A senior county councillor has accused Mott MacDonald of ‘ineptitude’ over its handling of the A27 plans for Chichester.
Cllr Jeremy Hunt, West Sussex county councillor for Chichester North, also said the consultants, along with Highways England ‘had not been that bright’.
His comments came at a packed meeting where campaigners voiced their anger over the continued secrecy of the six options proposed, two of which include a new northern bypass through Lavant.
Highways England is still refusing to release any official details of the options, despite repeated requests from the Observer and Spirit FM as part of a joint campaign for transparency.
And it emerged last night that a number of councillors, and members of the public, had seen route maps for the proposed northern bypass.
Responding to claims from Chichester Deserves Better campaigners that West Sussex County Council (WSCC) was withholding information, cllr Hunt told the South Chichester CLC meeting: “Unfortunately this has all been brought about by Mott MacDonald’s inept handling of this as consultants.
He said: “I have heard a lot of conspiracy theories of why this (northern) route has suddenly come on.
Cllr Hunt nailed his colours to the mast by saying he would oppose any northern bypass.
He said: “It’s not a great surprise why they’ve picked this one up (the northern route), because obviously the southern route has huge problem with the upgrade of it, with the traffic flow over two to three years while it’s being done.
A number of people spoke out against any northern bypass, which had previously been dismissed as an option by Highways England in 2005.
WSCC leader Louise Goldsmith responded by saying: “There are councillors in this room who have seen provisional maps, but none of us have seen the finances.
“And they are not our maps. I know that people have great suspicion and concern.
“The plans that are being put forward are the property and ownership of Highways England. It is a national project, and when they have done their final consultation they will come to us, which will trigger our response.
“There is a meeting on January 25, where some councillors will be shown what it going on. My understanding is that there will be no particular one route at that stage.
“There will then be a public consultation in March, and I hope everyone goes and asks the questions they want answers to.
Cllr Goldsmith agreed that the proposed six-week consultation in the Spring was not long enough and said she would make a request to Highways England to extend it.
Another member of the audience asked for cllr Pieter Montyn’s stance after being an ‘active campaigner for a northern route’ previously.
“That was ten years ago when I hadn’t been elected to anything and I was free to do what I felt I wanted to do,” cllr Montyn said.
UKIP councillor Sandra James promised that as the opposition group, they would scrutinise the council’s official response.
The meeting also heard Mike Hall, district councillor for Lavant, warn: “I’ve met with Lord March and I’ve looked at the maps.
There were some who spoke in favour of a northern route, like one man who said: “Some people here think the northern route is a good idea.


The New York Police Department (NYPD) recently unveiled a new digital tool that it says can sift through police reports to help officers spot patterns of crimes potentially committed by the same criminals.
The NYPD says the program, dubbed Patternizr, can save time and help its investigators detect patterns in burglaries, robberies, and grand larcenies they might not have noticed by manually combing through the tens of thousands of reports the department receives every year. While the NYPD employs civilian crime analysts who focus on such tasks, it’s still a laborious task, and it can be hard for analysts to familiarize themselves with reports produced in different precincts from the ones where they work.
The NYPD emphasizes that the tool doesn’t look at suspects’ race or gender in matching crimes, and that its tests have found the program no more likely to suggest links to crimes committed by people of certain races than random sampling from police reports. But civil liberties advocates still cautioned that Patternizr and other tools like it could exacerbate existing biases depending on how they’re used.
Patternizr is currently being used by analysts on about 600 crimes per week, Levine says, looking for similarities between particular incidents and previously reported crime based on attributes like their distances from one another, the times of day they took place, suspects’ height and weight, and unstructured text descriptions of what happened. It was inspired by earlier research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where scientists tested a version of such a tool with the Cambridge Police Department.
The tool has already aided in investigations, the NYPD says. In one case highlighted by the department, an analyst looking into a robbery that involved suspect shoplifting power drills and attacking a store employee with a hypodermic needle was able to find a similar robbery in a “distant precinct,” according to the paper. The attacker was arrested and pleaded guilty to larceny and felony assault. In another case, an analyst was able to spot an apparent series of thefts from gym lockers. The department doesn’t track how many arrests can be attributed to the use of the tool.
Patternizr doesn’t include traditional neighborhood names, instead dividing the city into large squares more than nine miles on each side in an effort to avoid geography serving as a substitute for race or ethnicity, says Alex Chohlas-Wood, one of the paper’s authors who worked on the project while director of analytics at the NYPD.
The tool doesn’t make any attempts to predict where future patterns will take place, and potentially related crimes suggested by the tool still need to be reviewed by human analysts and officers. But Darius Charney, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who successfully represented plaintiffs in a suit challenging the department’s controversial stop-and-frisk practices, cautioned that patterns generated with the tool could still reflect bias in department data and could be used in biased policing if, say, people of color end up disproportionately stopped or searched in areas with reported crime patterns.
“I’ve always been uncomfortable with the notion of the crime pattern as a basis for routine law enforcement action,” he says.
The department deliberately chose to publish a paper on Patternizr as part of an effort to be transparent with the public about the tool, says Chohlas-Wood, who is now deputy director of the Stanford Computational Policy Lab. Still, given the NYPD’s spotty history on racial issues, civil liberties advocates argued the algorithms and code should be made as public as possible and subject to outside auditing to test for bias.
Phillip Atiba Goff, who is the cofounder of the Center for Policing Equity at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says the NYPD should also work with groups in the community to address concerns about potential bias or negative effects that spring from the tool’s use and the arrest patterns it may lead to.
“There also needs to be not just accountability in terms of the algorithm is fair but also accountability of the effects,” he says.
Patternizr is likely to continue to evolve: So far, internal suggestions have included also comparing grand larcenies to petit larcenies, which are essentially similar crimes with smaller dollar values, and otherwise comparing between types of crimes where only some elements differ, like the use of force distinguishing robberies and larcenies. And while civil libertarians say the program may be used for good in making policing more efficient, it’s likely to face continued scrutiny over potential harms.
“Speeding up human cognition may in fact be an accelerant to human bias,” says Goff.


New Delhi: Asserting that several foreign countries want to get Indian missiles in their inventory, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said there was an export potential of sale of homegrown defence products.
The statement assumes significance as traditionally India has been a major arms importer and still depends on foreign vendors for around 50 per cent of its military hardware requirements.
"You did talk about integrated missiles programme, which has yielded a lot of results. Today, missiles are so sought after by many countries... I want to highlight that there exists a market outside other than the Indian armed forces," the Defence Minister said while addressing an event organised by the Vivekananda International Foundation.
The Defence Minister said that a lot of countries are keen to have some kind of engagement with India and "want to purchase from you. India has immense potential to be an exporter of different equipment. I can also say, even a shipbuilding warship building capability is very well recognised outside. There are several countries which are saying, help us to give that capacity to us."
The Defence Minister cited the example of aerospace PSU -- HAL to suggest that a long term plan was required to establish India as an exporter of defence products.
"I keep telling them (on increasing exports) yes, you have grievances about the Air Force not paying you on time. But there are also disputes about you not supplying on time," she said, while explaining that despite increasing the production capacity of the HAL, it would take a lot of time to produce the existing orders of the Indian forces.
The Defence Minister also brought out that she has taken up a proposal with the Finance Ministry which may help her Ministry and the armed forces to retain the money allocated to them in the budget.
Sitharaman also said that she has now asked the Defence Attaches posted outside the country to brief the Defence Ministry once a year about the developments in their countries of posting and regularly update it about their work.


The Town of Falmouth is calling upon the community to help put an end to water theft from town hydrants. Recently, rusty water has surfaced in several areas around town. Rusty water, according to a release from the town, is a result of opening a fire hydrant too quickly and surging the water main.
Although rusty water is not a health issue, it can be a household inconvenience when washing clothing and doing other chores.
The town's Water Department has determined that the recent surge in rusty water is a result of the illegal filling of contractor and landscaping tanker trucks.
Not only does this practice create issues for homeowners, it is also illegal, according to the release. Unauthorized filling of a tank for a hydrant can result in back-siphoning which could contaminate the town's water supply.
Fire hydrants should only be opened by authorized personnel such as firefighters and Falmouth Water Department workers.
Residents who observe a tanker being filled at a hydrant, other than a street sweeper, are asked to contact either the Falmouth Water Department at 508-457-2543 or Falmouth police at 508-457-2526. If at possible, please provide either the company name or license plate number of the vehicle when calling.
Editor's note: It was noted that the number listed for the Falmouth Water Dept. was not correct. That number was taken from the town release. The correct number (508-457-2543) is now listed above.


MICKY Adams has said he is bitterly disappointed' to leave his post as Colchester United's assistant manager.
Adams has departed his role as Geraint Williams' number two, after joining the U's last July.
The Coca-Cola Championship strugglers announced that Adams had left the U's by mutual consent'.
Reports have linked former U's favourite Mark Kinsella, who is Charlton Athletic's reserve-team manager at the moment, with the vacancy and Colchester's own current reserve-team boss Joe Dunne is also in the frame.
Adams said he wants to concentrate on a return to full management. He leaves Colchester second from bottom in the Championship table, with his partnership with Williams having brought only five victories.
And although he was full of praise for the club's players, Adams admitted that it has not been an easy time for the U's.
He told the Gazette: "I'm bitterly disappointed to have left Colchester.
"It's been a frustrating time - but I don't think people can question the effort I've put in during my time at the club.
"I've enjoyed my time at Colchester and the players have been fantastic.
"They need a bit of luck and help in terms of squad size but they've given everything."
Adams took over as Colchester's assistant manager in July, after succeeding Mick Harford in the role.


