Tag: John Spiers Ceilidh Band
More artists revealed for Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2019
Shrewsbury Folk Festival has added a host of new acts to its line up as organisers reveal ticket sales are already surpassing 2018 levels.
Renowned singer songwriter Andy Fairweather Low and the Low Riders will make a return with a special show featuring the Hi Riders Soul Revue. Scottish supergroup Capercaillie and American trio Birds Of Chicago are also new to the bill of the four-day festival that takes place at the West Mid Showground from August 23 to 26.
This year's festival will feature a special day of programming on the festival's Pengwern Stage by duo Chris While and Julie Matthews to celebrate 25 years of their musical relationship. They have chosen Blair Dunlop, Burden Of Paradise, singer songwriter Charlie Dore and former Fairground Attraction lead singer Eddi Reader to perform on Sunday August 25, which will be topped off with a show by the While & Matthews Big Band.
Other new artists signed up included Áine Tyrrell, AKA Trio, Boxwood Chessmen and the Exmouth Shanty Men. Dance groups confirmed so far are Whapweasel, the John Spiers Ceilidh Band and Relentless. There will also be performances from the Corryvrechan Scottish Dance Display Team.
Already announced for the 2019 event were Kate Rusby, Oysterband, Martyn Joseph, Daphne's Flight, Skerryvore, Daphne's Flight, Gary Stewart's Graceland, Phil Beer Band, Steve Knightley, Merry Hell, Edgelarks, Grace Petrie and many more.
The festival's first tier of adult weekend tickets sold out in less than five minutes after they went on sale on December 1. It is now selling weekend tickets at its third price tier. Day tickets are also available.
Festival Director Sandra Surtees said: "Last year our weekend tickets sold out a month before the festival and many people were disappointed they couldn't come for all four days despite regular warnings that we were going to sell out.
"We have sold more to date in 2019 than we had by the same time last year so, as ever, our advice is to book as early as possible. There's so much more than just music for people to enjoy including dances, music and other workshops, great food and drink and a brilliant atmosphere!"
The festival, now regarded as one of the most popular UK folk events, has four main music stages, a dance tent with a programme including ceilidhs, workshops and dance shows, children and youth festivals, workshops, craft fair, food village, real ale, cocktail and gin bars and on-site camping and glamping. There are also fringe events at local pubs with dance displays in the town centre and a parade through the streets on the Saturday afternoon.
Weekend and day tickets can be booked at www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk/booktickets/.
Posted on January 29, 2019 February 2, 2019 Author EditorCategories Press ReleasesTags Áine Tyrrell, AKA Trio, Andy Fairweather-Low & The Low Riders, Birds of Chicago, Blair Dunlop, Boxwood Chessmen, Capercaillie, Charlie Dore, Chris While & Julie Matthews, Eddi Reader, Exmouth Shanty Men, John Spiers Ceilidh Band, Relentless, Whapweasel


Park Rapids Arts and Culture gathers input for arts road map
The Park Rapids Arts and Culture Commission hosted two community meetings last week, gathering input about how the arts can help create a more vital and prosperous city.
By Shannon Geisen
Ryan Zemek, economic development director at the Headwaters Regional Development Commission (HRDC), moderated the informal brainstorming sessions.
The goal is to have an "arts road map" incorporated into the city's comprehensive plan, which currently has no arts component.
"One of the things we noticed in discussions with City Planner Ryan Mathisrud and the commission is that within the city's existing document, there's nothing that really grounds arts activities," Zemek explained to Thursday's 16 participants.
The Park Rapids Arts and Culture Commission is a part of the Park Rapids City Council, added Councilmember Rod Nordberg. "The council responds to initiatives from its advisory commissions, so this input is important for the council."
The commission received $9,000 from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation for the strategic planning process. The Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council (PRLAAC) has committed $1,000 toward the project. HRDC is willing to contribute another $2,500.
The planning process isn't meant to dictate to individual artists or organizations exact events, noted Zemek, rather, "this is about what policies and programs that the city can implement to nurture and support arts activities. What can reinforce good things already in place?"
The strategic arts plan will chart a course for the community's creative future, similar to one developed by the city of Grand Rapids. It gives city administration direction when, for example, someone asks to paint a mural downtown. It also helps the city plan for future investments, such as, if a concrete apron is needed to house a farmers market, Zemek said.
Zemek introduced the concept of "creative placemaking," a practice of having arts and culture alongside sectors of government and community planning, like housing and transportation.
"Creative placemaking goes beyond 'decorating' spaces to involving artists, makers and creative thinkers in important decisions regarding community planning and problem-solving," according to Zemek.
ArtPlace America has developed 10 principles of creative placemaking. (See sidebar).
Zemek asked participants to brainstorm policies, programs and activities that would support creative placemaking in Park Rapids. Some of the ideas mentioned Thursday were interactive storyboards in public spaces, more bilingual signage, a film festival, powwow, murals, live poetry.
Suggestions from both community sessions will be gathered, along with online survey results, and reviewed by the Park Rapids Arts and Culture Advisory Commission. They will then draft an arts plan that includes goals and milestones, identifies existing arts assets, review current plans and develop an action plan and implementation schedule.
Related Topics: PARK RAPIDS
Shannon Geisen is editor of the Park Rapids Enterprise.


PHILLIPS, THOMAS HAL, 1922-2007
Novelist; writer of screenplays. Born– October 11, 1922, Corinth, Miss. Parents– W.T. and Ollie (Fare) Phillips. Education– Mississippi State College, B.S., 1943; University of Alabama, M.A. First novel, The Bitterweed Path, served as graduate thesis. Taught creative writing at Southern Methodist University, 1948-1950. Mississippi State Public Service Commission, 1958-64. Wrote screenplays for several successful films. Received the Rosenwald Fellowship in Fiction, 1947; Eugene F. Saxon Award, 1948; Fulbright Fellowship, 1950; Guggenheim Fellowship, 1953. Story included in O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951. Died April 3, 2007.
Contemporary authors online
The Bitterweed Path. New York; Rinehart, 1950.
The Day JFK Died, Teleplay. S.l.; typescript, 1980.
The Golden Lie. New York; Rinehart, 1951.
The Loved and the Unloved. New York; Harper, 1955.
Red Midnight. University Press of Mississippi, 2002.
Search for a Hero. New York; Rinehart, 1952.


Planning for Extreme Heat with the Heat Action Platform
The Heat Action Platform provides leaders with technical resources, case studies, and best practices to plan and evaluate heat resilience strategies.
December 5, 2022 | 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Zoom Virtual Webinar
Owen Gow
@ArshtRock
December 5th at 8:30 AM ET/14:30 CET
The world is getting hotter. A little more than one degree of global warming may not sound like much, but it means that the planet is already hotter than any world any human has ever known. Today, 1.7 billion people living in urban areas are exposed to extreme levels of heat. This number will rise dramatically as the planet gets hotter and hotter, and more people move to urban areas.
Extreme heat kills. It is linked to more deaths than all other climate-driven hazards combined – 365,000 deaths in 2019 alone. The rising heat is also damaging economies. By 2030, heat stress will wipe out $2.4 trillion from the world's economy. It is also one of the biggest climate-justice issues we face, exposing and deepening the growing inequality we see around the world today.
To face this challenge, global experts have joined hands to build a new online tool to provide users with an actionable framework to assess, plan, implement and evaluate heat resilience strategies with technical resources, case studies of best practices for mitigating and adapting to extreme heat, and a filterable inventory of solutions applicable to local contexts.
In this webinar, we will:
Present the Heat Action Platform to a relevant network of stakeholders
Collect feedback on its structure, usability and content
Highlight opportunities for partnership and collaboration on the next steps for the platform
About the Heat Action Platform
What is the platform?
