text:
Showing article 2541 to 2560 of 57608 in channel 6503940
First Page ... Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 ... Last Page
Crash on I-84W in Waterbury
Next Task Force to Meet on Future of Sandy Hook School
Previous WATCH: Prince Harry Visits Arlington National Cemetery
One lane of I-84 Westbound is closed at Exit 20 in Waterbury because of a 4-car crash.
Minor injuries are reported.
Traffic is moving slowly as a result.
Photo Credit: Connecticut Department of Transportation Traffic Cams
Task Force to Meet on Future of Sandy Hook School
Next Explosion at Sterling Explosives Company
Previous Crash on I-84W in Waterbury
The Sandy Hook Elementary Building Task Force will get together tonight for what is expected to be an emotional meeting about the future of the Sandy Hook Elementary School building.
There has been an ongoing discussion about what to do with the current building, where a gunman went on a rampage on Dec. 14, killing 20 first graders and six staff members.
A meeting held last week about the future of the school ended with no decision.
Three weeks after the shooting, students returned to classes, but moved to the former Chalk Hill School in Monroe, about seven miles from the site of the tragic shooting.
The 28 task force members are trying to decide whether to renovate at the current site or rebuild on nearby Riverside Road, at Reed Intermediate School or on the Fairfield Hills campus.
"I will chain my body to it and to protest if they try to re-open it," said Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, the principal who was killed trying to protect her students.
Residents will be welcome to attend the meeting and voice their opinions about the site and the options.
"Just tearing it down and building a new school in the same place is one of the solutions that would make the most sense," Peter Caracciolo, of Newtown, said.
The estimated cost for renovation or building a new school is estimated to range between $47 million and $59 million.
"I don't think people will be unhappy with what emerges there beyond the fact that many will object to that it's there at all," Will Rodgers, a committee member, said.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. inside the municipal building in Newtown.
Explosion at Sterling Explosives Company
Next Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Student Suspended Over Threat
Previous Task Force to Meet on Future of Sandy Hook School
There has been a chemical explosion at Austin Powder, an explosives company in Sterling, and one employee has been transported to William W. Backus Hospital to be treated for chemical burns, according to dispatchers.
The company makes industrial explosives and accessories, provides blasting services and is a rock quarrying and mining operation, according to its Web site.
The company is located at 332 Ekonk Hill Road, near the Rhode Island border, and streets are being closed.
The state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection said there were reports of a yellow cloud reaction with no fires from the explosion. DEEP has sent a hazmat team.
Lt. Paul Vance said fire service has secured the area as a precaution.
It has between 20 and 49 employees, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The state fire marshal is investigating.
Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
Photo Credit: Google Maps
Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Student Suspended Over Threat
Next Sailing Official: "He Was the Heart and Soul of the Team"
Previous Explosion at Sterling Explosives Company
Security is increased at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and a student has been suspended after allegations that the student made a threat and verbalized an intention to harm members of the school community, according to a message from the Capitol Region Education Council.
"The safety and security of students is our first concern, and please be assured that all students are completely safe at school today," the message from Bruce E. Douglas, the executive director, said.
Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts staff members were notified on Wednesday that a student had verbalized a threat, according to school officials.
The school notified police immediately and security was increased at the school.
School officials said the child suspected was immediately removed from the school building and an investigation began.
On Thursday evening, word of the threat spread through the student body through social media channels and text messages, school officials said.
The student has been suspended indefinitely and is not in school on Friday, according to the school.
All staff members have been notified of the situation, school officials said, and they have taken precautionary measures at both sites and in all buildings, including increased security.
School officials said they are working closely with all the necessary parties and authorities to ensure a full resolution.
Sailing Official: "He Was the Heart and Soul of the Team"
Next State Issues Warning to Pennsylvania-Bound Drivers
Previous Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Student Suspended Over Threat
Follow @nbcbayarea
Training was canceled on Friday and Team Artemis was in mourning after an Olympic sailor from their crew died when an America's Cup sailboat capsized during a training run in the San Francisco Bay.
A news conference on Friday at Pier 27 in San Francisco did not shed much light on what happened just before the death of British-born Andrew "Bart" Simpson.
Regatta Director and America's Cup Management CEO Iain Murray said that officials have not yet talked to the team about why the catamaran, "Big Red," took a "nosedive" Thursday about 1 p.m., catching Simpson underneath for about 10 minutes, because they are grieving.
Murray vowed they would find out what happened, and said that sailors are taught to "respect the ocean at all times."
Simpson, the 36-year-old Olympic gold medalist, was the team's strategist. He had won gold in China in 2008 and silver in 2012.
"He was the heart and soul of the team," said Tim Jeffery, Oracle Team USA spokesman said Thursday. "He was perpetually happy. It was like he had a little box inside that gave him a sunny outlook on life."
Simpson joined the team in February, providing his crew with weather and tactics support, according to the America's Cup website. Jeffery said Simpson's worth to the team was his ability was to "spot the breeze, read the breeze."
Magnus Auguston, the team's "grinder," said Simpson was was of the "finest guys I ever met," and a wonderful sailor, as well as husband and father.
And the British Olympic Association described him as a "treasured and accomplished member" of its teams.
On Friday, the same website showed dark gray clouds hovering over the Golden Gate Bridge, near where Simpson died on Thursday, with a quote from the Swedish team's CEO, Paul Cayard, simply stating, "Our prayers are with Andrew Simpson's family."
"As our friend and teammate, Andrew "Bart" Simpson was central to Artemis Racing, both in the course of racing and our lives," said Torbjörn Törnqvist, Chairman of Artemis Racing. "His presence and personality was a binding force and he will be missed. Right now, the primary focus of Artemis Racing is on the well-being of our team members and their families, and the America's Cup competition will remain second to that."
He added that Artemis Racing will conduct a thorough analysis and review of this accident and will be looking at how the risks inherent to such competitive sailing can be limited in the future for the safety of the team and all competitors in the sailing community.
MORE: Other Sailing Fatalities in History
Crews performed CPR on Simpson for about 20 minutes, after the accident in the San Francisco Bay just north of Treasure Island, according to San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White. But just before 2 p.m., fire paramedics stopped life-saving efforts. He had been in the water for about 10 minutes, probably trapped under the AC 72 vessel, Hayes-White said.
It's unknown why the boat capsized. San Francisco police will lead the investigation into what happened. This is the same major accident investigations team that investigated an accident during a yacht race off the Farrallon Islands last April that killed several people. In that race, unrelated to the America's Cup, the crews were racing a 37-foot Aegean off the coast of California and Mexico, when it collided with a larger vessel.
Winds at the time of Thursday's accident show the average gusts to have been between 25 mph and 35 mph, waves between four to six feet high, and water temperatures about 55 degrees -- nothing out of the ordinary.
Eleven other sailors were aboard the 72-foot long craft, and the other 10 were taken to a support boat operated by Oracle Racing, which is defending the America's Cup title from 2010 in San Francisco this summer. Another team member, identified on Friday as Craig Monk, a "grinder," suffered some cuts and was bandaged and released, according to America's Cup officials.
Artemis Racing is the "challenger of record" for the 24th America's Cup.
Sailing in the San Francisco Bay is both exhilerating and dangerous — mostly because of the winds.
"It has ideal winds," said Rich Jepsen, of OCSC Sailing in Berkeley. "But at that speed, there is no room for error." Seventy-two-foot catamarans like the Artemis can travel between 40 to 50 mph.
This it is the third America's Cup training accident — though the first fatal one — in the last two years in the San Francisco Bay.
And in 1999, there was one other America's Cup fatality: Martin Wizner of the Spanish Challenge died almost instantly in Valencia, Spain when he was hit in the head by a broken piece of equipment.
Back in October, a nearly $8-million, 72-foot catamaran used by Oracle Team USA capsized near the Golden Gate Bridge. No one was injured when that happened. But there was at least $2 million in damage to the wing of the AC 72 boat, a massive vessel with a 13,000-pound hull and a 131-foot mast.
To see some video of the Team Oracle boat capsizing in October 2012, click here:
There was another accident in June 2011, with the same Oracle team.
Artemis has had technical problems, as well. Last fall, Artemis said the front beam of its AC72 catamaran was damaged during structural tests, delaying the boat's christening. A year ago, Artemis' AC72 wing sail sustained serious damage while it was being tested on a modified trimaran in Valencia, Spain.
The America's Cup race is scheduled to run from July through September, and the teams are training on the bay in specially made 72-foot catamarans.
Photos and updates were also available on the America's Cup website.To see the members of the Artemis Racing team, click here.
5 Things to Know about the America's Cup (Courtesy AP)
WHAT IS THE AMERICA'S CUP?
The America's Cup is considered sailing's most prestigious event and, along with the Olympics and World Cup soccer, among the world's largest global sporting events in terms of its economic impact. It began in 1851 when the New York Yacht Club's schooner, `America,' bested the British off the coast of England.
WHO OVERSEES IT?
The winner is responsible for choosing the site of the next race and making arrangements for it. Software billionaire Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing won the cup in 2010 off the coast of Spain. Ellison, who won the cup representing the San Francisco-based Golden Gate Yacht Club, chose the San Francisco Bay.
WHO IS COMPETING?
After organizers predicted about a dozen entries, only three competitors signed up to challenge Ellison for the America's Cup. They are: Artemis, which is representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club; Luna Rossa Challenge, representing the Italian yacht club Circolo della Vela Sicilia and Emirates Team New Zealand, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Competing teams can spend more than $100 million to construct and race the space-age 72-foot dual-hull boats.
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
The three challengers will compete in a series of match races beginning July 7. The top two finishers will compete in a best of seven semi-final starting Aug. 6. The first to four victories will take on Oracle Racing starting Aug. 17. The finalists will race twice-a-day in a best-of-13 series. The first to seven wins is champion.
