text:
Numbers USA Sponsors Twitter Campaign to Pass H.R. 2885 and E-Verify
Members of the House of Representatives are a savvy bunch. The use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media in politics has increased exponentially in the last few years.
We need a coordinated Twitter push on WEDNESDAY to encourage House Republicans to include The Legal Workforce Act in their job creation strategy!
As you probably have heard, HR2885, The Legal Workforce Act, mandates the nationwide use of E-Verify, which will free up millions of jobs currently held by illegal alien workers.
And, they include some sample tweets with recommended Twitter hastags. Or, make up your own tweets!
Go ahead folks and tell Members of Congress that you want E-verify passed and passed now!
#WeCantWait for Congress to pass #Everify to open #jobs for millions of unemployed Americans
Post Tweet
Passing @LamarSmithTX21 #Everify bill will help open up #jobs for millions of Americans
7 million illegal aliens hold non-agriculture #jobs in the US. Pass #Everify #4jobs.
82% of Americans support #Everify that will free up #jobs for unemployed Americans. #WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs!
22 million Americans can't find full-time #jobs. Pass #Everify! #WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs!
Help #OWS get back to work! Pass #Everify to open up #jobs for unemployed Americans!
Should new #jobs go to illegal aliens? Passing #Everify will ensure they don't. #WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs!
#Everify is good enough for Congress. Shouldn't it be good for Americans looking #4jobs?
Keep illegal workers out of US #jobs! Pass #Everify! #WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs!
Help unemployed Americans get back to work! Pass #Everify! #WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs!
If Congress cares about opening up #jobs for unemployed Americans, they'll pass @LamarSmithTX21 #Everify bill.
#WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs! #Passthebill that would make #Everify mandatory!
#Passthebill = $447 billion. #Everify = $0. #WeCantWait 2 act #4jobs!
#OccupyEverywhere with #Everify. It will open up #jobs for unemployed Americans!
It's time for Congress to pass #Everify to open up 7 million #jobs held by illegal workers.
Dan Lungren, E-Verify, Save America's Food and Economy
Save America's Food and Economy Conference Call with Rep. Dan Lungren
Carol Chandler discusses her experiences and the need for a strong, stable, farming workforce.
I was on a conference call earlier this afternoon with Craig Regelbrugge of SAFE (Save America's Food and Economy) and California Representative Dan Lungren. The issue of the call is protecting America's agricultural labor force in light of E-Verify and specifically HR-2164.
Here is their fact sheet page.
Current bill – H.R.2164 – "The Legal Workforce Act"
Summary, status and full text of legislation currently under consideration in Congress which mandates use of E-Verify by all employers in the United States. The bill was introduced on June 14, 2011 by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).
Background –
What is E-Verify?
A government primer on the Internet-based employee eligibility system managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
E-Verify Wiki
Overview of E-Verify and its history, including references to federal and state government application.
Past proposals, AgJOBS –
Senate version of AgJOBS compromise legislation introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).
Past proposals, AgJOBS – H.R. 2412
House version of AgJOBS compromise legislation introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA).
Analysis –
"Silent Raids" & E-Verify immigration enforcement are destroying U.S. farms
Commentary by Amherst College Copeland Fellow and migrant farm worker expert Daniel Altshuler examines the impact E-Verify, as it currently stands, is having on America's farms.
Research & Analysis – "Why Domestic Agriculture Needs New, Workable Farm Labor Alternatives Now"
Key messages from the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) 2010 Survey of H-2A Employers.
Research – The Census of Agriculture
Every five years, the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service releases a detailed census on the state of American agriculture.
Research – USDA Economic Research Service
The economic and policy analysis division of the USDA. Access to information and data on the U.S. agricultural industry.
And, Rep. Dan Lungren discussed his new legislation to work as a companion bill to HR-2164. A link to its summary is here.
So, why SAFE and why is Big AG (like the Western Growers Association) afraid of E-Verify?
Well, obviously, a large majority (maybe as much of 80%) of their agricultural labor is comprised of migrant illegal immigrants (probably most from Mexico). With a successful E-Verify program, they would lose all of their field workers, crops would not be harvested, cattle raised, milk gathered and their businesses would fail.
In the meantime, Americans would need to eat and would simply import fruit, vegetables and meat from other countries, like South American and China. America's food supply would be outsourced as America's farmlands lay fallow.
So, what does SAFE propose?
A guest worker program on the scale of a million plus workers a year. But, a program under the control of the United States Department of Agriculture. This is the essence of Rep Lungren's bill.
We have a dilemma here.
America needs E-Verify to remove the "jobs magnet" for illegal immigration. However, America needs labor to harvest its food supply.
This proposal appears to be a suitable, temporary compromise. American agriculture needs to find better and more efficient methods to develop and harvest their crops in a less labor intense method.