Nimmo was absent from team workouts Wednesday after falling ill from undercooked chicken he prepared himself.
The 25-year-old was sidelined from an exhibition game against the Miami Marlins after his sudden sickness, Sports Illustrated reported. Manager Mickey Callaway poked fun at the outfielder, saying the team was going to help Nimmo with his cooking skills.
Callaway hinted Nimmo -- who joked he may need to buy a meat thermometer -- will most likely be sidelined Thursday due to dehydration concerns.
Nimmo batted .263 with a .404 on-base percentage and 17 home runs in 2018. He is expected to get his first outfield start of spring training in the coming days.


SPRINGFIELD -- Representatives of state and federal agencies, scientific groups and others with a stake in the ongoing drought meet every couple of weeks in the Mississippi River conference room of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s offices on North Grand Avenue.
An agenda is printed up. Officials from outside the city call in on a speakerphone. Each department submits a report to the state’s Drought Response Task Force, and the reports are posted online.
But there is very little other action the state can take.
As a result, the task force’s main purposes are to arrange for financial assistance when possible and gather and distribute drought information -- such as water levels and crop conditions. The group has a one-stop web site for drought information.
One area where the state could be helpful to the city of Springfield is if the city needs an emergency extra water supply. After nearly 50 years of discussion, city fathers continue to debate the best way to supplement Lake Springfield in times of drought -- whether to build a second lake or instead to tap into gravel pits east of the city that contain millions of gallons of water.
It will take many more years, if ever for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state EPA to issue a permit to construct a new lake. But if Springfield winds up needing more water this year, agencies within the task force could OK pumping from the gravel pits rather quickly.
“It’s possible,” Cobb said. “The pit is there with the water, so it would just be an intake, a pump, a transmission line, that sort of thing.
The task force’s work has mostly focused on agriculture so far, Cobb said. This drought has been declared an agricultural one, but not yet one for water supplies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported this week that 66 percent of the corn crop, 49 percent of the soybean crop, 91 percent of pasture, 91 percent of topsoil and 97 percent of subsoil was rated poor to very poor.
A water supply drought depends on the duration and severity of the drought.
The Department of Natural Resources’ main role on the drought task force is to monitor rivers and state parks, said Juhl.
Read the latest on the state’s response to the drought and other drought information.


The defibrillator has a monitoring feature designed to detect and record life-threatening changes in the heart's rhythm and to alert the patient or doctor. A special transmitter connects to patients' home phone lines and sends information from the defibrillator to the study doctor's office.
Just four months after doctors implanted the new defibrillator, the cardiac research team at Baptist Health Lexington received an alert from Parks' transmitter. A heart catheterization shortly afterward revealed blockages that required quadruple bypass surgery. Because the blockages were caught before they caused a heart attack, Parks' heart was not damaged.
"I hadn't felt bad at all, so I was surprised when they said the transmitter had told them something was wrong," said Parks, now 75.
Community hospitals can offer a diverse population of patients for their trials, and patients can continue to see physicians and staff they are familiar with while taking advantage of new drugs, devices and other therapies being studied on a national level.
If you would like to learn more about cardiac research going on in your own community, please call (859) 260-4489 or email laura.martin@BHSI.com.


Hightower limps off after that play.
Hightower headed to the locker room.
It's time ... Fans asked to apply the orange fake mustache. Nobody in press box taking part.
Knee injury for Hightower; his return to the game is questionable.
HALF: Patriots lead, 14-7. They'll get the ball to start the third quarter.
That's 15 yards on Von Miller.
Wow, Brady is pissed at his OL as he burns a timeout.
Hightower not on the field for this series. He is on the sideline.
NFL has flexed #Patriots game vs. Texans on Dec. 13 into the "Sunday Night Football' prime time window.
Denver was 0-6 on their first 6 third downs of the game. Now, they are 3 for their last 3.


The incidents of hate that have occurred in our community, both during finals period and during Orientation Week, are very troubling. First, an individual not affiliated with Cornell threw bottles at black students during finals week, yelling racial slurs. Second, this weekend, an individual allegedly verbally and physically assaulted a group of students, yelling slurs against members of the gay and minority community. It is little consolation to know that Cornell students were not the ones who were accused of these heartless actions. This can, and must, stop.
According to police, the harassment allegedly continued as the victims were pursued down the street. In May, the student throwing bottles on the roof was told to stop by the victims, but initially continued the harassment without interference, according to witnesses. Those who witness this sort of behavior and allow it to proceed without intervening are complicit in the act.
The actions that the University has taken in response to the incident at Sigma Pi are promising. One complaint voiced in the wake of the events at Sigma Pi was that every time events like this happen, University officials make statements condemning the attack and then do little else to resolve the issue in the long term. This time, the University seems to be taking action.
One concrete action that the University took in response to this incident was a decision to keep Sigma Pi on provisional status for the upcoming year. The administration said that the fraternity is at least partly responsible for the actions of its guests instead of simply dismissing the incident as unrelated to Cornell students. This sends the message that we as Cornellians have a responsibility to stop these actions, even when they are committed by people who are not members of the community.
Additionally, the creation of a new staff position that will oversee diversity initiatives throughout the Greek system shows that the University is willing to make a meaningful investment in creating a climate where these types of behaviors do not occur at all. The University has also pledged that the Center for Intercultural Dialogue will lead ongoing, campus-wide conversations on multicultural awareness. It is our hope that this new position and this dialogue will be able to maintain the focus on this issue.
We hope that this same proactive approach to the problem will also be taken in response to the incident this weekend in Collegetown. It is unfortunate that we need incidents like this to remind us that we need to work actively to address the problem. We should not have to rely on these painful reminders to do something.


This is a crucial time in Bangladesh to find out the ways to reduce the default loan in the banking system, in a scenario where the amount of default loan is above 99 thousand crore taka only in 2018. All the stakeholders including the new Government of Bangladesh are searching ways to reduce this default loan. In this writing, I am trying to find out the way of reducing default loans through shifting the paradigm of liability of the defaulter from civil to criminal liability.
Media reports sometimes claim that the law for recovery of non-performing loans (NPL) as crafted in the principal law in force in this regard, the Money Loan Court Act, 2003 (MLCA) is too soft towards the borrowers.
On 4 October 2018, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph dismissed an application to restrain the Government from taking steps to deport to Myanmar seven Rohingya refugees jailed in Assam.
The recent decision of the International Criminal Court's Pre-Trial Chamber recognising the Court's jurisdiction over Myanmar's alleged crimes against humanity has been hailed as breaking new ground in the Rohingya crisis and in the pursuit of international criminal justice more broadly.
In Bangladesh, everyday serious accidents occur due to rough, speedy and reckless driving of bus and truck drivers.
The European Union (EU) has adopted the unified law General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for all EU member states to ensure protection of personal data or information of an individual within the EU. By repealing the previous Data Protection Directive of 1995, the GDPR came into force on 25 May 2018 with the aim to take the data protection issues to a different level as it has introduced stricter regulatory obligations, wider territorial scope and hefty fine for non-compliance.
The appointment of independent directors is essential for listed companies in order to ensure good corporate governance. One of the main reasons behind appointing independent directors is to ensure objectivity so that they can evaluate the performance and wellbeing of a company without having any conflict of interest or undue influence.
Can Artificial Intelligence claim IP-ownership?
Today we use many services or products even without noticing that these are Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated, as for example, auto pilot system in airplanes, spam filters in emails, plagiarism checker softwares, etc.
Sand is an important natural resource of our country. Proper use of sand after extraction from the quarry can contribute to economic growth and help in reducing poverty as it can create the employment opportunity to some extent.
In 2010, the government resumed the post war justice out of a commitment to end the culture of denial and impunity. It was assumed that - many (if not all) of the perpetrators - will be brought to justice.
In rural Bangladesh, conflict management has been apparent over the years. The Village Courts Act of 2006, which replaced and updated the Village Courts Act of 1976, provides for the establishment of a court in every Union Council.
Shoppers of retail stores would have noticed that many of these stores insist on a policy of not taking photographs within the store.
In the making of Bangladesh Constitution, the issue of language – particularly ‘Bangla as a language’ – had been practically very significant to be understood from two historical contexts.
In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 58/5 acknowledged sport as a way to encourage learning, fitness progress and peace.


ROUGH CUT. NO REPORTER NARRATION. U.S. Secetary of State Rex Tillerson told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sunday (March 19) that President Donald Trump looked forward to enhancing bilateral relations and also to the opportunity for a visit in the future. Xi said he was glad to see good progress from Tillerson's meetings in China so far, which included meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and State Counsellor Yang Jiechi on Saturday (March 18). Xi said that both he and Trump expect a new stage of constructive development in bilateral relations. There was no mention of contentious issues like North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes or self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own in the meeting which was held at the Great Hall of the People. North Korea conducted a test of a new high-thrust engine at its Tongchang-ri rocket launch station and leader Kim Jong Un said the successful test was "a new birth" of its rocket industry, Pyongyang's official media said on Sunday. Washington wants China, the North's neighbour and main trading partner, to use its influence to rein in the weapons programmes.