The Heat Action Platform, launched in May 2022 at the World Economic Forum, is intended to be an online one-stop shop where users—particularly practitioners, policymakers, and development finance institutions—can learn how to reduce the risks and impacts of heat. It was developed by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock), the UNEP-led Cool Coalition, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, Mission Innovation, and RMI, in partnership with the WEF's Global Commission on BiodiverCities by 2030.
What gap is the platform intended to fill?
Many resources related to heat planning and adaptation already exist, but there is no go-to online repository where best practice resources are all in one place and organized coherently within educational and analytical frameworks, alongside additional decision-support tools. The platform will enable users to develop a robust approach to mitigating the effects of climate change, as well as reduce carbon emissions from mechanical cooling and make a much better environment for residents and community to live and work.
Platform Scope and Structure
The intended audiences for the platform are city, regional, or national practitioners, policymakers, and development finance institutions. The platform consists of 9 educational modules, intended to guide users through the process of assessing heat risk and vulnerability, planning for how to keep people safe from the heat, and implementing and monitoring heat-related plans and projects.
The centerpiece of the platform is the Heat Policy Tool, which is a filterable repository of 90 heat resilience solutions, with a growing database. Each "solutions card" contains a combination of a specific policy (e.g., mandate, tax incentive, public commitment) and an intervention (e.g., green infrastructure, cool roofs). The goal of the tool is for users to be able to find policies and solutions that are more tailored to their specific circumstances and not a set of generic policy recommendations.
New resources and tools will be continually added to the tool, and platform content will be updated – this platform must be a living resource because heat planning is a dynamic and rapidly changing space. After conducting user testing in Fall/Autumn 2022, we plan to pilot that platform with 2-4 city, regional, or national governments and a select group of development finance institutions next year. Our hope is that through this process, the platform can become the center of gravity for anyone who is concerned about how heat is impacting them, their communities, or their constituents and partners.
Explore the Heat Action Platform


California Love: Is Kendrick Lamar Tupac's One True Heir?
Digital Entertainment, From the Issue, Hip Hop Culture | Hip Hop Arts and Lifestyle, Hip Hop Music | Listen To and Download Hip Hop Tracks
David Makes Man is Owns Most Dangerously Hip-Hop Show
Exclusives, featured, Hip Hop News | Trending Hip Hop Stories
David Makes Man is dangerous.
True it is a charming show, with a brilliantly talented cast and production team (executively produced by Michael B. Jordan and Tarell Alvin McCraney). It has the stamp of Queen Mother Oprah Winfrey and has enjoyed critical acclaim… but on a visceral level it is a dangerous series because it is just such a heart-wrenchingly honest show. Episode after episode, it is saturated with truth… someone's truth.
And that's why it is possibly one of the most important shows on television this season. This work of art dismantles the narrative of Post-Racial America and puts the dirty laundry of so many of urban America's story out there for all to see. To put it in a quick soundbite, this series is Hip-Hop.
Now there goes critic one: "There is not music, where are the rappers? How can it be Hip-Hop without rappers?"
The music is in the dialogue. When Chuck D said that "rap music is the CNN of the street," does David's character (complete with his Id and Ego) not tell you one of the real stories of growing up poor, Black and male in America? Is the music not in how he navigates being a kid with being damaged by an environment that he has not control over? Shame on anyone that does not see Nas, T.I., XXXTenacion or T-Top in this character.
Then goes critic number two: "How can it be Hip-Hop and there is no floss or fly women, where is the lit lit?"
What is lit is the level of cultural code switching that is evident through the season. It also speaks to the exceptionality of young Black children. They are "despite" brilliant. Despite hardship, abuse (physical, religious, social, economic and sexual) they find ways to make sunshine out of utter darkness, lemonade out of lemons and family tree assignments out of Mary J. Blige's odes to children born with no fathers.
And alas critic number three: "How is it Hip-Hop when there is no get money scheme?"
And that is part of the issue. Dave Makes Man reminds us to elevate our definition of Hip-Hop from only being a commodity to acknowledging that it is an expression of Humanity. An expression one might add that is vulnerable.
Just check out the next episode on due to drop on Wednesday, Sept. 11th.
David Makes Manmichael b jordanoprahown
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Old English Words
Contact for help
Old fashioned word for party
When I was a child, my grandmother routinely used a word that is all but extinct now. Once, while I was reporting on my progress in school, she smiled with genuine pride and said, "Well, isn't that grand." Try as I may, I still can't come up with a better word for my achievement. "Terrific" would have been over the top, and "nice" too neutral for a doting grandmother's needs. So yes, my success in school was grand. Mighty grand.
I like old-fashioned words. Although I don't believe I actually ever used the word "galoshes" as a kid, my great uncle Bill was a firm believer in proclaiming their virtue at the first hint of rain, and I can still remember an older neighbor lady in my New Jersey neighborhood inveighing me and my friends to "Stay off the macadam!" because of the traffic. I had never heard such a word for a paved road before, but the force of the woman's admonition drove its meaning home for me and kept me out of harm's way.
Likewise, who today says "stockings" for "socks"? Who, besides my mother, packs a "valise" with things from her "chifforobe"? Or refers to a little leaguer's line drive as "splendid"? Once, as a boy, I was out roughhousing with my friends (but not on the macadam!). This brought yet another watchful neighbor to her front porch to demand, "What is this, a hullabaloo?" I had never heard the word, but I knew that I liked it. I don't think I have ever used the word myself, but I keep it handy, just in case some kids try to mix it up in front of my house.
All of these words are outdated but they still have a pulse, because there are still people around who use them. My father, a World War II vet, also said "grand" (he got it from his mother). My own mother still differentiates between a valise and a suitcase (a valise is small, intended for no more than a weekend away from home). And journalists who aspire to the literary will sometimes drag "hullabaloo" out of mothballs to make a point. (Title of a New York Times review of a children's musical: "A Lot of Hullabaloo Over a Shallaballah.")
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Give me an old-fashioned word
Old fashioned block party
Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd [1962] EWCA Civ 7 is a landmark English contract law case. It introduced the concept of innominate terms, between "warranties" and "conditions". Diplock LJ emphasised that some terms could lead to either the...
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MARK MONTIETH
Because Stories Need To Be Told
Passion Play (Uncut)
Lance Stephenson Sr.
Lance Stephenson's father (Lance), mother (Bernadette) and brother (Lantz) at their home outside of Indianapolis.
This is the dad, not the player. I had gone to the Stephensons' home during Lance Jr.'s final season with the Pacers to write a story that opened a lot of eyes about the family background. Lance Jr. lived with his parents and younger brother in a nearly rural setting outside of Indianapolis. It's not what people were expecting from a family that had grown up on hard streets in Brooklyn.
After getting to know them, and like them, I convinced Lance Sr. to come with his wife to the studio to record a Father's Day edition of the show. They were great with me, cooperating beyond what they had done with anyone else, and have a great story to tell, too – such as why they named one son Lance and the other Lantz. There's a good reason, believe me.
You'll notice dad talks optimistically of his son re-signing with the Pacers after the season. It didn't happen, of course. Charlotte made a slightly better offer, and the family was off to North Carolina. Lance Jr. was traded to the Clippers after that season, so I presume they'll be living in Los Angeles next.
This qualifies as one of my favorite episodes, though, because there's so much more to the Stephenson story than people assumed.
First aired 2014
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Tagged with: Indiana Pacers, Lance Stephenson Sr., Lance Stephenson's father
© 2018 Mark Montieth.


Sale Price 38
3rd Party 38
Release Date: December 2nd, 2008
Casablanca (Ultimate Collector's Edition)
Review Date December 2nd, 2008 by Peter Bracke
Non-Format specific portions of this review appear in our HD DVD review of 'Casablanca.'
BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc/DVD-9 Dual-Layer Disc
Two-Disc Set
Video Resolution/Codec: 1080p/VC-1
English Descriptive Audio: English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (192kbps)
French Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (192kbps)
Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (192kbps)
Subtitles/Captions: English Subtitles
Special Features: Audio Commentaries
Theatrical Trailers
Movie Studio: Warner Home Video
'Casablanca' is more than a classic. It's an institution. It contains so many famous lines, characters and scenes that even those who have never seen it feel like they have by sheer osmosis; it is that ingrained in our shared cinematic consciousness.
The iconic moments from Michael Curtiz's 1942 masterwork are what cineastes remember most -- "We'll always have Paris," "Here's looking at you, kid" -- but what continues to startle, sixty years on, is just how well constructed and eminently watchable 'Casablanca' is. Yes, the famous parts are justifiably classic examples of writing, directing, performance, and editing, but check out all that lies between the film's obvious masterstrokes: Curtiz's subtle use of camera movement, the expressive melancholia of Max Steiner's musical score, Claude Rains' shady but lovable turn as Ingrid Bergman's would-be suitor -- these may not be the moments that continue to get spoofed on retrospective TV specials and American Express commercials, but they do confirm that it is impossible to imagine ever getting tired of watching 'Casablanca.'
Bergman and Humphrey Bogart deserve a lot of credit for the success of the film, for it is their indelible chemistry that continues to send hearts soaring six decades on. Never has emotional pathos and barely contained physical longing been so eloquently apparent. And when they have to say good-bye to each other at the end of the film? There is not a dry eye in the house.
'Casablanca' is more than just a movie; it is also a place, and a state of mind. Its misty, darkly-lit streets and haunted piano bars remain figments of our lost dreams, and glimmers of our future hopes. Bogart and Bergman have, despite changing tastes, fads and fashions, remained our romantic ideal, the perfect pair of lovers who must -- as fate decrees -- part for now, but perhaps not forever. It is one of those rare movie moments when all of the planets aligned perfectly, to capture the pure essence of human fragility, love and longing in a single, iconic shot. It may be a predictable choice for Best Movie of All-Time, but 'Casablanca' really is that good, that important and that seminal.
1080p/VC-1
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (192kbps)
Audio Commentaries
This Blu-ray release of 'Casablanca' follows a painstaking, grade-A remaster made for a standard def DVD reissue back in 2003, which then got ported over to HD DVD last year. The results were glorious then, and they are glorious now -- this is the way we dream our favorite classics will look when they come to home video. It is also a transfer so superior that even if I could find anything to remotely nitpick about, it would be pretty useless. 'Casablanca' is again presented in 1080p/VC-1 video on Blu-ray, and appropriately pillarboxed to the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
The black and white image is wonderful. The source material has been meticulously cleaned up, and good luck finding a speck of dirt, dropouts or inconsistencies in contrast or black levels. The film has a nice, deep and rich look, with excellent smoothness across the entire grayscale. Sharpness is perhaps slightly "soft" by today's standards, but terrific for a film from 1942. I continue to marvel at how deep and detailed this film looks. Fine textures throughout are clearly visible -- I could make out indentations on the spine of a book, or see slight creases in the clean whites of Humphrey Bogart's tuxedo. I am also grateful Warner didn't over-tweak this one -- whites never bloom and at no point is the image overly contrasted in an effort to make the film look "newer" or "glossier." Instead, 'Casablanca' maintains a very natural, film-like look throughout. Without a doubt this is the finest black and white transfer I've seen on high-def, period, and up there with the best remasters ever created for the home theater environment.
For whatever reason, Warner did not (or wasn't able to) create a new 5.1 remaster for 'Casablanca.' Like the previous HD DVD release, this Blu-ray version offers only a Dolby Digital 1.0 mono (192kbps), in English, French or Spanish flavors. Of course, 'Casablanca' is largely dialogue driven, so it likely would not have benefited as greatly from a whiz-bang surround mix as, say, another classic like 'King Kong.' In any case, what we do get here is a very nicely cleaned up presentation.
In all honestly, there isn't much to say about the soundtrack. The source elements have been well preserved. High-end is smooth with no distortion and little of the harshness you'd expect from a film this old. Mid-range is somewhat spacious, though still sounds flat, as you would expect, compared to a modern mix. Low end also lacks any real heft. Again, since this is a mono track, there is zero envelopment or presence to the mix. But on purely technical terms, 'Casablanca' sounds about as good is it probably could.
The 2003 standard-def DVD reissue of 'Casablanca' came loaded with extras, and all of those goodies were ported over for the previous HD DVD release. But Warner has even gone one better for this Blu-ray, adding a bonus DVD with an additional full-length documentary to sweeten the pot. Add to that deluxe packaging with a wealth of collectibles, and you have one grand box set that any classic movie fan should be proud to have in their collection. (As before, all video-based materials are presented in 480p/i/MPEG-2 video only, with optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.)
Disc One:
Introduction - The supplements begin with a predictably sappy if heartfelt introduction by Lauren Bacall (aka Mrs. Humphrey Bogart). Thankfully, the majority of the rest of the extras are exemplary.
Audio Commentaries - Two separate audio commentaries tracks -- the first by Roger Ebert, and the second by historian Rudy Behlmer -- excel by virtue of the passion and knowledge of both participants. Behlmer's, however, may be the more engaging discussion, as his ability to dissect even the smallest details is almost awe-inspiring -- it is hard to imagine someone who had no connection with the production of a film knowing so much about how it was made. Ebert, as always, is animated about a film he is passionate about and offers a more all-encompassing perspective on 'Casablanca's impact and influence, as well as a compelling argument for why it should be considered one of Hollywood's all-time classics.
Documentary: "Bacall on Bogart" (SD, 90 minutes) - Leading the pack of extras is the first of three generally strong documentaries. "Bacall on Bogart" is the best of the bunch, an extensive 90-minute discussion with the legendary actress, who reminisces on Bogie and how he made his trek from lowly Broadway character actor to Hollywood legend. It's way better than the introduction, and only it's length begins to grow a bit tiring on the behind.
TV Special: "A Tribute to Casablanca" (SD, 30 minutes) - Next we have this television special originally produced for Turner Classic Movies. Compact but comprehensive, it examines in brisk fashion the film's legacy, and features a wealth of lovely recollections from various historians and collaborators.
Featurette: "The Children Remember" (SD, 12 minutes) - Finally, a third featurette, "The Children Remember," is a bit lacking. The offspring of Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Stephen Bogart and Pia Lindstrom, talk about what the film meant to them growing up, and how it has affected their lives since. Unfortunately, genuine insight into the real Bogart and Bergman is painfully slight.
Deleted Scenes (SD, 12 minutes) - There are two deleted scenes and a montage of outtakes -- all pretty scrappy in quality.
TV Excerpt (18 minutes) - I found this feature to be a bit surreal -- a 18-minute condensation of a Warner Brothers made-for-television update of 'Casablanca' set in the Cold War, entitled "Who Holds Tomorrow?" This one you just have to see to believe.
Audio Archive - Here you will find a couple of unique extras. Without picture, there is an audio-only Screen Guild Theater Radio Show version of the film in which Bogart, Bergman and Paul Henreid reprise their roles, plus a total of eight audio-only "Scoring Stage Sessions."
Production Research Gallery (SD) - Next we have a quite extensive archive that contains dozens of studio memos, rare production documents, still photos and publicity materials.
Theatrical Trailers (SD) - Finally, the video extras conclude with the film's original and re-release theatrical trailers. Whew.
Collectible Packaging - Last but not least, collector's will find a wealth of physical goodies in the box. In addition to a cute 'Casablanca' passport holder and luggage tag, there are ten one-sheet reproduction cards, an Archival Correspondence booklet, and best of all, a 48-page photo book with many rare production and behind-the-scenes stills. Very slick.
