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Fla. Supreme Court decision could end PBC school board's fight to block a charter school
Renaissance Charter in Royal Palm Beach is one of six Charter Schools USA schools in Palm Beach County. (File photo)
The Florida Supreme Court handed a legal victory Tuesday to a charter school company battling the Palm Beach County School Board for the right to open a school west of Delray Beach.
In a decision announced today, justices refused to hear the school board's appeal of the case, letting stand a lower court decision that affirmed the state government's power to overrule school boards regarding whether charter schools can open.
The decision could force the school board to allow the company, Charter Schools USA, and an affiliated non-profit to open the school after nearly three years of legal battles. The company operates six other schools in Palm Beach County under the Renaissance name.
The legal tangle started in December 2014, when the school board unexpectedly overruled school district officials and voted to reject the company's application to open a new school west of Delray Beach.
School district officials said the school met all of their criteria, but board members declared that the school should not be allowed to open because it was not "innovative."
The non-profit that applied to open the school, Florida Charter Education Foundation, appealed to the state Board of Education, which overruled the county school board.
The school board sued, arguing that under Florida's constitution only school boards can decide which charter schools open in their jurisdiction.
In January, the appeals court called that argument "meritless."
The school board appealed once again, this time to the state Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the court denied the request for an appeal.
Florida Charter Education Foundation, which applied to open the school on Charter Schools USA's behalf. said that it was "obviously pleased" by the Supreme Court's decision, calling the school board's appeals an attempt to "limit parental choice in education."
"Finally Palm Beach County taxpayer dollars can go toward educating students instead of financing frivolous lawsuits," said Rod Jurado, the non-profit's chairman. "We look forward to putting this behind us so that we can work positively with the school board toward doing what is best for students."
Before the school can open, the non-profit will have to resubmit its appeal to the state.
In January, the appeals court court ordered that a state charter school appeal commission review the case again and send the state Board of Education a "fact-based justification" to consider.
The state board is not required to follow the appeal commission recommendation.
In a statement, the school district conceded that the charter school company could now move forward with a new request for the state Board of Education to overturn the school board's decision.
"The Florida Supreme Court had the discretion either to take the case or not," the district said. "The court did not explain its reasoning for declining to take the case."
Author Andrew MarraPosted on September 19, 2017 September 19, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on Fla. Supreme Court decision could end PBC school board's fight to block a charter school
Bak Middle School cancels classes after power outage
Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach (File photo).
Bak Middle School of the Arts canceled classes and sent students home this morning after power went out at the West Palm Beach school.
A school district spokeswoman confirmed that a power outage was reported at the school around 7:15 a.m. The school has a backup generator but it does not operate the air-conditioner.
The school canceled classes around 11:30 a.m., officials said.
Bak MSOA will dismiss early today due to power outage. Buses have arrived on campus and regular dismissal procedures are underway.
— PBCSD (@pbcsd) September 19, 2017
A teacher at the school told The Palm Beach Post that the school operated all morning on the backup generator, which powered lights throughout the building.
"It really wasn't a big deal until it started getting hot in the classrooms," the teacher said.
The shortened day comes as classes resumed this week in the county's public schools after a 7-day layoff due to Hurricane Irma.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
Author Andrew MarraPosted on September 19, 2017 September 19, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on Bak Middle School cancels classes after power outage
PBC clears path to free school meals through Oct. 20 in Irma's wake
File photo behind the scenes at a Palm Beach County school cafeteria. (Bruce R. Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)
In the wake of Hurricane Irma, the school district has the go ahead to offer free meals to all students from today through Friday, Oct. 20, Palm Beach County school officials announced Monday.
"Breakfast is always free in Palm Beach County, and for the next month, the District is pleased to be able to provide lunch meals at no cost as well," according to the notice posted on the district's website.
The permission comes in the form of a waiver granted because of the storm's impact across the state. The meals still come under the National School Lunch Program, which means students have to select a complete meal – not pick from an a la carte menu – in order to qualify. Snack items are still available at regular prices.
Author Sonja IsgerPosted on September 18, 2017 Categories calendar, Student healthTags bnblogs, Education, mobilepb, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on PBC clears path to free school meals through Oct. 20 in Irma's wake
Palm Beach County school bus driver fired after 5 crashes in 1 year
File photo (Lannis Waters / The Palm Beach Post)
A Palm Beach County school bus driver has been fired after officials said he was involved in five bus crashes in less than a year.
The county school board voted today to fire driver Craig Freeman, 59. He will have an opportunity to appeal the termination.
In a termination letter, school district officials say that Freeman was involved in five bus crashes, the most recent one on June 1.
The letter does not give details about the crashes or whether anyone was injured. A school district spokeswoman said she did not have further information about the incidents.
After the various crashes, Freeman's total "driver safety points" exceeded the maximum permitted within a 3-year period under school district rules, prompting his termination. Records show he was hired by the school district in September 2015.
In an interview, Freeman characterized the spate of crashes as an unlucky run. He said only one of the accidents was his fault, and that some were "minor stuff" in which his bus's side-view mirror was struck during turns.
"I've been driving buses since the '70s," he said, "and basically I just had some bad luck and that's what it boiled down to."
Author Andrew MarraPosted on September 6, 2017 September 6, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on Palm Beach County school bus driver fired after 5 crashes in 1 year
11th Day Count: 4 new schools added to crowded list; 3 fall off
The first head count of the year revealed 32 of the district's schools are filled to capacity or beyond, as defined by the state. That's one more than last year. But to get to that one more, some schools fell off the crowded list and others landed on it.
These schools are new to the crowded list:
Boca Raton Elementary – gained 65 students
Palm Beach Gardens Elementary – gained 30 students
The Conservatory School at North Palm Beach (K-8) – gained 150 (note this is a school that is expanding in part by design)
Omni Middle in Boca Raton – gained 55
On the flip side, these schools are no longer filled to the brim:
Palm Beach Public – down 35 students
Sunset Palms Elementary – down 70 students
West Riviera – down 115
This does not mean these last schools aren't grappling with crowding. These enrollment numbers are from the 11th day of school, but each year students straggle in to the schools and by the official statewide count comes in October, the district's rolls could jump by more than 1,000.
A final word on capacity:
The measure here is capacity as defined by the state. When it comes to assigning students to schools and boundaries, the district's boundary committee has been advised that it can judge how crowded a school is using a modified calculation that counts space provided by concrete portables, aka concretables.
By this measure, some schools such as Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton is less crowded than they appear on paper. By the state's measure, Calusa has 1,080 students on a campus built for 836, putting the school at 129 percent of capacity. But the district also takes into account 12 concretables, giving it room for 1,034 students or 104 percent of capacity.
Author Sonja IsgerPosted on September 6, 2017 September 6, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, Education, mobilepb, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on 11th Day Count: 4 new schools added to crowded list; 3 fall off
Avossa blasts Trump's immigration move as contrary to American Dream
Robert Avossa, Superintendent of the School District of Palm Beach County, speaks to members of the media about the bus situation in a press conference Wednesday, August 19, 2015. (Bruce R. Bennett / The Palm Beach Post)
Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa blasted President Trump's decision today to end protections for younger immigrants residing illegally in the U.S. as "contrary to what many refer to as the American Dream."
In a statement this afternoon, Avossa promised that the county's public schools would continue to educate all students regardless of their immigration status as required by state and federal law.
The county's schools, he said, will continue to be "a safe place for all children."
"I don't want our immigrant students in Palm Beach County to be deterred by today's announcement," Avossa wrote. "My message to you is this – your hard work and determination are important now more than ever. Your future is bright."
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions today announced that the Trump administration would begin rolling back a federal program created by former President Obama that allowed young, longtime immigrants living in the country illegally to work and reside without fear of deportation.
Here is Avossa's entire statement:
The Administration's decision today is contrary to what many refer to as the American Dream. We will continue to advocate for the children whose voices will be silenced by this decision.
Many of the impacted children from today's announcement have known no other home but these United States. They are children who, just five years ago, were provided assurances from this great Nation that they were free and safe to live and dream alongside their peers. They are children who were told and believed that they could be anything they wanted to be, if they just worked and studied hard. They are children who are caught in the crosshairs of contentious politics, who may wake up afraid tomorrow in a home where they once felt safe.
We must all call on lawmakers to set aside their differences and keep the dreams alive for our children.
I don't want our immigrant students in Palm Beach County to be deterred by today's announcement. My message to you is this – your hard work and determination are important now more than ever. Your future is bright.
Our Constitution guarantees all children, regardless of immigration status, equal access to public education. Despite today's announcement, students who were not born in the United States are entitled to attend public school.
The Palm Beach County School District is committed to ensuring all of our students are valued and supported regardless of their immigration status or national origin. We value and celebrate the incredibly diverse, multicultural character of our student body, and I believe we are stronger for it.
Schools in Palm Beach County do not, cannot, and will not ask students or their parents for information about their immigration status. The Florida Department of Education prohibits Florida's public schools from inquiring about student and family immigration status or requiring students to obtain a Federal Social Security number.
Our schools are a safe place for all children to learn and grow and I expect all of our students to come to school, all day, every day.
Our doors are open to every child, not only because it is right, but because it is the law.
Author Andrew MarraPosted on September 5, 2017 September 5, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on Avossa blasts Trump's immigration move as contrary to American Dream
Hurricane Irma: PBC public schools will close Thursday and Friday
UPDATE: Palm Beach County's public schools will close Thursday and Friday as the region braces for Hurricane Irma.
The county school district announced the closures this afternoon, shortly the public school districts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties made similar announcements.
The closures affect the county school district's more than 180 school campuses from Jupiter to Boca Raton.
In a message on Twitter, the school district said that the closures were done "to allow PBC families to prepare" for the approaching Category 5 storm.
"While landfall is not expected until Sunday, we have a responsibility to ensure our personnel have ample time to prepare before tropical force winds arrive in the area," Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa said in a statement.
All of the district schools' aftercare programs will be in operation until 6 p.m. Wednesday, but sports events and school meetings scheduled for Wednesday afternoon will be cancelled.
In a news conference this afternoon, Avossa said that the school district is readying 15 school campuses for use as hurricane shelters, which together can house up to 50,000 people. County emergency managers decide when to open shelters, but Avossa said they should be ready to house people as early as Wednesday evening.
A fleet of school buses will also be at the ready for evacuations in the Glades region if water levels in Lake Okeechobee threaten the integrity of the dike.
While the county is not expected to feel any effects from Irma before Friday, Avossa said that it was critical to give families and the school district's more than 22,000 employees time to prepare.
"I have an obligation to make sure those teacher sand staff have time to prepare their families," he said.
Avossa said he believed the recent devastation in Houston from Hurricane Harvey helped to raise awareness of a hurricane's risks.
"People are paying a lot more attention than we have in the past," he said. "Harvey, I think, helped people pay attention earlier instead of later."
Check back for details to this breaking story.
All @pbcsd schools will be closed Thurs., 9/7, and Fri., 9/8, to allow PBC families to prepare for #HurricaneIrma: https://t.co/FCHIXamkxj pic.twitter.com/yZETFwuFJ0
— PBCSD (@pbcsd) September 5, 2017
ORIGINAL STORY: Palm Beach County School District Officials are watching the hurricane forecast closely but have not yet made the call regarding if and when schools would close. An announcement regarding closures is expected at 4 p.m. today.
Shortly after 3 p.m., Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho announced that school district is closing schools Thursday ahead of Hurricane Irma in an abundance of caution.
The Palm Beach County district works closely with the county's emergency managers in making that call, spokeswoman Kathy Burstein said. Those emergency managers, including representatives from various emergency services, are due to talk to state officials in a conference call at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday.
"As Hurricane Irma moves through the Atlantic Ocean, School District of Palm Beach County leaders are closely monitoring the storm and its track.
"Any time severe weather affects Palm Beach County, the District works with emergency management officials, including the National Weather Service, to determine how school operations will be affected. Our top priority is to ensure the safety of our students, employees, volunteers and visitors." – PBCSD statement regarding Hurricane Irma
Read full statement here.
When that call is made the information will be posted on the district's website and phone calls home to parents. The message will also go out on social media. Follow the district on Twitter at @pbcsd and find it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pbcsd.
Check back with ExtraCredit for more details as they become available.
Follow Kimberly Miller on Twitter for the forecast at @KMillerWeather.
Get the latest forecast details on Hurricane Irma here.
Author Andrew MarraPosted on September 5, 2017 September 5, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, Education, news, newsfeed, storm 2017Leave a comment on Hurricane Irma: PBC public schools will close Thursday and Friday
Don't spend that $10 million just yet, PBC schools warn charter schools
File art
A new law requires Palm Beach County's public school system to share an extra $10 million with charter schools this year, but school district leaders are telling those schools not to make any spending plans just yet.
In a letter dated Aug. 25, the school district warns the county's 48 charter schools to "refrain from pledging any and all future revenues" from the new spigot of cash that state lawmakers opened this spring.
The reason: The county's school board and 10 others plan to sue to overturn the new state law, which for the first time requires school districts to give charters a share of the money they raise from property taxes for construction and maintenance.
The school district's letter says that the requirement to share the money was part of House Bill 7069, a sweeping education bill passed earlier this year, and that the school board is challenging the law on constitutional grounds.
RELATED: Gov. Scott just signed HB 7069. Here's what it does.
"If the school board's challenge is successful, these provisions will be struck down," Mike Burke, the school district's chief financial officer, wrote. "Therefore the purpose of this notice is to advise you and all relevant parties to refrain from pledging any and all future revenue(s) derived from (the property tax dollars)."
Palm Beach County School District Chief Financial Officer Mike Burke. (Palm Beach Post file photo.)
Burke asked charter school leaders to sign a form acknowledging the warning and promising to alert the school district if they do intend to make plans to spend the new money.
"I agree to notify the School Board of Palm Beach County of any intent to pledge future revenue(s) derived from the discretionary capital outlay millage funds referenced under HB 7069," the form states.
In an interview, Burke said that school district leaders "felt like we needed to put the charter schools on notice."
"This law was just put into in place, and it is going to be challenged," he said.
Burke said the letter was simply an effort to warn charter schools that the money they're expecting to receive this year could be in legal jeopardy. State law requires the school district to send the money to the charters in February.
Burke said the district intends to comply with the requirement to pay out the $10 million unless a court orders it not to.
He said he was unsure whether the charters could face any repercussions from the school district for making plans to use the prospective cash to, for instance, take out loans or sign building leases.
RELATED: PBC school board joins suit over charter-friendly education law
Charters are privately operated, but school districts distribute their state money, monitor their performance and have authority to close them if they violate rules or perform poorly.
The notice has raised the ire of some charter school leaders, who say the district is trying to pressure the independently run schools to disavow any plans for spending their own money.
"It's a little bit of bullying by the Palm Beach County School District," said Ralph Arza, a lobbyist for the Florida Charter School Alliance. "You're essentially saying: That money that is coming to you – we want you to commit to not using it."
Last month the county school board voted to join several other Florida school boards in a lawsuit about 7069.
School district leaders argue that HB 7069 illegally restricts school boards' sovereignty and improperly gives charters a portion of property tax proceeds. They allege the measure also violates a requirement that legislative bills focus on a single subject.
Charter school advocates have condemned the plans for legal action, saying that charters are entitled to a portion of the school board's construction money since they educate public school students as well.
Arza said that the school district's request that charter schools sign the form "puts principals in a tough spot."
"The district is the charter authorizer," Arza said. "They have some level of authority over you, and they're the ones calling around saying 'Why haven't you returned this?'"
Author Andrew MarraPosted on September 1, 2017 September 1, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on Don't spend that $10 million just yet, PBC schools warn charter schools
PBC charter schools lose students for first time more than a decade
Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa greets students at Washington Elementary School (Photo courtesy of Palm Beach County School District)
Palm Beach County school enrollment has hit a record 193,973, according to the year's first head count. But for the first time in at least a decade, none of that growth happened in charter schools, where instead enrollment fell by 939 students.
Even so, with an overall enrollment of 19,803, charter schools can still claim as they first did three years ago that one in 10 of the county's students is on their rolls.
Taken on Monday, Aug. 28, the eleventh day count is an in-house enrollment check used to fine tune teacher staffing. An official count for budget purposes is taken statewide in October.
Schools in direct competition with neighboring charters have worked to make themselves more attractive to families in recent years. Some have added programs in robotics, medicine, and the environment.
This year, one elementary has begun to stretch into the middle grades to reclaim lost enrollment.
But more than half of that drop in charter enrollment, 497 students, can be attributed to four closings: Belle Glade Excel, Boca Raton Charter, Learning Path Academy and Riviera Beach Maritime Academy.
Belle Glade Excel and Learning Path Academy tanked after repeated failed grades from the state. Riviera Beach Maritime was pushed into limbo when the landlord, the city of Riviera Beach, ended the school's lease.
Meanwhile, the beleaguered Eagle Arts Academy of Wellington saw its rolls drop by 346 students, leaving its total enrollment at 431.
Jim Pegg, director of the school district's charter school office, said that charter school growth has been "relatively flat for a few years" but that the drop was nonetheless noteworthy.
"These are always parental decisions," he said. "The parents are making decisions to remain within the district schools."
Enrollment also fell at the district's virtual schools, alternative schools and in pre-kindergarten programs.
This year's overall growth at the district's 165 elementary, middle and high schools as well as its alternative and charter schools is less than half what it was last year, when nearly 2,900 more students poured in through the classroom doors.
Still, it's enough to fill 32 of those schools to capacity or beyond, including 10 of 23 high schools.
What schools are most crowded? Have the most students?
Forest Hill High School remains the most crowded school in the district with 2,463 students on a campus built for 1,837. Thanks to a boundary change that siphoned dozens of students out of the school, its rolls grew by only a dozen in August.
Even though John I. Leonard High welcomed 16 fewer students this fall, it is still home to the most students, with an enrollment of 3,591.
Among high schools, Palm Beach Lakes saw the biggest jump in enrollment with 268 additional students – some of those coming from boundary changes at Forest Hill High.
Relief for crowded high schools is, for now, years down the road. The district has two high schools planned in the next 10 years, one off Lyons Road near Lake Worth Road and another west of Royal Palm Beach. A third high school, a West Boynton Beach High, could be in the mix if developer GL Homes gets its wish to build homes in that region of the county.
The district's largest middle school, Palm Springs Middle, grew by 115 students to an enrollment of 1,636. Wellington Landings Middle saw the most growth among middle schools with 139 additional students.
At elementary school level, Timber Trace in Palm Beach Gardens and Citrus Cove in Boynton Beach gained the most students, with 123 and 111 additions respectively.
After years of crowding, Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton, saw relief courtesy of a cascade of boundary changes in the region that dropped enrollment by 117 students.
Freedom Shores Elementary in Boynton Beach saw an enrollment drop of 109 students.
As for charter schools, after several years of sharp growth, Pegg said a slowdown was inevitable. There's a natural limit, he said, to the number of parents interested in enrolling children in charters, and this year's decrease is an indication that the county has reached it.
"There is, for lack of a better term, a cap," he said. "If you look over the last three years it's been relatively flat. This year we're looking at a drop"
Still, he said the overall quality of the county's charter schools is rising as more low-performing charter schools are forced to close. This summer, two small F-rated charters shut their doors.
The overall quality of the charters will increase, he said, "the more we close the lower functioning charter schools."
Author Andrew MarraPosted on August 31, 2017 August 31, 2017 Categories Back to schoolTags bnblogs, Education, mobilepb, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on PBC charter schools lose students for first time more than a decade
This Palm Beach Gardens school used 'Toys for Tots' gifts as test prizes
Grove Park Elementary spent $14,000 on a 3-hour field trip to a Miami zoo, used school funds to buy Saks Fifth Avenue sandals for an assistant principal, and held donated Christmas toys for use as rewards for students with high test scores, a school board investigation found.
Principal JoAnne Rogers did not violate any policies last year when her Palm Beach Gardens school failed to distribute toys from the Toys for Tots charity the week before Christmas, deciding to instead hand them out later in the year to students who made "academic gains during testing" or other achievements, investigators concluded.
But the move violated the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation's wish that they be given to needy children as Christmas gifts, the school board's inspector general concluded.
Principal JoAnne Rogers
"Clearly the program desires for children to receive toys during the Christmas season and unrelated to the child's 'academic gains during testing' or the child's 'academic performance achievements,'" Inspector General Lung Chiu wrote.
Rogers told investigators that she was out of town when the toys were delivered to the school and that her assistant principal did not have time to distribute them to the most needy children on campus on the last day of classes before Christmas. She added that the charity did not deliver enough toys for every child at the school.
Instead, Rogers wrote to investigators, the toys were held and "distributed at times during the year for academic recognition."
She did not tell investigators how many children received toys or how the recipients were selected. She did not respond to a request for comment from The Palm Beach Post.
In an interview Tuesday, Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa defended the school's decision, saying that Toys for Tots dropped off the toys unannounced on Dec. 22, the last school day before Christmas.
"They didn't know that on the last day before children left they were going to show up with a truck full of toys," Avossa said. "You can't stop everything and sort out toys."
He said that Rogers and her staff "made the right decision and should not have distributed those toys."
Efforts to reach a local representative for the Toys for Tots program were unsuccessful. On its website, the Toys for Tots' Palm Beach County campaign said that it delivered toys directly to schools last year in an effort to reach more needy children.
"We will be conducting our campaign the same way for 2017 as we were able to directly impact far more children than we ever could have imagined," the organization wrote.
Grove Park Elementary, located on Military Trail south of Northlake Boulevard, was an F school when Rogers was assigned to take it over last year. Under Rogers, its grade rose this year to a C. About 90 percent of its 530 students last year qualified for federal lunch subsidies.
Investigators said that Rogers violated school district policies by buying a $185 pair of sandals for Assistant Principal Marzella Mitchell in September, then using $100 in school funds to compensate herself for the purchase.
When questioned by investigators, Rogers initially denied that she had purchased shoes for Mitchell, records show. But investigators discovered a form Rogers had filled out to compensate herself after purchasing the sandals at Saks Fifth Avenue in Palm Beach Gardens.
Rogers later admitted to the purchase, arguing that the gift was an "academic recognition in nature" for Mitchell's hard work at the school.
The purchase failed to meet school district standards for documenting school expenditures and violated a district rule against purchasing gifts for adults worth more than $100, the investigation concluded.
School district spokeswoman Kathy Burstein defended the purchase in an email Tuesday as permissible under school district rules.
"She bought the shoes with her own money and sought partial reimbursement, as allowed by policy," Burstein wrote.
Toward the end of the school year, Rogers arranged for the school to spend $14,400 for a school-wide field trip to Zoo Miami, an excursion planned for 536 students and 79 chaperones.
Records show that Rogers spent $9,600 to hire 12 charter buses and an additional $4,837 on admission costs for the May 15 trip.
Students were scheduled to spend 3 hours and 15 minutes at the zoo, including a 30-minute lunch break. An additional three hours were scheduled to be spent in transit.
The zoo, located southwest of Miami, is 99 miles from Grove Park's campus. The Palm Beach Zoo, by comparison, is 11 miles from the campus.
Burstein said that field trips to the Miami destination are common in public schools throughout the county and that the Miami zoo has attractions that can't be found in the smaller Palm Beach Zoo.
"The two zoos provide entirely different experiences and have different animals — elephants, lions, giraffes, etc., that you can't see at the Palm Beach Zoo," Burstein wrote. "Why should students at a (low-income) school be denied this opportunity?"
Chiu concluded that the trip "was appropriately documented and approved by required district officials."
As a result of his findings, Chiu recommended that Rogers receive online training regarding the proper use of school funds.
Author Andrew MarraPosted on August 29, 2017 August 29, 2017 Categories UncategorizedTags bnblogs, news, newsfeedLeave a comment on This Palm Beach Gardens school used 'Toys for Tots' gifts as test prizes


