to the eclipsed Sun's upper right is Sirius, while Orion stands upside-down (from a northern-hemisphere perspective) above the Sun. Eclipse-goers are only likely to notice the very brightest stars and planets.
Another image by the author from the March 20, 2015 total solar eclipse showing the so-called diamond ring, in which the last beam of direct sunlight, shining through a lunar valley, brightens a limb of the Moon in the moment before totality. A second diamond ring can be seen when totality ends.
This image, also taken by the author at the March 20, 2015 total solar eclipse, shows the solar corona, the Sun's superheated but tenuous atmosphere, surrounding the Moon's disk.
Eclipse circumstances for Bella Vista, Argentina. Although weather prospects are relatively good in western Argentina's Cuyo region, the Sun at totality will only be a few degrees above the Andes, and if you set up in a valley, say, you run the risk of the Sun setting before totality begins, so choose your location wisely.
The Sun, still partially eclipsed, sets beyond Lake Turkana in Kenya on November 3, 2013. Photograph by the author.
How Much RAM Does My Smartphone Really Need?


SHANGHAI, April 12 (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel went fastest for Ferrari in Friday’s opening practice session for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc, who was denied a maiden win by engine trouble some 10 laps from the end at the last race in Bahrain, was third, 0.256 seconds off his Ferrari team-mate’s pace.
Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1000th Formula One world championship race.
Hamilton, who trails team-mate Bottas by one point in the standings with the Mercedes pair finishing one-two in each of the season’s two races so far, is the most successful driver around the 5.4-km circuit.


Interviews are on in Dublin at the end of March.
ONE OF CANADA’S hair salons is recruiting and they’re looking for Irish workers.
Diamond Global Recruitment needs to find 80 “outstanding, creative hair stylists to work in both men’s only and unisex salons”, mainly in Alberta.
Interviews will take place in Dublin on the 22nd and 23rd of this month, when candidates will get to show off their cutting and styling talents.
Diamond Global Recruitment are accepting applications now which can be posted directly on their website.
If you manage to impress and land the job, you’ll be starting in August or September this year.
As the jobs are skilled positions, the hairdressers will be eligible to apply for permanent residency after one year of their two year contract.
They can then bring over their families as spouses will be eligible to work as well.
Successful hairstylist applicants will get flexible working hours and excellent industry standard pay the equal of their Canadian colleagues, which is guaranteed by law.
“We are looking for stylists with a total of 36 months salon experience and you can continue to develop as a professional hair stylist with continuous on-the-job training”.
Email “Canada wants 80 of our hairdressers”.
Feedback on “Canada wants 80 of our hairdressers”.


CES 2018 - MAINGEAR has unveiled their beautiful and beyond beasty new F131 Gaming Desktop with exclusive APEX Cooling, which looks absolutely delicious.
The company has packed the new F131 gaming PC with some of the latest and greatest technology from Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and others. MAINGEAR has included support for the latest GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA, while supporting AMD's new Ryzen Threadripper (up to 16C/32T) and Intel's best Core i9-7980XE with 18C/36T.
Don't worry if you're a multi-tasker or serious workstation user, MAINGEAR provides plenty of storage options alongside up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM.
But inside is where MAINGEAR has put a lot of its effort, which is their beautiful and unique APEX Cooling system which the company says is a self-contained and fully-integrated cooling system that was born out of a partnership with Bitspower. MAINGEAR's new APEX Cooling system sports dual pumps, pressure regulated parallel cooling, flow rate and temperature sensing, and more.
There are two options for the watercooling side of the new MAINGEAR F131 gaming PC, with the choice between soft tubing open-loop cooling, or MAINGEAR's impressive Superstock Hardline open loop, which is available in clear acrylic or metal tubing.
How much will this thing cost? MAINGEAR starts pricing of the new F131 gaming PC at just $1599 and it will scale into the 3-4x that mark once you throw a Core i7-7980XE and dual TITAN V graphics cards, don't worry.


(Intro) Preliminary results from Kosovo's November 15 elections have been delayed another day due to what election officials say are technical difficulties with the system designed to gather data from polling stations. Despite the delay, outside observers hailed the election as a success. RFE/RL's Central Newsroom reports.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo has claimed to have won more votes than any other party in Kosovo's first local elections since it declared independence from Serbia last year.


