text:
The young champion swimmer who brought down Israel's Goliath telephone
monopoly now fights injustice, intolerance, and ineptitude throughout the land.
Anat Hoffman is executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center,
the legal and advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel. Previously she held
a seat on the Jerusalem City Council, where for fourteen years she stood in
opposition to the policies of the city's right-wing and ultra-Orthodox
administration. She was interviewed by the Reform Judaism editors.
How did you become such a fighter for social change and
My drive to take on tough challenges, tough opponents, goes way back to my
childhood. For example, when I was nine, a swimming team coach from Tel Aviv saw
me performing a gymnastics routine at a Jerusalem community center and said,
"Can you swim?" "Sure!" I said, and into the pool I went, dressed in my leotard,
kicking around in the water. I didn't know how to swim. "Do you want to be a
champion?" he asked me, and I answered, "Yes." "I'll teach you how to swim," he
replied, "and you'll become a champion." He did just that. In my teens I became
a champion swimmer, competing in the Maccabiah games representing Israel. I held
titles in nine events. The demands of swimming took a toll on my schooling, of
course, but that didn't stop UCLA from recruiting me for its swim team.
Is that where you got involved in Jewish activism?
Yes. First I organized the Israeli Student Organization in Southern
California to do "Israeli things" together—Israeli folk dancing, song nights,
movie nights. I was a totally secular Jew—the choice I'd seen in Israel was to
be Orthodox or nothing—and there was a general agreement among us Israelis that
we didn't do "Jewish stuff." But my attitude changed when my husband and I got
involved with the Westwood Free Minyan, which met at UCLA Hillel. It opened our
eyes to the fact that rabbis could be friendly and accepting. I also learned
that there is more than one way to be a Jew, and returned to Israel with a
strong desire to be a religious-pluralism activist.
Is that how you got involved with the Israel Religious Action Center?
Yes. In 1987 I proposed to IRAC director Rabbi Uri Regev that we open a
complaint hotline: "Call Us When You're Right." He loved it, and we got started.
Soon the complaints came pouring in from all over the country in many
languages—Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Amharic (the Ethiopian language).
Quickly a pattern emerged. Many of the complaints concerned BEZEQ, Israel's
national telephone company. People weren't getting itemized bills and didn't
know what they were paying for. So we recruited the many callers into the BEZEQ
Afflicted Clients Association and started to fight the telephone monopoly. We
organized conferences—the ultra-Orthodox, Arabs, rich, poor, everybody aired
their grievances. A chair was always set aside for Zvi Amid, BEZEQ's director
general, but he never showed up. Then we published a consumer's guide on how to
defeat the phone company in court and won 43 out of 46 cases. Eventually Zvi
Amid resigned, the telephone monopoly was broken up, and for the first time
ever, Israelis began to get itemized phone bills.
My high visibility during this perod—I was often on TV—and the realization
that I could actually achieve social change led me into politics. I ran for the
City Council of Jerusalem and held a seat for fourteen years.
What happened in year fifteen?
I decided not to run for re-election. I never forgot an article I'd
written ten years earlier demanding the retirement of the then councilman Dov
Rabinovitch, who had been on the job for twenty years, and calling him an
ineffective has-been because he didn't know when to move on. My article was
entitled, "When You're Furniture and You Don't Know It." So I took my own
advice, resigned, and looked for another job—fortuitously just as the position
of IRAC director opened up.
You must have been a shoo-in.
Not exactly. The search committee wanted to know if I, a maverick city
council member, could work with a steering committee comprised of
representatives from six different Jewish organizations—WUPJ, IMPJ, ARZA,
ARZENU, URJ, and HUC-JIR. "Yes," I said, "do you want references?" Someone
replied with a laugh, almost a dare, "Bring one from Ehud Olmert." The mayor and
I had an adversarial relationship, and as a councilwoman I had initiated thirty
court petitions and four police investigations against him. But I accepted the
challenge. Olmert wrote a letter of recommendation and called some members of
the search committee on my behalf. Basically he said that he regretted that I
was rarely on his side. I got the job on my birthday, April 1, 2002.
What were IRAC's priorities then?
Advancing religious pluralism and fighting for social justice and tolerance
towards minorities in Israel—including, of course, Reform Jews. Our mission
hasn't changed, but we've now broadened our scope, writing new legislation,
teaching about social responsibility on the grassroots level, catalyzing 50+
social action programs in congregations of all denominations, and doing tzedakah
for Israel's neediest populations.
How do you aid poor Israelis?
We've created a fund called Keren B'Kavod which works with different
organizations to supply packages to those who can't afford food for the
holidays. Volunteers from Israeli Reform congregations collect food, clothes,
and other goods and arrange for their distribution to families in thirty cities
and towns throughout the country. Last year we set a new record, collecting
seven tons of dry goods.
We donate to anyone in need. This year, in preparation for Eid al-Fitr, the
Muslim feast that concludes the month of Ramadan, local Arab youth from Acco and
Jewish high-school students from the Leo Baeck Educational Institute in Haifa
assembled food packages that we distributed to 350 poor Israeli Muslim families.
For Christmas, seventh graders from Congregation Kol HaNeshama in Jerusalem
put together packages which we disbursed to more than 300 needy Christian
families. We also provide humanitarian aid to hundreds of newly arrived refugees
from Darfur.
The beneficiaries of this program are not only the poor people we serve, but
also the local shopkeepers. So, for example, to help the besieged residents of
S'derot, which is being constantly hit with missiles from Gaza, we buy up
everything in the city's grocery stores. We walk in and say, "We'll take all the
tuna, all the corn, all the diapers, etc, and we'll pay in cash." We absorb the
thirty percent markup, but since we save twenty percent for transportation
because we're buying locally, it ends up being ten percent above the wholesale
price. Still, it's worth it to support these grocery stores because we enable
them to help their customers by extending credit, and that's why they love the
Reform Movement. I can't tell you how many times the local shopkeepers will pull
out their record books and say, "You see this? She doesn't pay because she's
handicapped. This one I carry, he's my neighbor, I don't have the heart…."
How is the program paid for?
Donations. Of the one million shekelim ($300,000) it takes to run this
project, 30% comes from Reform Israelis and their friends and families, 30%
comes from Reform congregations and affiliates in North America, and the balance
is raised from foundations. The Union for Reform Judaism provides ongoing
support and contributes significant funding through its Reform Movement-wide
Israel Emergency campaigns.
We also use the funds to support our advocacy efforts, such as securing
passage of legislation requiring that hot meals be served in Israeli public
schools. We are lobbying for a "Good Samaritan" law which would allow businesses
to donate leftover food without fear of litigation. We are also part of
coalitions which advocate on behalf of disadvantaged groups such as single
mothers, people with special needs, and Darfurian refugees seeking asylum in
What is IRAC doing to try to break the Orthodox monopoly on
religious affairs?
IRAC confronts this monopoly on multiple levels. Legally, through our
Resource Allocations Monitoring Project (RAMP), we track the amount of money
allocated to Orthodox institutions and rabbis as compared to non-Orthodox
organizations and then use the evidence we find of unjust and unequal government
funding to prove discrimination. This becomes the basis for our cases concerning
Reform synagogue buildings, Reform representation on local Religious Councils,
and recognition of Reform rabbis in Israel. We also use litigation when Orthodox
communities or institutions abuse their power, such as taking over synagogues or
forcing gender segregation on some public buses.
Simultaneously, on the advocacy front, we support the passage of bills that
will promote a more pluralistic and democratic Israel, such as the creation of a
civil marriage option. And our staff is constantly blocking a barrage of
proposed bills that would further enshrine Orthodox party power, such as a
proposed law that would have made it mandatory for all government committees to
have an ultra-Orthodox representative.
I'll be the first to admit, however, that even with all of our legal and
advocacy work, it is difficult to make headway.
Why is that?
In large part because neither the left nor the right has been able to gain a
clear majority in the Knesset. After every election the ruling coalition is
dependent on the Orthodox voting bloc, which demands full control of Israel's
Jewish religious institutions as the price of joining the coalition—and the
Reform and Conservative Movements thus are sold out.
Another reason is that North American Jews have been too passive about
demanding their full religious rights in Israel.
Maybe we're just realistic—we don't have the numbers to constitute a swing
vote in Israel.
That's a false, Orthodox argument. Not long ago the Minister of Religious
Affairs said to me, "We'll talk when you bring a million Reform Jews to Israel."
"If we were to bring a million Reform Jews to Israel," I told him, "then one of
our leaders would be the Minister of Religious Affairs—and not you." In a
democracy it's the minority's rights that must be protected. If Israel claims to
be the state of the Jews, with Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish world and the
Western Wall the holiest site of the Jewish people, then Israel has to adopt
practices that reflect the realities of the larger Jewish world. Let's not buy
the line: "When you make aliyah en masse, we'll talk." We must speak out
now so we are heard now.
Why do you think Reform Jews are so reluctant to speak out?
They have been conditioned to sacrifice their desires and needs for the sake
of Jewish unity: "Don't stir up trouble; don't rock the boat. Israel has much
bigger challenges to deal with right now." Well, in all this time there's never
been a quiet moment for Israel, so that line of thinking is simply a copout. If
we believe Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Eric Yoffie when he says
that what happens in the Jewish state determines what's going to happen in the
Jewish world as a whole, let's go fight for the future of the Jewish world by
demanding that Israel be a pluralistic, egalitarian, and tolerant society. If
the largest stream of Judaism in North America makes a nuisance of itself with
the Israeli public, decision makers, and government policymakers, it will be
heard in Israel—and that's political power. That's how change happens.
Let me add here that the Reform Movement in North America has been very
