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What does it take to encourage endangered species to breed? In the case of two frog species living at Bristol Zoo Gardens in England it takes creating a very special environment, and not just one that plays romantic music. Bristol Zoo just finished building AmphiPod, a high-tech facility that "will allow us to adjust the temperature, humidity and day length to create the perfect conditions to encourage the frogs to breed," said Tim Skelton, the zoo's curator of reptiles, in a prepared statement. In addition to mimicking the frogs' natural habitat, AmphiPod will also help to protect them against disease, including the deadly chytrid fungus that is rapidly devastating frog populations around the world. The frogs taking up residence in the new "love shack" are the lemur leaf frog (Hylomantis lemur) from Panama and Costa Rica and Madagascar's golden mantella frog (Mantella aurantiaca). According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the leaf frog has lost 80 percent of its population in the past 10 years, mostly due to the chytrid fungus. The mantella frog lives in a tiny habitat less than 10 square kilometers in size, which is rapidly being destroyed along with most of Madagascar's biodiversity-rich forests. Additional species may join the AmphiPod frogs in the future if the zoo habitat successfully inspires breeding, Skelton said. Raising funds to build AmphiPod took nearly a year. Bristol Zoo says it still needs around $45,000 to run the facility for the next three years. Image: Lemur leap frog, via Bristol Zoo Gardens

» Accolades UTSA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS RANKED #1 IN THE NATION BY HISPANIC BUSINESS The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Business has been ranked the No. 1 graduate business school in the nation for Hispanics by Hispanic Business in its its study. The rankings (in order) included UTSA, UT El Paso, University of Miami, UT Austin, Stanford, University of New Mexico, Dartmouth, Florida International University, University of California at Berkeley and the University of North Carolina. Nationally ranked and recognized,. Graduate offerings include the MBA program, an Executive MBA program, an International MBA, a Noon MBA, an Online MBA and specialized master’s programs. More than 20 different MBA concentrations capitalize on the college’s comparative advantages in the areas of globalization/cultural pluralism, security, capital markets, transformational leadership/entrepreneurship and health/technology.. Poder Enterprise Ranks the College’s MBA Program The UTSA College of Business MBA program was ranked one of the top 15 programs in the nation by Poder Enterprise. The. Other schools included in the ranking were, in order, Stanford, UT Austin, Yale, University of California at. Princeton Review Ranks UTSA MBA Program for the Fourth Straight Year For the fourth straight year, the UTSA College of Business MBA program was ranked one of the top 10 programs in the nation for minority students, according to the 2008 edition of the Princeton Review. Other schools included in the ranking were Howard University, New Mexico State University, San Francisco State University and Texas A&M University. The college’s ranking for Greatest Opportunity for Minority Students was based on percentage of minority students, percentage of minority faculty and resources for minority students. The Princeton Review surveyed more than 11,000 students at 296 business schools and used school statistical data to create their rankings. NSA Names UTSA a Center of Research Excellence in Information Assurance The University of Texas at San Antonio has been named a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research (CAE-R) by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security. UTSA is one of only 40 institutions nationwide recognized with this honor and only the third university in Texas to be accredited. The UTSA proposal was led by Dr. Glenn Dietrich, chair of the Department of Information Systems and Technology Management. The designation is valid for five years, after which the school must successfully reapply in order to retain the designation. “This designation takes into account faculty, programs, research and funding from the College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Sciences and the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security,” said Dietrich. The goal of the NSA research program is to reduce vulnerability in the U.S. information infrastructure by promoting education and research among institutions of higher education. Considerations for the CAE-R designation include academic programs in information assurance, faculty research in information assurance, the number of graduate students in information assurance and the level of funding for security programs. The College of Business offers an undergraduate degree program in infrastructure assurance and security, a master’s degree in information technology with a concentration in infrastructure assurance and security, and a doctoral program with a concentration in information technology. Business faculty members conduct research in the areas of biometrics, data mining, data visualization and intrusion detection. They are joined in the classroom by practitioners from leading information assurance companies as well as from military organizations such as the Air Force Information Operations Center. The new Advanced Laboratories for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (ALIAS) is the home of information assurance research in the College of Business. The 2,200-square-foot lab houses classrooms and research laboratories designed to support research in biometrics, digital forensics, advanced telecommunications, data mining and intrusion detection. Since 2002, UTSA has also been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. Accounting Doctoral Program Receives National Honor The UTSA 41 programs chosen for this honor, the College of Business was selected for its demonstrated record of interaction with the accounting profession, its strong placement potential and its academic programming. UTSA accounting doctoral students will now be eligible to apply for the ADS fellowship program which provides four-year $30,000 stipends for 30 candidates each year. UTSA’s Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in accounting is focused on the use of social science research methods to address empirical research problems in accounting. The Department of Accounting is separately accredited by AACSB International through the doctoral level in accounting. College’s Briefcase Brigade Wins First Place in Battle of Flowers Parade For the second straight year, the UTSA College of Business Briefcase Brigade won first place in the amusements category during the Battle of Flowers parade. The parade through downtown San Antonio is part of the annual Fiesta San Antonio celebration. The brigade, which is composed of business faculty, staff and students, performed a Dean Lynda de la Viña, Dr. Julie Dahlquist, Dr. Keith Fairchild, Dr. Dan Hollas, Dr. Dennis Lopez, Dr. Lisa Montoya, Dr. John Wald and Dr.. Supported by: UTSA College of Business One UTSA Circle San Antonio, Texas 78249 Tel: (210) 458-4313

While Kyrgyzstan's newly elected parliament has convened its first session, there is still no ruling coalition and the situation in the country remains unpredictable. Carnegie’s Martha Brill Olcott and Alexey Malashenko were joined by Daniel Kimmage from the Homeland Security Policy Institute to discuss the current security situation in Kyrgyzstan and its implications for the region. Commenting on the current developments in the south of the country following interethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in June, Kimmage suggested thinking of the situation as a redistribution of economic power and a struggle over assets, as opposed to a purely ethnic conflict. Following the overthrow of President Bakiyev last April and the outbreak of interethnic violence in June, Kyrgyzstan held a constitutional referendum, creating a new constitution and adopting a parliamentary system of government. While parliamentary elections were held in October, a governing coalition remains to be。

CN. The group was inspired by Rachel’s Challenge, an organization established in honor of Rachel Scott, the first student killed in the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. “Rachel’s Challenge influenced me and a lot of other students, said Colby Carpenter, president of LAPD. “We wanted to ensure that Columbine doesn’t happen again. We get to help our community as a group rather than just as an individual, and we hope to make our school a fun and safe place to be.” The LAPD includes a welcoming committee, led by Corie Ann Black, which introduces new students to the school and sends cards to students and teachers who have had a death in the family. Other LAPD activities include a safe driver’s check in the school parking lot encouraging students to wear seat-belts and a “Mix it up Monday,” where students sit at different lunch tables to help eliminate cliques. Dana Wright, the LAPD’s faculty sponsor, said the group also works outside of the school. LAPD conducts weekly Meals on Wheels visits to area senior citizens and shut-ins. “I think it is a really important and valuable opportunity,” said senior Kelsey Tipps, who was in charge of the students’ Meals on Wheels program. “As high school students you really don’t have that much time to devote to charity, as sad as that is, you really don’t. It’s an opportunity to do something really great, and it doesn’t take that much time. It makes their day, and they love to see high school students come to their house.” Muleshoe has 70 seniors graduating Friday. Other LAPD senior members include Dusty Clayton, Garrett Riley, Ashley Grumbles, Colt Ellis, Ashley Scolley, Jacy Lawrence and Cailyn Wills.

In an appearance on Thursday’s broadcast of “CBS This Morning,” former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had no regrets about endorsing President Barack Obama in 2008, and once again endorsed the incumbent president over Republican nominee Mitt Romney. “You know, I voted for him in 2008, and I plan to stick with him in 2012, and I’ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month,” Powell said. Powell, author of “It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership,” explained that his reasoning for giving Obama his vote this second time around dealt with his handling of the financial crisis, even though he said the economy has much room for improvement. “Let me say why. When he took over, the country was in very, very difficult straits,” Powell said. “We were in percent.” “So we were in real trouble,” he continued. “The auto industry was collapsing, the housing our problems are solved. There are lots of problems still out there.” Powell praised Obama also on his handling of foreign policy, explaining he had gotten us out of one war and had not gotten us into any new wars. He added where Romney was lacking was also in the economy, where the former secretary of state expressed his lack in confidence over Romney’s tax-cut proposals to resurrect the economy. (h/t RealClearPolitics Video)

By Lena Mitchell/NEMS Daily Journal CORINTH – The Alcorn County Board of Supervisors on Friday finalized a contract with Waste Connections Inc. of Walnut that is expected to save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars over the 10-year term of the agreement. Details of the agreement, which takes effect July 1, were settled after Waste Management and Waste Connections submitted counter-offers to the board in April. Waste Connections will operate the county transfer station for household waste at a charge of $22.98 per ton to the county. The company also will receive rubbish hauled to the transfer station, with individuals using the service paying a minimum fee of $5 and a maximum charge of $22.98 per ton. “This is an extremely good deal for Alcorn County,” said BOS President Lowell Hinton. “We realize this ($5 fee) will be a burden on some, but the board of supervisors felt this would be the best option for our county as a whole.” Since the county collects about 5,400 tons of waste per year at a current cost of $45 per ton, the new contract will save the county $120,000 per year. Having the contractor collect rubbish at the transfer station also will allow the county to close the Farmington Road rubbish site to the public, for an additional savings of $100,000 per year. “The only cost that Alcorn County will incur will be the cost to pick up the residential waste and to dispose of it at a cost of $450,000 per year,” Hinton said. The county currently uses four mills of county taxes to pay for garbage disposal, and the new contract should allow the county to break even at that same rate. However, the accumulated debt over many years for operating the garbage service has left this account at a deficit of about $900,000, Hinton said. Selling trucks, trailers, backhoes and property acquired to support the garbage operation should go a long way to reducing that deficit, but it will still take a few years to eliminate it completely. Also significant in the contract is that rises in the consumer price index and fuel prices will not affect the rate the county pays, Hinton said. The rate is constant for the life of the contract. “We didn’t get into this condition overnight and it’s going to take some time to get out of it, but we’ve stopped the bleeding,” he said. “We’ll eventually get caught up.” lena.mitchell@journalinc.com

The Fargo Public Schools announces today that Tricia Erickson has been named to the position of principal at Bennett Elementary to begin the 2012-13 school year. Erickson, who has been at the helm of Lewis & Clark Elementary for the past 15 years, will replace outgoing principal Manix Zepeda. An alumna of Concordia College, Erickson began her career in education in the Fargo Schools as a part-time kindergarten teacher at Washington Elementary. She later taught at Clara Barton and Centennial Elementary Schools before becoming a part-time assistant principal at Centennial. Her first principal assignment was at Hawthorne Elementary in 1994. Erickson has served on the Board of Directors of the North Dakota Association of Elementary School Principals and the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders. She is also a past president of the Fargo Education Association. Earlier this year, Erickson was named the North Dakota Distinguished Principal of the Year by the NDAESP. She is in consideration for the national award, which will be presented in Washington, DC, in October. Erickson holds a master’s degree from Moorhead State University.

Assess | Assemble Team | Take Action | Action Guide Tools | Search About NCFSS About Action Guide How-to Guide & Video Links Administrators Team Leader School Nurse Health Department School Foodservice Teachers Cooperative Extension Families Students The Food-Safe Schools Action Guide is a multifaceted implementation tool comprised of a variety of products specially designed to help school staff in their efforts to make their school food-safe. The Food-Safe Schools Action Guide can help schools identify gaps in food safety and develop an action plan for becoming food-safe. The Food-Safe Schools Action Guide is available in two formats: At this time hardcopies of the Food-Safe Schools Action Guide Toolkit are not available. To develop the Food-Safe School Action Guide, ORC Macro, under contract to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reviewed published literature (e.g., peer reviewed journal articles, books, private and government reports, and Web sites) to identify risk factors for foodborne illness and strategies that schools could implement to prevent foodborne illness. Many strategies had been subjected to scientific evaluation in environments other than schools, however, little research was available on strategies and risk factors specific to schools. Therefore, primary qualitative research (focus groups, interviews, and expert panels) was conducted with persons representing education, health, and agriculture organizations at the federal, state, and school building level to inform the Action Guide. After the literature review was completed, CDC and ORC Macro convened a panel of experts in health, education, and agriculture at federal and state levels. Panel participants included representatives from food safety education and infectious disease prevention, school foodservice administration, environmental health organizations, local health departments, foodborne illness epidemiology, coordinated school health programs, school nursing, and school administration. The panelists: The gaps in research identified in the literature review and by the expert panel served as the foundation for focus groups and interviews with the target audiences of the Food-Safe School Action Guide. Sixteen focus groups were conducted in Rhode Island, Florida, and Georgia with school principals, teachers, school nurses, and school foodservice staff to fill in the gaps in the literature, test if the principles and messages derived from the literature are practical, and illuminate building level food safety issues for the Food-Safe School Action Guide. In-depth interviews also were conducted with cooperative extension service and local health department staff to aid in the in-depth analysis of the roles and responsibilities of school system personnel relating to food safety from the building to the state level. The results from the focus groups and interviews were integrated with the findings from the literature review and the expert panel to create the Food-Safe School Action Guide. CDC and NCFSS worked with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) to translate the content into the easy-to-use print materials found in the toolkit and online electronic versions. A coordinating committee of CDC-funded national non-governmental organizations and the funded Rhode Island State Education Agency closely reviewed outlines and draft versions of the Food-Safe School Action Guide. The national organizations were the American Nursing Foundation, American School Foodservice Association, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the National Environmental Health Association. The Action Guide was revised and expanded based on their review. The Food-Safe School Action Guide was also reviewed by members of the National Coalition for Food-Safe Schools (NCFSS), which includes representatives of federal and state agencies and national organizations with member constituencies engaged in school health promotion throughout the United States. The Food-Safe School Action Guide represents the state of the science in school based foodborne illness prevention. The recommendations in the Food-Safe School Action Guide are based on research evidence. They also are based on food science and evidence from exemplary practice in food safety and foodborne illness prevention, health education, and public health. However, every recommendation is not appropriate or feasible for every school to implement nor should any school be expected to implement all recommendations. Schools can determine which recommendations have the highest priority based on the needs of the school and available resources. As more resources become available, schools could implement additional recommendations to support a coordinated approach to preventing foodborne illness. Technical Advisors for the Food-Safe School Action Guide (Word document) Home | Assess | Assemble Team | Take Action | Action Guide Tools | Contact Us 2004 © Copyright. Food-Safe Schools, foodsafeschools.org

NATIONAL CITY, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Transportation said it’s cracking down on tour bus companies, in light of the deadly bus crash outside San Bernardino earlier this month.NATIONAL CITY, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Transportation said it’s cracking down on tour bus companies, in light of the deadly bus crash outside San Bernardino earlier this month. Employees at Sun Diego Charter Company in National City said they welcome the crackdown. “It’s a good thing for the industry, to weed out the companies that aren’t following the laws,” said Sun Diego Charter owner Richard Illes. Over the next two months, inspectors will examine companies with a history of accidents or safety violations. Investigators said Scapadas Magicas LLC, the company that owned the bus involved in the collision near Big Bear, had a poor safety record. “To me it’s never a good sign, nothing against Mexico, we just have higher standards here,” said Illes. While Illes welcomes the investigation by the Feds, he questions its effectiveness – especially on companies operating on both sides of the border. An investigation by our partners at the L.A. Times found Scapadas is actually based in Tijuana, not San Diego. He tells consumers to do their homework before hiring a bus service company instead of relying on the operators and mechanics to keep everything in check. Here were some tips for picking a tour bus company: - Make sure the company is currently licensed by the Department of Transportation and the Public Utilities Commission. - Don’t be afraid to ask them for those license numbers and check online with DOT or the Better Business Bureau to find out about any violations. - Check the company buses yourself before making a decision. Guest '….An investigation by our partners at the L.A. Times found Scapadas is actually based in Tijuana, not San Diego…..' ah huh..this is JUST what everyone was theorizing…mexican standards of vehicle safety…manana!! oh NO!!! mustn't generalize, naughty naughty.. les don't stop there!! include them cruise ships guest2 actually you're correct..thought they MIGHT be hdqtr in US..they usually sail under a foreign flag! it's cheaper..and the majority of crew are NOT US citizens. buy your credit report We’re a group of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your web site offered us with valuable information to work on. You have performed an impressive activity and our entire community might be grateful to you.

MODESTO, Calif., June 16, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --United States Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), U.S. Representatives Jim Costa (D-Calif) and David Valadao (R-Calif),. California Poultry Federation President Bill Mattos commented "Foster Farms brings a special kind of leadership to the poultry industry not only in California but across the nation. The company has been instrumental in pursuing initiatives that benefit consumers everywhere. They have helped to bring better definition to common labeling terms, such as "fresh" and "natural." In 2009, they led a major campaign that effectively ended "plumping" the practice of adding saltwater to fresh poultry in California. They are also the first major producer in the country to be certified by American Humane Association." Mattos went on to say "Foster Farms has stepped up to a leadership position in food safety. They have invested more than $75 million and developed a comprehensive farm-to-package program that attacks Salmonella at almost every possible point. Their recent data indicates a Salmonella incidence level of 2%, well below the USDA-FSIS reported 2011/2012 industry benchmark of 25%. This is probably some of the safest chicken you can buy. Having worked with Foster Farms for more than two decades, I know they are the kind of company that is going to share their learnings with the rest of the industry, to create a safer food supply, even in the many areas where their products are not sold." Earlier in the day, Mattos hosted a brief ceremony that included resolutions honoring Foster Farms presented by U.S. Representatives Jim Costa and David Valadao and signed by Congressman Jeff Denham; a proclamation presented by California State Senator Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte), State Assembly members Adam Gray (D-Merced) and Kristin Olsen (R-Modesto) also signed by Senator Kathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton), Assembly member Susan Eggman (D-Stockton); Assembly member Henry Perea (D-Fresno), Senator Anthony Cannella (D-Ceres); and certificates of recognition presented by Stanislaus County Supervisors Vito Chiesa and Dick Monteith and Merced County Supervisor John Pedrozo. MESSAGE FROM THE HONORABLE DIANNE FEINSTEIN REGARDING FOSTER FARMS' INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP United States Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today issued a video message congratulating Foster Farms on its 75th anniversary. In her remarks, she noted the company's contributions to the local community, the poultry industry and to the consumer. "Whether it's removing unhealthy additives from poultry, collaborating with the USDA or pioneering the idea of locally grown, Foster Farms prioritizes consumers," said Senator Feinstein in her message. In regard to food safety, Senator Feinstein went on to say, "I have a willing and cooperative partner in Foster Farms. Currently, the industry-wide prevailing rate of Salmonella is at around 25 percent. In the past year, Foster Farms has worked tirelessly to achieve its goal of less than five percent this year. So it's my hope that the rest of the industry and USDA follow suit." Senator Feinstein serves as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee. She was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, first woman mayor of San Francisco, first woman elected senator of California, first woman member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and first woman to chair the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. The following is a full transcript of her message: FULL TRANSCRIPTHello, I'm Diane Feinstein. I'm sorry I can't be with you in person today, but Senate business keeps me, as you might guess, in Washington. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Foster Farms a very happy 75th anniversary. When Americans think about California's economy, Silicon Valley or Hollywood often come to mind. But today, California is the largest agricultural state in our country. As a matter of fact, 90 percent of the almonds in the world are produced in California, and our specialty crops are renowned throughout the world. And Foster Farms, with its strong presence in the Central Valley, is a very large part of this. Over the past 75 years, Foster Farms has grown into a company that employs more than 12,000 people and processes around 700,000 chickens per day - and that's a lot of chickens. And no matter how big Foster Farms has grown on the national stage, it hasn't forgotten what's most important, and that's caring for the community you call home. I think what really sets Foster Farms apart is that it is a family-owned business. When the economy soured in 2009, Foster Farms gave generously to food banks, especially in hard-hit Stanislaus and Merced Counties. And whether it's removing unhealthy additives from poultry, collaborating with the USDA or pioneering the idea of locally grown, Foster Farms prioritizes consumers. I think it's fair to say that the rise of Salmonella and Campylobacter has become a huge concern in recent nears. Now, as we work to counter this deadly rise, I have had a willing and cooperative partner in Foster Farms. Currently, the industry-wide prevailing rate of Salmonella is at around 25 percent. In the past year, Foster Farms has worked tirelessly to achieve its goal of less than five percent this year. Congratulations. So it's my hope that the rest of the industry and USDA follow suit. Now that's not to say the battle is over. The rates of these deadly pathogens remain far too high. But I'm really confident that Foster Farms has the leadership, the acumen, and the care and concern to confront these challenges head on. So, happy 75th anniversary, Foster Farms. I so look forward to working with you. Thank you. About. SOURCE CA Poultry Industry Federation Page: 1

Student with visual impairment studies in Costa Rica Juanita Lillie, a senior majoring in Spanish, said it was the doubters and her parents who pushed her to participate in a study abroad program — and she's forever grateful to them. Born with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye disease, Lillie is legally blind. She left her home in Coopersville and Grand Valley’s campus to live in Costa Rica for a semester. “A few people told me that I shouldn’t do it; I shouldn’t go by myself,” Lillie said. “But it’s the doubters who gave me the courage.” Lillie lived in San Pedro with a host family for the winter 2013 semester and took four classes at the Universidad Latina-San Pedro. Her trip was arranged through Grand Valley’s Padnos International Center and International Studies Abroad. what’s in the center of that funnel,” Lillie said. She uses an iPad and laptop equipped with a text reader for her Grand Valley courses. It was no different in Costa Rica. “The professors had no problem sending me my assignments on email.”’s rainforest, toured a volcano, visited beaches and flew on a zipline. “During the time I was abroad, my host mom and grandmother were there during every moment and accepted my disability without problems,” she said. Lillie was born in Bogata, Colombia, and left at an orphanage. Coopersville residents Russell and Sheryl Lillie adopted her at age 2. Lillie said they always pushed her to be adventurous. “My parents support everything I do, and they know I advocate for myself,” she said. “They were nervous about me going, but they knew I would speak up for myself if I needed something.”

Rwanda's History Too Controversial to Teach William Wallis, in the London Financial Times (April 17, 2004): Forgive thy neighbour How does a country recover from genocide? A decade after the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans, the government is concentrating on justice for the Tutsi victims. But many Hutus suffered too and the latest measures are struggling to bridge the deadly ethnic divide... Rwanda's history is considered too sensitive to be taught in schools, although teachers are confronted every day by their pupils' questions about the genocide. As Oswald Rutimburana at the country's Unity and Reconciliation Commission argues, the history books are filled with manipulation and lies. Infected by Rwanda's schisms, historians often display visceral contempt for each other's theses. A balanced and non-polemical version of Rwanda that could be taught in school without engendering new prejudice has yet to be written, he says. But there is debate, out of public range, about the soundness of fresh official attempts to paper over such gaping cracks. Even within the ranks of government there are some who fear that history is again being dangerously reinterpreted, that by smothering open discussion of all aspects of Rwanda's past, the Tutsi-dominated government is masking it's own vice-like grip on power and creating new divisions. For the Rwandan government the passing of this decade, and the faint spotlight this has brought, is an opportunity to promote the re-emergence of their nation and to prick foreign consciences

[, how-to] Moorhead, Minn. — Jennifer Boggan sits in a chair and feeds her 11-month old son, Andrew. But they're not at home in the kitchen, they're in a hospital room. Andrew is a smiling, active little guy. He's feeling much better now, after being hospitalized for a respiratory infection. Andrew's illness is just the latest incident in an eventful year. Boggan is a single mom, with four more kids at home. She moved back to Detroit Lakes last year to escape an abusive spouse. She had no education or job skills, and very little money. But things have changed. "There are people out there who are honestly trying to get their life back together, and I did," says Boggan. "If you look at everything I had on my goals list last year, I accomplished every single one. To get my G.E.D., to get a job, to get my own place, to get my schooling. I'm not just sitting at home collecting welfare." Boggan is quick to point out she's had help. She receives food stamps and Medical Assistance. The biggest help is a state program that provides free daycare. Each year the state spends millions to help low-income people improve their situations. But with a record deficit, spending for those programs will be cut. Boggan says if the free programs weren't available, she wouldn't be able to go to work, or go to school and become a registered nurse. "It usually takes two incomes (to raise a family). But I only have one, so I need a good-paying job. That's why I'm going to school -- to get a good job so I can take care of my kids," Boggan says. But it's going to get a lot tougher for people to get that help. Qualifications for aid will get harder. Jennifer Boogan may have to pay for daycare, and fees for other programs that help low-income people will increase. Applicants for the state's welfare to work program won't get assistance until they pursue work for four months. Dennis Lien, director of the Clay County Social Service Center in Moorhead, says those changes could backfire. "Those people who could use that money to defray the costs and keep them continuing in employment, maybe will not be able to even be employed," says Lien. "And in many instances, the childcare funding is that key little piece of financial assistance that keeps that person working." Lien says if the economy continues to struggle, the need for services will grow but there will be less help available. That worries Clay County Commissioner Mike McCarthy. McCarthy, a former police officer, spent 15 years working with juveniles. He says less money for things like the Juvenile Placement Fund is inviting trouble. "It just doesn't make any sense long term. We're going to go in a cycle. We have seen crime go down because of all these preventive programs for the last 10 years. We're going to see it go back up again because that's gone," says McCarthy. "And then 10 years from now, we're going to say, 'My gosh, we need to do something about this. We need to get these kids in before they enter the system.'" McCarthy says Clay County will lose almost $5 million over the next three years -- 17 percent of the county's budget. He says the state mandates programs, but wants the county to pay for them. In Clay County, commissioners are preparing for the worst. They have told department heads to prepare three spending plans with cuts of 10, 20 and 25 percent. "And unfortunately, the way things are right now, the majority of that (budget cuts) is staff," says McCarthy. "We already have a bare-bones budget and we're making due with what we've got. And the further reduction is going to result in staff reduction, which will result in program reduction." Mike McCarthy isn't optimistic that the budget will change dramatically during the legislative process.

The students wear uniforms: navy blue vests emblazoned with “Humberwood Downs Junior-Middle Academy” in gold on their breast, and black or dark blue slacks. Gathered in the gym for the monthly “High Five” student assembly, the 1,100 students sit silently in neat rows, kindergartners at the front, rising to Grade 8 at the back. School policy forbids skinny jeans. The morning greeting is in English — and Punjabi. To thunderous applause, Grade 7 teacher Geraldine Najlis and three students stand to receive a chunky glass maple leaf statuette — second prize in the Great Canadian Math Challenge. There is a boys’-only Grade 6 class, a boy’s-only Grade 8, and a girls’-only Grade 8. And Robel Padua, who works for a private company called Fivestar Housekeeping, sweeps the floor. It is spotless. “This is the best private school going,” says Nilesh Mehta, an investment banker and head of the school advisory council, whose two children, 8 and 10, study here. He is joking — but there is a little truth in every joke. This school, on the extreme northwest frontier of Toronto, bordering Vaughan and Brampton, is as close to private as any school in the Toronto District School Board. “We thought about a private school,” continues Mr. Mehta. “But all the things we are looking for are available in this school.” This week the school board convoked the press here to announce creation of nine “elementary academies” — including an all-boys school in Etobicoke and an all-girls school in Scarborough — as it seeks to stop its students from switching to private schools. The board used Humberwood Downs as an example of the kind of success it wants to replicate. This school and its campus, which opened here in 1996, is a model that not just the board but also the City of Toronto, and other jurisdictions, may wish to study when planning new public infrastructure: one that is affordable and encourages teamwork. Humberwood Centre, which houses the school, sits in a huge field on Humberwood Boulevard across from a subdivision. It is a kind of shopping mall of public services. Leading off from a central atrium are five passages, leading to the public school, Holy Child Catholic School, the Humberwood branch of the Toronto Public Library, the Humberwood Community Centre and a 280-space daycare, the Macaulay Child Development Centre. “It’s kind of like being in a village,” says Mr. Mehta. “Everyone working together.” These five public (or non-profit) institutions share ownership of the building. The “management team” meets on the first Tuesday of every month to discuss issues around their shared space, and vote on decisions. The centre’s three gyms, for example, fill with school children during the day, but at 5:30 p.m. the city’s Parks and Rec department takes over. Recently the management team voted to buy a new scoreboard in Gym C. “They would always work out something,” says Don Sison, the facility manager of Humberwood Centre, who works for Allsource Facility Management of Ajax. “It’s like a jury. If one doesn’t agree we have to go around and see how we can all agree on a thing.” Beverley Muir, principal at Humberwood Downs, worked previously at three other TDSB schools maintained by TDSB custodial staff. She cannot believe the responsiveness at this school. At other schools, she says, “You make a requisition. ‘I would like this bulletin board.’ Then facility services come back and they weigh the request, and they say yes or no.” The process can take months, she adds. “Here, Don said, ‘What size do you want?’ And he did it in a week. And,” she adds, her voice dropping to a whisper, “I painted it.” While other schools hemorrhage students, this one has to turn them away. “We have lots of people who want to come in,” Ms. Muir says. “The answer is no, no, no.” John Hastings was a member of city council in the old City of Etobicoke during the conception of the Humberwood Centre. Today he is the TDSB trustee here. He says public services should look to this centre as a model. “That place is an absolute gem,” he says, “and a good model for Catholic and public boards to work together.” But, I ask, who owns it? “The taxpayer,” he replies. “Whoever are the people living across the street — the general public.” It’s a good answer. As Mayor Rob Ford would say, there is only one taxpayer. And to see creative hybrids like Humberwood Centre thrive, with public institutions co-operating, is enough to give the poor beleaguered taxpayer a glimmer of hope. National Post | Twitter: @pkuitenbrouwer

Many congratulations to Peter74940 whose story ‘Latest security breach sees theft of entire Olympic Village’ was the most-read story published on NewsBiscuit last month and wins him the July Writer of the Month award. Peter74940 scored his first front page success in 2008 but thanks to a gruelling four-year training regime has peaked at the right time to ‘mug’ during London 2012. How glad he must now be that he didn’t give up trying to register with the site after failing the first 74,939 times. He will be presented with his prize at a ceremony in the deserted and rubbish-strewn Olympic park in October, where the national anthem will play, the Union Jack will be raised and he will be required to bite his mug for the cameras. Honourable mentions go to SuburbanDad (‘Emergency picnic hampers ‘really could save lives’, claim French traffic police’ and ‘Scientists hail first sighting of elusive banker’s morals’), grumblechops (‘Woman defies advice and enters Maplins without a man’) and Ludicity (‘Olympic terror threat level reduced after al-Qaeda outsource terrorism to G4S’) who make up July’s top five – and also to Boutros whose winning story from June (‘Children warned name of first pet should contain eight characters and a digit’) continues to rack-up the hits. Many thanks to everyone who has been contributing to Team NB’s Olympic success – you are all winners. Well, actually Peter74940 is the winner, but of course it’s the taking part that counts.

Last Thursday (April 10th) Musical America reported that the LA Weekly fired Alan Rich, one of the most highly regarded classical music critics in the US. Here are some excerpts from the article, written by Susan Elliott: "The newspaper, which will discontinue regular classical music coverage, is among the 16 outlets owned by Village Voice Media, which earlier this month “laid off” the staff film and dance critics from its flagship, The Village Voice. Rich was fired on Monday at the age of 83. He has written a regular column for LA Weekly for 16 years titled “A Lot of Night Music.” His last column will be the week of April 24. He says he will launch a website, “So I’ve Heard,” named after his latest book, “So I’ve Heard: Notes of a Migratory Music Critic,” published in 2006 by Amadeus Press. Rich was pre-med at Harvard before “succumbing” to writing about music, for, among other outlets, the Boston Herald, Musical America, The New York Times and the New York Herald-Tribune. From 1968-1981 he served as classical critic for New York magazine; from 1984-88 he held that same job with Newsweek; the following year he moved west and became chief critic for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, a post he held until 1992, when he joined LA Weekly." LA Observed talked to Rich about his dismissal from the LA Weekly.

Windows XP Meets Its End (credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) By Ian Bush PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — T? This is not another Y2K — there’s no question XP will work as it’s left in the dust. “But you do have to accept a certain amount of risk in that you’re not going to have a patched system anymore,” says Chris Pogue, a director at the information security company Trustwave. Despite years of warnings from the software giant and a recent PR push, millions of computer users seem content to stick with XP. Studies estimate between a quarter and a third of the world’s PCs are still using that version of Windows. “Seventy-seven percent of organizations reported that they are still running some machines with Windows XP,” says Scott Kinka, the chief technology officer at Evolve IP. “Eight in 10 reported that they plan on continuing supporting XP internally for some period of time,” according to a recent report from the Wayne, PA-based cloud services company. On web forums, some commenters say the hubbub is overblown — that it’s just fear-mongering from Microsoft, which wants people to buy new software. “I certainly would not be taking it lightly,” Kinka says. “It makes me feel very uncomfortable. Particularly in businesses that have access to sensitive information on their customers, like credit cards and social security numbers.” Even though major antivirus companies have promised to continue their support of the operating system, Kinka says attackers could try to reverse-engineer patches Microsoft puts out for its newer software to strike the same flaws in XP. Pogue isn’t so sure. “Windows 7 and 8 are not XP with more bells and whistles,” he argues. “They’re completely different file systems, the registry’s totally different, the user interface is different. You’re dealing with a lot of new code. To say that a vulnerability that exists in 7 or 8 that is patched and can subsequently reverse-engineered and applied to XP — I honestly doubt it’s going to be able to be executed in any sort of large volumes.” But Kinka says an operating system will continue to be a vulnerable target for attack. “The majority of attacks are passive, not active,” he explains. “The difference is in an active attack, I’m looking to get you — I’m going to monitor you and find a way in. A passive attack usually is nothing more a would-be hacker scanning a list of addresses on a network, pinging machines to see if they respond and tell me that they’re running XP. It doesn’t matter if they’re a big business, a small business, or an individual in their home — they’re just looking for end units that respond positively to having a particular OS or vulnerability. Often, they just sell that information to a list.” While XP users might be exposed to new issues, that doesn’t mean others are out of the woods. “I’ve been investigating computer crimes and data breaches for close to nine years,” Pogue says. “A big percentage of them have been on fully patched, fully up-to-date Windows XP systems.” He suggests businesses especially arm themselves with firewalls, strong password and network access policies, and to align themselves with a firm whose business is cybersecurity. Kinka encourages companies to investigate desktop virtualization – keeping the operating system in the cloud.

