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To read the recruiting column, click:
Webb-n-DetNews: OH OT Kyle Dodson.
Webb-n-DetNews: OH OT Kyle Dodson
The Michigan Insider Top Stories
PSU OL Commit Recaps U-M Home VisitPittsburgh (Pa.) Central Catholic offensive lineman C.J. Thorpe has been committed to Penn State since last spring, but hasn't stopped the Nittany Lion legacy recruit from…
The Michigan InsiderYesterday at 7:25 AM
Badgers rally late, defeat Wolverines 68-64Late comeback sparks No. 17 Wisconsin's 68-64 win against Michigan.
The Michigan InsiderTuesday at 8:24 PM
U-M Among Standouts for Clemson OL TransferAfter losing former U.S Army All American lineman Jake Fruhmorgen to Clemson a little over two years ago, Michigan now has another chance to land him.
The Michigan InsiderTuesday at 5:29 PM
Scouting Eli BrooksThe Michigan Insider's Eugene Hankerson was court-side at Carlisle (Pa.) high Monday night to see the home team do battle Spring Grove (Pa.) featuring 2017 Michigan point guard…
The Michigan InsiderTuesday at 1:35 PM


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If you're new to swimming you probably won't be aware quite how different the Total Immersion [TI] approach is to more traditional methods of swimming instruction. Here are some key differences
1. The TI method of instruction engages the whole body, rather than offering a more conventional focus on kicking and pulling above everything else.2. It requires you to first master foundation skills before anything else: posture and alignment, balance, core rotation, aquatic breathing skills and core kicking. It doesn't matter where you are in your swimming career, everyone has to first master these skills.3. Since TI believes swimming is a technical rather than an endurance sport, drills always come before distance or speed sessions, although conditioning develops while you are practising skills.4. One of the most significant elements of TI is the engagement of the core as the engine of a good freestyle stroke. You can tap into effortless power when your rhythms and movement originate in your core, not in your arms and legs.5. The whole focus of Total Immersion is on swimming effortlessly rather than swimming faster, although if you can manage the first then the latter is likely to follow by default.6. The teaching method is very hands-on, with the instructor in the water physically helping you to master positions and movements. Even with group workshops there are multiple teachers and high teacher-to-pupil ratios.7. Self-awareness speeds up the learning process, which is why all TI sessions use a level of video analysis to help you see exactly what you're doing in the water.8. It's easy to learn. It starts with simple movements and positions and progresses in small steps. You can master the basics in a weekend and learn all you will need for ongoing self-improvement.
Visit the official Triathlete's World page
Follow Triathlete's World on Twitter
Click here
Other Natmag-Rodale Sites
About Triathlete's World

subset: commoncrawl


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Hardware news tagged Google
Monday, July 28, 2014
Microsoft's Mobile Strategy Seem to Fail: Sales of Lumia and Surface Remain Low.
[10:02 am]
Microsoft Still Cannot Make Windows a Popular Mobile Platform
Monday, March 24, 2014
Nokia Now Expects to Close Deal with Microsoft in Q2.
[6:00 am]
Sale of Nokia's Division to Close Next Month
Monday, March 3, 2014
Google Android Now Commands 62% of Tablet Maket.
[1:55 pm]
Worldwide Tablet Sales Grew 68% in 2013
Monday, February 17, 2014
Nokia Unleashes Treasure Tags: Small Devices Help to Find Lost Items.
[9:33 pm]
Nokia's Treasure Tags to Alert When Your Valuables Become Separated
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Samsung to Co-Develop Power Microprocessors and Servers with IBM, Partners.
[8:21 pm]
Samsung Joins OpenPower Consortium
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Tizen Association Gets Fifteen New Members.
[8:18 pm]
Intel's and Samsung's Platform Gain Industrial Support
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
MediaTek Unleashes SoC with Eight Cores, Latest PowerVR Graphics, 4K Video and 4G/LTE.
[1:09 pm]
MediaTek Introduces Its First Application Processor with Premium Features


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BYU Sports Redirect
| Posted Aug 18th, 2015 @ 5:13pm
Most Viewed
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- Former President George H.W. Bush and wife hospitalized


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No Place to Rest - Page 4
These days, Hawker seems to have a clearer idea of what she's after and seems less prone to being buffeted from the course she's set herself. During the 24-hour race, the husband of another runner crewing for his partner offered food to Hawker as well. "He was really into the link between mind and body, and was bowled over by the focus I had," says Hawker. "He said he'd only seen that level of focus before in a Buddhist monk." Bull says he saw the single-mindedness trekking into Kangchenjunga.
So much of her success comes down to heeding her strong inner voice. But there are times, she says, when she stops listening. As any Tibetan Buddhist will tell you, mindfulness is not for wimps. "You have to be aware of what your body's saying," says Hawker. "The main thing is learning to listen. And to cut off listening when you're in pain and keep going." During her world-record run in Wales, she says she recalls thinking that if she hurt going slowly she might as well run faster.
When she's not running, Hawker usually has her head in a book, and cites Ralph Waldo Emerson as one of her favorite authors. I can see why. "Standing on the bare ground," Emerson wrote, "my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes." That's Hawker. Her personality also predisposes her to an extreme form of Emersonian self reliance. Not everyone would be comfortable running the length of Nepal all alone. In fact the State Department has specifically warned U.S. citizens not to, after American Aubrey Sacco disappeared in the Langtang National Park.
That won't put off Hawker. "I'm happy running alone along the trails," she says. "Towns at night are scary because of the dogs. But I'm keen to push trail running in Nepal." Trail running is a new and fast-growing feature in Nepal's tourist industry, and boosting its international profile is one of the ways she hopes to make a difference. That's partly why she ran in the Annapurna 100 and Everest Sky Race this year. But it's more than that. These trail-running journeys are a natural way for Hawker to express herself. They are the realization of her philosophy. They are physical interpretations of who she is.
Eight hours after she took shelter in Bupsa, Lizzy Hawker emerged from her shelter and started running again. She wondered if she should bother, having lost so much time, but felt strong and was running faster than she had the day before. Then the tiredness hit. Luckily, a small team had driven out from Kathmandu to support her on the final section of road. "I was weaving into a ditch or into the middle of the road. At one point I just lay down," she says. Her friends kept jumping out of the van to run alongside her.
Through it all, though, she kept her form. "Even when I was really tired, I was still landing on the front part of my foot, which I couldn't believe." There's something extraordinary about a human on the edge of exhaustion having the mental strength to maintain her technique in this way. Of course, she broke the old record, despite her delay in Bupsa, and by over three hours. "I should have been four hours quicker," she says with a frown. "I slowed up on that last bit of road."
Her longstanding passion for the Alps, flirtations with road racing and demanding trips to Nepal have combined to keep her away from the United States. There's a hint too she might not feel at home in competitive American trail running. "I can't think of any European race where you are allowed a pacer, whereas it's pretty standard in U.S. races, even only 50-milers," she says. "And most long European ultras are semi self-sufficient. You rely on refreshment points but carry a rucksack with what you need to get you between those points—and to carry obligatory equipment. It seems in the U.S. it's customary to have a crew who will meet you at refreshment points."
Maybe one year she'll line up for the Western States. She has the freedom and ability to surprise her friends let alone the rest of us. My hunch is she'll never stray too far from the mountains and that she's not done with her dream of running across the Himalaya.
"It seems to me that you're on a bit of a journey," I say, just before we part. "But do you know where you're going?"
She gives her characteristic slow smile and her face brightens. "No," she says.
Ed Douglas is a writer based in Sheffield, England, who loves fell running in the Peak District. His books include Tenzing: Hero of Everest.


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Keeping NRG in Dunkirk
What will losing NRG mean to Dunkirk, Fredonia and everyone in Chautauqua County?
I spoke recently with state Sen. Catharine Young about the pros and cons of NRG vs. National Grid and what it would mean to the residents and taxpayers of Dunkirk and Chautauqua County should NRG leave.
The following is what she had to say.
NRG needs to stay in Dunkirk. This is the largest taxpayer in the county. We need everyone to turn out for a public hearing scheduled at Fredonia State's Williams Center Multi-Purpose Room on Monday. Presentations by National Grid and NRG with a question and answer period will be given from 6 to 7 p.m., and the hearing will begin at 7 p.m. An administrative law judge will preside over the hearing, and people from the audience will be allowed to testify.
If you want the facts, here they are:
National Grid and NRG each responded to the Public Service Commission's request.
The information provided by National Grid was incomplete; they only extended the information to cover the years through 2021 NRG's application extended the agreement through 2025.
National Grid reported that their proposal to upgrade the system would cost $66 million, when in actuality it would cost $200 million. The $200 million it will cost National Grid to upgrade their system will also give them a return on their investment of 9.2 percent. NRG's upgrade is privately funded, and there will be no additional costs to the consumer.
National Grid does not produce electricity; they are a transmitter of electricity. NRG does produce electricity and will continue to supply the area.
National Grid will get the electricity from out of state and therefore will not be subject to the environmental regulations and concerns that NRG has complied with. The electricity transmitted by National Grid will most likely come from Pennsylvania.
Should NRG leave the area, the taxpayer in Dunkirk will see their city taxes increase by 42 percent, their school taxes will go up 48 percent and they will see an increase in their county taxes by 7 percent. Additionally, 58 Dunkirk school teachers will lose their jobs.
Who is on the side of National Grid?
Those who are going to profit directly, and that does not include the taxpayer or resident of Chautauqua County.
Don't allow National Grid to hijack the county. Those of us in Western New York need to stand up now.
It is believed that members of the Sierra Club and Green Peace plan to attend the meeting to voice their opinions about the potential of hydro-fracking in New York this is not an issue in this situation!
Your support and attendance is needed at the upcoming meeting on Monday at Fredonia State University. We must save our community, and that means saving NRG.
Vicki Westling is a Dunkirk resident. Send comments to email@example.com