WHAT DOES THE COURSE LOOK LIKE?
Organizers boast the 34th America's Cup will be the most accessible to on-shore spectators in the event's history. The compact course stretches from inside the Golden Gate Bridge, past Alcatraz Island to Piers 27 and 29 along San Francisco's busy waterfront district, circling in front of the city's iconic Fisherman's Wharf area.
NBC Bay Area's Stephanie Chuang, Cheryl Hurd, Kyle Bonagura, Tim Bollinger, Gonzalo Rojas, Jean Elle and Jeff Ranieri contributed to this report, as well as the Associated Press.
Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area
State Issues Warning to Pennsylvania-Bound Drivers
Next Honoring Military Wives, Moms With Pearls
Previous Sailing Official: "He Was the Heart and Soul of the Team"
The state Department of Transportation is warning drivers who might be heading to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area of roads closures after a fiery tanker truck crash yesterday prompted road closures.
WGAL, the NBC affiliate in Central Pennsylvania, reports that parts of Interstate 81 and Route 22/322 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania remain closed after the crash that the roads are severely damaged.
The Connecticut DOT has posted signs saying "I-81 Closed Harrisburg Penn" on Interstate 84 Westbound.
Interstate 84 Westbound continues into Pennsylvania and connects with I-81 just outside of Scranton.
For photos of the fire, see the WGAL Web site.
Honoring Military Wives, Moms With Pearls
Next Man Accused of Inappropriate Relationship With Teen Relative
Previous State Issues Warning to Pennsylvania-Bound Drivers
A Connecticut jewelry store is hoping to make Mother's Day a little more special for military moms, wives and fiances.
Bill Selig Jewelers will give away 1,000 freshwater pearl necklaces with silver clasps to the mothers and spouses or spouses-to-be of active-duty soldiers on Saturday, May 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the store's locations on Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury and on Broad Street in Windsor.
"We wanted to come up with a way of thanking military families for their sacrifices, which are overlooked day-today," said Sharran Selig Bennett, vice president of Bill Selig Jewelers. "We all just seem to go about our business, and we do forget about the wives, daughters, children of the veterans, the soldiers that are over there fighting.
The store does ask that mothers and spouses of military troops bring a photograph and personal note about their solider.
The family holds the event each year in memory of Bill Selig, who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Photo Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Man Accused of Inappropriate Relationship With Teen Relative
Next WATCH: Obama Delivers Remarks on Health Care
Previous Honoring Military Wives, Moms With Pearls
Stamford police have arrested a 28-year-old man accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old relative.
Police began an investigation into Jorge Carrillo-Palencia in November 2012 after he allegedly took the girl, then 12, to a Norwalk hotel for a weekend.
Carrillo-Palencia was charged with risk of injury to a minor, but police couldn't file further charges because the victim was uncooperative, police said.
In April 2013, police said they received information that the two were continuing the relationship.
Police recovered a cell phone that was supposed to be delivered to the girl through a third party. They also seized Carrillo-Palencia's cell phone and found several pornographic pictures of the now 13-year-old girl, police said.
As investigators were preparing arrest warrants for Carrillo-Palencia, staff from the girl's school reported that the victim told several classmates that she and Carrillo-Palencia were planning to run away together on Friday, police said.
Authorities took the teen into protective custody and obtained an arrest warrant for Carrillo-Palencia.
He was arrested in the area of 32 Smith Street after a brief struggle, transported to the Stamford police department and charged with possession of child pornography, employing a minor in an obscene performance and risk of injury to a minor.
Bond was set at $500,000 and police said there is also an Immigration detainer.
Photo Credit: Stamford Police
WATCH: Obama Delivers Remarks on Health Care
Next Woman Killed in Crash With FedEx Truck in Windsor
Previous Man Accused of Inappropriate Relationship With Teen Relative
President Obama is delivering remarks on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Americans from the White House on Friday. This livestream has concluded. Visit NBCNews.com for more coverage.
Photo Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Woman Killed in Crash With FedEx Truck in Windsor
Next Man Charged With Hit-and-Run Outside School
Previous WATCH: Obama Delivers Remarks on Health Care
A 35-year-old Granby woman was killed in a crash on Day Hill Road in Windsor on Friday morning.
According to police, Heather Dugas, 35, of Granby, drove her car into the back of a parked FedEx truck. She was the only person in the car, police said.
The FedEx driver was outside of the truck making a delivery when the crash happened, police said, and was not hurt.
Police are trying to determine whether the truck's hazard lights were flashing at the time of the crash.
The Windsor Police department is investigating with help from the North Central Municipal Accident Reconstruction Team.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Windsor Police at 860-688-5273
Man Charged With Hit-and-Run Outside School
Next West Volunteer Possessed Bomb-Making Material: ATF
Previous Woman Killed in Crash With FedEx Truck in Windsor
Bridgeport police arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with a hit-and-run that injured a 10-year-old boy on his way to school on Thursday morning.
Paul Whitehurst turned himself in to police on Thursday evening.
The victim was crossing Howard and Maplewood avenues on his was to Bryant School when the crash happened, according to police.
Bryant School is located on Poplar Street, off of Maplewood Avenue.
One car stopped to let him cross, but Whitehurst continued through the crosswalk and hit the child, who suffered a laceration to his ear and some abrasions, police said.
Witnesses chased after the fleeing car and Whitehurst stopped, but ran away, police said.
Police checked the registration of the car and determined it was a rental, so police investigated and identified Whitehurst as the suspected driver.
After speaking with police, Whitehurst turned himself in at police headquarters on Thursday evening.
He faces charges of evading responsibility, driving without a license, failure to yield to a pedestrian and driving the wrong way on a one-way street as he allegedly tried to flee the scene.
The victim is expected to be fine.
Photo Credit: Bridgeport Police
West Volunteer Possessed Bomb-Making Material: ATF
Next Lockdown Lifted at Two Norwich Schools
Previous Man Charged With Hit-and-Run Outside School
An emergency volunteer in West was arrested Thursday afternoon by ATF agents on a charge of possession of a destructive device, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday.
Bryce A. Reed, 31, a paramedic who became a spokesperson for the town of West after last month's deadly explosion at a fertilizer facility, which is now the subject of a criminal investigation, appeared before a federal judge in Waco at 10:15 a.m. Friday.
The hearing was closed to the public, but a criminal complaint released Friday afternoon by the Department of Justice said Reed gave an assortment of bomb-making components to a friend on April 26.
KPRC-TV reported the friend eventually looked in the box, saw what he believed to be a pipe bomb, and notified the authorities.
On May 7, members of the McLennan County Sheriff's Department bomb squad investigated and rendered safe the device in the box. In the criminal complaint, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives listed the contents, which had not been assembled into a working bomb, as follows:
"The components included a galvanized metal pipe that was 3.5 inches in length by 1.5 inches in diameter. Attached to the pipe were two galvanized end caps, one of which contained a drilled hole approximately 1/8 inch in diameter. Additionally, the canisters contained an unknown amount of hobby fuse, a lighter, a digital scale, plastic spoon, six coils of metal ribbon, and several pounds of chemical powders in individual bags. The powders included Potassium Nitrate, Aluminum powder, Red Iron Oxide, Ammonium Perchlorate, Potassium Perchlorate, Sulfur powder, Air Float Charcoal and Eckart 10890 German Dark Aluminum."
According to the complaint, Reed admitted to possessing the components of the pipe bomb.
A short time after his arrest was announced Friday morning, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced that the Texas Rangers and McLennan County Sheriff's Department were opening a criminal investigation into the explosion. Officials have made no connection between Reed's arrest and the investigation into the deadly blast.
"It is important to emphasize that at this point, no evidence has been uncovered to indicate any connection to the events surrounding the fire and subsequent explosion at the West Fertilizer Plant and the arrest of Bryce Reed by the A.T.F.," the McLennan County Sheriff's Department said in a news release Friday afternoon.
Reed remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on May 15. If convicted, Reed faces up to 10 years in federal prison and faces a fine of up to $250,000.
Reed's Background
Bryce Ashley Reed is married with one child, according to his posts on Facebook. He posted on May 7 that his wife left him sometime after the explosion in West. Photographs on the page show him working as a firefighter and flight paramedic for Children's Medical Center in Dallas. Children's told NBC 5 that Reed began his employment with them on Jan. 7, but that he went on leave April 3. Per policy, they were not able to say why he went on leave.
On Wednesday, about a day before his arrest, Reed posted the following message on Facebook:
I just wanted to tell everyone thank you for all the prayers and support. I'm going to take a break from Facebook to reflect. I assure you that I'm ok. God bless you all, and please if you heed nothing else I have said, love one another. God bless. Bryce.
According to statements posted on his Linkedin page, Reed said he worked in a variety of jobs including flight paramedic, SWAT paramedic and as a systems analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Reed listed the U.S. Biological and Chemical Weapons Depot at Fort McClellan and Advanced Field Critical Care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center among his educational accomplishments. Among his specialties, he included music marketing, Christian ministry and critical care medicine.
Reed spoke at the funeral for West volunteer firefighter and close friend Cyrus Reed, no relation, who was killed in the blast. Video of Reed's memorial can be seen in the video below:
NBC 5's Eric King and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.
Lockdown Lifted at Two Norwich Schools
Next Route 9 NB Closed Due to Crash
Previous West Volunteer Possessed Bomb-Making Material: ATF
An elementary school and a middle school in Norwich were in lockdown as police searched for someone they said fled during a motor vehicle stop.
The John B. Stanton Network Elementary School and the Teachers' Memorial School were locked down for about an hour as a precaution. Students were not dismissed on time because of the lockdown.
Police said officers stopped a motorcycle and the man jumped off the bike and fled into the woods.
The lockdown was lifted around 4 p.m.