Disc Two:
Documentary: "Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul" (SD, 104 minutes) - Dubbed "The Epic Story of the Man Behind the Movies," this 1993 doc is the sole extra new to the Blu-ray versus the HD DVD (though it has been previously released on home video). Produced by the mogul's grandson, Gregory Orr, "The Last Mogul" documents the rise of Warner, from the early blossoming of the studio system pre-"talkies," well into the '50s when the popularity of television would see movie attendance erode precariously. Though 'Casablanca' is only marginally featured in the doc, this is a fascinating story in its own right and certainly well worth a view for any film history buff. (Note that this documentary is presented on its own DVD-5 single-layer disc, and is standard DVD format only.)
'Casablanca' is a true classic. This Blu-ray release is as fabulous as the previous HD DVD -- a stunning remaster and tons of extras make this a must-own for anyone even remotely interested in what cinema is all about. On top of that, Warner has now thrown in a bonus DVD with an additional full-length documentary, plus a trove of physical collectibles. 'Casablanca' is a title you simply have to add to your Blu-ray collection.
Portions of this review also appear in our coverage of Dunkirk on Blu-ray. This post features unique Vital Disc Stats, Video, and Final Thoughts sections.


Donair Cam: Watch your meat on the spit
Halifax's official food now live streaming 24 hours a day
Homesick Haligonians can now tune into around-the-clock footage of Halifax's official food: the donair.
The "Donair Cam" is a 24-hour live stream of a seasoned log of meat spinning on a rotating spit.
Ralf Pickart, owner of the website Nova Scotia Webcams, said he hopes the Donair Cam will help Maritimers who live away reconnect with their home.
"Nova Scotians who are away out west and all over, when they come back, the first thing they want is a donair because it can't be replicated anywhere," he said.
"People are always homesick, missing family and friends — and donairs are a part of that."
Pickart said he came up with the idea while brainstorming for a new live webcam.
He then approached restaurant King Of Donair, a Halifax staple synonymous with the east coast delicacy.
Restaurant owner Nicholas Nahas said he jumped at the opportunity to prompt cravings for the greasy treat 24 hours a day.
King of Donair has laid claim to creating the original donair, which features shaved spicy meat, tomato, onion, and donair sauce wrapped in a pita.
In 2015, the dish was named the official food of Halifax.
Social media was abuzz after Nova Scotia Webcams debuted the Donair Cam, with many drooling over the spinning meat log.
Twitter user Rachel Harding tweeted: "I have two screens at my desk but usually only ever use one. Not anymore. #DonairCam."
On Facebook, a user named Sue Mollins-Hamilton wrote: "This makes me very happy… and homesick."
Pickart said he also hopes to raise awareness about Nova Scotia Webcams, an independent website that offers more than 75 livestreams around the province.
"Depending on how it catches on, (Donair Cam) can last forever," Pickart said. "Certainly, I would say it's there to entertain people and at some point, they will get hungry and hopefully get a donair."
(Global News, The Canadian Press)
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Century Aluminum Drops on Outlook
Century Aluminum shares tumble Wednesday after the company details a slew of challenges in its fourth-quarter report.
Scott Eden
Feb 24, 2010 4:52 PM EST
MONTEREY, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Investors reacted to a series of near-term problems detailed by Century Aluminum (CENX) - Get Free Report in its fourth-quarter report and conference call by selling off the company's shares on Wednesday.
Century posted results that met analysts' expectations after the market closed on Tuesday evening. But the company also noted weak operating margins at one aluminum plant due to problems with its suppliers. Meanwhile, another of Century's plants, this one in Hawesville, Ky., could see its power costs jacked considerably once its current contract with an energy producer expires at the end of 2010.
Further, the contract between Century and its biggest customer of Hawesville-produced aluminum, a company called Southwire, ends in March 2011. Dahlman Rose analyst Anthony Rizzuto, in a note to clients Wednesday morning, wrote that Century executives "would not comment on its current discussions with Southwire" during the fourth-quarter conference call.
Rizzuto slashed his profit forecast for Century's full-year 2010 to 50 cents a share from $1.80, which represented the high end of the range of analysts' estimates. On average, Wall Street's sell side had a target of 92 cents a share for Century's 2010 earnings.
Rizzuto also cut his price target on Century stock to $17 from $20, but remained bullish on the company, saying "we believe the shares exhibit an attractive risk/reward profile."
On Wednesday, shares of the aluminum producer, highly linked to the price of its eponymous metal, tumbled 10% to $11.46. Volume reached 11 million shares, more than double the daily average turnover in the name.
For its fourth quarter, Century reported a loss of $24.4 million, or 28 cents a share. That included several items -- charges and benefits -- that the company did not break out on a per-share basis in its press release.
Stripping out the items brought Century's bottom line up to 3 cents a share, according to Rizzuto's calculations, which matched the consensus forecast, according to a poll of analysts by Thompson Reuters.
A year ago, the company posted an enormous loss -- $693 million -- brought on by writedowns and a big tax ding.
Revenue in the most recently ended quarter came to about $257 million, down 36% from a year ago.
-- Written by Scott Eden in New York
Scott Eden has covered business -- both large and small -- for more than a decade. Prior to joining TheStreet.com, he worked as a features reporter for Dealmaker and Trader Monthly magazines. Before that, he wrote for the Chicago Reader, that city's weekly paper. Early in his career, he was a staff reporter at the Dow Jones News Service. His reporting has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Men's Journal, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, and the Believer magazine, among other publications. He's also the author of Touchdown Jesus (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a nonfiction book about Notre Dame football fans and the business and politics of big-time college sports. He has degrees from Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis.


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Voice and Exit as Accountability Mechanisms: Can Foot-Voting Be Made Safe for the Chinese Communist Party?
Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Forthcoming
University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2016/027
53 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2016 Last revised: 29 Jan 2019
See all articles by Roderick M. Hills, Jr.
Roderick M. Hills, Jr.
Shitong Qiao
Duke University School of Law; The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law
According to Albert O. Hirschman's famous dichotomy, citizens can express their preferences with their "voice" (by voting with ballots to elect better representatives) and "exit" (by voting with their feet to choose better places to live). Suppose, however, that ballot-voting is ineffective: Can exit not merely aid but also replace voice? Using as a case study the People's Republic of China, a party state without elective democracy, we argue that exit is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, voice. China's bureaucratic promotion system plays the role of local elections in the United States, promoting or replacing local officials based on their performance in office. In either regime, however, it is costly for local voters (in the United States) or the Chinese Communist Party (in China) to monitor and assess local officials. Attention to foot-voting in the legal design of local government can help reduce these costs. By evaluating cadres who run the lower levels of China's local governments on the basis of how successfully they attract mobile households, the central CCP authorities could reduce the costs of monitoring these local officials and thereby reproduce, by bureaucratic means, some of the benefits of electoral democracy. Success in attracting foot-voters can be most cheaply measured by the Party's evaluating cadres primarily on the basis of local land values which, because they are a product of foot-voters' decisions about where to live, function like ballots insofar as they reflect the popularity of local cadres' policy decisions with mobile Chinese households. For foot-voting to improve governmental accountability, however, the Chinese system of local government law requires some basic but politically feasible reforms ― in particular, the introduction of a local property tax system, the creation of a federated city system that grants power and autonomy to sub-city units, and the liberalization of China's household registration system to make the population fully mobile across different jurisdictions.
