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Lorenz Zuckermandel (18 February 1847 – 6 January 1928) was a German banker, investor, founder and translator, among other things, of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Thanks to his many talents, he worked his way from being the poor son of a farmer in Bürglein, located in the district of Ansbach, to becoming part of Berlin's financial establishment in the second half of the 19th century and joined the ranks of the bourgeoisie at the time.

Life

Childhood and youth
Lorenz Zuckermandel's parents, Johann Friedrich and Katharina Margaretha (née Pirner), were smallholder farmers at Meckenweber in Bürglein (house No. 19), on the former territory of the Bavarian Cistercian monastery of Heilsbronn, where the family had settled since 1777.

Lorenz was the fifth of six children and attended the village school, where he earned the distinction of being best in class year after year. When he was 14 years old, his father passed away at the age of 57, and the widow was no longer able to take care of all her children. She had to give away her son Lorenz. He was taken in by a family friend, a forester, and moved to the forester's residence in Ansbach, where he attended secondary school. Here, too, he was best in class and received the city's award for best academic performance.

Professional life
After completing school with outstanding grades, he embarked on an apprenticeship at the Erlanger & Söhne bank in Frankfurt. Soon after completing his apprenticeship, he was appointed as a director of the newly founded Oldenburgische Landesbank, which was founded in collaboration with the Erlanger & Söhne bank on 15 January 1869. According to the Reichsbankengesetz (Reichsbank Act) enacted by Prussia in 1875, the Oldenburgische Landesbank had the right to issue bank notes. However, in spite of the limitations that this entailed, it has been in the credit, deposits, and securities business since its founding.

Lorenz Zuckermandel was a gifted linguist and mastered English with virtually no accent. He also spoke fluent French. Afterwards, he learned Spanish, which allowed him to fill in for the director of the Madrid branch in 1872. Family documents point to Italy as a popular travel destination and highlight the importance of Italian art, culture and language.

Marriage and children
During his time in Frankfurt he met Robert Bassermann (1846–1907), the branch manager of the Köster & Cie bank from Mannheim. Besides their professional activities, their interest in foreign languages saw them become close. In 1890, Lorenz met Robert's niece Elisabeth at the parental home at Gockelsmarkt in Mannheim. Elisabeth's brother was Albert Bassermann, who later became a famous actor.

On 18 June 1892 and at 45 years of age, Lorenz married Elisabeth Bassermann – 18 years his junior – with whom he had six children: Louis Alexander Walter (1893–1915), Erich (1895–1915), Paul (1897–1988), Ludwig (1898–1973), Ingeborg Anna Leonore (1901–1986) and Sofi Elisabeth (1903–1999).

Ascent into the financial establishment
As director of the Oldenburgische Landesbank, Lorenz Zuckermandel had connections to the most powerful men in commerce and industry. He successfully became a wealthy man through clever share purchases and speculative deals during Germany's industrialisation, which was in full swing. In the early 1880s, Lorenz Zuckermandel and two of his business associates took over the bank C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie., a partnership limited by shares and a long-established private bank in Berlin.

By virtue of his success during Germany's years of rapid industrial expansion, as a leading figure of the financial establishment Lorenz Zuckermandel was part of the bourgeoisie. Befitting their social status, the young married couple – together with their coachman, cook, nannies, laundress and dressmaker – resided in a luxurious villa with park in the then Berlin suburb of Charlottenburg, with many social commitments. Every evening, they were either the hosts or the guests.

In October 1893 they moved into a newly rented city apartment at Voss Straße 2 in an extensive area on the first floor, only a few houses away from the bank. After spending the winter in the city, the family moved to Charlottenburg every spring.

In the years following 1900, tenements arose around the villa's park in Charlottenburg, and from 1907 to 1908, Lorenz Zuckermandel built a tenement – now protected under law as a historical monument – on one part of the property between Schlossstraße and Fritschestraße.

The villa in Charlottenburg was torn down in 1906/07 and replaced in 1908 by the Flossmann villa in Rottach at Tegernsee, including surrounding meadows and a small forest. As a Bavarian among Bavarians, he had an excellent rapport with Flossmann, the former owner of the villa, and undertook many mountain tours with him. Each year, the family spent the summer months in Rottach at Tegernsee.

In 1908 or 1909, the family moved from Voss Straße 2 to the newly acquired Palais Bendlerstraße 33 in the immediate vicinity of the Tiergarten.

At 60 years of age, Lorenz Zuckermandel was one of Berlin's wealthiest men. It was estimated that his capital, the majority of which represented shares in the heavy industry, was worth 4 million goldmarks. In 1912, at 65 years of age, he completely retired from the banking business, but continued to enjoy a reputation as a financier due to his large fortune. He resigned from his position on the supervisory boards in 1917.

Retirement and death
In the 1920s Zuckermandel lost a large part of his capital due to the inflation that had been accelerating since 1914. He mainly held his assets in shares and failed to switch to stable securities timely.

After the death of both of his oldest sons Walter and Erich (both perished or went missing during the Lake Naroch Offensive during World War I on 1 October 1915), he went into retirement and devoted himself to his translations, mainly his Dante translation. Living of his private means, he used the time to undertake extensive voyages to Spain, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, some of which he undertook alone.

On 6 January 1928 Lorenz Zuckermandel died of bronchitis close to his 81st birthday. The following appeared in the obituary section of a Berlin newspaper from 7 January 1928: "Last evening, after a short illness, banker Lorenz Zuckermandel – former business owner of C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie., a partnership limited by shares – passed away at the age of 81. With him yet another old-school personality of the financial establishment disappears, a man with an elegant disposition and most obliging kindness, who put his eminent skills particularly at the service of the industry. For many years, he was a member of the supervisory board of a large number of the most important industrial companies, until he retired from his business life after he had lost both of his promising older sons in the war. This unique man will be remembered by anyone who crossed his path."

The family fortune was almost completely lost during the great depression and in the time after 1945.

Banker, investor, and founder
As a partner of the C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie. bank – which at the time was one of the well over 1,000 private banks in Germany – Lorenz Zuckermandel on the one hand was an investor due to his share participation, and on the other hand also a co-founder of renowned companies, such as the Rheinische Metallwaaren- und Maschinenfabrik Corporation (which later became Rheinmetall), certified by notary on 13 April 1889. Of the total share capital of 700,000 Reichsmark, the C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie. bank held a participation of 224,000 Reichsmark, which, at 32%, constituted the largest portion of share capital. Representing the majority shareholder, Lorenz Zuckermandel was appointed as the company's first chairman of the supervisory board, while Thuringian engineer Heinrich Ehrhardt was elected deputy chairman of the board and company manager. For many years, this bank was a pivotal shareholder of Rheinmetall, and although it reduced its share over time, it remained an influential shareholder at the general meetings of shareholders. In April 1897, Lorenz Zuckermandel resigned as chairman of Rheinmetall's supervisory board, but remained an ordinary member of the supervisory body until he ultimately retired on 16 November 1919 The archives reveal that Zuckermandel held a modest share participation as late as 1916. Through their stake in Rheinmetall, C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie. bank also had the opportunity to finance lucrative arms deals.

Since Lorenz Zuckermandel always acted in the name and for the account of the C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie. bank, keeping himself in the background as an intermediary, his activities as a banker are difficult to trace. It is known that, among other things, he exercised a supervisory board mandate in the Erlangen Brewery Corporation, which emerged from Erlanger Reifbräu in 1896.

Lorenz Zuckermandel also had dealings with various small and large railway enterprises. One of them was the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPR), in which the C. Schlesinger-Trier & Cie. bank and the German National Bank were involved. He carried part of the responsibility for their initial public offering in the 1910s. As a token of appreciation, Sir Thomas George Shaughnessy (1853–1923) CPR's former president, invited Lorenz in 1913 on a weeks long trip to Canada. Due to the indisposition of his wife Elisabeth, Lorenz made the trip in the company of his son Walter and of F. I. Warschauer as representative of the Nationalbank. During this trip they met, among others, Vincent Meredith, Director of the Bank of Montreal, and Richard B. Angus, one of the founding fathers of CPR, who was 84 years old at the time.