Are you tired of studying at college or university? Do you have a passion for coding?
If so, our Software Developer Apprenticeship will offer you the opportunity to kick start your career.
Our client is a successful and leading developer based in the B49 area of the West Midlands and they are offering this exciting new opportunity to embark on a career as a Software Developer Apprentice at Level 3.
As a Level 3 Software Developer Apprentice, you will be undertaking a recognised apprenticeship qualification, including Microsoft certifications, at the same time as working as part of the company’s Software Development team.


Called Project Jacquard, Google has developed a way to weave technology into the fabric of clothing itself. But why would you want to?
Google's ATAP division announced it was partnering with Levi's to weave wearable technology built into regular clothing.


Urbana University, a branch campus of Franklin University will host a free 6-week Non-Violent Communication (NVC) Workshop beginning Monday, Oct. 15. The free workshop, sponsored by the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund, is open to all UU students, faculty, staff, alumni, high school students and community members. The workshop will be held on Mondays, Oct. 15 through Nov. 19, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Moore Conference Room on the lower level of the Urbana University Student Center.
This year’s offering marks the third 6-week Non-Violent Communication Workshop sponsored by the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund, taught by NVC trained Diane Diller. The funds raised during the Alicia Titus Memorial Run for Peace and donations throughout the year help keep Alicia’s memory and spirit alive by providing programs and events for Urbana University and community that promote and support a culture of peace. Alicia longed for a world in which people would learn to get along with one another, and one of the first places we believe we must start is through educating ourselves and our young children on how to communicate in a nonviolent way.
Workshop presenter Diane Diller is a certified Nonviolent Communication©/NVC trainer and Dialogue Facilitator. She offers classes, workshops, practice groups, and individual sessions throughout the Miami Valley.
NVC fosters cooperation and collaboration in relationships at home, at work, and in the community. It is a transformative approach to living developed by Marshall B. Rosenberg and supported internationally by The Center for Nonviolent Communication, www.cnvc.org.
Diller has a B.A. in sociology and has been involved with NVC since 2004, teaching since 2009. She finds great joy in helping people recognize their common humanity, grow in compassion for themselves and others, and build practical skills for resolving conflicts peacefully— even happily!
She believes NVC can help foster difficult conversations that help build trust and understanding.
NVC is a tool that can help reach children at home, in the classroom and on the street when respectful compassionate is used to give people a sense of being understood and heard.
Everyone connected to youth are encouraged to consider signing up for this free workshop. Participation is an investment in the future of our young children and the quality of life in which they live.
To register please call Stephani Islam at Urbana University (937) 772-9292. You can also register by emailing Stephani at stephani.islam@urbana.edu or Bev Titus at bjtitus11@windstream.net.
Information from event organizers and the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund.


Christopher Cantwell, who talked tough in a Vice News documentary, whimpered in fear about getting arrested before turning himself over to authorities.
The White nationalist featured in a documentary on the violence in Charlottesville surrendered Wednesday to Virginia authorities after they issued warrants for his arrest, the New York Times reports.
Christopher Cantwell participated in a torch-lit march at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11 and a White supremacist rally the next day, in which a 32-year-old female anti-racism activist was killed.
University of Virginia Police Department issued multiple charges against Cantwell, including two felony counts of illegal use of tear gas and one count of malicious bodily injury by means of a caustic substance. They said in a statement that the charges stem from an incident on the night of the march.
Cantwell told The Times last week that he believes the charges resulted from a photograph showing him pepper-spraying a counterprotester.
Cantwell, 36, portrayed himself in a Vice News documentary, viewed by millions, as a tough guy, spewing violent hatred for Black and Jews. He gained notoriety from the documentary, emerging as a champion of the White supremacy movement.
But after officials issued the warrants, Cantwell posted a video to YouTube in which he whimpered and choked back tears over fear of his arrest.
“I don’t think I did anything wrong,’’ Cantwell told The Times.