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This weekend the Texas Rangers will lock horn with the Los Angeles Angels. As these teams are fighting for the top spot in a crowded American League West Division, this should be an exciting series. In this series the Rangers will be the home team.
For the Rangers the home field advantage could prove to be the difference in this series. Even though they have posted a 12-7 record while at their home field, they have been a very poor team playing away from their home field. The Angels are a solid road team as this being said. This season they have already collected 12 wins on the road. With a 20-15 record they are atop the division. At 18-17 on the season the Rangers are tied for 2nd place.
While the Rangers are at 30-1, MLB Odds have the Angels at 20-1 to win the World Series.
Because of the Angels' stellar starting pitching, they have had so much success on the road this season. Between Jered Weaver and Dan Haren, they have two of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues. They have a shot at going the distance and shutting out their opponents, each time that these pitchers take the mound.
In this series the Angels will be fortunate to have both of these pitchers take the mound. Early in their starts the Rangers will need to jump on both of these pitchers. As they go deeper into games they tend to get stronger.
In opposition to a dominant defense this will be a matchup of a dominant offense. When the series is over the winner of this series could end up as the top team in the division. In online free picks, the Texas Rangers are favorites to win this match.


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An American Woodcock
It is a ridiculous looking animal. A bill as long as its body with huge, dopey saucer-like eyes set far back on its head. It stutters when it walks, like there is a short-circuit somewhere. Even its sound is bizarre – a nasal peent that sounds not quite frog but not quite bird and you're left uncertain as the sun sets what is sitting in your backyard. For those who haven't figured it out yet, it is an American Woodcock. And who would have thought such a homely little bird could cause such a ruckus?
By ruckus, I mean the Woodcock Whirl. This is the second year for this great event, celebrating this under-celebrated bird and harbinger of spring. Personally, I missed the event last year, but the word my boss used to describe it was "zany." I think that implies that a good time was had by all. This is both celebration and fundraiser and we are pleased to be holding it again this year.
The American Woodcock has many monikers, my favorite of which is Timberdoodle. Some others are bogsucker, mudsnipe, and night partridge. It is not a large bird, just ten to twelve inches, and stands about five inches high. It is very round and perfectly camouflaged amongst the shrubby forested edges where it nests. With its strangely long bill it is an excellent hunter of worms, its primary food. The most incredible thing to note about this bird, though, is its dance.
I remember the first time I saw it. Dusk in an Ohio meadow, four or five of us, quietly loitering at a trail intersection, that's how it began. A sound, something like glass tinkling from far above combined with an ethereal warble, came through the twilight. The leader of our small band quickly fell to the ground, urged us to follow and we all rested heads on hands, waiting. Looking all directions down the trail, suddenly a flutter of wings and an indistinct brown blob landed not ten feet away from me. I held my breath for an instant, then turned and whispered "my side." Heads turned swiftly, just in time to capture the emphatic "peent" that arose from the bird. We watched it strut for a few minutes, then take off to repeat his display.
The nature of the male woodcock, when displaying, is to land about six feet from the place it left. It struts around on the ground, peent-ing and wobbling, until such a moment strikes it and it launches itself into the air. Feathers on the wingtips make a twittering sound as the bird spirals upward. Once he has reached the apex of his flight, he flutters, like a leaf, in a tumbling pattern, muttering a beautiful and melodic song as he descends. He lands on his "singing grounds" and quickly takes up the peent call once again, repeating the process.
While it may look like winter still, this is the time when most of the male woodcocks arrive and establish their territories. They seek open fields, of at least a quarter-acre, adjacent to woodland. Their songs often go hand in hand with the peepers singing and rarely have I heard a recording of a woodcock without the frogs in the background. If you can think of a spot like I just described, and you have access to it at the edges of the day, when night hasn't quite loosed or gained its grip on the world, you should find them.
As for the Woodcock Whirl, what better place to find it than a local establishment where there is good food, good beer, and woodcocks! Southern Tier Brewing Company will again host the event, but attendance is limited to 60 people! If you are interested, the event is on Thursday, April 11, 2013, from 6:00pm-8:00pm. To attend, you must a reservation!
Besides great local vittles and drink, there is a trivia contest (you won't believe some of the questions) and a "woodcock dance" contest. Much fun is had and it supports the educational efforts of Audubon. The fee is $25 per person, or $40 for two people. Remember, you must call early to reserve your spot.
Perhaps this year we will add some new elements. Costumes? The best woodcock joke? Or maybe a naming contest for this crazy little bird. Though I'm not sure anyone can beat Timberdoodle.
Reservations may be made by calling 569-2345. You can find out other happenings by visiting jamestownaudubon.org or stopping by. We are located at 1600 Riverside Road, just off Route 62 between Warren and Jamestown. The trails are open from dawn to dusk, and the center is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily except Sundays it opens at 1 p.m.
Sarah Hatfield is a naturalist at Audubon.


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FloodSax ® are transformed from being as light as a pillowcase to as tough and heavy as sandbags within minutes. You can fit 20 FloodSax® into a cardboard box so they can be ready for action anytime, any place, anywhere.
WHEN floods strike you have little time to act.
FloodSax® are transformed from being as light as a pillowcase to become as tough and heavy as sandbags within minutes
Twenty fit into a cardboard box so can be ready for action anytime, any place, anywhere unlike sandbags that need vast warehouse storage space, are heavy and expensive to shift and require huge manpower and lorries to get them to the scene. If you think councils will react quickly to a flooding emergency by providing you with sandbags you are, unfortunately, burying your head in the sand.
Countries worldwide are being devastated by floods and in the UK alone more than 5.5 million – or one in six properties – are at risk of flooding but anyone can face a flooding emergency in their home such as a burst pipe at any time.
The semi-porous inner liner within FloodSax® contains gelling polymer which absorb water to become taut in just over 3 minutes. Once the water is in there, it stays there and the bags act just like sandbags to keep floods at bay. They are designed so they mould into doorways to keep floodwater out.
In short, FloodSax® take away the risk and are incredibly easy to deploy.
|Easy to store
|Can be vacuumed-packed
|Thousands can be quickly transported in a van
|Lightweight before they are used
|Can be stored for a long time
|Can be expanded at scene of a flood
|Can be stored in small depots
|Environmentally friendly
FloodSax® are exceptionally tough and can stop a powerful torrent of water in its tracks. Just look at the video of how they saved a Yorkshire company from being flooded and check out how this powerful water jet fails to shift FloodSax®. They have even been known to hold back the sea.
And then there are times when you might want to divert water such as on this road where it was being pumped out of a flooded residential area and back into a pond or deep. British Waterways use them in canal locks undergoing renovation to keep water seeping in away from its staff carrying out the work. People use FloodSax® outside their homes to divert water away from airvents and directly down open manhole covers in to the sewers.
But they can also be vital in those little domestic emergencies. If you have a cracked pipe, your toilet has a blockage and is overflowing or water is pouring out of your bath, pop a FloodSax® under and itâll soak up the water.If your washing machine has sprung a leak put a FloodSax® in front to stop it spreading. And after the flood has finished FloodSax® can play a vital role in the clean-up and recovery stage. Pop them on the floor and they will soak up all the flilthy floodwater with each bag absorbing 22 litres.
Flash floods
Diverting water down drains
Leaking pipes
Overflowing baths
Leaking washing machines
Overflowing toilets
Copyright © 2012 Environmental Defence Systems Limited.
Company No. 06300190
This information is updated every 15 minutes and comes directly from The Environment Agency.


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Things to do in Hurghada
While for some, Hurghada and the Red Sea simply equal lazy, sunny days spent by the beach, you will be surprised to find how many things there are actually to do and see in our corner of the world. Rest assured that there will never be a dull moment while you stay with us, with so many things to do both directly at the Resort as well as further afield.
Things to do for children
Make sure your child stays happy and entertained during your vacation with us.