America's farmers and dairymen should NO LONGER be dependent upon foreign workers to conduct business. Our national security demands it.
Stay tuned, as I will have more later…..
E-Verify, Illegal Immigration
Farmers Opposing GOP Sponsored E-Verify Legislation
Mexican-American farm workers harvest broccoli March 12, 2009 near El Centro, California
This is NOT really a shocker.
Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, a move some say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community's traditional support for conservative candidates.
The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers — who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here without legal documents — to check all new hires through E-Verify, a federal database run by the Department of Homeland Security devised to ferret out illegal immigrants.
Farm laborers, required like other workers to show that they are authorized to take jobs in the United States, often present Social Security numbers and some form of picture ID. Employers, many of them labor contractors providing crews to farms, have not been required to check the information and are discouraged by antidiscrimination laws from looking at it too closely. But it is an open secret that many farmworkers' documents are false.
Supporters of E-Verify, an electronic system that is currently mandatory for most federal contractors but voluntary for other employers, argue that it would eliminate any doubt about workers' legal status. But farmers say it could cripple a $390 billion industry that relies on hundreds of thousands of willing, low-wage immigrant workers to pick, sort and package everything from avocados to zucchini.
"This would be an emergency, a dire, dire situation," said Nancy Foster, president of the U.S. Apple Association, adding that the prospect of an E-Verify check would most likely mean that many immigrant workers would simply not show up. "We will end up closing down."
You know, California agricultural interests have been getting a subsidized ride for decades in using illegal immigrations, primarily from Mexico, for harvesting their crops. Crops which pay them BIG MONEY.
The illegal immigrations who are migrant and with no papers are allowed to use either forged "Green Card" documents or NO documents in order to work in the fields for below market wages or at least really low wages for back-breaking hard manual labor. They receive in some cases housing and very little in the way of employee benefits that most of us receive. This all to the benefit of the wealth land owners and often corporate agricutural interests.
They can sell their crops for a cheaper price but, of course, their profit is good – very good.
When these illegal folks need health care or education for their children (who are born here as American citizens), the government provides them – not the employer.
In a May letter to the members of the Judiciary Committee, Bob Stallman, the president of the American Farm Bureau, cited a Labor Department survey placing the percentage of illegal workers in the fields at more than 50 percent. Other groups say the figure is closer to 70 percent. Denying farmers that labor supply, Mr. Stallman wrote, would cost them $5 billion to $9 billion annually.
Mr. Smith's bill has attracted more solid support from nonagricultural business leaders, opening a divide between them and agricultural interests. Many nonfarm businesses have concluded that some form of employee verification is inevitable.
National organizations of restaurant owners and home builders gave their backing. The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which unites Latino businesses in Mr. Smith's district that have often been at odds with him, is leaning toward endorsing the bill, said Ramiro A. Cavazos, the president of the chamber.
It is time for the Congress to pass E-Verify and end the BIG subsidy to the agricultural interests. If they cannot staff their fields with LEGAL workers, then they have some remedies.
One remedy would be increased mechanism and efficiency in the fields. Maybe if illegal immigrants did not work in the fields at such low wages, the AG interests would invest in machines to do the harvesting without the back-breaking labor.
Also, the Agricultural folks could seek Guest-Worker legislation in the Congress that identifies and returns workers to their country of origin after a period of time of working in the United States. Costs associated by these workers would be paid up front by the AG interests. Children born of these workers in the United States would NOT be considered native born citizens (although there might be a time consuming Constituional issue here) and would have to return with their parents after a period of time.
The prospects of a E-Verify mandate passing in the House this year is good. In the Democrat controlled Senate, not so good and I am positive President Obama would veto the legislation anyway.
Then, there is the pressure from the AG interests on the Republicans.
Mr. Smith's E-Verify bill also includes a three-year grace period before growers would have to comply. But such caveats have done little to quell opposition from farm groups, who have been pleading for years for an overhaul to allow a legal immigrant work force.
And that discontent could manifest itself in elections, farm representatives warn.
"Most of our folks are Republicans," said Paul Wenger, the president of the California Farm Bureau. "But if the Republicans do this to them without a workable worker program, it will change their voting patterns or at very least their involvement in politics."