Nigel Mott fishes for wild salmon on the Severn using a centuries old method of cages or "putchers".
The salmon swim with the tide and into the traps. But to get them he has to clamber out along a precarious girder and then find his way among the racks of putchers.
His are made of metal, more traditional ones were made from willow.
Mr Mott is wearing a head camera for some of the shots so you can see what he can see.
If what he is doing looks dangerous now, imagine what it is like in the dark, and in a gale. But it is a way of life Mr Mott says he is determined to protect.
The charity took more than 1,600 calls about neglected, abandoned and stray exotic animals in the West Country last year.
Alex Beresford reports in 'Knife Crime & Me', on ITV tonight at 7:30pm.


Havas Media Group has appointed Damien Terakes as client services director.
Following multiple new business wins and continued agency growth, the position will see Terakes take on a senior management role across all Havas Media clients in Australia as well as several global accounts.
Terakes has built an impressive media career, with more than 30 years’ experience as a senior media professional.
Most recently coming from a client partner role that he held for the last four years, Terakes has established himself as a sought-after media leader.
He has led a multitude of large, industry-leading global clients and iconic Australian brands in the Automotive, Retail, Technology and Entertainment categories.
His award-winning work and experience in some of Australia’s leading media agencies will bring a wealth of experience to his new role.
Terakes said: “The role at Havas Media and to be a part of the Havas Group in Australia was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.
“Mike, Imogen and I share a common view that media is crucial to creating great communications and that intelligent and innovative media ideas go well beyond the traditional media mindset.
“The wider Group and Village also allows us room for even greater collaboration, as we have the people, skills and tools to make this a reality.
Havas Media Group Australia group managing director Imogen Hewitt said, “We’re building an agency that really understands and respects the breadth of disciplines needed to deliver smart, effective communications.
“Terakes joins our team with vast experience encompassing media, creative, strategy and trading.
Havas Media Group ANZ CEO Mike Wilson added: “Terakes will be a great fit for our business and couldn’t come at a better time.
“Our commitment to client service excellence has been one of the key reasons for our continued success with existing and new clients alike.
Terakes joins the Havas Media Group on 26 September 2018.


The school superintendent wants all three fired; the educators deny wrongdoing and seek School Board hearing.
Three Sparr Elementary School employees should be fired for not stopping an 8-year-old special needs child from banging his head 30 times on a cabinet door, according to a School District administrative complaint.
Superintendent of Schools Heidi Maier’s complaint states that special needs paraprofessionals Brandi Stephens and Shivonne Bennett, and behavior technician Ronisha Johnson, should be fired for failing to protect the child during the March 14 incident.
“Video evidence was obtained showing the student was repeatedly banging his head on the cabinet door approximately 30 times and hitting his fist/hand approximately 32 times,” the complaint states.
According to documents submitted to the district, all three employees are seeking an administrative hearing before the School Board. All three employees’ attorneys dispute Maier’s allegation. The educators are suspended without pay pending those hearings.
Bennett is represented by David W. Glasser of Daytona Beach. In a letter, Glasser states that Bennett acted appropriately.
In Glasser’s lengthy request for a hearing, Bennett was quoted.
Glasser also wrote that Bennett called the guidance counselor to come immediately to the room.
“I do not feel comfortable restraining the student without proper training,” according to Bennett’s statement in the letter.
Mark Herdman of the Clearwater law firm Herdman and Sakellarides is representing Stephens and Johnson.
Maier’s recommendation was included in the School Board meeting agenda packet for Tuesday’s meeting. The three employees could not be reached for comment.


The Politico may be right about the Democrats' failings, but it's wrong on the math.
We're usually right at the front of the line when it comes to criticizing the Democratically controlled Congress for failing to do more to stop the war in Iraq, but the Politico's Jim VandeHei and John Harris jump ahead of us this morning: Adding up the math, they say that, "since taking the majority, Democrats have forced 40 votes on bills limiting President Bush's war policy. Not a single one has passed both chambers, even though both are run by Democrats."
It's a depressing number, one the Politico's Mike Allen is promoting as a "never-before-reported, debate-changing figure." Unless we're missing something, it's also wrong. In April, the House and the Senate both approved a bill that tied additional funding for the war to a timetable for ending it. The president vetoed it.
Update: We sent an email to VandeHei this morning pointing out the error, and he just responded with a message saying that he "agreed" and that the story has been "updated." In the new version, the headline that read "Democrats Zero for 40 on Iraq" has been replaced by one that says "Democrats Stalled on Iraq," and the Politico now acknowledges that the Democrats have succeeded in getting one bill through both houses of Congress. There is no acknowledgment, however, that the original story was wrong or that it has been corrected, and Allen's Politico column still features the false "zero for 40" statistic.