Arctic climate change is real and happening faster than expected. Impacts will likely be large over the next 20 years and society needs to adapt. Climate researchers around the world are now engaged to help stakeholders understand and cope with the challenge. The melting of the sea ice, the spreading of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), and changing sea bird distributions are examples of the changing Arctic environment. Adapting to climate change in the Arctic requires understanding how climate change interacts with other environmental and socio-economic drivers. Integrates climate knowledge Traditional assessments of climate, environmental and socio-economic issues in the Arctic have focused on single pressures: climate, acidification, persistent organic pollutants, human health, oil and gas, to name just a few. These assessments have provided valuable information, but there is currently little understanding on how these drivers of change may interact. The Arctic Council, under the lead of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), has begun a new assessment to enable more informed, timely and responsive decision making in a rapidly changing Arctic. Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic (AACA) will be presented at the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in the USA in 2017. "The Arctic is changing two to four times faster than more southern latitudes. The causes are multiple feedback processes such as loss of snow, sea ice and permafrost. Researchers in the past have tracked previous changes, and we need to continue tracking in order to understand the speed of these interacting changes", says James Overland, Professor at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, and one of the authors of the assessment. Helps decision makers "Assessments in the past have been scientific documents that began and ended with the science itself. AACA serves as a bridge between science and policy making. It helps to better link the current science and related understanding to the decision makers", says Thomas Armstrong, Executive Director with the U.S. Global Change Research Program in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, and AMAP Head of Delegation. "AACA synthesizes scientific information of the Arctic and makes it accessible for all. It also will ensure that the science is relevant to decision-making by placing the science information into it a "so what?" context. The assessment points to what the effects of climate change are on people and on nature today and, through the backdrop of scenarios, it can begin to project what the impacts of tomorrow and beyond may be as well", says Armstrong. Arctic climate scientists from around the world are now making a scientific report which will lay the basis for designing and implementing adaptation actions. A laymen report will make the knowledge accessible to a broad range of stakeholders, informing them about climate change impacts across scales and over time. "We want to talk to people at the very local level where impacts and effects are felt directly all the way up to the national and international policy levels in order to better understand how climate change affects people, land and water across geopolitical boundaries. Climate change knows no boundaries. It affects people at the global scale all the way to the local scale", says Armstrong. Breaks new ground Climate, environmental, and socio-economic drivers may interact and amplify, making decision making in a rapidly changing Arctic particularly difficult and uncertain. Changes may increase existing pressures in the Arctic, while others may bring new opportunities. We already see both, with increased pressure on the environment and existing livelihoods occurring in parallel to a new focus on Arctic resources and shipping routes. The new AMAP assessment will cover three pilot regions: 1) Barents Region, 2) Baffin Bay and Davis Strait Region, and 3) Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi Region. All three regions will cover both marine and terrestrial areas, and will be forward looking with a focus on 2030 and 2080. The findings of these three pilot regions will lead to an overall integrated report for the 2017 Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting. "AACA will break new ground by integrating knowledge from many different fields of expertise, and across regions with large cultural diversity, multiple uses and users of local resources, and ambitious development plans for the future. It is an ambitious project. But developing a comprehensive knowledge base on how the drivers of the rapidly changing Arctic interact, gives decision makers the resources they need to respond to the challenges, and prudently take advantage of opportunities", says Glen Peters, co-chair of the assessment and a researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo. Zooming in The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses climate change at the global scale. With the new Working Group II report in its Fifth Assessment Report it has started to dive into a more detailed level looking at regions like North America and the Polar regions, but still with a low level of resolution. What AMAP aims to do with AACA is to focus from the general scale of the Arctic into the previously mentioned three specific regions of the Arctic. "We're trying to connect what people are seeing across the Arctic on a regional level. The assessment does not go down to the local level yet, but on a regional level it will hopefully provide a richer level of information than ever before and getting closer to where decisions are being made. The decision makers will see a level of detail and specificity in say Alaska or Northern Finland that will be significant for climate change policy making down the road. AACA is definitely going to be more relevant to immediate decision making than we have seen up until now", says Thomas Armstrong. The final reports are not only relevant for Arctic stakeholders. The Arctic climate has a global footprint, and many countries have a keen interest in future Arctic development. "Extra solar energy is being added to the Arctic Ocean in newly sea ice free regions; this energy is being transferred to the atmosphere and changing local wind patterns. There is evidence that this increasing energy source may also impact the larger jet stream which enhances severe weather in mid-latitudes. Also less sea ice increases the possibility of economic advances, such as shorter sea routes and resource extraction", says James Overland. "Arctic resources have created global interest, and decisions made in the Arctic will have global implications", says Glen Peters. Explore further: NASA scientists watching, studying Arctic changes this summer Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read moreClick here to reset your password. Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.

Hampton Jitney’s proposal for a passenger terminal and bus maintenance facility on Edwards Avenue received site plan approval from the Riverhead Planning Board last Thursday, more than five years after it was first proposed. The company, which currently operates out of a facility on County Road 39 in Southampton, seeks to build a two-story, 24,615-square-foot passenger terminal and office, and a one-story 22,028-square-foot bus maintenance facility on a vacant 13-acre site on the west side of Edwards Avenue in Calverton, just south of TS Haulers. The company will continue to operate out of the Southampton facility but plans to expand its business with the Calverton site, according to Jitney president Geoff Lynch. He told the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency last year that the company has about 300 employees and expects to move 100 of them to the Calverton site, but that in the future, he foresees the Calverton site also having about 300 employees. The Planning Board approval came with a condition that the passenger terminal and the maintenance facility be built at the same time. Planning Board members said they had gotten the impression at prior meetings that the Jitney planned to build the maintenance building first, while holding off on the passenger terminal. “We intend, during the initial construction, to have a seated waiting area for passengers and a reception desk to sell tickets and give out info,” Mr. Lynch said last Thursday. “What we’re not completing until later is the food court and some of the other retail spaces.” Hampton Jitney last year received tax breaks from the IDA for the Calverton project, despite opposition from representatives of the Riverhead School District, who said tax breaks were eroding the district tax base at a time when the district is facing cuts in state aid. In the IDA ruling, Hampton Jitney will receive sales tax exemptions on materials used in the construction of its new Edwards Avenue facility, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a property tax exemption that applies only to the value of the new construction and starts at 50 percent of that value in the first year before gradually decreasing five percent per year over 10 years.

RAC Foundation slams MP's call for tougher action on drivers who kill and injure cyclists Comments condemned as "divisive" and "seeking to establish a hierarchy of righteousness Palace Of Westminster At Night © Andrew Dunn.jpg Leading motoring charity, The RAC Foundation has hid out at remarks by an MP who wants police and prosecutors to get tougher with motorists who kill or injure cyclists. The charity described the comments by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert during a commons debate on road safety as “trying to establish a hierarchy of righteousness” among road users and an RAC Foundation spokesperson went on to say that his stance “risks widening the divide” between motorists and cyclists. Dr Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, who is himself a keen cyclist – he is currently recovering from a broken arm sustained while cycling in Australia earlier this month – said: “Driving with a reckless disregard for the safety of fellow road users should be treated very seriously,” in the Commons debate, reports the website Cambridge News. He added that the introduction in the UK of a rule of “proportionate liability,” as applies in some countries on the Continent and elsewhere, and which places the onus in the event of an accident on the larger vehicle, “would protect cars from trucks, bikes from cars and pedestrians from bikes.” Dr Huppert said that the implementation of such measures would help eliminate the likelihood of drivers claiming that they hadn’t seen a cyclist, as highlighted last year in national cyclists’ organisation CTC’s Stop SMIDSY campaign. He also urged that the driving test should include more of a focus on driver awareness of cyclists and pedestrians. However, a spokesman from the RAC Foundation criticised his remarks, saying: .” Substitute the word “righteous” with the word “vulnerable,” however, and it’s easy to understand the logic behind Dr Hubert’s proposals; while there are cases of pedestrians killed by cyclists, they are few and far between, with just one recorded in England, Wales and Scotland in 2009 according to Department for Transport statistics, with a further six pedestrians seriously injured. Compare that to the 51 cyclists killed and nearly 2,000 seriously injured in accidents in which a car is involved, or the 29 killed and around 250 injured in accidents involving a coach or goods vehicle during the same year, and it’s clear that the bigger the vehicle, the more damage it is likely to inflict on road users further down the hierarchy. During the debate, the full text of which is reported by Hansard, Dr Huppert told Minister of State for Transport, Theresa Villiers, that “a commitment to reducing road danger is needed. He continued: “Nearly three quarters of people agree that the idea of cycling on busy roads is frightening, partly because road safety policies have for too long focused on making cycling look dangerous – for example, by excessive advocacy of cycle helmets – when we should be addressing the source of the danger. Slowing traffic is one way to do that; reducing traffic volume is another; and more cyclists lead to safer cycling.” Dr Huppert went on: “Perhaps the Minister will also consider prosecution, sentencing, liability and awareness issues. In far too many accidents, the ready-made excuse, "I just didn't see him, guv," is invoked and too readily accepted. . Will the Minister consider the use of proportionate liability? “Putting the default onus on the more dangerous vehicle in a collision would protect cars from trucks, bikes from cars and pedestrians from bikes. “The frequent use of the ‘Sorry mate, I didn't see you,’ or SMIDSY, excuse also points to a lack of awareness among drivers. Many cyclists must simply feel invisible at times. Even in Cambridge, the lack of consideration shown by some motorists is shocking. “Will the Minister consider including a cycling and pedestrian awareness element in the driving test, for example, that goes beyond the occasional video clip during the theory test? The MP added: “Taking away the stigma attached to cycling by making our roads safer would be a positive step in encouraging those who would like to try it but feel intimidated or frightened,” which he said would help build on initiatives designed to get more people cycling such as CTC’s workplace cycle challenges. Dr Huppert also used the opportunity of the debate on cycling in England to address other issues of concern, including calling for stricter enforcement of mandatory cycle lanes, “so that the presence of a vehicle in a cycle path or on a footway be taken as evidence that it was driven there, rather than appearing magically, as seems to be assumed at the moment?” A spokesman for Cambridge Cycling Campaign endorsed Dr Huppert’s call for a system of proportionate liability to be introduced in Britain, telling Cambridge News: “On the continent, it has helped foster a culture of respect among road users. Experience has shown it improves the awareness of those who have responsibility for the most vulnerable of road users.” The debate over whether to introduce what is often termed a “no fault” system of liability in the UK is a longstanding one. In the 1970s, the Pearson Commission recommended that a no-fault insurance scheme be instituted in the UK for victims of traffic and work-related accidents, based on a similar model operating in New Zealand, but successive governments have failed to adopt such measures. Maybe any cyclists who are also members of the RAC should leave and let them know why. Mike -------__0 --- --- \_ \¬ ------ (+) / (+)______ better by bike! Maybe any cyclists who are also members of the RAC should leave and let them know why. Good idea, Mike, but a non-starter - RAC Foundation is a charity separate to RAC plc (now owned by Aviva), which was spun off from former owner Royal Automobile Club in 1999. posted by Simon_MacMichael [9217 posts] 24th January 2011 - 16:38 Jan.15th 2006.Got run-down,whilst training.By an uninsured drug addict.Hit from behind.Broken neck,brain injury.This man has the idea that something must be done.Well hes right! posted by Badshoes [2 posts] 24th January 2011 - 18:39 Substitute the word “righteous” with the word “vulnerable” No, the word "righteous" is correct, and isn't the derogatory term people think it is, unless prefixed by "self-". Riding a bicycle MASSIVELY reduces the negative effects of your journeys. Leaving all environmental and societal factors aside, and just considering accident risks, the cyclists should be considered more virtuous than the motorists. Responsible cyclists are less likely to be careless than any motorist, because we are out in the open, with our own lives in our's and other people's hands, and would have to be massively unfortunate to harm another person if they do make a mistake. And an irresponsible cyclist cannot do nearly as much harm as an irresponsible motorist. posted by handlebarcam [545 posts] 24th January 2011 - 22:29 rather than encouraging harmony between cyclists and drivers he risks widening the divide. Personally I can take or leave "harmony", but I'm very keen on not being run over. To the extent that my rancour against motorists contributes to it, the "divide" would narrow rapidly if being run over was less of a thing. posted by BigDummy [312 posts] 26th January 2011 - 16:25 The good news is the Minister's commitment to beef up cycle awareness in the driving test. We shall wait with baited breath to see if words are matched by deeds. Great to see early signs that the BikeAware campaign is gaining traction. posted by iDavid [47 posts] 26th January 2011 - 17:23 Predictable sh1t from the motoring lobby, as usual. Good on you Mr. Huppert, you would have my vote. posted by don_don [149 posts] 27th January 2011 - 0:16 posted by Mike McBeth [73 posts] 24th January 2011 - 15:57

By Kimberly Wilmot Voss An often-overlooked figure from the establishing years of the culinary community in New York City is Jane Nickerson at the New York Times. She was the first food editor at the newspaper, beginning in 1942. Over the years, she introduced James Beard to Associated Press food editor Cecily Brownstone; the two would speak on the phone daily. Those two were often dinner companions along with Nickerson and her future husband. According to Evan Jones’s biography of James Beard, Epicurean Delight, the four “probed New York’s ethnic neighborhoods,” Jones wrote, “titillating their palates and venting their curiosities about origins of recipes.” It was Brownstone who introduced the New York food community to Irma S. Rombauer, author of the popular cookbook Joy of Cooking. Later, it was Beard who introduced Julia Child to the New York food community. But in another example of food editor marginalization, Nickerson rarely gets any credit in historical culinary stories for influencing the New York food community. Instead, she has been overshadowed by the considerable scholarship about Craig Claiborne, who followed her as food editor in 1957. Claiborne certainly had a significant impact on food journalism, especially in the area of restaurant reviewing and New York City. But as his predecessor, Nickerson laid the foundation at the New York Times. In 2003, former New York Times food journalist Molly O’Neill credited Nickerson with being one of the first food journalists to apply ethics and news values to her craft. According to O’Neill, news was central to the story lines in the vast majority the Times’ food stories in the Nickerson years. Nickerson covered restaurants, home cooks and the food of the day. By 1957, Nickerson was ready to leave the Times and join her husband in Florida where they planned to raise their children. That summer, Nickersonlifted a glass of Chassagne-Montrachet at the restaurant “21” and toasted her departure from the newspaper with lunch guests Gourmet magazine editor Eileen Gaden and Gourmet writer Craig Claiborne. Nickerson announced she was leaving September 1—whether her replacement had been hired or not. Reportedly,she said to Claiborne, “I honestly think the Times didn’t believe me when I said I was leaving. People simply don’t leave the Times. They stay there until they die or are dismissed.” Editors at the newspaper had interviewed many possible replacements for Nickerson, or as she put it, “anybody who can type with one finger and who had ever scrambled an egg.” Initially the editors were more interested in hiring someone with a background in test kitchens rather than the “rarefied atmosphere of a publication like Gourmet,” according to a New York Times memo. When Nickerson announced that she was leaving the Times, Beard was particularly saddened by what her absence could mean to food coverage in New York. Her popularity was punctuated by the number of farewell parties held in her honor, as Beard wrote in a letter to food writer Helen Evans Brown: “Going to four parties for Jane this week. She leaves next week for Florida, and how we hate to see her go. She has done more for dignified food coverage than anyone. Everyone will miss her keenly, and I more than most, for she was a good friend and a most amusing person always.” Nickerson and Beard had hoped that Brown would become the second food editor at the New York Times. When the position went to Claiborne, they publicly supported the decision and kept their dissent private. Beard wrote to Brown that he and Nickerson had agreed Brown was the better choice, “But that is in the family and never breathe it.” Nickerson would go on to raise four children and become the food editor at the Ledger in Lakeland, Florida. Read more about Nickerson and more than 60 other female newspaper food editors who produced culinary news from the 1940s through the 1970s in my book, The Food Section: Newspaper Women and the Culinary Community.

No country could voluntarily refuse energy cooperation with Russia, the country’s President Vladimir Putin has said amid speculation concerning the future of the South Stream gas project. “Nobody could voluntarily refuse energy cooperation with Russia,” Putin said Monday during a meeting with students in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk. . He added that global interest in Russia’s Arctic reserves is immense. “Without exaggeration it can be said that mankind will be forced to turn to these reserves, which means we will be working together. We are not turning anyone away and are actively cooperating.” Putin’s comments come after Sunday's announcement that Bulgaria’s premier Plamen Oresharski ordered a halt to the Russian Gazprom-led South Stream gas project, which faces pressure from the EU. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also commented on the issue Monday, stating the EU is guided by a desire to punish Russia instead of protecting economic interests of its member-states when it comes to the South Stream gas project. “Recently we heard from Brussels that negotiations around South Stream will be halted until Russia recognizes the Ukrainian authorities. Do you think that is constructive?" Lavrov said during a press conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. “Brussels is guided by a desire to punish, to revenge, but not by the natural desire to protect natural, legitimate, economic and other interests of its member states through the central EU bodies,” Lavrov stated. Meanwhile Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev said Monday the South Stream gas pipeline was irreversible. “If we look at this situation strategically, not emotionally, it will be clear that the South Stream project can’t be canceled. It’s equally important for Europe and Bulgaria,” Stoynev said. “I’m convinced that all the issues currently on the table will be solved.” In order for South Stream to operate it needs approval from the EU, which is trying to stall the project until Gazprom complies with Europe’s Third Energy Package. In Europe, pipelines can’t be owned and operated by the same company, and according to the law Gazprom can only hold 50 per cent of the project. Gazprom’s $45 billion South Stream project, scheduled to open in 2018 and deliver 64 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe, is a strategy for Russia to bypass politically unstable Ukraine as a transit country, and help ensure the reliability of gas supplies to Europe.

County social workers in particular have a delicate dance to do — to steer those in need toward help, even if that help is being offered by a religious group, without appearing to condone a particular religion. “There are a lot of needs that our programs simply do not supply,” said Ira Dove, director of the Haywood County Department of Social Services. “The nonprofits that we have partnered with have provided a great safety net for our community.” As a family waits for food stamps to come through, a DSS will often refer them to food pantries and soup kitchens — many of them run by churches — where they can get help in the meantime. When people can’t afford heating oil, yet don’t meet the poverty cut-off for state and federal help, a DSS once again points them toward church groups. Referrals like these, including those that are faith-based, are routine. Especially since most who seek Medicaid, food stamps or other assistance from a DSS often need more than just that one thing — they could use job training, counseling or clothing. Haywood DSS keeps a list of outside groups, both secular and non-secular, that pick up the slack with supplemental services. But it can have its pitfalls. Haven Keener of Clyde recently complained after county DSS workers referred her to Lifeworks, a Christian-centered life skills and employment training program run by seven Baptist churches in the county. Keener said she felt pressured to attend the 28-week program, which includes strong messages of faith, when she applied for assistance at DSS. “They are forcing girls to go to this,” said Keener, who was applying for Work First, financial assistance for low-income jobless people, typically a couple of hundred dollars a month at most. DSS officials said that is not the case, however. It could have been a misunderstanding. Those getting Work First aid indeed must show an effort on their end to improve their lot — whether it’s looking for work, taking classes or going through a program like Lifeworks. But it doesn’t have to be Lifeworks. Similar life and job skills training are offered at Haywood Community College or the Division of Workforce Solutions (formerly known as the Employment Security Commission.) Donna Lupton, a social work program administrator at Haywood DSS, said they usually provide clients with all these options. But sometimes the other options don’t fit with someone’s schedule or transportation. “It’s on a case-by-case basis, and a lot of things come into play,” Lupton said. “If someone was recommended to go to Lifeworks, it might be that that’s what was open during the hours that they were available.” DSS social workers regularly recommend Lifeworks to Work First clients, said Samantha Ledford, head of Lifeworks. But, “It is their choice whether they want to come or not,” Ledford said. Lifeworks teaches them how to get and keep a job, communication and listening skills, how to create a budget — skills aimed at breaking generational poverty and becoming a self-sufficient member of society. Along the way, Ledford incorporates biblical context and teachings, which to her is part and parcel to helping people get their life together and on the right track. “We want to open up the door and say ‘There is a whole world out there,’” Ledford said. Because it is a private organization, Lifeworks has the right to incorporate Christian teachings into its classes, and some who join the program may welcome the religious themes. DSS had received a complaint of its own after Keener came away with the impression Lifeworks was a pre-requisite to qualify for assistance. The case highlights the precarious line social workers must walk when explaining the options. “We do work with faith-based community programs, and they have been very good partners over the years,” Dove said. But, DSS also works with secular groups such as Mountain Projects and the Division of Workforce Solutions, Dove said, meaning people seeking aid are not without options. Steeped in faith While DSS and government agencies can’t push religious themes in conjunction with aid, faith-based groups can. Many, however, don’t. While the Bible talks about spreading God’s word, it also emphasizes feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and comforting the afflicted — no matter who they might be. Haywood Christian Ministry, a nonprofit that offers heat, rent, electric, food, clothing and medication assistance, has a strict ‘services first’ policy. Only after the person is helped will volunteers at the nonprofit ask ‘Would you like me to pray with you?’ “We help anybody who walks through the door,” said Rusty Wallace, assistant director of Haywood Christian Ministry. “The prayer has to come by mutual consent after the service is offered.” That doesn’t mean, however, that it shies away from its faith-based roots. Area chaplains take turns sitting in the waiting room of Haywood Christian Ministry in case someone wants to talk. But, they don’t force religion on those they are helping — or make them feel they must pray to get assistance from Haywood Christian Ministry, Wallace said. The same is true for the Waynesville chapter of the Salvation Army. “We try not to push (prayer) on anybody, but we are here if they need us,” said Maria Perez, who works at the local Salvation Army. “Not everybody is comfortable with that. They can come to us for help even if they don’t want us to pray for them.” Although Christian teachings are part of the deal when going through Lifeworks job and life skills training, additional Bible study is optional. The women in the program are assigned a personal mentor who will hold a Bible study with her if she chooses. “That is something that we want them to do, but that is their choice. We don’t push anything on anybody,” Ledford said. “We are here to walk there beside them.”

Eddy Rodriguez sits among the charred remains of his American dream. On Friday, Oct. 18, a fire in the repair shop behind the La Teresita strip center on Columbus Drive in the heart of West Tampa’s Hispanic community destroyed much of Bayside Scooters, 3304 W. Columbus Drive. Eddy sits on a blackened frame of one of the fire’s victims. “Fortunately, it didn’t go anywhere else,” Rodriguez said of the fire. “That was my biggest fear — for the rest of the businesses.” The next day, it was back to work. “We salvaged what we could, filled trucks with the scrap metal,” he said. “It’s work or die.” An immigrant from Cuba — Eddy’s father brought the family to Tampa in 1984 after a short stay in Panama — work has been a constant for the Rodriguezes. “My parents worked during the day, then they’d take us kids with them to the offices they cleaned at night,” he said. “They worked and paid off every cent they borrowed to get us here.” Hard work turned the Rodriguezes into small-business owners. First, his father opened a jewelry store. Eddy struck out on his own four years ago, starting Eddy’s Pawn and Gun. Scooters, at the time, were just an item to pawn. “An old man in the neighborhood was in an accident on his, and while he was recovering, his family asked me to sell it,” said Eddy. “After he healed, he wanted another one. And there was no one in the area selling them.” After a little research, Rodriguez bought his first batch of 10, which arrived in boxes. “We put them together in the parking lot,” he said. In two weeks, they were all sold, so he ordered another batch. “And they were sold in two weeks,” he said. “And then people were looking for service. I found there was a need.” Soon, Bayside Scooters opened just a few doors down in the same strip mall. That was years ago. As the economy took its toll on the pawn business, Rodriguez went into the scooter business full time. What inventory he had left from the pawn store — tucked away in a storage container next to the workshop — also was lost in the fire. “Two generators, lots of holsters ... along with the eight new scooters I had and six customers’ bikes,” he said. “I plan on replacing them all.” Married and a father of two, he and his wife waited a few days before telling their children, a 7-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. “My son, first thing he asked was if people had their bikes in the shop,” he said. “It had been his birthday earlier in the week. He went and got the $40 someone gave him and gave it to me. It broke my heart.” As for the future, his business is open. The repairs are trickling in, and he already has some stock out in front of the storefront that was once Eddy’s Pawn and Gun, 3310 W. Columbus Drive. “Work or starve,” he said. “What else can you do?” And while his future may not be in the same strip mall, he’s certain the business will thrive once again. “There are people who need scooters to get around,” said Rodriguez. “They can’t afford a car. These hardly use any gas, and the insurance is cheap.”

FRANK. “They are trying to steamroll us,’’ said Brian Rainville, 36, a high school government and civics teacher whose grandfather bought the farm in 1946 and whose parents and two brothers run it now. “We have a buyer holding a gun to our head saying you have to sell or else.’’ The Rainvilles say the land, where they grow a portion of the feed for 150 head of cattle, is worth far more than the offer, and is critical at a time when the low price of milk has dairy farmers struggling to cover the cost of production. .’’ The family’s many supporters in the area do not dispute that the Morses Line facility, some 50 miles southeast of Montreal, is outdated. But they do not understand why the government needs to spend millions on?’’ The Rainvilles suggest that the Morses Line port, where only 14,811 vehicles crossed in 2009, could be shut down altogether. They say the stimulus money would be better spent upgrading the busy Highgate Springs port 11 miles to the west, where Interstate 89 connects with a Canadian route to Montreal. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles cross there each year.. But they were rankled by a recent government assessment that described the 4.9 acres as undeveloped and insignificant to their operation. The plot is a fraction of their 220-acre property, but it constitutes about one-twelfth of their available hay land. It yields 1,000 bales of hay a year; without it, the family would need to buy the hay at $3.25 a bale, and possibly reduce the number of cows, said Craig Rainville, 32..’’

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, Daphne Carmeli, Deliv CEO. The UpTake: Amazon is testing its same-day delivery in select cities like San Francisco. But a Palo Alto startup, Deliv, is partnering with malls to take on the online retail giant in the logistics battle.. For more news from the San Francisco Business Times, check out Patrick Hoge's work. Booz & Co., who question the prospects for such services in general retail. They say surveys find consumers don’t care enough to pay extra to get it, although one research firm found that millennials care more. Nicholas Sanderson, CEO of Laundry Locker, said he consistently gets requests from customers for pickup and drop-off. Deliv has been doing $5 drop-offs for several weeks and is now starting to do pickups for the same price. Until recently, Laundry Locker relied solely on its network of hundreds of San Francisco and East Bay pickup and drop-off locations, but starting June 1, Sanderson said, Deliv will enable the company to spread its service to less dense urban and suburban areas. In addition, Laundry Locker has a new franchise operation with affiliates in more than 20 cities. “We plan to go into the South Bay,” said Sanderson, who said he could not find any other company that could match Deliv’s price. “We have no presence there now. Deliv covers to south San Jose. Laundry Locker wants to be with them all the way.” Deliv is different from numerous other tech-enabled rush delivery companies trying to make it big in that it never sought to be a service that disconnected the consumer from the merchant through a marketplace for independent delivery workers or shopping services such as EBay Now or Google Express. Also, Deliv does not handle restaurant deliveries, a staple of some other tech-enabled logistics services. Instead, CEO Daphne Carmeli’s vision from the start was to plug into existing demand by providing retailers “delivery-as-a-service.” “We’re completely different from everyone else. We are either really right or really wrong,” said Carmeli, who has raised a total of $12.5 million since founding the company in 2012. Investors include Upfront Ventures, RPM Ventures, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Operators Fund and PivotNorth, as well as the four mall REITs, Simon Property Group, Macerich, Westfield and General Growth. This is not the first time Carmeli has gone for the gold in Silicon Valley in a big way. Carmeli was a co-founder in 2000 of a pricing software company called Metreo. It raised $40 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, Redpoint Ventures and US Venture Partners and won a passel of awards. It was sold to Symphony Technology Group in 2006 for an undisclosed amount. Carmeli subsequently worked as a consultant and entrepreneur-in-residence at Scale Venture Partners and was an adviser for some 20 startups. Carmeli’s vision for Deliv is grand. She sees in retailers’ existing brick-and-mortar shops a vast distribution infrastructure that is much larger than what Amazon has built. “The top 100 retailers have 100,000 distribution points around the country,” Carmeli said. Recent inventory tracking improvements by retailers that have aimed to let consumers purchase online and pick up in stores have made it feasible for people to buy online and get same-day delivery, according to Carmeli. At the same time, mobile phones have made it possible to crowdsource an affordable supply of independent drivers, and the more retailers sign up, the lower the price of deliveries will go, she said. “Amazon has created the fear and need to compete,” Carmeli said. “There has been huge shifting and changing in the retail landscape. We are are leveraging changes already made to the supply chain so that we can ‘out Amazon’ Amazon.”.

Absurd. Absurd. Some may be intrigued by Teevan’s attempts to marry Irish domestic drama with an anything-can-happen landscape by way of Pirandello via Edward Lear. (Consider, for starters, a remark about “a coincidence of coincidences coinciding coincidentally.”) But most spectators are likely to be exasperated by the play’s freewheeling co-option of other, better writers to such slight avail.Thank heavens, at least, for a star, Clare Higgins, blessed with a wonderfully acerbic laugh. Under the circumstances, perhaps this terrific actress could be encouraged to bottle her distinctive chortle and hand it out to theatergoers on their way in. Let’s just say that it would come in handy. So, too, does considerable patience, since “The Walls” is a short play (barely two hours) that feels twice its length. At first, you may wonder about Dick Bird’s suburban Dublin set, which is so barely (and boringly) furnished that some statement — or so one hopes — is being made. What’s more, the first person to speak is billed solely as The Man (Toby Jones), who has come from the developers to sort out “the problem.” Hopes rise that we may be in for a petit-bourgeois Celtic equivalent of, say, Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance,” another play in which guests bring with them an awareness of some nameless dread. No such luck. While The Man goes off to check the drains, Higgins’ Stella, the family matriarch, deals with a dysfunctional clan (herself most fretfully included) that tend toward the portentously named. Monosyllabic son John (Gary Lydon) is a 40-year-old layabout who is working on a book about a “sense of loss,” while his expatriated brother Joseph (Declan Conlon) arrives with English wife Mary (Monica Dolan) — the subtlety of those names: sweet Jesus! — in tow. Theo (Michael Culkin), the men’s father, and the disabled Tom (Karl Johnson), a neighboring priest, make their own contributions to the gnomic ebb and flow. Theo , for one, “can’t help feeling it will get worse before it gets better,” and utters the odd phrase in Latin — “gratias tibi” — to advance his cause. Admirers of “The Invention of Love,” myself among them, may breathe easily at the arrival of a second play to incorporate Latin into the text. Still, you have to wonder whether even that component of “The Walls” doesn’t also feel recycled. “Stella, Latin for star” — I mean, didn’t Tennessee Williams get there first? Teevan, a Dubliner, worked on Peter Hall’s monumental production of “Tantalus,” and his own classical pedigree is impressive, to put it mildly. So it’s not that surprising to find that “The Walls” reads slightly better than it plays, perhaps because one can more lightly pass over its borrowings. As the play draws on, it becomes a virtual compendium of literary echoes, whether they be T.S. Eliot (references to “grains of sand … that had measured out eternity”) or Virginia Woolf, with talk of the “awful whirl of years.” But lest the tone get too rarefied, Teevan’s strategy is to mix the lofty and the mundane: Crouch End, prawn wontons and British Midlands all bring us back to reality, though only the airline reference really classifies as a joke. Mick Gordon’s direction orchestrates the fairly noisy machinations of a set that flies away and then back again, as the walls surrounding the Wall family dissolve and then reappear. (Neil Austin’s lighting design sustains its own vaguely ominous flickering act.) But I’m not sure what this talented stager — the former artistic director of west London’s Gate Theater, where Teevan has worked extensively — could have done to forestall the mounting sense of strain. The happy exception among the cast is the redoubtable Higgins, a onetime National Theater mainstay (she won an Olivier for the revival seven years ago of “Sweet Bird of Youth”), who sails through even the most overripe passages with real elan. Near the end, she’s talking to nonexistent walls — Shirley Valentine, eat your heart out — and launching a truly Pirandellian march on that fourth wall, which, of course, includes the audience. Those hardy enough to sit out “The Walls” may find themselves contemplating a march of a different sort, in which case they are strongly encouraged to take Higgins with them. The Walls Royal National Theater/Cottesloe, London; 239 Seats; £22 ($31) Top Production A Royal National Theater presentation of a play in two acts by Colin Teevan. Directed by Mick Gordon. Creative Sets and costumes, Dick Bird; lighting, Neil Austin; sound, Rich Walsh. Opened, reviewed March 14, 2001. Running time: 2 HOURS. Cast The Man - Toby Jones Stella - Clare Higgins Tom - Karl Johnson Theo - Michael Culkin John - Gary Lydon Joseph - Declan Conlon Mary - Monica Dolan Sweeney - Tony Rohr

Youth Impact Report 2010: Up Next Preternaturally gifted junior soprano Jackie Evancho, 10, dazzled audiences of all ages with her full-bodied vocals on the most recent season of “America’s Got Talent.” Teaming for an ambitious duet with her hero Sarah Brightman, she sang to a dramatic second-place finish.“Talent’s” exec producer Jason Raff says pint-size Evancho’s big ability struck many viewers as downright unreal. “I will never forget how many times my phone rang after that first performance (of Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro”). People thought she was lip-synching,” Raff says. “The person who always goes to the finals is the person who surprises you. Jackie is what the competition shows are about: Cute little girl, what’s she going to sing? The first note comes out, and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God.’ You’re surprised, and that’s what captivates people to watch her.” Evancho’s mom discovered her daughter’s rich voice almost by accident in 2008, when Jackie began crooning with the family’s “Phantom of the Opera” DVD. Training and talent competition victories followed. Musician-producer David Foster caught Jackie’s sound and invited her to join him for a live performance before her NBC turn. Up next for Jackie: a Christmas EP, “O Holy Night,” to be released by Syco/Columbia Records.