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Application Development
Definitions about software applications and development including operating system vocabulary, programming terminology, words about Internet applications and app/dev definitions.
Business Software
These glossaries contain terms related to the development, implementation and management of enterprise business software.
Computer Science
Definitions about computer science including computing fundamentals vocabulary, protocol and standards terminology, words about microprocessors and electronics definitions.
Consumer Technology
Definitions about consumer technology including Internet acronyms, tech lingo, multimedia definitions, words about personal computing and peripherals as well as wireless and mobile definitions.
Data Center Management
Definitions about data centers including hardware, virtualization and cloud computing.
IT Management
Definitions about information technology management including compliance vocabulary, business terminology, words about security, storage, network and software management and search engine optimization (SEO).
- Business software
- Business terms
- Compliance
- Customer relationship management
- Government IT
- Healthcare IT
- IT Procurement
Definitions about networking including routing and switching vocabulary, telecom terminology, words about email and messaging, mobile and wireless.
- Circuit switched services equipment and providers
- Data transmission
- Email and messaging
- High-speed networks
- Internet of Things
- Local area networks (LANs)
- Network hardware
- Network software
Quick Study Resources
Learning and research resources including learning guides, cheat sheets, quizzes, quick look-ups and fast references.
Definitions about security including malware vocabulary, security threats and countermeasures terminology, words about viruses and Trojans, access control, authorization and authentication.
Storage and Data Management
Definitions about storage and data management including backup/recovery vocabulary, business intelligence terminology, storage area networks and database management.
- Backup and recovery
- Business intelligence - business analytics
- Content management
- Customer data management
- Data and data management


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Buttery, briny (not TOO salty) and a bit of nuttiness to it, with a nice creamy stretch to it without being TOO chewy, has to have a bit of chew though, I want to know it's there, just don't want it sliding off the piece I'm eating and give me a hot melt glue burn across the chin. I guess thats why I where a goatee jon
I used to be pretty unsatisfied with my mozzarella selection. It wasn't until I understood that the flavor I was looking for was a mix of mozz & provolone that my opinions changed.


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TRAINING LEVEL: Basic
CLASS SIZE: Minimum: 1 Maximum: 1
Being a flagger is the most important job on the work site. Careless use of the sign or distraction from duty could cause serious injury to workers or the motoring public. Performing flagger duties diligently can prevent traffic incidents in the work area.
This is a basic training in the area of flagger training. It has been designed for someone learning the first steps in performing flagger duties. This training would be useful as a refresher course for all employees involved with work zone traffic control where flaggers are utilized.
This training does not go into individual state flagger training or certification requirements. For more information on flagger training requirements contact your State's safety office.
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:
This training is intended for individuals that will be performing or are engaging in flagger duties on construction/maintenance projects. The course will assist them in better understanding the importance and duties involved with flagging on a project. It would be beneficial to the entry level employee as well as the experienced flagger.
If you have questions about this NHI training, please contact NHI at
email@example.com or 877.558.6873.


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As struggling closer Bobby Jenks spoke to reporters before Wednesday night's game, starting pitcher Mark Buehrle joined the interrogation.
"Why do you (stink)?" Buehrle asked. Jenks didn't reply.
July 23, 2009
Mark Buehrle cheers up Bobby Jenks
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jb,That is cool looking double decker stone. The pizza looks very tasty to me. Norma
Thanks Norma. I'll bet your grill pie, while it had it's challenges, with all those veggies was delicious as well.jb
Looks great Norma!Love the color combination, and the crumb looks fantastic too!
Really pretty pie Norma. I too love all the summer colors.
Norma, you make the most beautiful filetti pizza - and is that fresh jalapenos I see on there too? I think I'm in love.
We finally got clouds (and a little rain) so I did a few last night. Cherry tomatoes, cilantro and a 4 cheese blend.
Anyone decided on what September's challenge is? I am going to participate this month since I am finally getting in my school schedule groove. I can find time to actually put more effort into new ideas and presentation instead of the same dishes and making them taste good while forgoing their appearance.
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztttttttttt. Time's up. Needed something now. Came up with this:http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,20847.msg208167.html#msg208167Save your ideas for new challenges till next month


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Hey guys,How are you? Thanks for your votes!I am exhausted! I have no idea what time it is or where I am. I've been following Kellie on tour this week and I'm just wiped. We've been traveling for 10 hours as of now and I think we're in Illinois or Ohio. I really have no clue! We don't get back to L.A. until Sunday, so we have one more day of this. I traveled with her the second week, but this ...
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Location, ST | website.com


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Boston Celtics Personalized Bib and Burp Cloth Gift Set
Price: $31.95
- Additional Details
- Brand: Designs By Chad and Jake
- Color: White & Green
- Dimensions: Bib: 14" x 11", Burb Cloth: 19" x 13"
- Fit: One Size Fits All
- Gender: Both
- Includes: Personalized with a name of your choosing
- Made Of: 100% cotton
- Weight: 1 lb
Your baby may be small, but he or she can still be the biggest Celtics fan with the Boston Celtics Bib and Burp Cloth Gift Set. The white bib and burp cloth feature the Celtics Leprechaun logo along with your little ones name embroidered beneath for unrivaled and functional fan gear.
Customer ServiceEasy Returns:
Unconditional satisfaction guaranteed.Safe Shopping:
Confidentiality and privacy secured.FAQ:
Quick answers, easy solutions.


text:
Are you new to LeTourneau University (LETU)? Don't worry! Registration at LETU is easy! Registration dates and answers to the most common registration questions are listed below.
*Note: The information on this page pertains to traditional students only. Students in the nontraditional program need to contact their academic advisor for information.
Spring 2016 Registration Dates For Returning Students:
WebReg opens as follows:
WebReg window for Spring Registration will be open until 5:00pm on January 16, 2016, for all students. All registration will be online.
Click on a link below for answers to the most common questions about registration:
How can I see if transfer credits will apply?
Where should I take my transcripts?


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One blizzard after another
Editor's Note: This article is part of a regular monthly series on the history of Webster City, written by local historian, Nancy Kayser
The pre-Christmas blizzard of 2012 more than likely prompted a few recollections around holiday tables concerning the winter of 1936. If those Depression era memories included stories of 20-foot high snow drifts and coal shortages they were fact and not nostalgic imagination.
From mid-January through the end of February in 1936, Webster City and Hamilton County citizens endured and survived the worst winter since 1881-1882, according to news reports in the Webster City Daily Freeman Journal.
W. H. Hunter, editor of the Freeman Journal, remarked in a February 20, 1936 editorial that "Nature has been extremely boisterous," a relatively understated comment from the normally outspoken editor.
The month of January began as a typical winter month in central Iowa as reported daily to the newspaper by Harriett Bonebright Carmichael, the official weather and crop reporter for Hamilton County. Three Works Progress Association (WPA) projects were underway to provide employment. The projects, with about 100 workers, included an improvement to the city gas plant, construction of a tunnel from the light plant to the water works and the outdoor project of digging storm sewers in the blocks south of Second Street.
The first major blizzard of the year came on the Jan, 17 and 18 with more than four inches of snow which drifted to snowbound the city and close outlying roads. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees below zero, freezing water pipes and disabling car batteries.
From then on, Webster City, Hamilton County, and in fact, most of the northern portion of the United States began a 33-day battle against the elements.
M.Y. Kinne, Hamilton County Engineer, stated that his crews were working day and night to get the county roads clear of drifts. His 24-man crew worked 12 hour shifts using three large snowplows, five smaller plows and all of the counties' road graders to get the roads open according to the Jan. 20, 1936 edition of the Freeman Journal. The paper also reported the next day that the county supervisors requested bids on three crawler tractors and three more snow plows.
On Jan. 22, 1936 the Freeman Journal headlined that the cold wave caused 420 of Webster City's 1,761 students to be absent from school. The paper also noted the trains were late, the strong "gale force" northwest winds created three- to four-foot high drifts and that the WPA storm sewer crews were taken off the job due to cold. A day later the paper noted that 30 rural schools were closed due to drifting roads, mail delivery was disrupted and 473 kids were absent from city schools.
The below zero temperatures and transportation problems brought on a coal shortage as the usual supply of Kentucky-mined coal was diverted to Michigan and Indiana due to their emergency needs. Iowa Gov. C. L. Herring made an emergency request for more coal to meet families-on-relief orders, and with the help of the Iowa United Mine Workers president, Iowa miners were finally allowed to work overtime hours to aid in the crisis.
By the first week of February, one blizzard after another, along with the continuing below zero temps and coal shortages caused rural schools to close. State officials continually advised motorists to stay off the roads as state and local crews fought a losing battle to keep the roads open.
Trains were delayed or even snowbound between cities disrupting transportation of passengers, mail and supplies, especially coal. On Feb. 10, 22 cars of livestock were blockaded two miles north of Clarion on their trip from Omaha to Minnesota. It took 75 trainmen and volunteers more than 48 hours to dig the livestock cars out by hand and move them to shelter in Clarion.
The Feb. 7, 1936 headline in the Freeman Journal declared that there was an acute coal shortage in Webster City as coal shipments were again delayed by the weather. Buyers were allowed only one-ton purchases. Another blizzard beginning the next day prompted Ellsworth, Stratford and Stanhope school to close indefinitely.
By Feb.10, roads were again blocked. Hamilton County officials worked hard to open the Kamrar and Woolstock roads as both towns reported they were short on food and fuels. The WPA storm sewer workers were assigned to help open the Woolstock road by hand with scoop shovels. Forrester's Dairy sent sleds to get milk from farmers instead of their usual trucks. Churches shut down and held union church services at Washington Central School.
Rural residents resorted to sleds and four-legged horsepower to get around, with several reports of critically ill persons being transported to the local hospital in this manner. Many reported telephone pole high drifts and driving sleds over fence tops and took photographs to document the unusual conditions. Many rural families were confined to their farms for weeks on end, struggling to keep livestock fed and watered and using their own home-grown products to survive.
The Beck coal mine in Fort Dodge, which supplied coal for the Webster City welfare office, had to shut down due to lack of fence posts to prop the tunnels. Mayor Fred Hahne quickly remedied that problem by rounding up a supply of posts from Webster City and sending the load to the mine to keep the local coal coming.
On Feb. 17, the schools of Webster City closed, not to reopen until Feb. 23. The school system heating plant also supplied heat for the courthouse and the county jail. The county prisoners were transferred to the city jail and the courthouse offices were open only one hour each day.
Temperatures began to warm by Feb. 20 and trains and coal trucks arrived to ease the fuel shortage and relegating these 33 days of below zero temperatures and snowy conditions to the record books.
Another blizzard came in the last days of February to block highways again. More than 100 people were stranded on highways in the county 51 at the junction of Highways 20 and 69 near Blairsburg, 25 at a farm house a mile north of Jewell and 32 at the Cliff Mickelson farm, north of Duncombe. It took road crews a day or so to dig them out. And the Iowa Farm Bureau asked for a delay in the March 1 moving requirements for tenant farmers since many rural roads were still blocked.
Things didn't improve much for the rest of 1936. The Boone River didn't flood from the melt off, but the spring season was cool, there wasn't much rain, the grasshoppers invaded along with cinch bugs, and Iowa would suffer through a July with day after day temperatures in three digits.
Perhaps the year of 1936 is where the old adage "If you don't like the Iowa weather, just wait a few minutes and it will change" came from.