Furthermore, Zuckermandel's financial participations or his involvement in the founding of many other railway companies are documented, e.g., the Berlin-Dresdener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, the Stadtbahnen Stettin and the Schmalspur-Zahnradbahn der Achenseebahn. The latter was inaugurated in 1889, with Lorenz as a member of the supervisory board.

Translator
Lorenz Zuckermandel's translation of Émile Mâle's work L'Art Religieux du XIIIe Siècle en France was published in 1907.

In 1909, he translated Rudyard Kipling's Moti Guj – Mutineer and dedicated it to his then 10-year-old son Ludwig, with the wish that his son would soon be able to read the original himself (unpublished).

Lorenz Zuckermandel, however, is best known for his translations of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, which he started in 1912. Dantes Paradies was published in 1914 and in 1922 in a newly revised edition. Dantes Hölle was published in 1916 and in 1925 in a newly revised edition. Dantes Purgatorium was published in 1920. All editions were published by the publishing house of J. H. Ed. Heitz in Straßburg.

The manuscript of Zuckermandel's Dante translations has not been preserved, nor has the correspondence related to his Dante research (among others with the then president of the Deutsche Dante-Gesellschaft (German Dante Society), Hugo Daffner).

For the purpose of these translations, a veritable Dante library was set up in Bendlerstrasse 33, the material occupying the billiard table in the study room for many years.

Through his wife's family, Lorenz Zuckermandel knew Alfred Bassermann (1855–1935), another Dante translator, whose literary legacy can be found in the library of the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, including Zuckermandel's Dante translations.

Patron in his hometown Bürglein
Despite his meteoric career, Lorenz Zuckermandel maintained ties to his home village of Bürglein, which he visited until 1919 and where he was known and respected as a philanthropist, although he did not communicate about his background, neither privately nor publicly – not even to his family.

In memory of his two oldest sons, who fell in Russia in 1915, plunging the family in insurmountable mourning, he anonymously donated two church windows and, in September 1917, the church clock for the Johanneskirche in Bürglein.

At a meeting of the Soldaten- und Kriegerkameradschaft Bürglein (Bürglein's soldier and warrior fellowship) held on 1 January 1920, a decision was made to erect a memorial for the fallen and missing soldiers of World War I. The commemorative plaque also bears the names of both of his oldest sons, Walter and Erich Zuckermandel.

Lorenz Zuckermandel also did a lot for Bürglein's water supply system, for which he donated considerable sums on multiple occasions – a total of 14,000 Reichsmarks from 1912 to 1919. Since the citizens of Bürglein could not agree on the construction of a water pipe, the money donated lost all of its value due to the inflation that was setting in (in 1924, 1 billion was worth 1 goldmark).

In accordance with a declaration of intent by Lorenz Zuckermandel dated 8 August 1917, a relief fund for the poor was founded as an annex to the Heding'schen Gedächtnis- und Armenstiftung (Heding'sche memorial and poverty foundation) on condition that the interest yielded by the 4,000 Reichsmarks donation would be distributed among the needy in the community of Bürglein on a yearly basis.

Art collector
Having a great appreciation for the arts, Lorenz began to amass a considerable collection of paintings long before the young Zuckermandel couple moved into the villa in Charlottenburg. It contained prestigious works from the Renaissance period right through to contemporary painters. Some of these paintings – together with other sculptures, antiques, ceramics, bronzes, furniture and fixtures – were sold at an auction of Lorenz Zuckermandel's estate at the Hugo Helbing galerie in Munich on 5–6 June 1930.

Personality
Despite his privileged position as a member of the financial establishment, he remained reserved and kept a certain distance from the bourgeoisie society, not letting it become second nature. He always stayed true to himself, unimpressed by the glamour of the military and the bourgeoisie at the time, which he addressed with a touch of humour. His family held him in high esteem and referred to him as "Lorenzo". Family records reveal that his sociable nature allowed him to make friends – from the humblest to the highest educated people – wherever he was. His outstanding intelligence, his broad knowledge, coupled with profound wisdom, kindness and humour, made him an amiable man. His diligence and willingness to take risks made him a successful businessman. He had an eye for all things beautiful, a deep love for nature and was attracted by the great wide world. His brother-in-law, Adolf Bassermann, wrote the following in a 1910 travelogue: "Lorenzo went to great lengths to take care of everything in advance; one feels safe in his company. An homme de vie who knows – or correctly assumes – everything."

Trivia
Many years later, Lorenz described how amusing it was for him, a very young man, to sit at the regulars' table among the bearded dignitaries – the mayor, the school principal, the medical councillor – during his time as director of the Oldenburgische Landesbank. As a result, he quickly learned how to act, not only at the regulars' table but also at the level of state finances.

Family records show that the purchase of the property in Oberach/Rottach-Egern at Tegernsee in Upper Bavaria with settled with a cash payment by Lorenz Zuckermandel of 41,000 Reichsmarks on 3 November 1908.

Lorenz Zuckermandel demonstrably had a wonderful sense of humour. His son made a note of an anecdote dated 27 December 1968 and slipped it into a copy of Dantes Purgatorium: "A good friend of my father's – we children called him Uncle Buckardt – was a great Goethe aficionado, but showed no interest in Dante whatsoever. Every year, on occasion of Uncle Buckardt's birthday, my father gave him the latest edition of the Purgatory as a birthday present. Uncle Buckardt always acknowledged the gift and put the book in his library. In the course of the year, my father absconded with the book from Uncle Buckardt's extensive library in order to return it to him on the next birthday. It remains unknown whether the donee ever noticed the trick."

Offspring
Both of Lorenz Zuckermandel's oldest sons, Walter and Erich, fell at Lake Narocz in Russia on 1 October 1915. In 1920 they were honoured, together with other soldiers who fell during the war, following a decision by the Soldaten- und Kriegerkameradschaft Bürglein (Bürglein's soldier and warrior fellowship) to plant an oak tree alley in Böllingsdorf, one oak tree for every one of the fallen soldiers. The trees still stand there to this day behind the hall of honour, which was later on erected.

His son Paul became an operetta tenor and lived with his wife in the family guesthouse on his mother's estate at Tegernsee for many years. Ludwig was a stage designer at the theatre in Klagenfurt for many years. He made an attempt to gain ground in Latin America but returned to Germany, where he then lived with his wife at his mother's place. Both daughters Leonore and Elisabeth got married in Brazil and rarely visited Europe in later years.

History of the name
There are many different versions explaining the name Zuckermandel (also known as Zuckmantel). One version claims that the name has its origins in the Middle Ages and means "highwayman", i.e. someone who purloins a coat (the German is composed of "zuck" as in take and "mantel" for coat). Nowadays, the name "Zuckermantel" is often used as a German place name in the present-day Czech Republic.

Works
 Die kirchliche Kunst des XIII. Jahrhunderts in Frankreich: Studie über die Ikonographie des Mittelalters und ihre Quellen. By Émile Mâle. Translated by L[orenz] Zuckermandel. Straßburg: J. H. Heitz, 1907. XIII, 441 pages: Ill.
 Dantes Hölle. Deutsch von L[orenz] Zuckermandel. Straßburg: Printed and published by J. H. Ed. Heitz, 1916. 247 pages.
 Dantes Hölle. Deutsch von L[orenz]. Zuckermandel. Straßburg: Published by J. H. Ed. Heitz, [1925]. Second newly edited edition. 206 pages. This edition was presented to the members of the German Dante Society together with the 1925 yearbook. The package insert reads: "Thanks to a generous donation by the translator, our long-time member, I am pleased to say that, together with the 1925 yearbook, we are able to give our members the latest released and newly edited edition of Lorenz Zuckermandel – Übersetzung von Dantes Hölle (Lorenz Zuckermandel's translation of Dante's Hell) with a Christmas greeting. I rejoice in this furthering the goals of our society, and would like to add that I wish for this work, which is among the highest quality works so far created, true to its sense and form, and with its pleasant easy-flowing readability and profound simplicity in its expression, to be received and appreciated accordingly. The German Dante Society. Chairman: [Hugo] Daffner."
 Dantes Purgatorium. Deutsch von L[orenz] Zuckermandel. Straßburg: Published by J. H. Ed. Heitz, 1920. 250 pages.
 Dantes Paradies. Deutsch von L[orenz] Zuckermandel. Straßburg: Printed and published by J. H. Ed. Heitz, 1914. 215 pages.
 Dantes Paradies. Deutsch von L[orenz] Zuckermandel. Straßburg: Published by J. H. Ed. Heitz, 1922. Second newly edited edition. 247 pages.