Eye on the Oscars: The Director - Steven Spielberg Although audiences will likely identify most with the humans performing in Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” the director says the actors who surprised him most were the equines.The film is based on a play of the same name (based in turn on Michael Morpurgo’s novel) that employed elaborate puppet horses to represent the relationship between a young man and Joey, the horse his father sells into military service to aid the struggling family. In bringing the sweeping World War I epic to screen, Spielberg used live stallions for dramatic battle scenes as well as emotional moments. He credits the film’s horse master, Bobby Lovgren, for making the horses comfortable with being on set and working with the actors. “The horses need to trust the people they’re around,” Spielberg says. “They can’t just show up for work in the morning, hit their mark and emote their feelings. They have to actually understand who they’re in scenes with.” Though Spielberg is known for running an organized, efficient shoot, the director says he was gratified by the “happy accidents” that happened while shooting “War Horse” — “I mean those wonderfully unpredictable moments where Joey responded beyond anything we had ever planned for,” he says. “Every day was filled with surprises and little moments of wonder for all of us. By the end of this experience, everybody had a new respect for the intelligence and the sensitivity of horses.” Although Joey’s journey from plowing fields to battling the enemy seems to mirror young Elliott’s arc in “E.T.,” Spielberg doesn’t see the similarities as parallels. They’re simply common touchstones that attract him to stories. “So many of my characters in so many of my films are thrown into situations that they’re unprepared for and have to rise above their own self doubts,” he says. “That’s just a recurring theme in many of my pictures.”

September 19, 2010 3 Scholars Take On the Business of Book Publishing Faculty support can have a direct impact on the fate of a university press. Look at what happened at Louisiana State University last year, when faculty members helped organize a nationwide campaign that won the press a reprieve. Some scholars take their support for university presses further and step in to run them. It's not hard to find press directors with academic pedigrees. For instance, Charles Watkinson, director of Purdue University Press, is an archaeologist. Lynne Withey, Commentary You Want to Write for a Popular Audience? Really? The Chronicle Review Advice How to Advocate for the Liberal Arts

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — It appears many West Michigan residents received the post card in the mail explaining how to take part in a class action settlement over agreements Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan had with providers. And many appear to be confused. A question about the cards on the 24 Hour News 8 Facebook page had about 1,000 comments by mid-day Monday. “Received one for myself! Held on to it for now! Not pursuing until I know it’s not fraudulent!” said Jen Marquardt. “I got one and threw it away,” posted Heather Lyn Weidenfeller-kukla. For some, the post card came across as a scam. “I thought, well, I’m not sending anything out because I don’t want to send my information, personal information to somebody that I didn’t know anything about,” Laurie Venema said. But the cards are legitimate. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has agreed to pay out nearly $30 million to patients, insurers and providers after settling an antitrust lawsuit this summer. A few years ago, BCBSM wrote contracts with providers that required they give BCBSM the best price for services. Other insurers could not be charged any less, but could be charged more. Blue Cross considered it price protection. But a lawsuit brought by a group of unions on the east side of the state claims the contracts actually drove up prices. Such agreements are frowned upon in the world of antitrust law. The Blues and the groups suing them reached a settlement before going to trial. There’s something in it for competing insurers and self-insured organizations, like local units of government. But the biggest group that could benefit are consumers. As many as 2 million people may collect as part of the class action settlement. If you paid a percentage-based copay for services between January 2006 and June 2014, you could get a minimum of $40 back, with a cap of up to 3.5% of the copay. Plaintiffs have until November to object to the proposed settlement. But with skepticism over the little white post cards, it remains to be seen how many consumers take part in the settlement. “I might now after talking to you,” Venema said. “I might take a look into it. We’ll see what happens from here. I guess it doesn’t hurt.” Many have said they already threw out the card. But that’s no problem — the firm handling the settlement has set up a website to answer questions and allow consumers to file claims.

Phone wires hang near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi on May 3, 2013 Prism, the contentious U.S. data-collection surveillance program, has captured the world’s attention ever since whistle-blower Edward Snowden leaked details of global spying to the Guardian and Washington Post. However, it turns out India, the world’s largest democracy, is building its own version to monitor internal communications in the name of national security. Yet India’s Central Monitoring System, or CMS, was not shrouded in secrecy — New Delhi announced its intentions to watch over its citizens, however mutedly, in 2011, and rollout is slated for August. And while reports that the American system collected 6.3 billion intelligence reports in India led to a lawsuit at the nation’s Supreme Court, comparable indignation has been conspicuously lacking with the domestic equivalent. (MORE: Prism by the Numbers: A Guide to the Government’s Secret Internet Data-Mining Program) CMS is an ambitious surveillance system that monitors text messages, social-media engagement and phone calls on landlines and cell phones, among other communications. That means 900 million landline and cell-phone users and 125 million Internet users. The project, which is being implemented by the government’s Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), is meant to help national law-enforcement agencies save time and avoid manual intervention, according to the Department of Telecommunications’ annual report. This has been in the works since 2008, when C-DOT started working on a proof-of-concept, according to an older report. The government set aside approximately $150 million for the system as part of its 12th five-year plan, although the Cabinet ultimately approved a higher amount. Within the internal-security ministry though, the surveillance system remains a relatively “hush-hush” topic, a project official unauthorized to speak to the press tells TIME. In April 2011, the Police Modernisation Division of the Home Affairs Ministry put out a 90-page tender to solicit bidders for communication-interception systems in every state and union territory of India. The system requirements included “live listening, recording, storage, playback, analysis, postprocessing” and voice recognition. Civil-liberties groups concede that states often need to undertake targeted-monitoring operations. However, the move toward extensive “surveillance capabilities enabled by digital communications,” suggests that governments are now “casting the net wide, enabling intrusions into private lives,” according to Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch. This extensive communications surveillance through the likes of Prism and CMS are “out of the realm of judicial authorization and allow unregulated, secret surveillance, eliminating any transparency or accountability on the part of the state,” a recent U.N. report stated. (MORE: Edward Snowden, NSA Whistle-Blower, Wins Unusual Sympathizers in Latin America) India is no stranger to censorship and monitoring — tweets, blogs, books or songs are frequently blocked and banned. India ranked second only to the U.S. on Google’s list of user-data requests with 4,750 queries, up 52% from two years back, and removal requests from the government increased by 90% over the previous reporting period. While these were largely made through police or court orders, the new system will not require such a legal process. In recent times, India’s democratically elected government has barred access to certain websites and Twitter handles, restricted the number of outgoing text messages to five per person per day and arrested citizens for liking Facebook posts and tweeting. Historically too, censorship has been India’s preferred means of policing social unrest. “Freedom of expression, while broadly available in theory,” Ganguly tells TIME, “is endangered by abuse of various India laws.” There is a growing discrepancy and power imbalance between citizens and the state, says Anja Kovacs of the Internet Democracy Project. And, in an environment like India where “no checks and balances [are] in place,” that is troubling. The potential for misuse and misunderstanding, Kovacs believes, is increasing enormously. Currently, India’s laws relevant to interception “disempower citizens by relying heavily on the executive to safeguard individuals’ constitutional rights,” a recent editorial noted. The power imbalance is often noticeable at public protests, as in the case of the New Delhi gang-rape incident in December, when the government shut down public transport near protest grounds and unlawfully detained demonstrators. With an already sizeable and growing population of Internet users, the government’s worries too are on the rise. Netizens in India are set to triple to 330 million by 2016, according to a recent report. “As [governments] around the world grapple with the power of social media that can enable spontaneous street protests, there appears to be increasing surveillance,” Ganguly explains. India’s junior minister for telecommunications attempted to explain the benefits of this system during a recent Google+ Hangout session. He acknowledged that CMS is something that “most people may not be aware of” because it’s “slightly technical.” A participant noted that the idea of such an intrusive system was worrying and he did not feel safe. The minister, though, insisted that it would “safeguard your privacy” and national security. Given the high-tech nature of CMS, he noted that telecom companies would no longer be part of the government’s surveillance process. India currently does not have formal privacy legislation to prohibit arbitrary monitoring. The new system comes under the jurisdiction of the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, which allows for monitoring communication in the “interest of public safety.” (MORE: India: After the Horror) The surveillance system is not only an “abuse of privacy rights and security-agency overreach,” critics say, but also counterproductive in terms of security. In the process of collecting data to monitor criminal activity, the data itself may become a target for terrorists and criminals — a “honeypot,” according to Sunil Abraham, executive director of India’s Centre for Internet and Society. Additionally, the wide-ranging tapping undermines financial markets, Abraham says, by compromising confidentiality, trade secrets and intellectual property. What’s more, vulnerabilities will have to be built into the existing cyberinfrastructure to make way for such a system. Whether the nation’s patchy infrastructure will be able to handle a complex web of surveillance and networks, no one can say. That, Abraham contends, is what attackers will target. National security has widely been cited as the reason for this system, but no one can say whether it will actually help avert terrorist activity. India’s own 9/11 is a case in point: the Indian government was handed intelligence by foreign agencies about the possibility of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, but did not act. This is a “clear indication that having access to massive amounts of data is not necessarily going to make people safer,” Kovacs tells TIME. However, officers familiar with the new system say it will not increase surveillance or enhance intrusion beyond current levels; it will only strengthen the policy framework of privacy and increase operational efficiency. Spokespersons and officials in the internal-security and telecom departments did not respond to requests or declined to comment. The government has been cagey about details on implementation and extent. This ability to act however the authorities deems fit “just makes it really easy to slide into authoritarianism, and that is not acceptable for any democratic country,” Kovacs says. Indeed, India has seen that before — almost four decades ago, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency for 19 months, which suspended all civil liberties. Indians complaining about Prism may want to look a little closer to home. MORE: Indira Wriggles Out

WSSU Names New Registrar Sharon T. Stoddard Sharon T. Stoddard has been appointed registrar for Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) effective June 1. “Sharon is passionate about higher education and the role it plays in transforming our society, our nation and the world,” said Tomikia LeGrande, assistant vice chancellor for enrollment management. “Since her teen years, she also has championed humanitarian initiatives to promote education, coaching programs, economic growth and social betterment.” With over 25 years of extensive executive level training, leadership development and management experience, Stoddard most recently served as registrar and adjunct professor for the University of Maryland University College, Asia Division and resided in Tokyo. Prior to that position, she was a senior vice president for a sales company and she began her career as a business and government affairs analyst with AT&T. A native of Philadelphia, Stoddard is a classically trained musician who earned a B.S. in music education from Pennsylvania State University. She also holds a MBA degree in management information systems and labor relations from Southeastern University, a MA degree in government from Regent University and has completed all but her dissertation for a PhD in public policy and public administration from Walden

Change to PBS gives all Australians with HIV access to subsidised treatment Updated A change to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) means all Australians who have HIV now qualify for subsidised treatment. Previously only those at the more advanced stage of the illness could access anti-retroviral drugs through the PBS. But yesterday the nation's peak drug advisory body, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, lifted those barriers, expanding the scheme to everyone who has HIV. Bill Whittaker from the National Association of People with HIV Australia says the change could dramatically reduce the rate of new infections. "Treating earlier in the course of the disease is better off for the health and well-being of patients," he said. "The additional benefit of treatment that has been shown in some important recent studies is that being on treatment greatly reduces the risk of transmitting to other people." Dr Edwina Wright, the president of the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine, says conversations about early treatment are important as infection rates increase. "Last year we saw a 20 per cent increase [in diagnoses], an increase that was the highest in 20 years in Australia," she said. "What's worrisome is that we think people are too afraid to think about being tested, they're not acknowledging it themselves. "We still in a society where it is tough to be an HIV positive person." Dr Wright says the move will be encouraging for patients. "It would empower patients to start to have conversations with their doctors and reduce transmission," she said. "In a holistic sense this has been really good for everyone. We are really pleased.". Topics: aids-and-hiv, diseases-and-disorders, health, pharmaceuticals, federal-government, government-and-politics, australia First posted

Buddhism at one with stem cell research News Analysis Human cloning and Buddhism are words not often used in the same sentence. But when that sentence is part of a discussion on the origins of life and how stem cells can serve society, one scientist believes the words go together well. This is what Professor Yong Moon from Korea's Seoul National University said this week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Seattle. "Cloning is a different way of thinking about the recycling of life," he told ABC Science Online. "It's a Buddhist way of thinking." Just a few days earlier at the same conference, Moon was part of the team that announced it had successfully cloned human embryos and extracted sought-after and versatile embryonic stem cells. The landmark research, which was published simultaneously online in the journal Science, meant that scientists were a step closer to so-called therapeutic cloning. Scientists hope one day therapeutic cloning could be used to grow replacement tissue such as brain cells, skin, a liver or a kidney. They hope this tissue could then be used for human transplants or to treat diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By the end of the conference, talk had progressed from the researchers' technical achievement to ethical and religious issues surrounding stem cell technology. American bioethicist Dr Tom Murray, president of The Hastings Center in Garrison, New York, said the stem cell debate was not a simple conflict between science and religion. "There are religious arguments in favour of stem cell research and secular arguments against it," he said, adding that religious and moral concerns could unbalance proper regulation of the research. "If a recent bill had been passed by the Senate and signed by the U.S. President, [Professors Woo Suk Hwang and Moon] would have committed a criminal act subjecting them to 10 years in prison and fines of a million dollars or more, if they had performed their research in the U.S. "Respecting the diversity of beliefs about families, women, children, and embryos is a way of honouring our best traditions in North America. When there's a profound and principled disagreement about nuclear transfer in embryonic stem cells, our law should respect that disagreement and not criminalise one side of it." Laurie Zoloth, professor of medical ethics and a scholar of religious studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, noted how religious beliefs could change, giving the specific example of how the Catholic Church had changed its views on when human life began. Zoloth explained how the Catholic Church once agreed with Jewish and Islamic faiths, that human life did not begin at the moment of conception but about 40 days after pregnancy was established. "It was the science of the mid 1800s that allowed the microscopic visualisation of sperm and eggs and the act of the fertilisation, and it was part of the reason for a change in Vatican doctrine," Zoloth said. "What's at stake for me is not the moral status of a five day old blastocyst, but the moral status of ourselves as we learn about stem cell research. We have a duty to heal the sick and save lives, and care for them if we cannot. "Buddhism can take account the pluripotential nature of the cells, their genomic and genetic possibilities, and understands a kind of reincarnation. To me it's a good example of the possibility for even deeply held religious beliefs to achieve change from their own resources, texts, and traditions." New York bioethicist Murray had a different take on how Buddhism could make sense of stem cell research. "The Buddhist perspective in particular is one that scientists who work with mice and rats should probably take more seriously, unless they come back in precisely that form," he joked.

Pluto offers clues to alien worlds Model system Scientists. Following last year's discovery of P4 in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers ran computer models to try to pin down the moons' locations relative to each other and to Pluto and Charon, a proportionally large moon that has about 12 per cent of Pluto's mass. "I was very surprised that they found a new moon in between the other two. It basically meant that it was getting kicked around by these other moon. I thought about what the effects of being kicked around like that and wondered what we could learn about them," says astronomer Andrew Youdin, with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "This is generally an issue with extrasolar planets," he says. "One tries to study the stability of their orbits over time scales of billions of years." Lessons for Kepler The research by Youdin and colleagues not only put some limits on how big Pluto's moons are and where they are located. It also is helping scientists figure out where to look for planets that circle two parent stars. So far, astronomers using NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, for example, have found systems with a single planet orbiting two stars, but not multiple planets, though that may be about to change. "We're learning from Pluto how far away moons have to be for a given mass to last for millions or billions of years," says Youdin, whose research will appear in the Astrophysical Journal and is available on the pre-press website on the pre-press website arXiv.org. The computer simulation will soon get a field test. NASA's New Horizons probe is en route to the outer corner of the solar system to study Pluto, Charon and the small moons, as well as other objects in the Kuiper Belt region. "We'll know in a few years if we're right or wrong," says Youdin. . Science aside, the prospect of even bits of moons flying near Pluto has the New Horizons team on high alert. "We're very concerned about the spacecraft being destroyed," says Alan Stern, New Horizons lead scientist. ," says Stern.

Kelly Clarkson has had a great career singing about heartbreak and moving on, but her new album – a greatest hits compilation – has three new tracks, one of which – “Don’t Rush” (a duet with Vince Gill) – was influenced by her romantic happiness with boyfriend Brandon Blackstock. And Brandon’s stepmom – Reba McEntire – noticed. “Reba — I was actually at the CMAs — and she was like, ‘I don’t know if you would have picked that song before.’ Because I’m always the girl who loves the heartbreak songs and stuff like that, and I have since I was a kid,” Kelly told Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson, of picking a loved-up tune for the LP. “But, I’m super happy, I’m in love and it’s great and so I like singing about it.” Kelly, the original winner of “American Idol,” will release “Greatest Hits – Chapter One” on November 19. It’s a record that features the breakout pop songs that made her a star and kept her one, including “Since U Been Gone,” “My Life Would Suck Without You,” “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” and “Mr. Know It All.” But her next record might have a few love-positive ballads thanks to how she’s feeling these days. “How does being in love affect the song making?” Shaun asked. “It has affected me quite a bit actually,” Kelly said. “It is nice, I guess, to hear something different from me, but at the same time, with ‘Catch My Breath,’ which was the first single off the greatest hits — I actually wrote it about my career, just the arc of everything in my life for the past 10 years. So it’s kind of got a little bit of everything — angst and anger and resolution and love. It’s got everything in there. So, I don’t know what’s gonna happen with the next record.” As for her relationship, Kelly and Brandon are taking things slow and she confirmed the pair is not ready for the next step. “Every interview I’ve done is like, ‘So you’re engaged?’ And I’m like, ‘No, we’re not. We’ve been dating for eight months, people!’ We’re Southern but we’re not that quick,” she said. “He’s got two kids and they’re great. We just like taking our time and we’re super in love and probably one day will but like, there’s no rush on that. “I’m 30 and he’s 35 and we’re in love and we both work in the industry so we’re both very busy,” Kelly continued. “I’m finding, now that I’m 30, just looking back… you need to take more time and enjoy every moment that you have — not with just relationships but with work and all the cool things that we get to do.” -- Jolie Lash This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

April 19, 2004 Marketing Professor Studies Economic Value Of Hospital Volunteers They never ask for pay. They've been around a long time. They're generally overlooked, and often unappreciated. Han Srinivasan, associate professor of marketing, is co-author of a study that attempts to quantify the value of hospital volunteers. And yet, according to Narasimhan Srinivasan, they save American hospitals billions of dollars each year. They're called volunteers. Srinivasan, a professor of marketing, and Femida Handy, a professor of economics at York University, have conducted a two-year study of the changing effects of volunteers on the quality of care in hospitals, and the benefits of professional volunteer resource management. The results were published in a recent issue of the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. "Our research not only was able to put a numerical value on volunteerism," Srinivasan says, "but also showed that the health sector could not possibly afford to replace volunteers in today's economy." A dramatic and unplanned demonstration of the value of volunteers occurred during a follow-up research period. When the SARS crisis occurred in Toronto, volunteers were not allowed in the hospitals. "Patients, staff members, and CEO's immediately felt the loss," says Srinivasan. He says he was drawn to the research because although it is generally assumed that the benefits of using volunteers far outweigh the costs to the hospitals, the actual pay-off has not previously been quantified. The researchers studied 31 hospitals in the Ontario, Canada, area. It found, among other things, that hospital volunteers contributed approximately 70,000 volunteer hours to each of the 31 hospitals. This represented an average value of $1.2 million per hospital against an average investment of $185,405. Hospitals, Srinivasan says, derive an average of $6.86 in value for every dollar spent. "That's a 684 percent return on investment," he says. "And when you extend these results to the hospitals of major cities within the United States, you realize that volunteers are worth billions and billions of dollars." The American Hospital Association surveys about 6,000 hospitals each year. Extrapolating from the estimate of $1 million per hospital, the cost savings volunteers provide to hospitals in the U.S. works out to $6 billion a year, he says. "Take a look around you. Girl and Boy Scouts. Little League. The local library. PTA. Local town government. They are all central aspects of our community, and it's volunteers who sustain our society in a non-market manner," says Srinivasan. John Dempsey Hospital at the UConn Health Center saved almost a million dollars in the year 2003 through the use of volunteers doing a range of activities, from manning the information desk to transporting patients, according to Patricia Verde, director of the Health Center's Departments of Social Work, Chaplaincy, and Volunteers. In 2003, she says, the hospital's 308 volunteers gave 50,741 hours of service, valued at $814,393. Srinivasan, an active volunteer himself, says his research demonstrates something he has long known through personal experience: that voluntary organizations, rarely viewed as creators of wealth, actually generate significant and quantifiable economic value from the contributions of volunteers. The use of volunteers has recently taken on a controversial aspect, says Srinivasan, as reduced hospital budgets both in the United States and Canada have forced hospital administrators to rely more and more on volunteers, to the chagrin of paid workers who have suffered cutbacks. Other major trends that the research showed include: a substantial shift in the volunteer base, with younger people replacing older volunteers and a corresponding decrease in long-term commitments; a greater number of educated and skilled health care volunteers with identifiable goals for themselves besides contributing to the community; increased expectations for interesting and varied volunteer assignments; and a preference among volunteers to serve for short, well-defined periods of time. The study was based on in-depth interviews with more than 800 volunteers, volunteer managers, and hospital administrators from 31 hospitals in the Toronto area that have an average of 468 beds, use at least 100 volunteers, and have at least one paid staff person responsible for volunteer administration. The number of volunteers ranged from 125 to 3,240, with an average of 700 at each site. Although the study focused mainly on quantifiable data, the researchers also looked at qualitative issues. "As hospitals grow larger and become more specialized and technological ly sophisticated, the effective use of volunteers is vital to maintaining a personal touch," Srinivasan says. When it comes to activities such as accompanying patients on outings, providing companionship one-on-one, giving support to patients and families, doing errands, or taking patients from one facility to another, the human touch is just as important as the money saved, if not more so, he says: "Enhancing a patient's quality of life or easing the workload of a staffer simply cannot be easily monetized."

Today on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu we’re joined by ABC News financial correspondent Bianna Golodryga. ABC’s “Money Honey” (not our nickname) discuss covering the crisis, reporting from Warren Buffett’s investor meeting and more. “This crisis really hit home last September, October,” she says of covering the economy recently. “It really did feel like a financial 9/11. We didn’t know what to expect, what was going to come next.” Golodryga described the difference between working at ABC and her previous job, at CNBC. “It was really a learning experience for me…Coming here, saying ‘I only have a minute to explain something that’s very complicated,'” she said. “I was really fortunate to get a chance to break it down to the average person, because at the end of the day a lot of people even on Wall Street clearly didn’t know what was going on. So I think explaining something that’s very difficult to the average American makes things much easier for everybody.” Also discussed: the experience of working closely with Maria Bartiromo at CNBC, her take on how newspapers need to adapt to the changes in media and the dangers of reporting abroad. You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

The number of ghost towns in China’s third and fourth-tier cities are steadily increasing as Beijing tightens credit forcing property developers to abandon projects and threatening the country’s housing boom. Xingrun Properties, in the coastal city of Ningbo is the largest such developer reportedly under financial stress with $570 million owed to banks, UK’s The Telegraph has reported citing Chinese newspaper Economic Daily News. “As far as we know, this is the largest property developer in recent years at risk of bankruptcy," Zhiwei Zhang, from research firm Nomura told The Telegraph. ," he said. Alternatively, house prices in safer tier 1 cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have been strong recently but they account for just 5 per cent of total building in China, while prices are falling in 43 per cent of the tier 3 and 4 cities, the report said. Nomura said the number of ghost towns has spread to at least eight sites beyond the disaster stories of Ordos and Wenzhou and three developers have abandoned half-built projects in the 2.5 million-strong city of Yingkou, on the Liaodong peninsular. Similar incidents have been reported in Jizhou and Tongchuan. Nomura reportedly said residential construction has jumped from 49 million square metres in new floor space to 2.596 billion last year. Floor space per capita has reached 30 square metres, surpassing the level in Japan in 1988 just before the Tokyo market collapsed. The pressure is coming from the top down with authorities trying to wean the economy off excess credit after a $16 trillion spike in loans since 2009, which is reportedly exposing the scale of bad debt in the system. “It will not be an easy clean-up," said Diana Choyleva, from Lombard Street Research. Shadow banking ground to a halt in February as tougher rules and the fears of default scared away investors, told The Telegraph. The Australian Financial Review

“Start off with a deep empathy for something. You start off with a deep empathy for an end user and you try to solve their problem. Once you go from there you can begin to ideate a solution. And there’s lots of rapid prototyping and testing. So rather than coming up with a product idea and launching one big thing, it’s about testing – it’s very iterative." That’s Anna Kirkpatrick, a just-minted MBA graduate from the University of Technology, Sydney, telling me about her experience with design thinking – an approach to creating and building new business ventures, which is the hottest thing in business schools around the world. “Deep empathy", “ideate a solution", “rapid prototyping": are these the words that will revolutionise entrepreneurship? You may doubt it, but stay with me. Thirty-five years ago, David Kelley started a company in California with a philosophy of bringing the human factor into its work by designing for peoples’ behaviour. One of his first clients was Steve Jobs – a clear example of a design thinker – and among the many things Kelley’s company did for Apple was design its first mouse. IDEO has since become famous for its philosophy of understanding human needs and finding out quickly, even recklessly, what works and what doesn’t. It‘s not only about designing physical things; it’s an approach Kelley applies to human interaction and the mysterious process of brainstorming and creating new products and new businesses. How does IDEO describe what it does? It says it goes deeper than a purely rational approach. “It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognise patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols," says its website. “Nobody wants to run an organisation on feeling, intuition and inspiration, but an over-reliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as risky. Design thinking provides an integrated third way." In 2005 Kelley, by now famous in his field, suggested Stanford University establish an institute to promote design thinking. Hasso Plattner, co-founder of German software company SAP, put up $US35 million to pay for it. Its proper name is the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design but it’s universally known as the d.school. It doesn’t offer degrees because Jobs talked Kelley out of it. “I don’t want somebody with one of your flaky degrees," Kelley says Jobs told him. Preschool playroom for a work space But the d.school didn’t need to offer a qualification. At the height of Apple worship and Steve Jobs mania, the d.school captured the Silicon Valley zeitgeist. Students sat around trestle tables, lounged on couches, drew on walls and followed the steps of design thinking: inspiration, ideation, implementation. It looks “like a preschool playroom for grown-ups", said the Wall Street Journal. People flocked to it, far more than the d.school could accommodate. Harvard, in the stuffy north-east, saw itself being left behind and launched the i-lab (the i stands for innovation). The university knew the i-lab was a hit when one of its famous dropouts, Mark Zuckerberg, dropped in and said he felt as if he was in California. “After a nearby student tweeted his remark, waves of undergrads started flocking to the i-lab," wrote journalist Alexandra Wolfe. The success inspired others. Kelley had set up a d.school in Potsdam, Germany, as part of his deal with Plattner. Finland started Aalto University Design Factory; Canada had DesignWorks at the the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management; and UTS in Sydney developed u.lab, where MBA graduate Anna Kirkpatrick took a deep dive into design thinking. But what is it? In old-style business thinking there’s “one right answer and leaders get promoted because they get to that one right answer faster than anyone else", says Sam Bucolo, professor of design and innovation at UTS. Design thinking is different. “This is where you try to build up your hypothesis as you move along as a designer would. They say, here’s your set of challenges and you’re going to explore multiple concepts in parallel." A key point is that it is not about designing products and services. “It’s just a way of thinking," Bucolo says. “You constantly question and challenge yourself, even to the extent of asking if the problem is still the right one, or whether it is something else." Steve Jobs demonstrated his skills as a design thinker, says Bucolo, but not because he was a smart designer. He focused on the user experience; his execution was detailed and he searched for solutions in places no one had been before. Bucolo is part of the drive towards design thinking at UTS, which began three years ago when a Stanford faculty member who had helped set up the d.school visited the business school. It led to an invitation to UTS Business School dean Roy Green to send some young lecturers to visit the Stanford centre. Jochen Schweitzer was one of the group that went and he then taught for six months at the Potsdam d.school. For Schweitzer, design thinking was a solution to a nagging issue. When he started teaching at UTS in 2007 he was in the design faculty teaching business skills to design students. He realised their way of thinking had a lot to offer business students. “At that time it was really difficult to get business students, design students and engineering students into one classroom," he says. When he returned from Potsdam he was a prime mover in setting up u.lab, first housed in a disused warehouse near UTS. Soon 100, 200 or 300 people were turning up for programs and other events. They came from different backgrounds, different disciplines and from many different parts of Sydney, says Kirkpatrick. “That’s one of the things which makes it so rich," she says. “You’re just going to be exposed to all the different people and that challenges you in your way of thinking, and you begin to think a bit more broadly." Breaking the silos Baptiste Bachellerie and Hasan Syed, also business postgrads when they became regulars at u.lab, were challenged and broadened by it. “In the business school we tend to think in a certain way and in the architectural school we think in a certain way and in design school in a different way. It was breaking the silos," says Bachellerie. “You’d find most of us on level six with the architecture students. As business students we’d come for inspiration," says Syed. u.lab did not offer for-credit courses, but students earned credit from participation in u.lab programs if they were doing a postgraduate subject called Entrepreneurship Lab. The programs included GroundBreaker, a series of innovation workshops, and Bike Tank, which used design thinking to tackle a city’s transport problems. Students set up their own entrepreneurial projects. Bachellerie set up a tourism venture, South of the Border, which offers tourists the chance to see Sydney like a local and have experiences most visitors don’t get. How did design thinking help him? “I learnt a lot about empathy and to get inside all the partners, all the stakeholders, in a business," he says. As a result, he tries to create value for both tourists and the communities they visit. For UTS the u.lab has been an experiment in design thinking, an application of the approach of rapid prototyping. The university is still to find it a permanent home on its central Sydney campus, which is in the middle of a $1 billion makeover. But it is trying to go one better and spread the design thinking ethos through every faculty. It offers a bachelor of creative intelligence and innovation which can be done as part of a double degree. Green says the primacy of design thinking and creative intelligence at UTS will be the differentiator between it and other Australian universities. “We can do something other business schools and universities can’t, which is a multi-disciplinary approach to entrepreneurship and business creation," he says. Green says they have followed the design thinking advice of d.school founder Kelley: “Don’t get ready, get started." But UTS will need to keep moving to stay ahead. The University of NSW is creating its version of Stanford’s d.school, a bold direction for the university, which is strong in the linear disciplines of engineering and technology and is led by its famously linear thinking vice-chancellor, the former McKinsey chief and Fairfax chief executive Fred Hilmer. The Crouch Innovation Centre (it’s been bankrolled for an undisclosed amount by Sydney businessman Inside will be living exhibits of Australian and global innovations. There will be work areas; 3D printers for students with an engineering bent to prototype gadgetry and places to swap ideas. Students from different faculties will gather into multi-disciplinary projects. Garrett won’t be there to see it through because he leaves soon to become dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. But he envisages a series of rolling programs in the centre, such as a university-wide innovation competition in which small teams pitch against each other for a major prize. “You expect, given UNSW’s strengths, there to be a lot of stuff in [science, technology, engineering and maths] disciplines. At the same time, and this is what you see from Stanford and Harvard, you want to include things like social innovation in the mix as well," he says. But does design thinking get results: the big results which send investors wild? Yes, Jobs was spectacularly successful. But was he a true design thinker? He thought outside the box, acted rapidly and implemented his projects with full-on intensity. But collaboration and empathy, both precepts of design thinking, weren’t his strong points. Before you think too hard about this question, note this. Akshay Kothari, a mechanical engineering postgrad, went to the Stanford d.school and his project was to rethink how people ate ramen noodles, according to The New York Times. His group came up with the idea of a fat straw. He learnt a way of thinking in that assignment that led to something else. He enrolled in a d.school class called Launchpad, in which students pledge to bring a new product or service to the market in 10 weeks. He and his partner Ankit Gupta hit the Palo Alto coffee shops to test the zeitgeist. They found that people hated having to sift the constant flow of news and information they received from many sources. Five weeks later they launched an app called Pulse, which allowed people to customise their news feeds. This was just before the 2010 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Kothari and Gupta couldn’t get in to see Jobs’s keynote speech. So they were watching it outside when Jobs praised the Pulse app as “wonderful". Last year LinkedIn bought their company for $US90 million. BOSS out Friday on afr.com and free inside the Financial Review on newsstands BOSS

This has been a week rich in symbolism. Monday marked the fourth anniversary of when No matter how you slice it, Palmer’s climate package ensures that, within weeks, there will be no price on carbon and nothing to replace it. He will block the government legislating its much derided direct action alternative. His ambition that Australia instead be part of an as yet non-existent global emissions trading scheme is not contingent on his support to axe the carbon tax. Even if the government doesn’t kill it off, as is possible, it will not be realised for years, if ever. To the joy of big business and the despair of the climate movement, Australia is on the verge of having no emissions reduction target and no central emissions reduction scheme. All that will be left is the Renewable Energy Target, which mandates 20 per cent of energy must be generated from renewable sources by 2020, and which even economists such as Palmer, at the urging of Gore, pledged only to stop the Rudd’s demise was precipitated by his inability to implement his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and his government’s subsequent walking away from it. Gillard was felled because she introduced a scheme after promising not to do so. No party has suffered more for carbon pricing than Labor. It has cost it two prime ministers and government. The Coalition comes second. Others suffer for Green ideals. There was plenty of grumbling around the parliament this week as people, even business types sick of the ongoing debate and the guaranteed ongoing policy uncertainty, lamented that if only the Greens had voted for the CPRS Rudd negotiated with Turnbull in 2009, none of this would be happening. Because they believed the CPRS to be inadequate, they voted it down twice. The second time was the day after Abbott knocked off Turnbull. Liberal senators This, plus Rudd’s weakness in refusing to call a double dissolution on the policy in early 2010 while it still had public support, killed him. Gillard won a hung parliament, was forced to deal with the Greens and implemented a stronger three-year-fixed price carbon tax morphing to an ETS. Even when Labor was dying last year and Abbott was at the gates of the Lodge, vowing the carbon tax would be the first policy put against the wall and shot, the Greens attacked Rudd for cowardice when he announced, in a bid to hang on, that if he was elected the fixed price would move to a much lower European-linked floating price on July 1, 2014, one year earlier than scheduled. Only this week, when there was a rumour Palmer was going to use his Senate numbers to back Labor’s ETS, did the Greens show the first sign of compromise in all those years. Unaware that Palmer’s proposed ETS would have a zero price, be dormant for years, and not be contingent on the abolition of the carbon tax, leader “The architecture of the Clean Energy Package means that Australia’s (2020) emissions reduction target has been automatically boosted to 19 per cent. Flexible pricing is now a feasible option, whereas it wasn’t when the target was only 5 per cent,’’ her office was briefing. “There’s less impediment now to moving earlier to an internationally linked trading scheme. A flexible price with the new stronger reduction target would be preferable to nothing at all and might be more attractive to the new Senate." It was too late. Labor will vote for its policy when the Senate axes carbon pricing in a fortnight. Labor will be defeated. From there, it is likely to support Palmer’s idea, enabling it to remain committed to the principle of carbon pricing but no longer have to risk implementing a scheme until, if ever, the nation’s main trading partners do the same. Palmer’s policy is Labor’s drawbridge to the 2016 election campaign. As for the Greens, they now stand alone, without a major party upon which to piggyback. Labor made this clear in its report, released eight days ago, into why it lost the last election. Under the section headed Maximising Our Vote, it concluded a supportive Australian public." “Rather than seize this historical opportunity, harness the mood of the nation and build on the momentum, the Greens Party set in train a bitter and divisive political storm." The Australian Financial Review

Alsop Sparch to close as Archial merges London offices Archial has revealed plans to merge its two London offices following the company’s acquisition by Canadians Ingenium four months ago Staff from Archial’s Alsop Sparch division – based in Battersea, south London – will relocate to the company’s Great Portland Street offices under the plans. The subsidiary – which was formerly headed up by Will Alsop prior to his departure to RMJM – will be absorbed into the Archial brand, ceasing to trade as Alsop Sparch. The streamlining measures are part of an ‘extensive review’ of the Archial business by its new owners Ingenium. In September last year the Canadian company bought Archial from administrators following the practice’s failure to thrash out a deal over unpaid taxes with tax collectors. Chris Littlemore, Archial chief executive, said: ‘During the events of last year, Archial maintained its position architecturally due to the quality of its design teams and the relationships developed with clients over many years delivering great buildings. ‘We are confident that the merger of our London offices will allow us to continue focusing our resources to our clients’ benefit and that simplifying our brand structure will allow our organisation to present a single cohesive identity to the UK and European market. We are committed to growing our London office with both projects based in the metropolis but also from provincial work commissioned from London.’ While the offices merger has taken place independent of an ongoing review into the company’s staff base, an Archial spokesperson failed to rule out the possibility of redundancies. They said: ‘[The] issue of jobs is, as always, one of economics. We review our cost base and revenue stream every month and, as with all responsible businesses, measure these two areas and then decide whether we are under or over staffed. This has of course been especially important in recent times and we will continue to control our business in this manner.’ Have your say You must sign in to make a comment.