Located about 150 north of Boston, North Conway is a bustling village in New Hampshire's otherwise quiet and remote Mount Washington Valley. The town is known for its outlet malls, which flank both sides of routes 302 and 16, and the Victorian architecture of downtown boasts a country store and train depot. As the commercial center of the area, North Conway boasts plenty of accommodations, restaurants and shops to satiate the entire family when not enjoying the surrounding mountains and wilderness. Whether you're in the area for the foliage in autumn, skiing in winter or hiking in the warmer months, North Conway is an ideal base for families with children.
Featuring numerous hands-on activities for children of all ages, this indoor museum (mwvchildrensmuseum.org) offers several permanent exhibits to encourage exploration and learning. A giant kaleidoscope and gravity well offer scientific exploration while the History Tree gives parents a chance to work with their kids and learn about the past. A castle room allows children to dress up like royalty, and an indoor tree house encourages kids to climb and exercise. There's even a toddler room for younger kids and infants.
It's difficult to miss the 19th century-era train station on North Conway's tidy town green. The Conway Scenic Railroad (conwayscenic.com) offers several excursions from the station, including hour- to five-hour trips. Families with smaller children can opt for the Valley Train, which whisks passengers south to Conway (55 minutes) or northwest to Bartlett (1.75 hours). Alternatively, the Notch Train takes passengers on a five-hour trip through Crawford Notch. All rides are round trip. The train schedules change seasonally, so check the website for updates.
Families with school-age children will appreciate the many recreational activities in North Conway. In the warmer months, families can take the kids horseback riding at Farm by the River (farmbytheriver.com), or on a guided kayaking trip with Eastern Mountain Sports (emsexploration.com), which also offers mountain climbing. Cranmore Mountain Summer Adventure Park (cranmore.com/summer) will entertain the kids with its mountain coaster, bounce houses and giant swing, among other activities.
North Conway gets plenty of snow in winter. Families who enjoy skiing can visit Cranmore Mountain Resort (cranmore.com/winter) for downhill skiing and snowboarding on its 54 trails. Farm by the River also offers sleigh rides in winter.
Hill, Heather. "Things to Do With Kids in North Conway, New Hampshire." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/things-kids-north-conway-new-hampshire-56915.html. Accessed 18 April 2019.