The article "Approach to Fractions Seen as Key Shift in Standards" makes many good points.
I have long been interested in math education in the United States and am currently serving on the U.S. National Commission for Mathematics Instruction. I also have been involved through an initiative at Yale University to strengthen teaching in public schools through the kind of high-quality teacher professional development that will be necessary if our country is to meet the Common Core State Standards' goals for mathematics.
A substantial portion of the national seminar I led this year on "Place Value, Fractions, and Algebra: Improving Content Learning Through the Practice Standards" was devoted to fractions, and especially to the unit fraction approach.
In this seminar, we used two main representations: the number line and area models. Each has its advantages. The number line is especially good for conveying the magnitude of numbers, and the fact that fractions with a fixed denominator fit into a system that is quite analogous to whole numbers. It also provides a uniform model for addition. The area model can be quite useful for studying renaming fractions, and related issues, including adding, multiplying, and comparing. The teachers seemed to like this approach.
Although I agree with most of the article, I disagree with a remark made by Zachary Champagne, of the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at Florida State University. He said, "I should not have to change what I know about numbers to learn fractions."
I believe that one of the reasons that fractions are hard is that students do have to change their conception of what a number is—from a count to a ratio—in order to work successfully with fractions. That the need for this change has not been previously recognized, and is not taught, was a consistent theme in my seminar.


Angela "Marie" Ursida, 89, of Beaver Falls, passed away Tuesday, January 8, 2019. Prayers will be recited Saturday at 9:20 a.m. in the HILL & KUNSELMAN FUNERAL HOME, www.hillandkunselman.com, 3801 Fourth Ave., College Hill, Beaver Falls, followed by a mass of Christian burial at 10 a.m. at St. Monica Parish, Chippewa Twp. Interment will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery.


One woman featured on his website has been hired as an executive assistant Douglas, a $40,000-a-year position Bradley describes as "low-level."
Michael Bradley, who runs the day-to-day operations of the Department of Education for Diane Douglas, runs a website featuring items of general interest, including pictures of dogs and quirky news items, as well as thousands of photos of scantily clad women in costumes, and sexually suggestive images and humor.
The online activity of Superintendent Diane Douglas' chief of staff is raising questions among officials and influential figures in the education community, who view it as inappropriate given his position at an agency responsible for educating more than a million Arizona K-12 students.
Michael Bradley, who is in charge of day-to-day operations at the Arizona Department of Education, runs a website featuring items of general interest, including pictures of dogs and quirky news items, as well as thousands of photos of scantily clad women in costumes, and sexually suggestive images and humor.
It's the racy imagery, including an image of one woman touching another woman's breasts and women eating phallically-shaped foods that has caused concerns.
Bradley, also an author of "PG-13 and R-rated" science-fiction books, defended the images posted at www.mbtimetraveler.com and on a separate social-media site as typical of the popular hobby known as "cosplay," or costume play where women and men dress as characters inspired by popular culture. He says his website is a "re-post website," and that most of the content is sent to him by those who want their images shared. He said similar images are also available on social-media sites such as Facebook.
"You see more at a nightclub," Bradley said of the images on his site. "It's really harmless."
Bradley noted that mainstream news sites, including azcentral.com, post photos of women in cosplay. Bradley said Friday that he plans to delete a collection of sexually suggestive photos of women eating food.
Douglas has known about the website and his writings for months, he said.
A Department of Education spokesman said Douglas was returning to the Valley from Yuma on Friday and was not immediately available for comment.
On the website, Bradley identifies himself as a full-time author and public speaker, but makes no mention of his position as the No. 2 official in the state Education Department.
Concern over Bradley's website has mounted in recent weeks as knowledge of it has spread, reaching the highest levels of state government.
The Governor's Office did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
Former schools Superintendent Jaime Molera says he supports freedom of speech, but that given his position, Bradley's online activity crosses a line for parents and teachers.
"If he's a private guy and this is his genre of writing, that's his decision, and certainly there's a whole lot of people who are into that," Molera said. "At the same time, he's the chief of staff to the state schools superintendent and there is a standard that they have to portray to the public — particularly schoolkids."
Rebecca Gau, executive director of Stand for Children and a former gubernatorial education policy adviser, said she learned of the website weeks ago. She said the content is "offensive."
"There are pictures of women's breasts, there are pictures of paraphernalia related to women's breasts, there are comments about women's breasts," said Gau. "I take my children's digital footprint very seriously, I would expect state leaders to do the same thing.
"When you're paid by taxpayers ... there's a certain expectation that you're going to conduct yourself at all times in a respectable way."
Bradley said the criticism stems from disagreement with the policies and politics of Douglas. He said he warned Douglas that her critics might use the website as ammunition against her.
"It's just enemies looking for a reason to get mad at me," Bradley told The Arizona Republic. "I don't think anybody at the Capitol even knew I had a website, so for them to go to it and complain about it, they just disagree with whatever policy ... the superintendent has, and so they want to find something to criticize me. I'm a pretty clean-cut person."
"People will try to destroy me because they hate Diane Douglas," Bradley said.
Bradley was thrust into the spotlight in February, when he orchestrated the attempted firings of two Board of Education staffers because of their perceived support for the Common Core education standards. The incident led to a standoff between Douglas and Gov. Doug Ducey over who has the authority to hire and fire Department of Education staff.
Bradley launched the website before he began working with Douglas and said he intends to continue operating the site and writing after his employment with the state ends. Bradley said he told Douglas he was an author, and told her about his books, telling her they aren't available in schools and "I'm not a famous author." He said his website has had more than 1 million hits, and about 3,000 hits daily.
Bradley, who earns $150,000 a year, said he does not blog during work hours, but schedules some content to automatically appear during the day.
Asked if the website is appropriate, given his position with the state, Bradley said, "I've kept my writing life separate."
One woman featured in costume on his website has been hired as an executive assistant to Douglas, a $40,000-a-year position Bradley describes as "low-level."
Bradley said he met Cassie O'Quin through the cosplay community. He said they became friendly, and after researching her background he asked if she would be interested in working as Douglas' executive assistant. O'Quin's position is at-will since she reports to Douglas, he said.
Records from the Department of Administration show O'Quin was hired on Dec. 24, shortly before Douglas was sworn into office.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Administration said she is unaware of any state policy pertaining to employees' personal websites.
Former schools Superintendent John Huppenthal, who blogged under pseudonyms during his time in office, declined to comment on Bradley's activities, saying he's now a "private person."
Political analysts have attributed Huppenthal's secret blogging, which included remarks that people who receive public assistance are "lazy pigs" and that Spanish-language media should be shut down, as one reason for his loss to Douglas in the 2014 Republican primary election.
Reach the reporter at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4712.


Published by Sarah Yeoman at 7:00am 13th January 2019.
Search and rescue teams across Cornwall have been celebrating after being awarded money for new equipment.
The Department for Transport announced that 57 bids to the Rescue Boat Grant Fund had been successful with £240,000 from the £1 million fund going to charities in the South West.
These included several in Cornwall with Bude Surf Lifesaving Club one of the beneficiaries.
The club received a total of £12,062.73 which will be used to buy a new inshore rescue boat, two engines and a trailer.
Announcing the news on the club’s Facebook page it said: “Bude SLSC, with the help of Surf Lifesaving GB, has been successful in securing funding for a new IRB from the Dept of Transport’s rescue boat fund. The grant of over £10,000 wil pay for a new boat, motor and trailer to replace our ageing IRB which has served the club well for over 20 years.
Cornwall Search and Rescue Team was granted £11,781.29 which will be used to fund a variety of equipment including a trailer, drysuits, helmets and a stretcher.
Crantock Surf Lifesaving Club and Perranporth Surf Lifesaving Club were both awarded £10,350 each which will be used for new 4×4 recovery all-terrain vehicles (ATV) for each club.
Hayle Surf Lifesaving Club will receive almost £20,000 which will be used for a new 4×4 recovery ATV, a surf rescue boat, engine and radio.
Surf Lifesaving Cornwall has secured a grant for £15,262 which will be used to buy equipment including a new rescue boat.
Announcing the new funding, maritime minister Nusrat Ghani said: “Our rescue boat teams are the unsung heroes of the UK’s waterways. Their commitment and skill keeps people safe on and around our rivers, lakes and inshore areas.
The bids for the latest round of funding were considered by an expert panel, chaired by officials and including representatives from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the devolved administrations as well as expert advisers from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, RNLI and the Royal Yachting Association.


Focus on the Family was founded in 1977 by James Dobson, a psychologist, radio host, and author of Dare to Discipline, among many other books. Based in Colorado Springs, the ministry produces a daily radio broadcast, counseling, and other resources. Dobson transferred leadership over to president Jim Daly and (to the surprise of Focus’s employees) in 2012 went on to start his own radio ministry called Family Talk. Focus's budget, number of employees, and radio listeners have dropped since Dobson’s departure. In 2010, the organization purchased a 30-second ad featuring Tim Tebow during the Super Bowl, drawing attention to the organization’s new approach to social issues.
James Dobson's influence, already huge, is growing. Can he keep his focus?