Artist brings smell, warmth and light to museums, galleries in New York and D.C. Wolfgang Laib building one of his wax rooms.COURTESY THE ARTIST For those who suffer from claustrophobia, German artist Wolfgang Laib’s signature wax rooms might pose something of a problem. The walls and ceilings of these cocoon-like chambers—each lit by a bare bulb—are lined with golden beeswax-coated tiles that muffle sound and emit a strong, earthy fragrance, making the small spaces feel even smaller. Since pioneering the method in 1988, Laib has created his temporary rooms in institutions all over the world, from New York’s Museum of Modern Art to Germany’s Kunstmuseum Stuttgart to the Museum De Pont in the Netherlands.Now the artist has chosen an environment that’s even more drastically confined: a 6-by-7-by-10-foot storage closet at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. And this time his installation, requiring nearly 900 pounds of beeswax, will be permanent. “I once saw a 4,000-year-old beeswax piece in an Egyptian museum,” Laib recalls, “and it had this amazing patina—translucent and a little bit gray, like aged cheese. To me, the effects of time were truly beautiful.”March is a busy month for the artist, who divides his time between southern Germany, India, and New York. Sperone Westwater is currently showing a selection of his sculptures; Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects will debut an exhibition of his photo- graphs and other works on March 15; and his installation Pollen from Hazelnut, a bright expanse of yellow pollen grains, will be spread out across the atrium floor of MoMA through March 11.Laib’s new wax room at the Phillips accommodates no more than two visitors at once. It was constructed in the same way as La Chambre des Certitudes (2000), a nook he built inside a granite cave in the French Pyrenees by applying hot wax directly to the stone with an iron. When considering venues for his first permanent creation in a museum, the artist was drawn to the intimate spaces at the Phillips—originally the home of the Phillips family—which suit his cozy alcoves. But the decisive moment came when his longtime friend and Phillips curator-at-large Klaus Ottmann introduced him to the museum’s renowned (and strikingly tiny) Rothko Room.“People often say that my pollen pieces are like Rothkos on the floor,” Laib says. “But I don’t like this connection because it refers only to similarities in color. Actually, my beeswax works have much more to do with Rothko in that he preferred to exhibit in tight, close spaces, so that his paintings had a concentrated influence on your body.”“With their smell and their warmth and light,” says Ottmann, “Wolfgang’s wax rooms have the effect of suspending reality for a moment. And that’s something quite magical.” Pingback: Mind His Beeswax: Wolfgang Laib Is Everywhere @ Art of JD Parrish() Pingback: Second Year by Olgiati |() Pingback: Olgiati Second Year Collection()

Carbon capture 'viable with long-term support' - 19 April 2012 - From the section Science & Environment . "But unlike other low-carbon technologies, CCS doesn't exist at the commercial scale. We don't know when they will be technically proven at full scale, and whether costs will be competitive with other low-carbon options. "So it is vital that the government's commitment leads to several full-scale CCS projects as soon as possible; only through such learning by doing will we know whether it is a serious option for the future." Other countries including Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, the US and China are also exploring the technology. The government opened its first competition for CCS funds in 2007, but abandoned it four years later when the last contender - the Longannet coal-fired power station near Edinburgh - withdrew, saying the economics did not work out.. Leadership chance Equipping coal- and gas-fired plant with CCS makes them considerably more expensive to run. The plant itself becomes less efficient, meaning more fuel has to be burned to produce the same amount of electricity. The CO2 must be transported to its resting place - probably in liquid form through a pipeline - and a disposal site must be properly explored beforehand and monitored afterwards to make sure nothing escapes. The report says the economic incentives for this extra investment will have to come from reforms to the electricity market that the government is working out at the moment, designed to supply additional and enduring support through guaranteeing prices for low-carbon electricity. It also says the UK is well placed to lead the global market in skills and technology, and perhaps even sell some of the copious storage capacity that exists below the UK seabed to other countries. "The UK has a huge amount of potential storage, amounting to about 700 years worth of emissions," said another of the report's authors, Prof Stuart Haszeldine from Edinburgh University. "But that is as yet unproven; and no commercial company is going to go ahead and build a CCS facility costing maybe £1bn if they don't know they'll be able to inject CO2 for 30 years into that site." Proving that a site is suitable for CO2 storage needs the same type of exploration needed in oil and gas exploration, he said - and investigating a single site could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and take five to 10 years, meaning that a programme for doing it should be developed soon. The government will also have to work out rules on liability for leakage, he said, that are fair to both companies and the public purse. Matthew Spencer, director of the Green Alliance, which produced its own analysis of CCS recently, agreed that investors needed support and confidence. "Levels of interest from business are phenomenal, despite the years of prevarication," he told BBC News. "We've lost a lot of time, and investors have to have much more certainty now if we're not to lose them; but we do have a good story in the UK of a rapidly growing industry. "If the government pulls out the stops, we think 10GW is feasible." Follow Richard on Twitter

Randleman alternative energy park remains on shelf An idea floated in the summer of 2009 to develop an alternative energy research park near Randleman Lake and its dam remains stuck on the shelf, though the former city official who vigorously pursued the idea believes it remains viable. In August 2009, The Business Journal reported on the early stages of an effort to pursue the energy research concept, which officials described as similar to the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. There, multiple universities and private companies from around the state have stationed scientists with a focus on nutritional biotechnologies. It was never likely that such a project in the town of Randleman — population 4,113 — would reach the scale of the N.C. Research Campus, especially absent a private benefactor such as billionaire David Murdock, the owner of Dole Foods who personally bankrolled much of the redevelopment in Kannapolis. But a consultant’s report on economic development opportunities for the area considered both transportation infrastructure and unique attributes such as excess generator capacity built into the dam that could support hydroelectric research and concluded the idea could make a significant impact. Bizspace Spotlight Solar research was to play a big part in the project because, supporters hoped, the relatively benign footprint of raised solar panels would be more likely to pass muster against the strict development regulations that protect the quality of the drinking water stored in the reservoir. But a combination of factors has kept the idea from gaining much ground, according to Bonnie Renfro, president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corp. For one thing, assembling the needed land within the protected zone around the lake has proven especially daunting. Also, Renfro said market dynamics in the solar energy industry also make it difficult to plan as far ahead as would be necessary. “The solar projects I’m seeing have shifted more to rooftop applications” than the stand-alone panels that could work within the sensitive watershed, she said. “That’s not to say there aren’t ground opportunities, but there is really strong interest in installations on rooftops where the surface is exposed to the sun.” Tony Sears, who spearheaded the idea of the park as Randleman’s city manager before leaving to take over the same position in Kinston last year, hopes that will happen. Any regulatory and technical hurdles that have come up could be solved given better economic conditions that just haven’t existed since 2009, and solar energy remains the best possible use of the land in question. Reach Matt Evans at (336) 542-5865 or mlevans@bizjournals.com.

Asia Funds Buy London Offices in Bet Volatility Is Past Asian investors are the biggest buyers of office property in the City of London this year, wagering that the financial district’s volatile market has changed since it routed Japanese buyers in the 1990s. Malaysia’s state pension fund and the Korean Teachers’ Credit Union are among investors from the region that spent about 1.77 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) on income-producing office buildings in the district in 2012, more than a quarter of the total, data compiled by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. shows. National funds from Asia are increasing their proportion of investments in real estate and looking overseas for higher yields amid slower growth in the region. A weak pound, a reputation as a safe haven and returns that beat financing costs help make London the world’s most attractive city for foreign property investment. “London for us is purely diversification, flight to safety and a way to get a bit of yield,” said Goodwin Gaw, managing principal at Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners and its Downtown Properties Inc. affiliate. “It’s definitely more of an income stability play because if it was capital appreciation, I would be in Asia.” Much of the Asian investment, 3.5 billion pounds from 2010, has gone into the City of London borough also known as the Square Mile. Buyers from the Asia-Pacific region surpassed the British in the year through September with 28 percent of the purchases, Chicago-based Jones Lang estimates. That’s up from 24 percent last year and 4 percent the year before. Growing Rents The investors have been rewarded, said Alan Carter, a London-based real estate analyst at Investec Ltd. “If you’re getting a 5.5 percent yield and rents are growing, that’s not too shabby at the moment.” Canary Wharf has replaced the City as London’s most volatile property market, he said. British buyers dropped to 20 percent of the market in the first nine months of 2012 from 37 percent in 2011 as companies focused on development. U.S. investors, the biggest group in 2010, made 19 percent of the purchases by value this year according to Jones Lang. The increase from 7 percent a year earlier was led by Brookfield Office Properties Inc. (BPO)’s purchase of a 518-million pound portfolio from Hammerson Plc. (HMSO) The City has changed as a property market since falling values prompted Japanese owners to cut their holdings in the district to 2 percent in 2005 from 11 percent a decade earlier. Development is slower than demand, prices are 25 percent below their 2007 level and strengthening Asian currencies are making London properties more affordable. Currency Advantage The Singapore dollar appreciated by about 52 percent against the British pound over the past five years. That means an investor from the country can buy a building in the City for half its 2007 cost, compared with the 23 percent fall for a U.K. buyer, according to broker Knight Frank LLP. The Malaysian ringgit rose 41 percent. Values in the City of London have lagged behind Hong Kong, where office prices doubled in the three years through September, broker Colliers said in a Nov. 9 report. Office buildings in the Square Mile have risen 35 percent over that time, according to data compiled by Investment Property Databank. London’s advantage comes from the rent buildings can generate. Gaw said his funds can borrow in the U.K. at a rate of about 4 percent and a City of London investment will give them a cap rate, the property’s net operating income divided by the sales price, of 6 percent to 7 percent or more. Volatile History “The income coming off the property generates a significant spread over the cost of funds,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s something we don’t see in New York and we definitely don’t see in Hong Kong.” Another attraction for overseas buyers is that they don’t get taxed on the sale of U.K. real estate if they are non-residents, according to Andy Smith, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The City’s attractiveness today should be weighed against its boom-and-bust history and values that have fallen by half after inflation since 1980, said Colin Lizieri, a real estate professor at the University of Cambridge. “City offices have performed appallingly,” said Lizieri, who wrote a study last year that showed overseas buyers own most of the offices in the district. Achieving good returns “is really about knowing when to get in and to get out of the market. Many investors have got that wrong.” Building Oversupply Banks tend to increase their property-development investment at the peak of economic cycles, when demand is high, said Peter Rees, the City of London planning officer. As new buildings are completed, supply quickly outstrips demand and continues to rise, he said. For Japanese buyers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a record level of development coincided with a sharp drop in demand as the U.K. fell into recession in 1990, said Peter Damesick, chief economist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at broker CBRE Group Inc. “They bought shedloads of it in 1988 and 1989 and they paid some very, very fancy prices,” said Investec’s Carter. The Japanese started to “cut their losses” after values began rebounding in 1993 and 1994, he said. City office values have fallen 26 percent since September 2007, compared with a 15 percent decline in the West End and Midtown, according to IPD. Capital values in the City increased by about 25 percent in the five years through the third quarter of 2007, it said. Prices Slow Values in the district may have peaked, IPD said in July. Income-producing City of London office buildings rose 1.3 percent through September, according to its data. New buyers, including those from Asia, could end the City’s boom-and-bust cycle, according to Rees of the City’s planning department. “It’s less likely to be producing speculative product and it’s more likely that the investment is long term, which is much healthier for the London market,” he said in an interview. Gaw’s Downtown Properties bought Vintners Place, an office building partly leased to Jefferies Group Inc., for an undisclosed price in September. The Los Angeles-based company made the purchase in a partnership including the Korean Teachers’ Credit Union and the Korean Federation of Community Credit Co-Operatives. South Korea South Korean investors are turning to overseas markets and investments like property because it’s hard to get high returns at home, said Song Hong Sun, head of research at Seoul-based Korea Capital Market Institute’s fund and pension division. “As aging becomes the biggest concern in the Korean society, these pension funds and credit cooperatives need to aim for whatever extra return from investments they can get,” he said. “And they tend to look at longer-term investment.” The Japanese are back as well, with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Estate Co. (8802), that nation’s biggest developer by market value, purchasing a Bishopsgate tower occupied by Deutsche Bank AG in June 2011, Cushman & Wakefield Inc. said. A separate plan to develop a new 23,000 square-meter (240,000 square-foot) office block on a site on Finsbury Circus through its Paternoster Associates unit was approved by City of London council members yesterday. “We have learned that the City market is one of the most fascinating markets to work in because it is one of the most globally attractive for investors and because of its transparency,” Hiroyuki Arimura, Mitsubishi Estate’s U.K. managing director, said in an e-mail. “Currency fluctuations can create additional attractions.” Mitsui Fudosan Mitsui Fudosan Co. (8801), Japan’s largest developer by sales, bought a site last year at 70 Mark Place in a joint venture with London-based Stanhope Plc, according to a website for the project. Nobody was immediately available to comment on the company’s London investment strategy, according to spokeswoman Christina Lawton. Japanese billionaire Akira Mori plans to buy as much as 760 million pounds of properties in London, New York and Tokyo, as local real estate values recover and the yen strengthens, he said today in an interview. Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. (127), controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, bought River Court, part of Goldman Sachs existing European headquarters, from a group of Irish investors for about 280 million pounds last year. A Malaysian group composed of SP Setia Bhd. (SPSB), Sime Darby Bhd. (SIME) and the Employees Provident Fund will start work next year on the 8 billion-pound Battersea project, about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) from the City of London. Safest Place “London is the safest place on earth,” Sime Darby Bhd. Chief Executive Officer Mohd Bakke Salleh said in an interview in September after he and other Malaysian investors acquired the Battersea site. He cited the U.K.’s legal system and transparent market as being the springboard for his company’s plans to expand outside Malaysia. Malaysian fund Permodalan Nasional Bhd. bought the London headquarters of law firm Linklaters LLP in the City earlier this year. It acquired the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s head office next to Liverpool Street train station for an undisclosed price in May. PNB spokesman Nur Akmal binti Ahmad declined to comment on its London investment strategy. China Investment Corp. purchased Winchester House, leased to Deutsche Bank AG, from KanAm Grund KAG earlier this month for about 245 million pounds, as part of a joint venture with Invesco, CoStar reported. A Downtown Properties fund will probably invest an additional $300 million to $400 million in the next six to nine months either in London or large U.S. cities, Gaw said. Development Advantage Prime properties in development may perform much better than the rest of the market as a slowdown in construction pushes down costs and reduces supply on the market. Land Securities Group Plc (LAND)’s projects in the U.K. capital have gained 13.4 percent in the six months through September, Chief Executive Officer Rob Noel said by telephone. Its buildings under construction include the Walkie Talkie skyscraper in a joint venture with Canary Wharf Group Plc. The amount of office space due for completion next year and not yet leased is 1.1 million square feet, according to a Drivers Jonas Deloitte report in May. That’s about 60 percent of the average office building space newly leased in the City each year. Compound annual growth rates, a measure of rent increases, in the district will be 0.5 percent the next five years, an eighth as much as buildings in London’s West End, JPMorgan analysts including Harm Meijer estimated in a Sept. 4 report. That isn’t putting off Asian investors. “We believe in the strong fundamentals that underlie the City market,” Mitsubishi Estates’ Arimura said. “There is limited speculative development and there is ongoing demand for the highest quality designed buildings.” To contact the reporter on this story: Neil Callanan in London at ncallanan@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ross Larsen at rlarsen2@bloomberg.net.

kering (KER:Euronext Paris) Executive Profile* Background* Ms. Patricia Marie Marguerite Barbizet has been the Chief Executive Officer of Christie's International Plc since December 31, 2014. Ms. Barbizet has been the Chief Executive Officer of Artemis S.A. since 1992. Ms. Barbizet has been Chief Executive Officer at Financière Pinault SCA since 2004. She has been Chief Executive Officer of Christie's Inc., since December 2014. She served as the Managing Director of Artemis of TF1 Group since July 12, 2000. She joined the Pinault ... >.

Bombardier Among Germany's Top 50 Employers for Engineers April 24, 2013 Berlin Transportation, Press Release - The 2013 trendence Graduate Barometer ranks Bombardier Transportation in 36th place in the category Engineering Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation is ranked 36th as an employer for engineers in Germany according to a recent survey of more than 37,000 business administration and engineering students at more than 130 universities. Bombardier’s ranking among the top 50 employers in the important category engineering by the trendence Institut GmbH was also published by Germany’s Manager Magazin and the news portal Spiegel Online. From its headquarters in Berlin, Bombardier Transportation controls its global rail business covering the entire spectrum of rail transport solutions – from complete trains and sub-systems to maintenance services, system integration and signalling technology. More than 100,000 of its rail vehicles and locomotives are in service globally. Over 34,900 employees work as a team and develop great new ideas to move people forward around the world. Susanne Kortendick, Member of the Management Board of Bombardier Transportation Germany, said: “The very good result in this year's trendence Graduate Barometer is highly significant for us because it demonstrates our strong reputation among graduates and young professionals in the engineering field. Our organization is truly global and diverse with 25 working languages and employees of more than 100 nationalities. We value new ideas from our employees that are consistent with our core values of integrity, commitment to outstanding performance, customer orientation and focus on shareholders. As an industrial company, Bombardier lives from its entry-level engineering talent and the ability to be an attractive employer for highly specialized industry experts. This ranking among the 50 best employers for engineers confirms this and is also an incentive for us to continue down this

- Introduction - Land - People - Economy - Government and society - Cultural life - JamaicaEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc Jamaica© Philip Coblentz—Digital Vision/Getty ImagesNumerous. Climate The tropical climate is influenced by the sea and the northeast trade winds, which are dominant throughout the year. Coastal breezes blow onshore by day and offshore at night. During the winter months, from December to March, colder winds known locally as “northers” reach the island from the North American mainland. The mountains cause variations in temperature according to elevation, but there is little change from season to season. Temperatures on the coasts can reach the low 90s F (about 32 °C), and minimum temperatures in the low 40s F (about 4 °C) have been recorded on the high peaks. Average diurnal temperatures at Kingston, at sea level, range between the high 80s F (about 31 °C) and the low 70s F (about 22 °C). At Stony Hill, 1,400 feet (427 metres) above sea level, the maximum and minimum means are only a few degrees cooler. Rains are seasonal, falling chiefly in October and May, although thunderstorms can bring heavy showers in the summer months, from June to September. The average annual rainfall for the entire island is about 82 inches (2,100 mm), but regional variations are considerable. The mountains force the trade winds to deposit more than 130 inches (3,300 mm) per year on the eastern parish of Portland, while little precipitation occurs on the hot, dry savannas of the south and southwest. Jamaica has occasionally been struck by hurricanes during the summer, notably in 1951, 1988, 2004, and 2007. Earthquakes have caused serious damage only twice—in 1692 and 1907. Plant and animal life The island is renowned for its diverse ecosystems, including stunted, elfin forests on the highest peaks, rainforests in the valleys, savannas, and dry sandy areas supporting only cacti and other xerophytic plants. Jamaica’s plant life has changed considerably through the centuries. The island was completely forested in the 15th century, except for small agricultural clearings, but European settlers cut down the great timber trees for building purposes and cleared the plains, savannas, and mountain slopes for cultivation. They also introduced many new plants, including sugarcane, bananas, and citrus trees. Jamaica has few indigenous mammals. Conys, or pikas (a type of lagomorph), were numerous and prized as food in pre-Columbian times but have since been reduced by hunting and habitat destruction. The native crocodile may also be threatened with extinction. Bat species are the most numerous of the mammals. Mongooses, which feed on rats and snakes, have become widespread since they were introduced in 1872. The mountain mullet is the most prevalent freshwater fish, and there are four species of crayfish. More than 200 bird species have been recorded, including migratory birds and some two dozen endemic species, such as the streamertail hummingbird, which is the national bird. Among the island’s protected areas are the Cockpit Country, Hellshire (Healthshire) Hills, and Litchfield forest reserves. Portland Bight and Negril also are protected areas. Jamaica’s first marine park, covering nearly 6 square miles (15 square km), was established in Montego Bay in 1992. There are other marine parks at Ocho Rios and Negril. In 1993 the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park was created on roughly 300 square miles (780 square km) of wilderness that supports thousands of tree and fern species, rare animals, and insects such as the Homerus swallowtail, the Western Hemisphere’s largest butterfly. People.

DETROIT.. Many Americans were unhappy when the U.S. bailed out GM, calling the company "Government Motors." GM 's Nov. 18 stock offering will reduce the U.S. Treasury's stake in the company from 61 percent to 43 percent, and will help payback the more than $50 billion that taxpayers invested in GM to keep it from collapsing. More stock offerings will happen in the next year or so, letting the government fully divest from the automaker. "It's a very political topic, but what Americans need to remember is that General Motors is an international company," says Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive. "If we want to get our money back, we need to understand that they have to do business on a global basis." The U.S. Treasury has been clear that international investors are welcome to invest in GM, and many outside the U.S. are considering taking stakes in the company. . The government behaves like an interested shareholder, ensuring companies have competent management and ensuring the companies boost economic growth in their regions. Many Chinese automakers are looking for a way into the U.S. market, he says. China is the largest car market in the world, but the U.S. is the most profitable, he says. "The amount of money changing hands here is much greater," he says. The average selling price of a car in the U.S. is $27,500, compared with about $17,000 in China. "Multiply that over millions of vehicles, and it's quite a difference." SAIC and GM already have a long-standing partnership in China -- GM could not sell cars in China without partnering with a local business -- and it's unclear what size stake SAIC may take in GM. The deal would need Chinese government approval. Chris Theodore, president of consulting firm Theodore & Associates, says SAIC's investment in GM is likely an attempt to strengthen its ties with the automaker. Theodore, who was part of a group that tried to take over Volvo before it was sold to China's Geely group, says SAIC isn't the kind of company that can branch out into U.S. sales. Most of its models use GM technology and are essentially GM cars. "They rely on GM for a lot of their profitability," Theodore says. Michael Maduell, president of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, a California-based group that watches sovereign wealth fund investments, says global investors are looking at the U.S. because they believe the overall market is undervalued. Other potential investors in GM include Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and Singapore's Temasek, which are both known for actively investing in companies, Maduell says. Investors are "looking at emerging markets, like China and India, but all those assets are overvalued," Maduell says. "America still has a lot of fantastic investment opportunities in real estate and small- to mid-cap stocks." RSS Feed: Most Read Stories RSS Feed: Most E-mailed Stories RSS Feed: Most Discussed Stories RSS Feed: Most Popular Slide Shows

Friends of the Earth (FoE) says the government must commit to halving the amount of residual waste generated by 2020 or it could fail to meet its "zero waste economy" The campaign group claimed that speculation was growing that the expected Waste Review would be "lacking in both ambition and detail". FoE also warned that unless action was taken to increase recycling rates and reduce residual waste through prevention, the Review could even reverse progress taken in these areas under the previous Labour administration. "This review is a golden opportunity to slash waste and boost recycling - but fears are growing that Government policies will reverse much of the progress made in the past 10 years," said Julian Kirby, FoE waste campaigner. "Households and businesses across the country want to cut down on the rubbish they throw out - Ministers must help by committing the UK to halving the black bag waste sent for disposal by 2020." Setting a goal of halving residual waste generation by 2020 is suggested by FoE because of the increasing cost of sending waste to landfill due to rising landfill tax. The group also claimed incineration is costly and controversial. The group called for a wide range of commitments to be made in the review, including widespread introduction of weekly food waste collections, incineration of waste to be phased out, and a ban on the burning and landfilling of recyclables amongst others. Kirby stated that a "low-waste" economy would also create thousands of new jobs, help to fight climate change and also save money for cash-strapped councils and households, claiming an estimated £650m of recyclable material is sent to landfill or incineration each year, while £10bn of food is wasted. For more information visit Darrel Moore

Globetrotter now helps disabled Canadians online Jeffrey Bernstein has helped communities around the globe – the 27-year-old political science grad has been everywhere from Uruguay to South Sudan and Israel. Now he’s ready to bring his skills to help his own community in Canada. Bernstein is the co-founder of synapsABILITY, an organization that hopes to provide a digital space for Canadians with disabilities and their families. “We’re trying to build an online social platform for the support networks that care for people with developmental and physical disabilities in Canada,” he said. The project is a very personal one for Bernstein, whose autistic brother, Alan, was the inspiration behind the organization. “He’s an incredible guy… He does a lot in the community. He’s very, very, very involved with the Jewish community, and he’s sort of found a home for himself over the years there, in various synagogues and organizations.” The idea behind synapsABILITY, which is still in its early stages, is to provide a new tool for people with disabilities and their networks (families, friends, social workers, educators, doctors, employers, etc.) that allows them to connect with each other and learn from their experiences. “The population in Canada with disabilities and the people who support them is a big, growing and powerful network that hasn’t necessarily found its voice in the way that many advocates would like it to,” the Toronto native said. “But this is something that we’re hoping to eventually change. “I’ve been trying to find a way back to my community in a sense,” Bernstein added, “and find something that I could connect with here, locally. Something that would be meaningful work and hits close to home.” He said a lot of people ask him why he’s become a social entrepreneur when his background is in politics and public affairs. But according to Bernstein, the two career paths aren’t so far apart: both allow him to work with social justice, which is something he’s always been passionate about. Bernstein has been volunteering since he was a kid. He was heavily involved with the Jewish youth groups Kadima and United Synagogue Youth, where he was able to get a first taste of helping out people in need. “The social action component was kind of that big driver,” he said. He enrolled at the University of Toronto for his undergraduate degree and chose to spend his third year studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Bernstein focused on Middle Eastern politics during his time there and said it was his first introduction to independent research. “That was definitely one of my defining moments for growth, I’d say. Obviously, living in a different country, as familiar as Israel might be to Jews, it’s still very different,” he said. “But going as a 20-year-old, there’s a lot that you sort of absorb and learn.” He said he came back to Toronto with a newfound energy. After wrapping up his undergrad degree at U of T, Bernstein worked at a think-tank in Washington, D.C., for six months and volunteered with the Barack Obama campaign. “Just being in D.C. as a political scientist – it’s the Mecca of this universe for anyone who wants to study that, who wants to work in international policy, international affairs,” he said. “It was amazing. I was very lucky to have that break.” While he waited to hear back from master’s programs, Bernstein did some travelling. He returned to Israel and stayed there for three months, but this time he volunteered at an organization called Peace Players International. He described it as a project that uses “basketball as a model for bridging the divides between… parties in conflict.” Bernstein added that he got to see a different side of the country that he didn’t get to see while on his Birthright trip or even during his year abroad at Hebrew U. He returned from his trip and started pursuing his master’s degree at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. During that time, he also landed a job working as a human rights adviser to Canadian Senator Roméo Dallaire. There, he was responsible for managing the senator’s international relationships and doing things like writing speeches and op-eds. It’s safe to say Bernstein has done some exciting things over the last few years. But one of his most thrilling experiences happened just a few months ago when he landed a gig at a startup organization that does consultancy work in international policy and research. It might not sound like an interesting job, but it’s the one that led him on a hunt for counterfeit medicine in South Sudan and Myanmar. “My boss had spent a lot of time in [unusual] places,” he said, citing Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria as examples. “He would always notice that in market places there would be medicine that either looked suspicious or was unlabelled, or it was sort of lumped in.” Over the summer, Bernstein spent a month in South Sudan and a month in Myanmar investigating counterfeit medicine issues. He said being in South Sudan was an eye-opening experience. “I’ve travelled a lot, I’ve been to a lot of places… But [South Sudan is] unlike any country I’ve ever seen or you could imagine. It’s almost like being in the beginning of time, in a sense. There’s only a few kilometres of paved roads there. There’s very, very little infrastructure. Brick and mortar buildings… there’s a few, but it’s not sort of the norm.” All of his experiences have helped him become a social entrepreneur. Bernstein said any young person can launch a company nowadays. It’s about having an idea and surrounding yourself with motivated people. You don’t have to drop everything you’re doing in order to have an entrepreneurial experience, he added. Sometimes it’s just a matter of learning or volunteering in an area you’re passionate about. He said that young generations are now shaping many fields, including marketing, technology and advertising. “There’s incredible change that’s happening in that world, being driven by people who are not any older than us,” he said. “In fact, many are much younger.” To connect with Bernstein about opportunities with synapsABILITY, or to learn more about his Generation Y-mentorship project, send him a tweet at @JeffMBernstein.