Literature
 Jobst Hinrich and Francine Ubbelohde-Vanbrusselt [Lorenz Zuckermandel's grandson, 12 September 1928 – 10 October 2020 and his wife Francine Vanbrusselt]: Lorenz and Elisabeth Zuckermandel. Brussels: 1st edition 2007 (available at the public library in Turm, Heilsbronn, Dek Zuc). Brussels: 2nd revised and extended edition 2014 titled Lorenz Zuckermandel (unpublished). Approx. 90 pages with many photos and illustrations from the family archive.
 Jürgen Hufnagel: Lorenz Zuckermandel. In: 900 Jahre Bürglein. 1108–2008. Ed. by Jürgen Hufnagel and Hans Gernert. Bürglein: Festausschuss "900 Jahre Bürglein" ("900 years of Bürglein" festivities committee), June 2008.
 Interview with Jobst Hinrich Ubbelohde about Lorenz Zuckermandel and article titled "Äußerst engagierter Mitfinanzierer der Gründung von Rheinmetall – Lorenz Zuckermandel war der erste Aufsichtsratsvorsitzende des Unternehmens" (extremely dedicated co-financier of the founding of Rheinmetall – Lorenz Zuckermandel was the company's first chairman of the supervisory board) by Dr. Christian Leitzbach. In: Das Profil – Die Zeitung des Rheinmetall Konzerns 4/2010, pg. 14.
 Rheinmetall. Vom Reiz, im Rheinland ein großes Werk zu errichten. By Christian Leitzbach. Cologne: Greven Verlag GmbH, 2014. ISBN 978-3-7743-0641-7 (2 volumes). Story of Rheinmetall's founding incl. a brief biography and a portrait (charcoal drawing) of Lorenz Zuckermandel on pgs. 29–32.

External links
 Lorenz Zuckermandel's literature in German National Library's catalogue
 Interview about and portrait of Lorenz Zuckermandel. In: Das Profil – Die Zeitung des Rheinmetall Konzerns 4/2010
 List of German translations of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri on the website of the Deutsche Dante-Gesellschaft
 Die kirchliche Kunst des XIII. Jahrhunderts in Frankreich: Studie  über die Ikonographie des Mittelalters und ihre Quellen. Von Émile Mâle. Deutsch von L[orenz] Zuckermandel. Verfügbar in der Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB)
 Dantes Hölle - Dantes Purgatorium - Dantes Paradies. Deutsch von Lorenz Zuckermandel Text Italienisch-Deutsch Koloriert Italienisch-Deutsch koloriert

References

1847 births
1928 deaths
German bankers


Until we went to Malawi, being a medical student had involved lectures and a short introduction into hospital life. Malawi brought us many firsts. There, we got our first true taste of what it is to be a doctor. It was there that we first saw the birth of a baby. It was there we had our first real experience of the death of a patient. It was the first time we'd been asked questions not to test our knowledge, but because someone wanted our opinion. It was the first time we got a taste of what is it to be responsible for a patient.
We spent the first four weeks of the summer of 2010 in the Holy Family Hospital in Phalombe, southern Malawi. "Holy" is tucked into the foothills of Mount Mulanje on the Mozambique border and is one hour away from the nearest main road. It is the only hospital in the region, serving an official population of about 350,000, not counting the many patients travelling from neighbouring Mozambique. It was first established in the 1970s by Dutch nuns and is now Malawian-run by the local diocese. It is a private hospital and few locals can afford to pay their healthcare costs. However, as most patients are referred to the hospital by the local medical centre, the government covers the costs. It has one qualified doctor. The rest of the care is delivered by clinical officers, as is the norm in most of Malawi. Clinical officers have the same responsibilities as non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) in Ireland. However, clinical officers spend just three years training before being qualified to work in all fields of medicine, including the performance of most surgical procedures in the hospital. Once a month, a gynaecologist from a large hospital in the nearest city comes to host a clinic.
Our day began at the very civilised hour of nine with the morning handover, a meeting attended by all medical and nursing staff. It was the time to discuss any patients who were critically ill or who had passed away during the night. We would then divide up onto the four wards - male general, female general, paediatrics and maternity. We did rounds with the clinical officers and helped carry out any procedures that were necessary, such as lumbar punctures and chest drains. Lunch in the hospital was a leisurely affair, lasting about three hours!
Our afternoons were mainly spent in clinic or in minor theatre. There were many HIV clinics, at which the patients' CD4 counts were monitored and treatment was adjusted accordingly. Malawi has quite a good HIV treatment programme, with maintenance treatment being provided free of charge by the government. In minor theatre we debrided, sutured and dressed wounds, and set broken bones. We were informed that the plaster of paris requirement increases exponentially in October as all the children start climbing trees in mango season!
HIV is endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and affected at least half of the in-patient population. Meningitis, TB, pneumonia and falciparum malaria were among the most common adult presentations to the hospital. The paediatric ward was filled with children with problems ranging from serious burns (most cooking is done on open fires) to snake bites, fractures, respiratory distress and malnutrition. We worked in the hospital during a measles epidemic, emphatically illustrating how important vaccination is.
In sharp contrast with Irish hospital wards, elderly patients were few and far between. Many of the sickest patients were close in age to us. The hospital's investigation facilities stretched to gram stains, full blood counts, malaria blood films and an x-ray machine. The neonatal resuscitation equipment was simply a single lightbulb to warm the sickest and smallest premature babies, despite the fact that the hospital was the referral centre for complicated deliveries presenting to the primary care clinics. We had expected to be confronted with a lack of resources but the biggest differences, and some of the most challenging, were the cultural ones. In Malawian hospitals, their own family cares for patients' non-medical needs. They are fed, washed and dressed by the family members who fill the open-air court- yards cooking on open fires and sleeping outside in order to care for their loved ones. The Malawian people are very relaxed, illustrated best by the fact that there is no Chichewa (the language of Malawi) word for emergency - the concept does not exist. If a patient deteriorates while everyone is on lunch break, it was next to impossible to get someone to help. Urgency is simply not a feature of life, and death was readily accepted as an everyday part of life.
The influence of the sangoma (traditional witch-doctor) was everywhere, most patients would present to the hospital only after exhausting their options with him. As a result people presented in the advanced stages of their illness with clinical signs that you might read about in books, but hope never to see.
Malawi is proudly known as the warm heart of Africa, and the warm heart of Malawi is the people. Being the only "azungus" (white people) for miles, we generated a lot of attention everywhere we went. Children came charging through the fields to wave or walk with us. People were eager to welcome us to Malawi, and delighted in bombarding us with questions about the previously unheard of Ireland. There was never any other agenda than curiosity and the desire to make us feel welcome.
We met Gemma Brugha, an Irish ex-nurse who worked in Holy in the seventies and eighties, teaching in the nursing school on the grounds of the hospital. Twelve years ago she stopped teaching and set up the Likhulesi Project, a fantastic grassroots initiative based in the neighbouring village which provided practical support to AIDS patients living in the community. Volunteers visit the patients - their neighbours - a few times a week to help with everyday tasks that they are unable to manage like fetching water from the well or chopping firewood. The project also supplied the patients with a sleeping mat (the houses all have mud floors and walls), a bar of soap and paracetamol if it was available. The project supports AIDS orphans to stay in school and assists families who take in these orphans with a little extra grain. The project also aims to raise awareness about HIV – ensuring to educate the children as early as possible about HIV prevention by performing plays and songs around the theme through their drama group.
It was sad to leave Holy, after spending a fantastic four weeks there. We would always enthusiastically recommend anyone to visit Malawi as a medical student. Clinically, our skills improved. After being confronted with countless cases of pneumonia, auscultation couldn't but come on in leaps and bounds! And more importantly, we were lucky enough to experience a completely different way of life as we lived in the warm community that was Holy village.