influential for us in other ways.
How so?
One of IRAC's leading strategies, which we're putting into practice in our
"Just Communities" (Kehillat Tzedek) project, was actually taught to us
by your Rabbi Jonah Pesner [director of the Union for Reform Judaism's "Just
Congregations" project]: organizing for social change by getting to the root of
the problem and joining forces with other stake-holding groups. Also, with the
guidance of Rabbi Richard Address [who heads the Union's Department of Jewish
Family Concerns], we've implemented Kehillat Tzedek caring community
programs in more than fifty congregations across Israel. And when I say "we,"
here I mean Reform, Conservative, secular, and Orthodox activists—ten Modern
Orthodox communities have joined the group. This diversity of activists working
together in Israel is a very hopeful development and, I believe, emblematic of
Reform Judaism's unique contribution to Israel: social action in a religious
One of our projects is a used-clothing store for haredi
(ultra-Orthodox) single mothers in the development town of Beit Shemesh.
A Reform congregation of only thirty families, Kehillat Tzur-Hadassah,
proposed the idea, took our training course, received seed money from IRAC, and
implemented the program. To start, congregants solicited donations from every
town resident and collected over a ton of clothing. Everybody—paid staff,
kindergarten parents, the rabbi—was involved in washing and repairing the
clothes. Drivers then went out and ferried the single moms to the store, located
inside the synagogue. The "customers" filled large plastic bags with the clothes
they needed for themselves and their families—as well as garments they would
later resell for about 380 shekels ($75). When we asked these women, among the
poorest in Israel, what they planned to do with their "profits," one of them
said, "Oh, we want to do like you. We want to give to the poor." And that's
exactly what they did—give half the money to needy people like themselves. I
asked one single mom what she thought of this unlikely relationship—a Reform
congregation involved with a haredi group—and she said, "Oh, we didn't know
Reform Jews were such good people."
How does IRAC safeguard the rights of new immigrants?
We help them through difficulties pertaining to proving their Jewish status.
On the one hand, Israel is working to bring as many new Jewish immigrants to
Israel as possible; and at the same time, these newcomers face a bureaucratic
minefield. Even within different government agencies there isn't agreement on
who qualifies as a Jew.
One example is the case of Anastasia Zakolodkin and her family. Anastasia
came to Israel on one of the Jewish Agency's programs geared to teenagers from
the former Soviet Union. As part of the aliyah process, the teenagers complete
their secondary school education in Israel, serve in the military, and then
continue their lives as Israelis. Eventually, the families of the students
follow the path toward aliyah. At the beginning of the process, an Israeli
representative in the home country of the prospective oleh (immigrant) conducts
research to determine an applicant's religious status. If the applicant is from
the FSU, identity records on religion and ethnicity can be retrieved from
government archives.
A year ago the Zakolodkin family needed the services of the Ministry of
Interior. During this process, a review was made of their original documentation
and the clerk decided that a document indicating that Anastasia's grandmother
was Jewish was forged. As a result, after years of living as Israelis, in a
matter of days the citizenship of Anastasia and her family was revoked and they
were ordered to leave the country immediately.
Unfortunately, these kinds of difficulties happen all the time, and although
it is against the law, the responsibility to re-demonstrate proof of their
Jewishness is put on the olim themselves. This is even more galling when you
understand that the Jewish Agency and the government of Israel were responsible
for bringing these olim to Israel in the first place.
Yes, Israel must protect itself from those who would abuse the Law of Return,
but the process of document review and citizenship revocation is unclear,
complicated, and unyielding when Jews from the FSU don't have the documentation
proving their Jewishness because they'd deliberately destroyed it in order to
escape Soviet persecution.
In the case of Anastasia and her family, we went to court against the
Ministry of Interior and argued that the responsibility of investigation is on
the government, not Anastasia's family, and it has not been proven that their
documents are fake. The Ministry has agreed to recheck the documents and to meet
with the family. One of our attorneys will be there with them when they do.
What proof of Jewishness does the Ministry consider valid?
They've asked our clients: Do you speak Yiddish? Can you present a letter
from an Orthodox rabbi who knew your parents and grandparents and can declare
that they/you are Jewish? Can you furnish a public document that shows you're
Jewish? What foods do Jews typically eat on Shavuot? Do you have a photograph of
a tombstone of your grandmother in a Jewish cemetery? Compile a list of five
Jews who can prove that you/your parents are Jewish. And—in cases where the
father is not Jewish—can you prove that your mother did not convert to another
religion? I don't know many Jews who could pass such a test.
Are these kinds of questions asked of every Jew who wants to make
Yes. To receive citizenship under Israel's Law of Return, you have to prove
that your mother was Jewish, or, in case you have converted to Judaism, that it
was done under the auspices of either an Orthodox rabbi or the Rabbinic Court
recognized by the Orthodox-controlled Ministry of Interior. That's the political
reality in Israel today.
Where does IRAC stand on this?
We say that the law should recognize as a Jew anyone born of a Jewish mother
or father (so long as she or he has not converted to another religion), any
person who has converted to Judaism by any ordained rabbi, or anyone who has
been persecuted because of anti-Semitism. Ironically, under the law, someone
like Pavel Friedman, the young man who wrote the now well-known poem "There Are
No Butterflies Here" while in the Terezin concentration camp, would not have
been considered a Jew, even though he was murdered in Auschwitz as a Jew.
You see, Pavel's father was Jewish, but his mother was not. I learned this
while working on a project initiated by two American Reform Jews, Sue and Jimmy
Klau, to honor the memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children who died in the
Shoah. Sue envisioned collecting that number of butterfly drawings from young
people around the world and putting them on permanent display in Israel. She
wanted a member of the Friedman family present at the project's launch; our task
was to locate a Friedman. The telephone directory was not much help, as Friedman
is the eighteenth most common name in Israel. So we hired a historian, who not
only found a document confirming that Pavel was killed in Auschwitz in 1942, but
also discovered, through the Terezin archives, that he was not a young boy as
everyone believed, but a 22-year-old man. Not only that—Pavel was married at the
Terezin concentration camp to a woman named Adina Schnitzer, who survived,
settled in Israel, and now at age 84 lives on Kibbutz Ginnegar. The Klaus and I
went to meet Adina Schnitzer, and she told us that Pavel's mother was not
Jewish. So it turns out that perhaps the most famous Jewish boy of the Shoah was
not a boy but a man, and not a Jew according to halachah (Jewish law). And, by
the way, Adina added that Pavel taught Hebrew in the concentration camp; that's
how she became attracted to him. The first word he taught her was ahava, love—a
word which should figure prominently into Israel's modern immigration policy.
Did the butterflies catch on?
Thus far we've received more than 36,000 drawings. Some are from preschool
students around the world. Some are unexpected—like the one from a boy named
Adolf in Cologne, Germany and a thousand butterflies from Palestinian prisoners.
What are your other initiatives?
In 2006 we petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing that Rabbi Miri Gold, a
Reform rabbi from Kibbutz Gezer, should be recognized as an official rabbi for
the Gezer Municipality and be paid for the services she provides to her
community, leading regular and holiday prayer services as well as performing
b'nai mitzvah and funeral ceremonies. This may sound strange, asking for the
government to pay the salary of the rabbi, but in Israel salaries for Orthodox
rabbis are paid by the government. Because non-Orthodox rabbis are not
recognized by the state, if you're a Reform Jew in Israel you have to pay double
for religious services: first you pay taxes that go toward the salaries of
Orthodox rabbis and their synagogue buildings; then you pay again for your
unrecognized rabbi and your unrecognized building. We say, if the government
uses tax dollars to pay for rabbis, then our rabbis should be similarly paid
from state funds as a matter of equality. Currently Israel's several hundred
municipal rabbis are all Orthodox men, even though the vast majority of the
population in almost all municipalities, including Gezer, are non-Orthodox. To
strengthen our case, we have asked the government to supply us with a report
that shows, for example, how many of the municipal rabbis on the government
payroll actually live in the municipality they serve, what services they
provide, to whom, and how often. We believe that in regions like Gezer where
there are few Orthodox residents, these rabbis do very little, whereas Rabbi
Gold is constantly busy meeting the spiritual needs of the local people.
Do you expect to win?
Yes, we're making inroads elsewhere. After a six-year legal battle—short by
Israeli standards—we secured state funding for six non-Orthodox synagogues—the
first time in Israel's sixty-year history that the government recognized the
religious needs of non-Orthodox Jews and provided them with a sacred place to
pray. What a change: in the past we haven't even been able to get permits to
establish a Reform synagogue, let alone receive assistance in actually building
one. Hopefully, this will be but the first step in securing full and equal
government funding for the Reform Jewish presence in Israel. Our country
desperately needs a Jewish movement like ours that promotes humanistic,
egalitarian, and democratic values—a spiritual Judaism that can not only help to
heal the world, but to heal Israel.
So, you see, if we keep up the pressure year after year, eventually we will
win. We've got to.
Help our Israel Movement
The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) is facing a
severe financial crisis, having lost more than 30% of this year's budgeted
funding as a result of the U.S. dollar's dramatic fall in value in relation to
the shekel. To stay afloat, the IMPJ has laid off half its staff and drastically
cut back on operations—and just when the Movement has been at its most vibrant,
with almost thirty congregations, a youth movement, two kibbutzim, the Har
Chalutz community, and its own Religious Action Center.
The Union for Reform Judaism's Israel Emergency Campaign has
raised over $300,000, but more funds are needed. You can make a big difference
to our future in Israel by contributing at www.urj.org/israel/impj.
To Learn About
Contact www.irac.org, firstname.lastname@example.com.