Concord reaches $1.6 million settlement on Steeplegate Mall tax bills The city will refund Steeplegate Mall $1.6 million on four years of disputed property tax bills, resolving a long-standing legal dispute over the value of the mall property. In 2012, the city assessed the property to be worth $65 million. In a real estate filing with the state early that same year, the mall’s owner claimed its market value was $37 million. That’s a difference of nearly $30 million. But last month, the two parties settled the mall’s challenges to its assessed property value from 2009 to 2012, City Solicitor Jim Kennedy said, and they set that value at $52 million for 2013. “It’s a settlement,” Kennedy said. “It’s not necessarily what either party wanted, but it is a settlement.” The city’s assessment of the mall’s value had dropped every year since 2008. That year, the mall had an assessed value of more than $83 million. “The mall apparently experienced a greater economic downtown than the majority of income-producing entities in the city,” Kennedy said. “We fully expect the mall to redefine itself and become a strong income-producing mall like other malls in the state.” Rouse Properties, owner of Steeplegate Mall, declined to comment. The mall’s value has been too high because the city hasn’t had access to updated details on the money it makes every year, Kennedy said. The settlement requires the mall to send that information – which includes an income statement, rent rolls and details of property sales – to the city as the board of assessors calculates its value. Those details will make the mall’s property assessment more accurate in the future, Kennedy said. This settlement is not the first between the city and the mall. In 2012, the city signed a similar agreement to pay back $231,000 on the mall’s 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax bills. In 2009, the state Supreme Court sided with the city in the mall’s challenge to its 2004 tax bill. In this most recent case, the city was required to pay the mall $1 million almost immediately. The remaining money is due by the end of June. “We wrote them a $1 million check,” Kennedy said. “We’ll give them $600,000 by the end of the fiscal year.” City Manager Tom Aspell said this money would come out of an overlay fund that the city maintains to prepare for tax abatements, outside legal fees and other unexpected expenses. Since 2009, Aspell said the city has added more than $2.7 million to the balance of that account. With the first $1 million paid on the settlement, the fund balance was $164,000 as of yesterday. On Monday, the city council will vote on whether to add budget surplus money to that account and bring its balance up to more than $1.1 million. Aspell said the remaining $600,000 owed to the mall would be paid out of that replenished fund. The board of assessors, whose full list of abatements is at concordnh.gov under Boards and Commissions, has approved other abatements for 2012 – but none as large as this one. For example, the city paid $119,213 to St. Paul’s School, one of the largest returns so far on a 2012 property tax bill. This large settlement is an “unusual” payback for the city, Kennedy said. “Usually, it’s not for this many tax years,” he said. But Kennedy said other Concord businesses have not experienced such a dramatic drop in value as in this case. The mall seems to be “an anomaly,” he said. “I think our taxpayers can be confident this is an unexpected case,” Kennedy said. (Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321 or mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.) - Discussion FAQ - Report a comment You must be registered to comment on stories. Click here to register.

ANTIOCH -- Skulking around the edges of parking lots and trash bins or lingering behind restaurants, feral cats seem to be everywhere, with estimates on their numbers ranging into the tens of millions nationally. And no one is quite sure how to get rid of them. In the Bay Area, some government agencies have started working with animal rescue groups using a decades-old method of population control and say they are making headway. Others insist the approach is doing as much harm as good. "It's a more humane approach, and more economical," said Jon Cicirelli, San Jose's deputy director of Animal Care and Services and a leading proponent of the practice known as "trap, neuter and release." "Trap, neuter and release" -- TNR, to those in the know -- is an alternative to euthanasia, which is often the fate of cats whose wild temperaments make them unadoptable. San Jose's animal shelter fixes the ownerless cats it receives, then turns them over to a nonprofit, which returns them to the wild. Detractors argue that while the practice may stop feral cats from reproducing, they are still hard-wired to hunt. Releasing these animals back to environmentally sensitive areas enables them to continue preying on wildlife. A national study published in January in the journal Nature Communications ramped up the debate between cat lovers and conservationists with its rough estimates that outdoor cats -- most of them feral -- kill from 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion birds and billions of wild mammals annually and as such are likely these creatures' biggest threat. But Cicirelli says "trap, neuter and release" is working. Since the San Jose shelter adopted the practice three years ago, it has reduced its intake of cats by 25 percent. He also points to the number of dead cats his agency removes from city streets: That number has dropped by 17 percent in the past three years. Santa Clara County's shelter, which works with the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, reports similar results: Whereas the facility euthanized 382 feral cats in 2009, the kill count dropped to zero last year, and the number of strays it takes in has dropped by nearly 25 percent since the partnership was established. However, TNR's critics point out that it's difficult to wipe out even a single colony. Plenty of ferals are still out there to breed, and their numbers are bolstered because people are always abandoning cats. Antioch restaurant owner Sheila White earlier this year confronted a woman after seeing her dump feral cats by the city's former boat launch ramp. The woman tearfully confessed that the cats her neighbor feeds had spilled onto her property, and she no longer could care for their kittens or cope with them using her yard as a bathroom, but she didn't want them killed at a shelter. Indeed, 48 percent of the 940 cats that Antioch Animal Services euthanized last year couldn't be handled safely. The vast majority of them were feral. Others focus on the welfare of wildlife. A two-year study in the East Bay Regional Park District -- an area where about five dozen species are rare or have been declining -- found a marked difference between the number of birds in an area of a park that feral cats frequented and the number where there were no cats. Ample research shows feral cats kill native wildlife at a faster rate than non-native species, according to wildlife biologist Dave Riensche. David Jessup, a former senior wildlife biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, strongly objects to feral cat groups that promote neutering ferals as the only answer. Communities also should find homes for ferals tame enough to be adopted and place those that aren't in enclosures where colony feeders can care for them, he said. "Look at all the tools available," he said. "(TNR) is being sold by its advocates as the only morally acceptable solution, and it simply isn't." Reducing the number of feral cats requires a multipronged approach, agreed Margaret Slater, senior director of veterinary epidemiology with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Lost pets are among the cats wandering around, so owners should protect theirs with microchips and collar tags, she said. Pets allowed outside should be neutered so they don't contribute to feral colonies, and communities need to publicize places where owners can surrender a cat knowing that it will be properly cared for, Slater said. "You've got ignorant people feeding the numbers," said Kathy Condron, a volunteer with the Richmond nonprofit Fix Our Ferals. "People are the cause of the problem -- not the cats. The cats are doing what any animals will do." Contact Rowena Coetsee at 925-779-7141. Follow her at Twitter.com/RowenaCoetsee.

Coalition wants mayor to protect industrial zones Housing groups join the effort as the mayor eyes manufacturing areas for dwellings. An unlikely coalition of manufacturers, business groups, liberal City Council members and housing advocates are pressuring Mayor Bill de Blasio to protect the city's industrial areas. But the mayor himself is pushing the very thing they fear most: housing in their midst. Mr. de Blasio is looking for ways to add apartments to the city's 21 industrial business zones, or IBZs, which former Mayor Michael Bloomberg shielded from residential rezoning but largely ignored during his final years in office. Critics sense a similar lack of enthusiasm from Mr. de Blasio, whose first budget slashed funding for the IBZ program and whose aides talk of putting "workforce housing" in industrial areas to advance the administration's goal of creating 80,000 affordable units. "No housing is affordable without a job," said Leah Archibald, executive director of the East Williamsburg Valley Industrial Development Corp., delivering her signature line. Her group, a Brooklyn development corporation, represents about a thousand businesses that employ 15,000 workers. Advocates for industrial businesses have been fighting a lonely battle to maintain footholds in hot markets like Williamsburg and Long Island City, Queens, but the recent support of housing activists—natural allies of the mayor—could mark a turning point. "We want the mayor to commit to no net loss of industrial capacity," said Benjamin Dulchin, executive director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. "There may be an occasional moment when it is correct to build housing in an IBZ, but it should be rare and offset by a significant commitment to increasing city support for the modern, light-manufacturing sector." Manufacturing and industrial businesses produce everything from aviation equipment to artisanal pickles and provide blue-collar jobs for 310,000 New Yorkers, many lacking college degrees. But trucks and machinery don't mix well with housing. And with Mr. de Blasio surveying every scrap of land for residential development, industrial business owners fear its encroachment on areas traditionally reserved for them. Tod Greenfield, co-owner of 67-year-old Martin Greenfield Clothier in Williamsburg, said he was recently fined by the city after tenants in an illegally converted loft next door complained of machine noise. The city also ordered him to modify his equipment to make it quieter. "I'm legally operating a manufacturing business in a manufacturing zone," grumbled Mr. Greenfield, who employs more than a hundred tailors producing bespoke suits that retail for around $2,000. Jobs important, too Mr. de Blasio's affordable apartments shouldn't come at the expense of well-paying manufacturing jobs, he said, adding, "I know the new mayor is talking a lot of housing, but he did also campaign on jobs." Joseph Robles, owner of Knight Collision and Towing, recently relocated his body shop to East New York, Brooklyn, from Williamsburg, its home for 40 years. Apartment towers have sprouted there since a major rezoning in 2005. "We're moving out; there is nothing but residential housing all around me because of the rezoning," Mr. Robles said. "My tow trucks are in and out, but there's kids running around on bicycles." Hotels and self-storage operations that exploit loopholes to open within IBZs also make it difficult for industrial businesses to find stability in a volatile real estate market. Comments by top aides to Mr. de Blasio have increased their anxiety. At a Citizens Budget Commission event in May, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen was asked about industrial business zones. Rather than endorse them, she talked of adding housing. "There could be an opportunity within those zones to do modern manufacturing [or] manufacturing that coexists very well with other uses," she said. "People who want to be making tables, or making salsa ... also want to live, work, walk and bike." She dismissed the notion of tension between the mayor's housing plan and the need for the city to protect industrial centers. "In our view it's less [about] that old binary, industrial versus residential," she said. "Those days are over." City Planning Commissioner Carl Weisbrod told the Crain's editorial board in June, "I think we have to take a broader look at industrial zones," and noted the distinctions between manufacturing, industrial and tech uses in them. For example, he said, concrete plants need protection because they must be near construction sites, while technology businesses can be compatible with housing. Ms. Glen acknowledged that some landlords deny long-term leases to industrial tenants because they hope their properties will be rezoned for lucrative residential use. Soaring land prices in places like north Brooklyn have reinforced that mentality. Gowanus, also in Brooklyn, is now ground zero for this phenomenon, said John Reinertsen, a commercial real estate broker with CBRE. "Landlords put tenants in for a short term because they need a placeholder and someone to carry the property for the next five years," he said. "You want to keep your options open as a developer." Short-term leases discourage tenants from making substantial investments that could create jobs. Rezoning industrial areas for mixed-use would benefit the types of manufacturing the administration seems to favor: artisanal food makers, 3-D printers and other low-impact companies. Businesses with heavy machinery and truck fleets are feeling increasingly marginalized. "You see people walking their dogs and riding their bikes. It's normal in any society, but for an industrial area it's difficult," said Armando Chapelliquien, director of operations at Jos. H. Lowenstein & Sons, which employs almost 100 workers and provides raw materials for hair-color manufacturers, fur dressers and dyers, and tanneries. City funding is another concern. Mr. de Blasio's February budget eliminated the $1.1 million for business mentorship in the IBZs, as the Bloomberg administration had done before the City Council restored it. He put back half of the money after complaints arose, and the council upped the total to $1.4 million. The administration has also called for legislation to allow the city's Industrial Development Agency to grant tax breaks not just for industry but for affordable housing as well—a potential dilution of the agency's mission. But momentum may be shifting. Affordable-housing advocates, who normally cheer any program to add low-income apartments, joined business owners at a City Hall rally in June to demand that Mr. de Blasio create 50,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs. How he might achieve such an increase is unclear—manufacturing has added just 600 positions over the past two years after losing 125,000 since 1997, according to a recent study by the Center for an Urban Future. One hope is that efforts to replicate the model of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which has a waiting list of industrial tenants, will come to fruition. The rally preceded a City Council hearing on a nonbinding resolution urging the administration to revitalize the Mayor's Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses, which was launched and eventually abandoned by Mr. Bloomberg. Council resolutions directed at the mayor are rare. Meanwhile, the city's Economic Development Corp. is conducting its own survey of the city's industrial sector to help inform policymaking. The agency has contracted with a polling firm to reach out to thousands of manufacturers across the five boroughs to pinpoint their needs and anxieties. "We know we need to achieve a balance between preserving highly utilized industrial property and realizing the goals of the housing plan," said Kyle Kimball, president of EDC, "and this will include exploring areas where innovative industrial uses and residential buildings can co-exist." Correction: There are 21 industrial business zones in the city. That number was misstated in a previous version of this article, originally published online July 7, 2014. A version of this article appears in the July 7, 2014, print issue of Crain's New York Business as "Industrial firms push de Blasio". Get Crain's Morning Insider Sign up for the Morning Insider email and receive political news and musings every morning at 6 a.m.

CRESTVIEW — Eleven new manuals and handbooks recently donated to the Crestview Public Library will be a valuable resource for amateur radio enthusiasts — also called “hams” — Library Director Jean Lewis said. Among the North Okaloosa Amateur Radio Club’s donations were training manuals, for new amateur radio buffs seeking operator’s licenses, and guides for more advanced hams. The donation will benefit the Crestview area and serve radio buffs throughout the county, Lewis said. “These are very good, excellent books on ham radio,” she said. “Until this donation, we only had one book, which was ‘Ham Radio for Dummies.’” The donation comes when the Crestview City Council has eliminated the library’s book acquisition budget. “We’re helping the library get books they can’t afford to buy,” NOARC activities director Cal Zethmayr, W4GMH, said. “Anybody who wants to study ham radio or learn more about it can check these out.” The books are available to any Okaloosa County resident within the county library system, Lewis said. “We knew the library was under pressure for money to get new books,” Zethmayr said. “These are brand new books the (American Radio Relay League) requires. If we can reach more people and get more operators, the better for the community.” The league — of which NOARC is a member — in 2014 will celebrate its 100th year of American amateur radio. In addition to connecting with fellow hams all over the world, amateur radio club members advise local Boy Scout troops during the worldwide Jamboree on the Air, Zethmayr said. They also provide communications during regional emergency operations. NOARC also serves as a training resource for many area responders including county Emergency Operations Center employees, he said. “We, over the last couple years, have trained employees of Okaloosa Gas, Auburn Water, the Okaloosa County Health Department, and (Community Emergency Response) teams,” Zethmayr said. “We’ve added more than 100 licensed amateurs. Okaloosa County now has more than 800 licensed hams.” Through regional radio networks, Crestview area hams provide communications linking and guiding emergency responders using satellite positioning and related technology. Local hams helped set up the emergency center’s amateur radio communications equipment, Zethmayr said. “If other equipment fails, amateur radio will keep working,” he said. “A lot of the guys have solar power now, and many have generators in case the power goes out. “For example, if Crestview has a situation where you can’t get into Crestview when water comes up over the roads — and it’s happened before — we’re geared up to provide additional communications to the network.” Want to go? The North Okaloosa Amateur Radio Club meets the second Thursday of each month at the old Dorcas Fire Station 42, 5232 Deer Springs Drive. The location is 8 miles east of Crestview off U.S. Highway 90. Contact club President Bob Walker at n4cu@AMSAT.org. Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

Ingram Micro has handpicked its new VentureTech Network president, a move designed to direct the 400-plus member solution provider organization toward more of a services model. Scott Goemmel, executive vice president of PMV Technologies, Troy, Mich., was selected because of his experience building a managed services practice, said Justin Crotty, vice president of North America channel marketing at Ingram. “[PMV] is a big-time services shop, and [Goemmel] can help migrate [VentureTech] to more of a services- and solutions-oriented model,” Crotty said. “I want services to be a critical part of what we do, and Scott is a great sounding board for that. It&s important for us to have more VARs that look like Scott than we have today.” Previously, VentureTech presidents were selected by a vote of members. PMV joined the organization two years ago, and Goemmel served on the group&s services advisory council last year. PMV started its transition to a services model about four years ago, Goemmel said. Now, about 85 percent of its revenue is services, compared with 15 percent from products. Of that 85 percent, about 70 percent is derived from recurring revenue deals with customers, he said. “We have some enterprise customers that we do remedial maintenance and product deployment for nationwide, leveraging the Ingram Micro Service Network. We also have an SMB business in which we do full IT outsourcing for a fixed monthly fee,” Goemmel said. PMV&s business model relies on partnering—more than 50 percent of its services transactions involve fellow VentureTech or Ingram Micro Service Network members—highlights how a small company can have a national services reach, he said. Goemmel, like Crotty, said he expects more solution providers to tackle managed services in the coming years. At its recent Fall Invitational, seemingly half of the VentureTech members raised their hands when asked whether they were selling or planning to sell managed services. Last year, the response was much smaller. Goemmel hopes to share the pain his company felt while transitioning to managed services, he said. “Selling services is different than selling products. The skills to sell are different, and it requires more investment.” The channel also still has to work out several issues around full managed services offerings before more customers will adopt a recurring revenue model, he said. For example, licensing issues around the solution provider owning the equipment itself vs. selling the equipment to end users are still murky.

Pioneer Hi-Bred is moving to boost its market clout in Africa by buying a majority share of South Africa-based competitor Pannar Seed Ltd. Pioneer, a Johnston, IA-based unit of DuPont, and biotech rival Monsanto already each has a major presence in South Africa, the continent’s largest producer of corn. The deal with privately held Pannar will give Pioneer access to more germplasm, the genetic pool it uses for breeding. Pannar will get the use of Pioneer’s advanced breeding technologies and biotech research, officials with the companies said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “You end up with a large combined germplasm pool that’s suitable not only for South Africa but further afield,” says Deon Van Rooyen, managing director of Pannar. The deal would double Pioneer’s African seed business, which accounts for less than 5 percent of the company’s sales, Pioneer president Paul Schickler says. “We really look at this as a great opportunity to leverage the uniqueness of their (Pannar’s) genetic background, combined with Pioneer’s global genetic library,” Schickler says. Pannar has about one-third of the corn seed market in South Africa, says Van Rooyen, while Pioneer claims about 30 percent. Pannar has operations in several other southern and eastern African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, where maize is a staple food crop, and in Argentina. Pannar also has a small presence in the U.S., focused on the Dakotas and Minnesota, having purchased a South Dakota-based seed company about 10 years ago. The deal is expected to be finalized early next year, pending regulatory approval in South Africa and other countries where the firms do business. Pannar’s management, employees, facilities and brands will be retained, Pioneer says. Biotech corn seed varieties produced by Pioneer and Monsanto are popular with farmers in South Africa, which is the only sub-Saharan country that has commercialized a genetically engineered food crop. A few other countries, including Kenya, have been developing regulations necessary to commercialize biotech corn varieties, but it’s not clear when those products will be approved. Schickler sees “strong movement” toward commercialization of biotech products but says Pioneer can still do well selling only conventional varieties. “We can not only contribute to productivity but also make a very good business with conventional products,” he says. Van Rooyen says Africans’ interest in biotechnology will increase when traits such as drought tolerance and nitrogen efficiency are available. “A lot of the countries have to get their regulatory side in order,” he said. Corn acreage in South Africa has been shrinking, but yields and production have risen sharply in recent years, in part because of the biotech seeds that make the plants toxic to a costly insect pest, according to USDA analysts. Yields are up 50 percent from the 1990s. (Source: DesMoinesRegister.com)

What's behind the bailout crisis in Cyprus? While appearing to be yet another victim of Europe's debt crisis, Cyprus is suffering in part due to unique characteristics including an oversized reliance on foreign depositors and a tiny economy. - A security guard opens the entrance of a Laiki bank branch as people queue in capital Nicosia, on Friday..Petros Giannakouris/APView Caption Berlin — Cyprus is the latest victim of the eurocrisis, in which a combination of highly indebted banks and unsustainable sovereign debts brought several members of the eurozone to the brink of bankruptcy. But the Cypriot crisis entails unique features that have shaped how it has developed – and the impact it is having on the rest of Europe and the eurozone. How did Cyprus come to need a bailout? “The Cypriot banking sector is overblown and under-regulated,” says Michael Wohlgemuth, an economist and director of the Berlin-based think-tank Open Europe. “This is essentially what made the bailout necessary.” According to Deutsche Bank Research, the volume of Cypriot banks is seven times bigger than the country’s GDP – in Europe, only Luxembourg and Malta have a higher ratio. High interest rates and easy access have attracted a lot of foreign capital to Cyprus, and the country has developed a reputation for being a tax haven and even a money-laundering location. But the Cypriot banks’ high exposure to bad Greek debt meant that when Greece negotiated a debt write-off – the so-called "haircut" – for its struggling financial institutes in February 2012, Cyprus took a severe blow. Downgraded by the big rating agencies, Cypriot banks were cut off from the international financial markets and only kept alive through infusions from the European Central Bank (ECB). But the central bankers in Frankfurt threatened to withhold even these emergency funds unless Cyprus agreed to a deal, so Nicosia budged, accepting to raise around 5.8 billion euros to qualify for a 10 billion euro bailout. How is this bailout different from previous ones? Fearing a domino effect on other member states and indeed the global economy, the eurozone has so far preferred to pay substantial amounts of financial aid than let any of its ailing members go bankrupt and leave the common currency. But Cyprus is a special case in a number of ways. First of all, the Cypriot economy is arguably too small to be relevant to the health of the entire eurozone. It was this argument of systemic relevance – and the threat of contagion – that European leaders used to convince their national parliaments that Greece, Portugal, and Ireland needed to be kept solvent and within the common currency. A special tool, the European Stability Mechanism, was even created to signal to the international financial markets that the eurozone would do everything to rescue its members. But the small island in the Mediterranean has little negotiating power. Secondly, there is the Cypriot business model. Even though the government in Nicosia vehemently denies accusations of money-laundering, Cypriot banks have attracted large amounts of capital from sources seen as dubious by the rest of the eurozone. Around 20 billion of the 68 billion euros deposited in Cypriot banks are thought to be owned by Russians. Germany, Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands made it quite clear that they were not willing to use their taxpayers’ money to bail out Russian millionaires. A different bailout model had to be found. So, for the first time in the eurocrisis, private account holders in the receiving country are forced to co-finance the bailout: to “bail in,” effectively having part of their capital confiscated. “This is a major shift back to the basic principle of liability,” says Professor Wohlgemuth. “It means that if you invest in a high interest rate environment you accept a higher risk, rather than asking taxpayers from other countries to cover your losses.” The plan has proven enormously unpopular in Cyprus. But while no European institution nor the Cypriot government has been willing to claim responsibility for the idea of targeting bank deposits, they have agreed to its implementation. What now for Cyprus? The impact of the bailout deal on Cypriot society is enormous. Everyone with an account in Cyprus holding more than 100,000 euros – the maximum amount guaranteed under EU law – will have around 40 percent of their deposits turned into bank shares. It is impossible to say what these shares will be worth in the future, if anything. Plans to include account holders with less than 100,000 euros in the bail-in were dropped after furious protests and lack of parliamentary support in Nicosia. Cyprus’ second largest bank, Laiki Bank, is going to be closed. Some 4.2 billion euros worth of accounts that contain over 100,000 euros will be placed in a "bad bank," thereby isolating them from more stable assets. The other accounts will be transferred to the Bank of Cyprus, the country’s largest bank, which will undergo a restructuring process. When banks opened again in Cyprus Thursday after a two-week closure, customers faced not only armed guards and police at the branches, but also severe restrictions on the movement of capital. Daily withdrawals are limited to 300 euros, no checks can be cashed, credit card transactions abroad are limited to 5,000 euros per month. Businesses can carry out transactions of up to 5,000 euros per day only, and any commercial transaction over 5,000 euros needs to be reviewed by specially formed committees. The Cypriot ministry of finance insisted that the capital control measures would be a matter of days, perhaps weeks. Analysts are not convinced. “Such measures are extremely difficult to reverse,” says Guntram Wolff, vice-director of the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. “Iceland introduced them after their banking crisis – five years later they are still in place.” But even if capital can flow freely again in Cyprus, the future looks bleak. Experts agree that the economy will be going into a recession that could last years. “Their business model is shattered,” says Volker Treier of the German Chamber of Commerce. “They need to focus on the tourism industry now and hope that they can develop those natural gas fields off their coast.” What are the consequences for the rest of the eurozone? This question is fiercely debated in European capitals now: Is the Cyprus bailout a one-off, or a model for the future? Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and recently-appointed head of the Eurogroup, caused a shock in the financial world when he told Reuters that from now on account holders and investors should prepare to carry some of the burden in bailouts. The statement sent shares around the world tumbling and drew strong criticism from several of Mr. Dijsselbloem’s European colleagues. The Cypriot bailout raised a second question across Europe: If the Cyprus business model is not viable any more, what about other places with a similar economy? Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, lashed out against Germany, which had been particularly critical of Cyprus’ oversized banking sector. “Germany does not have the right to dictate the business model for other EU countries,” Mr. Asselborn said, rather undiplomatically. In Berlin, they are trying to play the debate down. Cyprus was a special case, insisted Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble. This assertion might be tested sooner than expected. Apparently Slovenia’s banking sector is in very bad shape. The country could be the next to apply for a bailout.

Credit Unions Home-Brew Custom Apps It may be too early to call it a trend but at a growing—albeit small—number of credit unions are using internal IT staff to develop mobile apps, rather than buying them off the shelf. “We did not see what we wanted off the shelf. We came to the conclusion that we needed to build our apps ourselves,” said Ray Black, vice president of marketing and remote delivery at the $1.5 billion Genisys Credit Union in Auburn Hills, Mich. At $5.6 billion Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union in Live Oak, Texas, Senior Vice President Mary O’Rourke elaborated that RBFCU created its own apps because “we want to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace. So we are always looking for ways to innovate, to keep our apps fresh.” Using the very same app in use at hundreds of other credit unions, suggested O’Rourke, is no way to achieve differentiation. A proof of the commitment to home brewed innovation at RBFCU is that it recently introduced a continually updated balance widget that, at the member’s option, displays account balances on a smartphone with no need to log in. “We had over two thousand downloads on the first day,” O’Rourke said, adding that member feedback continues to be strong and approving. Back at Genisys, Michelle Mattson, electronic services manager, said that a guiding goal in the credit union’s mobile app development is that they want their apps to be utterly standalone. “There is no need for a mobile member to have ever even visited our website,” Mattson said. Genisys, she suggested, feels it can get there better creating its own tools. Genisys is also especially proud of its mobile remote deposit tools, which it built out on its own, using the processing backend provided by Vertifi, the Burlington, Mass.-based technology subsidiary of Eastern Corporate Credit Union. “We have seen substantial member usage of deposit capture, it’s proven very popular,” Mattson said. Next Page: In-House at Navy Federal Another home brewer is Navy Federal, the $55 billion Vienna, Va.-based credit union, which develops all its apps in house, “with help as needed from consultants,” said Meghan Gound, assistant vice president of eChannels. On the drawing boards at Navy Fed is development of a credit card application tool that, Gound said, will feature a wizard that lets a member quickly sort through many credit card options to find one that best suits his or her needs. The aim is to let a member apply in three steps and get an immediate decision, said Gound, who said the app will launch this winter. She indicated that Navy Fed also is exploring what it might release as an app for Kindle Fire, a popular, low-cost Android tablet from Amazon. “We have a laundry list of items we want to develop,” Gound said, who suggested Navy Fed members can expect to see a number of home brewed apps released over the next year. At Fairwinds Credit Union, a $1.6 billion Orlando, Fla., institution, executive vice president Charlie Lai related that his shop is especially pleased with a home brewed new account opening app for iPad, created when Fairwinds won the right to pursue student business on the giant University of Central Florida campus. “With this app we can open a new account in three to four minutes,” said Lai. He added that a unique requirement was that the student ID card had to play a central role in the app, because on campus, it is commonly used as a payment tool. Before, using past generation tools, account opening took maybe 20 minutes, he said. Lai knew that would not cut it in the UCF environment. So far, Fairwinds has opened around 2,000 new memberships, Lai said, The primary use is by credit union employees who make contact with students during orientations for new enrollees. The students are deluged with information during these days, he said, so Fairwinds wanted a fast, and engaging, way to get them enrolled as credit union members. Development of the app took around three weeks, Lai said, who acknowledged it is built on top of a PC-based account opening tool that was also home brewed by Fairwinds. He indicated that the present plan now is to bring the iPad app back to the branches, to take over account opening, because this “will get staff away from the counter and out circulating with members. The iPad form factor offers us unique opportunities.” Dreams get bigger still, at many other credit unions. Case in point: At RBFCU, the credit union has kicked home brewing up a notch, by taking a page from Google and Facebook, both of which are known for setting aside development days where programmers—working with tight time constraints—focus on creating something useful. “We want to empower our people to execute their own ideas,” said O’Rourke, who indicated the plan is to challenge his mobile team to produce more apps that are unique to RFBCU.

[tag: science] EPA study on mercury suggests women may be smarter about eating fish Drawing on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new study suggests that women of child bearing age may be making smarter choices about the fish they eat, which the EPA says is good news because fish remains an important part of a healthy diet. Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News SALT LAKE CITY — New study results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show the mercury intake of women of childbearing age across the nation has dropped dramatically, but the amount of fish being consumed has changed very little. Drawing on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study suggests that women may be making smarter choices about the fish they eat, which the EPA says is good news because fish remains an important part of a healthy diet. The survey looked at study results from 1999-2000 and compared those to subsequent surveys carried out from 2001 to 2010. It found blood mercury concentrations dropped 35 percent in women. The number of women with blood mercury levels above the level of concern plummeted by 65 percent. Such significant decreases indicate, too, that fish consumption advisories put out by state environmental and health departments may be having an effect on the public, although the EPA was cautious to draw that conclusion. People become exposed to mercury after it is released into the environment and converted to methylmercury in soils and sediments. Over time, it bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish. Exposure in developing fetuses and young children has been linked to adverse effects that include a decrease in IQ and motor function. Nationally, the EPA study focused largely on the consumption of ocean fish, but it noted that residents also need to be mindful of what is consumed from local waterways such as mountain lakes and streams. In Utah, there are 12 different fish species in 23 locations that are under the state's fish consumption advisory for mercury. Species include brown trout, walleye, catfish and wiper, but the contamination varies from lake to lake and fish to fish. The state has had a mercury workgroup since 2005, when the Utah Department of Environmental Quality in partnership with the Utah Department of Health launched its fish consumption advisory program. John Whitehead, deputy director of the state Division of Water Quality, has chaired the group since its inception, leading the efforts on crafting advisories for what fish are safe to consume at what level by residents. In its fledgling years, Whitehead said the program garnered quite a bit of attention and concern by the public, who may initially have been alarmed over the mercury advisories. "As we have gone through the years, I think people are understanding the context of these advisories a little bit better," he said. Whitehead's division, coupled with the state health department, have to strike a delicate balance of keeping the public informed about the fish consumption advisories in effect due to mercury, yet not dissuading fish consumption. "Fish is very good to eat and the health benefits are very strong," said Craig Dietrich, toxicologist with the Utah Department of Health's environmental epidemiology program. "One just needs to be mindful of what we are eating." Dietrich, in fact, convinced his colleagues and other agencies to add information to the advisories when they are issued that includes the consumption amounts for non-sensitive populations as well. People who are not in the risk categories, such as adult men, can consume three times as much fish. "The dangers of mercury ingestion drop away dramatically at that point," he said. Dietrich said he believes the study results help to drive home the benefits of the health advisories by raising public awareness and helping consumers make informed choices. Curiously, the study did find that increasing age and income led to higher concentrations of blood mercury levels among women — which Dietrich said makes sense. "Shark is expensive. Ahi tuna is expensive," he said. "It is something that is reflective of economics. Tilapia? Not so much." Generally, women of child-bearing age and young children are advised to refrain from eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish because they contain higher levels of mercury. Predator fish that live longer and grow to be larger have the higher concentrations of mercury, such as blue fin tuna, sea bass and halibut. Fish that are commonly eaten that have the lowest levels of mercury are canned light tuna, shrimp, salmon, pollock and catfish. The EPA noted that its study is in support of making fish safer for consumption, with efforts that embrace a three-pronged approach that encourages development of statewide mercury reduction strategies, reduction of the air deposition of mercury and improving public information and notification of fish contamination risks. In 2013, the agency took two substantive steps to make fish and shellfish safer to eat by proposing new guidelines for effluent discharges from steam electric power plants and by issuing a new mercury and air toxics rule. The rule sets emission limitation standards for mercury emitted from power plants. "... mercury emitted from power plants." The one detail missing from the end of this article is the key source of mercury in our fish and waterfowl -- COAL! 80 percent of Utah's electricity comes from coal, and its More..

Reader's comments » By adding a comment on the site, you accept our terms and conditions and our netiquette rules. When Calgary Flames forward Curtis Glencross decided to put together a charity event, saddle bronc rider Jim Berry was quick to jump onboard. “His dad used to sell our calves,” Berry said of when he first crossed paths with the NHLer. “And he was hanging around (chuckwagon driver) Rae Croteau, and I lived at Croteau’s for awhile. “So we started hanging out and one thing led to the next.” The next thing, as it turned out, was the Glencross Invitational Charity Roughstock in late August. Berry was one of the cowboys who helped the NHLer organize the event. “It was tough to get guys at that time of the year, when it doesn’t count towards the CFR,” Berry said. “And we had a lot of guys who were hurt and injured. “We lost five bullriders, who got hurt the weekend before. “We spent a lot of hours on the phone trying to get things lined up and figured out. “It was busy for a few weeks with work, rodeo and organizing the event.” The event, which was held at the Daines Ranch in Innisfail, was a massive success. Grassroots hockey The poker tournament and rodeo raised more than $180,000 with all proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House in Red Deer and grassroots hockey programs through the Hockey Alberta Foundation. “It couldn’t have went any better for it’s first year,” Berry said. “It raised a lot more money than I thought it would, and it was for a good cause.” Berry also put together a pretty good season for himself. The Rocky Mountain House saddle bronc rider finished third in Canada with $28,023. He said travelling with young gun and season leader Rylan Geiger boosted his own output. “I just travelled with one guy,” Berry said. “Usually, we travel in a group of four. “(Geiger) took quite a bit of the money home. There weren’t too many weekends where he went home without any money.” ‘Charity cheque’ Berry said it was easy to remain positive as one, and usually both, of the travelling partners were consistently winning. “I hadn’t travelled with him before this year,” Berry said. “He’s younger and more energetic. “He has a real positive attitude with whatever he was getting on.” Berry, who works in the oilfield near Rocky, said he’s looking forward to continuing a solid run at the CFR, where he’s making his seventh appearance. “My first year, I got a charity cheque,” the 30-year-old said. “The last few years, it’s been really good. I can’t complain.” Two years ago, he won the opening round, his lone round-win thus far. “That sure helps when you get the jitters out on opening night,” he said. “You have money in the bank and it keeps the week upbeat.” scott.fisher@sunmedia.ca On Twitter: @SUNScottFisher By adding a comment on the site, you accept our terms and conditions and our netiquette rules.