Route 9 NB Closed Due to Crash
Next Man Arrested in Sex Trafficking Case Involving CT Teen
Previous Lockdown Lifted at Two Norwich Schools
Two children were injured and one man is dead after he lost control of his vehicle and struck a pole on Route 9 North in Farmington Friday night.
State police responded to the area of Exit 30 on Route 9 Northbound in Farmington around 10:30 p.m. Friday for a report of a single vehicle car crash.
Upon arrival, they discovered a Nissan Maxima that had struck a metal beam guard rail before striking a Department of Transportation overhead pole sign.
The driver of the vehicle, Efrain Ortiz, 38 of Hartford, was pronounced dead at the scene. Four children, aged three weeks to 11 years old were also in the vehicle.
The 11-year-old female child and a 11-month-old infant had reported injuries.
State police are asking anyone with information to please call State Police Troop H at 860-534-1000.
Man Arrested in Sex Trafficking Case Involving CT Teen
Next Mom, Child Killed; Boyfriend Holding Hostages: Police
Previous Route 9 NB Closed Due to Crash
New York City Police found a missing teenage girl from Connecticut being held inside an East Harlem apartment.
According to police, a man accused of sex trafficking held the 17 year-old girl from Norwich and two others against their will.
The other two women, ages 21 and 24, alerted the girl's mother by pretending to make an appointment in Connecticut, said police. The mother contacted police and authorities found the teen.
Detectives say the Connecticut teenager is a runaway and was forced into prostitution by 35-year-old Taye Ellerby.
He was arrested and charged with sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, criminal trespassing and endangering the welfare of a child.
Photo Credit: NBC 4 New YorK
Mom, Child Killed; Boyfriend Holding Hostages: Police
Next Mother Expands Search for Missing Daughter
Previous Man Arrested in Sex Trafficking Case Involving CT Teen
Police, SWAT officers and the FBI are working to put an end to a hostage situation in Trenton, N.J. that has been going on for at least 17 hours.
Police sources tell NBC10 Philadelphia that a mother and child are dead inside the home on the 200 block of Grand Street.
Prosecutors say there are still multiple hostages. NBC10 has learned at least two children are being held inside the home.
The armed gunman is the boyfriend of the deceased mother of those children, sources tell NBC10.
Police say they arrived in the neighborhood around 3:30 Friday afternoon after getting a call from a concerned neighbor.
Sources tell NBC10 that officers went into the home and found a partially decomposed body of a woman, but the man inside pulled out a gun and threatened to harm his children.
He's been barricaded inside the home for hours. The FBI is helping Trenton police with negotiations.
Nearby homes have been evacuated and the street has been blocked off.
Check back here for updates on this developing story.
Photo Credit: Skyforce10
Mother Expands Search for Missing Daughter
Next Families Left Scrambling as Daycare Closes
Previous Mom, Child Killed; Boyfriend Holding Hostages: Police
The family of Alyssiah Wiley is once again taking action in hopes of finding her. They spent hours at Beardsley Park in Bridgeport Friday night looking for new clues. Wiley's mother now thinks it's a case of kidnapping.
"What mother wouldn't," said Corrinna Martin, who tells us her efforts on Friday were successful as she continued searching everywhere for her daughter. "And see what they've heard and bring awareness about Alyssiah's disappearance."
Martin handed out fliers in Bridgeport Friday and looked for leads about her daughter, Alyssiah Wiley, an ECSU student who's been missing since April 20th. 10 volunteers came to help. State police tell us they were not part of Friday's search but Martin isn't giving up hope, "Because I want her to continue to live a full and happy life."
State police had found a car wanted in connection to Wiley's whereabouts two weeks ago in Bridgeport. On Wednesday and Thursday family members searched Hubbard Park in Meriden looking for leads there.
"You can have 20 children but if one is not around you you do everything in your power to make sure they are. You do everything in your power to protect them," Martin added.
State police tell us 20 year old Alyssiah was last seen at a Dairy Queen in Willimantic. Martin says even the smallest bit of information could help bring her daughter home.
"Our whole being. Our whole purpose is to make sure she's brought home safe and sound."
Saturday marks exactly three weeks since Wiley disappeared. Martin says she'll be back in
Bridgeport at the same park Saturday at 11:30am to cover more ground.
Photo Credit: Facebook
Families Left Scrambling as Daycare Closes
Next Cleanup Underway After Coca-Cola Truck Flipped on Its Side
Previous Mother Expands Search for Missing Daughter
Employees from three Hartford hospitals are upset following the announcement that their on-site day care facility will be closing this summer.
The Connecticut Children's Medical Center "Kids Are Great" facility is shared by employees from CCMC, Hartford Hospital and the Institute of Living. The hospital says times are tough and with less than 1% of their employees using the facility, the center just doesn't fit into their future plans.
However, employees are crying foul , saying it's flexible hours and location are a major factor in allowing them to balance a busy work and life balance.
A mother of two, Amanda Zaleski, says she relies on the cost and convenience that the center provides. She works just across the street at Hartford Hospital as an exercise physiologist.
"It weighed heavily in my family planning decision knowing it was there," said Zaleski, who drops her 6-month old Zoey off at the day care. "I know a lot of people who choose to have kids because they were relying on that as their source of child care."
Close to 100 families from the three hospitals use the facility. CCMC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Theresa Hendricksen says only 13 employees from her hospital take advantage of the center. She says the majority of families come from Hartford Hospital. She says it was not an "overnight decision" by the administration to close the facility at the end of August.
"We know that this is a hardship for the families. That's why we tried to give them four months notice. So that they would have time to look for adequate facilities for their children."
Zaleski says a number a families are writing letters to CCMC CEO Martin Galvin and Hartford Hospital CEO Jeffrey Flaks.She says she put her child on the waiting list as soon as she heard she was pregnant. She says the center's flexible hour and convenient on-site location allow her to continue on with her career.
"I really just don't believe they know the magnitude of this decision. We have a lot of people that work out of state and it's their only option."
Beth Parker dropped her two children off at the day care from the time they were 4 months to 5 years old. She says the facility is part of the reason she chose to work at Hartford Hospital.
"I knew i'd be working long hours. I knew I was a female in a male dominated profession. The ability to have my kids there on campus was something that would make my return to work much more feasible."
Now, families are hoping the hospital administration will re-consider the decision, even if it means paying higher tuition or re-locating. There is also concern for what will become of the nearly 20 employees, who Zaleski and Parker say have become "family".
The hospital says they are talking with employees and working on placing them in other positions in the hospital. While Hendricksen says the chances are "unlikely" that the decision will be reversed, the families affected are keeping up hope.
"I wish a dialogue occured earlier but hopefully it can now," says Zaleski. "We can come to some sort of agreement so we can feel like we don't have to weigh our work life and our family life."
Cleanup Underway After Coca-Cola Truck Flipped on Its Side
Next Armed Robbery in Manchester
Previous Families Left Scrambling as Daycare Closes
Authorities are cleaning up after a two-vehicle accident caused a Coca-Cola truck to flip on its side and strike a house in Southern Florida Friday.
A red Mercedes and the semi truck crashed about half a block away. Four people were hurt, one with somewhat serious injuries and three with minor injuries, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Dan Guffey said.
"The truck lost control, causing structural damage to a house," he said.
The truck rolled into the house, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Alvaro Feola said.
The crash caused 50 to 100 gallons of diesel fuel to leak on the ground, authorities said. Firefighters blanketed the ground with foam to make sure the fuel didn't catch on fire, Guffey said.
A lot of Coca-Cola also spilled on the ground.
Fifteen fire rescue vehicles responded to the scene, Guffey said.
"We have a wrecker tow truck coming in to upright the tractor trailer and do the cleanup of the fuel," Feola said.
Stay with NBC6.com and NBC 6 South Florida for updates.
More Local Stories:
Boy, 14, Struck By Bus in Pompano Beach
Allapattah Woman's Home Destroyed by Fire
Puppy With Severed Paw Gets Fitted for Prosthetic Limb
Photo Credit: Myriam Masihy/NBC 6 South Florida
Armed Robbery in Manchester
Next WATCH: Spacewalk to Troubleshoot Ammonia Leak
Previous Cleanup Underway After Coca-Cola Truck Flipped on Its Side
Manchester Police are searching for two men responsible for holding up a store in the Manchester Parkade shopping plaza.
Police were called to JB Expo, 358 Middle Turnpike by the store clerk.
The clerk said that two men wearing masks displayed handguns at the jewelry and accesories store.
The clerk has minor injuries. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 860-645-5561.
Photo Credit: Getty Images / Scott Olson
//overgrieved63.rssing.com/chan-51898076/article2.html
//overcape3.rssing.com/chan-3350120/index-latest.php
//alargamiento3.rssing.com/chan-30243848/article11.html
//sorteamos73.rssing.com/chan-51897313/index-page1.html
//dvrean18.rssing.com/chan-30244481/article10.html
//overgrateful3.rssing.com/chan-3351222/index-page1.html
//cicutoxin33.rssing.com/chan-17063719/index-page1.html
//kinobesuche7.rssing.com/chan-42808227/article5.html
//neowin584.rssing.com/chan-30243570/index-page1.html
//rivals336.rssing.com/chan-42807190/index-page1.html
//boiled354.rssing.com/chan-75636309/index-latest.php
//guacamole276.rssing.com/chan-42807615/article3.html
//couponing626.rssing.com/chan-25625365/article179.html
//relivable56.rssing.com/chan-25625525/index-latest.php
//overcredulous3.rssing.com/chan-3350430/index-latest.php
//black4254.rssing.com/chan-30243886/index-latest.php
//kontor341964.rssing.com/chan-30243924/index-latest.php
//laboratories791.rssing.com/chan-75635465/index-latest.php
//jewelers721.rssing.com/chan-51897661/article10.html
//leanne275.rssing.com/chan-25625935/index-latest.php


Techniques for precoding data for a multipath channel in a MIMO system. In one method, data is coded in accordance with one or more coding schemes to provide coded data, which is further modulated (i.e., symbol mapped) in accordance with one or more modulation schemes to provide modulation symbols. An estimated response of the MIMO channel is obtained (e.g., provided by a receiver), and an equivalent channel response is derived based on the estimated MIMO channel response and a response of a feed-forward filter of a decision feedback equalizer. The modulation symbols are then precoded based on the equivalent channel response to provide precoded symbols, which are further preconditioned based on the estimated MIMO channel response (e.g., using spatio-temporal pulse-shaping) to provide preconditioned symbols for transmission over the MIMO channel. The feed-forward filter may be adapted based on a minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion.