Stayart had a goal and an assist in Cary-Grove’s loss to defending Class 3A state champion Barrington on Friday in the Class 3A Guilford Sectional championship game.
The Trojans lost a heartbreaker, 3-2 (3-1 penalty kicks) to Barrington. Stayart scored the Trojans’ first goal and assisted on Maggie Mason’s goal in overtime after C-G fell behind, 2-1.
Stayart finished her senior season with 15 goals and 10 assists.
1. Prairie Ridge (17-1): With head-to-head wins against everyone in the FVC, the Wolves finish the season atop the McHenry County-area rankings.
2. Cary-Grove (13-3-2): The Trojans very nearly ended Barrington’s sectional streak, which extended to 10 with the win over C-G.
3. Crystal Lake South (13-7): The Gators battled tough in a Class 2A sectional championship loss to Burlington Central on Friday.
4. Crystal Lake Central (13-7-1): The Tigers’ 13 victories were the most for the program since winning 13 in 2007. Central fell just short of its first regional title since 2009.
5. Jacobs (12-6-2): The Golden Eagles won their first regional since 2012.
Gators goalie: Crystal Lake South goalkeeper Marissa Fetters played only one year of varsity soccer, but the senior made her mark this season.
Fetters made 13 saves in a sectional championship game loss to Burlington Central, days after making 18 saves in a sectional semifinal win over Sycamore in overtime.
Fetters made a number of diving efforts in Friday’s loss. Even though the Rockets pushed a couple of goals past her, Fetters kept her team in the game.
Fetters wasn’t surprised that her team didn’t go down easy. The Gators had come back from deficits in each of their previous two victories.
Fetters had nine shutouts on the season. She finished the season averaging 1.25 goals allowed per game.
IHSA state finals, Friday and Saturday, North Central College, Naperville: The Class 2A and 3A state semifinals and championships are this weekend. All McHenry County-area teams have been eliminated from the postseason.
2018 McHenry County Most Valuable Athlete Awards, 7 p.m. June 7, McHenry County College: The Northwest Herald Girls Soccer Player of the Year, along with numerous other awards, will be handed out.


brightcove.createExperiences(); Vacation is starting unexpectedly early for Kelly Ripa after the bombshell news that that her Live! cohost Michael Strahan is leaving their morning talk show for Good Morning America.
Ripa surprised viewers by not appearing on Wednesday’s broadcast, and sources have confirmed to PEOPLE that she will not be returning the rest of the week, as she heads to Turks and Caicos for a vacation with her family .
The host was already scheduled to be off the air on Friday and Monday to go on a “long-planned” 20th anniversary trip with husband Mark Consuelos, a source tells PEOPLE.
“It’s fortuitous that she had this trip planned with her husband,” the source says.
A second source adds that Ripa, 41, will “definitely” return to the show, but it’s unclear when.
“She’s being very mature about this and choosing not to talk a lot and to wait and see how this plays out,” says the source, who adds that she feels “blindsided” by not being given a heads up about Strahan’s departure.
Strahan, meanwhile, did not attend a hunger benefit for Food Bank For New York City that he originally was expected at, appearing via a video message to apologize for missing the event. A source close to Strahan says he was not scheduled to attend the event because he was shooting his game show, Pyramid, and knew that two weeks ago.
“I wish we could be there as originally planned for this fantastic evening. I love it. I think it’s one of the best evenings in all of New York,” he told the crowd in the video message.
A source previously told PEOPLE that Ripa is already eyeing potential replacements for Strahan, including longtime friends Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.


Consumers who are monitoring their sodium intake will have to wait another year before receiving the help they expected in determining if certain foods fit into their diet regimens.
Beginning July 1, the federal Food and Drug Administration was to have required that sodium content information be added to the labels of products that carry nutritional data. But the deadline for compliance has been extended one year to July 1, l986.
"The extension was based on requests from about 40 food manufacturers and supermarket chains who said they needed more time to comply," said FDA spokesman James Greene in a telephone interview.
Sodium is a mineral element that is indispensable to several body processes. It has a vital role in regulating body water and plays a part in heart action and conduction of nerve impulses.
But excessive use of the substance also could be a major factor in the development of high blood pressure. While the relationship between hypertension and sodium hasn't been definitely established, some studies have found that blood pressure falls when weight and sodium intake are reduced. "The general consensus of the medical community and the FDA is that everyone could benefit by reducing sodium consumption," said Greene.
According to the National Research Council, a daily intake of 1,100 to 3,300 milligrams of sodium is considered adequate, but many adults consume 5,000 to 7,000 milligrams a day.
Since 1973, the FDA has required nutrition labeling on processed foods that make nutritional claims or that have been fortified with nutrients, such as cereals, juices and milk. The information required covers protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins A and C, thiamim, riboflavin, niacin, calcium and iron, and calories. Some food processors already have added sodium content to the labels of these products voluntarily.
Many manufacturers also have included voluntary nutritional information on the labels of numerous products other than those that are fortified or make nutritional claims. On some of these, sodium has been listed along with the other nutrients.
Greene said that about 55 percent of all packaged foods carry standardized nutrition data. About 40 percent of these voluntarily include sodium on the list, he said.
There are other foods that make sodium claims, such as "sodium reduced," but don't list specifics or any other nutritional data.
Under the new ruling, all products that provide nutritional labels, whether or not they are required to have them, must add sodium content to the information. Those that make sodium claims will have to list the specific sodium content even if other nutritional data isn't required. The sodium content is listed in milligrams per serving.
Fresh fruits and vegetables aren't regulated by the FDA. Neither are red meats and poultry, which are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The department has no regulation governing sodium labeling, preferring voluntary listing. Some processed packaged meats do carry nutritional and sodium information.
The FDA started working on sodium labeling in 1981, prompted by growing national concern about the probable association between sodium in the diet and hypertension, commonly called high blood pressure.
Hypertension is a major cause of strokes and is perceived in the medical profession as a contributor to heart attacks and heart and kidney failure. It's estimated that up to 60 million Americans are hypertensive in some degree.
The evidence linking sodium and high blood pressure has been conclusive enough to persuade millions of Americans to limit their sodium intake and their salt consumption.
In the past few years, manufacturers have responded to public and FDA concern by marketing entire lines of salt- and sodium-reduced products. Canned vegetables, tuna, peanut butter, luncheon meats, cheeses, soups, snacks, cereals, sauces and dressings in low-salt or low-sodium versions occupy the grocery shelves alongside the standard products.
Some of the sodium occurs naturally in many foods and even in water, but most of the excess comes from compounds, such as salt, that are added to flavor, preserve and process foods.
Salt and sodium, the FDA points out, are not synonymous. Salt, a compound chemically known as sodium chloride, is about 40 percent sodium, and a teaspoon of it contains about 2,000 milligrams of sodium. Other common food additives, such as monosodium glutamate and baking soda, also contain large amounts of sodium.
The new FDA ruling provides definitions for claims made on labels regarding sodium, and the agency encourages manufacturers to use the defined words instead of confusing the consumer with multiple terms.
The words "sodium free" can be used on foods that provide less than 5 milligrams of sodium per serving. "Very low sodium" can be used on foods providing 35 milligrams or less per serving, and "low sodium" can be used on foods providing 140 milligrams or less per serving. The words "reduced sodium" can be used if the food has been processed to reduce the normal level of sodium by 75 percent. Labels that carry any of these designations also will have to list the milligrams of sodium per serving.
The word "unsalted" can be used on foods that have been processed without the normally added salt. In these cases, sodium content information also would have to be on the label.


Juan de la Miseria, Teresa of Ávila, 16th century (copy of a 1576 painting, when she was 61).
My best friend and I have a game we play called “humiliation.” It started when we were fresh out of school and beginning our first jobs. We’d call each other up and share stories about how, for example, a man had reached out with a smile after a sermon or a lecture, leaned in, and said, “I felt so sorry for you while you were speaking.” Sharing such stories disarmed them, ordering the confusion we felt in the moment into something more manageable. And laughing together was balm.
We don’t humiliate as easily as we used to. But we still have stories to tell. Whenever I open up my email to find a message from my friend with the word humiliation in the subject line, I mentally rub my hands together in anticipation and start searching my own recent past for a story to send back. It usually doesn’t take very long to find one.
Humiliation isn’t really the right word for most of the stories my friend and I have shared over the years. Most are not about being on the receiving end of someone’s meanness, but about the kinds of experiences that sting because they contain a bit of truth: survivable discomforts, like reading a negative course evaluation. They are experiences that cultivate humility—the foundation, as Teresa of Ávila teaches, upon which the spiritual life is built. The treasure that Simone Weil says is worth more than any accolade. The vantage point, as Bernard of Clairvaux describes it, from which we might have a chance of glimpsing the truth.
The saints are so big on humility that sometimes the line between humility and humiliation doesn’t seem clear. Every year, I see students turn to St. Teresa with excitement, eager to hear a woman’s voice speaking about God. And every year, I see them struggle to wade through her many protestations of humility: she’s uneducated, merely a woman, the worst of sinners, “a foul and stinking dunghill.” But it soon becomes clear that those crescendos of self-deprecation usually culminate in a silence into which Teresa then steps and begins teaching, with authority, about God. Once you’ve recognized her making that move, you see her doing it again and again.
Teresa’s embrace of humility is strategic. But she also means what she says. For Teresa, humility is the first step on the road to self-knowledge, and self-knowledge the first step on the path to God. No matter how far we get along that path, she insists, we can never leave humility behind. It is more than just the first step of the journey. It’s the very gravel on the path we’re walking, the grit that works its way into our shoes and reminds us that we’re no better than anyone we meet along the way, that we all contain hidden places where God is waiting to meet us.
Augustine writes in his Confessions of how his lack of humility as a young man made it difficult for him to approach scripture. He remembers wanting to love the Bible, but when he read it, it didn’t measure up to Cicero. Inside, the Bible was a vault of mysteries, and Augustine couldn’t bend his neck to get through its low and modest door to find them. He would have to learn to see in the humble speech of the Bible a reflection of Christ’s own humble joining of the life of humanity before he could enter.
Teresa of Ávila could hardly have said it any better. Humility lets us rest for a while in uncertainty. It lets down our guard so we can hear God speaking. It builds up our self-knowledge and makes us capable of change.
Humiliation isolates us in shame, but humility helps us to see our life in relation to other lives and to ask how our choices affect others. This is as true for communities and nations as it is for individuals. Nationalism is nurtured on narratives of humiliation that isolate, that urge us to put our tribe first and to refuse to see how our destiny is bound up with the destinies of other people, other communities, other nations. It casts humility as weakness.
But humility is not weakness. Bernard of Clairvaux taught that it is the vantage point from which we can take in the largest possible view and the path by which we can return to the truth when we are lost. From what Bernard calls humility’s “highest peak,” we see, even more clearly than our imperfections, the connections that thread through all our lives, binding our futures together.
Humility's job is not to crown the virtues but to serve them and infuse them with the spirit of the beatitudes ("Blessed are the meek.") Genuine humility orders the soul, bestowing clarity, calmness and competence.