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Fast food workers have been calling for a raise in the minimum wage, and politicians are touting it. There's even a website devoted to it ("Rebuilding an economy that works for all of us.") But would raising the minimum wage really help the working poor?
Economist David R. Henderson says no, it won't. In a piece for the National Center for Policy Analysis, Henderson says there are two myths here. (more…)


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Backgrounder #2761 on Legal Issues
January 17, 2013
January 17, 2013 | Backgrounder on Legal Issues
In responding to horrific crimes such as the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, individuals, families, civil society, and possibly government must channel their concerns into effective measures that are consistent with the Constitution. As we try to make society safer and stronger, constitutional and complex cultural factors must be taken into consideration, and sound policy must be based on a serious study of the data and other evidence. Policymakers should avoid a rush to judgment on prescriptions that violate first principles, ignore the real root of these complex problems, or disregard careful social science research. Any federal government role must be limited and constrained by constitutional principles. The most important solutions lie at the state and local levels, in the community and within the family.
All Americans, from whatever walks of life and of whatever political or philosophical convictions, abhor the death of innocent human beings and had a visceral reaction of shock and pain to the killing of 20 schoolchildren and six staff members in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. In responding to this attack, Americans must consider with great reflection and care how best to proceed, in a manner consistent with our laws and our traditions, to protect innocent lives.
First, we must identify the specific problems to be addressed involving school safety, mental illness, the cultural climate, and the misuse of firearms.
Second, we must analyze potential solutions to the specific problems identified, examining the facts and taking into account the costs and benefits of the potential solutions to ensure that sound judgment governs the emotions inescapably attached to the subject.
Finally, Americans must implement appropriate solutions in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution, including the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms, the traditional role of the states in our federal system, and the central significance of family.
Making public policy is especially challenging in these circumstances. In responding to tragedies such as Newtown, concern must be channeled by individuals, families, civil society, and possibly government into effective measures that are consistent with the Constitution. Policymakers should not just do something to alleviate our sense of urgent responsibility without due consideration of its effects. Careful diagnosis of the full scope of the problem is essential. Complex cultural factors must be taken into consideration, and sober judgment about human nature is required. Constitutional principles and constraints, which are so vital to preserving our cherished liberties, must be observed. Not all problems can be solved with government action, and if government action is required, any federal action, including executive orders, should be consistent with our federal system of government, respect for state sovereignty, and the separation of powers.
Our Constitution was framed for a self-governing people, and effective constitutional responses will therefore transcend federal policy mechanisms. Policymakers should avoid rushing to judgment on prescriptions that fail to respect constitutional principle or to locate the root of the problems, some of which lie in complex cultural issues that are best addressed at the state and local levels or that lie beyond the reach of policy altogether—best addressed by families, religious congregations, and other institutions of civil society.
In addressing the topics of gun laws, school safety, mental health, and cultural issues, Americans should focus on the following principles:
Respecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms: The constitutional right to keep and bear arms is an individual right that is fundamental to a free society, which depends, ultimately, on personal responsibility.
Preserving School Safety: Since a number of shootings have occurred on public school grounds in recent years, the safety of students on campus is a priority concern.
Addressing Mental Illness: While there is no clear evidence that people with severe mental illnesses who are being treated are more dangerous than the general population, it is clear that some with severe illnesses who are not being treated are more dangerous.
Addressing Cultural Issues: Citizens, parents, and cultural norms may be more important than anything else in working to prevent the recurrence of tragedies such as Newtown.
Violent episodes like that in Newtown shatter the well-being of a community and unsettle the peace of mind that Americans typically enjoy. Responses must seek to restore the protection afforded by the rule of law and a thriving civil society of individuals exercising their responsibilities as citizens and community members.
The Second Amendment continues to be an important safeguard of Americans' security. The Constitution's Second Amendment provides that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."[1] In 2008, in D.C. v. Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment protects a right of individuals to keep and bear arms, not just a right to arms only in service of a government-organized militia such as the National Guard.[2] In 2010, in McDonald v. Chicago, the Court held that this is a fundamental right that also applies against state and local governments.[3]
The Founding generation did not trust standing armies. As Justice Antonin Scalia noted in his majority opinion in Heller, English history is replete with instances in which monarchs "succeeded in using select militias loyal to them to suppress political dissidents, in part by disarming their opponents," just as King George III tried to do with the colonists in areas he considered rebellious.[4] This provoked a reaction by the colonists, who invoked their well-established rights as Englishmen to keep their firearms.
The Revolutionary War, however, had made it clear that militia forces alone could not be relied upon to provide an adequate national defense, so the Founders decided to give the federal government authority to establish standing armies, including in peacetime. They recognized, though, that this posed a threat to liberty, especially in light of the fact that the proposed Constitution also forbade the states from keeping troops without the consent of Congress. While the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists debated whether federal control of the militia would take away from the states their principal means of defense against federal oppression, both sides assumed that the federal government did not and should not have any authority to disarm the citizenry any more than it should have the power to abridge the freedom of speech or prohibit the free exercise of religion.
Apart from the Second Amendment's role in deterring government oppression, however, the right to keep and bear arms has another purpose that is every bit as important and urgent today as it was at the time the Constitution was ratified: specifically, to enable American citizens to defend themselves against violent criminals. Even a model police force is not everywhere at all times, and response times for many police departments leave citizens vulnerable for long periods. The Founders accepted the individual right of self-defense as the natural basis for the right to arms. They were no doubt influenced by natural law theorists such as William Blackstone, who said, "Self-defence therefore, as it is justly called the primary law of nature, so it is not, neither can it be in fact, taken away by the law of society."[5] Accordingly, the people who gave us the Second Amendment drew no fundamental distinction between an individual's right to defend himself against a robber and that same individual's right to band together with others in a state-regulated militia.
It is clear that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to privately keep and bear their own firearms that are suitable as individual weapons for hunting, sport shooting, self-protection, and other lawful purposes. In Heller, the Court made clear that while "some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem[,...] it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct."
What is important to stress as a matter of first principles and now settled constitutional law is (1) that the Second Amendment guarantees fundamental, individual rights of all law-abiding adults and (2) that in seeking to apply the Second Amendment, lawmakers and judges must be faithful to the original public meaning of the Second Amendment as understood at the time of its passage by Congress and ratification by the states, particularly as to the understanding of the natural right of self-defense, rather than some purely pragmatic argument about what legislators and ratifiers would want it to mean today if they were redrafting the Constitution in modern times.
Gun control laws do not correlate with with decreased violence. In addition to the constitutional and philosophical constraints involved in regulating a fundamental right, any laws should be carefully evaluated in light of historical evidence and with a thorough examination of data about their effectiveness.
Concerning the historical evidence on mass killings, Dr. Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections and the author of a book on the history of mass murders in America, states that the rate of mass killings, defined as four or more fatalities in a 24-hour period, peaked (on a per capita basis) in 1929, which was the height of a crime wave and was comprised mainly of familicides and felony-related massacres.[6] In terms of mass public shootings unconnected with the commission of another felony, which constitute a little more than 10 percent of all mass murders, the number rose from the 1960s through the 1990s, peaking in 1991 with eight such incidents.
While it is true that the number of victims killed and wounded in mass public shootings was greater in 2012 than in any previous year, there does not appear to be any discernible upward trend in the number of mass shooting incidents. According to Duwe's estimates, 32 mass shootings occurred in the 1980s, 42 in the 1990s, and 26 in the 2000s. Further, while the rate of random mass shootings in the United States has increased over the past 30 years, according to the FBI, the total U.S. homicide rate has fallen by over half since 1980, and the gun homicide rate has fallen along with it. While gun ownership doubled in the late 20th century, Americans are safer today from "violent crime, including gun homicide, than they have been at any time since the mid-1960s."[7]
Gun ownership does not correlate with increased violence. For example, the rate of gun ownership is higher in rural areas than in urban areas, but the murder rate is higher in urban areas.[8] Similarly, according to one study, blacks are more likely to be victims of violent crimes than whites, but gun ownership among blacks is notably lower than among whites.[9] In localities where right-to-carry laws were enacted, communities saw a decline in murder rates and instances of other violent crimes.[10]
Cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons of gun ownership and violence are notoriously problematic for many reasons, but it is important to note that the correlations do not run in only one direction, as some gun control advocates imply by referencing only a few examples that support their narrative. Gun ownership is roughly three times as high in Switzerland as it is in Germany, yet the Swiss have had lower murder rates. Other countries with high rates of gun ownership and low murder rates include Israel, New Zealand, and Finland.[11]
Between 1940 and the early 1960s, when the use of firearms by dangerous criminals was less prevalent, people could buy guns, ammunition, and dynamite from hardware stores; the Sears Christmas catalog had page upon page of rifles and shotguns that could be ordered through the mail; and some high schools and Scout groups had (and in some states still have) shooting teams. Many high school students on those teams kept their rifles in their school lockers. All of this was before the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 was enacted and before background checks and waiting periods were implemented in the 1990s.
Gun control laws do not correlate with decreased violence. If gun control were a panacea, then Washington, D.C., Oakland, and Chicago, which have very strict gun control laws, would be among the safest places to live rather than among the most dangerous.[12] While some countries with strict gun control laws, such as Japan, experience very little violence as a result of criminal use of firearms, other countries, such as Russia, Brazil, and Mexico, have stricter gun control laws but higher per capita rates of violence through the criminal use of guns than the United States does.[13] Joyce Lee Malcolm's work points to the "cautionary tale" of Britain's experience with banning handguns only to see a rise in gun crime.[14]
During the decade that the assault weapons ban was in place,[15] our nation's public schools were subjected to over two dozen incidents of violence through the criminal use of guns—including the Columbine massacre, in which Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 students and a teacher before shooting themselves. A study by the University of Pennsylvania, commissioned by the Department of Justice, entitled "An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994–2003," concluded:
[W]e cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation's recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury...[16]