text:
Wall Street's watchdog wants to weaken its own whistleblower program, critics say
by Max de Haldevang
Original Version Read Here
Quartz: Wall Street's watchdog wants to weaken its own whistleblower program, critics say
Wall Street's top watchdog loves to tout the success and importance of its whistleblower program.
"These awards show how critically important whistleblowers can be to the agency's investigation and ability to bring a case to successful and efficient resolution," said Jane Norberg, who heads the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) program, when announcing a $50 million reward for two whistleblowers in March.
Norberg's office is seen as one of the US government's most successful whistleblower initiatives. It has brought more than $1.7 billion in fines and reimbursements since it started in 2011, helping the agency tackle crimes that threaten the financial system's stability. So, it's curious that the SEC is proposing changes to the program that whistleblower advocates say will deter potential tipsters from coming forward with information.
The program now rewards whistleblowers with 10% to 30% of any money collected above $1 million in cases that used their information. However, in cases that collect more than $100 million, the proposed changes would let the agency limit those awards to the lower end of that range—10% or $30 million, whichever is larger. The new rules would also bar informants who don't report violations in writing—they can now do so verbally—from receiving SEC protection against retaliation. Further, it could raise the bar so that outside analysts who have revealed fraud by piecing together public information would have little incentive to go to the SEC.
The proposal follows other Trump administration rollbacks of legislation passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, much of which was designed to safeguard financial markets but is seen as cumbersome by Republicans and many on Wall Street.
The SEC says its new whistleblower rules will make the office more efficient. Other changes in the proposal would speed up the process of rejecting applications that don't hold up and let the agency bar people who repeatedly make frivolous claims. SEC chair Jay Clayton said the move would also allow the SEC to pay more to people who now receive awards below $2 million, which he says make up more than 60% of potential claimants. He argued that the limit to large awards "will not in any practical way affect incentives."
Whistleblower advocates, however, are up in arms. They argue the new rules will prevent people from bringing claims.
"Why create this barrier—potentially kicking out many people in the system and disqualifying them?" asked John Kostyack, executive director of the nonprofit National Whistleblower Center, referring to the requirement to issue claims in writing. "This is completely contrary to the whistleblower section of the Dodd Frank Act, which was to encourage people to come forward."
Sean McKessy, the founding head of the SEC whistleblower program, told Quartz he could think of at least four successful tipsters under his tenure—out of a total of more than 30—who would not be paid under the proposed rules, either because they were outside analysts or they had not followed the exact bureaucratic procedures required when first submitting the paperwork. "There are several people who came forward on my watch to save their company from an Enron-like fate," said McKessy, who now works as a lawyer for SEC whistleblowers. "If you know just one success story like that, why wouldn't you just say it was worth it?"
Whistleblowers themselves say the change will dissuade people from coming forward with information about massive, system-threatening issues. "Capping awards would all but ensure that the elephant never walks through the [SEC's] doors, only rabbits and the occasional zebra," wrote Harry Markopolos, a financial investigator who blew the whistle on Bernie Madoff.
Markopolos himself eschewed the whistleblower's office with his latest project, instead partnering with a hedge fund to accuse General Electric of engaging in accounting fraud. (GE has so far denied the allegations as "meritless.") Markopolos hasn't said why he chose to bypass the SEC, though his "decent percentage" of the profits made from shorting GE would likely come a lot faster and with fewer hurdles than an SEC whistleblower claim.
The SEC declined to comment on this story.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Anthropology in Practice: Digital Literacy at What Price?
A cultural and cognitive shift is well underway in terms of how we access and process information via digital media. And a recent study confirms our suspicions: though we are becoming more tech savvy, it may be at the expense of creative and critical thinking. Researchers from the University of Israel (2009), tested digital literacy with a group in 2002. In 2007, they tested this same group again and found statistically significant changes on the test scores. Is this further proof of the widening double digital divide?
Photovisual literacy: ability to work with digital environments that employ graphical communication, such as user interfaces.
Reproduction literacy: ability to create authentic, meaningful written and artwork by reproducing and manipulating digital media.
Branding literacy: ability to construct knowledge by nonlinear navigation through knowledge domains (i.e., hyperlinks).
Information literacy: ability to consume information critically and sort out false and biased views.
Socioemotional literacy: ability to communicate in online communication platforms (e.g., chat, bulletin boards).
Real Time Thinking: ability to process and evaluate large amounts of information in real time, such as in computer games and chatrooms.
Participants were given tasks in four of these areas (photovisual, reproduction, branching, and information). When tested five years later, and compared to a control group, there was a significant change in digital skills.
From Changes Over Time in Digital Literacy, 2009.
The results demonstrate that all age groups in the study responded similarly: all were able to demonstrate an increased grasp of technology. However, on tasks that creativity and critical thinking (reproduction and information), the scores for younger participants dipped slightly in comparison to adults, whose scores increased.
With the ever increasing amount of information readily available via hyperlinks, and a growing willingness to use digital media to access that information, how can we encourage digital literacy and maintain critical thinking skills? How can we change students' relationships with information? And how can we ensure that everyone has access to the tools necessary to build a solid foundation of digital media?
Does the diminished critical thinking skill will add another level to the digital divide: those without access, those with access but with poor understanding of the tools, and those with access and understanding. What kinds of issues do you foresee these groups facing?
Thanks for bringing this fascinating study to our attention. I went to the study report and was interested to see the description of the information task: "Write a comparative, critical report on a news event that was reported in a biased way in five different Internet news resources."
Many people have written that the younger generations are more savvy about spin and media manipulation because they grew up surrounded by media. But that never totally made sense to me--if they were always surrounded, where did they get the perspective to make judgments? Isn't it possible that they were like the proverbial fish who don't think much about the water they live in?
This study shows that the younger people were not savvy about bias. If indeed this represents younger generations in general and they cannot "write a comparative, critical report on a news event that was reported in a biased way in five different Internet news resources," then they--and we--are in trouble.
I am definitely worried about this phenomenon. I teach technology and I am heavily connected to many other people in the Educational Technology community where this seems to be playing out. In my opinion, one of the big problems is the fact that we can customize and filter information. We frequently succumb to the confirmation bias when we are bombarded with only the news that is specifically target at us (by us!).
It seems that every time I see a post written by someone in the Ed Tech world, the comments below are a stream of groupthink.
By the time I get to the bottom of any post, I usually have a few reservations about what was written and look to debate those points. It scares me to think that we are losing our ability to think critically and that technology is largely to blame.
Critical thinking is built on a foundation of vast, deep knowledge. For example, I can't really compare historical texts for bias if I don't know anything about the time period, the cultures, the different "camps" of ideologues on all sides, etc. Shallow knowledge breeds gullible readers.
To me, the root of the problem is customized filters for information coupled with a more shallow knowledge of the subjects we are filtering, ala Carr's article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
In the spirit of critically thinking and not agreeing with everything I see in the blogs I read, I will offer some counterpoints.
1. The sample size was pretty small.
2. The sample group were people living in one specific location, i.e., it might not be a scalable phenomenon.
3. The metric used to measure critical thinking could be biased or inaccurate as a measuring tool.
@George Haines: another counterpoint is that the findings might be a result of the testees' ability to write rather than their ability to think. That still wouldn't be a comforting finding, but it would be different.
Wendy and George, thanks for your thoughtful comments.
George you hit on something that is true and troubling about critical thinking: the personalization of the information we access. Readers, intuitive site designs bring us information that we want -- there's no thought to objectivity unless we make an effort to seek out that material. Can we teach the importance of objectivity? Or are is the appeal of the personal approach too strong?
You both make fair assessments of the areas where the study can be approved. Wendy, writing ability is a HUGE factor, but unfortunately, there's no information about the grading.
I am glad that steps are being taken to quantify this issue though. And I hope that this area continues to get attention from social scientists.
Rodrigo, it's currently accessible to the public: just click on the DOI number in the citation.