It's easy to use the word "bustling" to describe New Hope, since the village is so alive with galleries, specialty shops, casual and fine dining, and theater. People travel from Philadelphia, New York City and beyond to spend the day shopping and dining at what started out as an early industrial town.
New Hope was bustling back in the late 1700s, too. By one 1798 account, there were "34 buildings and dwellings," including "stores, shops, barns, a tavern, stables and saw mills." It would have been a metropolis compared to other settlements up and down the Lehigh and Delaware rivers. The town boasted a variety of mills, ranging from grist and lumber to those that produced flour and processed flax. In the 1820s, cotton spinning and weaving joined the list of local businesses when facilities opened on the banks of the Delaware.
Veterans from both the American Revolution and War of 1812 called New Hope home, and houses dating back to that era line the streets . Most of the oldest houses are on Ferry Street. On the south side of the street is an old stone house once owned by Major Edward Randolph, a patriot of 1776.
Along Main Street you'll find a handsome stone mansion built by noted civic leader Benjamin Parry. It took three years to complete, and today the 1784 Parry Mansion stands as a fine example of 18th century architecture. The house is open for tours that highlight 125 years of decorative changes from 1775-1900.
Parry also had a hand in building the first bridge that linked New Hope with Lambertville across the river in New Jersey. Along with businessman Samuel Ingham, Parry, in 1812, received legislative permission to construct a covered wooden bridge with six spans. The project took two years to complete, and in the end the cost of constructing the bridge and toll booths, plus purchasing ferry rights, totaled $48,000-a king's ransom back then. In 1841, a floor destroyed a portion of the bridge. In 1903, the New Hope side of the old wooden bridge was so damaged by another flood that it was replaced by an iron structure.
The canal brought life and energy to New Hope, as was the case elsewhere along its route. In 1882 one resident wrote in a letter that "a great deal of coal is coming down." By some accounts, in the late 1860s an estimated 100 canal boats a day passed through New Hope. During the 1920s and 30s, the village, nearby hamlets and farms became a flourishing art colony. By the mid-1900s New Hope had become a popular resort, a stopping point for plays bound for Broadway, and home to New York and Philadelphia artists, musicians and writers. So many artists had worked in and around the town that the New Hope School of Pennsylvania Impressionists was born.
Today, the theater and art scene help draw more than a million sightseers a year, many choosing to ride the mule-drawn canal boat (more info below) and refurbished New Hope & Ivyland Railroad with its steam locomotive and antique coaches. Displays at the 19th-century Locktender's House, located at Lock No. 11, depict canal workers and their families at work and play.