Keywords: Inter-Jurisdictional Competition, Land Value, Democracy, Foot-Voting, Government Accountability, Property Tax, Federated City, Household Registration System (Hukou), Cadre Evaluation, Chinese Communist Party
JEL Classification: K11, H11, H23, H70, H41, R12, R14, R30
Hills, Roderick Maltman and Qiao, Shitong and Qiao, Shitong, Voice and Exit as Accountability Mechanisms: Can Foot-Voting Be Made Safe for the Chinese Communist Party? (August 2, 2016). Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Forthcoming, University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2016/027, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2817652 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2817652
Roderick Maltman Hills (Contact Author)
New York University School of Law ( email )
40 Washington Square South
Duke University School of Law ( email )
HOME PAGE: http://law.duke.edu/fac/qiao/
The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law ( email )
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
HOME PAGE: http://https://www.law.hku.hk/academic_staff/dr-shitong-qiao/


Fayetteville's Block St. Theatre Travels to Chicago for New Show
By Karen Topham January 16, 2018 January 16, 2018 Articles
This week marks a rather unusual event in Chicago theatre. With the premiere of Flamingo and Decatur" (see review), the city is now playing host to a world premiere of a play produced not by one of our 200+ native companies but by a theatre company from Fayetteville Arkansas, Block St. Theatre. I sat down for a brief conversation with Block St's producer, Todd Taylor (also the playwright of Flamingo and Decatur), about the play and about why the company decided to bring it here to premiere.
"Chicago is the greatest theatre city in the world for storefront theatre," Taylor said. "It's where it gets done, where people know how to make it." He noted the great designers he has gotten to work with–Joe Schermoly (scenic), Chloe Patten (costumes), Alex Ridgers (lights), Jessica Mondres (props), and Chris Kriz (sound)–as well as director Kevin Christopher Fox, whom he had actually met in Fayetteville working for a fast-emerging regional theatre called TheatreSquared.
Block St. opened in Fayetteville in 2015, and this is its fourth production. The play originated as Taylor's MFA project for the University of Arkansas, but his advisor there, Bob Ford (who is also the artistic director for TheatreSquared), told him he thought the play might do well in a 100-seat house in Chicago.
"That sort of lodged in my brain and a couple of years later I was in a position to take a shot with it," Taylor said. "It was the last play I wrote while at the university. I was kind of keeping it in reserve before I unveiled it. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to paint a picture of the gambling world, the way people relate, the lingo, the culture of gambling, the way gamblers' personal relationships are altered by that and to open a window for people onto a world that they may not be familiar with."
Asked about that lingo, which is thick at times in the play, Taylor said it was an issue that came up a lot in the workshop phase of the play.
"Most people said they weren't bothered by the lingo, that they could with context figure out what was happening, get the essential information, and sort of live in that world of 'I wonder if that means that' and 'oh yeah it does now that I've heard it a second time.'"
Block St. doesn't have a spelled-out mission statement, but Taylor says that its "evolving" statement is to "open a two-way theatre pipeline between Chicago and Fayetteville."
"We'd like to produce shows in both cities. We'd like to produce shows in Fayetteville with a Chicago actor or two, have the pipeline run both ways. People have responded to that idea."
As to the beginning of his current show's run, he acknowledges that the opening weekend's crowds were a little bit thin but hopes they will pick up. "As long as the people coming are responsive and enjoy it," he said, he believes there will be positive word of mouth that will put more bodies in the seats.
"I'm very satisfied that we made a show that i wanted to make. Now I have to do my other job as producer and get people into the show."
He feels he owes it to the actors, three of whom he has known since they worked on the original show for his MFA project.
In order to put it on in Chicago, Stephanie Bignault flew in from LA, Nathaniel Stahlke came in from Ohio, and Jason Shipman came up from Fayetteville. They've been joined by Chicagoan and University of Arkansas grad Drew Johnson.
"They really had an affection for each other and the play and the process," Taylor said. "The play has had a nice feel from the beginning."
In order to facilitate it all, Taylor rented a four-bedroom apartment in the city. The three out of town actors live with him there.
"I try to get out of the house a little bit so they don't feel like the playwright/producer is lurking, watching over them, but so far everybody's been great."
They work together well onstage also. Fox has gotten outstanding performances from every one of them. "At the academic production they were just becoming the actors they would become," Taylor noted, and now he feels they've come into their own. With what they are bringing to the stage and the expert Chicago production designers, he is very happy with Flamingo and Decatur.
"Chicago's been very welcoming. We've met a lot of great theatre folks, and that was what we really wanted to do: get to know some people up here."
And establish a presence and, perhaps, a pipeline. The latter remains to be seen, but the former is easily visible at Theatre Wit from Wednesdays through Sundays until February 18.
Flamingo and Decatur is now playing at Theatre Wit, 1229 W. Belmont in Chicago, until February 18. W-Sat 8 PM; Sundays vary. Tickets are $22-32 and are available from Theatre Wit. No half-price tickets are available. Find more information about current plays on our Current Shows page and at theatreinchicago.com.
Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member
Block St TheatreChicago theatrepromotion
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Jan. 2022 - Recruitment and Retainment, the Role of Race and Gender, and Types of Transfer
High school to College
The use of administrative holds results in the inability to either register for classes or access transcripts continue to be a topic of discussion, research, and practice examination. One of the items I have been discussing with colleagues is an apparent need to differentiate further between administrative holds used for issues such as an outstanding bill to the institution, as compared to those holds aimed at student success, such as advising, cohort management, etc. There is movement on addressing the administrative holds, including some examples below.
U.S. Education Secretary calls for an end to colleges withholding transcripts
Pilot program to settle student debt and release transcripts
Indiana' Ivy Tech reverses a policy that withholds transcripts from students who owe money
Missouri State University will no longer withhold transcripts or diplomas for unpaid balances.
A counterpoint to eliminating holds that aim at student success is in this Hechinger report. In my opinion, institutions should analyze the use, and effectiveness, of both types of holds at their campus to determine if they are the most effective way to address the issues and support student success.
Thank you to Kizzy Morris and Research Advisory Board Opening
I want to thank Kizzy Morris for her service on the research advisory board since 2020. She is stepping down from her role to engage in other projects. As such, we have an immediate opening for a new member of the advisory board. Please review the role and apply if you are interested in serving. The application period is open until February 15, 2022, and the responsibility will start on March 1.
Gates Foundation Grant Announcement
Based in Dallas, TX, the Commit Partnership (Commit) was awarded a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to implement recommendations from the research AACRAO completed with several Dallas postsecondary institutions about their credit transfer policies and practices. Commit is partnering with AACRAO to continue this work through June 2022. The work will include assessing the current state of transfer technology at several institutions and identifying the resource gaps. AACRAO is pleased to be part of this project and see how our research partnerships can lead to real changes that help students and institutions.
Transfer Admission and Recruitment Staffing, Technology, and Policy Benchmark Survey
Salesforce provided underwriting for our comprehensive benchmarking survey on transfer student admissions and recruiting, which closed at the end of the first week of January. This survey attempted to capture the nuance in enrollment management practice, staffing to support these students, the use of technology, and related admissions policy for three different kinds of transfer students– traditional, reverse, and "swirlers." The following definitions define the different types of transfer students:
Traditional transfer: A student who has attended one or more previous institutions and now seeks enrollment and the transfer of earned credit at your institution.
Reverse transfer: A student who enrolled previously at your institution, left without completing a credential, and now seeks to apply credits earned elsewhere to complete a credential at your institution. OR a student who transferred to your institution and did not subsequently complete a credential who now seeks to take your institutional credits to complete a credential at a previously enrolled institution.
Swirling transfer: A student primarily and continuously enrolled at your institution but who chooses to take courses intermittently at other institutions and seeks to use those credits to meet a degree requirement at your institution. The student is responsible for tuition and fees at the other institution (as opposed to being paid through your institution) and may or may not receive funding through a financial aid consortium agreement at your institution for those credits.
The data from more than 250 institutions are currently in the analysis phase, and a report and webinar are forthcoming. Early data indicate that 70% of undergraduate and comprehensive institutions have strategic enrollment management initiatives for traditional transfer students, and 30% of primarily two-year institutions report the same.