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SB Nation Minnesota: All Posts by Pat Johnston http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48959/mn-fave.png 2014-07-27T15:53:54-05:00 http://minnesota.sbnation.com/authors/pat-johnston/rss 2014-07-27T16:53:54-04:00 2014-07-27T16:53:54-04:00 Gyasi Zardes: LA Galaxy's not so secret weapon
Gyasi Zardes has had the kind of season the LA Galaxy were hoping for when the G's signed him as a Homegrown Player at the end of 2012. The former CSU Bakersfield star is second in scoring on the Galaxy in 2014 after struggling to maximize his numerous chances last season. We take a look at his development from his rookie season.

Gyasi Zardes showed signs of real promise in his rookie campaign during the 2013 MLS season, scoring four goals and two-game winning goals for the LA Galaxy. Zardes' four tallies were more than the total goals scored by LA's other young guns Jack McBean and Jose Villarreal combined (3). However, those goals came at a cost. Zardes took 13 more shots than Robbie Keane who led the team with 16 goals. More patience could have led to more assists than the four Zardes had or better scoring chances for himself. What's changed (besides the lack of competition from McBean and Villarreal who aren't with the first team)?

In fewer than half of the minutes he played last season, Zardes has already scored six times (including a team-leading four game-winners) while only taking the fourth most shots on the team. Zardes also scores nearly at the same rate (0.61) per 90 minutes as team leader Keane (0.63).

Zardes' Match Impact Rating of 42.0 is also vastly improved since 2013's 23.7. Even while reserving his shot attempts, Zardes' shots on goal are nearly the same this season as last. His points per 90 minutes have more than doubled to 0.70 and his scoring chance percentage has increased from 5.1 percent to 25 percent. His runs off the ball have also maximized his positioning in the attacking half (see below).

While things are going right at the forward position, Josie astutely pointed out that Landon Donovan's transition to CAM has been lacking in the production department. Donovan actually hasn't had any points as a CAM yet in six matches. If the Galaxy are going to overcome the problems in consistent offensive production that have plagued the team since David Beckham left, Donovan's going to have to figure out a way how to get things going. Otherwise, the transformation of Zardes is just swapping out the youngster for last year's Donovan for a 1-2 punch with Keane (without the passing) instead of gaining a balance that can win games when the stars are off-form.
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/7/27/5941895/gyasi-zardes-goal-la-galaxy-match-impact-rating Pat Johnston 2014-07-19T13:37:41-04:00 2014-07-19T13:37:41-04:00 James Rodriguez first in 2014 World Cup Match Impact Rating
Colombia's James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for most goals scored at the 2014 World Cup and took home our Striker Index for his goal scoring as well and he also finished first in Match Impact Rating for the tournament by bordering on perfection. Shouldn't he have won the Golden Ball as well?

James Rodriguez helped Colombia get to the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with dazzling consistency on the pitch. His Match Impact Rating flirted with perfection for the tournament coming in at a 91.2 and he took home first place in the Striker Index. Rodriguez' teammate and the overall assist leader at the World Cup, Juan Cuadrado, finished second in MIR at the event. Their performances tell part of the story of how Colombia sailed through Group C with three wins and a goal differential of +7 before upending Uruguay and falling to Brazil narrowly in the quarterfinals. Germany was the only other country with two players in the Top 10 (Mueller and Schuerrle). Golden Ball winner, Argentina's Lionel Messi, was barely in the Top 15 of MIR at the World Cup and we'll get to his unwarranted reward after the standings (min. 240 mins played).

World Cup 2014 MIR Leaders

 Player	 Team	 MIR	 PTS/90

 James Rodriguez	 COL	 91.2	 1.82

 Alexis Sanchez	 CHI	 83.2	 0.69

 Juan Cuadrado	 COL	 79.4	 1.17

 Neymar	 BRA	 70.4	 0.98

 Enner Valenica	 ECU	 62.2	 1.00

 Xherdan Shaqiri	 SUI	 62.0	 0.70

 Thomas Mueller	 GER	 61.6	 1.04

 Joel Campbell	 CRC	 60.8	 0.43

 Asamoah Gyan	 GHA	 59.8	 1.00

 Andre Schuerrle	 GER	 57.7	 1.48

In the case of Messi (Gerard Houiller's lukewarm defense of team play and less than half a tournament as a basis for an award of an individual's outstanding play across the competition aside), his MIR for the entire World Cup was a 47.4 (15th) which is very good but not excellent. In order to make a case for the Golden Ball for Messi, the argument would have to be limited to the Group Stage where he scored four goals in three matches, including two game-winning goals and had a MIR of 74.6 (Messi's MIR in the knockout rounds was a 30.0 with just one assist and three shots on goal). Messi finished sixth in the Striker Index for the tournament with fewer goals per 90 minutes (.52) than any player in the Top 10 besides Arjen Robben (0.39).

Alexis Sanchez of Chile is probably a surprise to most at #2 but what propelled him there was a solid points per 90 minutes, plus striking efficiency with his two goals coming on a mere seven attempts and drawing the most fouls per 90 minutes in the tournament (5.53). Joel Campbell at #8, who was the second most fouled player per 90 minutes (4.33), had a similar story.

The top United States player for the World Cup in MIR was Jermaine Jones at #20. Jones finished with a 41.4, drawing 2.54 fouls per 90 minutes (11th) and scoring 0.46 points per 90 minutes. Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley's poor performance over the course of the matches in Brazil had him finish with a MIR of 13.5.
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/7/19/5904587/james-rodriguez-first-in-2014-world-cup-match-impact-rating Pat Johnston 2014-07-15T23:43:50-04:00 2014-07-15T23:43:50-04:00 James Rodriguez wins 2014 World Cup Striker Index
Colombia's James Rodriguez took home the Golden Boot by scoring the most goals at the 2014 World Cup with six tallies, but he also easily won the Striker Index over Neymar from host side Brazil.

Unlike the Golden Ball, the FIFA had no choice but to get it right at the 2014 World Cup by handing Colombia's James Rodriguez the Golden Boot for most goals.

Rodriguez is the first Colombian to win the Golden Boot and is also the first to take home a first-place finish in the Striker Index. As all of the teams save for Brazil were away teams in the tournament, the away goals factor of the Strike Index was tweaked to account for goals scored in the knockout round as opposed to the group stage. Here's the Top 10 in the Striker Index for the 2014 World Cup:

2014 World Cup Striker Index

 Player	 Team	 Average Rank	 Goals/90 Minutes

 James Rodriguez	 COL	 2.8	 1.37

 Neymar	 BRA	 4.1	 0.79

 Robin van Persie	 NED	 4.2	 0.66

 Thomas Mueller	 GER	 4.3	 0.65

 Andre Schuerrle	 GER	 4.9	 1.11

 Lionel Messi	 ARG	 5	 0.52

 Enner Valencia	 ECU	 5.3	 1.00

 Karim Benzema	 FRA	 5.3	 0.60

 Xherdan Shaqiri	 SWI	 5.6	 0.70

 Arjen Robben	 NED	 6.4	 0.39

James Rodriguez scored half of his six goals in the knockout round of the tournament, matching Andre Schuerrle's three goals in the knockout round. Rodriguez also impressively scored at least one goal in each of Colombia's five matches in the World Cup, which also ranked him first in goals scored per 90 minutes of action. Overall, Rodriguez ranked first in half of the eight categories that go into the Striker Index. No other player finished first in more than two categories (Schuerrle topped shots on goal per 90 minutes, 3.32, and tied Rodriguez in knockout round goals). Tellingly in a high-scoring event, only one player in the Top 10, Enner Valencia, did not see his team advance from the group stage while the champion and third-place finisher each had two players in the Top 10.

Valencia and Benzema both had success in the group stage of the World Cup with very different shooting efforts. Benzema took 31 attempts (15 on net) at a rate of 6.2 per 90 minutes while Valencia only needed eight shots in three matches to notch three goals for his side.

Who won LAG Confidential's version of the Golden Ball with the Match Impact Rating? Stay tuned.
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/7/15/5903657/james-rodriguez-world-cup-2014-striker-index-lionel-messi-thomas-muller Pat Johnston 2014-06-08T19:23:12-04:00 2014-06-08T19:23:12-04:00 LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA: Staring XI: Samuel will start at forward
The LA Galaxy will have Samuel start at forward and Robbie Rogers start at left back against Chivas USA on Sunday . Centerback Omar Gonzalez (USA) and forward Robbie Keane (Ireland) are away on international duty.

The LA Galaxy have announced their Starting XI for Sunday's match against Chivas USA. In the previous meeting this season on April 6, the Galaxy defeated the Goats, 3-0. The Galaxy got goals from Robbie Keane, Stefan Ishizaki and Baggio Husidic. Keane is away on international duty with the Republic of Ireland. The Galaxy will also be without centerback Omar Gonzalez who is on national team duty with the United States.

Samuel will get the start at forward in Keane's place. Gyasi Zardes will also be in the forward slot as opposed to his usual role this season in the midfield. Robbie Rogers will join the back line tonight in his first MLS start of 2014 and A.J. DeLaGarza will be in the center back role to compensate for Omar Gonzalez not being available.

Chivas USA Starting XI: Dan Kennedy; Eric Avila, Donny Toia, Carlos Bocanegra, Bobby Burling, Tony Lochhead, Mauro Rosales, Agustin Pelletieri, Martin Rivero, Leandro Barrera; Erick Torres

The match kicks off at 5:00 p.m. Pacific at the StubHub Center and is televised on Time Warner Cable Sports and Univision Deportes.

Be sure to drop some comments during the match about this intriguing lineup and what hopes to be another victory for the G's!
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/6/8/5791528/galaxy-vs-chivas-usa-starting-xi-preview Pat Johnston 2014-06-02T09:31:54-04:00 2014-06-02T09:31:54-04:00 LA Galaxy draw vs. Chicago Fire: Donovan scores, Keane fumes about the heat
The LA Galaxy fought through the heat and humidity at kickoff on Sunday at Toyota Park and secured a 1-1 draw against the Chicago Fire on the strength of a Landon Donovan goal.

#LAGalaxy starting XI: Penedo; Gargan, Meyer, Leonardo, DLG; Ishizaki, Walker, Juninho, Husidic; Keane, Donovan pic.twitter.com/wi5KBGpaWe
 — LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) June 1, 2014

The LA Galaxy roll out essentially same lineup that defeated the Philadelphia Union 4-1 last weekend, to face the Chicago Fire who will be without Mike Magee (bad leg). The one replacement is Stefan Ishizaki coming in for Gyasi Zardes. Kicking off after the United States finish their warm-up match against Turkey, where Omar Gonzalez as of this writing is yet to make an appearance.

LA Galaxy bench: Rowe, Sarvas, Samuel, Zardes, Rogers, Opare.