Missouri lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to restrict the use of drones near state prisons after recent sightings sparked concern among corrections officials that weapons or drugs were being dropped inside the grounds.
Republican Rep. Mike Henderson introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to knowingly fly a drone within 300 vertical feet and near the furthest perimeter of prisons, the St. Joseph News-Press reported. The legislation would also add felony charges for attempting to drop contraband into state prison grounds.
The Missouri Department of Corrections has reported 11 drone sightings near state prisons since 2016, but there have been no confirmed cases of dropped contraband, agency spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said.
"We haven't made any direct or confirmed connections between unmanned aircraft and contraband, but it's certainly possible that contraband has been brought in by unmanned aircraft that weren't spotted," Pojmann said. "Drugs have been found inside balls used for athletic activity, for example, or have appeared on the ground with no clear point of origin."
Henderson said the proposed legislation includes exemptions so law enforcement can fly drones over the facilities, should there be a riot or other situations.
Legislators will consider the bill in the coming weeks. If passed, Missouri would be among about a dozen states to regulate drones near state prisons, mirroring federal laws passed last year by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"As technology keeps changing, sometimes we just have to update the law, and that's all we're really doing here is trying to update the law in a commonsense way to make sure we keep the people in the correctional facilities safe, both the officers and the offenders," Henderson said.


Everton boss Roberto Martinez said Gerard Deulofeu would be sidelined "for some time" after suffering a hamstring injury in the 4-1 win over Fulham.
The Spaniard, 19, made his second Premier League start of the season and was a threat before he was stretchered off as Everton climbed to fourth.
Martinez said: "We don't know how big the tear is going to be but we expect Gerard to be out for some time.
"It is unfortunate because I thought he was ready to play a big role."
Martinez added: "We are going to have to be patient and wait for him to come back in the final third of the season as strong as he can be."
Deulofeu was starting to become a key player for Everton this season, scoring in the 4-0 victory over Stoke last month, his first Premier League start.
The Barcelona loanee also came off the bench to scored a crucial equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal last Sunday.
Everton face Swansea, Sunderland and Southampton in December before travelling to Stoke on New Year's Day.
"Straight away he felt it and it's something we will assess," said Martinez. "Gerard is like a sprinter and clearly the hamstrings are exposed in those sort of injuries."
Deulofeu was replaced by Kevin Mirallas after Leon Osman had given Everton the lead.
Dimitar Berbatov equalised from the penalty spot before goals from Seamus Coleman, Gareth Barry and Mirallas wrapped up the win.
Martinez, who admitted it was a "difficult" game after the result at the Emirates Stadium and winning at Old Trafford, said his side's success this season would depend on a "ferocious" competition for places.
They have only lost one game this season and are unbeaten at home in 2013.
Asked how Everton can continue their form, Martinez said: "The answer is we need to get everyone fit and make sure the competition for places is ferocious and that way we can be competitive in every game that we go into."
The Spaniard also praised his side's positive response to Berbatov's goal.
"When the scoreline was level, we were able to open the game and it was more a case of trying to win it, not having something to lose, and that proved to be very positive," he added.
"Maybe the scoreline was a bit harsh on the performance of Fulham, but overall I think we always carried a threat."


Google announced today that it has purchased Zagat. Zagat's maroon pocket-sized guides have been a staple of tourists and travelers for decades, and now the reviews and ratings of restaurants, hotels, and other destinations can be incorporated into the vast "Googleverse". So, what does that mean for you and me?
Basically, Google will be able to integrate Zagat ratings and reviews, and combine them with comments and +1s from Google+ and the rest of your extended Google network to provide more valuable and relevant search results and content.
Zagat ratings and reviews will make Google Search and Google Maps more useful.
Zagat was Yelp before PCs were mainstream, and before there was an Internet to speak of--at least for mainstream, public use. It is a respected name in food and lodging reviews--the Consumer Reports of restaurant and travel ratings.
Google's Marissa Mayer, VP of Local, Maps and Location Services, declared in a post on the Official Google Blog, "Zagat provides people with a democratized, authentic and comprehensive view of where to eat, drink, stay, shop and play worldwide based on millions of reviews and ratings," adding, "For all of these reasons, I'm incredibly excited to collaborate with Zagat to bring the power of Google search and Google Maps to their products and users, and to bring their innovation, trusted reputation and wealth of experience to our users."
Zagat has been around since 1979. But, in those 32 years it has only managed to hit about 100 cities around the world. That may be fine for printing pocket-sized paperback guides, but it probably won't be good enough for Google. This is a company that is sending the Google StreetView team down the Amazon River because...well, why the hell not? That's why. Expect to see Zagat coverage expanded on a much broader scale under Google's stewardship.
Zagat has managed to keep up with the times. It has online content, and it offers one of the coolest apps available for the iPhone. The Zagat iPhone app uses augmented reality and the iPhone camera to overlay reviews and comments on the image of the street right in front of you. It's a neat trick.
But, as Zagat content is interwoven with Google Search, Google Maps, and other services, it will take the service to a whole new level of social interaction. Searching for a restaurant or hotel on Google will take on new meaning when the results come complete with Zagat ratings, and when the results are integrated with +1s and Google+ so that you can get more personal results based on the reviews and comments of your own social network.
This deal could have been Yelp. Google was in negotiations to buy Yelp which were rumored to be a done deal, but Yelp walked away, leaving $500 million on the table. Now it finds itself in direct competition with Google instead. Does this deal mean that Yelp is dead? No. Not at all. Just look at the initial predictions of the demise of Groupon when Facebook launched Deals, or of Foursquare when Facebook launched Places.
The reality is that it an entity like Yelp (or Groupon, or Foursquare) has to work harder to differentiate itself and demonstrate value when faced with a rival the size of Google or Facebook, but it can be done. I wouldn't be surprised to see Yelp acquired by Microsoft or Facebook, or at least form some sort of strategic alliance.


Zane Benefits Inc., a leader in Defined Contribution Health Plans and Private Health Exchanges, announced its new website, designed to educate employers, accountants, and health insurance professionals about the new federal regulations allowing simplified employer health benefits.
This was reported by prweb.com.
As group health insurance costs continue to rise, employers are looking for ways to offer health benefits at a lower price. Zane Benefits' online defined contribution health plan allows an employer to name its price.
Rather than paying the costs to provide a specific group health plan (a 'defined benefit'), employers instead fix their costs by establishing a monthly dollar amount (a 'defined contribution') that employees choose how to spend.
The new ZaneBenefits.com highlights the company's online health benefits software that enables small businesses to implement and administer a defined contribution health plan in less than five minutes per month.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court completed final arguments in United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Case 11-398 on the constitutionality of the Health Reform law scheduled to take effect in 2014.
Regardless of which way the Court rules, it is clear that the new defined contribution method for small business health benefits will stand.
According to the website, the two primary benefits of Zane's online program include: 1. No Minimum Contributions Requirements - This allows a small business to define a contribution it can afford. 2. No Minimum Participation Requirements - This allows a small business to set its own eligibility and/or participation requirements.
my:health Medisure Prime Insurance, the flagship health insurance policy by L&T Insurance has been voted the 'Product of the Year 2012' award for its outstanding and distinctive features.
Taipei academics argued that the government should scrap the supplementary premiums mechanism on health insurance and charge premiums based on household incomes.
New York State Catholic Health Plan, Fidelis Care, announced that uninsured residents would be helped to apply for quality healthcare by its representatives.
Health insurance customers in Washington DC spend most on healthcare than any other US city, while people from Ogden, UT, spend the least.


Operator BAA says Heathrow airport is "jam-packed"
An airport on an artificial island in the Thames estuary could be the answer to the overcrowding at Heathrow, London's mayor has suggested.
Boris Johnson believes the island solution could put an end to the need for a third runway at Heathrow.
Officials are looking at plans to reduce air traffic congestion at Heathrow and focus on a 24-hour airport off the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
Heathrow handles more than 500,000 take-offs and landings a year.
In his transport manifesto unveiled during the mayoral elections Mr Johnson had spoken about a possible new airport in the Thames estuary.
Mr Johnson said: "You can't endlessly expand Heathrow in the suburbs of west London and entrench what was really a planning error of decades ago.
"I'm looking at all the airports around the perimeter including the option of a new site somewhere in the Thames estuary, that's something I definitely think we should look at.
"What we are looking at is a way of solving this great capital's aviation needs without endlessly expanding our number one international airport," he added.
A spokesperson for the mayor said Mr Johnson "wants to undertake a study to establish the feasibility of the idea once and for all and is in the process of examining the best way to take the study forward."
Mr Johnson added that the environmental impact on the proposed site will also be considered while judging the site's viability.
Grahame Madge, a spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said Thames estuary is the feeding ground for "tens of thousands" of migrating birds.
"Any development proposed in an area that is internationally important for wildlife is a major issue.
"We would need to look at the proposals in detail, but it would be hard to see how you could locate an airport in an area so vital for birds without it being environmentally damaging."
John Stewart, from Hacan (Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) which opposes Heathrow's expansion, said: "The market in the South East couldn't support two major hub airports.
"It would need to be either Heathrow or an off-shore airport. But who is going to invest in a new airport with Heathrow just the other side of London?"
By the end of this year the government is due to make a decision on the proposed expansion of Heathrow.
Operator BAA has been stressing the need for expansion saying that Heathrow is "jam-packed" and needs a third runway to remain competitive globally.
But environmentalists, residents groups and councils opposing the move say the proposed expansion would have a serious impact on hundreds of thousands of homes in the area in terms of air quality and noise levels.