AACRAO Research projects under development include:
A comprehensive benchmark of academic operations and its impact on student success
A look at strategic enrollment management for graduate students
Deploying the third chief admissions officer career profile survey
Expanding and redeploying the 60-Second Survey on scheduling practice and policy from 2016 as a comprehensive survey later in the year.
Number of High School Students Enrolling In College Continues to Decline
A new report published by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows a precipitous decline in high school graduates that immediately enroll in higher education.
Key findings include:
The class of 2020 enrolled at a rate 4-10% lower
The drop was more pronounced in high-poverty or low-income high schools
Rural schools saw the most significant drop in graduates enrolling in higher education
New Study Examines the Role of Race and Gender in Academic Research
A new research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines racial bias in the academic science community.
Key findings of the study include:
The academic scientific environment is still largely dominated by white men, but minority representation in science is growing.
This disparity reflects the state of academic publishing and research funding for scholars of color.
Relative representation by scholars of color and women in various scientific fields varies widely.
Education in the Skilled Trades Undergoing Resurgence
An article in the Hechinger Report examines the current growth of career and technical education. Various environmental factors seem to be driving this growth, including labor shortages and increased wages in those careers.
Additional key points include:
A number of institutions are showing significant enrollment growth in these areas, despite a nearly 8% decline in overall enrollment in the last two years.
The increased questioning of the value of a four-year degree may be a contributing factor.
A related survey found that 33 percent of Americans think trade school is a better option than a four-year college during the pandemic.
Survey Examines the Recruitment of First-generation Students to Higher Education
A new survey published by Niche examined the recruitment of first-generation students. As part of the survey, Niche examined effective strategies for recruiting first-generation students.
Key points include:
Understanding the best communication channels (email, text, etc.) for reaching these students is important.
Diversity in your institution's student population must be more than a talking point to attract first-generation students.
First-generation students were far more likely than peers to select a two-year college.
Price and clarity of real costs matter to this group of students.
New Playbook Gives Guidance on How to Re-engage with Learners and Leverage Reverse Transfer
The Institute for Higher Education Policy published a new Degree Reclamation Playbook. This guidebook extensively examines evidence-based practices that can help adults with prior college credits, but no degree achieves that goal. It focuses on equity-based strategies to re-engage adults and the use of reverse transfer. The playbook provides a step-by-step guide for starting re-engagement efforts.
Student-Centric Marketing examined in New Paper
Salesforce and Volt have published a new report looking at student-centric marketing. The report looks at best practices from the perspective of higher education leaders and asked students to report on the most effective approaches to marketing.
39% of survey respondents began their college search between 8th and 10th grade.
Email was a more influential source than social media by more than twice as many respondents.
Fewer than 9% of respondents ranked mobile texting as their most influential medium, while higher ed leaders saw SMS messaging as important.
Perceived College Affordability Matters for High School Students
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Britney Spears Street Team ( teambritspears) wrote in ohnotheydidnt,
Britney Spears Street Team
teambritspears
Ariana Grande 101: Is She Really the New Mariah?
This week marks the release of Yours Truly, the debut album from 20-year-old Nickelodeon star turned R&B singer Ariana Grande. Perhaps you have heard "The Way" and wondered, Who is that Mariah Carey–like tween singing with Mac Miller? Perhaps you watched the VMAs red carpet and thought, I am too old to tell these child star singers apart. You are not! You are young at heart, and you can still keep up. But we have gone ahead and answered some of your Ariana Grande questions, just in case.
Is it Ariana Grande (silent e) or Ariana Grand-e?
Grand-e. Here, let the Today show anchors demonstrate:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Are you sure that's her and not Mariah Carey singing on "The Way"?
Yes, though you are not the first person to ask that question. Basically every review of the song and/or Yours Truly invokes Mimi, which is easy to understand once Ariana starts doing the crazy-high melismas.
(See also: "Baby I" and "Daydreamin'.")
Okay, but how am I supposed to tell her apart from all the other Disney singers?
Well, first of all, she's a Nickelodeon star, not Disney. She was on Victorious and just began a spinoff called Sam & Cat.
That is not really much of a distinction to me.
Fair enough. Here's the breakdown: Selena Gomez dated Justin Bieber and sings that "Come and Get It" na-na-na song; Demi Lovato hosted X Factor and does inspirational stuff; and Ariana Grande is like the Carly Rae Jepsen of R&B. (Grande is even repped by Scooter Braun, who managed Jepsen, Bieber, and second-tier British boy band the Wanted.)
Can she sing as high as Mariah?
No. But she has a four-octave range and goes all the way to E7, which is not too shabby.
Can she sing "All I Want for Christmas Is You," at least?
She is trying to be Mariah. Of course she can:
Can she imitate anyone else, or just Mariah?
She's a theater kid. (Grande had a role in 13 on Broadway.) Of course she can do impressions! Here is Ariana doing Ariel, Britney, Shakira, and a lamb, among others.
Has Mariah said anything about her yet?
No, come on. Mariah is our greatest living diva; she's not going to make room for anyone.
Okay, I'm almost overloaded here. Is there anything else I should know?
The Spanglish version of "The Way" is pretty good. And that key change on "Baby I"? This album is fun! Don't fight it!
Source: Vulture Magazine
Tags: ariana grande, mariah carey
The Walking Dead: Trailer for Extended Season 10
Get a first look at Daryl, Carol, Maggie and new survivors in the trailer for the extended 10th Season of The Walking Dead. Premieres Sunday,…


Strictly Come Dancing's 2020 professional dancers have been confirmed
Photo credit: BFA
From Prima
Strictly Come Dancing's 2020 professional dancers have been announced, and fans can expect all of our favourites returning to the dance-floor later this year.
Strictly will be back on BBC One this autumn, with the dancer line-up has been revealed as AJ Pritchard, Aljaž Škorjanec, Amy Dowden, Anton Du Beke, Dianne Buswell, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima, Janette Manrara, Johannes Radebe, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova, Nancy Xu, Neil Jones, and Oti Mabuse.
Sarah James, Executive Producer, BBC Studios, said: "It's wonderful to welcome back so many talented individuals within this year's line-up of Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers. They are each at the top of their game and as a cast are simply incredible. We can't wait to see what magic they will bring to the ballroom this year.
"Strictly 2020 promises to be an unforgettable series, with more exceptional choreography and world-class dancing."
Photo credit: SOPA Images - Getty Images
Kate Phillips, Controller of BBC Entertainment, added: "We are very proud of Strictly Come Dancing and our professional dancers. They are undoubtedly in a class of their own and they'll be back in force this autumn to put our class of 2020 through their paces, providing another series of unmissable TV!"
Former dancer Kevin Clifton - who won the series last year with celebrity partner Stacey Dooley - recently confirmed that he was leaving the show after seven years.
The 37-year-old star announced the news on Twitter, revealing that he was stepping down to focus on other aspects of his career.
"The past seven years have been some of the most wonderful of my life,"Kevin posted.
"I am grateful to the BBC and Strictly Come Dancing for giving me the opportunity to have been part of something truly special."
The BBC added that further announcements and information, including which dancers will be partnered with celebrity contestants, will be announced in due course.
The celebrity line-up is already being rumoured to include reality star Jamie Laing after he pulled out of the competition last year due to a foot injury.
The judging panel of Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood are expected to return next year too.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One.