Democrat and Republican Members of Congress have turned a blind eye to illegal immigration and agriculture for decades, since before World War II. Money talks in politics and the AG folks spread their money around and have donated a lot to Republicans.
But, American voters understand that these farming companies are prospering to the detriment of the taxpayer and we now have huge social/financial costs dealing with the generations of illegal immigrants that have been allowed to come into this country.
The time to enforce immigration law is long past.
Unfortunately, it will not occur with mandatory E-Verify until after the 2012 Presidential election or even 2016, if Obama is re-elected President.
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Illegal Immigrant Hiring Law
The ruling came down from SCOTUS this morning.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an Arizona law that harshly penalizes businesses for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
In a ruling that could exert pressure on Congress and other states, the court in what amounts to a 5-3 decision declared that Arizona's law fits within the state's powers and does not infringe on federal turf. .
"Arizona hopes that its law will result in more effective enforcement of the prohibition on employing unauthorized aliens," Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. wrote, adding that "the Arizona regulation does not otherwise conflict with federal law."
The highly anticipated decision keeps intact the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act. Employers could have their business licenses suspended or revoked for hiring illegal immigrants, under the law.
The law also requires Arizona employers to use a federal program called E-Verify to check the immigration status of potential workers. Justices likewise upheld this provision, with Robert calling it "entirely consistent" with federal law.
The decision affirms the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had likewise upheld the state law. It is a defeat for the politically powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Obama administration, both of which had opposed the Arizona law.
Now, the House needs to get busy in mandating E-Verify for all employment in the United States. Big corporate business have been dumping their employment problems on American taxpayers for decades and it is time to stop.
Want to bet that with E-Verify, there will be more jobs available for legal resident Americans?
And, if the Congress, does not act or President Obama vetoes the legislation, then the states should take up the issue and pass their own laws.
E-Verify, Elton Gallegly, Illegal Immigration
House GOP Set to Mandate E-Verify to Crack Down on Illegal Immigration
This is what Flap's Congressman Elton Gallegly said on Thursday.
The balance between Republican calls to reduce government regulation of business and the GOP's campaign against undocumented workers is about to be tested by a bill that would mandate use of an illegal-worker detection system, which critics say would cripple U.S. agriculture by depriving farmers of cheap labor.
House immigration subcommittee chairman Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) said Thursday that he plans to introduce the bill to mandate the use of E-Verify within the next month. The program is already mandatory for government agencies and contractors and used voluntarily by nearly 250,000 businesses to check the legal status of potential hires. But Gallegly said he hopes making it a requirement for all U.S. enterprises will drive out illegal workers entirely.
"If there was ever a need to do something quickly, when we have 14 million Americans who aren't working today, I think they deserve to be put in the front of the line," the California Republican said at a hearing on the use of E-Verify.
About damn time.
I think such a bill would have an excellent chance of passage. But, will President Obama who needs the Hispanic vote in 2012 veto the legislation?
Businesses Fear Expansion of the Illegal Immigration E-Verify Program
Protesters at a Chipotle restaurant in Minnesota, where some workers were fired after an immigration audit
Well, too bad.
In an early indicator of how congressional Republicans will legislate on immigration, House GOP leaders are expanding an inquiry into an enforcement program that allows employers to check the immigration status of employees.
The E-Verify program has long been championed by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's immigration panel, which will hold a hearing on it Thursday.
Many business owners believe that Gallegly and other House Republicans want to make E-Verify, currently a voluntary program for companies, mandatory. Critics of such a move, many of them farmers, warn that it could destabilize the agricultural economy, which is heavily dependent on undocumented immigrants, and jeopardize millions of jobs held by American citizens that are upstream and downstream of farm labor.
The fact is that agricultural mega-business have been using cheap, illegal aliens for most of their labor for decades at great cost to American taxpayers.
Well, it is way cheaper than hiring native born Americans or mechanizing their farming/manufacturing operations. Hence, more profits. But, the taxpayers are picking up the tab for the illegal aliens and their American born (and american citizen) children e.g. public education, medicaid, criminal justice et. al..
E-Verify is a sensible reform and if the large agricultural companies cannot obtain enough labor then there is always a guest worker program for which they can apply.
Let's get the illegal aliens and their hidden costs out of the shadows and back to their home countries while supplying jobs for Americans.
I will gladly pay a bit more for my lettuce and grapes.