Marcelo Sarvas returns to the match day eighteen, replacing Rob Friend. That's three midfield options off the bench, then one each at the other levels.

Chicago Fire Starting XI: Johnson; Palmer, Hurtado, Soumare, Segares; Ward, Larentowicz ©, Ritter, Duka; Shipp, Amarikwa

Chicago Fire Subs: Reynish, Kinney, Cochrane, Watson, Joya, Barouch, Anangono

The match kicks off at 1:00pm on Time Warner Sportsnet.
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/6/2/5771892/galaxy-vs-fire-landon-donovan-goal-robbie-keane-highlights-recap Pat Johnston 2014-06-02T09:24:21-04:00 2014-06-02T09:24:21-04:00 Landon Donovan led Galaxy in Match Impact Rating in draw vs. Fire
Landon Donovan scored his third goal in two matches as the LA Galaxy drew 1-1 with the Chicago Fire on Sunday at Toyota Park. Donovan led the Galaxy in Match Impact Rating for the second straight match as well.

Landon Donovan and the LA Galaxy were able to pull a 1-1 draw out of a match against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park on Sunday that Galaxy captain Robbie Keane thought was too hot to be worth anyone's time or effort (we're putting it much more mildly than Keane did).

With his goal on Sunday, Donovan has now scored three goals in two matches since being slighted by Juergen Klinsmann for a spot on the U.S. Men's National Team's 2014 World Cup roster. Donovan scored on his only shot of the match following a cross from Robbie Rogers. Donovan also committed two fouls (one drawing a yellow card) and suffered one foul in his 90 minutes of play to finish with a team-leading Match Impact Rating of 64.5.

The Galaxy as a team were very economical with their shot attempts (perhaps because of the temperatures), taking just five all match. The only other player to register a solid MIR as a result was Rogers, who finished with a 57.4 while playing the role of super sub with the assist in his 47 minutes of action.

Below is Donovan's 137th MLS career regular season goal, which extends his all-time league record.

The Galaxy next play on June 8 against Chivas USA.
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/6/2/5771804/landon-donovan-goal-galaxy-vs-fire-match-impact-rating Pat Johnston 2014-05-26T11:30:54-04:00 2014-05-26T11:30:54-04:00 LA Galaxy vs. Philadelphia Union: Donovan breaks MLS all-time scoring record in 4-1 win
Landon Donovan broke the MLS all-time scoring record with a brace in the LA Galaxy's 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union on Sunday at StubHub Center.

The LA Galaxy are in action for the second time this week hosting the Philadelphia Union at the StubHub! Center with a 5:00pm kickoff. Landon Donovan is in the starting lineup after his dismissal from United States national team camp. There's one quote that keeps floating in my head, out of context, from a beloved science fiction series.

"Shiny. Let's be bad guys."

#LAGalaxy starting XI: Penedo; Gargan, Leonardo, Meyer, DLG; Zardes, Walker, Juninho, Husidic; Keane, Donovan #LAvPHI pic.twitter.com/xLfZ4KZuTc
 — LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 25, 2014

Donovan is back. Jurgen Klinsmann either doesn't want him anymore or at least thinks he's not up to the intense tournament that is the World Cup. Shiny. That's all well and good. Let's be bad guys. Let's just go out and do what we have to do to survive.

"Come a day there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don't push me, and I won't push you. Dong le ma?"

Or to get biblical: "Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die." So let's take a look at our brave warriors. Or to quote The Big Lebowski: "F' it Dude. Let's go Bowling." So let's meet our merry band of warriors.

Landon Donovan starts up top with Robbie Keane, with a flat four behind them. Gyasi Zardes retains his spot out wide, but Baggio Husidic starts on the other side replacing Stefan Ishizaki. Leonardo returns to the starting XI, taking out Kofi Opare.

LA Galaxy Subs: Rowe, Samuel, Rogers, Friend, Ishizaki, Opare, Mendiola

Philadelphia Union: MacMath, Fabinho, Williams, Okugo, Gaddis, Carroll (c), Edu, Nogueira, Fernandes, Cruz, Hoppenot

Another recently departed national teamer, Maurie Edu, starts in the midfield for the Philadelphia Union.

Philadelphia Union subs: Holt, White, Lahoud, Fred, Pfeffer, Casey, Wenger

Update: LA Galaxy up 1-0 on a Leonardo goal assisted by Landon Donovan

Pure joy. #Samba #LAvPHI pic.twitter.com/MP6wNj3TK8
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 26, 2014
  http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/5/26/5751932/la-galaxy-vs-philadelphia-union-landon-donovan-recap-highlights Pat Johnston 2014-05-26T11:24:32-04:00 2014-05-26T11:24:32-04:00 Donovan, Keane led Galaxy in Match Impact Rating on record-setting night vs. Union
Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane put on a show in the LA Galaxy's 4-1 throttling of the Philadelphia Union on Sunday. Both players accounted for three points and led the Galaxy in Match Impact Rating in the match that saw Donovan break the MLS all-time goals scored record.

Landon Donovan finally shattered the MLS all-time goals scored mark on Sunday in the LA Galaxy's 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union. All it took was a little motivation from U.S. Men's National Team coach Juergen Klinsmann who snubbed Donovan on the USA's roster for the 2014 World Cup.

Donovan and Robbie Keane were merciless against the Union and each finished with three points and recorded the top two Match Impact Rating performances of the season by a Galaxy player. Donovan scored twice on feeds from Keane and assisted on Leonardo's goal to start the match. Donovan only needed three shots to give himself a little separation on the all-time goal chart from Jeff Cunningham. Donovan finished the match with a MIR of 115.1, the first rating above 100 this season for the Galaxy. Keane finished with a MIR of 94.3 for his goal and two assists on nine shot attempts (three on target).

Leonardo recorded the other high MIR with a 55.5 for his headed goal off a set piece on his only attempt of the match. The full-match highlights are below:

Let's play Devil's Advocate for a minute for Klinsmann. Before last night, Donovan was not up to his usual form in MLS play, performing nearly 30 points under his average MLS MIR at a 15.9 with just two assists and no goals.

However, that was only based on seven matches of data. With Sunday's performance alone, Donovan's 2014 MLS MIR was raised to a 27.6 and would put him on pace for a season like his 2004 campaign with the San Jose Earthquakes when he finished with 6 goals, 10 assists and a MIR of 42.0. Donovan also scored five goals for the U.S. in 2004, including four World Cup qualifying tallies.
 http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/5/26/5751730/landon-donovan-mls-goal-record-robbie-keane-galaxy-vs-union-match-impact-rating Pat Johnston

subset: commoncrawl


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Of course this case should be summarily dismissed by the judge, but what is a judge before and after being a judge? You guessed it: a lawyer.December 26, 2010 at 10:56 p.m.
A prominent trial lawyer in town once said when it comes down to being between making money and legal ethics the ethics have to go everytime. One of the biggest oxymorons in the world is the term "legal ethics". The cause of most human misery and government waste can be directly attributed to lawyers. Shakespeare had it right centuries ago when one of the characters in one of his plays said, "The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers". Had they followed his advice then we would all be better off now.
waywardwind, you have a good point. If the ambulance chaser were on the hook for the defendant's costs, that would solve the problem, regardless of his ethics or lack thereof.November 3, 2010 at 4:05 p.m.
These vehicles are not designed to transport people. So this claim is absolutely retarded. The immigrants knew the danger the were putting themselves in and did it anyways. It is sad, but it their actions that lead to their demise.November 3, 2010 at 8 a.m.
Observer...I can understand the plaintiffs wanting to sue. An honest, ethical lawyer would tell them when they don't have a reasonable case and not take it. I think the lawyers who file these types of harassing lawsuits should pay when they LOSE.November 2, 2010 at 5:10 p.m.
This is the best argument I have seen in quite some time for a change to the English System for civil suits. If the loser has to pay, inane, insane suits such as this would never be filed.November 2, 2010 at 2:23 p.m.
ajt20m...Nah, the judge won't dismiss. He's a lawyer and other lawyers contribute to his re-election fund. The judge would be afraid that the lawyers would cut him off and support somebody who WOULD allow such cases to go through. This will be a total waste of tax dollars. When this case is finished, Delgado should be required to repay the state for the court costs and the companies for their defense costs. I'm trying REAL hard here to see Delgado as a member of a noble profession. It just ain't happenin'.
Qbert...Bite you tongue! Or your typing fingers. One thing we don't need is another fatal funnel series. Don't give the editors any ideas.November 2, 2010 at 11:46 a.m.
It takes a real lowlife piece of trash to want to benefit from such a tragedy.November 2, 2010 at 10:59 a.m.
sounds like we need another fatal funnel year long storyNovember 2, 2010 at 10:52 a.m.
"The lawsuit contends the immigrants, who were transported illegally inside a sealed tractor-trailer, could not get out because the trailer lacked escape hatches."
The event was terrible and I truly feel for the family.
That being said, this is the most absurd thing I've ever heard.November 2, 2010 at 9:47 a.m.
Wow! Can't believe what I am reading. I am saddened of the events that led to this lawsuit. However everyone in this situation was a criminal. It's sad that the familes are most likely going to profit off of their families criminal activity.
I really can't say more because you all coved it already. Well said everyone. Maybe a judge will dismis the cas.November 2, 2010 at 8:55 a.m.
Absolutely unbelievable. I'm sure that when the trailer manufacturer made this model, they were thinking that they needed to make it suitable for human transport. Yeah right.November 1, 2010 at 8:49 p.m.
OMG , this is a joke right?????November 1, 2010 at 5:10 p.m.
And lawyers wonder why they get a bad rap. Regardless of how insane the lawsuit is, there will be one lawyer that sees $$$.October 31, 2010 at 9:10 a.m.
This,by far, is the most absurd thing I've read today. Everyone in the world seems to be sue happy lately, even the criminals or family of the criminals, in this case.
While I have compassion for the families of the people who died, they died while commiting a crime.
The focus seems to have always been on the illegal activity of the driver of the truck and the people behind the transport of these people but the bottom line is these people climbed into this trailer knowing that what they were doing was illegal.
Sueing the maker of the trailer is just plan dumb. Nearly as dumb as crawling into the back of a tractor trailer and paying strangers to take you to the promised land.October 31, 2010 at 8:52 a.m.