The Independent Asylum Commission today publishes 'Saving Sanctuary', the first of three reports of recommendations aimed at restoring public confidence in sanctuary for those who have fled persecution. Following eighteen months of evidence-gathering and listening to all sides of the debate, the independent Commissioners appointed by the Citizen Organising Foundation, are now making recommendations for reform that safeguard the rights of asylum seekers but are also aimed at commanding the confidence of the British public. The remaining two reports of recommendations will be published later in 2008. The Saving Sanctuary report includes the first of three UK Border Agency responses to the Commission’s Interim Findings – Fit for Purpose Yet? – launched on March 27th 2008, along with the results of the Commission’s Public Attitudes Research Project, opinion poll research and CITIZENS SPEAK – a consultation giving ordinary people a say on sanctuary in the UK. The Commission concludes that there is grave misunderstanding in the public mind about the term ‘asylum’ which if not addressed threatens to undermine support for the UK’s tradition of providing sanctuary to those fleeing persecution; and recommends that immediate action is taken to win hearts and minds and long term public support for sanctuary. Following its public CITIZENS SPEAK consultation, the Commission also concludes that there is a mainstream consensus on five key values which is says should be foundational principles on which policy relating to those seeking sanctuary should be based. It recommends that current and future government policy be brought into line with those values. The Commission’s public attitudes research found that the public are unclear about what asylum seekers are and the process that they have to go though when they arrive in the UK. One typical focus group response was that "…to most people the term asylum seeker just means anybody coming to live off our state system." The public perceives that on the whole asylum seekers are treated better than they would like - another participant in the research commented: "Asylum seekers go to a car auction and get free housing, mobile phone, phone credit to search for jobs, and vouchers for a free car." Public concern about asylum is strongly linked to perceptions of the effectiveness of the asylum system itself. When asked what would make them feel more positive towards asylum seekers, the most popular suggestion was 'a more effective asylum system' - cited by 43.8% of opinion poll respondents. And while 65.4% of opinion poll respondents were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ proud of the UK’s tradition of providing sanctuary to people fleeing persecution, 58% said that that the UK should reconsider its commitment to providing sanctuary. Speaking ahead of the launch of the Saving Sanctuary report Rt. Hon. Sir John Waite, co-chair of the Independent Asylum Commission and a former Judge of the High Court said: “Unless we take action to restore public support and confidence, the outlook for the UK’s tradition of providing sanctuary to those fleeing persecution is bleak. The public overwhelmingly supports the idea that we provide sanctuary to those who need it and they are on the whole proud of our history as a safe haven – but there is a profound disconnection in the public mind between the sanctuary they want the UK to provide and their perception of asylum seekers and the asylum system." In a series of recommendations to restore public support for sanctuary in the UK, the Commissioners urge key figures from politics, media and civil society to hold a ‘sanctuary summit’ and work out a roadmap for communicating sanctuary to the public. They suggest that no child should leave school without being aware of the UK’s past and present role as a safe haven for those seeking sanctuary. The Commissioners also advise those wishing to communicate effectively with the public to avoid using the term ‘asylum’ or ‘asylum seeker’ if they wish to convey messages about people seeking sanctuary from persecution. Ifath Nawaz, President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers, and also co-chair of the Independent Asylum Commission also speaking ahead of the launch said: “For those who have fled persecution, sanctuary is saving – our duty is to save sanctuary for those who will undoubtedly need it in the future. We hope that this report and the two that follow it later this summer will provide a foundation on which policy-makers can build a system that commands long term public support for sanctuary.” She continued: “The public have to understand and support sanctuary and the system that provides it for those fleeing persecution. And that is why the Commission is calling for a campaign to win a ‘centreground for sanctuary’ - to win hearts and minds - and ensure we have a system that is in line with the values of the mainstream British public.”

There are a lot of different kinds of bats -- from the tiny bumblebee bat (which is the size of a jellybean and weighs less than a penny) to the huge Bismarck flying fox (with a wingspan as long as an average man). In fact, there are over 900 different species of bats -- they make up one fifth of the world's mammals. They are the second largest group of mammals (rodents are the largest). Bats live all over the world, from the United States to Australia except for in the coldest parts. Bats are grouped into two main groups -- the large fruit eating bats (also known as "flying foxes" or "megabats") and the smaller bats ("microbats") who eat insects, blood, fish, lizards, birds and nectar. Megabats and microbats are quite different from one another. Microbats live worldwide, except for Antarctica and most of the arctic region. Most of the world's bats are microbats. Megabats include nearly 200 species and live in tropical regions. They look a lot more like land mammals we're familiar with -- which is why they're called "flying foxes". Most megabats are unable to echolocate, although there are a few (like the Egyptian Rousette) that can. About eWashtenaw | About Washtenaw County | eCentral | © 2015 Washtenaw County, MI Accessibility | Disclaimer | Security | Official website of Washtenaw County, MI

Rock frontman Tom Keifer is best known as the singer, songwriter and guitarist for the hard rock band Cinderella. The band formed in Philadelphia and is one of the most beloved bands from the ‘80s who has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. After over thirty years in the band, Keifer has released his first ever solo album. In a recent interview with Keifer, he talked about how he got his start in music, his long awaited new album and much more. The turning point in his life as a musician first began when he saw The Beatles perform on television when he was around eight years old. “When I saw The Beatles play on The Ed Sullivan Show, it made me want to pick up the guitar,” Keifer said. From that point on, he began taking music lessons and never looked back. His earliest musical influences included bands such as The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Once he became more inundated in music, his influences included bands such as Yes, Rush, Faces, The Eagles and Janis Joplin, just to name a few. His eclectic taste in music can be heard in his own because of the wide range of music genres he has been exposed to over the years. Keifer began working on his solo career in the ‘90s once Cinderella went on a hiatus and the music scene changed. The idea for his debut solo album, The Way Life Goes, is an idea that has evolved over the years. “It’s about real, every day emotions and experiences,” Keifer explained. Many genres of music can be heard in his music – everything from blues, country, rock and even gospel. “It draws from life and the process of life…I wait for the process to hit me…it’s not by appointment,” he explained when it comes to his songwriting style. Keifer made his debut as a solo artist with his recent release The Way Life Goes. It’s been a long time in the making, and it’s definitely an album to check out. The release has spurred three singles including “Cold Day in Hell,” “Solid Ground,” and “The Flower Song.” The latter song was inspired by his wife, Savannah, who also wrote and co-produced some of the songs on the album. He is a very talented songwriter who has more than made his way in the music world. Keifer made the move from Los Angeles to Nashville in the mid-90s. “Nashville is an amazing city. I moved on a whim…and I started writing with people. Nashville is full of amazing musicians,” he stated. When it comes to advice for fellow musicians, Keifer suggests, “Play what’s in your heart. It needs to be real…trends are a waste of time, and chasing trends is yesterday’s news.” He also maintains that it’s very important to stay persistent. He has definitely made his mark in the music business over the years. Starting out as one of the most successful bands of the 80’s era was just the beginning. Keifer is a talented singer, songwriter and guitar player who has made himself a part of music history. Keifer is currently embarking on his first ever solo tour and will be performing in Nashville tomorrow night at the Mercy Lounge and tickets can be purchased HERE or at the door. For more information about the tour and new album, check out his WEBSITE. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Don Pardo, whose voice was heard on game shows, soap operas, news shows, “Saturday Night Live” and a famous recording by “Weird Al” Yankovic, has died at age 96, reported the Hollywood Reporter Monday. No details of his death were available. Dominick George Pardo was born on Feb. 22, 1918, in Westfield, Massachusetts. He began his career in the late 1930s at a small Rhode Island radio station. He began his career with NBC in 1944 at a radio station affiliated with the network. He moved to television in the 1950s as announcer on game shows such as “Concentration,” “Judge For Yourself,” “Choose Up Sides,” “Charge Account,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “The Colgate Comedy Hour,” “Winner Take All,” “The Price Is Right,” “Remember This Date” and the original “Jeopardy!” with host Art Fleming. He joined “Saturday Night Live” in 1975 and participated in some sketches, including a song with Frank Zappa called “I'm the Slime.” According to biography.com, he was given a lifetime contract from NBC. During the run of "The Price Is Right" with host Bill Cullen, he made occasional on-air appearances. And in a 1998 interview, he talked about being one of the first to announce the assassination of President Kennedy on the air. In 1984, he had the main role as the announcer on the “Weird Al” Yankovic song “I Lost on Jeopardy!,” a parody of a Greg Kihn tune. The song debuted on the Billboard charts on June 30, 1984 and peaked at #81 in a three-week stint on the charts. He introduced the "contestants," but his speech to Yankovic later in the song that parodied the many prize announcements he made on “Jeopardy!” through the years was hilarious. “That's right Al, you lost. And let me tell you what you didn't win: a 20-volume set volume!” In recent years, he had roles in “Radio Days” and “The Simpsons.” He has been inducted into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame and later the Television Academy Hall of Fame, one of the few announcers to be so honored.

The partnership will help Nestlé identify ingredients that consumers find as pleasing as salt, but the focus is not necessarily on imitating saltiness, research and development manager for Nestlé’s food strategic business unit Sean Westcott said. “Recently there’s been a number of advances about how salt taste works,” he said. “…There is a better understanding of the taste receptor of salt and how it works from a physiological perspective.” Working with this idea of how we perceive salt, Chromocell researchers use a proprietary technology to screen for compounds that cause salt taste receptors to respond, and are able to select cells that function in a similar way, he said. After these compounds have been identified, researchers can then take their findings on for sensory testing, to work out which work best from a consumer acceptance perspective. “Our ambition is to provide foods that are as healthy as home cooked meals. We want to be able to provide that across our product range…It is not so much about providing specific reduced salt lines,” said Westcott. Nestlé said that it is investing US$15m (about €11.6m) in the research project, which is expected to last at least three years. The company said it has removed more than 12,000 tonnes of salt from its foods around the world over the past ten years. It has introduced low-salt ranges such as its Equilive brand soups, seasonings and bouillons in Chile, a special range of Herta Knacki sausages and Le Bon Paris cooked ham in France, a Maggi Benebien bouillon range in the Dominican Republic and Maggi bouillon cubes in the Netherlands. Chromocell CEO Christian Kopfli said in a statement: “We aim to improve consumer products using breakthrough science and our leading Chromovert technology. “We share Nestlé’s commitment to nutrition, health and wellness through our unique work in the development of the highest-quality ingredients.”

This. The shuttered energy concern has only $71 million to stretch across more than $900 million in unpaid debts. Is it fair for creditors to squeeze only $7 or $8 million out of the Solyndra mess? The IRS claims tax benefits to Solyndra’s smiling owners are worth about $150 million. Yet Solyndra’s lawyers won their battle with the IRS over whether its Chapter 11 plan should be confirmed. It was, and the owners of Solyndra must be pleased. What’s more, the IRS lost its request for a stay that would have stopped Solyndra from carrying out its restructuring plan while the IRS appeals the bankruptcy court’s approval of the plan. See IRS Loses Appeal to Stop Solyndra From Carrying Out Plan. The IRS didn’t mince words about Solyndra’s plan, claiming its “principal purpose is tax avoidance.” The IRS said the owners of the empty corporate shell were just avoiding taxes. See IRS Slams Solyndra Bankruptcy Plan. The tax breaks soak up income that would otherwise be taxed. See IRS Says ‘Tax Avoidance’ at Heart of Solyndra Bankruptcy Plan. The bankruptcy rules on net operating losses (NOLs) are complex, but there are ways NOLs can survive. See Bailout and NOL Rules: What, Me Worry? It appears that’s what Solyndra and its shareholders counted on. See Attorneys for IRS, Energy Department Object to Solyndra Bankruptcy Plan. But is this a done deal? The loan guarantee means taxpayers are on the hook, and the confirmation of the bankruptcy plan means creditors lose out too. But the IRS gets another bite at the apple. When Solyndra starts claiming the NOLs, the IRS will surely resurface. In fact, the tax code allows the IRS to argue all over again that the losses can’t be used because they were just for tax avoidance. The finding of the bankruptcy court has no effect. The question the IRS can be expected to probe is slightly different from what the IRS argued in bankruptcy court. In bankruptcy court, the question was whether the main purpose of the plan was tax avoidance. But under section 269 of the tax code, the question is whether the principal purpose of acquiring control of the company was tax avoidance. No matter how you slice it, the Solyndra mess is unfortunate, an embarrassment to President Obama’s administration, and expensive. And all the battles aren’t over yet..

Alfred H. Littlefield (April 2, 1829 – December 21, 1893) was an American politician and the 35th Governor of Rhode Island. Early life Littlefield was born in Scituate, Providence County, Rhode Island on April 12, 1829. He later became a successful businessman. Political career Littlefield was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1876 and 1877. He also served in the state Senate in 1878 and 1879. He held the governor's office from May 25, 1880 to May 29, 1883. He was a Republican and succeeded fellow Republican Charles C. Van Zandt, who did not run for re-election in 1880. Littlefield beat the Democratic candidate Horace A. Kimball by 10,224 votes against 7,440, with 5,047 votes going to the Prohibition candidate Albert C. Howard. Republican Henry H. Fay became Lieutenant Governor. During his administration, the boundary line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts was established. He was succeeded May 29, 1883, by fellow Republican Augustus O. Bourn. He died on December 21, 1893. He was interred at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island.

[tag: science] 1st Battalion, 202nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment Batteries E and F, 1st Battalion, 202nd Air Defense Artillery, are respectively assigned to the 45th and 39th Enhanced Separate Brigades. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 202nd Air Defense Artillery, deployed to Iceland to take part in the 2001 Northern Viking exercise. 1st Battalion, 202nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, traces its origins to the consitution on 1 July 1897 in the Illinois National Guard of a squadron of cavalry organized from existing troops. That unit expanded, reorganized, and was mustered into Federal service on 21 May 1898 as the 1st Illinois Volunteer Cavalry; and mustered out of Federal service 11 October 1898 at Fort Sheridan, IL. It reorganized in 1899 in the Illinois National Guard as the Squadron of Cavalry. It expanded, reorganized, and was redesignated on 22 June 1899 as the 1st Cavalry. The unit was mustered into Federal service on 27 June 1916 and mustered out of Federal service 17 November 1916 at Fort Sheridan, IL. Chicago elements converted and were redesignated on 9 June 1917 as the 2d Field Artillery. The 2d Field Artillery was drafted into Federal service 5 August 1917 and was reorganized and redesignated on 21 September 1917 as the 122d Field Artillery and was assigned to the 33d Division. It was demobilized 7-8 June 1919 at Camp Grant, IL. The unit reorganized on 20 August 1919 in the Illinois National Guard at Chicago as the 1st Field Artillery; while its Headquarters was Federally recognized on 11 November 1921. It was redesignated on 13 December 1921 as the 122d Field Artillery and assigned to the 33d Division. It was inducted into Federal service on 5 March 1941 at Chicago. The 2d Battalion, 122d Field Artillery, reorganized and was redesignated on 12 February 1942 as the 210th Field Artillery Battalion, an element of the 33d Infantry Division. The 210th Field Artillery Battalion inactivated on 5 February 1946 in Japan. Reorganized and Federally recognized on 18 December 1946 at Chicago. It converted and was redesignated on 28 February 1954 as the 248th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion and relieved from assignment to the 33d Infantry Division. It reorganized and was redesignated pm 15 February 1958 as the 248th Missile Battalion. It consolidated on 1 March 1959 with the 698th Missile Battalion and the consolidated unit was reorganized and redesignated as the 202d Artillery, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System, to consist of the 1st and 2d Missile Battalions. It consolidated on 1 April 1963 with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 202d Artillery Group, and the consolidated unit was designated as the 202d Artillery. It reorganized on 8 October 1963 to consist of the 1st Missile Battalion; on 1 January 1966 to consist of the 1st Battalion; and was redesignated on 1 April 1972 as the 202d Air Defense Artillery. Its Federal recognition was withdrawn on 30 September 1974. It reconstituted on 26 October 1994 in the Illinois Army National Guard and consolidated with the 202d Air Defense Artillery; the consolidated unit was designated as the 202d Air Defense Artillery to consist of the 1st Battalion, an element of the 34th Infantry Division, and the 2d Battalion.

Lt. Gen. Christianson, a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Army ROTC program at North Dakota State University, was commissioned as an Ordnance Officer in 1971. From 1971-1974, Lt. Gen. Christianson was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas.. From 1979 to 1982, Lt. Gen.t. Gen. Christianson commanded the 725th Main Support Battalion, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, from 1989 to 1991. In 1992, after completion of the Army War College, he returned to Hawaii as the Assistant Chief of Staff G4, 25th Infantry Division (Light). In 1993, Lt. Gen. Christianson was assigned as the Chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) at the American Embassy, Rome, Italy.t. Gen. Christianson servedt. Gen.. During this time Christianson's vision made sustainment transformation happen for the Army and greatly contributed to our successes in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His last position was the Director for Logistics, the Joint Staff, Washington, D.C. which he assumed his duties on 11 October 2005. Lieutenant General Christianson retired on 1 June 2008 after over 37 years of outstanding and dedicated military service. He led the way in logistics transformation that continues to this day. He continues to serve the nation as the Senior Director of the Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics at the National Defense University.

Doctors working for the Veterans Affairs department received performance-based bonuses despite providing poor treatment, according to a new report, due to a lack of agencywide standards defining the prerequisites for the monetary awards. In fiscal 2011, about 80 percent of Veterans Health Administration providers -- physicians and dentists -- received $150 million in incentivized pay, according to a Government Accountability Office audit. These employees are eligible to collect up to $15,000 or 7.5 percent of their base pay in an annual lump sum. Additionally, about 20 percent of providers received $10 million in performance awards. VA, however, has failed to provide the “overarching purpose” behind the payments, leaving each medical facility to make its own determinations. This has led to lax oversight of what qualifies the providers to receive the bonuses. Every physician in GAO's random 2010 and 2011 samples who was eligible to receive performance pay received it, even in cases where their actual performance was problematic. One physician practiced with an expired license for three months, but still received more than $7,600 in performance pay -- despite being “reprimanded” by his employer -- because having a current license was “not a factor that was considered” in determining whether to make the payment. Another provider repeatedly refused to see patients in the emergency room because he believed they were falsely admitted. That doctor failed on 12 of his 13 performance goals, but still received more than $7,500 in performance pay. GAO found one VHA radiologist “failed to read mammograms and other complex images competently,” but still received more than $8,000 in incentivized pay. A VHA surgeon left a surgery during the procedure and allowed his residents to continue unsupervised. The doctor was suspended for 14 days without pay, but still received more than $11,000 in performance pay. Yet another physician received a three-day suspension for not responding when on call and creating “an atmosphere of fear and poor morale” through outbursts of yelling. The doctor received a performance payment of more than $10,000. “While VHA strives to provide high-quality and safe care to veterans, concerns continue to surface about the quality of care it delivers,” GAO wrote in its report. “Meanwhile, many providers continue to receive compensation that is tied directly to their performance.” To fix these improper payments, GAO recommended VA clarify the purpose of the incentive system, as well as its oversight of compliance with the goals providers need to reach to earn their performance payments. VA generally agreed with GAO’s findings and said it would take the recommended steps to improve the payment system. (Image via ost.

New Wal-Mart Leadership: Seemingly Small Town Change Has Big Time Impact New Wal-Mart Leadership: Seemingly Small Town Change Has Big Time Impact With the country abuzz about the power shift in our nation's capital, the town of Bentonville, Arkansas, is preparing for change with global implications. On February 1, Lee Scott stepped down after almost a decade as CEO of Wal-Mart, ceding the reigns of power to Mike Duke. Outside of the recent change at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this could be one of the most significant transitions of 2009. The CEO of Wal-Mart is a big job. The company's annual revenue exceeds $370 billion -- greater than the GDP of all but the 20 largest economies in the world. Each week nearly 200 million people walk into a Wal-Mart store. The products on Wal-Mart's shelves originate from over 60,000 suppliers around the globe. As a result, the company has an enormous environmental impact. In 2005, Lee Scott laid out three bold environmental goals for Wal-Mart: Create zero waste, be supplied by 100 percent renewable energy and sell sustainable products. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and other organizations recognized this historic opportunity to work with the world's largest retailer to help it reach these impressive goals. If Wal-Mart is successful in meeting these goals, we will accomplish nothing short of a radical transformation of supply chains worldwide. The ultimate success or failure of Wal-Mart's sustainability efforts will likely be formed during the tenure of Duke as CEO. Given the seriousness of the climate crisis today, failure is not an option. Working with groups such as EDF, Wal-Mart must dramatically reduce the level of emissions being poured into the atmosphere from the manufacturing and transport of the products it sources. At the same time, we must encourage Wal-Mart -- and other companies of its size -- to push for innovative, environmentally-sound technologies and products that will revitalize our failing economy, getting us back on the road to growth. The good news is that Wal-Mart has made some praiseworthy progress in the past few years. The company has set impressive goals for the efficiency of its fleet and stores, jumpstarted the market for compact florescent light-bulbs, squeezed liquid laundry detergent into more compact packaging and laid the groundwork to drastically reduce plastic bag waste. Wal-Mart has also built a strong team of associates working to meet Scott's goals and has started asking questions about the environmental footprints of its products. We are also heartened by Duke's leadership on this issue to date, as illustrated by the powerful talk he gave to Chinese suppliers last fall, urging them to face up to their environmental responsibilities. But there is still a long road ahead. Wal-Mart's growth means that its greenhouse gas footprint continues to increase. Some products on Wal-Mart's shelves contain chemicals that could harm human health or the environment or for which safer substitutes exist. And suppliers from China and other developing economies spew ever-increasing amounts of toxins into their local environments, contributing to respiratory ailments among local populations. To address these and other environmental threats, Wal-Mart can take important, concrete steps now. Most immediately, the company must make a commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution from its operations and its network of suppliers. Equally urgent, Wal-Mart must establish a system for comprehensively evaluating the environmental and life-cycle impacts of its products. Wal-Mart can ultimately meet the three bold goals proclaimed by Scott, but it will take a strong, determined effort by all Wal-Mart associates and an unwavering commitment by Duke. Many suppliers and groups such as EDF stand ready to work collaboratively with Wal-Mart to ensure a cleaner planet, a healthier population, and high-quality affordable goods Product by product, innovation by innovation, we commit to working with Duke both as Wal-Mart's chief executive officer and chief environmental officer. In doing so, we can put this small town transition of power to work for us all. Gwen Ruta, vice president for Corporate Partnerships at Environmental Defense Fund, spearheads its work with leading multinational companies to develop innovative, business-based solutions to environmental challenges and to drive change through the corporate value chain.

Joseph Horak, Ph.D. is the Director of the Family Owned Business Institute at the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University. As Director, Joe leads the strategic direction of the FOBI and oversees the operations and services provided by the Institute. The mission of FOBI is to serve family owned businesses through education, research and advocacy. Joe has taught family business at GVSU since 2007. He began consulting with family owned businesses in the late 1980’s as a Senior Family Therapist at Henry Ford Hospital in Dearborn, MI, when this new consulting area was just beginning. He has helped many family owned and privately held companies through transitions for over 25 years. Joe also provides leadership assessment and coaching. Joe is licensed as a Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist. Governor Engler twice appointed him to the Licensing Board for Marriage and Family Therapy and Governor Snyder appointed him to the Licensing Board for Psychology. In 2011, he was awarded the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Department at Western Michigan University. In 2002, he received the Professional Practice Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. This is the highest award a practitioner can receive and has only been awarded three times since 1942. In 2014 and 2015 Joe coached GVSU students in the International Family Business Case Competition. In 2014 the GVSU team won the award for the Most Creative and Innovative Team and both years a student from Seidman’s team won the award for the Best Presenter in their division. Dr. Horak was previously the Senior Director of Family Business Consultation and Leadership Development at DWH, a consulting firm in Grand Rapids, MI. Amy Gascon joined the Family Owned Business Institute. Qi’Shaun Coyle joined the Family Owned Business Institute as an intern in April 2015. She is a Communications major, minoring in Business. Qi’Shaun graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Qi’Shaun is an active volunteer for Business Professionals of America (BPA), an organization geared towards helping middle and high school students prepare for the workforce. She also assists in her mother’s home health care business in Detroit, Loving Arms. In the future, Qi’Shaun would like to open her own business center in order to assist the community with job-related tasks.

A Mayflower descendant puts a contemporary twist on Olde New England Author Jolyon Helterman BOSTON’S DINING SCENE is lousy with eateries giving perfunctory nods to the region’s history, yielding an endless buffet of pasty “chowdahs,” saccharine baked beans and ersatz, warmed-over clam bakes. By contrast, newcomer Puritan & Company forgoes the museum approach in favor of a modern take on foodstuffs that Bay Staters actually ate—swordfish, bluefish, johnnycakes, Parker House potato rolls and even Moxie, a beloved local brand of syrupy cola—in a modern space with exposed ducts and distressed-oak floors in Cambridge’s Inman Square. Every meal ends with a gratis square of cake as a tribute to the Puritan Cake Co., the restaurant’s early-1900s namesake, which once occupied the premises. “Massachusetts cuisine is a style that doesn’t get the sort of respect it deserves,” says chef-owner Will Gilson, whose family has lived in the state for 13 generations. “I had to put something down on paper, so I called my food ‘urban farmhouse.’ But it’s really just the dishes and ingredients I grew up with, seen through a modern prism.” Sure enough, the swordfish here gets cured as pastrami and plated with mustard gelato. The Moxie becomes a glaze slathered onto tender braised lamb belly. To accompany rare Wagyu steak, Gilson resurrects the veggies served in a traditional Yankee boiled dinner—rutabagas, potatoes, carrots—with a clever riff that might be called not-boiling-them-to-death. Then there’s hardtack, a simple type of biscuit named as much for its taste and texture as its nonperishability, which the Pilgrims brought along on their trans-Atlantic voyage. Suffice it to say, the hardtack crackers served with Gilson’s bluefish pâté represent a well-deserved update. While it’s near impossible to find a chef these days who doesn’t pay lip service to locavorism, for Gilson it’s not a trend but instead another nod to his heritage. Herbs and greens for Puritan & Company come from the Herb Lyceum, his parents’ farm in nearby Groton, where Gilson was raised. Eighty percent of the beer list hails from New England, including a craft brown ale brewed in Portland, Maine, that features locally sourced honey, ginger, hops and barley. Even the restaurant’s décor speaks to authentic New England: In place of tricorns and bayonets are 19th-century kitchen gadgets and a host stand created from a 1920s gas stove. “That’s actually the stove I used to cook on with my grandmother when I was 3, standing on top of a chair,” says Gilson. Most of the vintage items, in fact, were salvaged from his family’s home. “I grew up in very much a New England household,” he says. “We made apple pies. We ate boiled dinners. We grew a lot of the food, and then we cooked it. In the end, I’m just trying to pay homage to the way some of us ate growing up.”

On June 3, voters in West New York, Weehawken, Union City, Guttenberg, North Bergen, and Secaucus can go to the polls to choose one of two candidates in the Democratic primary to serve on the Board of Hudson County Freeholders, which votes on policy and budgets for the county and its institutions. The winning candidate in the June 3 Democratic primary may face a Republican in the general election in November. In District 6, which includes all of West New York, Weehawken, and Guttenberg, Freeholder Chairman Jose Munoz is fending off a challenge from West New York Commissioner Caridad Rodriquez. In District 7, which covers all of Union City, Jose Falto is seeking to unseat Freeholder Tilo Rivas. In District 8, which covers all of North Bergen and a portion of Secaucus, Anthony Vainieri is being challenged by Henry Marrero. Both men are attempting to fill the seat being left vacant by outgoing Freeholder Thomas Liggio. North Bergen is a battle between former allies Vainieri and Marrero have similar political roots. They both came up as strong supporters of North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco. Vainieri, however, has Sacco’s support for his freeholder bid, as well as the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization. “I think it’s not about whether I’m going to win, but by how much,” a confident Vainieri said two weeks before the primary. The son of a former North Bergen commissioner, Vainieri was elected a committee person in the early 1980s and started working part time for Sacco, becoming an aide when Sacco was elected in 1991. He is currently Sacco’s chief of staff, and has served as a board member on the Hudson County Schools of Technology for about 10 years, as well as a commissioner for North Bergen Housing Authority. “A lot of people think I want to run for mayor (of West New York,)” he said. “But I like being freeholder.” – Jose Munoz ____________ Sgt. Henry Marrero of the North Bergen Police Department would be the first Hispanic to seek the freeholder seat in the 8th District. He said he overcame a rough childhood to become a cop, and believes decision of Liggio not to seek reelection provided an opportunity for new people with fresh ideas to seek the freeholder seat, he said. . He currently serves as a sergeant assigned to the North Bergen Juvenile Gang Unit. He is also a member of the FBI Hostage Negotiation Team, the town Arson Investigator, Megan’s Law Investigator, and a member of the police Emergency Response Team. Union City pits classic political rivals Freeholder Tilo Rivas is fending off a challenge by Jose Falto, who is a long time critic of Mayor Brian Stack. Rivas recently won reelection as a commissioner on Stack’s ticket. This has drawn fire from Falto, who claims that he can pay more attention to the freeholder job than Tilo. “He has too many jobs, as a freeholder, a commissioner, and a full time job [in the private sector],” Falto said. Rivas was named to the board of freeholders in 2004 to replace Stack when Stack became Assemblyman in the 33rd District. A commissioner for the city’s Department of Public Works, Rivas coordinated a number of key projects through the county, in particular the pedestrian footbridge that crosses from Union City to the Columbia Park shopping mall in North Bergen. With a background in communication, he has experience in journalism and business, and has worked in research for Kraft Foods for the last 30 years. During his years on the freeholders, Rivas has served as chairman once. Falto, who has significant experience in education as a teacher, guidance counselor, assistant principal, principal, and as a member of the board of the county’s Schools of Technology, said he has the time and ability to help make sure that Union City gets it fair share of services from the county. He said he wants to limit the tax burden on local residents by controlling spending and putting money where it is most effective. Falto has been a vocal critic of the Stack administration in the past, and has run for municipal office in the past. He even debated a run for commissioner earlier this year, but believes he could be more effective as a freeholder. “I have sat on the Rent Control Board and the Zoning Board,” he said. “I have dealt with the budget at the schools of technology. I think I can do well as a freeholder.” Munoz faces a significant challenge One of the most watched races in Hudson County is the battle between Freeholder Jose Munoz and WNY Commissioner Caridad Rodriguez. While Rodriguez has the support of the mayors of West New York, Guttenberg, and Weehawken as well as the HCDO, Munoz has been building a constituency via social media as well as on the street. At one time, Munoz had ties to mayors inside and outside the district. He has since become a political maverick, hoping to elicit popular support to retain his seat. Originally elected in 2007, and again in 2011, Munoz took a leave of absence from his job at the Hudson County Correctional Department to serve. Currently serving as freeholder chairman, Munoz has been involved in a number of projects on the county level, including serving as chairman of the county’s task force on homelessness and serves on the Senior Citizens and Veterans committees. “A lot of people think I want to run for mayor [of West New York],” he said. “But I like being freeholder.” But Munoz realizes he is in the fight of his political life, and many observers believe this is an election that pits him against the power of former West New York Mayor (and currently member of the House of Representatives) Albio Sires. Sires is a strong supporter of Rodriquez, who served as his legislative aide for years before she became a state assemblywoman. She was elected as a commissioner in WNY on a ticket headed by Mayor Felix Roque in 2011. A paralegal for 20 years, Rodriguez specialized in immigration, tenant issues, and senior citizen issue. She became assistant to Sires in 1996. When Rodriguez became an assemblywoman in 2007, she had to resign as Sires’ assistant and began working at the Palisades Medical Center as a patient advocate. Rodriguez was the first female and Hispanic to represent the 33rd District in the state Assembly when she was elected to that office in 2007. She called herself a public servant and says that her life has been dedicated to serving the public, and becoming a freeholder would provide her with another opportunity. Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s iconic marble steps were teeming with people both for and against President Barack Obama’s sweeping health-care reform laws Monday as the highest court in the land began to explore whether the controversial legislation is constitutional. The Supreme Court justices – five Republican appointees, four Democrats – opened three days of arguments into the law derisively dubbed “Obamacare” by the president’s foes. The panel will make a ruling on the legislation in late June. Their historic decision could deliver a humiliating defeat to Obama just five months before the presidential election, significantly rein in the reach of Congress and have a personal impact on virtually every American. The battle over health-care reform has been red hot for the past three years in the U.S., the only major industrialized country in the world without a national health-care system until the law was passed. Throughout much of the toxic debate leading up to the law’s passage in March 2010, Canada’s hallowed universal health care was alternately derided as an inefficient socialist nightmare and lauded as a Utopian model for a caring society. On Monday morning, that battle raged on in front of the Supreme Court building as hundreds of supporters and opponents gathered. Those in favour waved signs and chanted, “Protect our care” and “Don’t deny my health care.” Those opposed carried signs reading “Unlawful” as they chanted, “We love the Constitution.” “People of all ages are already receiving the benefits of the Affordable Care Act,” Ron Pollack of Families USA told a news conference held by a coalition of organizations that support the legislation. Behind him stood dozens of doctors and nurses. Nearby, Tea Party protesters waved a yellow banner emblazoned with the movement’s Don’t Tread On Me slogan. “If we get sick, they just want to get rid of us,” Diana Reimer, a Tea Party Patriots organizer and senior citizen from Pennsylvania, told reporters. The first question on the agenda for the nine Supreme Court justices was this: Was it premature for the court to be making any ruling on the legislation at all? At the crux of that argument was an obscure 1867 law called the Anti-Injunction Act that says no tax can be opposed until it’s been collected. The act would essentially prevent the Supreme Court from ruling on the health-care overhaul until Americans are actually forced to pay the penalty. But at issue is whether the penalty Americans will have to pay in 2014, if they’ve failed to buy health insurance, is a tax. The Justice Department says the so-called individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance is constitutional, in part, because of Congress’s power to levy taxes. And yet in urging the court not to defer a decision until after 2014, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. argued that the penalty is not a tax. “Tomorrow you’re going to be back, and you’re going to be arguing that the penalty is a tax,” Justice Samuel Alito told him. Neither the Obama administration lawyers nor those opposing the legislation have argued the Supreme Court has no business ruling now. But a lower court disagreed, and the Supreme Court asked to hear arguments on the Anti-Injunction Act. The act “does not bar this court’s consideration of the case,” said Verrilli Jr., who’s defending the health-care overhaul for the Obama administration, told the court amid 90 minutes of highly technical discussion. The nine justices, conservative and liberal alike, posed questions that suggested they too were skeptical the 145-year-old act was at play. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she had come up with at least four similar cases in which the Supreme Court had allowed similar challenges despite the existence of the Anti-Injunction Act. Obama had noble aims when he pushed for expansive health-care reform soon after his inauguration in early 2009. The goal was to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, to outlaw health insurers from discriminating against people with costly conditions and to prevent people from going bankrupt in the event they fell ill or suffered injuries while either uninsured or denied coverage. But at the heart of the controversy is the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay the penalty. Tuesday’s hearing will be devoted to arguments for and against the individual mandate. The requirement, similar to one that forces automobile owners to carry car insurance, has infuriated many in a country with a historical distrust of big government. Recent polls suggest a majority of Americans oppose the individual mandate. Three federal judges stateside have already struck down the individual mandate as unconstitutional, while three others have upheld it. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether to strike down or uphold the biggest expansion in America’s social safety net since President Lyndon B. Johnson implemented Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. Among those challenging the law at the Supreme Court are 26 states, the National Federation of Independent Business and a handful of individuals. Experts say there are already signs that the Affordable Care Act is saving money. A recent New England Journal of Medicine study says there has been slower growth in Medicare spending since the inception of the law, a decrease that was not tied to the economic recession. Annual health-care spending in the U.S. totals US$2.6 trillion, about 18 per cent of the annual gross domestic product, or $8,402 per person. Canada spends just under $5,000 per person, a figure that would shave billions from America’s national debt if the U.S. spent at a similar level.