text:
The Martin T3M was an American torpedo bomber of the 1920s. A single-engined three-seat biplane, it became a standard torpedo bomber of the U.S. Navy, operating from both land bases and from aircraft carriers from 1926 to 1932.

Development and design
Having built 75 examples of the Martin SC, the production version of the Curtiss CS in 1925, the Glenn L. Martin Company was able to offer an improved version when the U.S. Navy had a requirement for an improved torpedo-bomber/scout aircraft. This aircraft, which was designated the T3M-1, first flew in July 1926.

The T3M was a large single-engined biplane capable of being fitted with either a conventional tailwheel undercarriage or floats. The fuselage was constructed of welded steel tube in place of the riveted steel frame of the CS/SC, with the pilot and bombardier seated side by side in the front cockpit situated forward of the wing, with the bombardier having a position under the nose for aiming the aircraft's bombs or torpedoes, while the gunner had a cockpit well aft of the wing, with a radiator slung under the top wing between the cockpits. Power was from a 575 hp (429 kW) Wright T-3B V-12 engine. 24 T3M-1s were built.

As the T3M-1 was underpowered, a new version was produced with the much more powerful (770 hp/574 kW) Packard 3A-2500 engine. This version, the T3M-2 had revised wings with the upper and lower wings of equal span (while in the T3M-1 the lower wings were of greater span), and the radiator was replaced by two radiators on the fuselage side, allowing the crew to be moved to three individual tandem cockpits. The U.S. Navy ordered 100 T3M-2s, one of which was re-engined with the Pratt & Whitney Hornet and the Wright Cyclone radial engines as the XT3M-3 and XT3M-4 respectively. These aircraft formed the basis of the Martin T4M that would replace the T3M in service with the U.S. Navy.

Operational history

Deliveries of the T3M-1 to the U.S. Navy started in September 1926. The T3M-1 was not heavily used, however, and was replaced in service by the more powerful T3M-2 from 1927. Although the T3M-2 itself was replaced in frontline service by its radial-powered development, the T4M, it remained in squadron service until at least 1932.

Variants
T3M-1
Initial production version. Powered by 575 hp (429 kW) Wright T-3B engine. 24 built.
T3M-2
Main production version. One 770 hp (574 kW) Packard 3A-2500 engine. 100 built.
XT3M-3
First T3M-2 re-engined with Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engine.
XT3M-4
XT3M-3 modified by Naval Aircraft Factory to use Wright R-1750 Cyclone.