Moreover, gun bans create vulnerabilities by disarming law-abiding citizens.[17] Professor of criminology Gary Kleck of Florida State University found that the number of defensive gun uses may be as high as 2.1 million to 2.5 million times per year.[18] Additionally, there have been numerous occasions where mass shooters have been stopped before they could continue their mayhem by ordinary citizens with lawfully possessed firearms. Examples include, among others, an assistant principal who stopped Luke Woodham who, after killing his mother at home, killed two students and wounded seven others at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi, in 1997; the dance hall owner who stopped Andrew Wurst after he killed a teacher and wounded three others at an eighth-grade graduation dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, in 1998; and, the students who stopped Peter Odighizuwa after he killed a dean, a professor, and a student and wounded three others at Appalachian Law School in Grundy, Virginia, in 2002.[19]
The Second Amendment's guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental to a free society, which depends, ultimately, on personal responsibility. The debate over gun laws must be situated in a larger discussion about the character of our civic order. It should not be used to avoid addressing cultural questions that require much more widespread action on the part of civil society: that is, the personal responsibility of all Americans for their own and their neighbors' good.
Decisions about school security should be state and local matters, and community-level identification of and response to risks is essential. Since a number of shootings have occurred on public school grounds in recent years, students' safety on campus is a priority concern. Constitutionally, schools and school safety are state and local concerns. Given the diversity of student needs across nearly 100,000 public elementary and secondary schools in the United States, it is also a practical necessity. Some schools may determine that it is necessary to have armed guards; others may wish to have more robust physical security such as magnetometers. Private schools and organizations that sponsor them have responsibility for the safety of children in those schools, with state and local authorities supporting them in that role by maintaining public safety in the neighborhoods where they operate. State and local customization to meet immediate needs of public schools and public safety in neighborhoods surrounding private schools is likely to yield the best results. A federal "solution," by contrast, is likely to be far more expensive and rigid and may come with more negative, unintended consequences.
Proposals to employ armed guards in public schools are matters for state and local policymakers to decide. Many schools in this country already employ armed guards to protect their students.[20] Elsewhere, Israeli schools have employed armed personnel since the 1970s, which proved to be helpful on at least one notable occasion. In 2002, two Palestinian terrorists broke into an Israeli high school armed with guns and knives.[21] They stabbed several students before being shot to death by armed school counselors.
Other innovative proposals could also be considered at the local and state levels. Gang problems and school discipline issues in recent decades have led to some promising initiatives that address student character and community culture and could prove relevant to identifying risks before they erupt into violent action. Community-based organizations like the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and initiatives like Operation CeaseFire have made significant progress in addressing student and youth violence.
The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (CNE) was founded by Robert L. Woodson, Sr., who has had decades of experience working with gang violence and youth conflict by building relationships. He bases his approach to youth violence on the "10% Principle": About 10 percent of youth in a school are usually responsible for most of the disruptive incidents, and roughly 10 percent of those tend to be the instigators. Targeting the instigators and engaging them to help reorient their leadership in a positive direction can cause violence and disruptiveness to decrease dramatically.[22]
CNE has applied this approach in the Violence Free Zone (VFZ) at George Wythe High School in Richmond, Virginia, which had been one of the city's most crime-ridden schools. One of the core elements of the VFZ model is its Youth Advisors, who are recruited to work with high-risk students. These advisors come from the same communities and have faced and overcome challenges similar to those they are advising, fostering their respect and trust. As a Baylor University report explains, Youth Advisors' roles are several, including "hall monitors, mentors, counselors, role models, and 'peace-makers.'"[23] By engaging those students who are most at risk, Youth Advisors often detect impending violence and are able to step in and de-escalate conflict before it turns violent.
The decrease in violence and crime has been notable. Between 2008 and 2009, police calls from George Wythe High School dropped by 18 percent, and arrests dropped by 15 percent. Additionally, car thefts in the surrounding neighborhood fell by over 60 percent.[24]
Operation CeaseFire was implemented in Boston during the 1990s to target young offenders and gang violence after officials recognized that Boston's violent crime problem was disproportionately concentrated among gang members.[25] The Operation CeaseFire task force consisted of the Boston Police Department, Massachusetts probation and parole agencies, the local district attorneys, federal law enforcement, community groups, and other organizations.[26] During meetings with gang members, the Operation CeaseFire task force promised the gang members that if they continued their violence, their actions would provoke an immediate and intense response. The task force used early prosecutions to show gang members how they could avoid the same punishment.[27] The working group also campaigned systematically to explain to gang members the consequences of their violent actions.
An evaluation of Operation CeaseFire funded by the National Institute of Justice found that the intervention was associated with a 63 percent decrease in the rate of youth homicides, a 25 percent reduction in the rate of gun assaults, and a 32 percent reduction in the rate of shots-fired calls for service.[28] While there is evidence that Operation CeaseFire appears to be a success, the collaborative effort ended in the late 1990s, apparently the victim of its own success, the transfer of experienced police officers from the program, and battles among the police, ministers, and criminologists to claim credit for the program's success.[29] With the incidence of violent crime having risen in 2006, however, Boston officials revived the program.[30]
Although these examples deal with youth and gang violence and not mass shootings, they show the importance of localizing the response to violence to the particular needs of a community. Decisions involving educational policy and public safety are constitutionally committed to state and local governments. State experimentation generates solutions that others may choose to follow, while federal one-size-fits-all solutions tend to stifle innovation. State and local policymakers are and should remain free to choose how to respond to the specific challenges of their environment.
Many mass killers in this country have suffered from untreated severe mental illnesses. A 2000 New York Times study of 100 rampage murderers that took place over several decades found that 48 had some kind of formal diagnosis, often schizophrenia, and that more than half had histories of serious mental problems.[31] A lengthy study by Mother Jones magazine found that at least 38 of the 62 mass shooters in the past three decades "displayed signs of mental health problems prior to the killings."[32] Seung-Hui Cho (who killed 32 and wounded 17 others at Virginia Tech); Howard Unruh (who killed 13 in Camden, New Jersey); Jiverly Wong (who killed 13 in Binghamton, New York); and Jared Loughner (who killed six people and injured 13 others, including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson, Arizona) all suffered from untreated schizophrenia. James Holmes (who killed 12 and injured dozens more in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater) almost certainly was severely mentally ill.[33] George Hennard (who killed 23 in a Killeen, Texas, cafeteria) allegedly had paranoid thinking.[34] Patrick Sherill (who killed 14 in an Edmond, Oklahoma, post office) was known as "crazy Pat" by his neighbors but never formally diagnosed.[35]
Whereas in the past, psychiatrists' accuracy in identifying patients who would become violent was only slightly better than chance, their accuracy seems to be improving. A 2005 University of Virginia study utilizing a risk-assessment "tool" found that 90 percent of those whom the doctors evaluated as low-risk committed no violence over the next six months, while 49 percent of those evaluated as high-risk committed violent acts.[36] A more recent study published in the British Medical Journal reached similar results. These data suggest that the ability to make accurate predictions in this area may be improving significantly.[37]
While there is no clear evidence that people with severe mental illnesses who are being treated are more dangerous than the general population, it is clear that some with severe illnesses who are not being treated are more dangerous. According to psychiatrist and researcher E. Fuller Torrey, "Mentally ill individuals who are not being treated are responsible for approximately 1,400 homicides each year, 10 percent of the nation's total, including rampage shootings such as occurred in Tucson in January 2011."[38]
There are many people with severe mental disorder,[39] who are not being treated. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 7.7 million Americans currently qualify for diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. Of these, 3.5 million are receiving no treatment at any given time, and approximately 10 percent, or 350,000 individuals, become societal problems because of their untreated severe mental illness.[40] "According to federal statistics or academic studies, they comprise one-third of the homeless population and one-fifth of the inmates of jails and prisons, and they are responsible for at least 10 percent of all homicides in the U.S."[41] An analysis of 20 studies published in 2009 found that schizophrenia increased the risk of acting violently fourfold in men and even more in women.[42] The risk of schizophrenics committing homicide was 0.3 percent—more than 10 times greater than the risk for the average citizen.
Restore state responsibility for mental health services. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy interposed the federal government in the mental health field with a new program to transfer psychiatric patient care from state psychiatric hospitals to new, federally financed community mental health centers (CMHC). "The CMHC program was fatally flawed from the outset," according to Dr. Torrey, because it failed to plan adequately for this transition and reduced the leadership of state stakeholders.[43] The effects have been tragic for many who are in need of mental health treatment, as Dr. Torrey describes:
Taking into consideration the increase in America's population in the past half-century, there are more than one million individuals with serious psychiatric disorders now living in the community who 50 years ago would have been in state hospitals. Studies have reported that, at any given time, approximately half of these individuals are receiving no treatment for their psychiatric illnesses, despite the fact that such treatment can be given in the community in most cases; rehospitalization is rarely necessary.[44]
The deinstitutionalization trend accelerated in the 1970s when the Supreme Court, citing the liberty interests established in the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.[45] in cases like O'Connor v. Donaldson[46] (1975) and Addington v. Texas[47] (1979), raised the burden of proof required for involuntary commitment from a "preponderance of the evidence" to "clear and convincing evidence" and required proof that the person to be committed is a danger to himself or others. The Court has similarly expanded the rights of those who refuse treatment for mental illness.[48]
Involuntary civil commitment (ICC) statutes in the various states govern the process through which an individual suffering from severe mental illness is ordered to undergo treatment in a hospital or in the community on an outpatient basis. The laws vary from state to state, with legislatures free to take account of local values, needs, and conditions. For example, section 17a-498 of the Connecticut General Statutes provides that: "If, on such hearing, the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the person complained of has psychiatric disabilities and is dangerous to himself or herself or others or gravely disabled, it shall make an order for his or her commitment...."
A 2011 University of California at Berkeley study noted that some states permit civil commitment based on a person being a danger to self and others, on grave disability, on need for treatment, for health safety and property protection, or (in one case) infliction of serious emotional burden on families, or combinations thereof.[49] The study also stated:
Broader ICC criteria appear to allow more rapid, timely and targeted intervention, especially in better mental health systems with access to inpatient hospital beds ... Findings herein seem to substantiate this observation as ICC behavioral criteria more inclusive than "danger to self, others and grave disability" appear to be associated with lower homicide rates....
The study was careful in its conclusions:
The study has its limitations. It does not offer causal certainty and the findings need to be interpreted with caution.
Although the study concluded only that an apparent association, as distinguished from causation, exists between ICC behavioral criteria and lower homicide rates, the study provides a basis for appropriate professional organizations to consider undertaking further research into that apparent association. States could then take into account the resulting body of knowledge, along with local values, needs and conditions, as they review their ICC statutes.