Hewlett Packard - Pyramid Technology Services, Inc. Hewlett Packard - Pyramid Technology Services, Inc.
Pyramid Technology Services offers a complete line of legacy and new HP servers. Our inventory includes HP's most popular products, including current and previous generation rack and blade servers.
The HP Server you need is here, whether you need enterprise-level equipment or IT infrastructure for your small-medium-size business (SMB). Our catalog includes thousands of HP server systems, parts and components, in new, used or refurbished condition.
Whatever your choice, you'll enjoy prompt confirmation and delivery worldwide. All Pyramid systems and parts come with an outstanding warranty and our guarantee that you will be satisfied. For more than a quarter century we have been providing systems to leading business, education and government enterprises around the globe.


Live chat will be closed on Thursday November 26th – Friday November 27th and close early, 12:30pm, on Wednesday November 25th so that our employees can spend time with their families. Email and support tickets will be available as normal. Regular chat support will resume on Monday November 30th.
This entry was posted on November 24, 2015 at 8:55 PM and is filed under Notices.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


text:
Finance Director Salary
The following article discusses the career path of Finance Director. Learn about how to become one, education requirements, job duties, traits and qualities, national salary outlook as well as top national employers of Finance Directors.
Finance directors have numerous general management duties, including performance evaluation, hiring, scheduling, and so on. They head the finance team, ensuring that strategic plans are in place to meet the financial objectives of the company. As such, they must conduct financial analyses, projections, and accounting duties. They also have to identify financial risks and areas that can be improved, thereby avoiding mistakes and increasing profits.
They also periodically create financial reports, presenting those to the rest of the management team. They may have to identify markets that can be tapped into, including potential mergers and acquisitions, in an effort to grow the company. A finance director will usually work in an office environment with occasional travel, particularly if the business has multiple branches.
Other job duties of a finance director include:
Managing budget preparation, accounting activities, and forecasts
Directing business planning, staff operations, compliance, and budget development in the finance department
Overseeing financial reporting and regulatory preparation, ensuring full compliance.
Creating strategies and policies and procedures in relation to financial data and reports
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 580,400 financial managers in 2016. The largest employers of these professionals were:
Management of companies and enterprises: 11%
Government: 7%
Manufacturing: 7%
It is generally expected that a finance director holds a graduate degree, preferable the master of business administration (MBA), although finance or economics are also accepted. Some employers will accept those with only a bachelor's degree if they have sufficient experience and are willing to complete a graduate degree at a later stage.
The national average salary estimate for Finance Director was $99,963. This number is estimated from over 1,636,924 employees, users past and present job advertisements from Indeed.com. This equates to an hourly salary of $52.06 and monthly of $8,330.
The following section lists Finance Director salaries in each state around the country. The figures are based on the total number of job postings through Indeed.com. For example, New York had the largest quoted salary of $125,189 while North Dakota had the smallest quoted salary of $62,645.
Alaska Idaho Montana Pennsylvania
Alabama Illinois North Carolina Rhode Island
Arkansas Indiana North Dakota South Carolina
Arizona Kansas Nebraska South Dakota
California Kentucky New Hampshire Tennessee
Colorado Louisiana New Jersey Texas
Connecticut Massachusetts New Mexico Utah
DC Maryland Nevada Virginia
Florida Michigan New York Vermont
Georgia Minnesota Ohio Washington
Hawaii Missouri Oklahoma Wisconsin
Iowa Mississippi Oregon
Alaska – $93,329 Rank: 20th
The average salary ranks 20th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like City of Saint Paul.
The average salary ranks 38th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like AUTOMATION PERSONNEL, Vaco, LLC, Automation Personnel Services, and Nigel Frank International.
Arkansas – $77,453 Rank: 39th
The average salary ranks 39th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Finance & Accounting, Express Employment Professionals, University of Arkansas, and Superior Auto Group.
Arizona – $93,169 Rank: 21st
The average salary ranks 21st among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Catalina Foothills School District, Prestige Ford, Ledgent Finance & Accounting, and The Bolton Group.
California – $115,414 Rank: 3rd
The average salary ranks 3rd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Management Resources, University of California, Santa Barbara, Ralph Andersen & Associates, and City Of San Bruno.
Colorado – $80,725 Rank: 34th
The average salary ranks 34th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Jefferson County Public Schools, Town of Milliken, University of Colorado, and Larimer Humane Society.
Connecticut – $111,356 Rank: 5th
The average salary ranks 5th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Tunxis Community College, Bohan & Bradstreet, Inc., JCJ, LLC, and Robert Half.
DC – $115,308 Rank: 4th
The average salary ranks 4th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Georgetown University, Internal Revenue Service, Congressional Research Service, and Clinical Management Consultants.
The average salary ranks 24th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Prestige Ford, JWM Group, LLC, Air Energi America, and Steven Douglas Associates.
The average salary ranks 14th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like University of Georgia, Emory University, Columbus Consolidated Government, and University of West Georgia.
Hawaii – $101,007 Rank: 9th
The average salary ranks 9th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Maui Nonprofit and Interregional Med-Exec Group, Inc..
Iowa – $81,056 Rank: 33rd
The average salary ranks 33rd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Finance & Accounting, Iowa Wesleyan University, and Accountemps.
The average salary ranks 44th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Kootenai County.
Illinois – $100,620 Rank: 11th
The average salary ranks 11th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Marcum Search LLC, CFS Inc., CyberCoders, and Robert Half Finance & Accounting.
Indiana – $84,707 Rank: 31st
The average salary ranks 31st among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Indiana University South Bend, Medtech, ITT Educational Services Inc., and State of Indiana.
Kansas – $80,223 Rank: 37th
The average salary ranks 37th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Kansas Department of Health and Environment, University of Kansas, Butler Community College, and Washburn University.
Kentucky – $75,556 Rank: 40th
The average salary ranks 40th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like University of Kentucky, City of Henderson, and Northern Kentucky Area Development District.
Louisiana – $73,221 Rank: 42nd
The average salary ranks 42nd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like South Louisiana Community College.
Massachusetts – $110,238 Rank: 6th
The average salary ranks 6th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Michael Page, HireTalent, Kforce Finance and Accounting, and Liberty Mutual.
Maryland – $100,710 Rank: 10th
The average salary ranks 10th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Porsche Club of America, Johns Hopkins University, Harford Community College, and Anne Arundel Community College.
Michigan – $91,624 Rank: 23rd
The average salary ranks 23rd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like City of Rochester, MI, The Robert B. Miller College, City of Cedar Springs, MI, and Kforce Finance and Accounting.
The average salary ranks 17th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like State of Minnesota, City of Isanti, eVantage Financial LLC., and University of Minnesota.
Missouri – $88,830 Rank: 25th
The average salary ranks 25th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like CITY OF HANNIBAL, Missouri State University, Midwest Dealer Group, and Beacon Hill Staffing.
The average salary ranks 46th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Finance & Accounting.
The average salary ranks 29th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like The HealthCare Initiative and CyberCoders.
North Carolina – $92,798 Rank: 22nd
The average salary ranks 22nd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like University of North Carolina, HENDERSON, North Carolina State University, and Asheville Jewish Community Center.
The average salary ranks 47th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Abused Adult Resource Center.
The average salary ranks 45th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Peru State College.
New Hampshire – $103,806 Rank: 7th
The average salary ranks 7th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Finance & Accounting.
New Jersey – $119,806 Rank: 2nd
The average salary ranks 2nd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Middlesex County College, Henderson Harbor Group, Parker and Lynch, and GSP International.
The average salary ranks 36th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like New Mexico State Personnel Office.
The average salary ranks 13th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like CyberCoders, Randstad, Randstad Professionals, and Robert Half Finance & Accounting.
New York – $125,189 Rank: 1st
The average salary ranks 1st among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Marcum Search LLC, Resume Library, and Selby Jennings.
The average salary ranks 27th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Day Star Staffing, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Ohio State University, and Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority.
The average salary ranks 30th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like City of Duncan, Kube and Company, and Robert Half Finance & Accounting.
Oregon – $87,527 Rank: 28th
The average salary ranks 28th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Oregon Humane Society, Creative Financial Staffing, State of Oregon, and Now CFO.
The average salary ranks 12th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Carlisle Borough, Springettsbury Township, ITT Educational Services Inc., and University of Pittsburgh.
Rhode Island – $102,281 Rank: 8th
The average salary ranks 8th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Metro Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, Rhode Island Department of Administration, and State of Rhode Island.
South Carolina – $84,097 Rank: 32nd
The average salary ranks 32nd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Finance & Accounting, StaffPointe, Tri-County Technical College, and Technical College of the Lowcountry.
South Dakota – $75,412 Rank: 41st
The average salary ranks 41st among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Nigel Frank International and South Dakota State Government.
Tennessee – $88,477 Rank: 26th
The average salary ranks 26th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Robert Half Finance & Accounting, Motlow State Community College, and Sovereign Executive Search.
The average salary ranks 15th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like All US Jobs, CASTLEBERRY ISD, MOORE Executive Search, and Kforce Finance and Accounting.