Single Family, Ranch Style home, located in the desired area of Riverview Heights in the town of Willing. This "Move in Ready" home offers 3 bedrooms, 1 full, remodeled bathroom and a country style kitchen. The basement is dry, partially finished with newer electric service and heating system. The finished area of the basement has cable, electric and bar with sink. Just minutes from the PA border and the Village of Wellsville.


CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James hasn't slowed the Warriors, and he's hardly alone.
Toying with other teams, Golden State has turned the NBA postseason into its personal playground, storming to a record 15 straight wins and moving within a victory on Friday night in Game 4 of another title and into the conversation of the best teams ever.
And although it appears James, playing in his seventh straight Finals, will again fall short of a championship, Cleveland's superstar isn't faulting the Warriors for adding Kevin Durant to a 73-win team.
He'd do the same thing.
"It's part of the rules," James said Thursday, hours after the Cavs fell 118-113 to slip into a 3-0 hole. "But is it fair? I don't care. It's great for our league. Right now, look at our TV ratings, look at the money our league is pouring in. I mean, guys are loving the game, our fans love the game. I mean, who am I to say if it's fair or not?"
James, who left Cleveland in 2010 to join All-Stars Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in Miami, said he doesn't begrudge the Warriors for signing Kevin Durant and adding him to a roster that already had Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. He pointed out that the NBA isn't the only league where dynasties have been built by owners throwing around money, using the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s as examples.
"I'm not one to judge and say if it's fair or not if guys are adding players to their team," he said. "It happens. It's sports. You have an opportunity to sign one of the best players, and you can do it, go ahead and do it. Why not? If I become an owner, I'm going to try to sign everybody."