Given the weak track record of federal mental health programs, states should exercise primary responsibility for determining appropriate mental health services, which will entail eliminating restrictions currently imposed by the federal government. For example, evaluations of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a $3.4 billion federal agency designed to reduce "the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities," have shown it to be ineffective in achieving these goals.[50] Consideration should be given to devolving mental health programs under SAMHSA and other federal agencies to the states.
Policymaking regarding mental health involves concerns related to the personal freedom of those who are mentally ill and concerns about preventing harm to those individuals and others. In the past, treatment policies leaned too far in the direction of institutionalization. Since the Supreme Court's interventions in the mid-1970s, it is highly unlikely that mental health officials would seek a return to such policies, nor should they.
Recent developments call for states to reevaluate whether current strategies are adequately serving the needs of the severely mentally ill and the public at large and the need to protect the civil liberties of the mentally ill, including the right to due process before being deprived of their otherwise constitutionally protected right to possess a firearm. State legislatures will want to take into account the available and developing bodies of research concerning risk assessments, involuntary civil commitment, and court-ordered outpatient therapy, and appropriate mental health services of which individuals may avail themselves voluntarily, as well as local values, needs, and conditions, as they consider whether to adjust state laws.
The federal and state governments will need to review their respective laws concerning information sharing, to ensure that those responsible for protecting school children can receive information they need to respond properly to serious risks of violence to school children. Governments should proceed with care in such reviews, taking appropriate account of both the need to share information to protect children and the need to protect information, such as in the confidentiality of the doctor-patient, attorney-client, and priest-penitent relationships
In the immediate aftermath of the Newtown shootings, news accounts highlighted parents telling of hugging their children more tightly that evening and religious congregations gathering for special services of prayer. The reality at the heart of such expressions is far more than a respite in the wake of emergency; these bonds of family and communities of faith contain the very antidote to future acts of violence. Citizens, parents, and cultural norms may be more important than anything else in preventing the recurrence of tragedies such as Newtown.
Family plays an essential role in developing thriving children and adolescents, and its role must be respected in policy and supported in communities. The family is the foundational building block of a flourishing civil society, the first and most important place for individuals to be known, cared for, and to mature into well-adjusted adolescents and independent citizens contributing to society. Sadly, an increasing number of children are experiencing disruptions in what ought to be their most secure environment. More than four in 10 children are born outside the relative social and financial stability of a married family, with an increasing number of children living in single-parent households.[51]
Family structure plays an important role in children's well-being. Children and teens who live in intact, married families tend to report better outcomes on a range of mental health indicators and are less likely to engage in violent or antisocial behavior. Adolescents from intact families tend to report lower levels of emotional and psychological stress and are less likely to experience depressive tendencies than teens from other family structures. Compared to teens living in married households, adolescents who did not live in intact families are four times more likely to exhibit psychological affective disorders (ranging from hyperactivity and irritability to depression).[52]
The presence of fathers in their children's lives is particularly indicative of healthy behavior and emotional well-being. Adolescents who report having a close relationship with their fathers tend to have lower levels of psychological stress and are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems. In turn, adolescents whose fathers are more involved in their lives also tend to exhibit lower levels of aggression, antisocial behavior, and negative feelings such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.[53] As one scholar on fatherhood has noted, "across societies, married fatherhood is the single most reliable, and relied upon, prescription for socializing males. As marriage weakens, more and more men become isolated and estranged from their children and from the mother of their children. One result, in turn, is the spread of male violence."[54]
The psychological, emotional, and social benefits of stable family structure and parental involvement can also have an impact on children. Adolescents living in intact families are less likely to exhibit delinquent and violent behavior like destroying or stealing property, seriously injuring another person, or selling drugs.[55] Teens from intact families are also less likely to exhibit behaviors like carrying a weapon and engaging in physical fighting.[56]
The beneficial effects of individual intact, married families on child well-being and development can be felt throughout a community. Neighborhoods with a greater proportion of intact families tend to report lower levels of community violence, and counties with greater numbers of married households tend to experience lower rates of homicide.[57]
Policy should not be agnostic with regard to the significance of family for children's well-being. For example, the old welfare system rewarded unwed childbearing, sending exactly the wrong policy message about the significance of marriage for a child's future. Research on the correlation between the collapse of marriage and child poverty and other risk factors was part of the breakthrough that led to welfare reform in the 1990s, an important policy success that led to improvement in children's well-being.
Civil society institutions offer a first line of defense in building and maintaining safe and thriving communities. Intact, married, stable families are the first responders to the complex and personal needs of individuals. But where the needs of an individual exceed the capacity, knowledge, and expertise of one family unit, other institutions can come alongside to provide individualized, effective support.
Religious congregations and other ministries are often the "first responders" to the emotional aftermath of violence and disasters. They can also offer support for families who are caring for loved ones with mental illness. For example, ChosenFamilies.org is an innovative effort to provide information, connections, and encouragement to families with members who have "hidden disabilities." It also educates and provides resources to religious leaders as they serve families with such needs.
Religious practice and the support of religious communities can have a profound impact on maintaining stable, intact families and supporting the development of children and adolescents. Families who frequent religious institutions are more likely to enjoy lower levels of conflict[58] and higher levels of marital stability,[59] which can positively influence the emotional and psychological development of children in those households. In particular, frequency of religious attendance can be a stronger predictor of paternal involvement in one-on-one activities with children than either employment or income.[60]
Strong religious belief and involvement can likewise shape the emotions and actions of individuals. In one study, teens who frequently prayed and read, watched, or heard religious content were less likely to exhibit anti-social behavior. Private religious practice also moderated the impact of factors associated with an increase in violent behavior, such as witnessing violence or being the victim of violence.[61] On average, adolescents who attend religious services and activities more often and assign a higher importance to religion in their lives are also less likely to consider suicide or attempt suicide.[62]
These positive social outcomes associated with religious practice reinforce the rationale for America's constitutional protection of religious liberty and heritage of limited government that leaves wide space for religious and other civil society institutions. Policy should not erode these important freedoms. Government's role is to secure civil rights and law and order so that such institutions can fulfill their role in nurturing the well-being of their communities.
The First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech means that it is up to individuals, families, communities, and corporations to make responsible choices regarding media production and consumption. Violent images are pervasive in movies, television, and video games. So-called torture porn movies such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Saw and Hostel series, with their graphic depictions of torture, mutilation, and sadism, are a very popular film genre. The 1990s saw the introduction of popular, highly realistic, and incredibly violent video games such as Mortal Kombat, Doom, Grand Theft Auto, and God of War, and they have only grown more violent as graphics have improved.[63]
There is no question that the vast majority of people who see violent movies and television shows or who play violent video games will not commit a violent crime, just as there is no question that the vast majority of gun owners will not commit a violent gun crime. However, producers and parents alike should be aware that the Newtown shooter played violent video games for hours at a time; the Columbine killers loved Doom, violent songs by Marilyn Manson and others, and the film Natural Born Killers (going so far as to use "NBK" as their code); and Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people (mostly teenagers) in Norway in 2011, told a court he played a video game titled Call of Duty to practice his hand–eye coordination. Parents and community leaders should also be aware of the emerging and evolving research on how gaming seems to affect various kinds of brain activity, although the exact correlation between video games and violence is unclear.[64]
The First Amendment provides,[65] in pertinent part, that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...," and the Supreme Court has held on numerous occasions that the providers of such entertainment are cloaked with broad protection.[66] But serious self-assessment by the entertainment industries is in order. Former Senator Chris Dodd, current Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America,[67] has said that "the motion picture and television industr[ies] want to do our part to help America heal. We stand ready to be part of the national conversation."[68] That should include doing something more than criticizing those who defend the Second Amendment.
The entertainment industries, which produce violent movies, television shows, music, and video games, should consider whether improvements could be made in rating systems to minimize the likelihood that such "entertainment" will result in violent episodes committed by consumers of such fare. Meanwhile, families, parents, and community leaders have a duty to protect the children and teens they know best from excessive consumption of violent input. One tool is the power of the free market to demand better from cultural producers. As media consumers and affected citizens, Americans should urge the media to police their own conduct with respect to formulating norms of responsible reporting on mass shooting incidents that do not encourage copycat tragedies.
The media should also consider how they report stories of violence. TV programs and the Internet greatly magnify the instant celebrity that mass killers can achieve, providing them with the attention, recognition, and notoriety they seek.[69] Loren Coleman's 2004 book The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines demonstrates that the copycat effect is as old as the media themselves. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1774 classic "The Sorrows of Young Werther" triggered a spate of copycat suicides in Europe. There are several modern examples of copycat killers.[70]
Responsible media outlets enforce journalistic ethics and try to shame others who do not follow certain norms.[71] For example, it is a general rule that victims of certain crimes not be identified by name or in such detail that they could be identified. Such norms are valuable and should be encouraged by the media, citizens, and opinion leaders with a bully pulpit and should be constantly re-evaluated, particularly after tragedies such as the Newtown massacre.
In the aftermath of this heinous crime, politicians, pastors, opinion leaders, families, and citizens must engage in thoughtful action that is likely to protect Americans. In doing the serious work that will make society safer and stronger, constitutional and complex cultural factors must be taken into consideration, and sound policy must be based on a serious study of the data and other evidence.
The subject is inescapably fraught with emotion, but emotional appeals cannot be the sole basis for action. Policymakers should avoid a rush to judgment on prescriptions that violate first principles, that ignore the real root of these complex problems, or that disregard careful social science research. Any federal government role must be a limited one that is constrained by constitutional principles. The most important solutions lie at the state and local levels, in the community and within the family.
The massacre at Newtown has made for a truly bleak mid-winter, but Americans' horror and sense of urgency to act is a mark of a cultural vibrancy that speaks well of the possibilities for our civic future. As John Adams wrote in January 1775:
There is also in human nature a resentment of injury and indignation against wrong; a love of truth and a veneration of virtue. These amiable passions are the "latent spark".... If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than this sense of difference.[72]