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Gwinnett County police say an apparent DUI driver is at fault for a deadly accident that happened on Highway 78 near Snellville on Wednesday night. Investigators believe 70-year-old Michael Snider caused at least 17 different hit-and-run crashes along a stretch of several miles. Police say Snider was behind the wheel of a gray 2006 Ford Super Duty truck, and they believe he hit more than a dozen cars as he drove down Hwy. 78 from DeKalb County to Snellville. The worst of those crashes happened when he crashed into the back of a Toyota Camry driven by 51-year-old Yeshihareg Abebe. The impact from the crash caused the Camry to be crushed by a tractor-trailer that was stopped right next to it. Police say Snider kept driving and crashed through the front of Johnboy's Home Cooking Restaurant. Adebe was sent to a local hospital for treatment with life-threatening injuries. A passenger who was riding in the Camry, 69-year-old Mintiwab Woldeyhans, died at the scene.Moments after the impact, drivers passing the scene rushed to help. "We busted the window open. At that time we only thought it was one person. But something told me to go around the other side," said witness Cameron Brown.While some witnesses focused on helping those inside the crushed car, others trailed Snider."The guy got out and someone pinned him against the wall," said witness Eric Prichard.Gwinnett county investigators say Snider was drunk, and that the trouble started at another location."This originated in DeKalb County, where he hit five different vehicles, causing five different accidents. Drove into Gwinnett County and was involved in 12 separate hit-and-run accidents. And then was involved in this accident here," said Cpl. Edwin Ritter of the Gwinnett County Police Department.Police say the driver and passenger in the tractor-trailer were not injured, and the drivers of the two other vehicles complained of back pain and refused medical treatment.Snider complained of injuries and was taken to an area hospital. He was later taken to the Gwinnett County Jail. A judge denied to grant him bond on Thursday afternoon. Police say he faces numerous charges, including vehicular homicide, reckless driving, DUI and several counts of hit-and-run. A preliminary hearing for Snider is set for February 1 at 1 :30 p.m. Neighbors who live near Snider's Stone Mountain home describe him as recluse, and they say he lives alone.
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(WMC-TV) – The leaves are turning colors and the pumpkins are showing their faces on front porch steps. We will soon begin to see more scarves, light jackets, and leaf piles. It is fall.
Many people are beginning to carve pumpkins, bake the seeds, and pick out Halloween costumes for the entire family (including the family pet).
We here at Action News 5 want to see how you are celebrating the season. Are your kids destroying your leaf piles? Does your short-haired dog shiver unless he's wearing his favorite sweater? Did your child just pick out a Halloween costume they refuse to take off? Did you carve or paint your best pumpkin yet? Is your house the scariest on the block? Show us!
Send us your photos from the season to firstname.lastname@example.com! You can also post them to the Action News 5 Facebook page or send them to us on Twitter! We may end up using your photos on television or online!
Copyright 2012 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.
University of South Carolina mascot Cocky competing in Capital One Mascot Challenge
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|Elks share Christmas cheer with 30 children
|Wednesday, December 25, 2013 9:00 PM
VAN WERT — Van Wert Elks Lodge 1197, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has again this year adopted more than 30 children, ages from infant to 3 years of age, in the Van Wert area to help make their Christmas a little brighter. Tags were placed on the lodge Christmas Sharing Tree, which contains the items needed for the kids.
This year, the children of the Help Me Grow Program were the recipients of the Elks generosity. The members of the Lodge take the tags from the tree, buy and wrap the items and bring them back to the Lodge.
The members of the Christmas Caring Committee then deliver the packages to the location before their Christmas party begins.
This has been a project of the Lodge for several years and its members look forward to the Sharing Tree being put up in the Lodge. By participating in this project, the Van Wert Elks are able to show the community that Elks Care – Elks Share.


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It's no secret that energy efficiency is a hot topic in California, given this year's spate of rolling blackouts. One response to the crisis could be found in Berkeley, CA, where, as part of a national energy conservation initiative, businesses and residences on Telegraph Avenue between Channing and Durant Streets were relamped with energy-efficient Philips lightbulbs. The retrofit was intended as a blueprint for the rest of the country, to emphasize the ease with which energy-efficient practices can be implemented.
"A big part of what you're seeing today comes from installing compact fluorescent lightbulbs, which are a fantastic but surprisingly little-known solution for the home and office," said Larry Wilton, president and CEO of Philips Lighting Company North America, when the retrofit findings were unveiled on June 26.
The findings were striking. According to Francis Rubinstein, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, "Before the retrofit, the lighting systems in these 12 buildings and one apartment complex were about 45kW. Afterwards, that power demand will drop to about 25kW which is roughly 45%. If similar practices were instituted throughout the country, 38 power plants would not have to be built." Business owners on the block also expressed happiness with the project. "They told us we could expect about 30-44% in savings over the next year," said Elizabeth McDonald, owner of Mars Mercantile. "That's about $200 a month."
In related news, Philips has introduced the Energy Crisis Hotline, designed to provide solutions for consumers and businesses on the substantial difference that can be made by energy-efficient lighting products. Consumers and businesses can call 800-945-9071 to request an energy crisis package, including information about energy-efficient lighting products. The company also recently provided 750,000 compact fluorescent lightbulbs to the state of California as part of Governor Gray Davis' PowerWalk Program, which provides free compact fluorescent lamps to low-income households. The program was administered by the California Conservation Corps.


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In impressive surge, nation adds 243,000 jobs in January; unemployment rate lowest in 3 years
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a long-awaited surge of hiring, companies added 243,000 jobs in January -- across the economy, up and down the pay scale and far more than just about anyone expected. Unemployment fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest in three years.
The job growth was the fastest since last March and April. Before that, the last month with stronger hiring, excluding months skewed by temporary census jobs, was March 2006.
The unemployment rate came down by two notches from December. It has fallen five months in a row, the first time that has happened since 1994, two economic booms and two recessions ago.
"The economy is growing stronger," President Barack Obama said. "The recovery is speeding up."
Indeed, the report Friday from the Labor Department seemed to reinforce that the nation is entering a virtuous cycle, a reinforcing loop in which stronger hiring leads to more consumer spending, which leads to even more hiring and spending.
Syrian activists: Government assault kills 200 people in Homs
BEIRUT (AP) -- In a barrage of shelling, Syrian forces killed 200 people and wounded hundreds early Saturday in Homs in an offensive that appears to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said.
The offensive was reported in Homs, which has been one of the main flashpoints of opposition to the regime during the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Two main opposition groups, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, said the death toll was more than 200 people. More than half of the killings -- about 140 -- were reported in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood.
"This is the worst attack of the uprising, since the uprising began in March until now," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Observatory, which tracks violence through contacts on the ground.
The reports could not be independently confirmed.
Komen cancer charity abandons plans to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood
NEW YORK (AP) -- For leaders of the nation's pre-eminent breast-cancer charity, it was a firestorm they didn't see coming -- and couldn't withstand.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure on Friday abandoned plans to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. The dramatic retreat followed a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and -- perhaps most tellingly -- among Komen affiliates who openly rebelled, suggesting the leadership had bowed to anti-abortion pressure.
"We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives," a Komen statement said.
As first reported by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under government investigation, citing a probe launched by a Florida congressman at the urging of anti-abortion groups.
"We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political," Komen said Friday. "That is what is right and fair."
Prosecutors won't charge cyclist Lance Armstrong; Tour de France champ says its right decision
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The case against Lance Armstrong is closed. His legacy as a seven-time Tour de France champion endures.
Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the world's most famous cyclist and his teammates joined in a doping program during his greatest years.
Armstrong steadfastly has denied he doped during his unparalleled career, but the possibility of criminal charges threatened to stain not only his accomplishments, but his cancer charity work as well. Instead, another attempt to prove a star athlete used performance-enhancing drugs has fallen short, despite years of evidence gathering across two continents.
"I am gratified to learn that the U.S. Attorney's Office is closing its investigation," Armstrong said in a statement. "It is the right decision and I commend them for reaching it. I look forward to continuing my life as a father, a competitor, and an advocate in the fight against cancer without this distraction."
The probe, anchored in Los Angeles where a grand jury was presented evidence by federal prosecutors and heard testimony from Armstrong's former teammates and associates, began with a separate investigation of Rock Racing, a cycling team owned by fashion entrepreneur Michael Ball.
Army general orders court-martial of US soldier Pfc. Bradley Manning in WikiLeaks case
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) -- An Army officer ordered a court-martial Friday for a low-ranking intelligence analyst charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history.
Military District of Washington commander Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington referred all charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning to a general court-martial, the Army said in a statement.
The referral means Manning will stand trial for allegedly giving more than 700,000 secret U.S. documents and classified combat video to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks for publication.
The 24-year-old Crescent, Okla., native faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. He could be imprisoned for life if convicted of that charge.
A judge who is yet to be appointed will set the trial date.
Hackers intercept confidential conference call between FBI and Scotland Yard, leak info to Web
LONDON (AP) -- Trading jokes and swapping leads, investigators from the FBI and Scotland Yard spent the conference call strategizing about how to bring down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, responsible for a string of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.
Unfortunately for the cyber sleuths, the hackers were in on the call too -- and now so is the rest of the world.
Anonymous published the roughly 15-minute-long recording of the call on the Internet on Friday, gloating in a Twitter message that "the FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
The humiliating coup exposed a vulnerability that might have had more serious consequences had someone else been listening in on the line.
"A law enforcement agency using unencrypted, unsecure communications is a major fumble," said Marcus Carey, who spent years securing communications for the U.S. National Security Agency before joining security-risk assessment firm Rapid7.
Muslims ask groups ask New York attorney-general to investigate NYPD surveillance; hold rally
NEW YORK (AP) -- Thirty-three civil rights groups from around the country complained to the New York attorney general Friday about police documents that showed the New York Police Department recommending increased surveillance of Shiite mosques based on their religion.
The letter urged Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate NYPD's surveillance operations, revealed by an Associated Press investigation, which monitored entire neighborhoods and built databases about everyday life in Muslim communities.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have insisted that police only follow legitimate leads and do not conduct preventative surveillance in ethnic communities. A May 2006 report addressed to Kelly, however, recommended increased spying at mosques and an assessment of the region's Palestinian community to look for potential terrorists.
Even before the AP published the document, Kelly was under fire from Muslim groups who were angry that a controversial movie about Muslims, "The Third Jihad," was shown at NYPD training sessions. Kelly appears briefly in the movie.
About 150 protesters gathered near police headquarters Friday to challenge the NYPD's tactics. "Don't be afraid, stand for justice!" they chanted before holding evening prayers in nearby Foley Square.
Major storm hits Colorado moving east; flights canceled, lawmakers adjourn, highways closed
DENVER (AP) -- The most powerful storm of the winter season pounded Colorado and parts of neighboring states on Friday, creating whiteout conditions on the eastern plains, cancelling more than 600 flights in Denver and closing hundreds of miles of highway between major Colorado cities and the Kansas border.
Snow piled up to 6 feet on some Rocky Mountain foothills -- and it was a welcome boost to several ski resorts that have suffered below-average snowfall this season. But while Echo Mountain and other resorts close to Denver celebrated up to 40 inches of powder, the storm only dusted larger resorts, like Vail, with a few inches in central Colorado's Rockies.
"It's been fantastic," said Scott Gales, a spokesman for Echo Mountain about 25 miles west of Denver. "We only had about 26 or 27 inches this morning. Now we're over 40 and it's still snowing at the rate of an inch or two an hour."
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued warnings for slopes east of the Continental Divide until noon Saturday, saying 2 feet or more of new snow could easily overrun the weak, existing snow pack.
Blizzard conditions hit Colorado's eastern plains, with 5-foot drifts in parts of Elbert County. Severe weather struck parts of southeast Wyoming, western Kansas and Nebraska, where a band of heavy snow stalled, dumping nearly 13 inches in some spots.
INFLUENCE GAME: Big money donors in campaign will have business to discuss with next president
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The millionaires, billionaires and companies giving big sums to political committees supporting Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama have important business with the next president. Some are already in trouble with the government. Some are pressing for new laws or regulations that would benefit their interests in energy, mining and high finance.
The Associated Press reviewed financial reports, regulatory filings, court records, public statements and more to identify favors that the biggest donors so far in the presidential campaign might want in return for their contributions worth $100,000 or more. In some cases, these donors have given $1 million or more to help Obama's challengers or the president.
An exhaustive review of their motives is nearly impossible, since new federal rules governing such contributions allow donors to effectively remain anonymous if they funnel cash into the campaign through corporate partnerships or other mechanisms that can frustrate investigation.
The presidential campaigns all have said they do not trade political favors for election money.
Among AP's findings:
Super matchups: Brady-Manning, Kraft-Mara, Patriots-Giants
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- MVP quarterbacks on marquee franchises. A rematch of a nail-biter from four years ago, featuring many of the same key characters. Madonna and plenty of Manning -- Eli, and Peyton, too.
This Super Bowl certainly has all the makings of another thriller, the perfect finish to a season that began in turmoil and wound up the most successful in league history.
The NFL couldn't have planned it any better.
"It's actually been a very fun week here," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, seeking his fourth Super Bowl ring in 11 seasons, and doing it in the city where archrival Peyton Manning has worked for 13 years -- if not for much longer, given his health issues and disagreements with Colts management. "It's a bit surreal to be playing in Indy's home stadium and to be practicing at their facility."
It's been even weirder for Eli Manning to have led the Giants here, only to find his superb season and chase for a second championship overshadowed by big brother.