Utah – $72,794 Rank: 43rd
The average salary ranks 43rd among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like All Resort Group / Lewis Stages, University of Utah, and Salt Lake Community College.
The average salary ranks 16th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like University of Virginia, Accounting Principals, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Surry County Public Schools.
Vermont – $80,614 Rank: 35th
The average salary ranks 35th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like State of Vermont.
Washington – $94,159 Rank: 19th
The average salary ranks 19th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like Tacoma Community College, Pacific Lutheran University, Highline Community College, and Everett Community College.
Wisconsin – $94,301 Rank: 18th
The average salary ranks 18th among states in the country. There were also job openings from employers like AfterCollege, Inc., Racine County, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Lakeview Health Systems.
According to Indeed.com, the following states had employers looking to hire a Finance Director. The quoted salary figure represents the average salary from all job postings by this employer.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch New York $269,064
Marcum Search LLC New York $250,000
Prestige Ford Arizona $240,000
Michael Page Massachusetts $227,460
Midwest Dealer Group Missouri $225,000
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Kansas $225,000
Resume Library New York $215,000
Selby Jennings Washington $213,454
Kforce Finance and Accounting Michigan $211,406
Microsoft Washington $195,268
JWM Group, LLC Florida $190,324
Parker+Lynch New York $189,010
The Odyssey Group New York $188,628
CFS Inc. Illinois $184,045
Trinity Health Ohio $180,000
SystemsAccountants New York $179,270
MOORE Executive Search Texas $175,000
Chief financial officer – Wikipedia
Finance Director – Finance & Budget – cincinnati-oh.gov
Finance Director | Michigan Association for Local Public …
Sales Director $107,659
Tax Manager $107,133
Risk Manager $103,743
Technical Project Manager $100,971
Director of Finance $99,996
Director of Security $99,822
Operations Officer $96,045
Director of Nursing $95,821
Disaster Recovery Manager $94,956
Network Manager $94,442
Babson College MBA Interview
Kettering University Online Management Interview

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Show Your Love to Brattleboro
You have to love Brattleboro, Vermont. That town has chosen to go where our Congress will not. While John Conyers simultaneously claims that impeachment is on the table but still fails to schedule hearings, town resident Kurt Daims took action.
He quite rightly believes that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have committed war crimes and should be arrested. He circulated a petition that would require that town's police to do just that should either of the two ever set foot in Brattleboro.
Of course, right wing Bush worshippers have their pants in a twist and are venting their spleens against Brattleboro. Their voices must not be the only ones heard. It is important to speak up in support of this petition that will come to a vote on March 4th.
The Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce should get a shout out, so should the local paper, the Reformer. Interim Town Manager Barbara Sontag should hear from you too.
You go Brattleboro!
Conyers: Impeachment is Off the Table
"I'm the Chairman."
"Pelosi can't stop me."
He says the words, "Impeachment is not off the table," but then he contradicts himself.
Pitiful. Pathetic. Listen closely to what Conyers is saying.
He is afraid to impeach because Republicans tried to use his threat to impeach as a campaign tactic in 2006. Earth to Conyers, it didn't work. They lost.
So now he is saying that a losing strategy should still be feared. Spare me.
Pelosi is calling the shots. In part because Conyers had ethics complaints against him. I'm sure she is using that to keep him in line.
Conyers has no intention of doing anything about impeachment. Listen again and again if you must. Impeachment is still off the table and that means our nation and all of humanity are still endangered by Bush.
I hope that someone in his district will run against him. That is all he and his colleagues understand. The fear of defeat is the only thing they worry about.
Progressive To Do List
The last candidate who was willing to go through even a pretense of advocating progressive positions is out of the race. Now that John Edwards is gone, we know that one of the dysfunctional political twins, Clinton or Obama, will be the democratic nominee.
The only course of action for true progressives is to disengage from this sham. The presidential election must now go on the back burner. Our priorities should be as follows.
1. Keep Dennis Kucinich in Congress - He is in a tough primary battle for his House seat. That primary will take place on March 4th. He has no ads on the air, but his opponent does. His opponent also has endorsements from the Mayor of Cleveland and the city's daily newspaper.
A Kucinich defeat would be disastrous. Make a contribution today.
2. Put impeachment to the table - Impeachment is the only way to stop Bush from doing further damage in the next 12 months. As Glen Ford said in his introduction to my Black Agenda Report column, "Lame duck presidents still retain the power to destroy the planet, and to set in motion policies that corporate Democratic successors will fail to dismantle."
Bush can be put in check with impeachment hearings. The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who refuse to support impeachment must face primary challenges. The fear of electoral defeat is their only motivation to do the right thing.
It is difficult to focus on these actions when the press inundates us with nonsense about Billary/Obama sniping. We should not put our hope in a now useless campaign. Our hope lies in challenging them, in making it clear that business as usual will not be tolerated after one of them is sworn in next January.
Next Tuesday, February 5th, primaries will be held across the nation. I am a New Yorker but I will not be voting for Senator Clinton. I won't be voting for Obama either. Dennis Kucinich is on the ballot and he will get my vote.
You are free to vote for whomever you choose. If other candidates are on the ballot in your state they should get your vote. You have the right to write in a candidate. Use your rights while you still have them.
Next Tuesday tell Billary and Obama, "A pox on both your houses."
Contribute to Kucinich Re-Election Campaign
His primary is March 4th and he is in real trouble. His main challenger, City Councilman Joe Cimperman, has raised more than $200,000 and has ads on the air. Dennis has none. Go to www.kucinich.us and contribute today.
Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich
Re-Elect Dennis Kucinich
"We already know the state of the union. It is a lie.
Before he announced he was giving up his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination, Congressman Dennis Kucinich announced that he was running for re-election. Kucinich faces a primary battle on March 4th. His major opponent, Joseph Cimperman, has raised more than $226,000 while Dennis' campaign cupboard is bare. That is why he was forced to drop out of the presidential race.
Please make contributions to the re-election campaign so that Dennis can get ads on the air in his district. Go to his campaign website and make your contribution today.
If Kucinich is defeated, democracy itself will have been defeated. Impeachment hearings are the only hope we have left for peace and only Kucinich had the guts to announce that he would introduce an impeachment resolution on the same day as the state of union address. He later withdrew the word "lie" from the House record, but his plans to impeach remain firmly in place. While John Conyers and others give into the Pelosi/Reid crowd of back stabbing liars, Dennis Kucinich stays the course.
The corporate media are going to crown either Clinton or Obama with the Democratic nomination. Neither one of them is up to the task of undoing the damage wrought by Bush. True progressives will need to be in Washington to fight a Democratic president.
Re-elect Dennis Kucinich!
Note: I originally posted this video last Wednesday, January 16th but it disappeared from this blog. I believe that happened because it was pulled from You Tube by the original poster. Sorry to repeat myself, but I think it is necessary to see Obama in action and hear his words.
Obama prefers Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton. Don't believe me? Just play the You Tube video.
Here is the opportunistic little traitor in all his glory and in his own words.
At Black Agenda Report we get numerous emails asking, "Why do you keep writing about him?"and "Why do you attack him so vociferously?"
Thanks Obama. You answered the question for us. You have exposed yourself as the no good, low down, lying dog that we have been saying you are.
It will be interesting to see the mental gymnastics that Obama supporters will go through to defend him.
Black Candidate Drops Out of Presidential Race
Of course I mean Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich was the only Democratic presidential candidate who spoke up for black America. He was the only candidate with an agenda for peace, the only candidate with a plan for single payer health care, the only candidate who dared demand that Congress hold impeachment hearings.
But the corporate media demanded that he be silenced. Even the Congressional Black Caucus acquiesced to CNN and allowed Kucinich to be barred from the debate they sponsored. Sad days indeed.
In 2004 Kucinich did not fold his tent until that summer. This year is different. He faces a well funded opponent and may be in a tight race for re-election. It would be awful if he were to be defeated.
Wednesday is Whupass Day
And you thought it was just hump day. Seriously, Black Agenda Report is published every Wednesday, and that means cans of whupass are opened left and right. We have a great issue this week. Glen Ford leads the charge as always.
"Had Kucinich, the white man, been allowed in the debates, he would have been the only candidate speaking up for Black interests. But the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) acquiesced in his silencing."
If you are tired of mudslinging from essentially identical candidates, read BAR. You will definitely learn something.
I learn a lot from readers. My column, "Why We Write About Obama," elicits much comment. Readers are paying attention, some with a great deal of flair. Check us out and please comment.
935 Lies
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
Vice President Dick Cheney, August 26, 2002
That was a whopping big lie. It was just one of 935 made by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and other administration officials between September 11, 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism have compiled a report, Iraq: the War Card, Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War, which compiles all of the lies the administration used to make a case for war. The report even has a handy chart for those of you who need something more visual.
The report makes the case for impeachment, it makes the case for war crimes trials. Neither of those things will take place. The Democrats won't fight for the constitution, the rule of law, or the laws of the God. Most of the world views the American people the way they view Germans in the 1930s. They wonder why we have said nothing as our nation continues to commit crimes against humanity. The American people are themselves condemned by the actions of the Bush regime.
The Trouble with King Day
How should the caption read? "Don't touch me!" How about, "Thank God he is touching her and not me." We should thank God that this is the last King Day that Bush will be president. These kids can relax.
Mitt Romney - Who Let the Dogs Out?
Remind me to never set foot in Jacksonville, Florida. Someone managed to find a group of black people who were induced, I dare not ask how, to pose for photos with Mitt Romney. That is not a place I ever care to see.
This is the problem with King day. Every politician manages to find colored people for photo ops. Who let the dogs out indeed.
Happy Birthday Roe
"You love them in the womb but once they get here, it's a different story."