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Operations Strategy
Trulite Completes Texas Tempered Glass Acquisition
Trulite Glass & Aluminum Solutions, LLC. ("Trulite"), one of North America's largest architectural glass and aluminum fabricators, today announced it has finalized the acquisition of Houston-based Texas Tempered Glass, Inc. ("TTG"), a leader of high performance glass products for architectural, industrial, commercial and custom applications. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
With the completion of this transaction, Trulite will expand its presence in the Texas market with a wide array of tempered, insulated, and mirrored fabricated offerings supplying materials for architectural, industrial, commercial and custom applications. Additionally, the TTG product offering will be enhanced to include laminated and PPG/Guardian certified products.
"Our proven commitment to operational excellence has positioned us well to meet the rapidly increasing demand for quality fabricated products," said Paul Schmitz, Chief Executive Officer of Trulite Glass & Aluminum Solutions. "We will continue to grow organically and through strategic acquisitions to meet this demand and better serve the industry."
TTG marks Trulite's fourth acquisition since April 2011, demonstrating the company's financial strength.
"We are very excited to have Texas Tempered Glass join the Trulite organization and to now have a second facility to service the Houston market," said Paul Mahedy, Trulite South Region VP. "TTG has established itself as a true 'service center' provider with exceptional lead times and customer service. We are committed to offering the same high level of service and quality the glazing community has come to rely on from Texas Tempered Glass."
About Trulite Glass & Aluminum Solutions
Trulite Glass & Aluminum Solutions is one of North America's largest architectural glass and aluminum fabricators. Trulite distributes and manufactures architectural aluminum, insulated units, mirrors, tempered, laminated, and decorative glass from their twenty-seven locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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ACTION ALERT - Kentucky Farm Bureau Shows Support for HB 529
While approximately three-quarters of the earth is covered in water, a very small percentage of that is considered to be consumable. Factoring in the growing world population, the threat of water shortages, especially in times of drought, becomes a real concern in many regions of the world.
The United States is not immune to that problem and a classic example can be found in California which is experiencing a fifth straight year without ample rainfall.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, over 99 percent of that state is suffering from some level of drought and nearly 40 percent is considered to be at the exceptional drought level, the most intense of the measuring categories.
Recognizing the issues taking place in the west and the problematic possibilities water shortages could cause anywhere in the country, Kentucky Farm Bureau's (KFB) Water Management Working Group (WMWG), a 20-member task force, came together in 2015 specially charged to develop recommendations that will enhance the quality and quantity of water resources accessible for agricultural production in the state.
Its mission is to research the emerging critical issue of inadequate water supplies available for agricultural production, examine potential actions to solve this deficiency and make recommendations for bringing new and reliable water sources to key areas of farm production in Kentucky.
Steve Coleman, who chairs the WMWG and is the retired Director of the Kentucky Division of Conservation, said taking a proactive stance on water issues is of the upmost importance not only to the agriculture community but to the state as a whole.
"To put it simply, none of us can survive without a safe, plentiful water supply. In looking forward at possible solutions to water issues that could arise, we stand a much better chance of handling situations such as drought conditions than trying to react once they have occurred," he said.
Coleman also said there never needs to be a situation where agriculture is pitted against its urban neighbors over water.
"Working well together is the best possible situation we can be in if and when the need arises to take action over water issues," he said.
As a direct result of WMWG's proactive work and recommendations, HB 529, was introduced on a bipartisan basis during this year's General Assembly session to improve coordination among all interested parties involved in the Commonwealth's water resources planning, management, and development.
The legislation will promote economic development opportunities through the strategic and efficient use of water resources by ensuring a long-term adequate supply of on-farm water resources for agriculture, thus alleviating pressure on rural/urban water supplies.
Specifically, HB 529 creates the Kentucky Water Resources Board which would be administered by the Energy and Environment Cabinet and will assist the cabinet in conducting research and developing recommendations to enhance the quality of water resources accessible for agricultural production in the state.
The bill passed the House by a unanimous vote as well as the Senate Ag Committee. During its discussion in that committee, Chair Sen. Paul Hornback said the bill was very important to agriculture.
"For those of us that are in agriculture and those of us in rural areas, even though we have an abundance of water here in Kentucky, this is going to be, in the future, the most important resource that we have," he said. "With regulations that are coming down like Waters of the US and a lot of things are over burdensome, for Kentucky to be out in the forefront and to start looking and for Farm Bureau to start looking at issues that may arise in the future and being on the forefront of that, I appreciate that and want to thank you from a lot of my fellow farmers."
Sen. David Givens, Senate President Pro Tem said, in the legislative process there are some things that are important and there are some things that are really important; he count this (HB 529) among those that are really important.
"For us to be able to regulate our own waters is so vitally important to the ag economy and the future of the Commonwealth and, not just from an agricultural standpoint," he said. "People much wiser than me refer to water as the next oil. Being able to control that within the boundaries of our state is vital."
KFB President Mark Haney said he appreciated the support from legislators, as well as KFB members in working to get passage of the bill.
"We are so thankful for the support the General Assembly has shown for HB 529 which reinforces how important it is to be proactive in water resource issues," he said. "I also want to thank our members who worked tirelessly to get the word out about the need for this legislation. This effort represents the true success of grassroots advocacy in stepping up to speak out for agriculture."
David S. Beck, KFB Executive Vice-President said while a unique aspect of the proposed legislation is its connection directly to the agricultural industry, the creation of the Kentucky Water Resources Board will have positive impacts throughout all economic sectors of the state.
"At the end of the day, better water management would be a benefit to all businesses, all industries and, ultimately, all Kentuckians," he said. "With passage of this bill, it will provide a unique opportunity for Kentucky to demonstrate its willingness to meet such an issue head-on, in a bi-partisan way. It sets the bar for other states to work in the same manner."
Beck also noted KFB's appreciation of the support shown by the General Assembly in moving this legislation forward.
As of press time, a vote by the full Senate was still pending.
Tagged Post Topics Include: Action Alert, Action Alerts, David S Beck, HB 529, Joe Cain, Steve Coleman, Water


Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future (Hardcover)
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it?
That man should have dominion "over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it's said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.
In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world's rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a "super coral" that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth.
One way to look at human civilization, says Kolbert, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. In The Sixth Extinction, she explored the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world. Now she examines how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a White Sky is an utterly original examination of the challenges we face.
Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change and The Sixth Extinction, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. For her work at The New Yorker, where she's a staff writer, she has received two National Magazine Awards and the Blake-Dodd Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and children.
Praise for Under a White Sky
"Brilliantly executed and urgently necessary."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Praise for The Sixth Extinction
"A wonderful book."―President Barack Obama
"[Elizabeth Kolbert] can write with elegiac poetry about the vanishing creatures of this planet, but the real power of her book resides in the hard science and historical context she delivers here, documenting the mounting losses that human beings are leaving in their wake."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"Beautifully written . . . an excellent book."—Jon Stewart, The Daily Show
"Unlike a lot of people who write about the environment, Kolbert doesn't resort to hype. She just lays out the facts and wraps them in memorable anecdotes. It's a sobering but engaging and informative read."—Bill Gates
"Riveting . . . It is not possible to overstate the importance of this book."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Your view of the world will be fundamentally changed. . . . Kolbert is an astute observer, excellent explainer and superb synthesizer, and even manages to find humor in her subject matter."—The Seattle Times
"Kolbert has established herself as one of our very best science writers. She has developed a distinctive and eloquent voice of conscience on issues arising from the extraordinary assault on the ecosphere. . . . The result is a clear and comprehensive history of earth's previous mass extinctions—and the species we've lost—and an engaging description of the extraordinarily complex nature of life."—Al Gore, The New York Times Book Review
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Science / Environmental Science
Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection
Science / Global Warming & Climate Change
Kobo eBook (February 8th, 2021): $13.99
CD-Audio (February 9th, 2021): $29.99


Testing Autism Drugs in Human Brain Cells
A method involving pluripotent stem cells could lead to personalized treatment of the disease.