Kantar Worldpanel1, the global market leader in consumer panels, reports 14% value growth for the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) market in 2012. Amongst all the categories Kantar Worldpanel monitor, 7 out of 10 categories enjoyed average family spending level increase of over 3%. This indicates that consumption levels have started to pick a more significant role in the overall market growth in China.
It is vital for category leaders to consider category spending as a key success factor to drive future growth in the retail market, especially mature categories whose penetration2 has reached a plateau, such as biscuit and chocolate in food and toothpaste and toothbrush in toiletry. In 2012, there were a number of categories showing substantial increase in household spend level, including mint candies, wine/spirits, chocolate, biscuits and toothbrush.


Firefighters are investigating the cause of a suspected arson attack that spread across two flats in Liskeard.
Two people were rescued from the burning building, above Bradleys Estate Agents on Bay Tree Hill, at about 6.20am.
A man in his 40s has been arrested on suspicion of arson.
A large section of the town centre remained cordoned off throughout the morning while firefighters continued to tackle the fire.
This morning, senior firefighters at the scene said the blaze was surrounded and "under control".
Speaking at the scene, Mark Blatchford, group manager at Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, said: "There has been a fire in one of the flats that has spread to another one.
"We have rescued at least two people.
Mr Blatchford said an investigation will begin today to determine the cause of the fire.
Spar worker Danny Smith said fire engines were already on scene when he arrived at work at 6.30am.
The 32-year-old said: "Two fire engines were already here.
Tenants from the surrounding properties were evacuated.
Mr Smith added: "We had a few of them in here [the shop] this morning.
"They said they had a knock on the door and were told to get out.
"They said there was smoke everywhere.
One local businesswoman, who asked not to be named, said it was rare to see major incidents in Liskeard.
She said: "We had a call this morning and my mum came down to check the shop was okay.
"When I got here at 9am it had all been cordoned off.
A spokesman from Devon and Cornwall Police said a man in his 40s had been arrested and was this morning waiting to be questioned.


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Sport England Community Emergency Fund
Sport England reveals details of new fund to help sport and physical activity through coronavirus crisis.
£20 MILLION emergency fund TO HELP SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY THROUGH CORONAVIRUS
Sport England are making up to £35 million of funding available in a Community Emergency Fund to help the sport and physical activity sector through the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.
Sport England announced on 11th May that a further £15 million in lottery funding has been added to the fund, taking the investment to £35 million, and that the Fund will be paused at 11.59pm on Thursday 14th May.
This extra £15 million is intended to help meet the demand of the existing applications and those likely to be submitted in the coming days. As of 11th May it has seen 2,268 applications from National League System and grassroots clubs, requesting £12.8 million, which accounts for nearly a third of the 8037 applications. So far, 1,700 football applications have been assessed with a 76% success rate, awarding £4.2 million to football with an average award amount of £3,200. Overall, 5,714 applications have been assessed, awarding 14.8m to grassroots sport.
The Community Emergency Fund aims to deliver immediate funding to those most in need. It's specifically targeted at organisations, including those not currently supported by Sport England, who have a role in supporting the nation to be active but who are experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the ongoing crisis.
The types of organisations eligible include local sports clubs forced to close at short notice but who are facing ongoing costs around maintenance and utility bills, and voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or enable sport and physical activity.
This £20 million fund is designed to complement other sources of funding from the government, such as funds targeted at small businesses. Please click here to see the funding support that the government has available before you consider applying to this fund.
Any organisation delivering community sport and physical activity can apply if it's experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus.
These organisations include:
• Local sports clubs
• Voluntary and community sector organisations that deliver or enable sport and/or physical activity, including organisations that are not solely or primarily sports organisations and have an important role to play in keeping people active, that may need support for other parts of their organisation to remain open
• Small charitable trusts that do not qualify for financial help elsewhere
• Regional or county level organisations or leagues that have already paid out funds for activities that are now cancelled and are not able to claim funds from elsewhere
HOW CAN THE FUNDING BE USED?
The fund has been developed to help community sport and physical activity organisations meet their obligations, in particular fixed costs, which are no longer supported with revenue as a result of coronavirus. This might cover expenditure on:
• Rent
• Utility costs
• Insurances
• Facility or equipment hire
• Core staffing costs (including casual workers) that cannot be met elsewhere by other government funds
• Retrospective losses dating from 1 March, 2020
For example, the fund can be used to support a local league that has paid for equipment to run a competition which is now cancelled and therefore will not receive the money the players in the league would have paid.
HOW MUCH CAN BE AWARDED?
Awards will be between £300 and £10,000. In exceptional circumstances Sport England will consider awards of more than £10,000.
To read more about the fund and start your application, please visit the link below.
COMMUNITY EMERGENCY FUND APPLICATION


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"There is no artist as powerful, charismatic and brilliant as Michael Jackson"
Making a biopic about the King of Pop
The start of production of a biographical film about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, has been announced for this year. Antoine Fuqua will direct the film, entitled Michael, and the film will be created in cooperation with the trustees of the singer's estate.
"I started my career in music videos. I think combining film and music is still a big part of who I am," the director's words were quoted by the British online portal The Guardian.
"I don't think there is an artist who is as powerful, charismatic and genius in the field of music as Michael Jackson was. My music video making was greatly influenced by his videos. His music and images are part of my world view. Opportunities, to transfer his story and music to the big screen, I couldn't resist," said Fuqua, who directed, among others, the films Training Day, The Righteous and, most recently, the film about slavery called Emancipation.
Three-time Oscar nominee John Logan, who wrote the screenplays for Gladiator and Skyfall, among others, will take care of the screenplay. Producer Graham King, who worked as a producer on the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody, will also participate.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate studios have confirmed that the film will address all aspects of Jackson's life. Deadline, however, reported that he will openly tackle difficult issues. Following HBO's 2019 two-part documentary series Leaving Neverland, which featured allegations of the singer's child sexual abuse, trustees of the singer's estate condemned the series as "tabloid character assassination" and insisted on his innocence.
The film Michael will follow the Broadway musical MJ, which was a box office hit and grossed more than $83 million, but was met with mixed reviews. Adrian Horton of The Guardian called it "charming" but "ultimately uncomfortable".
As The Guardian also writes, the movie Bohemian Rhapsody was a huge hit and brought in $910 million worldwide, the movie Elvis brought in $287 million in 2022, and the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody has since been released brought in less than $50 million in earnings last month. This year, biopics about Amy Winehouse and Leonard Bernstein are expected to be among the viewers.
Cvetka Bevc: Trace of a fiery pencil
Pekel: Zavod Volosov hram, 2022Poet, writer, musicologist and screenwriter Cvetka Bevc thoughtfully created a unique genre of lyrical biography of the writer, publicist and...
Russia denies that there were explosions in the vicinity of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant
The United States classifies the Wagner group as a criminal organizationThe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that there were strong explosions near the...
Boston lost to Tampa Bay on the road
Kopitar is visiting Florida with the Kings at nightThe best team of the NHL Boston Bruins experienced one of the rare defeats, to be...
First Fruit Festival in Takuba
Ibrahimović criticized the behavior of the Argentines after the final
Labor Commission approves pension reform in general: 'technical table' formed


The Cleaner uses the CHI catalog to populate Composers, Album Artist and Compositions in a uniform way.
This saves you a lot of typing.
CHI offers a lot of formatting options for language, name, rank, tonality, catalog, opus, nick name, etc.
Before you start tagging a substantial amount of tracks, tailor these setting to you preference.
You might decide to have different setting depending on the type of music, the composers, etc.
The setting are explained here.
Before MCHI can find a composition, you must have the composer tag populated.
If this tag is empty, you can populate it using the Tagger.
If the content of the composer tag is ambiguous e.g. Bach, you get a pick list.
Clean reports the composers it cannot resolve.
The database is very extensive indeed.
Great stuff, with some marginal editing you get your composers right.
Likewise you clean the compositions.
Populate it using the tagger e.g. copy the Title in the Composition tag.
You will have false positives and false negatives in your results as this is about parsing unstructured data.
I must admit I am impressed by the results.
Most of the time you get the right composition.
It helps if you populate the Composition tag with something simple e.g. the opus number.
Less is more in this case.
If the Cleaner is in doubt it will prompt you.
If the composition should be in the CHI-catalog (the composer is there) but the Cleaner can't resolve it, you can always submit it to MusiCHI.
Before you do, try a manual edit as most of the time the composition is in the database but the value in the composition tag supplies insufficient context.
You can assign multiple roles to a performer.
You can filter on e.g. not foud, skipped, etc.
The status is not saved in a tag but if you save the grid on exit, the information will be preserved.