Baby born in car turns oneComment on this story Durban - Bluff toddler Cory Anderson turned 1 on Thursday and his love for cars comes as little surprise to his beaming family. He was, after all, born in his grandfather’s red VW Golf. Chenise Anderson, 22, still cannot believe that she gave birth in the back of her stepfather Mark van Wyk’s car during the tail-end of peak-hour traffic, five minutes after they left home. Her mother, trauma nurse Colleen Van Wyk, 50, helped deliver her grandson, leaving the umbilical cord intact as her husband drove against the traffic flow to get to the nearest medical centre, hooting and flashing his lights along the way. “He’s our little miracle baby,” said Colleen. “She (Anderson) had so many complications from 25 weeks, and for him to come out like that with no complications is amazing.” She recalled she had acted instinctively when she heard her daughter’s screams from the back seat. “I’m a nurse, but I’m not a midwife. I just acted. I can still remember her screams,” she said. “I squeezed in between those (seats), I don’t know how I did it.” Colleen said she would not let Cory forget how he had come into the world. “I’m going to remind him all his life; probably at his 21st birthday I’m going to make a speech,” she said. Anderson, who gave birth to a 3.2kg baby with some inconvenience but little hassle, said: “It’s been quite a ride. Everybody loves him.” She said she could not be happier that her son was perfectly healthy. And much like where he started his life, “he loves cars”, she said. During a visit by the Daily News, Cory pushed his toy cars around his grandparents’ house and made car sounds as he crawled across the floor, stopping every now and then to flash a smile. Mark said his VW had become a hit after the special delivery. “I was told I can’t sell the car. They say it’s Cory’s car.” ayanda.mhlanga

- Development & Aid - Economy & Trade - Environment - Human Rights - Global Governance - South-South - Civil Society - Gender Monday, June 29, 2015 A MDR-TB patient at a Médecins Sans Frontières clinic in Manipur in north-eastern India. Credit: Bijoyeta Das/IPS. -. But soon she began missing too many doses. “My sons work in the fields, I was too weak to go on my own to get the pills,” she says. She went to a private clinic, hoping to collect all the medicines at once. That was expensive, which meant she could again not complete the course. Three years and five doctors later, she kept losing weight. “I took medicines whenever convenient but I was only getting worse.” Her family sold a goat and with the money traveled to the state’s capital, Guwahati. She was diagnosed with multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). “I don’t know what this means, no one explains anything. Will I get well?” she asks. Her frail body shakes as cough rakes her lungs. For many like Hemron,. India provides free TB treatment through the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), which reaches 1.5 million patients. TB remains the deadliest infectious disease in the country with two deaths every three minutes. India has more than a quarter of TB cases globally. Ramanan Laxminarayan, vice-president of the Public Health Foundation of India says the national TB programme is “stuck in the 1990s.” It is yet to rope in all available tools and involve the private sector. “Every case of MDR-TB can be 20 times more expensive to treat than a sensitive strain and cause much greater inconvenience, pain and suffering for the patient,” he adds. Despite regular adherence to medicines, some patients are becoming resistant to frontline drugs. In Mumbai, doctors at Hinduja Hospital said they had identified patients who are “totally drug resistant,”and did not respond to any available drugs. The Indian government rejected the claim. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 450,000 people contracted DR-TB in 2012. About half of them are in India, China and Russia. An estimated four-fifths of DR-TB cases are still undetected. There were 170,000 MDR-TB deaths globally in 2012. Madhukar Pai, associate director at McGill International TB Centre, a research organisation situated at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada, explains that neither public nor private healthcare providers offer quality TB care. He says there are many instances of wrong drug regimens, low quality drugs, scarce monitoring of treatment adherence, patient movement between providers, adding single new drugs to already failing regimens, and inadequate use of drug-susceptibility testing. All this results in MDR and extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB. MDR-TB treatment is expensive, the treatment often lasts up to two years, with increased risks. Access to the two new MDR-TB drugs— bedaquiline and delamanid, remains limited. They are available in India only through compassionate use mechanisms. Most patients in India go the private sector but some abandon treatment because of high costs. By the time patients end up in public hospitals they infect many, and also develop severe forms of drug resistance, Pai says. “In the private sector, irrational TB prescriptions are so common – doctors make up their own drug combinations. This is disastrous. And each time the patient moves from one doctor to another, physicians tinker around with the drug combination, further worsening the drug resistance,” he says. About 10 percent of drugs in India are estimated by some doctors to be fake, which can muddle up treatment. Testing for drug-resistance is limited in the public sector. “Empiric treatment is used,” Pai says, not treatment that is tailored to a patient’s drug susceptibility profile. This results in selection of drug resistant strains. The solution isn’t “merely technological”, says Mike Frick of the Treatment Action Group, a research and policy think thank based in the U.S. New diagnostic machines like GeneXpert may uncover more cases of drug resistance but “it cannot solve the health system’s failure to link patients to the highest level of care that is their right,” says Frick. India fails to provide psycho-social and economic support for patients. Globally, funding for research into TB has fallen. Governments have slashed budgets; Pfizer and AstraZeneca have abandoned anti-invectives research – increasing the wait for better drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. “It decreases our chances of replacing toxic drugs in the current MDR-TB regimen with newer, safer drugs that are easier for patients to tolerate,” Frick tells IPS. In 2013, there were numerous reports of drug stock-outs in India, which the government denied. Many patients had to stop treatment; others were turned away from clinics. When treatment is incomplete, it creates an opportunity for drug-resistance to develop. “The cruel irony is that even as Indian generic manufacturers continued to produce many of the TB drugs that people in other countries depend on, the Indian government couldn’t guarantee TB drug availability to its own people,” Frick adds. TB is an opportunistic disease and HIV positive patients are more susceptible. Daniel, who asked only his first name be used, is a HIV positive patient. Six months ago he was diagnosed with MDR-TB. “The medicines are so hard, drain me of all strength,” he says. He is forced to go to public hospital because of the exorbitant costs of medicines. “But there are long waits and everyone comes to know about you. It only adds to the existing stigma.”

If, as Shakespeare's Juliet declared, a rose by any other name smells as sweet to you and to me and to anyone else who sniffs it then one might assume that our odor-sensing nerve cells are all wired in the same way. Alas, they are not, according to a new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute. The researchers developed a new virus-based technique for highlighting individual nerve pathways, then applied it to the olfactory systems of mice. They found that mouse olfactory neurons send signals to two key processing regions of the brain in ways that differ significantly from one mouse to another a diversity that is likely to be found in humans, too. "This shows that we still have a lot to learn about olfactory perception and how the brain is wired in general," said Kristin Baldwin, an assistant professor at Scripps Research and senior author of the study, published online on March 30, 2011, by the journal Nature. The Expected Pattern For the initial stages of odor perception, the wiring pattern in mammals is already well known. Each primary olfactory neuron has root-like input fibers, embedded in the nasal lining, which express odor-specific receptors. When these receptors detect the appropriate "odorant" chemical, their host neuron becomes activated and sends a signal via its output fiber to an initial processing center, the olfactory bulb. There, the signal terminates in a spherical bundle of fibers known as a glomerulus. "These odor-specific glomeruli are ordered in a very consistent, stereotyped way in the olfactory bulb so that the spatial pattern of activity that an odor elicits is nearly identical among individuals," said Sulagna Ghosh, a graduate student in Baldwin's lab and the study's first author. "Just by observing which sets of glomeruli are activated in a given mouse, we can predict which smell the animal is perceiving." But when these olfactory signals go from glomeruli to higher processing centers in the olfactory cortex, does this stereotyped pattern continue? That's the question Ghosh, Baldwin, and their colleagues set out to answer. "We see stereotyped maps in the cortex for other senses such as vision and touch," said Ghosh. "The same regularity is seen in the olfactory systems of flies, but in mammals, the wiring diagram of the olfactory brain has remained poorly understood." A New Tracing Technique Signals from activated glomeruli are relayed to higher processing regions of the olfactory cortex via so-called mitral and tufted (MT) neurons. Until now, researchers haven't had precise-enough tools to trace the connections in mammals from an individual glomerulus to its dedicated MT neurons and on to their terminals in the olfactory cortex. However, Ghosh and her colleagues were able to develop a technique by which they could deliver a highly efficient fluorescent-tracer-expressing virus to individual glomeruli. "Using this, we could tag with different fluorescent colors the separate MT neurons serving a single glomerulus, and then trace their output fibers, called axons, into the cortex," said Ghosh. Surprising Diversity Ghosh's technique enabled her to trace the branching axons of any MT neuron to two cortical processing centers, the anterior olfactory nucleus pars externa (AON pE) and the piriform cortex. In both regions, the locations where the MT axons terminated no longer showed the clear pattern seen in the olfactory bulb. "They turned out to be much more diverse and widely distributed than we expected," said Ghosh. To help Ghosh and her colleagues compare these patterns from one mouse to another, a collaborating neuroinformatics expert, graduate student Stephen Larson of the University of California, San Diego, set up a software-based 3D anatomical "reference brain." The Scripps Research team then mapped their nerve tracings from individual mouse studies onto this reference. "We found that MT projections from the same glomerulus in different mice were no more alike in where they landed than were projections from different glomeruli," said Ghosh. In other words, the wiring from the olfactory bulb to these two higher-processing regions is unique in each mouse and because mice are at least a rough model for other mammals, it seems likely this same olfactory wiring is also unique for each human. This is puzzling for two reasons: First, it leaves unclear how, during fetal development, axons from adjacent and seemingly identical MT neurons find their way to such different destinations in the olfactory cortex. Second, it begs the question of how mammals can experience the same odor in the same way, if each individual's olfactory cortex has such unique wiring. Ghosh suggests that the regularity of olfactory experiences which we infer from our similar descriptions of odors may arise from a third set of MT neuron projections, into the amygdala, a brain region best known for its role in processing emotion. "The amygdala was the one region we were unable to look at because its distance is greater than our tracer could reach," she said. "It might be an area where there is a more ordered or stereotyped representation." "What is clear is that our new virus-based nerve-tracing technique should help in resolving these issues, within the olfactory system and beyond," said Baldwin. Explore further: Scientists identify a calcium channel essential for deep sleep More information: "Sensory maps in the olfactory cortex defined by long-range viral tracing of single neurons," Nature (2011) Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read moreClick here to reset your password. Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.

New Music To Know: Sevyn Streeter Proves She’s More Than Just a Hit Songwriter on Debut EP…. Its title intends to evoke listeners to talk about matters of the heart, she says — sometimes veering toward the R&B risque or the soul-music confessional — for an audience that might not always be open initially to such frank discussion. To that end, her YouTube channel contains an ongoing series of Loveline-type advice chats with Streeter and friends taking submitted questions from social media and a call-in hotline. Let’s just say it’s not exactly safe for work. “It is something that prompts conversation but I can’t take credit for it,” Streeter said of the promotional strategy behind her EP, dutifully giving props to the behind-the-scenes talent at her label, Atlantic Records. “We sat in a room and listened to this EP and had a really honest conversation about it and realized that some of these songs can be considered a little crazy, but we all could relate to it in one way or another. And we felt like if all the people in this room can, people out there can. So it was a team effort.” Streeter, by her own admission, has come from behind the scenes into the spotlight because of another collaboration and possibly her most notable one: that with Chris Brown. The troubled R&B singer is something of a “crazy” topic of discussion himself, though Streeter insists she knows a different kind of Brown than the public thinks it knows. “Chris, to me, is family,” Streeter said. “He’s one of the most generous people I’ve had the pleasure to work with and I mean that on so many levels. Working with him professionally and personally has been nothing short of amazing.” Streeter met Brown through mutual talent management while in R&B group RichGirl, a short-lived project that toured with Beyonce on her I Am… World Tour. Streeter said that she and Brown met in a recording studio and hit it off collaboratively. The fruits of their labor would culminate into a Best R&B Album GRAMMY for his 2011 album F.A.M.E., which carries four Streeter songwriting credits. “I screamed, I lost my mind, I was so happy for him,” Streeter said when she found out F.A.M.E. won a Grammy. The day after the award was announced, in what must have been a humbling phone call with her parents, she realized that she, too, won a GRAMMY for her songwriting credits on the album. “Do you know how much of a dork I am?” she laughed. “It didn’t even really hit me. I was so happy for him, I didn’t even realize. I got happy all over again.” Streeter swears next time — and she insists there will be a next time — her reaction will be less delayed and she’ll be winning for herself, as a performer. “I would love to win Best New Artist,” Streeter said, whose debut solo full length is set for next year. “As a songwriter, I would love to win Song of the Year.” But Streeter said there’s still “that ten-year-old girl in me who walked on the stage of the Apollo, she still lives in me” and she craves attention of her very own. “I would put accepting that award as an artist over the songwriting one,” she said. “Because, for so long, that’s been a dream of mine.”

(Last updated 5/4/04) COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new international study of children with a severe form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) shows that certain chromosome losses can signal an especially poor response to therapy, but that other chromosome abnormalities have no effect on treatment survival. The finding should enable doctors to identify patients with severe ALL for additional or experimental therapies when such therapies become available. The study was published in the April issue of the journal Leukemia. “Overall, we found that many chromosome abnormalities in our group of patients made no difference at all, although particular abnormalities could,” says Dr. Nyla A. Heerema, a researcher with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, and first author on the study. “The results surprised us,” she says. “We expected that additional chromosome abnormalities would mean a worse outcome.” The retrospective study involved 249 children diagnosed with ALL between 1986 and 1996 by 10 medical centers in the United States and five other countries. The children had received intensive chemotherapy and their disease had gone into complete remission. All the children had cancers showing the Philadelphia chromosome, an alteration in the genes that indicates a poorer response to treatment. Sixty-one percent of the patients (153), showed secondary chromosome abnormalities; that is, abnormalities present in addition to the Philadelphia chromosome. Heerema and her colleagues wanted to learn if secondary chromosome abnormalities contributed to a poor prognosis in children with ALL. They found that having most secondary chromosome abnormalities had little affect on a child’s prognosis. It did, however, when they involved the loss of chromosome 7, or the part of it known as 7p, or the loss of a part of chromosome 9 known as 9p. Among children with cancer cells that were missing one or both of these, only 15 percent were still disease-free five years after entering remission. On the other hand, 31 to 43 percent of children with intact chromosomes 7 and 9 remained disease-free at five years. That rate held true even when other chromosome abnormalities were present. Surprisingly, cases of this kind of leukemia that showed a second Philadelphia chromosome also did better than all cases combined. ALL is the most common childhood leukemia, and it accounts for about one-fifth of all acute leukemias in adults. About 80 percent of children with ALL have a curable form of the disease, while the others respond less well to therapy, sometimes depending on which chromosome changes are present. The Philadelphia chromosome, which occurs in 2 to 5 percent of children with ALL, is an abnormal chromosome that sometimes occurs in several types of childhood and adult leukemias. It arises when a piece of chromosome 9 fuses with a chromosome 22. The fusion results in an abnormal protein that plays an important role in the malignancy. Grants from the National Cancer Institute and from the governments of participating countries supported this research. The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute is a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The James Cancer Hospital is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best cancer hospitals. # Contact: Darrell E. Ward, Medical Center Communications, 614-293-3737, or Ward-15@medctr.osu.edu

City agencies defend their slow response to Airbnb's illegal rentals More information has been coming out about how Airbnb is used to convert San Francisco apartments into tourist rentals — including an interesting study reported by the San Francisco Chronicle last weekend — in advance of next month’s hearings on legislation to legalize and regulate short-term rentals. But questions remain about why the city agencies in charge of regulating such “tourist conversions,” which have long been illegal under city law, have done so little to crack down on the growing practice. For more than two years, we at the Guardian have been publicly highlighting such violations, which have finally caught fire with the public in the last six months. Even Mayor Ed Lee — who has helped shield Airbnb from scrutiny over its tax dodging and other violations, at least partially because they share an investor in venture capitalist Ron Conway — has finally said the city should pass legislation to regulate the company, as Sup. David Chiu is trying to do. But attorney Joseph Tobener, who has represented clients evicted to facilitate Airbnb rentals and has brought a number of such lawsuits on behalf of San Francisco Tenants Union, still can’t get city departments to issue notices of violation even for the most egregious offenders that he’s suing, an administrative prerequisite to filing a lawsuit. “The Department of Building Inspection and the Department of Planning need to start shutting these violators down by enforcing the existing laws, or we need stricter laws that allow us to pursue our claims without City approval. Two months ago, we sent our requests to pursue landlords on behalf of the SFTU. Then, radio silence. Two months of utter inaction. Someone in charge does not want to see us close the loophole that is allowing landlords to take units out of our housing stock,” Tobener said. The Chronicle investigation found that in San Francisco, 1,278 Airbnb hosts in San Francisco were managing multiple properties (Chiu’s legislation would limit hosts to their primary residence for just 90 rental nights per year), including 160 entire homes that tourists appear to be renting out full-time. Overall, the paper counted 4,798 properties for rent in San Francisco through Airbnb, 2,984 of which were entire homes, belying the “shared housing” label favored by the company and its supporters. And even though groups like the San Francisco Apartment Association and SFTU say they have been actively trying to get the city departments to crack down on such illegal uses over the last year, representatives for DBI and the Planning Department say they’ve received few complaints and therefore issued few violations, while also saying they need more resources to regulate the problem, something Chiu’s legislation would begin to help address. “Our enforcement process is complaint based and we investigate each complaint that is received by our Department (more than 700 per year). Complaints regarding short term rentals that result in the loss of housing are prioritized for enforcement,” Planning Department spokesperson Gina Simi told the Guardian. She said that property owners are given the opportunity to correct a violation before being cited, something that she said happens in about 80 percent of cases. “A case is opened for every complaint received. Since March 2012, we have had approximately 120 enforcement cases for Short Term Rentals. In each case, notices were sent to the property owner and approximately half (54) have been abated and half (66) are active cases. Many of these (approximately 30) were received since the beginning of April 2014,” she told us when we inquired about the issue last month. As for Tobener’s charge that city agencies are dragging their feet and making it difficult for his clients to pursue relief from the courts, she said, “The ability for interested parties to pursue the matter through civil action (for injunctive or monetary relief) following the filing of a complaint and determination of a violation is a process outlined in Chapter 41A, which is enforced by the Department of Building Inspection. Enforcement under the Planning Code does not allow for interested parties to seek civil action.” But DBI spokesperson William Strawn said his department hasn’t received many complaints, claiming to have gotten just three total through the end of last year. “A few weeks ago, per Mr. Tobener, we did receive seven complaints, with documentation, that the Housing Division is still reviewing; and, per [DBI Chief Housing Director Rosemary] Bosque, we also recently received an additional seven complaints – for a current total of 14 – that also are under review and being scheduled for administrative review hearings, as required by Chapter 41A,” Strawn told the Guardian. But he also pointed his finger back at the Planning Department as the agency that should be handling problems related to the short-term stays facilitated by Airbnb. “Given that these ‘duration of stay’ issues are Planning Code matters – a point we have made to Supervisor Chiu, and which I know you discussed with the Planning Director {John Rahaim] during Supervisor Chiu’s media availability on this issue a few weeks ago – the role of the Building Department in the enforcement of these types of complaints in our relatively new Internet Age will require guidance from the City Attorney,” Strawn told us. Indeed, in response to a Guardian question about why the Planning Department seems to have ignored violations facilitated by Airbnb, Rahaim said that his department hasn’t had the resources, tools, and authority to address the problem, even though, “This is an important issue we’ve been hearing about for quite some time.”

L Awards for Research and Creative Activity. Rainmakers are those faculty members who balance their extensive responsibilities, which extend far beyond the classroom, with external expectations such as securing funding for their research and establishing the impact of their findings to the scholarly community and society as a whole. These exemplary representatives of LSU garner national and international recognition for innovative research and creative scholarship, compete for external funding at the highest levels and attract and mentor exceptional graduate students. “We are excited to acknowledge the incredible and impressive achievements of the 2013 Rainmakers,” said LSU Vice Chancellor of Research & Economic Development Kalliat T. Valsaraj, who presented the awards in a ceremony held at the Club in Union Square. “These researchers and creative scholars represent our university’s excellence and are standard-bearers within their own respective fields. We couldn’t do this without the support of Campus Federal Credit Union, and we thank them for their support of our commitment to academic and research excellence.” Ron Moreau, chief development officer at Campus Federal, was also on hand to congratulate the recipients. “We [Campus Federal] understand the important role research plays not only in LSU’s long-term success, but also in the economic and social stability of Louisiana,” said Moreau. “We appreciate the opportunity to support these innovative faculty members who represent not only academic accomplishments but also support and mentorship for LSU students. Campus Federal was founded by seven distinguished LSU faculty members in 1934, so it is a fitting legacy for us to continue supporting distinguished faculty or Behavioral Sciences Michael Pasquier Michael Pasquier, associate professor of religious studies and history, is a native of Rayne, La., and a 2002 graduate of LSU. Before returning to LSU in 2008, Pasquier received his Ph.D. in American Religious History from Florida State University in 2007 and served as a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008-2009. He specializes in the history of religion, culture and the environment in the United States. His first book, “Fathers on the Frontier: French Missionaries and the Roman Catholic Priesthood in the United States, 1789-1870” (Oxford University Press 2010), profiles the lives of French missionary priests in the early American republic. He is the editor of the book “Gods of the Mississippi” (Indiana University Press 2013), which explores the history of religion in the Mississippi River Valley from the colonial period to the present. He also partnered with Zack Godshall, assistant professor of screenwriting at LSU, to produce the documentary “Water Like Stone” (2013), which is a film about the people who live in Louisiana’s vanishing wetlands. With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Pasquier is currently working on a book about the cultural impact of engineering the Mississippi River in the 20th and 21st centuries. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, Dr. Pasquier is in the final stages of developing an exhibit entitled “On Land / With Water: Tracking Change in a Coastal Community,” which showcases the past, present, and future of life along Bayou Lafourche in ways that provide audiences with a deeper understanding of the social and environmental forces at play in Louisiana’s ever-changing landscape. Most recently, Pasquier has been asked by Routledge to write a textbook on the history of religion in the United States. Emerging Scholar Award Arts, Humanities, Social or Behavioral Sciences Brian Shaw Brian Shaw is an LSU associate professor of trumpet and jazz studies and co-principal trumpet of the Dallas Wind Symphony. In addition to his work at LSU, he is active as an international performing and recording musician on modern and valveless trumpets. His diverse research interests include 18th century German and Austrian trumpet repertoire, modern trumpet pedagogy, and the music of jazz trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler. Shaw has been a prizewinner in several international competitions and is the dedicatee of numerous new compositions. His upcoming CD recording, redshift, accompanied by the Dallas Wind Symphony, was made possible by an ATLAS grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents, and will be released in the fall of 2014 on Klavier records. His 2008 debut album, titled “Virtuoso Concertos for Clarino,” includes some of the most difficult pieces ever written for the Baroque trumpet, and is accompanied by an orchestra comprised of New York’s finest period musicians. As a jazz musician and scholar, Shaw directs the LSU Jazz Ensemble, which has hosted such luminaries as Wayne Bergeron, Wycliffe Gordon, and Rufus Reid during his leadership. His jazz books and transcriptions are published by Advance Music, Presser, Schott, and Universal Edition. Over the past two years, Shaw has served as a consultant to the newly established Kenny Wheeler Archive and Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Shaw also performs regularly on the popular LSU concert series “Hot Summer Nights and Cool Jazz” alongside pianist Willis Delony and bassist Bill Grimes. Emerging Scholar Award Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics Hongchao Zhang Hongchao Zhang is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Center for Computation and Technology, or CCT. Zhang earned his B.S. degree in computational mathematics from Shandong University, China, in 1998; his M.S. degree in applied mathematics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001; and his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Florida in 2006. From September 2006 to July 2008, he was an industrial postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications associated with the IBM TJ Watson Research Center. Since August 2008, Zhang has been an assistant professor in LSU’s Department of Mathematics and CCT. His research mainly focuses on nonlinear optimization theory, algorithms and their applications to sparse matrix computing, graph partitioning, inverse problems in medical imaging and petrophysics and derivative free optimization. Mid-Career Scholar Award Arts, Humanities, Social or Behavioral Sciences Troy Blanchard Blanchard is an LSU professor of sociology at LSU. He joined the department as an associate professor in 2007 after serving on the faculty at Mississippi State University from 2001-2007. His primary research interests include demography, health, socioeconomic inequality, and social impact assessment. His research agenda focuses on the interconnections between community organizations (such as local businesses, voluntary associations, and churches), social inequality and demographic outcomes within U.S. communities. His research projects are designed to speak to both academic and policy related audiences and address key social problems facing communities. He has received competitive grants from a variety of federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Blanchard also directs the Louisiana Population Estimates Program that is tasked with developing parish and municipal population estimates. His research has been featured in national, statewide, and local media outlets (such as Time Magazine, USA Today and The Advocate) and he is a regular contributor to media coverage of social policy issues related to demography and social inequality. Mid-Career Scholar Award Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics Michael Malisoff Michael Malisoff received his Ph.D in. 2000 from the Department of Mathematics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. His doctoral research was in optimal control and Hamilton-Jacobi theory. He was a DARPA Research Associate in the Department of Systems Science and Mathematics at Washington University in Saint Louis as part of the Joint Force Air Component Commander Project. In 2001, he joined the LSU Department of Mathematics, where he is now the Roy Paul Daniels Professor #3 in the College of Science. His main research has been on controller design and analysis for nonlinear control systems with time delays and uncertainty and their applications in engineering. One of his projects is joint with the Georgia Tech Savannah Robotics team and is developing marine robotic methods to help understand the environmental impacts of hazards such as oil spills. His more than 80 publications include a monograph on constructive Lyapunov methods in the Springer Communications and Control Engineering Series. His other awards include the First Place Student Best Paper Award at the 1999 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, two three-year National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Priority Area grants, and six Best Presentation awards in American Control Conference sessions. He is an associate editor for SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization and for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. Senior Scholar Award Arts, Humanities, Social or Behavioral Sciences Sharon Weltman Sharon Aronofsky Weltman is an LSU professor of English. She is the author of two books, “Performing the Victorian: John Ruskin and Identity in Theater, Science and Education” (2007) and “Ruskin’s Mythic Queen: Gender Subversion in Victorian Culture” (1999), named Outstanding Academic Book by Choice magazine. She also put together a scholarly edition of the original Sweeney Todd melodrama published in 2012 as a special issue of Nineteenth-Century Theatre and Film. She has in addition approximately 50 essays and reviews on Charles Dickens, Christina Rossetti, Charlotte Brontë and others topics either in print or under contract. This July, she will direct a National Endowment for Humanities Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers called “Performing Dickens: Oliver Twist and Great Expectations on Page, Stage, and Screen” at University of California – Santa Cruz. Weltman serves on many international boards and committees, including the Modern Languages Association Program Committee. She has presented more than 40 conference papers, including multiple keynotes. Universities regularly bring her in to speak, including (in the U.K.) Oxford, Lancaster, and Birmingham, and (in the U.S.) Berkeley, Notre Dame, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her current book project is “Victorians on Broadway: The Afterlife of Nineteenth-Century British Literature on the American Musical Stage.” All Rainmaker recipients receive a one-time stipend of $1,000 and a plaque in recognition of their achievements. For more information about the Rainmakers Awards, visit. For more information about Campus Federal, visit. Speak Your Mind

Dennis Evans could never be accused of soft-pedaling his rhetoric. Within farming and forestry circles, he's the rhetorical version of the cold shower or pot of steaming black coffee on Sunday morning following a raucous Saturday night fraternity party. It's his job. As coordinator of the Alabama and Forestry Leadership Development Program, Evans says a good part of his time is spent making young farmers and foresters squirm in their seats with discomfort. It's a tough undertaking at times, Evans says, but someone's got to do it for the sake of this embattled minority and its long-term survival. "Part of my job is taking them out of their comfort zone," Evans says with characteristic straightforwardness. "They really want to be assured everything's okay. But things aren't okay." LEADERS, as the program is commonly called, is a 50-day educational experience taken over two years. Administered by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in conjunction with the Auburn University's College of Agriculture and the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, it is aimed at promising young adults working in the agriculture and natural resources industries. A critical part of this effort, Evans says, is taking farmers beyond the homey security of the farm gate to a world of public policy that is often unfriendly and even downright hostile to farming interests. Evans is old enough to remember when things weren't so bad. The product of a large Louisiana farm family, he grew up in an era when the lingering effects of pre-World War II isolationism were still palpable as a freshly plowed field and the U.S. manufacturing and farming sectors still wielded the biggest stick on the international stage. All that has changed. In many instances, U.S. farming increasingly is being out-competed by up-and-coming agricultural powers like Australia, China and Brazil. If that isn't challenging enough, farmers are beset with mounting public concerns about product safety, farm chemical use and livestock waste disposal. Overcoming these challenges will involve farmers divesting themselves of a longstanding but destructive mindset with roots stretching back to the days when American society was still overwhelmingly agrarian — one that has always assumed everybody else will yield to the demands of agriculture, he says. Evans recalls one incident recently at a LEADERS study institute in Huntsville where this mindset was in full view. LEADERS students were discussing land-use planning — an increasingly thorny issue as more cities and suburbs spill into once pristine forestland and farming communities. "As it turned out, a Harvard University student intern happened to be working in the building where we held the discussion and asked to sit in and listen to the discussion," Evans recalls. "However, in an evaluation of the discussion later in the day, some LEADERS participants expressed a deep resentment over an 'outsider' being let into the meeting." In an age of increasing globalization, Evans says, it is a type of narrow thinking that will have to change. Evans nonetheless remains hopeful. Now in its 20th year, LEADERS already has turned out almost 200 graduates who are active in their professions throughout the state. He's been especially impressed recently by the sense of realism reflected in the 27 students who signed on to the program this year, including Amy Belcher, a young mother, part-time farmer and public relations professional employed by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. Like so many other people involved in farming for the quality of life it provides, Belcher spends a lot of her free time on her front porch relishing the sights on the farm that she and her husband operate in their free time. Her biggest concern is preserving farming for her two-year-old daughter and future generations --- a legacy, she believes, is threatened by unrelenting urban sprawl. "The whole way of life teaches core values," Belcher says. "That's why I wanted to participate in LEADERS — to help more people understand how important it is to preserve this way of life." One other agricultural professional who has heeded Evans' lessons to heart is Chilton County farmer and cattle producer Jimmy Parnell. Before Parnell joined the program, he, like many other agribusiness professionals had the sense that he was "alone on an island." In time, though, he began to understand the need for networking and making inroads into policymaking circles, even mounting an unsuccessful bid for public office at one point. "I think the concept (behind LEADERS) is exactly right," Parnell says. "We're all so engrossed in our lives and problems and all those everyday problems that we often get stuck in a rut. But there's an old saying, 'The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole.'"