Gilda Cobb Hunter, South Carolina state legislator
Thirty five years ago today the Supreme Court ruled that abortion is a constitutionally protected right. The only other event of greater significance to American women was the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920 that granted the right to vote.
The weakness of the Democratic party (its unwillingness to truly be a political party) has made the exercise of this right more tenuous than ever. Despite the fact that there is no popular desire to over turn Roe, religious and political conservatives have continually been on the offensive to prevent as many women from having abortions as possible.
Abortion providers have been murdered, clinics have been bombed. States have passed rules requiring waiting periods and ultra sound viewing. "Trigger" legislation is being passed that would automatically outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned by the court. The state of South Dakota passed a law that essentially outlawed abortion in the one clinic where it could be performed, but voters later over turned it.
Women who regret having abortions are now used to justify banning the procedure. Women who don't regret their abortions are treated as if they don't exist.
Anti-abortion forces are on the offense and pro-choice advocates are on the defensive because of the lack of political will to enforce this right. Black women have the most to lose if abortion rights are lost.
Our community is squeamish about discussing sexuality. Incorrect assumptions about religious belief have allowed anti-abortion forces to claim that they speak for all black people. Greedy charlatan preachers and their friends have made a fortune thanks to their conservative patrons.
Make no mistake about it, abortion rights are civil rights and have to be defended.
Obama Shows His True Colors
This week Barack Obama decided to cast aspersions on black men in a debate (see yesterday's post) and praise Ronald Reagan.
As the campaign moves on he will get worse. So far his appeals to conservatism and to white people's desire to shut black people up have been in more discreet venues. You have to read his books or listen to his speeches or surf the web in order to get the full flavor of Obama opportunism.
Now he is out of the closet. He is telling white America bluntly, clearly and as publicly as possible that he will not only do nothing to help black people, but he will assist in the beat down, just like Reagan did.
What kind of democrat voices GOP talking points? Listen carefully to the You Tube video I just posted. What are the "excesses of the 60s and 70s?" Everyone knows what that means. Black people got a little bit of attention and a little bit of justice. So did other people. Medicaid and medicare have saved many white people too, but why remember that when you can remember that black people got jobs, college scholarships and affirmative action.
Obama has tipped his hand. He will be the white person's black president. I said as much a few months ago. As long as winning white votes means stabbing black people in the back, the desire to see a black person in the oval office is nothing but fool's gold.
Obama Channels Cosby
"And that also means — last point I'll make, because sometimes this doesn't get talked enough about. We have to have our parents take their jobs seriously, and particularly African-American fathers who all too often are absent from the home, have not encouraged the kind of, you know, nurturing of our children that they need. And as somebody who grew up without a father, I know how important that is. That is something that, as president, I intend to talk about."
Barack Obama at Las Vegas debate
What the hell does he mean? I have not noticed any reticence among politicians, pundits or press in beating up black people. If he wants to find something that doesn't get discussed enough he needs to do better.
Obama, Farrakhan and Friendship to the Jews
The obvious racism of many of Barack Obama's white critics makes life difficult for black Obama critics like myself. To sum up, I am concerned that Obama's support from white voters is the result of a not very subtle message that he intends to ignore demands from the black community.
". . . by constantly, relentlessly sending out signals to white people that a vote for Barack Obama, an Obama presidency, would signal the beginning of the end of black-specific agitation, that it would take race discourse off of the table. And he's gone to extraordinary lengths to accomplish that."
Sadly, those concerns that should be raising questions in the black community are instead being ignored. It is difficult to convey how proud and happy most black people will be if Barack Obama is sworn in as president one year from now. The anticipation of that joy has rendered millions of vocal, active people suddenly mute. Those same people will suffer if Obama wins and they don't have the courage to speak what history clearly shows to be true, that black people have always made the greatest strides after making vocal demands on the political system.
The same image that gives black people goose bumps also gives white people goose bumps, but not for the same reason. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo actually used the words "shuck and jive" when referring to Obama. Today was Washingt Post columnist Richard Cohen's turn. Cohen's used concerns about anti-Semitism to veil his racism.
It seems that Obama's church, Trinity United Church of Christ, publishes a magazine which once gave an award to Louis Farrakhan. Are you still following me? Good, because I fail to see what any of that has to do with Obama.
That simple logic was lost on Cohen. Cohen has for many years used his column to promote racist views about black people. He is most famous for having written that it is acceptable for businesses to refuse service to black people because black people commit more crime. I suppose he also thinks that white men should be banned from Wall Street. They are the usual perps in that neck of the woods.
At any rate, it doesn't matter that Obama owes much of his fund raising success to Jewish supporters. Like anyone else who seriously wants a to be president, Barack Obama has been a strong supporter of the Israeli government. AIPAC calls the shots in electoral politics. Giving Israel carte blanche to invade Lebanon, and kill people, and cut off food and medicine from Gaza, and kill people, is a must for anyone with political ambition. Obama has never strayed from that course.
Obama's Jewish supporters have gone out of their way to make sure that members of their community know that Obama is safe. Here is a partial text from a fund raising invitation from Lester and Renee Crown, Chicago big wig check bundlers.
"Dear Friends,
It is now time. It is now our turn.
Our Illinois Senator, Barack Obama, is running to become President of the United States. On October 1, Renee and Lester Crown are hosting an evening reception with Senator Obama at their home, along with many of the leaders of our community. The purpose of the evening is to show Barack how appreciative we are of his steadfast, honest and proud support of Israel.
In spite of a bruising schedule, Senator Obama has continued to maintain a direct dialogue with the community both here in Chicago and nationally. It is also quite unusual to have the opportunity to deliver a specific policy message of appreciation during the rigors of a presidential campaign. If you have already contributed fully to the campaign, thank you, your support is greatly appreciated. Please consider additional family members and others who can attend/contribute to this special event.
Monday, October 1, 20075:30 PM – Chairs Dinner 7:00- 9:00 PM
- Reception At the home of Lester and Renee Crown
Barack Obama has established a strong record as a true friend of Israel, a stalwart defender of Israel's security, and an effective advocate of strengthening the steadfast U.S.-Israel relationship, publicly stating that Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state should never be challenged."
It doesn't matter that Jews will vouch for Obama. The Cohen column forced him to release this statement today.
"I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan. I assume that Trumpet Magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree."
The statement will have little effect on the Cohens of the world. They can't stand the thought of seeing a black president. They will dredge up anything they can to make a case against Obama .
None of this madness will have any effect on me. I do not believe that an Obama presidency will be good for black people and I am on record as having said as much. Cohen and Cuomo will not fool me into making a fool of myself.
Tomorrow check out my column in Black Agenda Report for more on the Obama madness and white America.
Ms. Magazine and Israel
Bravo to Ms. Magazine for making the right decision. It is a decision that will bring them unjustified criticism, but I hope they will not back down.
The American Jewish Congress submitted an ad to Ms. featuring the photos of three Israeli political leaders, President of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinish, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. The text underneath the photos reads "This is Israel."
Ms. was right to reject the ad. The ad would be seen as a statement of support for the Israeli government. The Ms. mission of promoting women's rights around the world would be tainted if the magazine began making statements of support for Israel or any other government. The ad implicitly does just that.
Of course, the AJC wasted no time in saying that the ad rejection showed "hostility to Israel." They also created a straw man by pointing out that Ms. has featured articles about Arab women and about Nancy Pelosi's leadership in Congress. The AJC would have a good point if they were referring to the acceptance of similar ads, but that is not the case. Instead they prove the flimsiness of their argument by comparing the apple of articles to the oranges of advertisements.
The real reason the AJC has its collective pants in a twist is because Ms. has written critically about Israel's foreign policy and about the plight of Palestinian women living under Israel's occupation. That is the true cause of the bogus outrage.
By the way, if the AJC is so eager to put the lives of Israeli women in the spotlight, they should submit an ad about Moshe Katsav. Katsav is the former president who resigned after being on the verge of indictment for raping two female employees. In return for sparing the government embarrassment, he was allowed to plead guilty to sexual harassment. His accusers now have no legal recourse.
Perhaps Ms. should help shed light on Israeli politics and its treatment of women by profiling Katsav. That attention should make the AJC very happy.
"Moshe Katsav. This is Israel."
"Impeach, Remove, Jail."
We are inundated with useless information about celebrities. Viggo Mortensen certainly has the right politics and is worth our time.
Protest Torture on January 11
On January 11, 2002, the first prisoners, so-called enemy combatants, were taken to Guantanamo. Tomorrow is a day of protest across the country. I will be at the Metro New York Religious Campaign Against Torture event. Here are the details.
Foley Square, NYC (in front of federal court house)
Pearl & Centre Streets
J,M,Z — Chambers/Brooklyn Bridge station
4,5,6 -Brooklyn Bridge City Hall
R,W - City Hall
2,3 Park Place
A,C - Chambers Street
Democracy Now: Debate on Barack Obama (Part 2)
Democracy Now: Debate on Barack Obama
Glen Ford explains it all.
Let's keep this simple. Any Bush administration statements about Iran are lies. Period. End of discussion.
The latest whopper claims that Iranian speed boats "provoked" U.S. war ships in the Strait of Hormuz by threatening to blow them up. They even have a nice little video showing the alleged provocation.
Hooman Majd at Huffington Post sizes up the situation very simply. It's a fake.
"The video, which shows what is claimed are Iranian boats speeding around U.S. ships, doesn't show any of the boats hurtling directly towards any of the navy ships, nor does it show what the Pentagon claimed the Iranians then did, namely dropped "white boxes" in the water. (I would have opened fire at those, wouldn't you?) The audio tape is even less convincing, mainly because the person speaking doesn't have an Iranian accent and moreover, sounds more like Boris Karloff in a horror movie than a sailor in the elite branch of Iran's military. (The tape is also separate from any video.) Any Iranian can immediately identify Persian-accented English, particularly if the speaker has had little contact with the West, as is the case with Revolutionary Guardsmen and sailors."