COLUMBUS — A steadily rising number of Lyme disease cases are being reported in Ohio transmitted by a tick that can be as small as a poppy seed.
Every year since 2010, when Ohio’s first population of blacklegged deer ticks was discovered in Coshocton County, the number of people infected with Lyme disease has increased. Last year’s statewide total of 160 human cases of the disease is more than three and a half times the 2010 total.
Besides the increase in Lyme disease, more Ohioans are also reporting cases of other tick- related diseases, leading to concern about tick populations that used to be rare in the state.
Blacklegged deer ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease, are spreading, and one challenge in fending them off is that in their nymph stage, they’re easily overlooked, said Glen Needham, associate professor emeritus of entomology with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.
The blacklegged deer tick has established populations in 30 to 40 counties in Ohio, primarily in the southern and eastern parts of the state, Needham said. In the nymph stage, which can extend from spring through fall, the tick can appear on skin to be a speck of dirt or a freckle.
“It is so tiny and it feeds so quickly that sometimes people go to the doctor with symptoms but don’t connect it to having been bitten,” Needham said.
Lyme disease can cause a rash that looks like a bullseye and flu-like symptoms including fever, headache and muscle and joint aches. Antibiotics can cure most cases of Lyme disease.
If a blood sample is taken from a person too early in the disease, it can come back as negative for Lyme disease, Needham pointed out.
“The doctor may then pass on giving you an antibiotic and then you end up with the later stages of Lyme disease,” Needham said.
A warm winter such as this year’s can mean the blacklegged tick is active all year as opposed to just in the spring and summer, said Tammi Rogers, program assistant for agriculture and natural resources for the Ohio State University Extension office in Coshocton County. OSU Extension is the outreach arm of the college.
Rogers assisted Needham in 2010 with surveying the tick population in the county.
“For years, we were told there aren’t any deer ticks in Ohio,” Rogers said.
Blacklegged deer ticks most often are found in the woods, but that hasn’t made people overly concerned about venturing into the forest, Rogers said.
Another tick to be watchful of in Ohio is the American dog tick, which can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
While reported cases of Ohio residents infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever have also risen in recent years, the annual totals are significantly smaller than the number of Lyme disease cases. In 2016, a total of 24 Ohioans reported they had Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Early symptoms of the infection include severe headache and high fever, then a few days later, a rash usually appears on wrists and ankles. Caught early, the disease can be treated successfully with antibiotics.
Unlike the blacklegged deer tick, the American dog tick is much larger and therefore easier to spot. It gravitates to the head.
“It may be that you’re in the shower shampooing your hair and you hit a bump, then you find out it has eight legs,” Needham said.
In southern Ohio, the Lone Star tick, which was rare in the 1970s and 1980s, now is the most common tick that residents who are bitten bring to the health departments in Jackson and Scioto counties, Needham said.
The Lone Star tick can transmit Ehrlichiosis. Typical symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches, which often occur one to two weeks after a tick bite.
“We are seeing more dogs and people infected with Ehrlichiosis in southern Ohio,” Needham said.
Despite the rise in tick-transmitted diseases in Ohio, Needham said covering up before going into the woods or wearing a repellent with DEET or picaridin can go a long way toward keeping ticks from biting. Pets should be protected all year with a veterinary-prescribed product, as dogs are highly susceptible to many tick-borne diseases.
If a tick is found attached, Needham recommends that you immediately remove it by using pointy tweezers, another tool, or your finger and thumb, ideally protected by gloves to prevent disease transmission. Save the tick in a plastic bag, pill bottle or travel-sized hand sanitizer container. Showing the tick to a healthcare professional could help the professional connect any symptoms to the type of tick that bit you.
For more information about ticks in Ohio, visit go.osu.edu/tick.