Farmers face an ACRE of indecision both literally and figuratively in 2009. Literally speaking, a big decision this coming year will involve what to do — or not do — about ACRE, the Average Crop Revenue Election Program. A decision should be reached only after farmers have closely assessed the value of the program based on their own farming situation and an inventory of other federal farm assistance programs, advises one expert. ACRE, a program that replaces counter-cyclical program payments, may or may not be a good bet for producers, according to James Novak, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System economist and Auburn University professor of agricultural economics. "ACRE replaces the counter-cyclical program," Novak says. "It's a total replacement." "You get ACRE or you get counter-cyclical payments, but you don't get both." Also, there is no turning back once you've signed up for the ACRE program, at least not for the length of this farm bill. "You can opt into ACRE in any year — 2009 through 2012 — but once you're in, you're locked in for the duration of the farm bill," Novak says, adding that once farmers select ACRE, they must take a 20 percent reduction in direct payments and a 30 percent reduction in loan rates. If farmers decide to stay with the current farm program (counter-cyclical program), they do not take a reduction in the direct payment or the loan payment rates, he says. ACRE also works somewhat differently than traditional counter-cyclical payments. Counter-cyclical payments followed a straightforward formula. "Traditional counter-cyclical payments are based on a national price, and if the national price falls below a certain level, this results in a payment," Novak says. On the other hand, ACRE is based on both national price levels and yields. An advantage of ACRE is that it's based on state-level and farm-level revenue risk rather than a single national price risk. "In cases where you're facing a statewide yield wipeout, ACRE might be an advantage, because it likely would trigger a payment, while a counter-cyclical payment would not. "In this respect, it's more a form of risk management protection because it factors in both yield and price," Novak says. It also takes into account and encourages crop insurance participation. However, there's also a farm-level trigger. A farm could have a wipeout and not receive a payment under ACRE because the state had a good revenue situation. The risk management features associated with ACRE may benefit some producers, he says, but each individual will have to figure this out based on their own situation. Novak says the key consideration remains the reductions in direct payments and loan rates associated with ACRE — a potentially big factor during crop years in which commodity prices dropped sharply. With the exception of cotton, commodity prices have generally been good — a trend that may hold up, Novak says, though he cautions farmers to be mindful of the weakness of the economy and a potentially sharp drop in farm exports next year. "ACRE is a complicated program, and producers should look at the entire picture," he says. "State and farm historic yields and national prices enter into figuring whether it's right for them."

The president has also said he will support the U.S. signing an international treaty to ban a “dirty dozen” of toxic chemicals, including several pesticides. Although the crop protection industry opposed the court settlement, saying it would mean the loss of some of agriculture's most effective and economical pesticides, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said her agency had little leeway in the consent decree that was negotiated with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the last hours of the Clinton Administration. The NRDC and other groups had sued the EPA when it failed to meet deadlines for completion of a 1996 congressionally-mandated review of the safety tolerances for more than 10,000 pesticides, particularly those that posed higher risks for infants and children. Under the agreement, the EPA must develop a timetable to evaluate 11 pesticides deemed the most hazardous. “We have set specific milestones for reviewing certain pesticides,” Whitman said, “and EPA will meet the deadlines required by the Food Quality Protection Act to reassess existing pesticides using current health and safety standards.” She said the agency will use “a rigorous scientific review process” that will include extensive opportunity for public involvement and comment “to insure that all perspectives are heard.” The agency will also have to develop guidelines to better protect farm workers from certain pesticides. In announcing the Bush administration's intent to sign the international agreement to ban the “dirty dozen” of toxic chemicals that include several agricultural pesticides, the U.S. would become the third signatory. Many of the chemicals, such as DDT, aren't used any more in the United States or other developed nations, but some continue to be used in developing nations. The Bush administration's support for the treaty calling for a worldwide ban on the 12 materials was timed to mesh with the annual celebration of Earth Day (Sunday, April 22). Included in the “dirty dozen,” in addition to DDT, are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), found in electrical transformers and other industrial components; dioxins and furans that are byproducts of various industrial processes and waste burning; and the pesticides toxaphene, aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, heptachlor, endrin, mirex, and hexaclorobenzene. Production and use of nine of the materials would be banned under the treaty, tentatively set to be signed next month in Stockholm, Sweden. Canada and Sweden have already signed the pact. It is expected, however, that it will take “four to five years” for the treaty, which was developed by the United Nations Environment Program, to go into effect. An international fund of approximately $150 million will be established to assist countries in developing substitutes for the banned chemicals. In the interim, use of DDT would still be allowed in some 25 countries in malaria control programs operated under World Health Organization supervision. hembree_brandon@intertec.com

First grade class observes Veterans Day 11.14 Why join the military? To help people be free, said one first grade student in Melissa Elliott’s class. To help our planet, suggested another. We want to help the country, said a third. To help pay for college, said an adult, adding a dose of practical reality to the discussion. “Some of us just wanted to be in the military since we were little kids,” said veteran Joseph Steadman. Steadman, a part-time police officer with the Morenci department, served as the main speaker Monday for a Veterans Day ceremony in Mrs. Elliott’s class. Students filled out forms ahead of time listing members of their families who have served or are serving in the armed forces. During a “sharing circle” students took turns talking about their fathers, uncles, grandfathers and other family members. Some students had photos to show. One spoke of a relative who lost his legs in World War II. Another student spoke of a relative who suffered a leg injury in Iraq. One spoke of his great-grandfather. Another of his great-great-great-grandfather who fought in World War III. World War III? History can get a little fuzzy for first graders. Steadman told the class that some soldiers are still missing. “It’s very important that we remember these people,” he said, pointing to his MIA (missing in action) bracelet. Jack Sampson of the Morenci American Legion post gave each student a small flag and Jeff Steadman, the brother of Officer Steadman, gave a commemorative dog tag to students whose parents were veterans. The big gift was saved for class member Thomas Hodshire, whose father was killed in Iraq while the family was still living in North Adams. Students in the class all signed a letter for Thomas in appreciation of the sacrifice by his father, Michael.

One school's fight against 'nature deficit disorder'. But some programs are working to get kids outside, including CA Frost Environmental Sciences Academy in Grand Rapids. It's a K-8 school that abuts the Blandford Nature Center on the city's west side. "A place to be still" “What this school provides to children is a place where they can breathe, where they can notice and observe, where they can question, where they can be still,” said Pam Wells-Marcusse. She was the school's principal for 18 years. Wells-Marcusse is retired now, but she still fills in as a part-time administrator. CA Frost became an environmental "theme" school about a decade ago, taking advantage of its location and establishing "E-lab" classes that students in every grade attend twice a week. On a beautiful fall day last week, E-lab teacher Mary Lewandowski had a group of sixth graders out at a retention pond in back of the school, where students conducted soil tests and recorded observations about flora and fauna. “Does it stick together?” Lewandowski asks a group of kids tasked with identifying the soil type from a sample dredged from the bottom of the pond. “Who wants to pick up some and roll it in their hands…. Does it feel smooth? It’s really smooth, it doesn’t stick together, so it’s got a lot of what in it?" “Silt,” one student answers. “Good,” Lewandoski says. “Mostly silt, right? Write it down.” Valuing nature in education In some ways, this school is special, with its spot right next to a nature preserve. Teachers can take kids on hikes that feel like they’re far from the city – when in fact, they’re not. But in other ways, it’s just an ordinary urban public school. Kids don’t have to test to get in. Close to two-thirds of students get free or reduced lunch. And the fact that this school is open to any student in Grand Rapids was important to former principal Pam Wells-Marcusse. She says for a lot of kids, it’s a refuge. “We have many students where it’s not that they don’t want to be outside, but it’s not safe to go around the block, play in parks, go in fields, hang around,” she says. “So they need to have opportunities to be able to do that.” Richard Louv is the person who came up with the term “nature deficit disorder,” and wrote about it in his 2005 book, “Last Child in the Woods.” Louv says schools have helped contribute to the problem. “Education itself has devalued nature,” Louv says. “Many schools have canceled recess, PE has been cut, field trips in many schools are a thing of the past… there’s a long list of barriers.” Academics, yes - but also wonder and surprise There’s a freewheeling element to the kind of teaching that goes on at CA Frost. Teachers have to teach what the curriculum says students need to know, and what they’ll be tested on. And that can compete with fostering a sense of wonder about nature, and getting kids to pay attention to their surroundings. As Greg Petersen was out with a group of third graders teaching them about the purpose of seeds and fruits, a Cooper’s hawk suddenly came into view. “Hey friends, look at this special kind of hawk,” Petersen said, pointing at the sky. “That’s a Cooper’s hawk. I can’t believe this view we’re getting. Look at this!” But the school seems to be doing something right. CA Frost out-performs the district on the state standardized test, in most grades and subjects by a wide margin. And the school may well be setting them up for a love of the outdoors they can take with them the rest of their lives. “Nature is full of surprises,” Petersen says, before heading into the woods in search of the Cooper’s hawk.

Two state assemblymen, Bill Nojay of the Rochester area and Kieran Lalor of the Poughkeepsie area, were named the most conservative lawmakers in the state by the Conservative Party. They received a 100 percent score from the small but powerful third party, namely for their opposition of the state’s gun-control law in January. They voted in line with the party’s position on all 24 bills scored by the party during the legislative session that ended in June. Other Republicans in the Assembly and Senate also received high marks: Assemblymen Christopher Friend, R-Big Flats, Chemung County, and Steve Katz, R-Yorktown, Westchester County, received scores of 96 percent in the report released this week. Lawmakers who voted against the SAFE Act, the gun law championed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, received double points in the Conservative Party’s grading system. The party also opposed bills that would strengthen abortion rights and expand gambling in New York. “We believe that it is necessary to keep the public informed of these key votes and let the taxpayers be aware of how elected officials spend our money,” said Mike Long, the state’s Conservative Party chairman, in a statement. In the Senate, GOP Sens. John DeFranciso and James Seward, both of central New York, scored the highest with 72 percent ratings. Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, who for two years in a row had received the party’s top ranking, had a score of 68. The Conservative Party only has 154,000 enrolled voters, but it has influence in elections. The party is listed third on the ballot, and no Republican running for statewide office has won without the Conservative Party’s nod since 1974. Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon, had among the lowest scores in the Senate: a 32 percent rating. Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County, received an 8 percent rating – which was also given to many of his Democratic colleagues in the chamber, including Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. Nojay said he doesn’t vote to appease any special interest. “I just vote the way I think I should vote on the issues for my district,” Nojay said. “I don’t pay attention to rankings by any particular group.” Nojay and Lalor are first-term assemblymen. Nojay didn’t win the Conservative Party’s endorsement in 2012, and Lalor only got the line that year after he won a primary as a write-in candidate. “Voters knew the difference and knew what mattered. That proves this ultimately is about the voters, not the party’s establishment,” Lalor said in a statement.

There are no Upcoming Shows listed for this comedian. Julie Budd Julie Budd is considered to be one of the most exciting singers on the scene today. While enjoying a multi-faceted musical career, Julie Budd’s credits range from Television to Film, the New York Stage, to Symphonies and the most lavish casinos and showrooms in the country. “The New York Times” raved with a full two legendary performers such as Frank Sinatra, Bill Cosby, Carol Burnett, Liberace……As Julie recalls. “What a way to grow up in this business!!!! These people were wonderful to me. Some kids went to school, but I went to work and learned from the Best”. Each one of these performers was a professor to me, and I was lucky to have had the opportunity to know them all”. Julie began to blossom as an adult, and now…. Is a Headliner in her own Right! She has been touring in her One Woman Shows, and her concerts include performances at: Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The London Palladium,Tel Aviv’s Israel Performing Arts Center, venues in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and major Symphony Halls in the United States. Julie Budd has become a favorite to many of the Symphony Orchestra’s including: The Baltimore Symphony, The National Symphony, The Philadelphia Symphony, The Boca Pops, The Milwaukee Symphony, The Dallas Symphony, and many other Symphony Orchestras, performing in some of the greatest musical Halls and concert venues. Julie has also been touring with Marvin Hamlisch also performing with Symphonies at Performing Arts Centers all over the country. Julie Budd has also pursued her acting career, having appeared in productions with the prestigious Circle Repertory Company in New York City, The Playwrights Horizon in NYC, appearing on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, and in Neil Simon’s “They’re Playing Our Song”. Movie goers will remember Julie’s starring role in Disney’s “The Devil & Max Devlin” with Bill Cosby & Elliot Gould. Along with this role, Julie again had the great pleasure of working with her friend Marvin Hamlisch, who together with Carol Bayer Sager Penned the title song “Roses & Rainbows” for Julie, which she has recently re-recorded and released on her Cd “The New Classics”. Julie Budd has also recently appeared in the Motion Picture, “Two Lovers” along with Joaquin Phoenix & Gwyneth Paltrow. Julie’s Cd Pure Imagination (After9 Touchwood) was named “Top Ten Cd’s” by Entertainment Today, and received a Four Star (4stars) rave from “Stereo Review”. Julie followed up with another Cd…”If You Could See Me Now” and her recent release “The New Classics” has been acclaimed as her best work to date. She is currently in the process of writing a book about her days as a Child prodigy alongside the greatest entertainment legends of all time. Julie supports the Variety Children’s Charity, and appears each season as one of the hosts of its telethon. She also supports MDA and The Saint Jude Hospital Organization. Julie Budd has contributed generously to various other charities and Telethons. Fans can connect with Julie at her Website and from there,they can keep up with her touring engagements and exciting events throughout the year.

Man with local roots helps with Hurricane Sandy cleanup As Superstorm Sandy battered the East Coast last month, Matt Pelak and his buddies responded to help with military precision. That's natural for them, though. They're used to it. Mr. Pelak, a Dallas native, is part of the nonprofit volunteer group called Team Rubicon, a nationwide collection of military veterans and medical professionals that responds to humanitarian crises. When a disaster strikes, they do it all - or try to. They help local emergency officials, provide medical care, run supplies, cut up downed tress, clear debris, pump flooded basements, rip out soaked drywall and more. After responding to Superstorm Sandy, Mr. Pelak noted one of the group's biggest missions was shoveling sand that was left behind from the storm surge. "It looked like it snowed sand," he said. "In tornadoes, we do a lot of tree work. In hurricanes, it's a lot of mucking in the basement, destroying wet drywall and shoveling sand." At the start of the year, Team Rubicon had 600 volunteers and four full-time staffers. Today, there are 6,000 volunteers and seven full-time staffers. Mr. Pelak, 34, is director of strategic partnerships of Team Rubicon, an organization that organically started in 2010 when a military veteran rallied some friends to respond to the earthquake in Haiti. A 1996 graduate of Dallas High School, Mr. Pelak later joined the Air Force. Afterward, he joined the Army National Guard and completed paramedic school. He served a tour of duty in Iraq between 2003 and 2004. He later returned to Iraq between 2007 and 2009 as a contractor for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service. Mr. Pelak works as a firefighter and paramedic in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and as adjunct faculty at the National Center for Security and Preparedness at the University at Albany-State University of New York. He is a member of the Maryland Army National Guard. Mr. Pelak credits his upbringing with pushing him toward serving the country. "You know the blue-collar nature of the Wyoming Valley. It's a family based and work-centered area," Mr. Pelak said. "You learn the value of hard work and being there for each other. I took that and learned lessons in the military and rolled it all into

TxDOT Shares Best Practices and Research Results on YouTube You might not expect to find many folks on YouTube interested in “automated flagger assistance devices” or “development of very thin overlay systems.” But that’s not the case on a newly launched YouTube channel sporting these very titles. The channel, titled “bestpracticesvsrs,” is sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Office of Research and Technology Implementation (RTI) as part of its implementation support and technology transfer of the department’s state- and federally funded research program. To date, after a year online, the channel is experiencing a significant and steady number of hits — considering the limited interest the public generally has in such focused and technical subjects. What exactly are video summary reports, or VSRs as they have been coined? “It’s a two- to three-minute video that highlights a best practice from a TxDOT district, a worthwhile research finding, or successful implementation of a new technology,” explains David Dennis, the coordinator of electronic media at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). Dennis has worked for the last year with RTI staff, TxDOT research project directors and researchers from TTI, as well as those from other universities participating in the Research Management Committee (RMC) program, to populate the YouTube channel. The results are a variety of transportation topics from all around Texas representing multiple TxDOT districts and universities. RTI began this technology transfer initiative a few years ago as the social media wave geared up, and YouTube’s popularity spread to the business and corporate world. The first three research-related VSRs were produced on contract by TTI, pilot-tested with a limited internal TxDOT audience and then shared by RTI briefly at a national U.S. Department of Transportation peer exchange meeting. “The enthusiastic and positive response to the pilot is what led us to expand the effort with more VSRs, and to include best practices, so that districts have a venue for exchanging ideas and solutions to problems,” says Rick Collins, director of TxDOT RTI. “We are getting a lot of good feedback that tells us this is an effective way to deliver a targeted, simple message, and for TxDOT staff to share information and success stories.” VSRs are unscripted, short, impactful and inexpensive and always involve a TxDOT research project director or employee that has a story to tell. “We don’t tell them what to say — we just shoot the relevant footage and create a clear and interesting message,” says Dennis. “It’s not intended for training or complicated details, but only to pique someone’s interest so they know where to go if they need more information.” Proof of success for this new technology transfer tool is in the numbers. YouTube statistics over the last three months on selected VSRs reveal that most postings are averaging about three to six hits a day, for a total of around 100 hits a month — even a full month or two after the initial posting. With subject matter like effluent limitation and cable median barriers, it’s actually quite phenomenal that the total upload views for the channel now exceed 3,000.

Harvard University Professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a noted literary historian, activist and filmmaker, will be the keynote speaker at the University of the Virgin Islands’ 2014 Commencement Ceremonies scheduled for May 17, on St. Thomas, and for May 18, on St. Croix. Professor Gates is also well known for his numerous PBS documentary presentations, the most recent being the six-part, 2013 series “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.” He wrote, executive produced and hosted that award-winning effort. Photo at Right: Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., will be the keynote speaker at UVI's 2014 Commencement Ceremonies. Dr. Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard, a post he has held since arriving there in 1991. Before joining the Harvard faculty, Dr. Gates taught at Yale, Cornell and Duke Universities. He will also receive an honorary degree from UVI. Hon. Ron de Lugo and Horace Clarke to Receive Honorary Degrees Joining Dr. Gates in receiving UVI honorary degrees at the 2014 Commencement will be the Virgin Islands’ first elected Delegate to Congress the Hon. Ron de Lugo, and St. Croix baseball legend and youth mentor Horace Clarke. “These individuals represent the highest level of their professions,” said UVI President Dr. David Hall, who will preside over Commencement Ceremonies and present the honorary degrees. De Lugo, who was known for having sparked the revival of Carnival in 1952, was elected to four terms in the Virgin Islands Legislature. He also served as St. Croix Administrator from 1961 to 1962, and was elected to the first of 10 terms as the Congressional Delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1972. Dr. Hall said de Lugo “devoted his professional life to improving the quality of the social, economic and political development of the U.S. Virgin Islands.” His list of accomplishments included the realization of a long-held goal, during the tenure of House Speaker Thomas C. Foley, when delegates from the territories and the District of Columbia received the right to vote in the House Committee of the Whole. De Lugo retired from public office in 1995. In 2003, the Federal Building on St. Thomas was named in his honor. Clarke was born and raised in Frederiksted, where he developed an early love for baseball that led to a long professional career with Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees. He was the team’s regular second baseman from 1967 through 1973. Dr. Hall said honoring Clarke “recognizes his professional career, athletic accomplishments in baseball and his mentorship and contributions to the youth of the U.S. Virgin Islands.” Following his professional career, Clarke returned to St. Croix where he developed young players in the territory as a baseball specialist for the Virgin Islands Government. “UVI is indeed privileged and honored to have Dr. Gates as the keynote speaker,” Dr. Hall said. “He is regarded as one of the most powerful academic voices in America, and is widely recognized for his extensive research of African American history and literature.” Dr. Gates has created 13 documentary films, and authored 16 books and scores of articles for leading publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times and Time. He is currently shooting the next season of “Finding Your Roots,” which is scheduled to air on PBS this fall. UVI’s St. Thomas Campus Commencement is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 17, in the Sports and Fitness Center. The Commencement on St. Croix will take place on the grounds of the Albert A. Sheen Campus at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 18. Additional information about UVI’s upcoming Commencement, along with links to archived videos and information from the 2013 Commencement are featured in the President’s Section of the UVI website – and from this direct link. Information about the University’s policy and procedures for awarding honorary degrees, along with downloadable nomination forms, is featured in the Trustees’ Section of the UVI website and on the Commencement webpage. Members of the University community may nominate individuals for consideration. A committee of UVI faculty, staff, students and alumni evaluates nominees and presents its recommendations to the President, who makes final recommendations to the Board’s Academic, Research and Student Affairs Committee. The full Board of Trustees approves the final selections.

Levey named new-media committee boss The Producers Guild of America is looking to open its doors to producers of programming for the Web.Marc Levey, head of production at Web design shop Dream Theater (“The Sixth Sense,” “The Sixth Day”), has been tapped chairman of the org’s newly formed new-media committee. Levey will work with guild prexy Thom Mount and executive director Vance Van Petten to amend the PGA’s constitution and hammer out a standard for accepting Web producers. Currently, no standards or definitions of roles exist for Internet producers, with guild entree limited to television and film producers who have at least two full-length features or 13 half-hour or six one-hour TV episodes to their credit. PGA members receive health benefits, pension plans and discounted car leases, among other offerings. The same perks will be offered to Web producers once they are admitted. Additionally, Levey will explore ways to protect the rights of interactive producers when inking contracts with Web programming distributors. “The roles between television and feature producers are different,” Levey said. “The same is true on the Internet. Do Internet producers need to be protected? I think the answer is yes.” “Our members realize we have to address this area,” Van Petten said. “It’s crucial. There’s been such a clamoring for it. Our mandate currently does not allow Internet producers into the guild, and that needs to change as this space grows.” Van Petten said the guild hopes to have a working definition of an Internet producer included in its constitution within a few months and “certainly before the end of the year.”

Deals Your online ad strategy stinks, Pricing Engine raises $1.25M to help March 15, 2013 3:31 PM Devindra Hardawar 0 Got email marketing? We've got best practices from LivingSocial and estate sale guru Everything But The House in our next Insight webinar. When it comes to managing online ad campaigns, we could all use a hand — especially small businesses. New York City-based Pricing Engine believes it has the solution. The company has been developing technology for simplifying online ads over the past two years, and today it’s finally coming out of beta testing with a platform for improving search marketing campaigns. “Everybody has these problems [with ads], it’s not just money, it’s time,” said Pricing Engine chief executive Jeremy Kagan, who I ran into today during NYC’s Start conference. “There’s a big industry out there, and people are comfortable with trying to do digital ads — but they don’t have the time to manage it, or any reference point to make it better, so nobody is addressing the small businesses’ needs.” The company’s platform has evolved significantly since it graduated from NYC’s Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in 2011. The entire design is a lot more polished, and Pricing Engine has also implemented a grading system to make it easy to understand just how badly your ads are doing. The company’s platform can give you an estimated revenue benefit by raising your ads up to higher level, which could be a good motivator for some businesses. Pricing Engine says it will expand its platform to include display media, social media ads, and e-commerce later in 2013. The company is currently in the midst of raising its first round, Kagan divulged today. It’s aiming to raise $1.5 million, and it already has around $1.25 million committed. $1 million of that is from an anonymous, publicly traded strategic partner that resells Pricing Engine’s technology and deals with tens of thousands of small businesses. “We’re looking for at least one good partner who can help us for our follow-up expansion, since we’re now switching our focus from vision to growth,” Kagan said. As for what Pricing Engine will do with the funding, Kagan says it will put a lot of the money in the bank, but it’s also working on turning on existing partnerships. The company also needs to invest time and money into integrating with APIs from other companies. VB’s research team is studying mobile user acquisition... Chime in here, and we’ll share the results.

ThinkSmart enjoyed its best one-day gain in 3½ months on Tuesday of more than 11 per cent after it reaffirmed its upbeat guidance for the year ending December 31, 2009, and gave a strong outlook for the following year. Furthermore, management is predicting another year of strong EBITDA growth for 2009-10 primarily due to the strength of the group’s Australian operations and the improved performance of its UK electrical retailing partner, DSG international. “It’s a classic example of a stock where the baby was thrown out with the bath water through the global financial crisis, when in actual fact the business has a very strong underlying earnings stream," the portfolio manager for Pengana Capital, Steve Black, said. “They write leases on computer-related equipment and they receive revenue from the inertia stream three to four years down the track. A lot of the current profit growth is actually business they wrote three to four years ago." At the end of a lease contract, consumers take an average of three to four months to decide whether to upgrade or to purchase the leased item outright. During these few months, consumers continue to pay the monthly repayments, which go to ThinkSmart, and it also collects a commission at the start of the lease. ThinkSmart does not finance the leases and has no direct risk exposure to defaults. However, worries about the drop in demand for IT products, growing investor aversion towards anything that looks like a structured financing product and its large exposure to the European market (particularly the UK) where it makes more than half of its revenue have weighed on the stock. Consensus estimates is forecasting a 24 per cent jump in EBITDA for 2009-10 and a 40 per cent surge in earnings per share to 9.1¢. This implies the stock is trading on an undemanding one-year forward price-earnings multiple of about eight times. The stock closed at 75.5¢ on Tuesday. The Australian Financial Review

The Australian Taxation Office is getting tough on small business owners who claimed losses during the financial crisis, in a bid to curb billions of dollars of loss claims. The Tax Office has warned accountants that “significant revenue losses" – which can be used to reduce future tax bills – were reported by a large number of small businesses in 2008 and 2009, and greater scrutiny of the sector was planned. “We will be undertaking a range of activities . . . from assisting taxpayers to understand their obligations . . . through to reviews and audits of higher-risk loss claims which we have identified as of concern to us," the Tax Office warned advisers. It has already toughened its stance on small businesses with outstanding tax debts, reversing a “soft touch" approach adopted during the economic downturn. “There’s a general trend of the Tax Office getting tougher," PKF partner John Kelly said. Businesses of all sizes reported $26 billion in tax losses in 2007 and 2008 on the latest available figures, while Tax Office audits and reviews last year denied $1 billion in claimed losses, including $125 million from smaller enterprises. In addition, tax debts owed by small businesses grew 36 per cent during 2009 and debts continued to grow last year. It is understood the Tax Office has sent warning letters to small and medium-sized businesses with losses in 2008 and 2009. The tougher strategy by the Tax Office will exclude entities in Queensland and other flood-affected areas. CPA Australia’s head of business and investment policy, Paul Drum, said he expected the amount of losses claimed in 2009 to be higher than for 2007 and 2008. “That was the worst year and that was really before fiscal stimulus would have kicked in as well." The 2009 figures are due for release in the next few months. PKF’s Mr Kelly said it was relatively easy for small businesses to misunderstand and fall foul of the web of tax laws. “Some of those laws are quite complex – it’s not surprising they do get it wrong," Mr Kelly said. Among the myriad traps are claiming unrealised losses, claiming expenses on debts yet to be written off, and mixing trust losses. The strategy is an about-face from the more lenient approach taken by the Tax Office during the global financial crisis, as it entered interest-free debt payment arrangements and other short-term relief measures for struggling businesses. “The ATO made it clear about 12 months ago now that that period, in their mind, had ceased and they were clearly resuming normal business," Institute of Chartered Accountants tax counsel Yasser El-Ansary said. While Mr El-Ansary does not object to the need to ensure compliance, he said it must be properly managed given the small and medium enterprise (SME) market was the nation’s biggest. He said the economic downturn was still a reality for some businesses. The strong Australian dollar had hit many manufacturers, exporters, education providers reliant on foreign students, and the retailers, among others. Taylor Woodings insolvency partner Quentin Olde said 2010 was the toughest year on record for Australian businesses, with about 800 a month – some 9601 in total – falling victim to insolvency. This is higher than the number of insolvencies in the previous year. His firm had seen the number of Tax Office-initiated insolvency actions rise in recent months. There are about 15 to 30 Tax Office insolvency applications each day, according to accountants, who expect that 2011 will be even harder for some small businesses. The Tax Office noted in its 2010 annual report it had initiated wind-ups of businesses only after “careful consideration of the options available" and this represented just 5.3 per cent of all wind-ups. Pitcher Partners executive director Greg Nielsen said small and medium enterprises should brace themselves for closer scrutiny, but should bear in mind that the Tax Office “isn’t always right and in fact relatively recently the ATO lost on a tax losses case in the courts". Taxpayers and the ATO alike had to negotiate complex areas of the law to determine whether a loss could be carried forward and offset against profit. “Irrespective of how well advised [businesses] have been, this will not necessarily protect them from an involved review process with the ATO and therefore the expenses associated with that," Mr Nielsen said. He said the “likely hot issues" for audits would be the interpretation of laws dealing with continuity of business ownership and same business tests. The Tax Office was “known to take a hard-line view" about the latter and it was important to get advice because it was a complex area. “SMEs must carefully monitor any changes, for example, in a share ownership of the company and any changes in the manner in which they operate their business," he said. Notwithstanding the complexity of the law, and that the ATO had flagged that the compliance strategy was aimed at honest mistakes rather than artificially created losses, RSM Bird Cameron tax director Paul Heiler said there was no guarantee penalties would not apply. “The Tax Office may well still seek to argue that even if you didn’t understand you should have taken steps to understand, so there’s a lack of reasonable care," he said. In the case of the same business test, however, SMEs could frequently argue that “the position they took in claiming those losses was reasonably arguable and didn’t lack reasonable care", Mr Heiler said. During the financial crisis, the mounting debts of businesses meant any payments that related to the day-to-day existence of a business, such as rent and electricity, would take precedence over tax bills as the Tax Office was a softer creditor. CPA Australia’s Mr Drum said corners were sometimes cut when taxpayers faced tight funds, including dispensing with professional advice. He said the compliance burden in satisfying ATO demands could be unfair and onerous on taxpayers. The Council of Small Businesses of Australia’s chief executive, “We’ll work with them . . . on the letters to make sure they don’t become unnecessarily intrusive to businesses," he said. While the ATO’s letters and reviews might be burdensome, Mr Strong compared it with the more strong-handed tactics of other regulatory authorities around the world. “In Sweden the government has attached a black box to every cash register. “The tax people can go in any time they want, they don’t have to announce it, they can ask to see whatever they want to see and the business just has to comply," he said. The tax summit this year, proposed by the Gillard government, would be a good opportunity for small business to work with the government and regulatory authorities towards a simpler tax framework so that mistakes could not be made so often. “Commonsense is not something we regularly see in tax laws – they become more and more complicated, which means you get an accountant to do it, which is costly, or you get an accountant and they still make a mistake because it is so complex." The inspector-general of taxation is due to complete his review of ATO audits of SMEs this year. The Australian Financial Review

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb says signing on to free trade agreements will force more structural adjustments across the economy, so Australia needs big wins for the services and agriculture sectors to convince the public such deals are worthwhile. Mr Robb will meet with trade counterparts from other countries on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland later this month, after his current trip to the United States. He is hopeful that a follow-up meeting – likely to be held in Singapore in February – of ministers from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership nations will go closer to clinching a deal accounting for 40 per cent of world trade. The sticking point for Australia remains attaining better market access for agriculture and the services sector, especially in the potentially lucrative Japanese market. Australian exports are restricted by high Japanese tariffs and restrictive quotas for sugar in the United States. “There are winners and losers from any trade agreement, so for us to sell an agreement back into the community and for it to be embraced, Australia needs to see significant market access opportunity," Mr Robb said. “Because if you free things up, you impose more structural change." The comments were made in an interview last week where Mr Robb said companies and politicians had to embrace industry change and economic restructuring. New markets could mean big wins for services exporters Victorian Liberal MP Sharman Stone had earlier criticised cabinet members who are resisting a request from SPC Ardmona (SPCA) for $50 million in aid as motivated by free-market “dogma". While manufacturing continues to struggle, services account for almost 80 per cent of Australia’s economy and are expected to grow strongly in the future, meaning opening up new markets could produce big wins for services exporters. Australia already provides relatively open access for goods and services from its major trading partners. Mr Robb has indicated Australia may be willing to make other concessions such as recognition of investor-state dispute settlement process, whereby disaffected foreign companies could resort to international arbitration to sue the Australian government. The TPP is supposed to be a “21st century" regional free-trade and investment agreement among 12 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam. US President Barack Obama set a December 2013 deadline for the TPP to be sealed, but the negotiations will drag on into this year. “If the market access offering in February is significant, then I think we will see rapid movement towards closing this deal," Mr Robb said. The TPP deals with a wide array of issues beyond traditional trade matters, including intellectual property, e-commerce and role of state-owned enterprises. Australia signed a free trade agreement with Korea last year and is aiming for similar deals with China and Japan this year. Legislation was tabled in the US last week, proposing that Congress to give up its constitutional power to amend the text of any trade agreement and the authority be given to the White House. The goal to fast track approval in the US has met resistance from Congressional Democrats and Republicans. The Australian Financial Review