Sylvan housing reaches new heights with these wonderful dewdrop shaped. dre wapenaar, tree tents, treehouse tents, sustainable architecture, green design, .
These Dew Drop Tree Tents feature a beautiful design and are a great alternative to ordinary pop-up tents.
My inspiration for the shape was not the dewdrop.. "The Tree Tents, of which three have been made to date, were inspired by the Road Alert Group in England.
Looking for camping with luxury, nature and beauty in mind, these hanging tree tents shaped like dew–drops are just right for you!


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Morning News Digest: July 18, 2012
Morning News Digest: July 18, 2012 By Missy Rebovich Try State Street Wire, Follow PolitickerNJ on Twitter and Facebook. Text
By mrebovich • 07/18/12 6:47am
By Missy Rebovich
Try State Street Wire, Follow PolitickerNJ on Twitter and Facebook. Text "PNJ" to 89800 to receive alerts
Quinnipiac poll says Menendez widening lead over Kyrillos
The latest Quinnipiac Poll issued today gives incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) his biggest lead in months over challenger state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, (R-13), Middletown.
The poll gives Menendez a 46-32 percent approval rating and a 47-34 percent lead over Kyrillos, compared to a 45-35 percent lead in a May 16 survey.
While each candidate has a strong lead within their respective parties – Menendez leads 82-4 percent among Democrats and Kyrillos leads 77-10 percent among Republicans – Menendez also holds a 44-33 percent lead among independents, the poll showed. (Mooney, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/58546/quinnipiac-poll-says-menendez-widening-lead-over-kyrillos
Andrews faces ethics investigation
U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews is the subject of a House ethics investigation, The Hill reported today.
The House Ethics Committee did not disclose the charges against the South Jersey Congressman but said it would announce its decision by August 31, The Hill reported.
In November, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint against Andrews with the Federal Election Commission alleging the Congressman spent more than $9,000 to pay for a trip to Scotland with his wife and children and more than $10,000 to host a graduation party for his daughter. (Isherwood, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/58542/andrews-faces-ethics-investigation
Christie continues Romney money tour
Gov. Chris Christie has three more out-of-state fundraisers for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney scheduled tomorrow, bringing the total of events the governor has attended this week to six.
The governor begins the day at 8 a.m. with a Washington D.C. event before heading into President Obama's backyard for a noon fundraiser in Chicago. Christie will close the day with 6 p.m. appearance in Wayzata, Minn. on behalf of Romney.
Christie is arguably Romney's most sought after surrogate and earlier this year helped raise $1.7 million for the nominee at two local fundraisers. Speculation over Christie as a potential running mate for Romney has waxed and waned in recent weeks, with the governor doing little to quell the conjecture. (Isherwood, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/58543/christie-continues-romney-money-tour
Booker to appear in Philly with First Lady
It looks like all may be forgiven after a dust up earlier this year between the president and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.
Booker is scheduled to appear in Philadelphia tomorrow with Michelle Obama as part of the first lady's Let's Move! initiative to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.
Booker made national headlines earlier this year when during a spot on Meet the Press he called a television spot attacking GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's time with Bain Capital "nauseating" and criticized the negative tone the Obama campaign had taken. (Isherwood, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/58544/booker-appear-philly-first-lady
New Jersey cities abusing pension law may waste millions
New Jersey local governments failed to remove hundreds of contractors such as lawyers and engineers from pension rolls, which may cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year in improper payouts, a state audit shows.
Auditors identified 202 contractors who work for 134 communities and 25 school districts and participate in the Public Employees' Retirement System even after a 2007 ban on their participation. Hundreds more probably are still enrolled by more than 1,100 other local government units, according to a report today from Comptroller Matthew Boxer. (Dopp, Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-17/new-jersey-cities-abusing-pension-law-may-waste-millions.html
Ticking time bomb of debt: State budget crisis report says some problems 'decades in the making'
New Jersey is a prime example of how states could be crushed by debt over the next few decades, according to a comprehensive report released by national economic experts Tuesday.
The study by the State Budget Crisis Task Force concludes that Gov. Chris Christie, who overhauled the state pension and health benefit system last year, still has his work cut out if he wants to implement financial reforms that will stand the test of time.
The report, which warns of a brewing storm headed for all the state capitals, uses New Jersey as one of six case studies of states where pension debts remain daunting, Medicaid costs are rising and yearly budgets are built with borrowed money and unsustainable sources of revenue. (Rizzo, The Star-Ledger)
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/ticking_time_bomb_of_debt_stat.html
Judicial veteran Lee Solomon favored for NJ Supreme Court
Governor Christie's new choice for the state Supreme Court has served as a Superior Court judge — twice — as well as a state lawmaker, county and federal prosecutor and head of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which must sign off on gubernatorial nominees, endorsed him over the years for four different jobs.
As such, Lee A. Solomon's résumé and his political pedigree stand in stark contrast to the backgrounds of Christie's two recent nominees to the state's highest court — both little-known candidates who were roundly rejected by the Democratic-controlled committee in a historic face-off with the Republican governor. Neither Phillip Kwon nor Bruce Harris — who would have been the first Korean-American and openly gay justice, respectively — had any judicial experience. (Hayes and Campisi, The Record)
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Judicial_veteran_Lee_Solomon_favored_for_NJ_Supreme_Court.html
Judiciary chairman says no hearing for Solomon unless Christie also taps a Democrat for court
The head of the Democrat-controlled panel that can approve or reject Republican Gov. Chris Christie's nominees said today that he won't hold a confirmation hearing if the governor taps Lee Solomon as a Supreme Court justice without also nominating a Democrat to fill the depleted court's other vacancy.
The conditions by Senate Judiciary Committee Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) drew the ire of the panel's ranking Republican and sets the stage for yet another battle over judicial nominees. (Spoto, The Star-Ledger)
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/judiciary_chairman_says_no_hea.html
NJ adds school districts to test new teacher, principal evaluations
As a new tenure reform bill awaits Gov. Chris Christie's signature, his administration is moving ahead slowly with the system that could provide the centerpiece of the reforms: a new teacher evaluation system.
A few weeks later than expected, the state Department of Education yesterday announced another 10 mostly suburban districts would be participating in the pilot of a new teacher evaluation system this coming fall.
The state also had hoped to add an additional 10 districts from the pool of communities with high concentrations of poverty, but decided to reopen the grant process when the first round failed to come up with enough qualified districts, officials said. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0717/2228/
New Jersey now has a uniform standard for evaluating charter schools
When New Jersey approved nine new charter schools on Monday, it also announced a new accountability system aimed at setting uniform standards to evaluate the success of charters over time.
The annual "Performance Framework" will examine academic achievement, financial performance, and governance in the state's 86 charter schools. Schools will do a self-review, evaluated by the state.
Previously, the state simply relied on each school's initial application plan to hold the schools accountable, said Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. (Vargas, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120718_New_Jersey_now_has_a_uniform_standard_for_evaluating_charter_schools.html
The 'other' online charters get ready for new school year in NJ
They are the online charter schools that haven't gotten much attention in New Jersey, the ones that will blend online tools with in-person teaching.
That lack of attention is likely to change soon, however.
Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf on Monday cleared the way for two of the so-called hybrid or blended charter schools to open out of Newark next month, offering students a full-day experience in the classroom, along with a heavy dose of online learning.
It's a big distinction from the all-online programs that generated so much debate in the past month, where students would be taking classes out of their homes. The state on Monday postponed the opening of two such virtual schools for at least a year. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Legal for some, pot crops up in N.J.
For the first time in generations, marijuana is legally growing in New Jersey.
In a sign that the Garden State's budding medical marijuana program is finally moving forward, the first crop has been growing hydroponically for about a month in a 5,000-square-foot warehouse in an undisclosed location, officials said.
The first plants are about a foot high, said Joseph Stevens, president of the Greenleaf Compassion Center, the first licensed provider of medical pot. By mid-September, the center's Montclair dispensary should be open and accepting patients to buy marijuana, he said. (Haddon, The Wall Street Journal)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304388004577533342176024150.html?KEYWORDS=christie
Small brewers are fermenting hope for passage of brewery law
Artisanal beer brewers around the state are cautiously optimistic about the governor taking action on a bill passed in late June that would greatly expand their ability to market and sell their products.
Supporters say the bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate and by a vote of 64-13-1 in the Assembly, sets a rare example of cooperation and compromise within the alcohol industry. Initially, stakeholders in the wine and spirits distribution and retail sectors lined up to oppose multiple provisions in the original bill drafted by the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild. By the time it passed, only the New Jersey Restaurant Association (NJRA) remained — and continues to remain — opposed. (Nurin, NJ Spotlight)