In Newtown, we have seen all too sharply the difference between vice and virtue: between a deeply troubled and malicious killer on the one hand and remarkable individuals like principal Dawn Hochsprung, 27-year-old teacher Victoria Soto, and a fourth-grade boy wanting to use his karate to protect his classmates on the other.
Adams and the Founding generation cast their lot with these better angels, arguing that "Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty."[73] Newtown gives us yet one more reason to redouble our efforts in pursuit of the civic order and cultural virtue that make liberty possible.
—John G. Malcolm is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Center for Legal & Judicial Studies, and Jennifer A. Marshall is Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, at The Heritage Foundation
Show references in this report
[1] See Heritage Guide to the Constitution, available at http://www.heritage.org/constitution#!/amendments/2.
[3] 130 S.Ct. 3020, __ U.S. __ (2010).
[4] Heller, 554 U.S. at 592.
[5] 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries * 4.
[6] Grant Duwe, Horrifying, but Rare, OttawaCitizen.com (Jul. 21, 2012), http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/archives/story.html?id=ef617d86-2ab5-4375-aa72-e3f49e1ba0eb&p=2. See also Helen O'Neill, School Shooting: Despite Toll, Mass Killings Remain Rare, appealdemocrat.com (Dec. 15, 2012), http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/wound-121869-temple-kaleka.html.
[7] Fed. Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/index.cfm. See also, David Kopel, Guns, Mental Illness and Newtown, Wall St. J. Dec. 17, 2012, http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323723104578185271857424036.html?mg=reno64-wsj.
[8] John R. Lott, Jr., More Guns, Less Crime 40 (Univ. of Chicago Press 2010). "[W]hile rural areas have the highest gun ownership rates and the lowest crime rates, cities with more than 500,000 people have the lowest gun ownership rates and the highest crime rates (for example, in 1993 cities with over 500,000 people had murder rates that were over 60 percent higher than the rates in cities with populations between 50,000 and 500,000)." Thomas Sowell, "Gun-Control Ignorance," National Review Online, Dec. 18, 2012, http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/335848/gun-control-ignorance-thomas-sowell#. David B. Kopel, "Crime: The Inner-City Crisis," davekopel.com, 2001, http://www.davekopel.com/CJ/Mags/InnerCityCrisis.htm.
[9] Lott, More Guns, Less Crime, at 39. "For example, while white gun ownership exceeds that for blacks by about 40 percent in 1996, and the vast majority of violent crimes are committed against members of the offender's own racial group, blacks are 4.6 times more likely to be murdered and 5.1 times more likely to be offenders than are whites.… Even a 100 percent gun ownership rate among blacks would still leave a gap in gun ownership that is smaller than the gap in crime rates."
[10] Id. at 275–82. Even when accounting for a variety of factors that can explain crime, murder rates in states that enacted right-to-carry laws dropped after those laws were passed.
[11] Thomas Sowell, "The Great Gun Control Fallacy," The Guardian, Dec. 18, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/18/great-gun-control-fallacy-thomas-sowell. For statistics on each country, visit GunPolicy.org and select the country to display gun facts, figures, and the law, http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region (last visited Jan. 8, 2013).
[12] Associated Press, "New D.C. Gun Laws Remain Strict," USA Today, July 15, 2008, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-15-new-gun-rules_N.htm. Bill Mears, "Analysis: Guns and the Law; Recent Ruling Highlights Legal and Personal Stakes," CNN, Dec. 17, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/17/us/gun-law-court-ruling/index.html. Mike O'Sullivan, "California Leads US in Restrictive Gun Laws," Voice of America, July 25, 2012, http://www.voanews.com/content/california-leads-us-in-restrictive-gun-laws/1444762.html. Abby Rogers, "The 25 Most Dangerous Cities in America," Business Insider, Nov. 4, 2012, http://www.businessinsider.com/the-25-most-dangerous-cities-in-america-2012-10?op=1. Jeremy Gorner and Robert McCoppin, "Police: Chicago Ends 2012 with 506 Homicides," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 2, 2013, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-02/news/ct-met-chicago-homicides-2012-20130102_1_homicide-surge-homicide-toll-chicago-homicide-victims. Oversight Hearing on the District of Columbia's Gun Control Laws Before the H. Comm. on Gov't Reform, 109th Cong. (2005) (statement of John Lott), available at http://www.aei.org/speech/society-and-culture/oversight-hearing-on-the-district-of-columbias-gun-control-laws/.
[13] For statistics on each country, visit GunPolicy.org and select the country to display gun facts, figures, and the law, http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region (last visited Jan. 8, 2013).
[14] Joyce Lee Malcolm, Two Cautionary Tales of Gun Control, Wall Street J., Dec. 26, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323777204578195470446855466.html.
[15] Part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
[16] Christopher Koper, University of Pennsylvania, An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994–2003 at 2 (June 2004), available at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_final2004.pdf.
[17] Oversight Hearing on the District of Columbia's Gun Control Laws Before the H. Comm. on Gov't Reform, 109th Cong. (2005) (statement of John Lott).
[18] Gary Kleck & Marc Gertz, Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-defense with a Gun, 86 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 150, 167 (1995).
[19] Howard Chua-Eoan, Mississippi Gothic, Time, Jun. 24, 2001, available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,136736,00.html; Robert Moran & Susan Q. Stranahan, Again, Student Held in Slaying Andrew Wurst Is Accused of Killing Edinboro, Pa., Teacher John Gillette and Wounding Three, Philadelphia Inquirer, Apr. 26, 1998, available at http://articles.philly.com/1998-04-26/news/25765866_1_andrew-wurst-john-gillette-science-teacher; When Mass Killers Meet Armed Resistance, Classically Liberal (Apr. 18, 2007), http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2007/04/when-mass-killers-meet-armed-resistance.html.
[20] Gun Control Laws: Texas "Arm the Teachers" School Policy Uses Concealed Carry Permit, Inquisitr (Dec. 20, 2012), http://www.inquisitr.com/448340/gun-control-laws-texas-arm-the-teachers-school-policy-uses-concealed-carry-permit/.
[21] Tzippe Barrow, Terrorists Target Israeli Students, CBN News (Jan. 25, 2008), http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/310078.aspx.
[22] Byron Johnson & William Wubbenhorst, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise Violence-Free Zone Initiative: A Richmond Case Study (Apr. 2010), available at http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/case_richmond.pdf.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] David B. Muhlhausen, PhD, "Promoting Innovative Policing Strategies Without Busting the Federal Budget," testimony before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Mar. 3, 2010.
[26] Anthony A. Braga, David M. Kennedy, Elin J. Waring, and Anne Morrison Piehl, "Problem-Oriented Policing, Deterrence, and Youth Violence," Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 38, No. 3 (August 2001), pp. 195–225.
[27] Id. at 200.
[28] Id.
[29] Editorial, Boston's Armistice, The Boston Globe, Jan. 28, 2006, at E12.
[30] Suzanne Smalley, City Hopes Gangs Will Be Scared Straight, The Boston Globe, Feb. 16, 2006, at B2.
[31] Ford Fessenden, They Threaten, Seethe and Unhinge, Then Kill in Quantity, N.Y. Times, Apr. 9, 2000, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/us/they-threaten-seethe-and-unhinge-then-kill-in-quantity.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
[32] Mark Follman et al., A Guide to Mass Shootings in America, Mother Jones, Dec. 15, 2012, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map.
[33] Erica Goode et al., Before Gunfire, Hints of 'Bad News', N.Y. Times, Aug. 26, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/us/before-gunfire-in-colorado-theater-hints-of-bad-news-about-james-holmes.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
[34] E. Fuller Torrey & Doris A. Fuller, The Potential Killers We Let Loose, Wall Street J., Dec. 18, 2016, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324407504578185361458883822.html.
[35] Id.
[36] J. Monahan et al., An Actuarial Model of Violence Risk Assessment for Persons with Mental Disorder (Jul. 2005).
[37] Seena Fazel et al., Use of Risk Assessment Instruments to Predict Violence and Antisocial Behaviour in 73 Samples Involving 24,827 People: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2012).
[38] "Two previous studies in New York and California reported the 10 percent figure, and a large 2008 study in Indiana confirmed it." E. Fuller Torrey, How to Bring Sanity to Our Mental Health System, Heritage Found. Center for Policy Innovation Discussion Paper No. 2 (Dec. 19, 2011), n. 23, available at http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/12/how-to-bring-sanity-to-our-mental-health-system.
[39] "Severe mental disorders are defined by the National Advisory Mental Health Council as including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, autism and the severe forms of major depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder." Torrey and Fuller, The Potential Killers We Let Loose, Wall Street J., Dec. 18, 2012.
[40] Id.
[41] Id.
[42] Seena Fazel et al., Schizophrenia and Violence: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, PLos Med 6(8) (2009).
[43] Torrey, How to Bring Sanity to Our Mental Health System, at 4.
[44] Id.
[45] See Heritage Guide to the Constitution, available at http://www.heritage.org/constitution#!/amendments/5 and http://www.heritage.org/constitution#!/amendments/14.
[48] E.g. Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166 (2003).
[49] Steven P. Segal, Civil Commitment Law, Mental Health Services, and U.S. Homicide Rates (2011), available at http://treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/segal--civil%20commitment%20law%20mh%20services%20us%20homicide%20rates--2011.pdf
[50] E. Fuller Torrey, Bureaucratic Insanity: The Federal Agency That Wastes Money While Undermining Public Health, National Review, Jun. 20, 2011, at 24–26. Torrey notes: "Senator Tom Coburn's (R–OK) July 2011 deficit reduction plan ("Back in Black") made an excellent case for the abolition of SAMHSA and folding its worthwhile programs into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
[51] Robert Rector, Marriage: America's Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty, Heritage Found. Special Report No. 117 (Sept. 5, 2012), available at http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/marriage-americas-greatest-weapon-against-child-poverty#_ftn4.
[52] Steven P. Cuffe et al., Family and Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Longitudinal Epidemiological Study of Adolescents, 2 J. Am. Acad. Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 44, 121–129 (2005).
[53] Marcia J. Carlson, Family Structure, Father Involvement, and Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes, 1 Marriage & Fam. 68, 137–54 (2006).
[54] David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America, quoted in Russ Nieli, "Absentee Fathers and Newtown School Shooting," The Public Discourse, Jan. 2, 2013, http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/01/7488/.
[55] "Marriage and Family as Deterrents from Delinquency, Violence and Crime," FamilyFacts.org Brief, No. 26, The Heritage Foundation, http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/familyfacts/briefs/FF_Brief_26.pdf.
[56] Kathleen B. Rodgers & Hillary A. Rose, Risk and Resiliency Factors Among Adolescents Who Experience Marital Transitions," 4 J. Marriage & Fam. 64, 1024–37 (2002).
[57] Chris Knoester & Dana L. Haynie, Community Context, Social Integration into Family, and Youth Violence, 3 Marriage & Fam. 67, 767–780 (2005).
[58] Christopher G. Ellison et al., Are There Religious Variations in Domestic Violence?, 20 J. Fam. Issues 87, 87–113 (1997).
[59] Vaughn R. A. Call and Tim B. Heaton, Religious Influence on Marital Stability, 3 J. Sci. Stud. Religion, 36, 382–92 (1997).
[60] W. Bradford Wilcox, Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands 115 (Univ. of Chicago Press 2004).
[61] Michelle J. Pearce, The Protective Effects of Religiousness and Parent Involvement on the Development of Conduct Problems Among Youth Exposed to Violence, 74 Child Development 1682, 1682–96 (2003).
[62] Michael J. Donahue and Peter L. Benson, Religion and the Well-Being of Adolescents, 2 J. Soc. Issues 51, 145–60 (1995).
[63] "Are Video Games Getting More Violent?" FoxNews.com, Dec. 18, 2012, http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/12/18/are-video-games-getting-more-violent/.
[64] Bruce D. Bartholow et al., Chronic Violent Video Game Exposure and Desensitization to Violence: Behavioral and Event-Related Brain Potential Data, 42 J. Experimental Soc. Psychol. 532, 532–539 (2006).
[65] See Heritage Guide to the Constitution, available at http://www.heritage.org/constitution#!/amendments/1.
[66] Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assoc., 131 S.Ct. 2729, __ U.S. __ (2011).
[67] Co-author John Malcolm used to work at the MPAA.
[68] Press Release, Motion Picture Assoc. of America (Dec. 20, 2012), available at http://mpaa.org/resources/e0fe67df-bbaf-46f5-b549-57f791f5494e.pdf.
[69] Tim Nash, The Mind of a Serial Killer, Finer Times, available at http://www.thefinertimes.com/Serial-Killers/the-mind-of-a-serial-killer.html.
[70] Nigel Barber, Copycat Killings, Psychology Today (Jul. 27, 2012), http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201207/copycat-killings.
[71] Thomas Lifson, New York Times 'Outed' Sandusky Rape Victim, American Thinker (Nov. 30, 2011), http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/new_york_times_outed_sandusky_rape_victim.html.
[72] John Adams, The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Novanglus No. 1 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Inc., 2000), p. 152.
[73] Id. Id.