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USA Today's Bob Nightengale just tweeted that Michael Young has agreed to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, waiving his no-trade clause in exchange for $1.2 million in "benefits."
My guess is the deferred money he's owed under the current contract is no longer being deferred, with it being paid either now or in 2013. He could have asked that it be paid immediately, to avoid the potential higher tax rates coming in 2013.
More as this develops.
UPDATE -- T.R. Sullivan also says that the deal is done.
UPDATE II -- The whole deal appears to be Michael Young and $10 million going to the Phillies in exchange for RHP Josh Lindblom and minor league RHP Lisalberto Bonilla.
This is a deal that makes me happy, because it needed to be done, but it also makes me sad, because Young has been a Ranger for so long. We make fun of him being the "Face of the Franchise," but the reality is that he has been the Face of the Rangers for a decade, and was a very good player for a lot of years.
I would have preferred to see him accept a lesser role and finish out his career in Texas. It wasn't to be, and thus this breakup was necessary.
But it still puts my rational baseball brain and my irrational emotional baseball brain at odds.


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Ricoh and Xerox deliver fast color in a big way
Pricey and speedy models break the tabloid barrierFollow @infoworld
The past couple of years have seen the consolidation of color laser printers as affordable, reliable mainstream machines, delivering a big boon to office workers who need to produce attractive, informative business documents. The next frontier is color machines that can print on tabloid or larger paper (up to 12 inches by 18 inches), offering the versatility to produce posters, technical illustrations, double-sided saddle-stitched booklets, and similar complex documents.
For this review, I looked at two new oversize color printers with revved-up engine specs: Ricoh's Aficio CL7300D and Xerox's Phaser 7400DN, both specified for between 30 ppm (pages per minute) and 40 ppm on text and color. To provide performance and cost perspective, I looked back at two similar machines, Lexmark's C920dn and Oki Printing Solutions' C9600hdn, that Melissa Riofrio and I reviewed on Oct. 3, 2005.
The new Ricoh and Xerox machines run fast, are a pleasure to operate, and generate creditable prints. But I uncovered some important differences. The Ricoh's print quality is a smidgen better, but aggressive pricing from Xerox plus faster performance give the Phaser 7400DN a slight lead overall.
Ricoh Aficio CL7300D
The Ricoh Aficio CL7300D is easy to set up and use. For one thing, the company includes instructions for both dealer and owner, plus a long, detailed maintenance manual. Moreover, the color-calibration sheet has instructions printed right on it. (I didn't need the sheet because the automatic calibration function worked well.)
This printer gets mostly good marks for mechanical design. It weighs more than 200 pounds, but deep handholds at each corner (replaced on duplexer-equipped models, like the one I tested, with a sturdy steel bar on one side) make it easy to lift. The paper trays adjust smoothly and have stops to prevent them from being dumped on the floor. The three trays come in handy for letterhead, second sheet, plus plain paper for internal documents. The imaging components inside the front door are somewhat inconvenient to remove and replace, but the huge toner tubs drop easily into place under a flap on the right side.
Ricoh's control panel menus are logically organized so a beginner could probably figure out how, for example, to print a password-protected document. But the two-line LCD doesn't accommodate much hand-holding such as prompts. The printer's internal Web site, in contrast, provides pages and pages of admin features to authenticate users and control access, set up various error-notification schemes, and configure network parameters.
Minor complaints: The printer comes with single-use paper-size labels for the paper trays, so if you change sizes you'll soon resort to sticky notes. Also, with two internal trays, the CL7300D is so tall that when I put it on a workbench I had to climb on a chair to see the control panel LCD; consider a rolling base instead, which costs $175. And one of the jam-clearing doors only opens 45 degrees, which makes for an awkward reach.
The Ricoh falls slightly behind the Xerox on text-printing speed, churning out plain text at 26.1 ppm, compared with the Xerox's 27.4 ppm; it falls further behind on graphics, at 6.6 ppm versus the Xerox's 8.5 ppm.
|Test Center Scorecard
|Ricoh Aficio CL7300D
8.0 Ricoh Aficio CL7300D" /> Ricoh Aficio CL7300D" /> Ricoh Aficio CL7300D" />
Very Good
|Xerox Phaser 7400DN
8.3 Xerox Phaser 7400DN" /> Xerox Phaser 7400DN" /> Xerox Phaser 7400DN" />
Very Good


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NASHVILLE, TN. (WRCB) -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and State Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman today announced that statewide student performance on the 2012 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) improved for the second year in a row, as the state continues to push toward academic achievement through its First to the Top education reforms.
[Click here to see the latest TCAP report]
Students reached higher levels of proficiency in 23 of 24 TCAP achievement tests in grades three through eight. Achievement also increased on most high school "End of Course" exams. "The continued success of students is a testament to how much work Tennessee teachers have done in the classroom," Haslam said during the event at West End Middle School in Nashville. "We're so proud of our students, teachers and parents for supporting statewide efforts to improve education, and it is exciting to see gains for a second year in a row." TCAP results show that after two years of steady increases, half of students in grades three through eight were reading at grade level or above during the 2011-12 school year. Additionally, 47 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in math — about 55,000 more than were on grade level two years ago. More than 60 percent of students were proficient or advanced in science — 38,000 more students than in 2010. In high school, more than half of students scored proficient or advanced in English I, English II, Algebra I, biology and history for the first time since Tennessee raised its standards three years ago. "The growth we've seen on statewide assessments over the past two years is an impressive start, and shows that we are on the right track," Huffman said. "But we still have considerable work to do to improve student outcomes and narrow the educational gaps that exist in our schools. For now, we celebrate this success, as it gives us the encouragement we need to press forward with the hard work ahead."
900 Whitehall Road
Chattanooga, TN 37405
(423) 267-5412
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See your orange on these designs right now!
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Customer Raves & Reviews
Excellent quality.
Forever Yours Pocket Invitations My daughter and I were very happy with the quality of the cards. The customer service department were so very helpful and knowledgable. I would highly recommend these cards for all my family and friends. You will not be disappointed.
Nautical Feelings Pocket Invitations Quick and fast! Able to accomodate many colors in the design. Designed and ordered and arrived 5 days later. Had a little bit of difficulty with the design tool - if you use internet explorer instead of another internet application it works better.
Classy Invite
Forever Yours Pocket Invitations I ordered my Save-the-Dates through Magnet Street and wanted to keep the same color scheme. I really wanted this particular fold with the pocket for the RSVP card. My colors were eggplant and coral and the invites look great! Shipped and received in the timeline provided when I ordered. Some of the invites had small spaces where the color had come off but nothing worth contacting customer service about. The RSVP postcards are very convenient, no extra envelopes to order and postcards stamps are a little cheaper than regular stamps. And we didn't have to purchase special postage for the actual invitation as the weight was within normal postal ranges. Everyone loved it and mentioned how elegant it looks. I ordered a Just One sample before placing my final order. I recommend doing this because it allows you to see in person what you will be getting. And each invitation looked exactly the same, so no errors when printed in bulk. Great product and there is always some promo code to help with the price :-)
Pocket Invitations with Post Card Rsvp
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Product Information
What It IsHere's a charming little character that has fun written all over it...literally. This cute plush toy has been designed for toddlers to doodle on. The character comes with three TaDoodles Crayon Buddies, and kids can express themselves drawing on the character and the light up tummy. It all wipes clean with a damp towel and includes built-in storage for the Crayon Buddies.
We like this because it's very cute, and it also helps kids develop fine and gross motor skills. It can also provide the basis for open-ended, narrative-based character play as kids engage and interact with this cute, cuddly character.