In January 1914, Aston Webb, architect of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the facade of Buckingham Palace and parts of Birmingham University, had a dream. He told the London Society, a group of architects and others concerned with the improvement of the capital, how he was transported a century forward to the year 2014, where he saw “a beautiful sylvan line practically all around London”, with “a certain amount of open spaces, pleasure grounds” set aside by “town planning schemes”. He called it a “green belt”.
As futuristic fantasies go, it was prescient. London is indeed surrounded by a green belt, as are 13 other urban areas in England and 10 in Scotland, zones that forbid new development, except, as the policy wording has it, in “very special circumstances”. They occupy 13% the total land area of England, compared with the 10% that is urbanised.
Almost anyone you talk to on the subject agrees that the green belt is one of the great successes of planning, anywhere in the world. It has prevented the interminable exurbia, the light smearing of development over landscape that you get in the United States and many other countries. But it also has costs. It stops cities expanding, which had previously done so for centuries. It contributes to the scarcity and cost of decent homes in large parts of the country. It encourages bizarre and wasteful patterns of commuting. It often fails in its original aim of providing accessible recreational space for city dwellers. It is enforced with a rigidity that makes little sense, except as a sign of mistrust.
It would be naive to think that the country’s housing problems would solved just by handing tracts of the green belt to developers. Something more is required, which is the ability to plan positively, to create new places as well as protect old ones, a skill this country had until relatively recently. It is not a small thing to rediscover this art, but then neither is the green belt, nor the current issues of housing. The green belt arouses strong passions, but the debates around it are about something still larger, which is the ability of a country to act together in a shared endeavour, or to subdivide into competing interests.
Yet it is being questioned. The libertarian thinktank the Adam Smith Institute has argued that, if a strip merely half a mile wide were shaved off the London green belt, 800,000 new homes could be built. Defenders of the green belts, such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), are accused of ignoring “those who are marginalised and condemned to poor housing”. The London Society, the group to which Aston Webb told his dream and which was instrumental in creating the green belt, has commissioned research from the commercial real estate company Colliers International, which says that we “need to move away from the idea that the countryside is a sacrosanct patchwork of medieval hedgerows” and towards the recognition of “housing as a need to be met in locations with appropriate environmental capacity”.
A particularly vocal critic, Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics, has written that “the unstoppable damage they do to societal fairness, housing affordability, the economic efficiency of our cities, even the environment, is devastating”. He argues that new houses in Britain are 40% more expensive than the Netherlands, which is more densely populated, and that the green belt is at least partly to blame. Business secretary Vince Cable recently tossed away the nation’s golfing vote by calling for homes to be built on golf courses, apparently inspired by the recent discovery that Surrey, the most green belty of counties, has more space dedicated to hitting small white balls with sticks than it has for homes. Cable’s was a bold statement, reminiscent of Fidel Castro’s and Che Guevara’s 1961 decision to build national art schools on the luxuriant links of the Havana country club. He also argued that most people would rather have greenery “outside their own house than sitting 20 miles away where they have no access to it”.
It is said that green belts are not fulfilling their original aims of providing recreation for city dwellers. Dwellers of Toxteth or Hackney are not especially likely to make the journey to their nearest green belts, rather than Sefton or Victoria Park, or to countryside further afield. Rather, says Cheshire, the idea has been “used as a form of exclusionary zoning by the more affluent residents who had got there already”. It is a device, in this view, for rich dwellers of green belts, who enjoy proximity to both cities and countryside, to stop anyone else sharing their idyll. He argues that green belts force commuters to live outside them, and jump over them daily, some travelling from as far away as Norwich to work in London.
It is also claimed that much of the green belt is not all that green, but includes such things as scrap yards and gravel pits. Cheshire questions the environmental quality of the intensive agriculture that is the largest single use of green belt land, and cites the National Ecosystem Assessment of 2011 as saying that such land “has no environmental benefits at all”. Suburban gardens contribute much more biodiversity. It is argued, finally, that other designations, such as areas of outstanding natural beauty, national parks and sites of special scientific interest do some of the job of protecting what is really important about the countryside, which makes green belts less vital.
We can only guess how different the debate would be if the green belt were still known by its original name, the green girdle. It was coined in relation to London by Conservative members of the London county council, Lord Meath and William Bull, in 1901, and was proposed in various versions by several others in coming years and decades. A key supporter was Patrick, later Lord, Abercrombie, one of the founders of the CPRE and creator of the Abercrombie plan, which would guide the development of London and its surroundings after the second world war. From the late 1930s to the 1950s, legislation and policy gave local authorities progressively more power to declare what were by then called green belts, first around London and then in the rest of the country.
A consistent theme was that a green belt should be “a healthful zone of pleasure, civic interest and enlightenment”, or “a great communal estate – secure for all time to the use and enjoyment of the people of London”, or should “protect its inhabitants from disease, by providing fresh air, fresh fruit and vegetables, space for recreation and contact with and knowledge of nature”. After the Great War, proponents cited an occasion when 540 out of 1,000 potential army recruits were found to be too unhealthy to serve: the recreational opportunities of a green belt would make the urban worker more fit to fight. After the last war, with its demand to dig for victory, the agricultural importance of the green belt was stressed.
Jonathan Manns, of Colliers International, also describes how in changing from girdle to belt it increased in size. Its earliest advocates were thinking of a strip a quarter of a mile wide, which it was later suggested might thicken in places to a mile or two. Duncan Sandys, the Conservative minister who promoted green belts in the 1950s, envisaged a width of seven to 10 miles. In the event, local authorities liked the idea so much that it can reach 35 miles. Manns argues that nimbyism was a powerful motivation from early on: in 1960, it was observed that most of Surrey was being designated as green belt “with the object of ensuring that if London’s population overleaps the green belt, as it’s clearly doing, the emigrants shall alight, say, in Hampshire or Sussex, rather than in Surrey”.
According to these narratives, in short, a place conceived for the benefit of environmentally deprived city dwellers has been appropriated by the well-off property owners who live within it, who want everyone else, as a Daily Telegraph campaign on the subject almost puts it, to “get off our land”. It is also questioned whether a part-haphazard construct should be sacrosanct, as if it were a Magna Carta in geographical form.
In all this debate, and despite its celebrity, the exact nature of the green belt – or belts – is elusive. If you live in or near one, you probably know well that you do; if you don’t, you might be vague as to where they are. The inner boundaries of green belts are often clear – knife-sharp boundaries where buildings simply stop – but the outer edges can be invisible. From one field to another, the designation ends.
As might be expected of something so large and widely distributed, it is many things. It includes places of great beauty such as Box Hill in Surrey, and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, but also straggly farms near Heathrow and various industrial uses. Students at the Royal College of Art, led by the architects Charles Holland, David Knight and Finn Williams, have produced an impressive series of maps of the metropolitan green belt around London that show such things as the distribution of landfill sites, Travellers’ sites, branches of Waitrose, crime (mostly low), income (mostly high) and political allegiance (quite conservative). “One of the main characteristics of the green belt,” says Holland, “is that it has no main characteristics.” Its nature is sufficiently vague as to serve whatever political rhetoric is projected on to it.
Take Amersham, Bucks, a hybrid of idyll and unease. It is an historic settlement miraculously accessible, as the green belt’s early proponents might have hoped, from the London underground, from where you can easily walk through its not-sprawling periphery into fields and woods and an 18th-century park landscaped by Humphry Repton. Some of this countryside is delightful; some of it so highly processed that it is like walking through the sliced bread shelves at Tesco, which is what presumably it will soon become. A ceaseless thrum of bypass traffic pervades and the threat hovers of the High Speed 2 rail line, which is due to charge through the area, it being a paradox of green belt policy that it is easier to build major infrastructure in it than houses.
Or go to Knutsford, outside Manchester, Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford, now in the constituency of George Osborne, where the green belt has largely done its job of keeping the shape of a fine old town. One walk out of it takes you through postwar housing that seems to have been permitted before the green belt was decided, past uses important to the town such as sports clubs and allotments, towards dullish fields along a road hostile to pedestrians. A more rewarding route is into Tatton Park, a magnificent landscape attached to a stately home, which is preserved by the National Trust more than by green belt laws.
Then there is Grenoble Road, Oxford, currently a front line in struggles over the green belt, as Oxford city council and Magdalen College want to build on some fields they own, in the face of fierce opposition from the area’s CPRE and other local groups. The road is wide and fast, with aggressive traffic. On one side is the stadium of Oxford United, its car parks and leisure complex, plus, behind high hedges, the two-storey houses of the Blackbird Leys estate, which from time to time attracts the attention of the national press for its joyriding, keying of cars and other crimes.
On the other side are fields, hedges, clumps of trees as in a landscape painting, but also electricity pylons, with a sewage station and an electrical substation nearby. Thanks to the road, access from homes is not pleasant. This is the sort of niceish-but-not-wonderful landscape that leads many to ask what harm could come from nibbling off a bit of it for housing. It is not, however, the territory of Jag-driving nimbies of legend, anxious to preserve their property values and exclude people different from themselves.
Nor does this description fit the representatives of the CPRE I meet here and in other locations in the Oxford green belt – Kidlington, a charming old village extended at one end by less charming postwar estates, where there is talk of further expansion, and Cumnor, where a plan for 200 homes on what looks like a particularly inappropriate site has been, for now, beaten back. They include the former headmaster of a secondary school, a retired civil servant and a retired business startup adviser.
One of them, Alan Lodwick, says he feels “ disenfranchised and disempowered” in the face of the real money, “the barristers, property developers, planning and property consultants and the landowners they represent, who can throw vast resources into making sure they make even more money out of the [green belt] land that they own.” Another, Michael Tyce, says that the fields off Grenoble Road “are doing exactly what the green belt is supposed to do – it is serving its purpose as a green lung”. City-dwellers do use it for recreation, he says, and, indeed, some walk by as he speaks.
Together with Helen Marshall, director of Oxfordshire CPRE, he argues that the green belt is “actual countryside that is well-loved and well-used by local people”, and that the danger is of making the county “into one big sprawl”. “I don’t think you’ll find anyone who wants that. I think most people would rather it continue as a rural county, rather than become Wolverhampton.” Alan Lodwick, in Kidlington, makes a further point, which is that the green belt exists also to protect the character of towns and cities and that the character of Oxford, with its compact medieval centre, is based on its being the size it is now.
A recurring theme of conversation is the congestion now in and around Oxford – waits of over an hour on rush-hour roads, a bus system with nowhere to expand. More homes, they say, will only make it worse. I stand in another ho-hum field outside Kidlington, the premises of a molecular genetic company off to one side, and ask again the question that keeps coming up in this debate – would it be so terrible to build on it? Lodwick explains that the issue is not just about this field, but the cumulative effect of many fields being developed, such that Oxford and its surroundings become completely different places.
Oxford has particular significance in the arguments about green belt. Danny Dorling, professor of geography at Oxford University, has said that the scarcity and cost of housing could easily cause the university “to lose its top position… the growth of knowledge-based industries would also suffer if the area is unable to provide junior staff with homes they can afford, and services such as education for their children. The area could ossify and end up like Santa Barbara, a place where only the rich can live.” Like the losing cox in a boat race, Oxford looks nervously at Cambridge, which is finding it easier to expand and to provide homes for university staff and sites for technology companies attracted by the university.
Oxford also features in the study that recently won the £250,000 Wolfson economics prize, which asked: “How would you deliver a new garden city which is visionary, economically viable and popular?” The winning entry, by the planning and urban design practice Urbed, argued that the best way to create successful new communities was to graft them on to the “rootstock” of existing cities, to take advantage of their infrastructure and establishe a sense of place. This would require taking “confident bites” out of the green belt. Most of Urbed’s essay concerned an imaginary town called Uxcester – a modified version of York – but it chose Oxford as real-life test case. David Rudlin, of Urbed, endorses the importance of green belts, but says that in this city “it has become a tourniquet”.
Urbed propose a “snowflake” plan, with new sub-centres radiating from the old centre, leaving green spaces between them. The new neighbourhoods would have exemplary tram systems, would be designed to encourage walking, and for every acre given to development, another would be given to publicly accessible open space – Tatton Parks, if one were to be really optimistic, rather than those dull fields outside Knutsford.
Urbed’s inspirations are both English garden cities of the early 20th century and much admired recent housing in Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm and in Vauban, near Freiberg, Germany. Essential to their idea is the huge difference in value between agricultural land and land with permission to build. At present, the difference turns into a lottery-sized jackpot for landowners, once they get permission, and profit for builders, who then have a strong motivation to build as cheaply as possible. Urbed wants some of this differential to pay for higher quality homes, infrastructure and open spaces.
The idea of garden cities, or new towns, has always been closely linked to that of the green belt, with both sharing the belief that it is good for people to live near nature. The first campaigners for a green girdle, or belt, were inspired by Ebenezer Howard, who in 1898 first proposed the idea of garden cities. The same Lord Abercrombie who helped found the CPRE, and successfully advocated the green belt, was also behind the new towns planned in Britain following the second world war. Although often sneered at, they successfully fulfilled their social aims while also achieving a financial surplus.
In Abercrombie’s world, constriction went with creation and prevention with provision. Building was stopped in some places so that it could be done well in others. Since Margaret Thatcher’s government the positive half of this formula been abandoned, leaving only the power to negate: she wound down the new towns’ development corporations and took their proceeds. She also set the scene for a battle between halves of conservatism that is still raging, between free marketeers and those who think their party is about conserving something, between the Adam Smith Institute, which sees green-belt policy as a restriction to be challenged like any other, and the Daily Telegraph, which wants builders’ Hands Off Our Land. The people who lose out in this row are citizens who want a decent home.
In Thatchers’s time, her environment secretary, Nicholas Ridley, proposed relaxing the green belt, but was shut up. More recently, the planning minister, Nick Boles, didn’t seem quite sound on the subject, which may be why he is now the ex-planning minister. His successor, Brandon Lewis, was so quick to slap down Urbed’s proposals that he can barely have had enough time to read them. The government didn’t want urban sprawl, he said, and anyway was supporting a planned garden city of “up to” 15,000 homes in Ebbsfleet, Kent.
Which is depressing. Urbed’s work is a serious attempt to address an ever-growing and scandalous problem, which is the low quantity and abysmal quality of new homes, to which Ebbsfleet alone will make a minuscule difference. Nor is Urbed proposing “sprawl”. It deserves a fair hearing from a government that cannot offer anything more than a slow seepage of overpriced developers’ housing. Urbed’s snowflakes cannot address the nation’s housing issues by themselves – such things as the urban developments championed by Richard Rogers are also important – but the scale of the problem is such that every good tool available must be considered.
Until abolished by the current government, there was a laudable target of building 60% of new housing on “brownfield sites” in cities. This, of course, left the not-small proportion of 40% to be built in the countryside. There is a large chunk of countryside not designated as green belt, which would, if plans such as Urbed’s are to be ignored, take the brunt of the 40%. Which makes little sense, as much of this countryside has a greater environmental value than green belt land. Development there, being further from cities, encourages longer journeys by car.
Standing in Grenoble Road, it’s possible to see how Urbed’s thinking could help a place like this. In every respect except the preservation of green space this spot is a planning disaster – the dominating road, the cut-off housing estate, the shoddy buildings around the stadium. If, at the cost of losing some of the nearby fields, these problems could be addressed, while also allowing more people to live close to nature, might that not be a good thing? “Rubbish,” says Michael Tyce of the CPRE. Why? Because “Urbed’s scheme relies on destroying existing protections”, which would set a precedent. There would be no stopping further encroachment and the gaps between the dendrites of the snowflake would be filled. “Even though it’s not what Urbed wants, that’s what will happen.” In other words, the boundaries of the green belt, set partly arbitrarily 50 or 60 years ago, can never be altered, ever, no matter how the world changes, because we can’t trust politicians and developers not to rush into any breach in the rules.
The trouble is, on the question of trust, Tyce is right. There is pitifully little evidence, on recent form, that new development will be anything like the well-considered settlements Urbed proposes. When the property consultancy Colliers International seem to disparage medieval hedgerows, they don’t inspire great confidence in whatever alternative they might propose – nor do they make convincing Jacobins, or champions of the common man. There need to be more examples of what could be, which will require a greater mind than Brandon Lewis’s to make it happen.
Yet this gap in trust has to be bridged. The costs of not doing so include housing that is more scarce and expensive than it need be, of worse quality, and more badly located, such that people have to make long commutes across green belts to their nearest cities. The current reality, as Urbed’s Rudlin puts it, “is that development is dribbling out in all the wrong places”. Meanwhile, pressure on cities that try to grow within existing boundaries will eventually become intolerable. Consider, for example, that London used to be admired as a city of houses and gardens, yet in new developments gardens have almost disappeared, which is directly attributable to the city’s green belt. Other popular cities will face the same problem. For all these reasons, it is no longer good enough to insist that green belts must, at all costs, never change.