ATLANTA, GA—November 9, 2010 (James Street Media Services)—Railserve, Inc. is pleased to announce the sale of its first Multi-GenSet Lower Emissions And Fuel Locomotive (Railserve LEAF) to Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in Decatur, IL.
Railserve is the leading provider of in-plant rail switching and associated services—operating in more than 70 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Railserve manufactures the Railserve LEAF® Gen-Set Locomotive at its Longview, Texas facility.
Railserve uses its own locomotives and employees to safely move railcars within industrial, manufacturing and production plants. In addition, Railserve provides other services including railcar loading and unloading; track maintenance, inspection and repair; and more.
For more information on Railserve visit www.Railserve.biz; for more information on the Railserve LEAF® Gen-Set Locomotive, visit www.RailserveLEAF.biz. Railserve is a Marmon Group/Berkshire Hathaway company.


text:
La Ward – miasto w Stanach Zjednoczonych, w stanie Teksas, w hrabstwie Jackson.

Miasta w stanie Teksas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Java: listening from socket while running other processes I need two java applications to communicate across two computers. One is a front-end displaying information and taking user inputs, the other is a server storing it at the end of a session. The server also has an interface to add/remove users from the system.
I've gotten each application to work on their own, and I've gotten the communication set up to work on its own as well.
Now that I have to combine the modules I've run into an issue I can't seem to solve.
The "server" part of the communication is running in a while(true) loop waiting for packages. This makes it a bit hard to integrate it into the other applications.
I've been reading about Threads, thinking I'd "just" do that, but the complexity has me a bit baffled at the moment so I was hoping someone here could help me get going.
Here's the code in the Server class.
private String[] str = new String[4];
private String sentence;
private InetAddress IPAddress;
private int port;

private byte[] receiveData = new byte[1024];
private byte[] sendData = new byte[1024];

private DatagramSocket serverSocket;

private void listen(int serverPort) {
    try {
        this.serverSocket = new DatagramSocket(serverPort);

        while (true) {
            receivePackage();
            splitPackage(this.sentence);
            sendConfirm();
        }

    } catch (SocketException ex) {
        System.out.println("UDP Port" + serverPort + "is unavailable.");
        System.exit(1);
    }
}

private void sendConfirm() {
    this.sendData= "RECEIVED".getBytes();
    DatagramPacket sendPacket = new DatagramPacket(this.sendData, this.sendData.length, this.IPAddress, this.port);
    try {
        this.serverSocket.send(sendPacket);
    }
    catch (IOException ex) {
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }
}

private void receivePackage() {
    this.receiveData = new byte[1024];

    DatagramPacket receivePacket = new DatagramPacket(this.receiveData, this.receiveData.length);

    System.out.println("Waiting for packet...");
    try {
        this.serverSocket.receive(receivePacket);

        this.sentence = new String(receivePacket.getData());

        this.IPAddress = receivePacket.getAddress();
        this.port = receivePacket.getPort();
    }
    catch (IOException ex) {
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }
}

private void splitPackage(String sentence) {
    this.str = sentence.split("\\+");
    for (String s: this.str) {
        System.out.println(s);
    }
}

A: Try making your Server class implementing Runnable, and put your loop in a run() method (overrided from Runnable).
Once done, you'll juste have to create your Server, and start it with : new Thread(yourServerName).start();
By doing so, your server will run "in the background" and listen to entering communications, allowing you to run other processes at the same time.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Thunder Extreme Athletics may be considered a small gym, but their performances this weekend were anything but! With seven teams attending the American Cheerleaders Association National Championship, all seven teams went out with the goal to HIT, and they did just that. After an incredible Day 1 showing for the entire program, each team went into Day 2 holding the top spot in their division.
From only starting with three kids their first year in 2011, Thunder Extreme has grown tremendously in the past eight years. With 114 athletes in their program this year, every athlete knows they will get pushed to their limit at each practice.
All the coaches at Thunder Extreme set a high standard for their athletes and through some tough practices, skill-building games and putting extra work on their days off, this program was able to hit 12 zero deductions routines of the 14 they put out this weekend.
Since their first year, Ashley Doyle has preached the continuous motto, "Train hard, Win easy" to her athletes, and this weekend that quote came true when six of the seven teams from their program took home the top spot in their division, while also taking home the D2 Grand Champion award.
But that's not the only thing Thunder Extreme has accomplished as a program. With six teams who are eligible to attend The Summit, all six of those have received bids. Thunder Extreme Athletics is taking on The D2 Summit 2019 with two Wild Card bids, one At-Large bid, and three Paid Bids; one of those they earned this weekend at ACA. And if all of that wasn't enough, the program was even awarded the D2 Choreography award!
We can't wait to see Thunder Extreme Athletics take on the 2019 D2 Summit!


When Peter Braun, a mechanical engineering student from New Jersey, met Michelle Cruikshank, a pre-veterinary student from northern New York, he did not anticipate becoming a farmer. But, about two decades and seven kids later, to hear Peter tell it, it's not as big a stretch as one might think. "Engineers are really problem-solvers," he explains and there have been plenty of opportunities for Peter to apply his analytical skills and practical knowledge to improving a variety of systems at the large dairy and elite breeding farm he now co-owns with his in-laws, Dr. Robert and Melanie Cruikshank.
One of the most recent projects at Woodcrest Dairy is a methane digester that helps process some of the manure produced by the almost 6,000 cows and calves spread between the various individual farms that comprise the farm. Simultaneously, the digestion process generates enough electricity to power one of those farms (about the equivalent of 150 houses' power needs) and will soon feed an additional equivalent amount back to the local power grid. As a further benefit, the dry, essentially sterilized solids that come out of the digester are being used for cow bedding that is more comfortable and cheaper than the wood shavings Woodcrest previously had to truck in to the farm. Clearly the project, which was supported by both federal and state grants including funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, is a win-win-win.
For Peter, this kind of accomplishment brings him great satisfaction as he also watches his and Michelle's seven children grow up on the farm near their grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins. One of the original motivations for moving to the farm was to raise their kids around family with space and a connection to the outside.
From almost 4-year-old Caleb to 18-year-old Jesse, they are homeschooled by their mother with age-appropriate farm and other outdoor activities woven as they fit into their daily life. Peter also appreciates the flexibility of his days to pop by the house to share lunch with his family, take them to sports practices, or help out with a thorny calculus problem challenging one of the older children.
Although a methane digester and composting are quite different, they both convert something we consider largely waste into something of value. Home composting is a good family project that helps emphasize important environmental goals like reducing and reusing waste. Here are some tips on how to get started: To Learn more about composting, check out our blog on backyard composting "HOW TO's"!


text:
Profile of InsurTech entrepreneur Sammy Rubin, Founder & CEO at yulife
Published by Editorial team, last update Sep 29, 2019
Sammy Rubin is the co-founder of the life insurance company yulife, a start-up that strives to offer effective life cover and improve the health and overall wellbeing of its users. Aimed at companies of all sizes, yu life offers an app which encourages its users to implement various different self-care tactics through a gaming system. Users receive awards in "yucoin" for steps they walk or run, meditating and more – which can be exchanged for Amazon vouchers and discounts from Urban Massage, ASOS, EAT and more.
Profile of Optalitix Founders Jonathan Shapiro and Dani Katz
Profiles of Fintech Entrepreneurs, Tomer Aboody and Joshua Elash (Co-Founders at MT Finance)
Profile of Fintech entrepreneur Nadeem Siam, co-founder at Fund Ourselves
Rubin grew up in the UK and has been in the life insurance industry since the age of 21. After his time at university, Rubin built up an insurance company around his family's dining room table with his father. The company was called Policy Portfolio, and after only four years of its launch was listed on the Stock Exchange, and sold to Investec.
During Rubin's time with Policy Portfolio, he became the UK's youngest director of a publicly listed financial service company. The entrepreneur states that during this time he "had material success, but to many people's surprise, felt miserable. There was a void in my life that working longer and harder wasn't going to fill."
Upon this realisation, Rubin travelled to Israel to gain a deeper understanding of himself and his spirituality. Upon returning the UK, he had a completely new outlook on what he wanted from his career, and became the founding CEO of PruProtect.
PruProtect, now called VitalityLife, is a company that offers life insurance whilst also helping customers to get a better understanding of their health and overall personal wellbeing. After building this brand up to be a successful life insurance company, Rubin begun his creation of yulife, alongside co-founders Josh Hart, Sam Fromson, Jonathan Roomer and Jaco Oosthuizen.
Rubin's motivation behind yulife was to "create an insurance company that doesn't only take care of you in death, but also in life", with the company doing just that.
The wellbeing programme is inspired by Dr Rangan Chaterjee's (yulife's Chief Wellbeing Officer) theory – the four pillars of wellbeing. The theory believes that by balancing the four pillars of relax, eat, move and sleep correctly, a person can improve their mental health and overall wellbeing.
This year, the company has raised £10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Creandum Funds, and has helped to strengthen yulife's potential for future growth and success. From making plans on his family's dining room table, Sammy Rubin has become one of the leading figures in the UK's insurance sector, paving the way for businesses everywhere to take better care of their staff's mental and physical wellbeing. Visit Yu Life for more information.
Tags: Successful entrepreneurs
Based in Camden, the Optalitix team consists of over 20 staff with backgrounds in data analytics and actuarial science. The ...
Published by Daniel Tannenbaum
Tomer Aboody and Joshua Elash are the co-founders of property finance company MT Finance which launched in 2008. The company ...
Egyptian-born Nadeem Siam is the brainchild of alternative lender, Fund Ourselves. Formally known as Welendus, the UK fintech company offers ...
Profile of finance entrepreneur Aamar Aslam, Co-Founder at Funding Invoice
Aamar Aslam is the founder of Funding Invoice, an innovative supplier of invoice finance. Started straight out of Aslam's time ...
Profile of InsurTech entrepreneur Alfie Usher, Managing Director at Forces Compare
Alfie Usher is an ex-para and founder of the first-ever military insurance comparison site Forces Compare. Forces Compare is a ...
What traditional retailers can learn from retail innovators
Business on the high street has been difficult for retailers for the best part of the last decade. The way ...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A Dark Room APK game is an Role Playing game which is developed by Amir Rajan. The current version of the A Dark Room game is 1.11 which was updated on 2017-06-23 with the file size 20.03 MB, and the game needs android version 4.4 and up. More than 1,192 players has already play A Dark Room game apk mod.