So, we have a bad Iranian accent, video and audio that don't match, and video that doesn't even show what it purports to show. We also have a president visiting Israel, the only other country on earth that thinks killing thousands of Iranians is a good idea.
The NIE report that convincingly showed that Iran has no nuclear weapons program is just one month old. Apparently that is enough time for Bush to continue telling very obvious lies in order to start his newest war of aggression.
So this week's questions shouldn't be whether Hillary cried on purpose or if her tears swayed voters, but how she will vote when Bush presents a resolution to go to war with Iran. How will Obama vote? My guess is that both will ultimately vote yes to some "compromise" which allows both of them to have it both ways. Stay tuned.
"How did that [Powell and Rice as Secretary of State] redound to the benefit of black people? For the United States to have, to put a black face on imperialism, on aggressive war, on violations of international law. How does that make black people look better in the world? Is that the kind of burden that black people want to carry around? Certainly there will be no exemption for African Americans internationally after these kinds of experiences and Barack Obama shows quite definitively that he, being the political twin of Hillary Clinton, will also put forward that same aggressive bellicose face to the world.
How else to explain his call for 100,000 additional U.S. Marines and soldiers. For what purpose? Even as he speaks vaguely about withdrawing from Iraq, as vaguely as Hillary Clinton does. He wants 100,000 more soldiers and Marines. What will he do with them? Clearly he is talking about expanding, continuing U.S. efforts to dominate militarily."
Glen Ford on Democracy Now, January 9, 2008
Do you remember when United States diplomats were taken hostage at the embassy in Tehran, Iran in 1979? The hostage takers released black employees in acknowledgement of the oppression inflicted upon and the powerlessness experienced by black Americans. If that happened today, post Powell and Rice, they would have remained in captivity along with the white people. No more exemptions. Thanks for nothing Colin and Condi.
Black Agenda Report on Democracy Now
"[Obama] . . . constantly, relentlessly sending out signals to white people that a vote for Barack Obama, an Obama presidency, would signal the beginning of the end of black specific agitation, that it would take race discourse off the table." - Glen Ford
Today is Glen Ford day. Black Agenda Report is published every Wednesday and Glen was a guest on Democracy Now. As always he hits the nail on the head. If you want to know the real deal about Barack Obama listen to or watch this interview. It will be well worth your time.
Obama Fever
"Having gone through eight years of EST with Bill Clinton and almost that much of AA with George Bush, we should be burned out on psycho-therapeutics as opposed to physical reality but sadly many are taken in by Obama's covert message that if you trust in hope you don't have to worry about the details like pensions and healthcare." - Sam Smith
I don't know which is more sickening, the non-substantive, sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton, or the non-substantive love fest for Barack Obama. I also hasten to add that I have never been a fan of Hillary's. I am a New Yorker who has always found someone else on the ballot to vote for and I remain a staunch Dennis Kucinich supporter.
It is quite bizarre. Despite my ideological antipathy to Hillary Clinton I do feel badly for her. Barack Obama will probably win the New Hampshire primary tonight, but it won't be because he is any better than she is. Bill Clinton is right. The press does give him a pass. Obama has managed to present himself as anti-war when he first opposed invading Iraq, then said he doesn't know how he would have voted, then said a time table for withdrawal was bad, then said we need a time table for withdrawal. Every statement depended on the direction of political winds at the time.
He claims to be opposed to permanent bases but his own website says, "He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda." That leaves a lot of wiggle room to maintain the status quo.
Clinton should be losing because her policies don't differ very much from those of the Bush administration. Instead she is losing to someone else whose policies do not differ very much from the Bush administration's. Hillary Clinton thought that the old school Clintonian strategy of beating up Democrats and daring them to complain would keep working. Obama is nothing but savvy. When he began to falter in the polls he realized that he had to at least give lip service to progressives.
She voted for the Senate resolution against Iran. He stayed away and attacked her for her vote. Obviously if he was opposed he would have shown up and voted in the nay column. He has out slicked Mrs. Slick Willy.
Clinton bears much of the blame for her political flame out. She refused to admit she made a mistake in voting for the Iraq occupation and now looks phony when she says she would not have made the same decision as president. She apparently learned nothing from the Kerry debacle.
She and her supporters also messed up big time when they joined in the anti-Obama smears about madrassas and drug use. It was blatant dirty politics and of course it all back fired. Now she is in serious trouble. She shot her financial wad in Iowa and may skip campaigning in upcoming primaries in order to focus on the February 5th super primary.
Her panic is evident in her much maligned teary eyed reply to a question in New Hampshire. The press are circling like vultures and not because they want to put her on record regarding any important issues. They have found someone they like better and they like him because he lets them off the hook.
Obama gives white America a get out of jail free card. "There is no black America," he declared at the 2004 Democratic convention. Those are potent words. White people love to hear that
". . . white guilt has largely exhausted itself in America." Spare me. Black people have never asked anyone to feel guilty. We have demanded full citizenship rights, and made the greatest progress when we have done so consistently and unaplogetically.
Now we face the prospect of being worse off because a black man is president. Yes, I said worse. We already hear that Oprah Winfrey's success, or black oscar victories prove that racism is a thing of the past. If there is a black president those specious arguments will win the day. Combine that with Obama's opportunistic going along politically to make white people feel safe and we have a recipe for trouble. We will still have troops in Iraq and the same expensive health care system that doesn't keep us well or even cover all of us. Paul Krugman was kind when he called Obama naive. He isn't naive at all. He plans to change very little once he gets to the White House.
As every political observer knows, the themes a politician uses on the campaign trail often don't match his or her style of governance once elected. That's rarely considered a good thing, but in this case, people seeking real change should hope that Obama's feel-good language is just campaign spin.
That's because progressives' best hope with Barack Obama would be that he use his message of "hope" and reconciliation to bring millions of new voters into the process for the first time, gather an enormous amount of political capital, and then turn around, take off the gloves and shove that mandate right down the GOP's throat.
Well, that hope is audacious.
Obama Wins Iowa
I don't really have much new to say. I'll just quote my column from the May 15th issue of Black Agenda Report, "Should We Want a Black President."
"Sadly for her (Clinton), she shares her husband's politics of meaninglessness but none of his personal charisma. She can't get away with fence straddling, triangulating, or insulting the party base. Along comes Obama, a living reincarnation of Clintonian political charm straight from the glory days. Now that Hillary has been out Clintoned, she looks less like a sure thing."
It seems that Obama can get white people to vote for him. Can he become president? Yes he can, but that is not good news for black people.
"If he is a winner, it will be in large part because he is willing to throw black people under the bus. He proved as much in his overrated speech at the 2004 Democratic national convention. 'There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America.' Of course there is a black America, and most of us don't want to pretend otherwise.
Obama's 2004 speech does not mention racism, not even to say something bland such as, racism is bad. Obama sells color blindness in a country that is all about the color spectrum. It makes no sense for black America to embrace this obvious canard. Will we purchase a lemon if the seller looks like us?"
Too many of us will buy the lemon and that is very bad news indeed. At the moment when activism and movement politics needs to be resurrected, black people will be lulled by meaningless idol worship. So I will answer my own question. Black people should not want a black president. Think I'm wrong? Just listen to Bill Bennett.
"Barack Hussein Obama, a black man, wins this for the Democrats. I have been watching him. I watched him on 'Meet the Press,' I've watched him on [Anderson Cooper's] show, watched him on all the CNN shows -- he never brings race into it. He never plays the race card.
Talk about the black community -- he has taught the black community you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson, you don't have to act like Al Sharpton. You can talk about the issues. Great dignity. And this is a breakthrough. And good for the people of Iowa."
I'll cut Obama a tiny bit of slack. The only way a black person can be elected president is to "never bring race into it." Sorry, I can get that from a white politician. I see no cause for celebration.
Having said that, I should add that Obama may have no reason to celebrate either. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a billionaire, is making noises about running for president as an independent. He could win the presidency or change the dynamic in some unknown way. The 2008 election is still very much up in the air.
Bill Kristol and Andy Rosenthal, Daddies Little Boys
In January 2005 I wrote that America has become a banana republic. Sadly, events of the last three years have proven me right. Our currency isn't worth much, they won't even take dollars at the Taj Mahal. Americans leave the country to get health care they can't afford here or to find inexpensive places to retire.
What does this have to do with Bill Kristol landing at the New York Times? One of the most basic characteristics of a banana republic is cronyism. Part of the reason Kristol has a new gig is that he is an old pal of Andrew Rosenthal. Andrew Rosenthal is the son of Abe Rosenthal, the resident conservative at the Times for many years. Kristol is the son of Irving Kristol, one of the neocon founding fathers. Of course the Times is a family business too, handed down from one Sulzburger to another.
Glenn Greenwald gets the hat tip and sums it all up perfectly. ". . . the fuel of the conservative movement -- especially its tough guy neoconservative branch, which venerates self-sufficiency, resolve and meritocracy above all else -- is mommy-and-daddy-dependent nepotism."
What is good news for the Rosenthals, Kristols and Sulzburgers is bad news for the rest of us. As the rate of our descent increases, there will be more and more Kristols and Rosenthals in positions of power. Just look at the latest occupant of the oval office, a ne'er do well son reached the most powerful office in the land. Connections always counted in this so-called meritocracy, now they are all that count. If you want merit, go somewhere else to live.
Thanks Attytood
Will Bunch of the Attytood blog linked to my piece on Bilal Hussein and Bill Kristol. Thanks Will.
Bill Kristol and the New York Times
After I recieved a form email from the Times I concluded that they received more than a few missives re: Bill Kristol. If you can't figure out why their response is lame I have laid out a simple explanation in this week's issue of Black Agenda Report. As always Glen Ford hits the nail on the head in the introduction.