"His work improved the quality of life for millions of people who’ve probably never heard of him, as well as helped save thousands of fresh and salt-water species," said Lynda Lewis of her brother, Roy R. "Robin" Lewis.
Roy R. "Robin" Lewis III, a certified environmental professional and senior ecologist whose work was well known locally and internationally, died Sept. 24 at his home in Salt Springs. He was 74.
Lewis was a member of the National Association of Environmental Professionals, Society of Wetland Scientists and Ecological Society of America, and president of Lewis Environmental Services, Inc. Coastal Resources Group, Inc., among many other affiliations.
According to his sister, Lynda Lewis, he was born May 19, 1944, in Daytona Beach. He spent his early life in Jacksonville, where he graduated from Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in 1962. He earned a bachelor of science in biology from the University of Florida in 1966, master's degree from the University of South Florida in 1968 and pursued postgraduate work there at the Marine Science Institute until 1973. He was a professor of biology at Hillsborough Community College and chairman of the department from 1974 to 1977.
"He dreamed of eventually retiring on Lake Delancy. His dream came true. He loved living in the Ocala National Forest in Marion County. He had spent many years as a young man exploring the Ocala National Forest and surrounding springs with his family," Lynda Lewis wrote in an email message.
"His work has touched many special places in Florida and around the world, improved the quality of life for millions of people who've probably never heard of him, as well as helped save thousands of fresh and salt-water species," she noted.
According to Lynda Lewis, even while running several corporations her brother taught wetland restoration courses for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin and Louisiana State University. He taught an annual course in mangrove forest ecology, management and restoration. He was instrumental in creating the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
She said his work included the ecology, management, restoration and creation of fresh and saltwater marshes, mangrove forests, forested freshwater forests, and sea grass meadows. He studied the effects of oil spills on coastal ecosystems, plant and animal colonization of dredged material islands, marine and estuarine fish use of restored tidal wetlands, and experimental re-vegetation of wetlands using both marine and freshwater species.
He worked in Florida, California, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong, Cuba and Jamaica, and more recently, in Barbados and on other Caribbean projects.
"Many of his restoration projects received awards, including several national awards from the Audubon Society, the Ecological Society of America and the State of California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award. He recently received the 2018 National Wetlands Award given by the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C.," Lynda Lewis wrote.
She said he worked with St. Johns Riverkeepers, Putnam County Environmental Council, Florida Defenders of the Environment, Friends of Rookery Bay Reserve, Society of Wetland Scientists, Association of State and Wetland Managers, 1000 Friends of Florida, Mount Dora Friends of the Environment, Inc., and with educational organizations including the Mockernut Hill Botanical Gardens in Shiloh in northwest Marion County.
"Robin was a dear friend and a member of our board and School of Groundcover Conservation faculty here at Mockernut Hill Botanical Garden," wrote Linda Duever, also a professional ecologist, on the garden's Facebook page.
"He was a key player at our first board meeting and very enthusiastic about helping us develop the Florida Ecological Heritage Archive we are establishing in our library building. His ecological records will be housed here, where they will be permanently secure and available to researchers," she noted.
John R. Thomas, a public interest environmental lawyer based in St. Petersburg, was a friend and colleague of Robin Lewis.
"Robin was the most effective environmental advocate I have ever known, always prepared to take on the hard work of environmental protection and restoration. I met Robin around 1999 when we stepped up to defend the grandfather oaks of South Tampa against developers. He retained me shortly thereafter when his relentless efforts to protect and restore sea grasses in Tampa Bay got him in trouble with the Manatee County Port Authority. When the authority proposed to expand and dredge through healthy and important sea grass beds, Robin objected. He had worked hard to establish the National Estuary and he was paternalistic toward these essential habitats," Thomas wrote in an email statement.
"In a bow to his knowledge and tenacity, the authority hired Robin and put him in charge of their proposed up-front sea grass restoration mitigation project - no use of new facilities until impacts successfully mitigated. But Robin was an honest scientist and advocate and he would not lie to FDEP when the authority made several bad decisions that destroyed acres of sea grass and undermined the mitigation project. So they fired him/he quit. He and I opposed the authority's attempts to renege on promises to fully mitigate the dredging impacts up front. At great expense and under huge stress, Robin beat the authority," Thomas wrote.
"When the U.S. Forest Service neglected to provide for scrub jays, Robin created Save Our Big Scrub. This not-for-profit fights to preserve and create the unique habitat needed by the scrub jay population in the Ocala National Forest," Thomas stated.
"Robin knew disappointment too. I am sure a dying regret was that his beloved Ocklawaha River still has not been restored. Robin worked tirelessly to persuade everyone that the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam needed to be removed. While progress has been made, politics still holds the incredible Ocklawaha hostage to this day," Thomas wrote.
"There was so so much more. These are just anecdotes of a heroic life full of outstanding science, advocacy and environmental action. Robin was a force," Thomas added.
Lynda Lewis said during a telephone conversation that someone had referred to her brother as a "real hero" for the environment.
"That's him. That's the way people thought of him," she said.
Lewis also is survived by his fiancee, Cynthia Sapp of Salt Springs, and longtime business partner and friend, Laura Flynn.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be given in memory of Lewis to any of the organizations with which he was affiliated or any environmentally friendly organization. A memorial ceremony is being planned for late fall.


And Shawn knows all about it.
Camila Cabello has a "dirty secret" about her summer, and Shawn Mendes knows all about it.
The Fifth Harmony member and the pop singer teamed up for the dramatic acoustic track "I Know What You Did Last Summer," which is all about a girl cheating on her boyfriend.
"He knows dirty secrets that I keep/ Does he know it's killing me?/ He knows, he knows," Camila sings before they both join in on the chorus. "I know what you did last summer/ Just lied to me, "There's no other"/ I know what you did last Summer/ Tell me where you've been/ I know what you did last Summer/ Look me in the eyes, my lover."
Their voices blend in perfect harmony delivering a pure pop track that will no doubt appeal to both of their massive fan bases. The song, which is the lead single off Shawn's Handwritten Revisited reissue (Nov. 20) was written backstage at Taylor Swift's 1989 World Tour, where Shawn was an opening act.
The two instantly clicked and wrote the chorus for "IKWYDLS" backstage at the show before going into the studio, where they actually improvised some of the words.
"The bridge was completely improvised where it's a conversational ad-lib moment," Camila told New York's Z100 radio station. "We were in the studio and we were separated by two pieces of glass and we could hear each other in the headphones, and there was a piano melody in the background. Keeping in mind the storyline and narrative, we just sang to each other."
Whatever they did worked, and the two couldn't be more excited, and nervous, for the song's release.
"I think when you're so invested in something, it's our story, so when it's brought out for people to hear, it's our child being born," Camila said. "And it's like, are people going to like our child?"


Saudi Arabia has stepped up its weapon supplies to three different rebel groups in Syria following Russian airstrikes, a government official told the BBC. It comes after Moscow launched its Air Force anti-terror operation at the request of Assad’s government.
Rebel groups fighting the Syrian Army will receive an increase in modern, high-powered weaponry, including guided anti-tank weapons, a "well-placed" Saudi official told the BBC on condition of anonymity.
He said the recipients include Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and the Southern Front. The official stressed that Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) and the al-Nusra Front would not be receiving any weapons.
The official did not rule out the possibility of supplying surface-to-air missiles to the rebels, which many in the West fear would fall into the hands of ISIS militants and be used to shoot down warplanes of the US-led coalition or civilian aircraft.
Meanwhile, a separate Gulf Arab official has expressed fear that Russia's military intervention in Syria will prompt a new jihad, or holy war.
The official told journalists that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was warned by Arab diplomats during last week's UN General Assembly that Moscow's actions in Syria were creating “Frankenstein's monster,” which will draw in jihadists aiming to “liberate” Syria of Russians, Iranians, and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon.
However, the official admitted that neither the West nor Gulf Arab states have a strategy for resolving the bloody conflict, which has been taking place for more than four years and has led to the deaths of over 250,000 people.
He went on to stress the need for stronger US leadership, adding that the worst scenario would be for the West to accept a compromise which allows Assad to remain in power. The official added that Sunni Arabs in the region will not accept such a deal.
The statements come after Russia launched its airstrike campaign in Syria on September 30, targeting military equipment, communication centers, vehicles, and arms and fuel depots belonging to ISIS terrorists. In just over a week, Russia made 120 combat sorties that hit 110 targets, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
Since the military campaign was launched, mainstream media has “launched a powerful anti-Russian campaign,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. She added that the ministry is “open to contacts of military experts” and is ready to look into any potential concerns.
Meanwhile, the White House has called the Russian airstrikes "indiscriminate military operations against the Syrian opposition,” adding that the campaign will prolong Syria's conflict. Moscow offered on Tuesday to resume talks with Washington to avoid any misunderstandings concerning its airstrike operations, as well as ways to avoid conflicts between US and Russian warplanes over Syria.