Lt. Gov. Guadagno approves 'Corrections Officer Day'
Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno signed a bill Tuesday to make July 30 of each year Corrections Officer Day.
The bill is called Fred Baker's Law in honor of a corrections officer who was stabbed to death by an inmate on July 30, 1997, in Bayside State Prison in Cumberland County.
Policing jails and prisons is "a very, very risky business," said Guadagno, who is filling in for Governor Christie as he campaigns out of state for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. (Linhorst, The Record)
http://blog.northjersey.com/thepoliticalstate/3912/lt-gov-guadagno-approves-corrections-officer-day/
$1M federal grant to help Shore veterans
A $1 million federal grant has been awarded to a nonprofit organization to help low-income veterans in central and southern New Jersey who are at risk of losing their homes, announced Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.
The grant was awarded Tuesday to Soldier On, a nonprofit organization which works with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies to provide veterans with both shelter and economic support. The money comes from a government-run program entitled Supportive Services for Veteran Families, administered by the federal agency. (Staff, Asbury Park Press)
http://www.app.com/article/20120717/NJNEWS/307170111/-1M-federal-grant-help-Shore-veterans?odyssey=nav|head
States could leave millions of low-income people uninsured in a new Medicaid 'doughnut hole'
For Gov. Rick Perry, saying "no" to the federal health care law could also mean turning away up to 1.3 million Texans, nearly half the uninsured people who could be newly eligible for coverage in his state.
Gov. Chris Christie not only would be saying "no" to President Barack Obama, but to as many as 245,000 uninsured New Jersey residents as well.
The Supreme Court's recent ruling gave governors new flexibility to reject what some Republicans deride as "Obamacare." But there's a downside, too. (Associated Press)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/states-could-leave-millions-of-low-income-people-uninsured-in-a-new-medicaid-doughnut-hole/2012/07/17/gJQAsrKEsW_story.html
NJ and other states may see loss of programs and tax increase due to federal spending cuts, task force says
Deep cuts to federal spending will threaten already stressed state budgets like New Jersey's, putting health, transportation, education and safety programs at risk, financial policy experts said Tuesday.
A 10 percent federal cut would cost New Jersey $1.6 billion, and because fiscal stress also "rolls downhill," local property taxpayers could end up paying more if states pass the problem on to municipalities and school boards, according to the State Budget Crisis Task Force in the first of a series of reports.
Governor Christie got some praise at the task force news conference for calling attention to the state's serious problem with unfunded retiree benefits and enacting changes to retiree plans. But there was no endorsement of his call for a tax cut. (Jackson, The Record)
http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_and_other_states_may_.html
GOP governors won't pay political price for rejecting Medicaid expansion
Now that they have a choice, thanks to the Supreme Court, many governors are saying no or delaying a decision when it comes to expanding Medicaid in their states. And while there is broad public support for Medicaid, chances are they won't suffer political consequences as a result. In fact, it's the safest path for conservative governors under pressure from the right to reject the new health law.
Twenty-five conservative leaders have written a letter urging all 50 governors to decline the Medicaid expansion and not to establish state-level health insurance markets or exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. The signatories of the letter include Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union, Amy Kremer of the Tea Party Express, and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. It is aimed particularly at Republican governors who have not committed to a position on the expansion, including New Jersey's Chris Christie and Virginia's Bob McDonnell. (Khan, National Journal)
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/gop-governors-won-t-pay-political-price-for-rejecting-medicaid-expansion-20120716?mrefid=site_search
States are using gimmicks to hide their budget woes, but their fiscal problems are here to stay
The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis showed just how vulnerable state budgets are to economic swings. The major loss of revenue from income, sales and property taxes, combined with pressing Medicaid and pension obligations, created a major fiscal crunch.
States responded to the fiscal crisis by slashing government jobs and services, as well as passing temporary tax increases. They also received a temporary boost from the 2009 federal stimulus. But many also resorted to budget gimmicks, accounting sleights of hand and one-shot fixes to close the gap. In a new report, a group of budget experts explains that such measures are merely masking—and sometimes even exacerbating—the fiscal crises that states will continue to face even after the overall economy comes back. (Khimm, The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/17/states-are-using-gimmicks-to-hide-their-budget-woes-but-their-fiscal-problems-are-here-to-stay/
Plug-in electric vehicles continue to spark interest in New Jersey
Tom Moloughney pretty much hates the idea of importing oil to make other nations rich.
He likes to wear a T-shirt emblazoned with a gas pump with a huge diagonal black mark running through it. His license plate on his leased BMW electric car reads EF-OPEC. And now he has installed a public plug-in station for electric vehicles outside the Italian restaurant he has run on Valley Road in Montclair for the past 25 years.
"That's just how I feel,'' says Moloughney, who hands out business cards describing himself as an electric car enthusiast and advocate, when asked about the license plate. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
State's 4th off-track betting parlor opens as lawsuit over future sites is halted
New Jersey's newest off-track wagering parlor is officially open, and a lawsuit that could have impacted the development of other betting taverns in the state has been halted for the time being.
The new parlor, Winners Bayonne, opened its doors today at a ceremony hosted by Meadowlands Racetrack operator Jeff Gural, who took over construction of the 25,000-square-foot facility last year. The $18 million project is the fourth such parlor to open in the state, part of a 10-year-old effort by lawmakers to build a network of 15 OTW sites and provide new revenue to the ailing horse racing industry. (Burd, NJBIZ)
http://www.njbiz.com/article/20120717/NJBIZ01/120719850/States-4th-off-track-betting-parlor-opens-as-lawsuit-over-future-sites-is-halted
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Daily State House Schedule
Simon to introduce bill to combat pension abuses cited by Comptroller
In the wake of a Comptroller's report today that disclosed widespread abuses of the public pension system by contract employees, a state lawmaker has promised legislation to combat the problem.
Assemblywoman Donna Simon, (R-16), Flemington, said today she will introduce a bill to stop towns from illegally awarding taxpayer-funded pensions to professionals such as lawyers or engineers who are part-time contractors. (Staff, State Street Wire)
http://www.politickernj.com/58541/simon-introduce-bill-combat-pension-abuses-cited-comptroller
Bill increasing penalties for cell phone-related accidents to be signed, sponsors say
Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno is expected to sign a bill Wednesday that would significantly increase penalties for motorists who cause accidents while using their cell phones.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, (R-25), of Morris Township, said that the signing of bill A1074, of which he is one of many co-sponsors, will take place. (Hassan, State Street Wire)
http://www.politickernj.com/58539/bill-increasing-penalties-cell-phone-related-accidents-be-signed-sponsors-say
Updated rules for publicly financed candidates for governor, lieutenant governor advances at ELEC
The state's Election Law Enforcement Commission took another step toward issuing new rules for publicly financed candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.
The commission met Tuesday for a public hearing in which no one testified. The hearing's topic was on proposed rule changes and amendments to the commission's regulations surrounding the gubernatorial public finance program. (Arco, State Street Wire)
http://www.politickernj.com/58526/updated-rules-publicly-financed-candidates-governor-lieutenant-governor-advance-elec
From the Back Room
Sources: Christie wants to roll out Supreme Court candidates one at a time
Three GOP sources close to the Senate Judiciary Committee told PolitickerNJ.com today that they believe the Christie administration will present candidates individually for the two empty slots on the state Supreme Court.
Last time, Christie offered two candidates at once, and watched the committee reject both.
This time, the governor will present one – reportedly state Superior Court Judge Lee Solomon – and a second candidate later, only after Solomon fulfills the process and is approved. (Pizarro, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/back_room/sources-christie-wants-roll-out-supreme-court-candidates-one-time
Local Dems on offense in Hamilton
Nearly three months after Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo ate federal bribery and extortion charges, and three weeks after a federal grand Jury indicted him on additional charges, the Republican Township Council has yet to conduct an inquiry into the impact of the actions of the mayor and one of his closest aides in the acceptance of $12,400 from an insurance consultant seeking a multi-million dollar no-bid contract.
Local Democrats continue to make this an issue, broadening their attack on Bencivengo's alleged actions to include what they see as the council's inaction. (Staff, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/back_room/local-dems-offense-hamilton
Global climate change, anyone?
It's hot out there Jersey! The season's fourth heat wave has officially arrived, and it means for the next couple of days, we'll get to enjoy temperatures about 10 degrees warmer than they should be.
I know, I know — those of you out there wearing yellow t-shirts with snakes on them will call me a naive liberal tree hugger to believe the overwhelming scientific consensus that the globe is warming, and that we contribute.
Pointing to a single weather event, like the ungodly heat, and attempting to make the case for global temperature trends is as laughable as denying it when there's snow on the ground. (Tornoe, Newsworks)
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/41490