"Where once corporate media perversely reasoned that lies and truth should have equal standing in their pages and broadcasts, they now rate multiple lies as far more valuable than a universe of truth."
I had wanted to write about the plight of Iraqi Pulitzer prize winning photographer Bilal Hussein for some time. The elevation of the lying propagandist Kristol was a perfect opportunity to talk about Hussein's imprisonment by the U.S. military. First read BAR, then take a quick perusal of the Times lies regarding their lies.
Thank you for your e-mail concerning Bill Kristol. We appreciate your interest and your taking the time to let us know how you feel.
Mr. Kristol's column will be appearing on the Op-Ed page, where we offer arange of diverse opinions -- often differing from our own editorial opinions. Given that we are a news organization that believes in vibrant political discourse, we have brought Mr. Kristol on board after a long andt houghtful search through the ranks of strong conservative voices.
Will you -- or will we -- agree with him? Probably not very often . . .but that is the point of offering multiple views and providing intellectual diversity. We hope the column will engender open debate and discussion in the democratic tradition of newspapers. And we hope that you will continue to read and to express your views to us. We very much value your readership.
Catherine Mathis SVP,
If you know you won't agree with him very often, why hire him? That question is rhetorical. The Times and the rest of the corporate media can't handle the truth because they aren't interested in it. They are only interested in doing the bidding of powerful monied and political interests. Kristol is Exhibit A.
Show Your Love to Brattleboro You have to love Br...
Progressive To Do List The last candidate who was...
Re-Elect Dennis Kucinich"We already know the state...
Note: I originally posted this video last Wednesda...
Black Candidate Drops Out of Presidential Race Of...
Wednesday is Whupass Day And you thought it was j...
935 Lies"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Sa...
The Trouble with King DayHow should the caption re...
Happy Birthday Roe "You love them in the womb but...
Obama Shows His True Colors This week Barack Obam...
Obama prefers Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton. Don't...
Obama Channels Cosby "And that also means — last ...
Obama, Farrakhan and Friendship to the Jews The o...
Ms. Magazine and Israel Bravo to Ms. Magazine for...
Protest Torture on January 11 On January 11, 2002...
War Against Iran Let's keep this simple. Any Bush...
Wish I'd Said That "How did that [Powell and Rice...
Black Agenda Report on Democracy Now "[Obama]...
Obama Fever "Having gone through eight years of E...
Obama Wins Iowa I don't really have much new to s...
Bill Kristol and Andy Rosenthal, Daddies Little Bo...
Thanks Attytood Will Bunch of the Attytood blog l...
Bill Kristol and the New York Times After I recie...


text:
Rescue Mission offers post-hospital help
The San Diego Rescue Mission has established a Recuperative Care Unit to help homeless people complete their recovery from hospital stays without living on the street.
(John Gibbins)
By the time Lorri Leard got to the San Diego Rescue Mission to recuperate from abdominal surgery three weeks ago, she had been in and out of the hospital three times.
The first trip was for a ruptured appendix and the next two were to treat complications that are all too predictable when a homeless patient is returned to the chaos of the street and occasional nights on a friend's couch.
Since June 2009, the rescue mission in downtown San Diego has offered another recovery option — a 28-bed Recuperative Care Unit for chronically homeless people to stay after being discharged from the hospital.
It is the only program of its kind in San Diego County.
"I couldn't imagine leaving the hospital and going out on the street with this," Leard said last week, as she lifted her shirt to show a massive bandage covering an intestinal abscess that continues to drain. "So, I'm grateful for this place."
The nonprofit, Christian-based rescue mission has provided a variety of social services to the poor and homeless over its 55-year history. The recuperation unit is one of its newest programs.
Leard is typical of the 144 people who have stayed in the unit since it opened, said director Tavis Walker. The patients all have been homeless for years and been regulars at hospital emergency rooms, most often being treated for infections, broken bones from accidents or assaults, head injures or diabetes-related problems.
"A lot of their illnesses and injuries have to do with the hazards of living on the street," Walker said.
When they arrive at the unit, patients know they will be getting more than a soft bed, home-cooked meals, a television and follow-up medical care through the hospital.
The rescue mission provides patients with psychiatric care, substance abuse counseling, and help in getting off the street.
Case workers help patients apply for programs such as Medi-Cal, County Medical Services care for uninsured indigent adults or state disability. They connect patients with community clinics for future medical care and look for transitional housing or other living arrangements.
"This is one of those times when people can slow down and reflect on their lives," Walker said. "This is an opportunity for a turning point and we help them do that."
The direct costs to run the unit amount to about $300,000 a year and about half is covered by grants and fees paid by participating hospitals, rescue mission chief executive Herb Johnson said.
The United Way has provided the largest grant. Hospitals pay $80 to $100 per day for up to 30 days for each patient they send, as well as providing a 30-day supply of medication, follow-up care and home health aides if necessary.
UCSD Medical Center, Scripps Mercy Hospital, Scripps Chula Vista Medical Center and Sharp Memorial Hospital are the major participants, Walker said.
Local clinics and social service agencies refer some patients.
The arrangement benefits the patient and the hospital, said Annemarie Degen-DeCort, associate director of care coordination at UCSD Medical Center.
Patients get follow-up medical care while also getting help aimed at ending their homelessness.
Hospitals no longer keep patients for longer periods because they have nowhere to go, while covering the cost out of a charity fund.
"This definitely stops that revolving door in the emergency room because we maintain a connection with them," Degen-DeCort said, "and it gives us the ability to open up a bed for the next patient."
Rose Turner, a case manager with the Scripps Health hospital system, said Scripps has saved 1,121 inpatient days that would have cost $785,000 since the start of the program. Instead, Scripps spent $140,000 on per-day fees for patients at the rescue mission.
"Our goal is for them to improve their quality of life and not constantly be in our emergency room," Turner said.
Cathy Baker, 50, shares a room with Leard. The two discovered they had known each other as teens at Helix High School in La Mesa.
Baker said she worked as a truck driver until 2005, when her boyfriend died of hepatitis C and her world fell apart. She eventually ended up living on a hillside in Ocean Beach.
She spent months in the unit last year, after being treated at Scripps Mercy for spinal abscesses she said were brought on by intravenous drug use.
In April, she returned after being diagnosed with degenerating spinal discs requiring surgery. Now, she said, she is committed to the therapy the unit offers.
"I love this place because when I feel crushed, they give me alternatives," she said. "My therapist is helping me come to terms with what's happened in the past and put my life back together."
Baker has added a few personal touches to the room. On one counter, she has assembled a shell collection, some makeup and a bottle of perfume. A powder blue satin bedspread shimmers on her bed.
"Now I can have some things," she said proudly. "You can't have anything when you don't have a place to live."


text:
How to Solve the Most Common Summer Tree Problems 7/13/2018 In this GardenSMART article, Jeff Newborn of Davey's Kansas City, Missouri, office solves your most common summer tree troubles–from tree pests to storm damage. See more
Invasive Tree Pests in New York City (And What You Can Do) 7/13/2018 In this New York Times story, Greg Elliffe of The Care of Trees, a Davey company, talks about the impact the emerald ash borer could have in New York City. See more
Meet the Beetles in Rochester, Minnesota (Emerald Ash Borer) 7/11/2018 In this Steele County Times story, Eric Foley of Maier Tree & Lawn, a Davey company, details what emerald ash borer has done to the local ash trees since arriving in 2013. See more
Invasive Tree Insects You Need to Know About in Buffalo, New York 7/9/2018 In this Spectrum News segment, Tom Anderson of Davey's Buffalo, New York, office shares what tree pests you should be looking for this summer. See more
Davey Helps Save Hemlock Trees in Albany's Vale Cemetery 7/8/2018 In this The Daily Gazette story, Michael Pollard of Davey's Albany, New York, office explains how he and his crews treated several hemlock trees in Vale Cemetery to combat hemlock woolly adelgid. See more
The Impact of Invasive Pests in Buffalo, New York 7/7/2018 In this WGRZ segment, Tom Anderson of Davey's Buffalo, New York, office discusses the impact invasives can have on the area's landscape. He details what invasives are and what to look for. See more


(Above) Student ambassador Sarah Strong stands in front of The Rock, which bears daily spray-painted messages.
Tradition, reputation—and we'll just go ahead and say it—football are some reasons students choose UT Knoxville. "My whole family went to UT, so there was no question for me where I wanted to go," says Rachel Frey (Knoxville '06), who grew up in in the same city. "Then, as a student, I learned about all the wonderful traditions and history and fell even more in love with the university." Two of the most noticeable traditions on campus are the Torchbearer statue and its eternal flame and the Rock, where students paint messages of any sort for all to see. And there's the issue of size. UT Knoxville is big, but it was the variety of degrees, activities and chance to make friends from different cities and majors that Alan Moore (Knoxville '10, '06) liked. "There is something for you," he says.
Sorority Village is home to 13 residential houses.
Video: Sarah Strong speaks about the Rock, one of UT's many traditions.
Turns out, there are lots of choices. If you're a woman in a sorority, you now have a place to live in the new Sorority Village across from the Visitors Center on Neyland Drive. About 550 women live in 13 residential houses. For musicians, there's technology-enhanced classrooms in the new state-of-the-art Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, which opened in fall 2013. Associate professor Shelley Binder demonstrated the use of an iPad on a music stand, in which she could tap a pedal to turn the page while playing the flute or write on the screen to add symbols or mark out sections and email the changes to her students.
(L-R) Professor Shelley Binder listens to student Jacqueline Messinetti play the flute. The Natalie L. Haslam Music Center replaced a smaller music facility. General manager Brandon Leslie rides the new T bus. The Torchbearer statue is a traditional symbol on campus.