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Zach Shelly and Keenan West
6 p.m., Tuesday July 09 | Free.
Where: Jag's Steak and Seafood
Phone: 513-860-5353
Address: 5980 West Chester Blvd.
Website: www.jags.com/
Antonio Adams and Emily Brandehoff, who work side-by-side on Saturdays in the basement at Thunder-Sky, have created both separate suites of work and collaborations that investigate, celebrate, and ...


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Indie spotlight: 'Concussion,' 'A Touch of Sin,' 'I Used to Be Darker' and 'Bad Milo!'
This weekend's art house releases include a lesbian "Belle de Jour," a violent film from a minimalist, a break-up drama from a minimalist and ass demons.
Ken Marino talks about the joys of toilet humor for 'Bad Milo!'
Ken Marino, star of the horror comedy "Bad Milo!," talks about renting cheesy gorefests with his "State" friends while defending toilet jokes.
'In a World…' takes us to the realm of movie trailer voiceovers
Lake Bell stars in, wrote, directed and produced "In a World…," an indie comedy set in the competitive (and mostly male) world of movie trailer narrators.


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Gays and Lesbians in the Military
Witnesses testified about the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting openly gay and lesbian… read more
Witnesses testified about the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting openly gay and lesbian service members. They focused on proposals to end the policy, previous decisions to integrate blacks and allow expanded service by women, the relationship between personal conduct and unit cohesion, and ways foreign militaries had successfully incorporated gay and lesbian service members. Captain Darrah and Staff Sergeant Alva also spoke about their experiences and the burdens placed on service members forced to keep their sexual orientation secret while serving in the military. close
*The transcript for this program was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
People in this video
- Alva, Eric Staff Sergeant (Retired) U.S. Marine Corps
- Coleman, Vance Major General (Retired) U.S. Army
- Darrah, Joan E. Captain (Retired) U.S. Navy
- Donnelly, Elaine President Center for Military Readiness
- Jones, Brian Sergeant Major (Retired) U.S. Army
- Shays, Christopher U.S. Representative [R] Connecticut
- Boyda, Nancy U.S. Representative [D] Kansas
- Davis, Susan U.S. Representative [D] California
- Gingrey, Phil MD U.S. Representative [R] Georgia
- Jones, Walter B. Jr. U.S. Representative [R] North Carolina
- Kline, John U.S. Representative [R] Minnesota
- McHugh, John M. U.S. Representative [R] New York
- Murphy, Patrick U.S. Representative [D] Pennsylvania
- Sestak, Joseph "Joe" A. Jr. U.S. Representative [D] Pennsylvania
- Shea-Porter, Carol U.S. Representative [D] New Hampshire
- Snyder, Victor "Vic" U.S. Representative [D] Arkansas
- Tauscher, Ellen O. U.S. Representative [D] California
- Tsongas, Nicola "Niki" S. U.S. Representative [D] Massachusetts
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The Top 10 In Action Sports
019 Amazing Surf Camps That Will Make You Want To Quit Real Life For Good
02Want To Get Paid For Your Action Sports Edits? Google Have Made It A Whole Lot Easier...
03It's The Latest Fitness Craze Sweeping America: Surfing, But Not As You Know It…
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06Mustang Wanted Pulls Off Outrageous Anti-Russia Stunt, But the Wrong People Get Arrested
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IRVING -– Playing for the NFC East title for the Cowboys has made Week 17 the biggest week of the year.
As far as they're concerned, the playoffs start now.
"As important as this game is -- at this point, it's the most important game of the season," said Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. "But so was the game four weeks ago, three weeks ago, and two weeks ago. We've been playing in a playoff game for a while now."
When it comes to must-win games -- to decide if Dallas is in or out of the playoffs -- the resume for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is short, with little success.
In 2008, the Cowboys had a chance against Philadelphia only to lose. And who can forget last year when the opportunity was there against the Giants, but they failed to capitalize to the eventual Super Bowl champs.
"It's a playoff game, in essence," Romo said. "I think for us we understand that you know everything isn't going to go perfect."
One of Romo's top targets hasn't lost any confidence in his quarterback.
"We all know what the reality of it is," said Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. "To be honest, I think for a lot of us, we don't look at the pressure for [Romo.] We wouldn't be in this situation without him. He's an elite quarterback, and really, all elite quarterbacks handle that and deal with that until they do go and do it."
Football is a team sport. It always has been, but more times than not, it's the quarterback who gets credit for success and gets blamed if things go wrong.
"I think all you can do as a quarterback is do your job and play at the highest level," Romo said. "If your team is good enough, you'll move on. I like our football team -- the way they've been working and practicing. I think we have a great opportunity."
It's an opportunity that they have failed to capitalize on before.
E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com


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Web story by: Dee DeQuattro
Reporting by: Melissa Toupin
Providence marked its third murder on Tuesday night.
Police responded to 41 Harvard Avenue around 8:20 p.m. for a report of an individual with gunshot wounds.
When police arrived on scene they discovered a Brown Toyota Camry crashed into a pole. 19-year-old Demitri Todd was lying 30 feet from the vehicle on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound.
Todd was transported to Rhode Island Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Family told ABC6 that Todd was the cousin of Wesley Smith, 20, who was murdered at the end of March in Providence. Smith was the first homicide victim of the year.
The murders occurred just two streets away from each other. It is unclear at this time if the incidents were related.
Todd was a graduate from Davies Career and Technical High School in Lincoln. Friends describe him as a constant "joker," someone who was "always making people laugh."
People who knew him say he was in the process of applying to CCRI to try to improve his life.
Police say it is too early to say whether the murders are connected. So far there are no arrests in either case.
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The Bolton News
All the latest news from Bolton
Number of police on the beat in Bolton is falling (From The Bolton News)
Number of police on the beat in Bolton is falling
Updated 1:16pm Monday 3rd February 2014 in News By Dale Haslam, Reporter
THE number of bobbies on the Bolton beat is falling, new figures reveal.
The Home Office has published statistics show-ing Greater Manchester Police shed 254 officers across the county in the 12 months up until last September 2013 — a 3.5 per cent fall.
Apart from The Met Police in London, GMP lost more officers in that period than any other force. Only The Met and West Midlands Police employ more officers than GMP.
The change leaves GMP with 7,069 officers and there could be even fewer but for two schemes. The force has also stepped up its attempts to bring in volunteer special constables.
The Home Office figures show GMP recruited 17 specials in the 12 months up to last September, making 727 in total, more than anywhere else in the country bar London and Thames Valley.
Reacting to the Home Office statistics on a fall in officer numbers, Bolton's community safety repres-entative Cllr Derek Burrows said: "We would be concerned if this were to have an effect on policing in Bolton and if we start to see crime rising as a result.
"But I can understand the situation that GMP are in due to the budget cuts by this government."
Assistant Chief Officer Lynne Potts, of GMP, said: "GMP, like all forces across the country, has been required to make savings.
"And as 83 per cent of our budget is spent on officers and staff, naturally this is where many of the reductions have been felt.
"The service is going through a challenging period, but we remain committed to providing members of the public with the service they both deserve and expect.
"Our officers continue to rise above the challenges they are presented with 24/7.
"The support officers receive from police staff, PCSOs and special constables is vital to the delivery of effective neighbourhood policing."
Comments (11)
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12:51pm Mon 3 Feb 14
thomas222 says...
1:18pm Mon 3 Feb 14
Phil from Smithills says...
Lets see if the police element of our council tax increases again, this time, for the 2014/2015 financial year. If we rid ourselves of this position of Police Commissioner and his deputy, then perhaps we could get more officers on the beat.
1:27pm Mon 3 Feb 14
thomas222 says...
Phil from Smithills wrote:Police Commissioners is just another tax payer funded pay day for retired or retiring Politicians or Public servants. Once on the gravy train always on the gravy train.
Last year, the police element of our council tax was increased by the Police Commissioner which was so we could have extra police in the force, what went wrong? Lets see if the police element of our council tax increases again, this time, for the 2014/2015 financial year. If we rid ourselves of this position of Police Commissioner and his deputy, then perhaps we could get more officers on the beat.
3:24pm Mon 3 Feb 14
Reebok Rhythm says...
Maybe if the money squandered on white elephants and the work shy was relinquished, there may be enough for extra patrols. Just a thought.
3:59pm Mon 3 Feb 14
Iluminati says...
5:43pm Mon 3 Feb 14
wsw69 says...
With this load of hapless incumbents who are so called 'running the country', who are in reality making a complete and utter f**k-up of it inside out, yet again proving they have no idea of the real world.
We have the finest police service in the world, whose workload is being added to on a daily basis, and who do an excellent job considering what is asked of them.
This mob of g0b5H1te5 in power won't be happy until EVERYTHING in sight is privatised, and then we will be in a really sorry state of affairs.
6:01pm Mon 3 Feb 14
steveG says...
How many times in recent years have we read the emergency services stood by and watched people in real danger.
6:44pm Mon 3 Feb 14
Hulton Park says...
Manchester, meanwhile will keep two. So that's police oversight at the rate of roughly one per 250,000 population in Manchester, and one per 600, 000 in Wigan-Bolton.
Nice to know, in these straitened times, that we're subsidising someone else's area - police, trams, etc - with our council tax.
7:55pm Mon 3 Feb 14
bwfc58 says...
8:46pm Mon 3 Feb 14
FreedomOfSpeech1945 says...
9:39pm Mon 3 Feb 14
firstname.lastname@example.com says...
Comments are closed on this article.