Operators

United States Marine Corps
United States Navy

Specifications (T3M-2)

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

 Donald, David (editor). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Aerospace Publishing. 1997. .
 Grossnik, Roy A. Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons: Volume 1 The History of VA, VAH, VAK, VAL, VAP and VFA Squadrons. Washington DC: Naval Historical Centre, 1995. .
 Johnson, Edward C. Marine Corps Aviation: The Early Years 1912–1940. Washington DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1977.
 Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter M. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London:Putnam, Second edition 1976. .
 Taylor, Michael J.H. (ed.) Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation.

External links

Martin T3M Aeroweb.
Martin Aerofiles.

Martin T03M
Martin T03M
T3M
Carrier-based aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1926

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Ben Johnson sau Benjamin Johnson s-ar putea referi la unul din următorii:

 Ben Jonson (1572 – 1637), poet și dramaturg englez
 Ben Johnson (sprinter) (n. 1961)
 Ben Johnson (politician) (1858 – 1950)
 Ben Johnson (actor) (1918 – 1996)
 Ben Johnson (artist) (1902 – 1967)
 Ben Johnson (baseball) (n. 1981)
 Ben Johnson (fotbalist) (n. 1981), fotbalist de fotbal australian
 Benjamin Anthony Johnson (n. 2000), fotbalist de la West Ham United
 Ben Johnson (cricketer) (n. 1973), jucător de cricket din Australia
 Benjamin Johnson (circa 1665 – 1742), actor englez
 Benjamin F. Johnson (1818 – 1905), pionier american al Vestului Sălbatic


text:
Detective Harrison "Harry" Morgan is a fictional character in the Showtime television series Dexter and the novels by Jeff Lindsay upon which it is based. In the television series he is portrayed by James Remar. Harry is Dexter Morgan's adoptive father, now deceased.

Character biography

In the novels
Harry Morgan is a detective and highly respected member of the Miami Police Department, and a close friend of his immediate superior Lieutenant Tom Matthews. In the course of a high-stakes drug case, Harry begins an illicit relationship with Laura Moser, Dexter's biological mother, to gather information and evidence on the drug lord in question. The drug dealers eventually find out she is informing on them, and make an example of her; they brutally murder her and three others with chainsaws in a shipping container. Her sons Brian and Dexter are left in the container for two days, sitting in blood, until Harry and a police team rescue them. Harry adopts Dexter, while Brian is sent into a mental facility; Harry believes that the older Brian is permanently traumatized by the event and is "unsalvageable", but that Dexter is still young enough to be "saved". When Dexter is around 10 years old, Harry discovers that he has been killing neighborhood pets, and realizes that the boy has an innate need to kill.

At first, Harry attempts to manage Dexter's violent urges by only allowing him to kill animals, but he eventually comes to the conclusion that Dexter's pathology cannot be repressed, only controlled. Harry decides to train the boy as a vigilante, to hunt and kill murderers without leaving any clues. Dexter prizes these lessons as a means to satisfy his homicidal urges with his father's approval, dubbing the rules as the "Code of Harry". Harry's relationship with his biological daughter Debra, meanwhile, is more complicated; she craves her father's approval, but feels that he favors Dexter. (Harry keeps her in the dark about Dexter's "training".)

When Dexter is 20, Harry falls seriously ill and gives Dexter "permission" to kill Mary, one of his nurses, who is intentionally poisoning him with morphine. He dies a year later, supposedly of heart disease.

In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Harry is deeply alarmed when Dexter nearly kills the school bully, and takes him to visit a serial killer incarcerated on death row, hoping the condemned man will serve as a living example of the importance of not being caught.

In the TV series
As in the novels, Harry has been dead for many years by the series' main timeline, but remains an important influence on his adopted son. For the first two seasons, he appeared only in flashbacks to Dexter's childhood. From season three onward, the dramatic device of flashbacks was replaced with Harry appearing as representations of how Dexter worked out his problems.