text:
House File 2054, which, if enacted, would have reversed Iowa's decision to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards, died in committee on February 19, 2016, when a deadline for bills to be reported out of committee expired. The NGSS's treatment of evolution and climate change appears to have been part of the motivation for the bill.
"Three-quarters of Alaskans are sold on the existence and seriousness of global warming, but far fewer are convinced that it's caused by human activity, according to a poll commissioned by Alaska Dispatch News," reports Alaska Dispatch News (February 13, 2016).
Explore the Grand Canyon with NCSE! Reservations are still available for NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon — as featured in the documentary No Dinosaurs in Heaven. From June 30 to July 8, 2016, NCSE will again explore the wonders of creation and evolution on a Grand Canyon river run conducted by NCSE's Steve Newton and Josh Rosenau.
"Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers" (PDF), a paper in the journal Science describing the first nationwide survey of climate change education in the United States, conceived and funded by NCSE and conducted in collaboration with researchers at Pennsylvania State University, received extensive coverage in the press. Here is a sampling.
Idaho's Senate Bill 1321 (PDF), introduced on February 12, 2016, and referred to the Senate Committee on State Affairs, would, if enacted, permit the use of the Bible in Idaho's public schools "for reference purposes to further the study of" a variety of topics, including "astronomy, biology, [and] geology."
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