Lift your voice in song with over 60 men of all ages, from all walks of life. Our ranks include CEOs, doctors, attorneys, engineers, teachers, police officers, students, retirees, government, and so many others. We live throughout the entire Ottawa region (Rockland to Stittsville to Kemptville to Chelsea). What we have in common is our love of four-part harmony, performed at the highest possible quality level, and a desire to share our music with others.
When you join our chorus, you join a brotherhood full of men who care about you, and miss you when you're not at practice. We come together in many events and performances throughout the year specifically to give back to our community by performing at hospitals, nursing homes, high-schools, churches and various civic events.
Each September, the men of the Capital City Chorus participate in a weekend long retreat to Camp Smitty, a facility of the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa which serves the needs of underprivileged youths. The function of the retreat is to build buildings, complete renovations, do annual up-keep and maintenance to the facilities for free through donation of time and labour and often resources. The value of renovations performed at Camp Smitty over the past 10 years has been assessed at over $500,000. The secondary purpose of the retreat, through working side by side on a project, is to build and strengthen our own internal fellowship and community.
This brotherhood also extends well beyond our chapter, to all the men in the entire Barbershop Harmony Society. Anywhere you go, there will always be a chapter ready to receive your visit and sing some songs with you.


text:
Volleyball Falls to Elms in Four Sets Thursday
Elms
Elms (5-0) 25 27 25 25 3
St. Joseph (Conn.) (1-2) 14 29 14 18 1
K: Danielle Redding - 14
B: Aimee Jolicoeur - 4
D: Kianna Lozada - 16
SA: 2 Players (#11, #14) - 4
K: Aminah Tsonga - 13
B: 2 Players (#3, #14) - 2
D: Janell Molina - 14
SA: 3 Players (#6, #14, #17) - 1
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Senior Torrie Epps (Windsor, Conn.) posted a career-high 12 kills and hit a team-best .273, but the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's volleyball team fell in four sets to the Elms College Blazers at home on Thursday night inside the O'Connell Center. The Blazers topped the Blue Jays 3-1 (25-14, 27-29, 25-14, 25-18) to remain undefeated and improve to 5-0 on the 2018 season, while USJ slips to 1-2. Saint Joseph will return to the court next on Saturday when they open Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a tri-match at Colby-Sawyer with the Chargers and Johnson & Wales Wildcats.
Sophomore Aminah Tsonga (Plainville, Conn.) led Saint Joseph with a team-high 13 kills, while Epps added 12 kills and hit a team-best .273. Senior Brenna Miller (McCleary, Wash.) facilitated the offense and posted a match-high 30 assists and added a pair of block assists. Classmate Janell Molina (Honolulu, Hawaii) led the defensive effort with 14 digs, while freshman Hannah Benson (Terryville, Conn.) chipped in with 12.
First Set: Elms 25-14
Both teams traded points in the early going and after an Elms service error, the score was knotted 9-9.
The Blazers then sparked a 10-2 run taking advantage of four USJ attacking errors over the spurt to take control of the set and led 19-11.
Saint Joseph couldn't recover from the big run and only mustered three more points for the remainder of the set and dropped the opener 25-14.
Elms hit .211 in the set while holding USJ to -.048.
Second Set: USJ 29-27
The second set saw the score tied five times, but the Blue Jays never trailed en route to tying the match 1-1.
A Tsonga kill gave USJ an early 6-2 edge over the Blazers.
Following another Tsonga kill, the Blue Jays raced out to a 15-8 advantage and forced an Elms timeout.
The Blazers responded from the break and went on a 5-1 run fueled by three straight kills from junior Hannah Adams (Deerfield, Mass.) to pull within 16-13 and force a USJ timeout.
Saint Joseph would maintain a slight edge for the remainder of the set until back-to-back points tied the match at 24-all.
USJ would force three consecutive set points, but Elms responded each time until the Blue Jays finally broke through on the fourth set point and Epps found the floor for a set-winning kill.
Tsonga finished with a set-high six kills as USJ hit a match-best .216 in the second stanza.
Third Set: Elms 25-14
The Blue Jays held a slight 3-1 edge early, but four straight points including back-to-back service aces made it 5-3 Elms and forced a USJ timeout.
Saint Joseph would battle back and tie things up 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8, but that would be as close as they would get for the remainder of the set.
Following a USJ block by Miller and Epps to get within 13-11, Elms sparked a key 7-0 run to take control of the set and led 20-11.
Once again, Saint Joseph couldn't recover from the big run and was only able to get three more points to fall 25-14.
Fourth Set: Elms 25-18
Saint Joseph wouldn't go down without a fight in the final set which would see the score tied nine times and change hands six times.
USJ would take its first lead following a kill by Epps to make it 6-5.
Each team would trade point-for-point leading up to an 11-11 tie before Elms got a couple in a row to make it 13-11 and force a Saint Joseph timeout.
The Blue Jays would battle back and re-tie the set 14-14, but a quick 4-0 spurt by Elms put them right back in front 18-14.
That would provide enough of a cushion for the Blazers to hang on for the set victory, 25-18, and match win, 3-1.
USJ was held to a .078 hitting percentage as a team for the match, while Elms hit to a .223 mark. The Blazers did a lot of damage off the serve posting a 13-3 advantage in service aces. Senior Danielle Redding (Las Vegas, Nev.) finished with a match-high 14 kills to lead the Blazers, while sophomore Ayanna Meadows (Springfield, Mass.) recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.
The USJ women's volleyball team will be back in action next on Saturday with a GNAC tri-match at Colby-Sawyer with the Chargers and Johnson & Wales Wildcats. USJ will square off with JWU at 1:00 p.m. before playing the hosts at 3:00 p.m.
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- Contact jingham@usj.edu for typos -