Late in the second season, it is revealed that he recovers from his illness. When Juan Ryness, a pimp who murders his own prostitute, is released due to a faulty search warrant, Harry loses his temper and tells Dexter he was right in training him. When Dexter kills Ryness, Harry is horrified by the way Dexter proudly shows him the pimp's dismembered body: It is Harry's first actual view of Dexter's "work", and he is ashamed of what he had trained Dexter to do. According to Matthews, Harry commits suicide three days later by deliberately overdosing on his medication, but not before telling Matthews to look after his children.

Dexter learns Harry's secrets in the third season, and inadvertently reveals to Debra that Harry had cheated on his wife several times. This revelation has a profound effect on Debra, who loses all respect for the man she had always tried to live up to. Dexter, meanwhile, begins to question Harry's "code", realizing that he is the only one in charge of his "Dark Passenger".  It is also revealed in season four that Harry had slept with many of his informants, not just Laura.

In season eight, Dexter learns that Harry had confided in Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) about young Dexter's homicidal urges, and that she had helped him create Dexter's "code".

Harry finally parts ways with Dexter in the series' penultimate episode, "Monkey in a Box", when Dexter decides to leave serial killer Oliver Saxon (Darri Ingolfsson) for the police and join his son Harrison and girlfriend Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) at the airport to move to Argentina. Harry tells Dexter that he no longer needs him, and bids him goodbye.

See also
 List of imaginary characters in fiction

External links

Dexter (series) characters
Characters in American novels of the 21st century
Television characters introduced in 2004
Fictional suicides
Fictional characters from Miami
Fictional Miami-Dade Police Department detectives
Fictional foster carers
American male characters in television
Male characters in television


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Make yourself at home in one of the 87 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and microwaves. Satellite programming and video-game consoles are provided for your entertainment, while complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected. Private bathrooms with shower/tub combinations feature complimentary toiletries and hair dryers. Conveniences include safes and desks, as well as phones with free local calls.
With a stay at Holiday Inn Express Las Vegas-Nellis in Las Vegas (Sunrise Manor), you'll be a 2-minute drive from Nellis Air Force Base and 9 minutes from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This hotel is 8.8 mi (14.1 km) from Las Vegas North Premium Outlets and 9.9 mi (15.9 km) from Mob Museum.
The preferred airport for Holiday Inn Express Las Vegas Nellis is Las Vegas, NV (LAS-McCarran Intl.) - 18.2 km / 11.3 mi.
The preferred airport for Holiday Inn Express Las Vegas-Nellis is Las Vegas, NV (LAS-McCarran Intl.).


WINCHESTER, VA. - Terrorism threats continue to concern officials in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, but authorities learned Thursday that gangs are a growing problem.
The issue was discussed during the 17th annual Quad State Legislative Conference, at which lawmakers and government officials from the four-state area meet to discuss common issues and problems.
Much of the discussion at Thursday's conference, which was held at Shenandoah University in Winchester, centered on how to protect the area from possible terrorist attacks. Lawmakers and government officials said they are trying to prevent terrorist attacks by identifying targets that might be attractive to terrorists and by setting up tip lines so citizens can report suspicious activity.
Another problem area officials are starting to face is "violent gangs," said U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.
Wolf specifically mentioned West Virginia as one of the areas being favored by gangs. He would not elaborate after his speech, but said the gangs were not connected to any terrorist activity.
Jefferson County (W.Va.) Sheriff Everett "Ed" Boober, who was not at the conference, said when contacted later that gangs are moving into Jefferson County from Northern Virginia areas such as Loudoun County, Berryville and Fairfax.
The gangs are using the area most often to conduct meetings. They have been meeting in areas such as Millville, W.Va., Charles Town, W.Va., and Harpers Ferry, W.Va., Boober said. Police know that gangs have been in the area because signs that symbolize their groups have been drawn on walls and buildings in the areas, Boober said.
Boober said the gangs prefer the area because it is peaceful.
Although the gangs do not appear to be committing crimes in the area, they will commit crimes such as theft to fund their operations, Boober said. Potential gang members also will commit crimes ranging from destruction of property to murder as a ritual to join the groups, Boober said.
"This is just not 'West Side Story' with graffiti on the wall," Wolf said at the Quad State Legislative Conference.
Del. Charles Trump, R-Berkeley, said he was "quite alarmed" by what he heard at the conference. Trump said he would like to find ways to give law enforcement new resources to deal with the threats.
Regarding terrorism, lawmakers and government officials talked about work that still lies ahead in better securing the region.
One area is radio communications.
Officials in Maryland and West Virginia said they still use radio systems that don't enable police and rescue personnel to communicate.
If police and rescue personnel respond to an emergency along a river, they can shout at each other from across the water but cannot communicate by radio, said Randy Coleman, assistant secretary for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
"We've got to fix that," Coleman said.
Officials said converting radio systems to correct the problem is expensive.
Officials talked about how to take a more regional approach to protecting the area against terrorism.
A county may have a great emergency response unit for terrorism attacks, but often those rescue squads cannot cross county lines, said Cynthia F. Soltis, program coordinator for Quad State Emergency Preparedness.
Soltis said her organization wants to help lead an effort to reverse laws that prohibit rescue units from crossing county lines.
She said the agency also wants to offer emergency preparedness training programs to rescue officials in the region.
Although other issues such as tourism, economic development and transportation were on the agenda for the conference, terrorism and related issues were the "front-burner issues," said Maryland state Sen. Donald Munson, R-Washington.
"People have no idea how serious the threat is," Munson said.
Pennsylvania was represented at the conference by state Sen. Terry Punt, R-Franklin, and state Rep. Patrick Fleagle, R-Franklin.