First, it's not too late to call your pilots and get your Bombardier fired up for the trip to Paris. The annual SCM reception at Retromobile will be held on Wednesday, from 5:30 to 7:00. Join me, Wendie, Alex and sponsors Donald Osborne and Ed Fallon of Cave Creek Classics for a good time.
There will be a group photo at 6:15, with special SCM deluxe keychains awarded to the SCMer who traveled the farthest, the SCMer who lives closest, and the SCMer with the oldest French car.
The days when, as children, we rolled around like loose eggs in the back seat of the family car are long gone. Bradley has graduated from his all-encompassing child seat and is now on a booster.
To be able to take him with us on tours, we need to find a three-point belt that can be easily installed without affecting the car. Ian Lomax of Jewel or Jalopy sent me this link, where he sourced belts for the backseat of his Berlina — one is pictured below. We're looking for belts for the 1967 Alfa GTV and the 1972 BMW 2002tii. In addition, if anyone has created a three-point belt that will work in the front seat of a 1965 Alfa Giulia Spider Veloce or a 1958 Alfa Giulietta Sprint Veloce, let me know.
We really like to be using our cars, and we really like taking Bradley with us. I would hope that these two things aren't mutually exclusive.
Speaking of "Jewel or Jalopy," Alex and I, joined by friend and SCMer Doug Hartman in his 1967 Giulia Super, went on a tidy two-hour tour this past Sunday. Billed as a pre-Superbowl event, the roads were indeed empty, except when we went by supermarkets and watched people loading pallets of Doritos into their pickup trucks. There was a mix of about 30 cars on the event, ranging from new Audis to vintage Triumphs. The group was congenial, and rather than the nit-picking that sometimes happens in single-marque events ("Gosh, do you know you have late 1958 hoseclamps on your early 1958 whatchamacallit?"), everyone seemed to enjoy the variety of tires to kick.
The event was organized by Ian, his wife Kim and their company Jewel or Jalopy. The sponsor was our good friend Neil d'Autremont and his business, Sidedraught City. We won a raffle item, a nifty fender cover. Neil is a retail outlet for Griot's and other fine products. If you're in the area, stop in and say hi.
In any event, my thoughts on the tour were that the future of old-car use may continue to devolve from complicated, multi-day rallies to short-and-sweet two-hour runs. The cars get exercised, you get to chat, and everything is done by lunch, so you can attend to the rest of your activities.
If you are as careless as I was, you can still have some drama — at our first stop I noticed that I had forgotten to replace the oil filler cap, but duct tape and a hair band from Alex saved the day. When I got home (this wasn't the first time I have done this) I carefully looked over the engine compartment and found the cap wedged between the sump and the front crossmember. Alfa: the car that never lets a part go missing.
Alex and I had a good time on Sunday, and were back home in time to watch the '49ers get cheated out of a win by a no-call on holding on their last offensive play. Well, since I've had the Niners disappoint me since the Y.A. Tittle and John Brodie days, I'm already waiting until next year.


text:
Yaku nara Magu Kappu mo (jap. ) ist ein Werbe-Manga der japanischen Stadt Tajimi, der seit 2012 erscheint. 2021 erschien ein weiterer Manga und eine Adaption als Animeserie, die international als Let's Make a Mug Too veröffentlicht wurde. Die Serie erzählt von vier Mädchen, die in Tajimi die dortige Mino-Keramik und Töpferei im Allgemeinen kennenlernen.

Inhalt
Himeno Toyokawa () ist mit ihrem Vater zurück in dessen Heimat Tajimi gezogen. Er eröffnet ein kleines Café und seine Tochter besucht die Oberschule, in der sie in den Töpfer-Klub eingeladen wird. Dort findet sie einige Stücke, die sie an die Tassen bei ihr zuhause erinnern, und erfährt, dass ihre Mutter eine hier berühmte Töpferin war. Und auch Himeno entwickelt ein Interesse für Keramik, besonders die Mino-Keramik aus der Region, tritt dem Klub bei und lernt töpfern und was es um das Handwerk noch zu wissen gibt. Ihr Vater ist erst skeptisch, da seine vor vielen Jahren verstorbene Frau früher zu sehr in der Kunst aufgegangen ist und sich überarbeitet hat, unterstützt seine Tochter aber doch. Sie lernt vor allem von der älteren Mitschülerin Tōko Aoki (), die den Klub leitet. Himenos Klassenkameradin Mika Kukuri () macht dagegen oft Unsinn, zum Ärger Tōkos, doch ist sie dennoch begabt im Umgang mit Ton. Naoko Naruse () schaut zwar regelmäßig im Klub vorbei und begleitet die anderen Mädchen bei Ausflügen, tritt aber nicht ein und macht auch beim Töpfern nicht mit.

Manga
Die Stadt Tajimi veröffentlicht den Manga als Teil des Stadtmarketings seit 2012 online. Vier Mal im Jahr erscheint ein neues Kapitel. Seit Januar 2021 wird im Magazin Manga Cross bei Akita Shoten eine weitere Manga-Umsetzung herausgebracht, die von Osamu Kashiwara gezeichnet wurde.

Animeserie
Beim Studio Nippon Animation entstand 2021 eine 12-teilige Animeserie zum Manga. Hauptautorin war Naruhisa Arakawa und Regie führte Jun Kamiya. Das Charakterdesign entwarf Ayano Yoshioka, die ebenfalls die Animationsarbeiten leitete. Zusätzlich zu den Animefolgen wurden etwa 9 Minuten lange Episoden mit den vier Synchronsprecherinnen produziert, die die Stadt Tajimi, die Orte der Handlung und die Töpferei erkunden.

Die je knapp 15 Minuten langen Folgen wurden vom 3. April bis 21. Juni 2021 von MBS, Tokyo MX, BS11, CBC und AT-X in Japan ausgestrahlt. International wurde die Serie von der Plattform Crunchyroll per Streaming veröffentlicht, unter anderem mit deutschen und englischen Untertiteln.

Synchronisation

Musik
Das Opening wurde unterlegt mit dem Lied Tobira o Aketara von den vier Sprecherinnen der Hauptcharaktere unter dem Bandnamen Mug-mo. Das Abspannlied ist Pale Blue von Aya Uchida.

Weblinks
 Offizielle Website zum Manga (japanisch)
 Offizielle Website zum Anime (japanisch)
 Anime bei Anime News Network (englisch)

Einzelnachweise

Manga (Werk)
Anime-Fernsehserie
Fernsehserie der 2020er Jahre
Zeichentrickserie
Comedy-Fernsehserie


TIP! A lot of web hosts will offer a few add-ons that go with what their service, but these features vary from host to host. You should also make note of availability for each feature you are interested in, especially when you are narrowing down your choices.
You may be a total novice when it comes to running a website and not even know what "web hosting" means. Here's a simple explanation: when a company offers use of their servers so that others can make a website and "host" it there, that company is a web host and that service is "web page hosting". If you find yourself curious about how exactly web hosting can help you, then you will be interested in reading this article to find out more information.
When comparing your options for website hosting providers, pay close attention to the types of websites available. A lot of the time, free sites offer only static pages, which means you can't add any custom language scripts. This will limit the scope of your site, so you may want to upgrade to a paying host.
The web host you choose should be located within the country of the people you are interested in selling your products or services to. If your target audience is in the UK, your web host should have their headquaters in the UK, too.
TIP! When you are considering who to use for web hosting, choose a company located in the country of your target audience. If your target audience is in the UK, your web host should have their headquaters in the UK, too.
Before you commit to a hosting service, you should first create a detailed list of your wants and needs. Figure out what it is you need and want and from there shop around to see what web hosts matches these expectations. With this list prepared and handy, you can make a more informed decision based on your overall requirements, not simply on one factor, such as pricing.
You should select a web host service that offers enough space for your site to grow. A simple HTML page doesn't require much space, but adding videos and pictures quickly causes you to be in need of much more space. 100MB of space should be good enough to start, for most sites.
TIP! Be aware of your web host's guarantee policy and whether they offer money back if you're not satisfied. If you become unhappy with your provider, what are the consequences of canceling your service? This is a question you must be able to answer from your contract.
Some web hosts rely on another major server. These companies are in the business of buying bulk server space from a large host, and making money by leasing it to end-users. You should check out different web hosts under the same company, as you may find a better deal this way!
TIP! It's often the case that web hosting services are actually a middle step provider getting their services from a larger host. These companies purchase a large portion of server space and pay a lower price.
If you do not have much experience in web design, pick one of the web hosts that has excellent customer service instead of a lot of other extras. You'll likely have many questions about designing your site. You will have more use for the customer service assistance than fancier features that may not even help you.
TIP! If you don't have much experience when it comes to web design, you should search for a host who provides excellent customer service above all else. As a newbie, you are more likely to have questions about the basic features that come with your package.
Hosting awards are a great tool to use when selecting a hosting company. This gives you a general idea about the host's technical support and customer service. It is possible to falsify these awards, but this is typically a reliable means of assessing performance. Look for a host with a lot of awards requiring votes from their clients.
TIP! Understand that certain hosting services are based on Linux, while others are based on Windows. This means that these providers have different feature sets that you will have to become familiar with.
Not every web host supports all programming languages, so make sure the one you choose is compatible with the programming language you use, or plan to use. If you don't have support for the languages used, you cannot launch your site. Furthermore, any web host with such constraints will likely be unable to accommodate any changes in future programming languages. It can be time consuming and frustrating to change web hosts.
TIP! Before signing up for a hosting account, peruse the host's website. If their website is a good one, it should have many resources showing different features you need to learn in order to optimize your website.
In short, hosting can help others make sites and share their content online. Now that you have read this article, you should have a better understanding of web hosting and should be able to use any web hosting resources to your advantage.


How much will each visit cost?
What should I wear to physical therapy session?
Is there a therapist whom specializes in my injury/ailment?
Do you have appointments available before / after work?
In most instances your primary care physician will write you a referral to come to therapy. If you are seeking treatment at our facility for anything other than therapy or are not being referred by a physician, please contact our office and we will be happy to discuss setting you up for an appointment that meets your needs.
Your first appointment will be scheduled for an hour. We call this the "initial evaluation." During this appointment you will have the opportunity to sit down with your therapist and discuss the reason you are coming in, you and your therapist will decide on a plan of care and you will receive some treatment during this time.
For the first appointment please expect to be in clinic for a full hour. For subsequent appointments you will be scheduled for a half hour time slot. Though we schedule on the half hour, please expect to be in clinic for 30-45 minutes depending on your reason for treatment.
If you will be using insurance, coverage varies by insurance carrier and is plan specific. We will be happy to verify your benefits before your appointment so you will know what to expect as far as treatment cost per visit. Though we verify your coverage for you, we do recommend that you contact your insurance carrier for benefit details. If you will be paying out of pocket without insurance, rates vary by treatment options; please contact our office for detailed information.
Wear something comfortable, something that will allow the therapist to treat the affected area. Often times you will spend some time warming up on a treadmill or stationary bike prior to treatment by your therapist. For example: If you are coming in for a treatment on your leg, shorts might be the best option; if you are coming in for an arm treatment, a t-shirt may be the most comfortable. There isn't a specific dress code as long as you are comfortable.
The number of visits you come in for therapy is discussed during your initial evaluation. The evaluation by the therapist, the Dr. referral, insurance limitations, and your availability are all taken into account when determining a plan of care to best fit your needs. Generally 2 -3 times a week is average for our patient care.
We are conveniently located just south of Bowles on Wadsworth, in the Swedish Medical Center complex. The 6169 building is the northern-most, three-story building in the complex. When you walk through the doors we are directly on your left in suite 110.
Our second location is in Centennial conveniently located just east of I-25 and south of Arapahoe off of Havana.
Is there a therapist whom specializes in my injury?
Each one of our therapists have their Doctorate in Physical Therapy and they are all very well rounded practitioners. If you are questioning a specific injury or symptom, please contact the office and our staff will be happy to assist you in your specific need.
Our clinic has extended office hours including weekend availability. The office is open 7AM – 6PM Mon – Fri and 8AM – 1PM on Saturday. This varies depending on your therapist, if you are in need of a therapist who is available on Saturdays or during those extended business hour time frames, please let us know when we are setting up your initial appointment and we will do our best to set you up with a schedule that fits your needs.
Please click here to download our Patient Intake form.


text:
Name | Type | Description | Notes
------------ | ------------- | ------------- | -------------
**bt_type** | **str** |  | [optional]
**pattern_type** | **str** |  | [optional]
**feature_id** | **str** |  | [optional]
**feature_type** | **str** |  | [optional]
**import_microversion** | **str** |  | [optional]
**name** | **str** |  | [optional]
**namespace** | **str** |  | [optional]
**node_id** | **str** |  | [optional]
**parameters** | [**[btm_parameter1.BTMParameter1]**](BTMParameter1.md) |  | [optional]
**return_after_subfeatures** | **bool** |  | [optional]
**sub_features** | [**[btm_feature134.BTMFeature134]**](BTMFeature134.md) |  | [optional]
**suppressed** | **bool** |  | [optional]
**auxiliary_assembly_feature** | **bool** |  | [optional]
**feature_list_field_index** | **int** |  | [optional]
**occurrence_queries_from_all_configurations** | [**[btm_individual_query_with_occurrence_base904.BTMIndividualQueryWithOccurrenceBase904]**](BTMIndividualQueryWithOccurrenceBase904.md) |  | [optional]
**version** | **int** |  | [optional]