Jennifer Chuarchive page
Autism is a highly complex disorder affecting one in every 110 children born in the United States. The disease's genetic profile and behavioral symptoms fluctuate widely from case to case, and this variability has frustrated scientists' efforts to identify effective treatments. A new study suggests that autism could eventually be a target for personalized treatment, targeted to a patient's own neurons.
Point of contact: This image shows two compact masses of neuron precursor cells, derived from human pluripotent stem cells. Differentiated neurons, whose nuclei are shown in red, have begun to extend neuronal processes, shown in green, toward one another, forming neuronal connections.
A team from the University of California, San Diego, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies devised a way to study brain cells from patients with autism, and found a way reverse cellular abnormalities in neurons that have been associated with autism.
The researchers took skin biopsies from patients with a severe form of autism called Rett syndrome, and genetically reprogrammed those cells into pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells have the power to differentiate into any kind of cell in the body, depending on environmental cues during early development. The team differentiated the stem cells into fully functioning neurons, and then studied their functioning. They found that neurons derived from patients with Rett syndrome showed certain abnormalities, including markedly smaller cell bodies, dendrite connections, and decreased cell-to-cell communication.
By treating these patient-derived neurons with an experimental drug, the researchers could reverse the cellular abnormalities. The findings, published today in the journal Cell, could give scientists a powerful tool for pinpointing the causes of autism and other brain disorders, and a way to choose targeted treatments.
"It took us two years to finish this project, and personalized medicine might not be that far off," says Carol Marchetto, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at the Salk Institute. "In the lifetime of a patient, you could go from his skin sample to a reprogrammed cell, to differentiating into a neuron, and find drugs that could be used on that patient."
Rett syndrome, which mostly affects girls, can cause highly impaired social and communication skills, which become apparent soon after a child learns to walk and talk. Patients with Rett can experience increased difficulty breathing and controlling their movements, and can develop repetitive and compulsive behaviors similar to other forms of autism.
Marchetto sees Rett syndrome as a gateway to the broader study of autism, since many other forms of autism share behavioral and genetic similarities with Rett syndrome.
Most cases of autism seem to stem from a combination of genetic abnormalities, but Rett arises from a single gene mutation, found on the MeCP2 gene on the X chromosome. In girls, one of two X chromosomes carries the mutation, and during fetal brain development, one chromosome is activated within each brain cell, seemingly at random. Rett patients can exhibit varying percentages of brain cells carrying the mutation, which can manifest as varying levels of severity of the disorder.
To understand how this genetic mutation plays out at a cellular level, Marchetto and her colleague Alysson Muotri, an assistant professor in the department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the UCSD's School of Medicine, took skin biopsies from four patients with Rett syndrome, reprogrammed them into pluripotent stem cells and experimented with a number of different conditions before they found a combination of growth factors that differentiated the stem cells into functioning human neurons.
They saw that each patient-derived stem-cell line generated a different percentage of neurons carrying the gene mutation. The defective neurons looked and acted differently from their normal counterparts, exhibiting smaller cell bodies, less dendrite connections, and impaired cell-to-cell communication.
The researchers treated neuron cultures with insulin-like growth factor (iGF1), which has been shown to reverse behavioral symptoms of Rett in mice. The drug reversed the biological symptoms of the disorder in the neurons, restoring dendrite connections and cell-to-cell signaling in defective neurons. The researchers plan to use the same process to generate neurons from more patients with both Rett syndrome and other forms of autism.
Jeffrey Neul, assistant professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, who studies Rett syndrome in mice, says animal models allow scientists to observe the behavioral effects of the disease, but this is a time- and labor-intensive process.
"The field really has been in desperate need of cellular-based assays that can be used to test therapeutic compounds," says Neul. "And it's really hard to push drug discovery if you don't have something you can do in a more rapid fashion."
The process Marchetto and Muotri have developed takes three months to generate fully functioning human neurons. While this is similar to the time frame of normal brain development, the researchers are looking for ways to speed the process up so they can rapidly generate brain cells and expose them to a variety of molecular factors and drug compounds.
The team also plans to move beyond the Petri dish once they've differentiated neurons from human skin cells, to see how the neurons work in a living brain. "What we can do is transplant human neurons in mouse brains and generate chimeric [hybrid human-animal] models," says Muotri. "We can then expose these animals to different environments, and see how they will affect the human neuron."
James Ellis, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto, is doing similar work in reprogramming patients' skin cells into brain cells. He says that Muotri and Marchetto's findings open up a new testing ground for autism and other neurological disorders. "That's clearly what's going to be required of autism, where different people are going to have different mutations and mechanisms, in how they ended up with that outcome," he says.
by Jennifer Chu


New cafe and creative space in Walthamstow: Gnome House
A new cafe and creative space on Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow moved a step closer in February 2014 when planning permission was granted for the Gnome House. Gnome House will be a new community and creative space in Walthamstow, East London, minutes from Blackhorse Road tube. With affordable office and studio space it is due to become a hub for creative…
Waltham Forest Council has created a brief guide to home extensions and alterations and it can be accessed for free on its website (you will need a PDF reader). The document, its said is an "Extract from Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD" adopted in 2010. This document is a shortened version of Waltham Forest's Residential Extensions and Alterations Supplementary Planning…


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Boston Bomber to Face Death After Sentencing
Source: Handout / Getty
(RNN) – A jury has sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death. He was convicted in April of placing two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and the explosions killed three people and injured more than 260.
During the criminal trial last month, the jury found him guilty on all 30 charges he faced, 17 of which are punishable by death. Jurors agreed to the death sentence on six of those 17 counts.
Tsarnaev's lawyers are expected to appeal the decision, during which time he will be housed at a federal prison. If the sentence is upheld, he will die by lethal injection at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, IN. He would be the first federal prisoner executed since Louis Jones Jr. in 2003.
Jurors deliberated the sentence for about 14 hours over the course of three days.
Prosecutors during the trial portrayed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an equal partner with his brother, Tamerlan. The defense admitted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was guilty, but argued that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the mastermind and had incredible influence over his younger brother.
Miriam Conrad, the federal defender assigned to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's case, previously defended Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, and Rezwan Ferdaus, who was plotting to bomb the Pentagon in 2011. Often, she works to get her clients life in prison instead of the death penalty.
READ MORE: 19ActionNews.com
Article Courtesy of WOIO 19 Action News
Picture Courtesy of Getty Images
Cleveland Wants Justice – Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo Trial: LIVE Updates
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Home Politics Foreign Policy Iran Has No Problem Mediating between Iraq, Turkey: Deputy FM
Media Wire
Iran Has No Problem Mediating between Iraq, Turkey: Deputy FM
IFP Media Wire
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour said Tehran is ready to mediate between Baghdad and Ankara after the Iraqi prime minister condemned Turkey's insistence on participation in retaking the Daesh-held city of Mosul.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, Rahimpour pointed to recent remarks made by Head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati about Iran's readiness to mediate between Iraq and Turkey and said, "If they ask us (to intermediate), we have no problem".
"Naturally, Turkey and Iraq must be interested in our mediation," the Iranian diplomat added.
Tensions between Turkey and Iraq have recently continued to rise with Turkish leaders saying the country was engaged in the offensive to retake the Iraqi northern city of Mosul from the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist group.
Iraq has objected to the presence of some 500 Turkish troops at a base near Mosul, saying they are there without permission from Baghdad.
Turkey has refused to withdraw them, and insists it will play a role in the Mosul offensive.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that his country reserves the right to invade Iraq "if there is a threat posed to Turkey," and that this would include a substantial number of ground troops.
Reports and views published in the Media Wire section have been retrieved from other news agencies and websites, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website. The IFP may change the headlines of the reports in a bid to make them compatible with its own style of covering Iran News, and does not make any changes to the content. The source and URL of all reports and news stories are mentioned at the bottom of each article.