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Lady Falcons shut out North in first home game
Tue. March 19, 2013 at 9:39 p.m. | By Brittany Jackson
West Henderson's Kelsey Walker (left), Brianna Morris (15) and Lauren Norris celebrate an out during Tuesday's home game against North Henderson. (Photo by PATRICK SULLIVAN/ TIMES-NEWS)
A freshman catcher's three-run home run in the first inning gave West Henderson the confidence it needed to keep that tone for the remainder of the game and shut out visiting North Henderson, 5-0, Tuesday afternoon at West.
"She's a power hitter," West softball coach Mike Matthews said of freshman Michaela Morris. "We hadn't played in nine days because of scheduling issues, so once we got ahead we got more confidence."
The starting catcher also played opposite her older sister, West pitcher Brianna Morris, who went seven innings for one strikeout, one walk and gave up no runs on five hits. Brianna also tacked on seven put-outs.
"Brianna threw a good game. She's very good at hitting her spots and making them hit her pitch. She doesn't mind going deep in the count," Matthews said.
Up 3-0 to start the second inning, the Lady Falcons tacked on one more run to make it 4-0 but the combination of the winning pitcher and West's defense continued to deny North any runs.
The Lady Knights came close to scoring in the top of the fourth when Holly Anders loaded the bases with two outs after being hit by a pitch. Next batter Chelsa Cannon's grounder between second and third was scooped up by West shortstop and pitched to third base to put out Cheyenne Mathews for the third out before Haley Pace reached home.
"North is a good hitting team and they're well-coached," Matthews said. "I think we are a very good defensive team. We don't make spectacular plays but we make the plays that we need to make. We've played three games so far and only given up one run."
It was another standout freshman, Taylor Houck, who scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning after her double to left field. As North tried to put her out at third base off a sacrifice bunt she beat the throw to home plate to make it 5-0.
For North (4-3, 0-1 WNC Athletic Conference), Jonnie Petree was 2-for-3 and Kayla Banks was 1-for-3. Pitcher Kim Cannon pitched six innings, giving up West's five runs on five hits and three walks. She struck out three.
"They haven't found their fire yet," said North coach Jessica McCarson of her team. "We know they can do it but they've got to find confidence in themselves."
West (3-0, 1-0 WNCAC) will host Erwin on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. while the Lady Knights will travel to East Henderson on Friday.


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Prof. Robert Boyd
Institute of Optics
Research Project: Quantum cryptography using the orbital angular momentum states of light
In this project, we will encode quantum information single photons of light. This means of transmitting information is highly immune to interception by an eavesdropper, because the information is impressed on a single photon. Any attempt to measure the properties of this photon would necessarily modify its quantum state. A specific goal of our approach is to encode many bits of information onto each photon. In this way the data transmission rate can exceed the photon transmission rate. We will encode this excess by making use of the transverse structure of the electromagnetic field and specifically by making use of states that carry orbital angular momentum, such as the Laguerre--Gauss modes of the field.
Prof. Duncan Moore
Institute of Optics
Research Project:
Professor Moore's major areas of research are in gradient-index materials, computer-aided design (including design for manufacturing methods), the manufacture of optical systems, medical optics (especially optics for minimally invasive surgery), and optical instrumentation. His most recent Ph.D. thesis student topics hav e been: very high efficiency solar cells; polymer gradient index optics; built-in accommodation system for the eye; terahertz imaging; generalized three-dimensional index gradients; single-point diamond turning of glass; design methods for gradient-index imaging systems; effect of diffusion chemistry on gradient-index profiles formed via sol-gel; quantitative phase imaging in scanning optical microscopy; integration of the design and manufacture of gradient-index optical systems; and interferometric characterization of the chromatic dispersion of gradient-index glasses.
Prof. Jannick Rolland
Institute of Optics
Research Project #1: Imaging and Sensing with Laser Light
The objective of this project is to bring biophotonics technology developed in our laboratory known as Gabor Domain Optical Coherence Tomography to the clinic and show clinical value of the images acquired for various clinical applications. Main applications of focus are Mohs surgery, a surgical procedure performed in dermatology to remove cancer, and non invasive corneal imaging for Ophthalmology. Part of this project is to decide how the system may also need to be changed to best serve the work flow in the clinic. The research thus involves planning the engineering of the next system generation, while starting to collect ex-vivo and in-vivo clinical data. This project would be a really good fit for a student in BME with a minor in optics.
Research Project #2: Metrology of Freeform Optics
The objective of this project is to analyze a current optical setup developed to perform metrology of freeform optics. While we recently demonstrated that the shape of wild freeform surfaces may be acquired , key to the success of this emerging technology is to understand what limits accuracy. This project will involve fabrication of freeform optics using state of the art fabrication equipment of the R.E. Hopkins Center and Mechanical Engineering. The motto is "If you can't measure it, you can't make it".
Prof. Nick Vamivakas
Institute of Optics
Research Project #1: On-chip quantum photonics
Recent advances in material science have made it possible to engineer physical structures with characteristic length scales of a few to tens of nanometers. The ability to tailor a structure's geometry and material composition at these lengths directly influences the exhibited optical, electrical and mechanical properties ushering in an era where it is necessary to consider the quantum behavior of a material's excitations in device design and development. Quantum dots are nanostructures that result when a semiconductor's elementary electronic excitations, excitons (Coulomb bound electron-hole pairs), are confined in all three dimensions to a size that is comparable to the exciton's effective Bohr radius – just a few nanometers. The confinement is typically introduced by embedding one semiconductor material into a second semiconductor with a larger bandgap. A manifestation of the quantum confinement is a discrete spectrum of optical transition energies, observable both in optical absorption and emission, resulting in quantum dots being referred to as artificial atoms. The objectives of this project will be accomplished by marrying state-of-the-art resonant optical spectroscopy techniques with advanced nanoscale fabrication procedures to realize quantum dot devices exhibiting controlled quantum mechanical behavior in geometries suitable for on-chip quantum photonics. The student will be involved in device design aided by computer simulations and optical characterization of the fabricated devices.
Research Project #2: Optomechanics with optically levitated nanocrystals
Experimental progress in the optical control of mechanical systems has reached a degree of sophistication where it is now possible to observe truly quantum effects. To date most investigations have focused on mechanical resonators that are rigidly clamped to a support structure. We are currently pursuing a different approach where the mechanical oscillator is an optically levitated nanocrystal situated in the focus of a high numerical aperture objective. By removing the support typical of clamped mechanical resonators the oscillator is freed from decoherence and thermalization imparted from the support. Remarkably these mechanical resonators exhibit quality factors that can approach ~1012 and sub-aN/√Hz force sensitivities. We are looking for a summer student to assist in one of two aspects of the project. We are interested in developing an approach to engineer the wavefront of the optical beam used to form the optical trap. Spatial light modulators will be used as a means to modify the beam's spatial profile. Exotic landscapes for particle levitation will be designed and implemented. The student will be responsible for computer control of a spatial light modulator, modeling of generated focal field distributions, and laboratory implementation of the optical trap.
Prof. Geunyoung Yoon
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Optics, and Center for Visual Science
Research Project #1: Myopia Progression: Role of Optical Quality of the Eye
Myopia is one of the leading causes of visual impairment worldwide and is linked to severe eye diseases such as maculopathy, retinal detachment and glaucoma. The overall prevalence of myopia has increased substantially in recent years. With higher levels of myopia becoming a significant public health concern, it is of crucial importance to find effective treatments to slow myopic progression in children. Among many potential factors such as genetics, visual environment, accommodative ability, our research focus is on understanding how optical quality of the eye impacts on the progression of myopia. Our hypothesis is that non-optimal ocular optics e.g. wavefront aberration can cause myopia and the progression can be controlled by optimizing image quality across a wide range of retinal eccentricity. A high-resolution ocular wavefront sensing and advanced vision correction technology will be used to quantify an aberration profile and its impact on retinal image quality in myopic eyes compared to normal eyes. It is also our interest to perform a longitudinal study where the changes in the optical profile of the eye over a long period of time will be determined to investigate their relationship with refractive error development.
Research Project #2: Multimodal Tear Imaging for Dry Eye Research
Dry eye is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface and tears, resulting in symptoms of discomfort, visual disturbance, and instability of the tear film with the potential for ocular surface damage. It is recognized as one of the most common ocular disorders affecting many patients aged 50 years and older. Current clinical measurement techniques used for dry eye evaluation is a critical barrier to effectively diagnosing and treating the disease because they are often invasive and ineffective to comprehend the complex interplay between tear film, ocular surface and environmental variations. We use the state-of-art multimodal tear imaging technology developed in the laboratory for the accurate and objective assessment of the tear parameters and their response to controlled environmental changes. The multimodal tear imaging technology such as tear surface topography/wavefront sensor, ocular surface optical coherence tomography, imaging ellipsometer and thermal imaging will be used to characterize the tear. The project also involves development of various computer algorithms to analyze tear images automatically.
Prof. Xi-Cheng Zhang
Institute of Optics
Research Project:
Please visit here for a description of current research.


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