[[Back to Model list]](../README.md#documentation-for-models) [[Back to API list]](../README.md#documentation-for-api-endpoints) [[Back to README]](../README.md)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
My Stephen Harper Pride Poster
In honour of Pride Weekend...
Column: Wanna See My Trophy?
By Stephen Lautens
The first thing you have to know is I'm not a golfer.
There was a time in my teens when I played a bit, but it never took hold of me.
I lack a number of things that are required to be a golfer. First, you have to care about the actual game of golf. On those rare occasions when I do golf, my golf game is the last thing on my mind. I spend most of my time chatting with fellow golfers, checking out the water hazards for wildlife or generally admiring the scenery.
I spend almost as much time looking for my ball in the weeds as I do keeping an eye out for the refreshment cart.
In short, I consider golf to be a pleasant outing that occasionally requires me to hit a ball.
Other more serious and speedier golfers are more than welcome to play through. For some reason I have noticed that these more dedicated golfers never seem to be enjoying themselves as much as me, which is strange since they are playing a much better game.
Golf is supposed to be a stress reliever, but some of these golfers look like they're ready to pop an artery when a shot goes astray. My solution to an indifferent game of golf is to stock up beforehand with a plentiful supply of cheap golf balls.
I have a simple rule - when I run out of golf balls, the game is over.
I was once partnered at a charity golf tournament with an acquaintance who I knew took his golf seriously. He was a fairly tightly wound accounting executive, so I knew this was not going to be a leisurely stroll in the woods. He began by announcing that no round of gold should take more than three and a half hours and with that we ran the course.
I was leaving balls behind like Titanic survivors on ice floes. We only paused long enough for him to have the occasional mini tantrum when his ball didn't behave as ordered. By the end of eighteen holes I was exhausted. I may have had a great cardio workout, but I can't say it was enjoyable.
My golfing these days is restricted to charity tournaments I can't get out of. That means I play at most twice a year, sometimes not at all.
I can't justify spending the better part of a grand on my own set of clubs. The bag I inherited from my grandfather has an odd assortment of clubs he picked up cheap at various yard sales and were used for hitting more rocks than golf balls. Somehow they just don't impress at some of these fancy country clubs.
So last week I borrowed a set of clubs from a woman I used to work with. I got through the first three rounds before I realized she had a left-handed putter. My game improved slightly when I switched to my right.
More importantly, in this recent tournament I was paired up with my friend Norm.
Norm announced he had his eye on winning a trophy. That would usually be trouble for both of us, since having me on his team would guarantee he'd finish well out of the money.
Fortunately for both of us, the trophy he had his eye on was "Most Honest Golfer" – typically given to the team whose score is so bad you know they didn't cheat. Norm is my kind of golfer.
So next time you're over, make sure to ask to see my golf trophy.
Column: Honestly
I don't know why so many adults have trouble with telling the truth.
We've spent a couple of weeks with people who hold high office in this country struggling with the truth. Without naming names, we've seen a series of serious political scandals dragged out inch by painful inch.
"Facts" keep changing so fast that it's hard to keep up with them, and there's clearly more to come. What we're assured is the truth today will be further massaged, messaged and re-spun until it's unrecognizable, and the spinners are counting on us being so confused by the blizzard of misinformation that we give up trying.
I'm not quite sure when telling the truth became optional in public and private life.
The truth is often inconvenient. It can cause us great pain and cost us dearly, and it's only natural that there are times when we'd like to avoid its unpleasant consequences.
But we're supposed to be adults, and one of those adult things is to tell and face the truth. I was going to say "even politicians", but that really should be "especially politicians".
And before you say I'm hopelessly naive, let me assure you I've been around politicians of every political persuasion all of my adult life. None of them are perfect, but not all of them choose to lie when the going gets rough.
The lie is supposed to get you out of trouble, but in reality it just compounds it. In the age of social media and ubiquitous cameras, someone is going to catch that lie and compare what you said with what you did. We're all on the record.
I think there are a lot of human failings that we're pretty forgiving about, especially when we admit our own lapses while showing those other mostly forgotten and underrated emotions, a sense of shame and remorse.
I discovered in my own personal life that on those happily rare occasions when my behaviour was less than stellar, coming clean was the best policy. When I screwed up at work, after trying to fix the problem, my first stop was my boss' office to explain what happened. Some were more understanding than others, but that isn't the point.
The real point is being able to live with yourself and for others to know that you are a person who can be trusted to tell the truth when the going gets tough. That is pretty much essential if your marriage is going to outlast your cell phone contract.
Like I said, sometimes our behaviour makes it hard to tell the truth. We're afraid of losing our jobs, loved ones or the idea that we're perfect.
In fact, if something is hard to do, that probably means it's the right thing to do. The path of the easy fix is usually turns out to be anything but.
For those things we do that are truly unforgiveable, I suppose you have little to lose by lying, but you're only putting off the inevitable. Often it's the lie itself that's unforgiveable. Mistakes can be made, but betrayal is a choice.
Whether husband, wife, mayor, senator or Prime Minister, there's a price to be paid for losing someone's trust, and the fastest way to do that is to lie your way out of a jamb.
By the way, lying includes not telling the whole truth as well.
And, if you don't think we can handle the truth, you're either underestimating the audience or really did something that's a deal breaker.
It also helps to say you're sorry once in a while.
The Rule of Law - MPs Shelly Glover & James Bezan
Okay - I've tried to resist a boring legal lecture, but the 140 characters of Twitter make it impossible to get through to some people about the rules behind the Election Canada's suspension of MPs Shelly Glover and James Bezan.
The facts briefly are that Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand wrote to House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer notifying him that Manitoba Conservative MPs Shelly Glover and James Bezan failed to comply with the Elections Act. Their failure was to file corrected returns from the 2011 election. There have been ongoing discussions and a dispute about the amount and inclusion of various expenses in their campaigns that would put them over their spending limits. As a result, they have refused to file amended returns that show the expenses Elections Canada say should be included.
They have therefore not filed a return that Elections Canada feels is not false or misleading.
So what's the penalty for this? Section 463(2) of the Canada Elections Act deals specifically with this:
463. (1) No candidate and no official agent of a candidate shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with a document referred to in subsection 451(1) or 455(1) that
(a) the candidate or the official agent, as the case may be, knows or ought reasonably to know contains a material statement that is false or misleading; or
(b) does not substantially set out the information required by subsection 451(2) or required to be updated under subsection 455(1).
Membership in House of Commons suspended
(2) An elected candidate who fails to provide a document as required by section 451 or 455 or fails to make a correction as requested under subsection 457(2) or authorized by 458(1) shall not continue to sit or vote as a member until they are provided or made, as the case may be.
A little bit of legal education here. The act says "shall not continue to sit..." The shall is what we call mandatory language. There's no wiggle room or arguing it. If there was, the legislation would use words on the penalty like: "may", "including" or "can". But no - it says shall.
"Shall" means must, no ifs, ands or buts. That is statutory interpretation 101 at law school.
The problem is that House of Commons Speaker Scheer did not immediately acknowledge or table those letters from Elections Canada advising him that Conservative MPs Shelly Glover and James Bezan were in fact suspended by operation of section 463(2) of the Canada Elections Act. He has in fact refused to do anything, ignoring the clear requirement of the Canada Elections Act.
Various people have jumped on the "they are entitled to their day in court before being suspended" bandwagon, but that has no basis in law. They say it's unfair for Elections Canada to make such an important decision without putting it before a judge.
That position cannot be supported in law.
The MPs are free to apply to the courts to appeal their suspension (technically it is an application for administrative review to the Federal Court), but that does not invalidate or postpone the suspension. The suspension happens first and it is up to the MPs to convince a judge to try to set it aside.
Here's a simple example to understand how administrative law works.
Let's say you decide to build an extension on your house. You hire someone and almost have it built when a city inspector comes by and discovers you don't have a building permit. You say you don't need a permit, but the inspector (an unelected official empowered by a by-law) issues an order to cease all work on your addition.
You can go to court to lift the inspector's order, but in the meantime the order stands and you can't do any more work. In fact, you may have a tear down order from the city, not just a stop work order, and you would have to ask for a temporary stay of the tear down order while your case was getting to court. Otherwise you are legally obliged to tear down the work making your court hearing moot.
The Elections Canada Act works the same way. The Chief Electoral Officer has the power granted to him under the Act to declare an MP suspended from sitting until they file a satisfactory return. Once that determination is made, he notifies the Speaker that the MP is suspended from sitting under section 463(2).
The Chief Electoral Officer states in his letter to Scheer on May 27th that he "defers" to the Speaker for the enforcement of section 463(2) in the House, recognizing the complex relationship between the law and the "Supremacy of Parliament", and relies on him to enforce the law in the House.
Except Scheer has chosen not to act, meaning the Speaker of the House of Commons is also in violation of the Elections Act, both of which are meant to protect the integrity of the system.
The Conservatives and surprisingly the NDP say let the courts decide. That's fine, but that's not what the law says about the suspensions. A court can lift the suspensions if the MPs can make out a case, but the suspensions stand until then.
The House of Commons can't just vote to ignore the law, either. That's called tyranny. They can change the law, but not refuse to apply it by a simple vote. The rule of law is our democratic safeguard.
It is very possible that the MPs would get an interim stay of the suspension order based on the traditional legal test of irreparable harm to their constituents and the working of government, but it is up to them to apply for it.
Wishing the law was different or saying it is somehow unfair does not change it, and refusing to apply it as it was clearly intended to be is a serious affront to the integrity of our political system that we should all be afraid of.
Read the letters from Elections Canada here and the suspension letter to Scheer here.
If Only The King Knew
In the early days of the French revolution there was a saying among the common people: "If only the king knew."
Although most of them would never see him, the common people of France loved their king, and instead placed the blame for their country's problems at the feet of the local nobility and the king's advisors.
It was even said in the darkest days of Soviet Russia when the purges and pogroms were in full swing. "If only Papa Stalin knew," said the peasants and workers under the oppressive boot of local Commissars. Of course Stalin knew - the Commissars were carrying out his orders - but he managed to maintain the fiction that he was a good man who cared about the common people even as they died in their millions.
The theme of evil advisors to a good king kept in the dark as to real problems goes back to ancient times and fairy tales. It also goes forward to Harper and his current situation with overspending Senators, "rogue" Chiefs of Staff, personal $90,000 bailout cheques and Harper's mantra that "he did not know about it, and if he did, he would never have approved it."
It hardly requires pointing out how implausible is Harper's claim that he was in the dark and out of the loop. Harper is a famous micro-manager, concerned about the smallest details in his administration. He knows that his carefully crafted image as a moderate and competent statesman is brittle and is scrupulous about not allowing anyone to see behind the fragile mask.
In the time of Louis XVI it was possible to insulate the king from unpleasant truths. Louis XVI didn't start his day with cable news, clipping services and a roundup of media reports. He didn't pay people to monitor social media. Frankly, even if they existed, he wouldn't have cared, since the common people had no vote and only the nobles mattered. There were no lawsuits to be brought against the government or scandals that could flash from one end of the kingdom to the other in a matter of minutes.
Harper doesn't live in that long gone world.
The Harper Government spends more on advertising, polling, communications and media monitoring than any previous Canadian government. It even spends money on monitoring its own backbench MPs to make sure they are staying on message. Harper, and his government, knows that he depends on popular opinion and managing his message, even if that message has to go through several iterations before they find one that works.
Harper is careful to allow all good news and staged photo ops to be about him while pushing ministers or disposable junior MPs into the spotlight to take blame or deliver bad news. The parroting of idiotic talking points - even those already proved to be patently false - are left to others who don't mind looking like fools or liars in the Commons in exchange for the many perqs and fruits of loyalty.
The king must be forever protected from any stain or tarnish.
The combination of the tight control of the people and message by Harper makes it inconceivable that he did not know what was happening in his own Prime Minister's Office when his own Chief of Staff Nigel Wright cut a cheque to Senator Mike Duffy for $90,000 to secretly fund his Senate expense problem.
Harper's own account is:
"That's what [PMO Chief of Staff Nigel Wright] decided to do and he decided not to tell me until the 15th of May, after speculation about the source of funds appeared in the media. As soon as I learned that on the 15th of May, I made that information public. Had I known before the 15th of May, I would have made the information known earlier, and had I known about it before it happened, I would have said not to do it."
The king did not know. The king - with what some call a paranoid and obsessive control over information and image - did not know that his trusted advisor was about to make the major political firestorm of Duffy's Senate expense scandal ten times worse by bailing him out.
It was all the evil advisor's fault.
We are to ignore Harper's micro-management.
We are to ignore that Harper's advisor was chosen because he knew what was expected in the highest non-elected position in government where he worked daily and intimately with Harper on every sensitive issue of the day for two years.
We are to ignore that the Duffy scandal was hurting the Conservative brand and threatened to spill over into Harper's own credibility.
We are to ignore that the Senate expense scandal must have been near the top of Harper's a daily briefing by his Chief of Staff at the PMO.
"If only the king knew."
That could have been true in 1789 with that particular king.
Not in 2013 with this one.
Posted by Stephen Lautens at 9:36 AM


text:
Passing of Dr Sara Glover
It is with great sadness that we inform of the passing of our former Director, Dr Sara Glover.
Sara was part of Mitchell Institute's foundation team as leader of the education policy program. She took on the Director role in October 2015 before leaving in late 2016 to focus on her health.
Sara was a highly respected policy and research leader, particularly in the areas of education and adolescent health. She had a passion for creating systems that support relevant, engaging and future-focussed learning — a goal that underpinned her significant achievements in improving the quality of education for all Australians and especially those experiencing disadvantage.
Every child has the potential to excel.
Sara's dedication to supporting all young Australians reach their full potential continues to inspire our work and those who work with us. We hope to advance her legacy of working to improve outcomes for all young Australians, aiming to meet the challenge she set in 2015:
The challenge for us is to make opportunities available for every child to ensure they're all part of an exciting future.
Sara's passing will impact many in education and policy fields across Australia. Our thoughts go out to Sara's partner Libby, her children and grandchildren, and her friends and colleagues.


text:
Cameron phone-hacking statement in full
Cameron: 'For people watching this scandal unfold, there is something disturbing about what they see.'
Read David Cameron's full statement on phone-hacking in full on politics.co.uk.
"Good morning and thank you for coming.
Over the past few days, the whole country has been shocked by the revelations about the phone hacking scandal.
Murder victims, terrorist victims, families who have lost loved ones in war, sometimes defending our country…
…that these people could have had their phones hacked into order to generate stories for a newspaper is simply disgusting.
I cannot think what was going through the minds of the people who did this.
That they could hack into anyone's phone is disgraceful.
But to hack into the phone of Milly Dowler, a young girl missing from her parents, who
was later found to be murdered, is truly despicable.
But this scandal is not just about some journalists on one newspaper.
It's not even just about the press.
It's also about the police.
And yes – it's also about how politics works and politicians too.
And I want to be very frank about how, as a country, we should deal with it.
People want to know that three things are going to happen.
One: action will be taken to get to the bottom of these specific revelations and allegations about phone hacking, about police investigations and all the rest of it.
Two: action will be taken to learn wider lessons for the future of the press in this
And three: that there will be clarity – real clarity – about how all this has come to pass, and the responsibilities we all have for the future.
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That's what the country expects at this time of crisis and concern...
...and I want to make sure that everything that needs to be done, will be done.
FIRST INQUIRY
First, we need action to get to the bottom of the specific revelations and allegations we have seen.
It's clear that there have been some illegal and utterly unacceptable practices taking place at the News of the World – and possibly elsewhere.
There is now a large-scale and well-resourced police investigation.
Of course, in 2006 we did have a police investigation– but we can now see that it was plainly inadequate.
This in itself requires investigation.
A separate allegation is that police officers took payments.
That specific allegation is now being investigated by senior officers at the Met – and with my full support they have brought in the IPCC to oversee this.
So for those worried about the police investigating the police, this has full and independent oversight.
But let's be clear.
Police investigations only get you so far.
What people really want to know is – what happened? And how was it allowed to happen?
That is why the Deputy Prime Minister and I have agreed that it's right and proper to establish a full, public inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened.
A judge needs to be in charge so there's no question that it is totally independent and things are done properly.
These are the questions that need answering:
Why did the first police investigation fail so abysmally?
What exactly was going on at the News of the World?
And what was going on at other newspapers?
Of course, the bulk of the work of this inquiry can only happen after the police investigation has finished.
That is what the law requires.
But that doesn't mean we can't do anything now.
So we will consult now with Select Committees and others on the terms of reference, remit and powers…
…and what can be started will be started.
I want everyone to be clear.
Everything that happened is going to be investigated.
The witnesses will be questioned by a judge under oath.
And no stone will be left un-turned.
SECOND INQUIRY
But we need action as well to learn the wider lessons for the future of the press.
And this is something we can get on with straightaway, even while the police investigation is still ongoing.
That is why I want to establish a second inquiry to begin at the earliest available opportunity, ideally now – this summer.
This inquiry should be conducted by a credible panel of figures drawn from a range of different backgrounds…
…who command the full support, respect and above all confidence of the public.
They should be truly independent, without any motive but to seek the truth and clean up the press.
This second inquiry should look at the culture, the practices and the ethics of the British press.
In particular, they should look at how our newspapers are regulated and make recommendations for the future.
Of course it is vital that our press is free.
That is an essential component of our democracy and our way of life.
But press freedom does not mean that the press should be above the law.
Yes, there is much excellent journalism in Britain today.
But I think it's now clear to everyone that the way the press is regulated today is not working.
Let's be honest: the Press Complaints Commission has failed.
In this case – in the hacking case – it was, frankly, completely absent.
Therefore we have to conclude that it is ineffective and lacking in rigour.
There is a strong case for saying it is institutionally conflicted, because competing newspapers judge each other.
As a result, it lacks public confidence.
So I believe we need a new system entirely.
It will be for the inquiry to recommend what that system should look like.
But my starting presumption is that it should be truly independent...
...independent of the press, so the public will know that newspapers will never again be solely responsible for policing themselves.
But vitally, independent of government, so the public will know that politicians are not trying to control or muzzle a press that must be free to hold politicians to account.
This new system of regulation must strike the balance between an individual's right to privacy and what is in the public interest.
And above all, it should uphold the proper, decent standards that we expect.
I have already spoken to the Deputy Prime Minister about all this…
…and in the days ahead we will meet with the Leader of the Opposition to discuss exactly what both these inquiries should cover, and exactly how they should be run.
If we're going to discuss the way the press is regulated in future, it would be much better if we could do this on a cross-party basis.
People are also asking about the prospective BSkyB bid.
As I have repeatedly said, governments must follow the proper legal processes and procedures.
That is exactly what Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, is doing.
His role is to take the advice of independent regulators…
…and, as his Department have made clear this morning – given the events of recent days – this will take some time.
POLITICS AND THE PRESS
But there is, as I said at the outset, a third question that this scandal asks of us, and it is not an easy one for me to answer.
But it is my responsibility to try.
Because as we're considering the devastating revelations of the past few days, it is no good just pointing the finger at this individual journalist, or that individual newspaper.
It's no good, actually, just criticising the police.
The truth is, we have all been in this together – the press, politicians and leaders of all parties – and yes, that includes me.
We have not gripped this issue.
During the last government, a police investigation was undertaken, it was inadequate and not enough was done.
There were reports from the Information Commissioner and they went unheeded.
There were Select Committee reports on phone hacking and there was no follow-up.
Throughout all this, all the warnings, all the concern, the government at the time did nothing.
And frankly, neither did the Opposition.
To be fair, it is difficult for politicians to call for more regulation of the media, because if we do so, we're accused of wanting to stifle a free press or even free speech.
But the deeper truth is this: there is a less noble reason.
Because party leaders were so keen to win the support of newspapers…
…we turned a blind eye to the need to sort this issue, get on top of the bad practices, to change the way our newspapers are regulated.
It's a bit like MPs' expenses.
The people in power knew things weren't right.
But they didn't do enough quickly enough – until the full mess of the situation was revealed.
Now, when the scandal hits and the truth is plain for everyone to see...
...there are two choices.
You can down-play it and deny the problem is deep – or you can accept the seriousness of the situation and deal with it.
I want to deal with it.
These inquiries give us a chance for a fresh start and I want us to take it.
Look, it's healthy that politicians and journalists speak to each other; know each other.
Democracy is government by explanation and we need the media to explain what we're trying to do.
But this is a wake-up call.
Over the decades, on the watch of both Labour leaders and Conservative leaders, politicians and the press have spent time courting support, not confronting the problems.
Well: it's on my watch that the music has stopped.
And I'm saying, loud and clear – things have got to change.
The relationship needs to be different in the future.
I'm not going to pretend that there's some nirvana of two separate worlds, relating to each other on the basis of total transparency and ethical perfection.
That's not real life.
But we can do a hell of a lot better than we've done so far.
Because as this scandal shows, while it's vital that a free press can tell truth to power…
…it is equally important that those in power can tell truth to the press.
THOSE INVOLVED
Now let me just say this about a couple of the individuals concerned.
First, Andy Coulson, who worked for four years as my Communications Director.
He resigned from the News of the World because of the things that happened on his watch.
I decided to give him a second chance – and no one has ever raised serious concerns about how he did his job for me.
But the second chance didn't work out and he had to resign all over again.
The decision to hire him was mine – and mine alone – and I take full responsibility for it.
On the case of Rebekah Brooks…
…as I have said, it's not right for a Prime Minister to start picking and choosing who should and shouldn't run media organisations.
But it has been reported that she offered her resignation over this…
…and in this situation, I would have taken it.
Before I take your questions, let me say this.
For people watching this scandal unfold, there is something disturbing about what they see.
Just think of who they put their trust in.
The police to protect them.
The politicians to represent them.
The press to inform them.
All of them have been let them down.
So when the inquiries are over, the questions have been asked, and the truth found out…
…I want a police that has proved itself beyond reproach…
…a political system that people feel is on their side…
…and a press that is yes, free and rigorous; that investigates and entertains;
...that holds those in power to account and occasionally – yes, even regularly – drives them mad.
But, in the end, is a free press that is also clean and trustworthy.
That is what people want.
That is what I want.
And I will not rest until we get it."
PM phone-hacking inquiry statement and terms of reference in full
Cameron: There will be a phone hacking inquiry
Cameron confronts Commons' phone-hacking anger
Miliband takes the fight to Cameron over phone-hacking
Cameron braces for more phone-hacking fallout