text:
Valuable White Oak is vulnerable to future shortages in supply
Younger trees of this species are needed for a variety of future uses, such as bourbon barrels
FDN Staff April 6, 2020
MADISON, Wis. -- As you relax over the beverage of your choice this evening, a highly valued tree species may contribute in several ways. That species may have stored that beverage, you may be seated on a stool constructed from it, and the stool may rest on flooring of the same wood: white oak.
The wood species' use in storing bourbon is required by federal law, and white oak barrels can also be prevalent in storing some wines and beers.
However, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and its partners in the "White Oak Initiative" believe that work is required to ensure there is an adequate supply of the species for coming decades. They believe there is adequate supply for uses now, but worry that greater regeneration is required to maintain the needed volume of white oak in the future. And for a species that requires a 50-80 year growth period, they feel the need to plan is there now.
Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota represent the Northwest corner of the white oak forest in the United States. For Wisconsin, the species is particularly important in the Western and Central part of the state, including regions tracked by pricing reports by Forest Data Network: the Chippewa, Mississippi River, Black River and Driftless Northern regions.
One consumer of white oak would love to see more available -- Staggemeyer Stave Company of Caledonia, Minnesota. The company buys oak within a range of 175 miles of its plant, according to Jed Hammell, the company's owner and president.
Staggemeyer's oak ends up with 100 customers around the country, including wineries in California and bourbon distilleries in Kentucky. It first passes through cooperages in Kentucky that convert Staggemeyer's staves into barrels.
Kentucky bourbon whiskey barrels
Northern white oak's slow growth provides a quality advantage--- it leads to tight-grained wood which is preferable in barrels.
Staggemeyer's business employed about 26 people at the time of this story, but that level changes seasonally. Hammell said that the oak supply is a limiting factor.
"I'd like to expand if I could get more oak," Hammell said.
The barrels have a useful life of many decades. Some that start as bourbon barrels may end up being shipped to Scotland for further use in scotch whiskey or to craft breweries in the U.S. for specialty brews, Hammell said.
While the current white oak supply is adequate, "what is missing are the younger trees," according to Paul DeLong of the American Forest Foundation. The initiative is a cooperative effort of the U.S. Forest Service, several state forestry departments and businesses that rely on a supply of white oak for their products.
Jordy Jordahl, of the AFF, explained in a presentation that 72 percent of white oak forest stands nationally are 50 to 120 years old. Improving regeneration is necessary to make certain that there is a long term supply for flooring, furniture and barrels, he said.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl