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Girls Classic Leather Frame
No longer available
- Overview
Capture her grad photo, or any special memory, in a colorful frame that's crafted with the look and feel of pebbled leather.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Seaside Park/Heights boardwalk fire under control
Wayne Parry, Associated Press update 11:16 a.m. - Hot spots could keep flaring up for days on a New Jersey shore boardwalk where a fire leveled four blocks and about 30 businesses just 10 months after the same area was devastated by Superstorm Sandy.
Gov. Chris Christie said the fire was 95 percent contained by late morning Friday. He said state grants and loans could be made available to help businesses with recovery costs not covered by insurance.
Christie said there were only minor injuries, including to three police officers who fell from a moving vehicle.
"I will not permit all the work we've done over the last 10 months to be diminished or destroyed by what happened last night," Christie said during a media briefing in Seaside Park.
The fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon, zipped up four blocks of boardwalk in Seaside Park and Seaside Heights. It was driven by strong gusts and fueled by tar roofs on the pizza shops, bars, ice cream shops, an arcade and other businesses.
The fire was finally stopped around 11 p.m. Thursday when officials decided to dismantle a section of the boardwalk, even though that meant moving firefighters and letting some buildings continue to burn.
Images from the air showed a once-colorful area reduced to a monochromatic pile of charred dark gray rubble. Among the places wrecked was FunTown Pier, an amusement park that had not yet reopened after being damaged last October by Sandy.
Friday, firefighters were pouring thousands of gallons of water on the smoldering remnants of the fire.
About a quarter of the 400 firefighters who battled the blaze Thursday remained on the scene Friday morning, and heavy equipment was poised to move in and start poking through the rubble once firefighters extinguished the last burning pockets.
"There's not much left" in the affected areas, said Brian Gabriel, Ocean County's fire coordinator. "It looks like a couple of bombs went off. It's pretty much complete devastation."
Authorities began making tentative plans to rebuild the boardwalk, most of which had just been redone in time for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. Boardwalk merchants were numb as they pondered the second major disaster to befall them in 11 months.
"We just reopened June 1, went through the whole summer trying to stay open, and now this happens," said Daniel Shauger, manager of Funtown Arcade, which was one of 32 Seaside Park boardwalk businesses damaged in the fire. "We're wiped out again. It's just unimaginable."
He said business was down by two-thirds this summer because of the fallout from Sandy, which filled his arcade with water and sand and ruined inventory, game machines and computers.
"It was just enough to survive," Shauger said. "We were really looking forward to next year. And we're still looking forward to next year."
Seaside Park officials began plans Friday morning to rebuild their part of the boardwalk, at the southern end where the fire began Thursday afternoon near a frozen custard stand. Bob Martucci, the borough administrator, said it will cost $600,000 to rebuild the borough-owned boardwalk; individual businesses are privately owned and would not be included in that cost, he said.
Arson investigators began looking into the cause of the fire Thursday night and continued Friday morning, which is routine with a fire of this size. Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said there was no indication Friday that the fire appeared suspicious, though a cause had not been determined.
It could have been much worse. On Thursday, as the fire pushed northward despite the frantic efforts of firefighters to contain it, Seaside Heights officials tried a Hail Mary: They ripped out a 25-foot swath of the boardwalk they had just finished rebuilding five months earlier. And they filled the void with giant sand piles — makeshift dunes designed to halt the spread of flames and save the northern portion of the boardwalk upon which the community relied for its financial survival.
It worked.
In much the same way as forest fire crews rip out vegetation to deprive an advancing fire of fuel, the boardwalk gambit succeeded in halting the fire's extension any farther into Seaside Heights.
"That appears to have done the trick," Seaside Park Mayor Robert Matthies said.
Seaside Park Councilwoman Nancy Koury said the fire caused several million dollars' worth of damage.
NBC10's Vince Lattanzio update 10:20 a.m. - Three police officers have been seriously hurt after falling off a transport truck leaving the massive boardwalk fire in Seaside Park, N.J.
The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. Friday at O Street and Ocean Avenue in Seaside Park, N.J.
Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says the officers were sitting on the back of a truck when a bench gave way and the officers tumbled onto the roadway.
Two of the officers are being airlifted to trauma centers and another is being taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Officials say the officers, two men and one woman, were working overnight to secure the site of Thursday's four-block long boardwalk fire.
Wayne Parry, Associated Press update 9:30 a.m. - About 100 firefighters are on the boardwalk in two Jersey shore towns trying to control hot spots after a boardwalk rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy was reduced to smoldering remains by a fire.
Officials say 300 to 400 firefighters were there Thursday when the fire raged for eight hours, leveling all 32 businesses in Seaside Park and crossing the town line into Seaside Heights.
Seaside Park Fire Chief Brian Gabriel says that if the fire had not been stopped at Lincoln Avenue, there is no telling how much destruction the fire would have brought.
He says embers sparked small fires at the Casino Pier amusement park that was damaged badly by Sandy last year.
Alan Tu update 7:54 a.m. - Governor Chris Christie will hold a 10:30 a.m. media briefing today to provide an update on the Seaside Boardwalk fire that began Thursday afternoon.
NBC10 has aerial video of the smoldering boardwalk shot at 6:57 a.m.
NBC10 Lauren DiSanto and Kelly Bayliss update 6:51 a.m.
Fire crews continue to battle hot spots left over from Thursday's massive boardwalk fire in a Jersey Shore town that was ravaged by Superstorm Sandy nearly a year ago.
Flames spread rapidly along the boardwalk in Seaside Park and neighboring Seaside Heights yesterday as dark smoke was spotted from miles away.
The fire, which started around 2:30 p.m. near Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard shop on 1800 Boardwalk, has destroyed at least 80 percent of the boardwalk in Seaside Park, according to the town's Police Chief, Francis Larken. More than 50 businesses in both Seaside Park and Seaside Heights have also been destroyed.
"The only building that's not consumed by fire is part of the arcade and the Saw Mill Café," Ocean County Fire Chief Brian Gabriel said in a press conference early Friday.
Seven hours after it started, crews had the fire under control, according to Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd. But as of 7 a.m. Friday, at least 100 firefighters are still on scene extinguishing hot spots, aided by a final soaking of heavy rain as a storm moved off the coast just before 6 a.m.
"This is obviously just an unthinkable situation..." NJ Governor Chris Christie said in a press conference Thursday as the fire raged behind him. He also said that when he first heard the news he told he staff 'I feel like I want to throw up' after all the work this area did to rebuild.
Gov. Christie said that 400 firefighters were called to the scene. Those crews cut a 20-foot wide trench by ripping out a portion of the boardwalk at Ocean and Lincoln Avenues, in the hopes of stopping the fire from spreading.
Flames quickly moved over the first trench forcing firefighters to head towards Lincoln Ave.
It was there that they were able to contain the blaze by filling the trenches with giant sand piles -- makeshift dunes that helped halt the fire from moving any further into Seaside Heights.
"That appears to have done the trick," Seaside Park Mayor Robert Matthies said.
Christine Hemingway was working inside Kohr Brothers this afternoon and said it appeared as if the smoke was rising from underneath the boardwalk.
"Our manager came running through the stand and said 'get out,' we go around the corner in front of Biscayne Candy and there was smoke coming up from the boardwalk," said Hemingway. "There was a little smoke and then all of a sudden, it got real thick and black."
A dispatcher for Seaside Fire Radio also received a report that the fire was coming from underneath the boardwalk.
"Report of flames showing underneath the boardwalk by the Sawmill," that's the audio call put out to crews dispatched to the scene.
Strong winds, whipping at speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour, were the biggest challenge for the firefighters called in to respond from neighboring NJ counties.
"It's an all-call, which means anybody that has equipment [in Ocean County] are asked to respond," said Al Della Fave, of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, who is handling calls for the Sheriff's office while they are on scene. That means up to 33 municipalities can respond.
"It's all hands on deck and they're doing the best they can, but the winds are really making it difficult," Della Fave said yesterday.
Embers blew for at least 8 blocks, igniting a fire at the nearby Royal Sands Condominium complex at Sumner Avenue and Ocean Terrace, which was quickly put out. Those embers also landed on area homes and businesses.
Nancy O'Brien who runs EJ's Dance Club at 919 Boardwalk, which is about a mile and a half from the fire, told NBC10 that her eyes were burning and that the air was acidy. Even at that distance the smoke was a real nuisance
The area of the boardwalk between Stockton and Farragut Avenues, in front of Funtown Pier, was not destroyed during Superstorm Sandy, but the pier itself was. An estimated 90% of the 33 rides on Funtown Pier were lost in the storm.
The pier, which was not open this summer, was fully engulfed in flames, destroying the small portion that was left standing after the storm.
"It's just devastating to the area. It's just heartbreaking to see. After what we just went to almost a year ago, and now this. I'm just in disbelief and shock over this. I can't believe it, " Larkin said.
NBC10 cameras captured part of a structure on that pier falling down.
The area of Seaside Heights that was destroyed by Thursday's fire was newly rebuilt following Sandy.
"Mainly after everything they just went through. I feel so sorry for the people that had businesses and didn't have insurance and put their own money back into it to make it work," said Patty Dibiase, who watched as the fire burned.
Several firefighters suffered minor injuries, mostly heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
New Jersey Natural Gas isolated gas service just to the boardwalk area, luckily no residents have been affected.
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey had more than a dozen personnel responding to the scene to assist.
Non-emergency personnel are being told to stay away.
"We are asking people to stay away from the area so that firefighters can fight this fire," said Donna Flynn, Public Information Officer for Ocean County Emergency Management.
The Mathis Bridge, which connects Toms River to the Seaside area was closed to non-emergency vehicles, as of 5:30 p.m. It remains closed this morning.
All roads leading into the area of Seaside Heights and Seaside Park are closed except to residents.
Seaside Park Mayor Bob Matthies estimates the damage from the fire will be in the millions.
"The resiliency that was demonstrated before will be called upon again to rebuild this section of the town and the commerce on the boardwalk," said Matthies.
NBC10 is a content partner with NewsWorks.
Alan Tu update 10:38 p.m. - The massive boardwalk fire in New Jersey is now under control. Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd. told NBC10 that the fire that burned six blocks along the Seaside Park/Heights boardwalk is under control.
The fire started around 2:30 p.m. but raced quickly north as winds between 20-30 mph kicked up.
"I can't smell any smoke," said Justin Auciello who was positioned at the southwest corner of the fire. "I could hit the fire with a baseball but I don't smell a thing," Auciello said of the powerful winds that pushed the smoke and embers away from him. Auciello is a Seaside Park resident and co-writes NewsWorks' Down the Shore blog.
The above video was taken by Auciello at 8:52 p.m. at the corner of Stockton and Ocean avenues. It shows the dramatic progress firefighters have made in the past few hours.
On the northern end of the fire, six blocks away, crews ripped up 25 feet of boardwalk — which had just been rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy — and filled the void with sand piles to block the flames' advance.
It took more than 400 firefighters from as far away as Cape May and Mount Laurel to contain today's fire that reached 10 alarms.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Although the fire first engulfed the Kohr's Frozen Custard's 1800 Boardwalk location, the fire may have started at another location. NBC10 interviewed one of the Kohr employees:
Christine Hemingway was working inside Kohr Brothers this afternoon and said it appeared as if the smoke was rising from underneath the boardwalk.
"Our manager came running through the stand and said 'get out,' we go around the corner in front of Biscayne Candy and there was smoke coming up from the boardwalk," says Hemingway. "There was a little smoke and then all of a sudden, it got real thick and black."
Alan Tu update 7:46 p.m. - Governor Chris Christie says firefighters are creating a fire line on the boardwalk at Lincoln Ave. in an effort to stop the blaze from moving north. He says the fire has consumed about 20 boardwalk businesses over a six-block span.
Christie addressed the media at 7:15 p.m. this evening and said that the fire has steadily moved north due to 30-40 mph winds.
In addition to the gusty winds, Christie says, firefighters have had problems getting enough water on the fire because of a damaged water system. The damage occurred during Superstorm Sandy last year, he said. Water is now being pumped from the bay over the barrier island to the boardwalk to make up the difference.
The fire began around 2:30 p.m. this afternoon in Kohr's Frozen Custard shop on the boardwalk at Stockton Ave. in Seaside Park. The fire fueled by the winds travelled six blocks into Seaside Heights and is approaching Lincoln Ave. where chunks of the boardwalk have been removed.
Christie said the firefighting effort has been a statewide effort with firefighters called in from Ocean, Monmouth, Union, Mercer, Burlington, Atlantic and Cape May counties.
Justin Auciello on-scene update 6:40 p.m - The blaze appears to have become more intense in the last few minutes in a building just to the north of Funtown Arcade.
Firefighters will be running a line from the bay to the boardwalk for a water supply, according to radio transmissions. A NJ Forest Fire Service helicopter has been requested to respond for a water drop if ordered.
Alan Tu update 6:39 p.m. - N.J. Governor Chris Christie has arrived in Seaside Heights. He is expected to hold a news conference at 7 p.m. Governor's office spokesman Michael Drewniak issued this statement earlier tonight.
"Pictures and video of the fire are startling and sad given what Seaside Park and neighboring Seaside Heights have endured with Superstorm Sandy. Governor Christie is deeply concerned and will get a first-hand look shortly at the scene, where he will be speaking further with Mayor Matthies and Mayor Akers and offering the state's full resources and assistance. Our concerns and prayers are also with firefighters and first responders at the scene battling the blaze."
Justin Auciello on-scene update 6:18 p.m. - Fire appears to have spread to north of Marucas. Firefighters are digging a trench near Lincoln Ave on the boardwalk in an effort to spot blaze from heading to the north, according to the Breaking News Network. Fire units from multiple continues are here or staging for a future response.
Update 6:00 p.m.
The six-alarm Seaside Park boardwalk fire that began earlier this afternoon is spreading north into Seaside Heights.
Route 35 has been closed between Route 37 and 24th Ave. to allow emergency vehicles to gain access to the boardwalk fire in Ocean County. Firefighters from Monmouth, Atlantic and Cape May counties have been called in to assist.
Jersey Shore Hurricane News editor Justin Auciello, who is on the scene, told NewsWorks at 5:20 p.m. that a majority of everything from Stockton and Porter avenues appears to be totally destroyed.
The fire began at Kohr's Frozen Custard's 1800 Boardwalk location has spread north fueled by 20-30 mph winds. Auciello says many businesses have been destroyed including: Jack and Bills, Kupper's French Fries and Park Seafood.
Seaside Park's Police Chief, Francis Larken told NBC10 that more than two dozen businesses have been lost.
Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd said tar roofs and the gusty winds are behind the rapid spread of the blaze. He said a section of boardwalk was being removed to create a fire line to keep the blaze from spreading. The boardwalk was just repaired after being battered during Superstorm Sandy.
Authorities say several firefighters and residents were being treated for smoke inhalation. No other injuries were reported.
1st Responder, a police and fire radio monitoring service, reported earlier today that the fire department requested the Seaside Park officials to find a way to increase water pressure to their hoses. 1st Responder reports that power has been shut down for all of the boardwalk businesses and the gas lines have been secured.
Nearby homes and businesses have been evacuated.
Support provided by
Location where the boardwalk fire began.


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A Major Relief Rally Takes Hold
Amazing money in. Amazing dearth of stock. Where are all of those sellers who hated the market? Where are all of those people who are worried about the debt-ceiling debacle?
To me, there is as much seller's remorse as I have ever seen, combined with pent-up demand for stocks from all sorts of retirement plans. Those who sold because of tax-gain reasons are back buying again. Those who sold stocks because dividends weren't supposed to be as tax-advantaged as they turned out to be are back buying....44 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
There's no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.
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Category: popular nameberry names 2012
This year, for the first time, we have–with the invaluable help of our invaluable intern Hannah Tenison, tallied the final name choices reported by Berries on the Birth Announcement forum. So here is what happened when all the hypotheticals were winnowed down to a single reality.
(Of course we know many more babyberries arrived this year, and hope you'll all remember to enter your news in the future.)
FIRST NAMES given to more than one babe
Among girls' first names,
two three stood out with four uses each: Alice, Ruby, and Matilda.
The following were chosen three times:
Wren (also a Wrenley)


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Lucroy getting quick education to play first base
MILWAUKEE -- Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy described a crash course in playing first base -- a position he manned for an inning of Monday's rout of the Pirates -- for the first time since a stint in a college summer league in 2006.
"I think I made, like, two errors or something," Lucroy said.
He was error-free on Monday night, something of a relief considering Lucroy never even considered playing first base until manager Ron Roenicke approached him about it on Saturday, the afternoon shortstop Jean Segura injured a finger during pregame fielding drills and prompted a last-minute lineup shuffle.
Lucroy borrowed a first baseman's glove from fellow catcher Martin Maldonado -- Yuniesky Betancourt has been using the same one during his own crash course -- and began taking grounders before games. The idea was to wait until a blowout game to ease Lucroy in, and that opportunity came Tuesday when the Brewers bashed five home runs.
"That way, if I screw something up, it's not a game-changer," Lucroy said. "I'm going to make some mistakes over there. A lot of that stuff is instinctual."
After so many games behind the plate, Lucroy said, the vantage point in the field was "weird." He said he would need time to learn positioning on bunts and cutoffs, become comfortable fielding grounders and lead pitchers when they cover the bag. It will take a lot more practice, he conceded.
"It's not just going over there and catching balls," Lucroy said.
Maldonado agreed.
"I think that's the toughest position," Maldonado said. "Those guys make the infielders look good. That's why a good first baseman sticks around a long time."
Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brew Beat, and follow him on Twitter at @AdamMcCalvy. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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He came in like a phantom. Unseen and un-photographed, he stepped into California from his native Oregon a few days after Christmas, making him the first confirmed wild wolf in the state in ninety years. Since then, he has traveled more than 2,000 miles, as the crow flies, tracked daily by a GPS collar.
Call it wanderlust. To date, OR-7, a member of Oregon's Imnaha pack, has traveled about 20 "air miles" a day since arriving in California on December 28. A two-year old male (his birthday is coming up, in April), his odyssey is typical dispersal behavior as he seeks out territory and other wolves.
Tracked by a GPS collar first by the Oregon department of Fish and Wildlife and now by California's Department of Fish and Game, his zigzag journey has taken him across his home state, through three California counties, and not far from the Nevada border. At the moment he's hovering by Oregon once again, perhaps considering a return home.
"He's predictable in his unpredictablility," says wildlife manager Karen Kovacs, who leads the monitoring project for California Fish and Game. The department updates a website and map regularly with news of OR-7's travels, with a slight delay to deter poachers.
Like the arrival of a wolverine in Lake Tahoe four years ago, Kovacs believes the return of a wolf to California is hugely significant biologically and a sign of success in wolf recovery.
To date OR-7 has had no confirmed interaction with humans or livestock. He has enjoyed a supper or two of deer, but it's unclear whether he hunts the deer himself or lucks into free dinner left by someone's car. He frequented a livestock bone pile until ranchers agreed to bury the waste. He's even travelled right past a corral to visit a water trough, and then left the scene without troubling any animals. This is good news for OR-7, as many in his pack have taken cattle and been subsequently shot.
As Alisa Opar reported last March, gray wolves in America's Rockies have created controversy as states argue for removing the wolf from the federal endangered species list. Today, wolves are recognized as an endangered species by the federal government but delisted in certain regions such as the Northern Rocky Mountains and Western Great Lakes. They are not listed in Alaska, and have been delisted from portions of Oregon and Washington. This week the public can comment on a possible wolf hunt in Wisconsin.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, have argued that the wolf plays a crucial role in ecosystems, and, as Susan Cosier writes, have applauded efforts to reintroduce wolves in Yellowstone.
Kovacs believes California still has time to develop a policy for wolf management in the event that the species is ever delisted. For now, she and her colleagues at California Fish and Game are already at work comparing and drafting strategies. In the meantime, they're reaching out to educate and inform residents of California counties where OR-7 is travelling.
Kovacs has been impressed by the strong support for the wolf. "Wolves elicit such a tremendous emotion in people," she says. Hopefully that response will encourage a strategy that supports both wolves and humans.
To follow OR-7's journeys, visit the California Department of Fish and Game website. For a look at gray wolf management in other parts of the world, visit Audubon magazine's "The Big Bad Wolf?" on wolf management in France.


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A DEVELOPER has pledged to help rehome village ducks after they were removed by pond campaigners.
Villagers say they were forced to move the wildfowl, which had lived on Weston-on-the-Green pond in North Lane for 30 years, fearing building work would impact on them.
Campaigners say a combination of failure to gain village green status for the pond and its bank, and then work starting on a four-bedroom property behind the pond, meant they had to move the ducks to a new home in Charlton-on-Otmoor.
But developer of the neighbouring property, Jon Kirk, claims the ducks were moved before building work started, and offered to help with the ducks if they were returned.
He said as part of the plans for the site he had a special drainage system designed to ensure the pond was "unaffected by building work".
Mr Kirk, whose property was given planning permission in 2010, said: "The welfare of the ducks is paramount in my mind.
"This design has been fully approved by local council drainage engineers and is now a condition of the build.
"I should also like to point out that the ducks were removed prior to any building work taking place, and that I would be very happy to assist with looking after any ducks in the future."
Although Oxfordshire County Council granted village green status for the pond, it refused the condition for the land there, which it owns.
Villagers say it made the pond "unworkable", but the council says its hands were tied because the law dictates it cannot handover its land.
Norman Boardman, 82, who describes his job as "duckmeister" – a person who cares for ducks – said: "I have been putting the ducks to bed and letting them out every morning for the last 30 years.
"It was a combined decision by Cherwell and Oxfordshire County Council that made us decide to give up."
The pond committee said the final straw came after dust and mud got into the water as the water feed to the pond runs across the land.
- Happier times for Mr Boardman with his ducks in 2006
Susan Davis, part of the village pond group, said: "A significant factor in the decision to take the ducks off the pond was the large influx of mud and silt into the pond from earthworks on the land behind the pond. The real problem was we lost such a lot of goodwill in the village from people who had spent 30 years looking after it – mowing, planting and the ducks.
"People now think 'why are we doing this?'"
The pond was created in 1986 by villagers who de-silted it, built up the banks and continued to maintain it.
Parish clerk Bob Hessian said: "The really sad thing is there are no ducks now.
"It was a nice pleasant place to be in Weston and we are losing that now."
County council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said: "The relevant land is classed as highway and under nationally-set law the county council is not permitted to give it village green status."
Planning authority Cherwell District Council is aware of a potential breach of regulations with the development and is investigating.
- Our top stories:


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Safety and Efficacy of AEB071 in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma Patients
This study is ongoing, but not recruiting participants.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Novartis ( Novartis Pharmaceuticals )
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: September 6, 2011
Last updated: May 9, 2017
Last verified: May 2017
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
This study has two parts, dose escalation and dose expansion. For dose escalation, the primary objective is to estimate the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of AEB071 in patients with uveal melanoma. For dose expansion, the primary objective is to characterize the safety and tolerability of the MTD of AEB071 in patients with uveal melanoma.
|Uveal Melanoma
|Drug: AEB071
|Phase 1
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|A Phase 1 Study of AEB071, an Oral Protein Kinase C Inhibitor, in Patients With Metastatic Uveal Melanoma
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: Melanoma
Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center resources: Intraocular Melanoma Carcinoid Tumor Neuroepithelioma Uveal DiseasesU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Novartis ( Novartis Pharmaceuticals ):
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Frequency of dose limiting toxicity during cycle 1 (28 days) - Dose Escalation [ Time Frame: cycle 1 (28 days) ]
- Number of participants reporting serious adverse events and adverse events - Dose Expansion [ Time Frame: Baseline, every 28 days ]
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- Overall response rate (Complete Response (CR) + Partial Response(PR)) to AEB071 using RECIST version 1.1 [ Time Frame: Baseline, 12 months ]
- Progression free survival and time to progression using RECIST version 1.1 [ Time Frame: Baseline, 12 months ]
- Number of patients reporting serious adverse events and adverse events [ Time Frame: Baseline, 12 months ]
- AEB071/AEE800 pharmacokinetic parameters including Cmax, tmax, AUCτ, Ctrough, CL/F, and RA [ Time Frame: First 7 months of treatment period ]
- Gα genotype in tumor specimens [ Time Frame: Baseline, 28 days ]
|Actual Study Start Date:
|December 20, 2011
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|October 15, 2017
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|October 15, 2017 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
|Experimental: AEB071
|Drug: AEB071
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Uveal melanoma with biopsy proven metastatic disease
- Males and females ≥ 18 years of age
- Consent to biopsy of tumor
- Measurable disease according to RECIST version 1.1
- WHO performance status of ≤ 1
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients with abnormal laboratory values as defined by the protocol
- Patients who are receiving treatment with strong inducers or inhibitors of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) that cannot be discontinued prior to study entry
- Patients with impaired cardiac function or clinically significant cardiac diseases as defined by the protocol
- Patients with another malignancy that was treated within the last three years with the exceptions of localized basal cell carcinoma and cervical carcinoma
- Patients with impairment of gastrointestinal function or disease
- Patients with severe systemic infections
- Patients who are known to be HIV positive and/or have active hepatitis B or C infection
Time since last therapy for treatment of underlying malignancy:
- Cytotoxic chemotherapy: ≤ duration of the most recent cycle of the previous regimen (a minimum of 2 weeks for all)
- Nitrosurea: ≤ 6 weeks
- Biologic therapy: ≤ 4 weeks
- ≤ 5 x PK half-life of a small molecule therapeutic not otherwise defined above
- Patients having undergone major surgery less than 4 weeks prior to enrollment or have not fully recovered from prior surgery
- Women of child-bearing potential unless they are using highly effective methods of contraception during the dosing and for at least 36 hours after last dose. Highly effective contraception as defined in the protocol.
- Patients with primary central nervous system tumors or brain metastases.
- Pregnant or nursing (lactating) women.
Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01430416
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01430416
|United States, Massachusetts
|Dana Farber Cancer Institute DFCI - Brookline
|Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
|United States, New York
|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center MSKCC 4
|New York, New York, United States, 10065
|Novartis Investigative Site
|Paris, France, 75231
|Novartis Investigative Site
|Leiden, Netherlands, 2300 RC
|United Kingdom
|Novartis Investigative Site
|London, United Kingdom, SW3 6JJ
Sponsors and Collaborators
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
|Study Director:
|Novartis Pharmaceuticals
|Novartis Pharmaceuticals
More Information
Keywords provided by Novartis ( Novartis Pharmaceuticals ):
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|Novartis Pharmaceuticals
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01430416 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
2011-002535-25 ( EudraCT Number )
|Study First Received:
|September 6, 2011
|Last Updated:
|May 9, 2017
Keywords provided by Novartis ( Novartis Pharmaceuticals ):
Uveal melanoma
phase 1
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Uveal Neoplasms
Neuroendocrine Tumors
Neuroectodermal Tumors
Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal
Neoplasms by Histologic Type
Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue
Nevi and Melanomas
Eye Neoplasms
Neoplasms by Site
Eye Diseases
Uveal Diseases
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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Score | Action In Images | Results | Mahela quits | Win will revive WI | Full Coverage
COLOMBO: Gangnam stylists West Indies roused memories of a lost time as they sank Sri Lanka by 36 runs to win the ICC World Twenty20 - their first world title in over three decades. Darren Sammy's side of booty-shaking league mercenaries pulled off a massive upset at the R. Premadasa in a battle between islands on Sunday night, as a shell-shocked home crowd watched its vaunted batting line-up come unmoored against inspired West Indian bowling and fielding. Chasing 137, Lanka lost their last nine wickets for 53 runs as the pursuit ended in the 19th over.
The defeat was Sri Lanka's fourth in as many World Cup finals across formats in the last five years and came despite the home team being considered a firm favourite for the title against the unpredictable Caribbeans. For the West Indies the win may just indicate a revival, a renewal of the spontaneity and energy that was the hallmark of their halycon years at the top of world cricket in the 1970s and 80s.
On a threateningly overcast Sunday evening, if it was Marlon Samuels' single-handed derring-do that took the champions to 137-6 after Darren Sammy elected to bat, it was the their collective effort in the field that proved decisive after a promising stand between Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara threatened to revive the Lankans. Man of the match Samuels, who was dropped by Nuwan Kulasekara on 20, struck six sixes (and 39 in 11 balls off perceived threat Lasith Malinga) to extricate his team from 32-2 in 10 overs. Samuels' 56-ball 78 allowed his team to massacre 105 in the last 10. The all-rounder returned to bowl four overs for just 15, arresting Lanka's quest for quick runs as they succumbed to the unquantifiable pressures of a World Cup chase.
Lanka fall apart
The hosts would have thought that Ajantha Mendis' superlative 4 for 12, including the scalp of the dangerous Chris Gayle for a 16-ball 3, would have brought the Cup halfway to their dressing room. But Sunil Narine had a few tricks up his own sleeve, and his 3 for 9 including Jayawardene's prized scalp offset the good work of Lanka's bowling.
Ravi Rampaul started brightly, knocking Tillakaratne Dilsha's off-stump back with a delectable leg-cutter in the second over of the chase and rekindling hopes of the impossible in West Indian hearts. Although the Windies dropped Jayawardene twice - Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell the culpable parties - they lifted their performance in collusion with Lanka's demise.
Jayawardene added 42 in just over 8 overs with Sangakkara as Samuel Badree, Rampaul and Marlon Samuels kept it tight. But the left-hander's dismissal to Badree in tenth over began the slide. Sri Lanka needed 80 from ten at that stage, but fell into an morass as they lost five wickets for 16 runs in a span of 22 balls.
Sangakkara pulled Badree to Pollard, Mathews shuffled endlessly in his crease before being bowled by Sammy, and Narine came on in the 13th over to land the death blow. By this time a drizzle was doing the rounds, and Jayawardene, with an eye on the Duckworth-Lewis target, went for the reverse pull against the mystery spinner, top-edging to his counterpart at point. One ball later, Jeevan Mendis fell short of his ground when Narine broke the wicket following a second-attempt pick up and throw from Bravo at long off.
Another run out broke Sri Lanka's backbone, as they slid to 64-6 when Thisara Perera was done in by wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin trying to steal a bye. Nuwan Kulasekara sparkled momentarily, spanking boundaries to spoil Rampaul's figures as the asking rate shot through the roof. Narine soon removed Kulasekara, and Samuels joined the bowling party by dismissing Ajantha Mendis. All hell broke loose when Narine's third wicket - fittingly Lasith Malinga, who had gifted 40, more than the margin of tonight's victory, in two overs to Samuels - brought the Calypso Kings their first World Cup in 33 years.
Samuels' singular strikes
The match was set up brilliantly by Samuels' fearless approach in the first innings as wickets fell like nine pins around him. The West Indies line up appeared loaded to the gunwales. But after losing three World Cup finals across formats in the last five years, Lanka looked prepared. The innings appeared to be going nowhere at 32-2 in ten overs, before Samuels injected it with a vial of uppers.
Johnson Charles was out in the first over to Mathews and after the trio of Lanka's pacemen managed to keep Gayle quiet, the introduction of Ajantha Mendis accounted for the big left-hander. Gayle was trapped leg before by a straighter one, but the the tempo went up when Malinga went for 21 runs, including three impudent sixes, in the 13th over.
Dwayne Bravo was out to a bad decision by umpire Simon Taufel, who was standing in his last match, when he appeared to have inside edged Ajantha on to his pads, but was adjudged leg before. Samuels reached his 50 in 46 balls with a six and West Indies were 87-3 in 15 overs. Ajantha Mendis' double-strike in the 16th pegged the visitors further back - Kieron Pollard perished to the cut and all-rounder Andre Russell was done in by the sweep.
But Malinga returned to bowl the 17th and gave away another 19, Samuels biffing another couple of sixes including a huge tee off that soared all the way to 108 metres. Akila Dananjaya, in the team for the experienced Rangana Herath, got rid of Samuels when the West Indian pulled him straight to mid-wicket. Sammy came in and struck a few lusty blows. It was, in fact, the skipper's 15-ball 26, as well as his two wickets for six, that proved to be vital in the eventual scheme of things. This just may rest for posterity questions over Sammy's place in the side and his captaincy credentials. After all Sammy - and not Viv Richards, or Richie Richardson or Brian Lara - became the first West Indian skipper since Clive Lloyd to hold aloft a Word Cup.


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Correlation flowmeters expand technology
Just when you thought there were more than enough flowmeter technologies, along comes a new kid on the block, presenting new options for gauging and measuring fluid velocity.
CORRELATION flowmeters gauge fluid velocity by measuring specific parameters associated with a flowing stream at various locations in the piping. To illustrate correlations general operating principle, consider a flow stream that abruptly changes color from red to green.
The fluids color could be sensed at two points that are 1 meter apart in the piping. If the second sensor detects the green fluid 1 second after the first sensor detects the green fluid, the velocity in the pipe could be calculated to be 1 meter per second. In general, fluid velocity can be calculated when the distance between sensors is known, and the time that the fluid takes to move from one sensor to the other is measured using correlation techniques.
Note that correlation flowmeters inherently measure velocity of the flowing stream. These flowmeters generally are based on the principles of physics and physical dimensions, so no pressure or temperature compensation is needed to effect these measurements. However, compensation often is required when measuring the mass flow of a fluid.
Correlation flowmeters typically are applied to fluids in the turbulent flow regime and other fluid flows with coherent disturbances, such as slurries.
At least one correlation flowmeter has been around for about 10 years, but most were introduced in approximately the past five years. Correlation flowmeters offer some distinct advantages, not just because of their own capabilities, but also due to integrating existing flowmeter technologies with correlation techniques. In this sense, correlation flowmeters are similar to insertion flowmeters that use existing flowmeter technologies to implement insertion flow-measurement techniques.
Sonar, Ultrasonics, Optics Emerging
There are various flowmeter designs that use different measurements to determine flow rates. For example, correlation flowmeters dont disturb the fluid flow, but rather passively or actively sense its characteristics.
This pressure sensor array senses vortices caused by fluid velocity.
One correlation flowmeter (See Figure 1) uses a multiple-pressure sensor array attached to the outside of the pipe to measure pressure gradients caused by fluid vortices traveling down the pipe as a natural consequence of the fluid flow. These vortices are passively sensed at each pressure sensor. Computational techniques derived from sonar technology are used to determine the fluids velocity fluid. This technology also can determine the speed of sound of the fluid in the pipe, and can be installed without stopping the flow or contacting the fluid.
Another correlation flowmeter technology (See Figure 2 below) uses an ultrasonic transmitter/receiver pair located at a fixed distance downstream of another ultrasonic ransmitter/receiver pair. Their respective ultrasonic beams are modulated by turbulent eddies in the pipe to create a series of electronic pictures of the flow. Cross-correlation computational techniques are used to determine the velocity of the fluid. An advantage of ultrasonic technology is that clamp-on sensing methods can be used, so these flowmeters often can be installed external to the pipe without stopping the flow or coming in contact with the fluid.
Heres the sensor pair mounted on a pipe under the insulation.
Yet another correlation flowmeter (See Figure 3 below) uses an optical transmitter on one side of a pipe, duct, or stack in conjunction with a dual-optical receiver on the opposite side. Eddies in the flow stream modify optical energy in the beam path, so the first and second receivers see the same eddy at different times. Correlation techniques are used to compare received signals, and determine the streams flow velocity without compensating for temperature, pressure, humidity, or opacity. These flowmeters typically are applied to gas flows in pipes, ducts, stacks, and flares.
Dan Gysling, chief technology officer at CiDRA, says there are large-diameter, multi-phase, aggressive service applications that are prime applications for clamp-on correlation flowmeters. These applications generally involve fluids that can damage other flowmeters, such as abrasive slurries that tend to erode flowmeters, and chemically active fluids that can corrode them. However, clamp-on correlation flowmeters have no moving parts, and dont even touch the fluid, so it cant erode or corrode these flowmeter. Gysling reports seeing clamp-on, correlation flowmeters replace magnetic, Venturi, and wedge flowmeters in abrasive slurry applications, in which intrusive flowmeters often wore out after three to 24 months of service.
|This graphic shows how an optical scintillation sensor pair works.
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Bankei wrote:The learned and respected vice-abbot at my neighbouring Wat in Thailand like R&B music. It can be heard sometimes from his kuti. Most of the monks in the Wat like to watch movies and I was surprised to find out my favourite monk there is into Korean dramas which he watched on his mobile phone.
Once some of the monks smuggled TV and game (Playstation?) console in and they all stayed up late playing games. Some of them even missed bindabat the next morning.
...and this is far from rare in Thailand.


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Billy Donovan has not disclosed Scottie Wilbekin's sin, but the coach has decided that Florida's starting point guard had paid enough of a penance.
Donovan announced Friday that Wilbekin, who was forced to sit out the Gators' first three games of the season, has been reinstated to the club. Donovan hasn't divulged what Wilbekin did but said it wasn't criminal or an NCAA violation.
Wilbekin, a 6-2 junior from Gainesville, will play Sunday afternoon vs. Middle Tennessee but he will not start, Donovan told reporters. Wilbekin played in all 37 games last season as a backup to Erving Walker and averaged 2.6 points and shot 45.7 percent from 3-point range on 46 attempts.
With Walker having graduated, Wilbekin was expected to start this season. Without him, senior shooting guards Kenny Boynton and Mike Rosario shared ball-handling duties.


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The Levy County Sheriff's Office has won a safety award for having no "at-fault" accidents for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, one of only four that were awarded in the state.
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The Power of Numbers
It's more than numbers that drive Professor Mary Gray—it's the worlds these numbers unlock when analyzed with a careful eye and with consideration of social realities. The professor of mathematics and statistics and former chair of the department has begun work with the American Bar Association to survey the massive communities of refugees fleeing into Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and other countries in the Middle East as a result of the ongoing civil war in Syria. This work along with her distinguished career as a lawyer, mathematician, and educator have earned Gray recognition as a Fellow with the American Mathematical Society.
"A great deal of the work in statistics collection comes in designing the survey," says Gray. "Risk is the reason that many of those we are surveying left Syria. While the fear of immediate harm may have diminished, many still feel in danger. We have to design surveys with consideration for how we can acquire the most accurate answers."
When the ABA received funding from the State Department to analyze the status of Syrian refugees it naturally turned to Gray to determine how best to implement this survey. "Surveying under difficult conditions is an entire subfield of statistics," says Gray. "We not only have to locate those surveyed, but we have to convince them to speak with us and ensure that they are drawing legitimate conclusions from their answers."
Gray has specifically been studying the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon where there are no government-run refugee camps. The refugee camps that do exist are largely run by religious organizations. As a result, Gray and the ABA have worked to understand the organizations as well as the conditions of the refugees. "There are many things that it would benefit us to know about but are difficult for people of any culture to talk about," says Gray, referring to investigations into sexual assaults and other culturally sensitive crimes that have taken place throughout the conflict. "We have to be conscious of that and design the questions carefully."
With the data she and the ABA collect, Gray knows it will be easier to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations, such as those occurring in Syria, to justice. "Without the data all you have is an opinion," says Gray. "If there is data it makes it easier to take action."
Gray says this statistical analysis is not just important overseas but in Washington as well. She cites the recent decision by D.C. Public Schools to close several schools across the city. While the school system asserts that many of these schools are under-enrolled and underutilized, many Washingtonians say closing these schools will harm minority communities. "Unless you know something about the student body as a whole," says Gray, "you don't know what the impact is truly going to be. It is much easier to evaluate the fairness of a decision like this when you have all of the facts."
Gray's use of math and statistics in the promotion of social change also extends to her own field. For Gray, it's not just the collection or analysis of data that is important—it's also about who is collecting it. "Traditionally the mathematical community was not very receptive to women in mathematics," says Gray. "There was a feeling that women could not do math or that they were somehow inferior. And while that feeling has drastically changed, there is still a great deal of work to do in this area." The discrimination Gray felt herself as a mathematician early in her career led her to found the Association for Women in Mathematics, for which she formerly served as president and now serves as legal counsel.
Consistently recognized as a leader in the field, Gray has also been recognized as a Fellow with the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies recently awarded her the Elizabeth L. Scott Award, an award for those working to create opportunities for women in the field of statistics.
"While there is more acceptance of women in entry-level mathematical positions there is still a very strong 'glass ceiling' under which women are able to succeed, but women find it very difficult to be at the top," says Gray. "The data shows us that women still overwhelmingly bear the responsibility for childcare as well as caring for elderly parents. Improving childcare would do a great deal to help women succeed in math and science as well as other fields."
According to Gray, quantitative training can enhance the skills of women and men in a variety of fields. "You need the numbers in order to truly understand the problems you are trying to solve," says Gray. "Especially for women, quantitative training can give them a key advantage in the modern workplace."


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Hi guys, newbie here.
Would it be feasible to have your whole bag full of champion/Z plastic? I'm thinking that if all of my discs were made of durable plastic that wore slowly, then I would have time to get used to the flight characteristics of each disc as it was designed to fly, rather than having to "relearn" how each disc flies as it gets worn. (not to mention not having to replace DX discs all the time). Would I be handicapping myself if I did such a thing?
Question 2: what is the straightest champion/Z driver out there? (I have power in the 300'-350' range)


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I have been trying to run a php script in the cronjob settings in my cpanel but failed.
I'm confused with the command line, can any one help with that please?
What script are you running? We can better answer your question if we knew.
Your cron job should look something like this. php -q /home/CPANEL-USER/public_html/SCRIPT-DIRECTORY/cron.php
However, we can't say for sure as your script could require a special way of cron being called.
its a php script, a with a mail function in it...will send emails when users register!
Today I Just Found One Best Link for Cron Job May be its help you
cPanel should provide you with enough prompts to get the timing correct.the command to issue will be what Lawrence posted. php -q <filepath>the filepath you can discover by echoing $SERVER['SCRIPTFILENAME']
is this one alright, thats what it looks like in Cpanel>
But doesn't work, manually running the script does!
Please check the image attachment above, thats what my script looks like in Cpanel, please verify if its alright...
Please see above!!
@xem I don't have more knowledge on Cron Job.......... I am born baby on this matter :x
Upload your script, go to cpanel / cron and add as follows..
lynx -dump http://www.domain.com/script.php
This drops me an email to say that its done and I have One set to run everynight at midnight and one on the 1st and 15th of every month.


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< 55€ < 77$
Couprie - Sélection du Domaine
This Cognac has been aged in oak barrels for a few years in our cellars.
While this young, powerful Cognac does not show much oak influence, it has rich aromas and a round, attractive flavour.
The colour is slightly amber due to barrel ageing.Excl. Tax: €27.08 Incl. Tax: €32.50
François Voyer - Terres de Grande Champagne
François Voyer cognacs are selected by the finest restaurants (Alain Ducasse, Lucas Carton, Laurent...)
Light & Dry.Learn More
Origin : 100 % Grande Champagne, 1st Cru of Cognac.Excl. Tax: €29.17 Incl. Tax: €35.00


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Topic: Disability Compassionate Act
Gary and I would like to thank anyone/everyone who posted about the Compassionate Act. Gary applied for disability online and was given an interview the following week. Our interviewer was wonderful! He did everything he could to make the process efficient and persuasive on our behalf. He even informed us of the possibility of receiving retroactive payments and assisted Gary's employer in filling out the form required of him. Within 3 weeks of the original interview, a deposit was made into our bank account for full payment going back to the very first day Gary was hospitalized with jaundice (minus 5 months worth - the required waiting period). This gave us a tremendous boost of spirits!!
Gary is still suffering from the results of his Whipple(Dec. 2007), chemo side effects(FOLFOX), discomfort from the drain for a pancreatic leak that just won't heal, huge painful hernias, enormous fatigue and loss of 80 lbs. He is scheduled for surgery at the beginning of April to repair the leak and hernias. Our spirits remain high though!! This website has been a blessing - I read it daily and pass information onto Gary. We have also started Dr. Quillin's diet and are having good results. So...thank you to everyone who has helped us through our journey into the unknown.
God bless each and everyone of you, and we pray for all of you.
Elaine and Gary


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The Kingpins
Las Vegas Power Brokers
Steve Wynn's familiar voice found me in a rental car. "I've decided to keep a low profile," he said. "To keep quiet. I've been out front for twenty-five years, and I've taken the heat for it. Let somebody else talk for a while."
I'd asked him what the future of Las Vegas would look like and what his contribution to it would be, significant questions for a historical figure. But Wynn isn't giving away such information, not anymore. He's a poker player, and he's holding his cards close. He has lately lost the Mirage and the Bellagio, two of the most important hotel concepts built anywhere in the last quarter-century. As a developer, he's starting over with the relatively small property of the Desert Inn, which he'll likely try to destroy and rebuild. It won't be easy. There are those who wonder if his time at the center of Las Vegas development has passed.
Driving down Las Vegas Boulevard, the famous Strip, after hanging up with Wynn, I stared out at an urban landscape unique in the world. Block after block, it struck me how profoundly his influence has affected the city. In a sense, Wynn didn't need to say more. Those hotels stacked along either side of the street, the innovations and their imitations, they were eloquent enough.
Homages to his creativity beckoned everywhere. To my right was Paris Las Vegas, built in the spirit of Wynn's massive theme hotels, and the Aladdin, the newest--and perhaps the last--of the soaring cityscapes. Behind me was Caesars Palace, where a task force was busy compiling a wish list of 20 world-class chefs in an effort to compete with the restaurants at Wynn's Bellagio, and The Venetian, where gondoliers ferried guests through an indoor lagoon in an effort to capture the excitement that Wynn first generated at the Mirage in the early '90s.
A century from now, students of cultural history are apt to walk the Strip with notebooks in hand, tracing a timeline in the steel and glass. Well, maybe they won't. If Las Vegas history holds, all these hotels will be long gone, replaced by even more dazzling constructions. Unlike the other great cities of the world, which are vast and multifarious, Las Vegas can be shaped in a man's image. Wynn hasn't been the only man doing the sculpting.
Today's Strip is a product of the imaginations of a handful of visionary entrepreneurs--and when someone is called a visionary in Las Vegas, it's meant in the most literal sense. A developer envisions a building, and then he builds it. Sheldon Adelson made Las Vegas a true convention city. Arthur Goldberg collected land and created properties across the socioeconomic spectrum. Kirk Kerkorian's $3 billion bankroll makes him one of the world's richest men, and he now controls Wynn's empire. Bill Timmins recently rebuilt the Aladdin to massive scale.
The hotel boom is over. A decade of unprecedented upheaval for the city's skyline has ended, leaving the New York skyline, the Eiffel Tower, a pyramid, an Italian lake, and various minarets and towers in its wake. Today a handful of developers control most of the properties on the Strip, and most of the usable land, too. Evolution will be slower. What form will it take? That's what I wanted to know.
In the past decade, these visionary developers have remade Las Vegas as a tourist destination. They've broadened its appeal beyond the gambler and the nightclubber, created the most impressive street of restaurants anywhere, won substantial convention business. From the hard-edged, after-midnight world of the Rat Pack, with its dark sexuality, its Mafia overtones and its alcoholic haze, Las Vegas has repositioned itself as sweetness and light. It's a shopper's heaven, a sybarite's haven, an architecture buff's dream, a fantasyland for the epicurean spirit.
Wynn stands as the centerpiece because without him it wouldn't have happened. "Wynn was enlightened," says Dean Harrold, the president and chief operating officer of Caesars Palace, which is now owned by Goldberg's Park Place Entertainment. "His insight was that the gambling will happen no matter what, but give your guests other things to do and they'll spend money." Wynn didn't install the first celebrity chef or ritzy shopping area in a hotel; Caesars did, with Wolfgang Puck's Spago and the Forum Shops, back in 1992. Even in the majestic Bellagio, Wynn didn't provide a room product commensurate with the rest of the hotel experience, unlike Adelson's 750-square-foot standard suites in The Venetian. What he did do was build upscale destination hotels that transcended gaming. The rest followed.
A decade ago, if you weren't there to gamble or in a lather to see Julio Iglesias, Vegas offered nothing. Today, nongaming revenue from the Strip is approaching gaming revenue; this year's ratio is projected to be 53 percent to 47 percent. Even more astonishing, every significant property on the Strip has adapted to the paradigm shift. "This used to be a stopover destination," says Harrold. "It's now a resort destination. Gaming isn't the only experience." The most noticeable change has been the dining, which once meant mountains of scrambled eggs on a buffet table, and sweet-and-sour pork as a high-end meal. The list of top restaurateurs who either have a successful franchise or have relocated here has become too long to recite without omitting someone. Only Chicago's Charlie Trotter, who stubbornly insisted on three-hour dinners, came and closed.
"Our first year, we did $200 million in food-and-beverage income at the Bellagio alone," Elizabeth Blau, MGM Mirage's vice president of restaurant development, says over a lunch of tomatoes and mozzarella at Osteria del Circo. "All of the restaurants here are beautiful sights, but they're also all extremely profitable. People lose sight of that." Driving that business was another Wynn insight: upscale gamblers would rather pay for a great meal than get a comped $12 steak or buffet ticket. More than half of the volume at the best hotel restaurants used to be given away to heavy players. At the Bellagio, the figure holds steady at a miserly 12 percent.
Even with that, the Bellagio's profits didn't meet shareholders' expectations. After Wynn lost their confidence by running an impetuous business too impetuously, he was forced to sell Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand majority owner Kirk Kerkorian early this year. The $6.4 billion deal includes the assumption of billions in debt. Don't miss the irony in that. While dot-com companies with no track records and hemorrhages of red ink were amassing market caps into the tens of billions on pure potential, institutional investors were unwilling to give Wynn time for the Bellagio to mature. But then, Wynn's unconventional ideas have always been dogged by skepticism. "I was in Monte Carlo when the Mirage opened," says Bill Timmins, president and chief operating officer of the new Aladdin. "People were saying, 'He's crazy. He's never going to make the money.' But he took the bar at three feet and raised it to five feet, so to speak. He's responsible for a very, very big move beyond gaming, to other revenues."
With no shareholders to report to, Wynn can keep his own counsel now, but gossip inevitably abounds as to the nature of his new project. Will it be a skyscraper hotel that will stand as the tallest on the Strip? Will it be a luxury property, on the order of the Four Seasons? What all agree is that it won't be yet another theme hotel. Wynn is too smart for that.
Strategically, Las Vegas stands at yet another crossroads. For much of the past decade, it has ranked as America's fastest-growing city, and the money generated by the Strip has helped fuel the boom. The economies of the city and the country have been sizzling, and the construction crane now serves as the city's proudest symbol. But that can't last forever. The huge theme hotels carried the city through the '90s, but the '90s are done. There's talk of someone building a hotel called City by the Bay, with a half-sized Golden Gate Bridge, and developer Bob Stupak is pushing his idea for a true-to-scale Titanic, replete with an iceberg for a casino and condos in its smokestacks. But among major players, such Disneyland renderings are yesterday's news.
What will replace them? Whose imagination will shape the Strip in the years to come? I began to look for the answers directly beneath some of the paintings that Wynn had amassed at the Bellagio for its $400 million Gallery of Fine Art. Terry Lanni, now Kerkorian's man in Las Vegas, has a Modigliani on one wall of his office, a Rembrandt on another, a Berthe Morisot on a third. He knows he'd better enjoy them now. "They're headed for auction at Christie's at the end of the year," he says. "We've sold most of the others already and raised millions of dollars." Kerkorian is a shrewd businessman who is convinced he can run a property better than anyone. He's almost always right. Dismantling the art collection is part of his strategy to make the Bellagio more profitable.
"Kirk Kerkorian has guts, he has balls, and he's also a gentleman," says Goldberg, the chairman of Park Place Entertainment, which owns properties up and down the Strip. "He's going to run that place right. Steve Wynn put up some impressive buildings, but with the Bellagio he made a major mistake. There's four words you should never forget, and he forgot them: Think like a customer. Steve built his beautiful buildings like he thought they should be built. But that wasn't necessarily what his customers wanted. And he paid the price."
The sale of the paintings will pare down the debt that Wynn had amassed. Such frugality is bound to impress the stockholders, who consider themselves in good hands. The 82-year-old Kerkorian has bought and sold MGM twice since 1969, making millions each time. But Lanni, who understands how fine art plays into the good-life mystique that drives the property, has a plan to replace the paintings. An agreement with Washington, D.C.'s Phillips Collection will provide a rotating exhibit of 20 to 30 masterpieces, most of which are currently unavailable for public viewing. That will keep even repeat customers interested--and at almost no investment cost.
"You need variety," Lanni says. "And that's true for the business as a whole as well as the paintings. Everything is available to everyone these days. People don't want to go back to the same hotel in three years and see the same show and have the same experience that they had before. You have to keep changing, giving them something new."
Lanni is a casino lifer, for 14 years the president of Caesars Palace. He understands the gaming business, and he knows how to run a luxury hotel. Few executives are as admired on the Strip. Lanni is also, in his way, a visionary. It was on his watch that Caesars' Forum Shops were built, and he conceived of and built the Mansion at MGM Grand, the city's most exclusive hotel (see page 153). He doesn't sell the Mansion's suites, but gives them away to a select clientele. As a result, the MGM Grand's casino is now luring many of the top players in town.
Now he's targeting Generation X. The plan is a high-end, high-tech property, complete with a swank nightclub. "Those kids are already coming here, but they haven't been addressed," says Lanni, 57. "I'm talking about 25-, 30-year-olds, the children of my friends. They love Las Vegas, but they don't have a place to go. If you can build something for this affluent generation, it's a great area of opportunity."
It wouldn't have made sense even five years ago, but that's the past. In Lanni's mind, the future of Las Vegas looks like the future of Palm Springs or Miami Beach, but with world-class gaming, too. Priorities have shifted. "There was a time when everyone basically said, 'The casino is where the income is, everything else is a gift.' That has long gone," he says. "People are willing to pay for quality. Someone's going to do something with the Tropicana, we're going to do something very special with our 55-acre casino site where the Boardwalk is, and they're all going to be special, they're going to be very high quality."
When I questioned the market's capability to support more five-star restaurants and luxury boutiques, Lanni broke into an enigmatic smile worthy of the Rembrandt behind him. "They built the DC-3 aircraft and they said, 'That's it, nobody will go beyond that. Look where we are now. Never underestimate the creativity of people," he said, wagging a finger. "Especially here in Las Vegas."
Under the old calculus, Las Vegas accepted conventions grudgingly because conventioneers didn't spend enough time at the gaming tables. And the city offered the typical conventioneer little that he wanted. Traffic on the Strip was difficult to manage. The one or two restaurants worth eating at were always full, and how often could you have the osso buco at Piero's? The city's image was all about naughtiness, strip bars and cabarets, and mob deals. If you brought your family, there was nowhere to stow the kids while you gambled. Cable television fare was perfunctory. The hotel rooms didn't even have minibars.
Sheldon Adelson's epiphany was that Las Vegas could be the greatest convention city in the world. All it needed was a self-contained 3,000-room resort with a convention hall, and enough amenities to keep guests happy. Rooms would be spacious, with business facilities such as two-line phones, faxes, and plenty of outlets for laptop computers. Public areas would be extraordinary, the equal of any hotel in the world. He envisioned a replica built to scale of the world's most astonishing city, Venice. Then he built it, complete with gondoliers, soaring arches and marble everywhere.
He included shopping for spouses, better than they'd get in convention cities like New Orleans or Orlando. He installed a world-class spa, Canyon Ranch, right there in the building. You never had to go outside, so a visit in the searing heat of August wouldn't be any different from one at Christmas.
He gathered the restaurant business under one roof, a dozen venues from which to choose for those expense-account dinner parties, and more than enough seats: 4,000, as opposed to the 1,500-seat standard for a property of that size. New York's Lutece, Santa Monica's Valentino and San Francisco's Postrio all opened outposts in The Venetian, as did star chefs Stephan Pyles of Dallas, Emeril Lagasse of New Orleans and Joachim Spilchal of Los Angeles. He was right. How could the real world compete?
"This is a fantasy experience, coming to Vegas," says Michael French, The Venetian's senior vice president for operations. "We equate staying at The Venetian to being in a movie. It generates emotional responses." Adelson is a self-made magnate who invented the annual COMDEX electronics trade show and sold it to the Japanese for almost $1 billion. Mention that he followed in Wynn's footsteps and he'll bristle. Then he'll laugh, because The Venetian remains one of the most profitable hotels on the Strip. "Everybody ridiculed me because I wasn't swaddled on that green felt cloth," he says. "I tell my competitors that they're not just in the gaming business, they're in the hospitality and entertainment business. They're beginning to understand."
Adelson knew that conventioneers tend to pay full price for hotel rooms, not the discounted rate offered for weekend junkets. It's no accident that The Venetian's $185 average daily room rate is among the highest in the city. "In Vegas, everybody's challenge is to fill midweek, so they rely on the tour business," he says. "You were guaranteed a room at Circus Circus for $29 a day. The hotels figured they'd get it back in gambling. Conventions pay $200 and up for hotel rooms around the world, and they pay it here, too. And most conventions are during the week, which is my slow time."
What conventioneers get in their mini-suite at The Venetian is a product commensurate with luxury hotels everywhere. It may not be the equal of the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, as Adelson claims, but it's a level above anything Wynn has developed. "I was the first guy to put in safes, minibars, faxes, a 130-square-foot bathroom, two sinks, a frameless glass shower," Adelson says. "When the Mandalay Bay was built, their architects and designers came over with cameras. They copied my bathroom. I guarantee you, you'll see a lot of Sheldon Adelson's innovations in Steve Wynn's new property, whatever it turns out to be. Anyone who builds a high-end property from now on will use The Venetian as the standard to live up to."
Adelson employs nonunion labor, and he rents his restaurant spaces for a percentage of the revenues. He has rankled the Vegas old guard, but money makes up for missing out on parties. "We have conventions that have been there twice already since we opened, once in '99 and once in 2000," he brags. "Everybody makes their restaurant reservations months in advance--one night at Lutece, one night at Valentino or Postrio--for their parties. I'm putting up another 1,000 to 1,800 rooms because I'm running at 98 percent occupancy. And in two and a half years, another 3,000 rooms. And 15 more restaurants."
The insiders remain unconvinced. Adelson has thrived during an economic boom, but will the numbers work in a recession? "Right now, while business is good, people will pay that $176 room rate, or whatever it is," says Goldberg, whose Bally's and Paris Las Vegas properties do 40 percent convention business. "But bad times will come eventually. When they do, people will pay $105 for a room somewhere else. And they'll take a taxicab to the convention."
Adelson has concentrated his business at one end of the economic spectrum. "I would open a low-end property, too, but I wouldn't get convention business there," he says. Arthur Goldberg's strategy with Park Place is the opposite. He owns a range of properties, low to high, taking pains not to compete with himself. In his mind, Wynn doomed the Mirage to obscurity the day he opened the Bellagio.
Goldberg's genius was recognizing the value of Las Vegas itself. It wasn't so long ago that smart money said the city was finished. America's gamblers would be flocking to riverboats and Indian casinos, playing Lotto in coffee shops and Powerball. Who needed gridlock and 110-degree weather? Goldberg just kept nodding and buying property. He bought land and built Paris Las Vegas. He bought Caesars Palace, perhaps the finest equity in the hotel business: a name that ranks with Pebble Beach and the Waldorf-Astoria as a shorthand for elegant luxury. He has the Las Vegas Hilton and Bally's. Together, they worked like a winning poker hand. "No matter how many riverboats open, walking down the Strip is unlike anything else," he says. "Vegas--that's where the action is."
He's keenly aware of the Strip's geography. Caesars, the Bellagio and Paris Las Vegas, all virtually on the same corner, are the epicenter. The farther you go from there, the more risk you take. "People don't want to walk that far," he says. Mandalay Bay, set close to the airport in what used to be Siberia, is an impressive hotel, but Goldberg seems to all but dismiss it--despite rumors that he's actually negotiating to buy it. "Even Mandalay Bay is having trouble," he says. "You want to be near the money, and the money is up where Caesars is."
Rejuvenating Caesars Palace is at the centerpiece of Goldberg's plan. Previous owners ITT Sheraton, later folded into Starwood, couldn't maximize the equity. They were hoteliers, not casino people. "There's a little bit of glitter off the name Caesars Palace," says Harrold. "But Arthur Goldberg didn't pay $3 billion to keep it tarnished. He's going to take us right to the edge: in entertainment, in service, in dining facilities. A lot of people have a lot of money these days, and you have to get them to spend that money in your hotel. Mr. Goldberg is on a mission to do that."
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Bound for Glory Review - October 14, 2012
by, 10-14-2012 at 11:08 PM (5284 Views)
OK, this will not be a play-by-play recap, more of a quick analysis of the matches and where they're going with this.
Match #1 – X Division Championship
Zema Icon (c) vs Rob Van Damme
Who I want to win: RVD
Who I think will win: Zema Ion
Who won: RVD
Record: 0/1
I was totally surprised by this result. I fully expected Ion to hold onto the championship until Sorenson got back. Maybe Sorenson is having a hard time recovering from his injury and they're trying to fill some time, I don't know. I think it was a great match, however, and these two can put on a decent showing against each other. I wanted RVD to win just because I'm a fan of his from way back; I didn't think he would though.
I see a prolonged feud with RVD and Ion. New blood vs old guard. RVD can put Ion over and when Sorenson gets back it'll actually make it look like Sorenson has a challenge.
Match #2 – Television Championship
Samoa Joe (c) vs Magnus
Who I want to win: Samoa Joe
Who I think will win: Samoa Joe
Who won: Samoa Joe
Record: 1/2
I know a lot of people are saying Magnus is one of the rising stars in TNA. I agree with them, but that being said, I just don't think he's ready yet. Very soon, though, he'll get his time in the limelight. Just not today.
Match #3 –Street Fight
James Storm vs Bobby Roode
Who I want to win: James Storm
Who I think will win: James Storm
Who won: James Storm
Record: 2/3
This was a freaking AWSOME match. Easily one of the best of the night, if not the entire year. WWE will never match this with their PG rating. King Mo as the special enforcer was not involved as much as I expected him to be , which frankly I think is good. I fully expected Storm to win, not a big shocker there. I'm hoping that this brings a close to the storyline; I enjoyed it, it was great, but move on now.
There are times in my life when (probably like most of you) I've fantasized about being a pro wrestler. This match was a perfect example of why I could never do it. This was brutal. Sure, scripted, fake, whatever you want to call it, this match … just NO. HELL NO. I give massive props to both Roode and Storm for what they did there.
Match #4 – TNA Contract match
Joey Ryan vs Al Snow
Who I want to win: Joey Ryan
Who I think will win: Joey Ran
Who won: Joey Ryan
Record: 3/4
I think that everybody knew that Joey Ryan was going to win this match. The storyline would have had little point if he lost. I actually thought it was kind of amusing that Ryan is the "Sleazemeister" while Snow was from Cleveland. I've lived in Ohio, and Cleveland was one of the sleaziest cities in the area, after Chicago. I did NOT expect Matt Morgan to make an appearance, however. That was a total surprise; I figured he'd be a part of the Aces&Eights team. He still could be, of course, we only got to see one member tonight.
Match #5– Tag Tean Championship
Daniels/Kazarian (c) vs Chavo/Hernandez vs Angle/Styles
Who I want to win: Angle/Styles
Who I think will win: Chavo/Hernandez
Who won: Chavo/Hernandez
Record: 4/5
I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area, so of course I'm going to be rooting for Angle. I think that TNA is pushing Chavo now to try and exploit his relationship with Eddie. I'm not AGAINST that, I mean, it's good business, but still … be honest … Chavo is no Eddie. Daniels and Kaz had a decent run, but they're getting a bit worn. I like them, I like their gimmick and such, but TBH I really prefer Daniels as a face. Kaz, now, I wouldn't notice if he were gone from the roster. I just don't see the point of the guy.
Match #6 –Knockouts Championship
Brooke Tessmacher (c) vs Tara
Who I want to win: Tessmacher
Who I think will win: Tara
Who won: Tara
Record: 5/6
Like the previous match, I'm living in Houston today, so I'm rooting for Brooke. And honestly I think she is twice as hot as Tara. (Yes, I watch her matches with no pants on.) I figured Tara would win, Brooke I see as more an interim champion. TNA really needs to get their Knockouts division back up to par; it's not good as of late. But I'm still drooling for Brooke.
Match #7 – A&8 Match
Sting/Bully Ray vs Aces and Eights
Who I want to win: Aces and Eights
Who I think will win: Aces and Eights
Who won: Aces and Eights
Record: 6/7
OK, this match floored me. Not the match itself, which was lackluster at best, but the reveal at the end. I fully expected A&8 to win, otherwise what's the point of the storyline? But Devon? Seriously?
Bully Ray did a decent job acting surprised and horrified there, gotta give him credit. And I really, really loved Bully coming out with the face paint, which was a nice touch. I kept waiting for him to turn on Sting, though, have to be honest. This took me WAY by surprise. Kudos to TNA for keeping things interesting.
Match #8 – World Heavyweight Championship
Austin Aries (c) vs Jeff Hardy
Who I want to win: Austin Aries
Who I think will win: Jeff Hardy
Who won: Jeff Hardy
Record: 7/8
Aries actually got a big pop when this match started, despite TNA trying to push him as a heel or tweener lately. And this continued through the match, which makes me happy. (I'm not a fan of Hardy.) A Double seems to be very popular with the fans in Phoenix. This match shows why; both of these guys gave a great performance.
I really had a feeling Hardy would win, and he did. I'm seeing a feud between him and A Double for several months. Unfortunately, I think TNA will try to push Aries as a heel now; personally I think he works a lot better as the cocky face. But hey, what do I know?
Hardy as champ makes me sad. I don't like him, I don't like his gimmick, I hope TNA gives it to someone (ANYONE) else soon. OK, sure, Robbie E would be worse. But that's the only one I can think of who would be.


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California lawmakers have introduced nearly two dozen school safety measures that have been largely overshadowed by the more divisive debate on gun control.
The emerging campus security bills involve: inside door locks, panic alarms, mental health services, school safety plans and funding for other prevention programs.
A similar story has unfolded in Washington where Congress remains in conflict over regulating assault weapons, background checks and the size of ammunition magazines. But there is movement on other proposals to secure schools.
"The bottom line is it's got to get done and it's got to get done right," said Marc Egan, who tracks federal school safety issues for the National Education Association.
The general consensus on both coasts is it will take a comprehensive approach to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. just days before Christmas.
"I don't know if there really is 100 percent complete security," said Reuben Littlejohn, police chief for the San Diego Unified School District. "Connecticut had a lot of those things in place already."
But that's not to say more cannot be done, Littlejohn and others said.
"We have to build a base line of security," said Littlejohn, citing everything from better campus warnings to mental health treatment for troubled students.
Some initiatives will come with hefty price tags at a time when state and federal budgets are squeezed.
For example, there is growing recognition that California and the nation lag in providing school counselors, psychologists, social workers and other services outside of the actual classroom.
President Barack Obama, as part of his sweeping response to Sandy Hook, proposed setting aside $150 million so districts can hire more trained professionals. Congress also has been holding hearings on how to improve services for students.
Mass killings in schools "remain a rare occurrence," said Vincent Pompei, a San Diego school counselor who testified last week before Congress on the challenges facing both students and counseling professionals.
"What's not rare," he continued, "is the bullying, harassment and violence that students encounter in everyday life … When students feel safe and when they feel connected at school they are more likely to learn and are more likely to thrive later in life."
Security experts also suggest schools can take steps that have little or no cost, such as strictly following access rules to trimming bushes that can conceal an intruder.
"It doesn't take only purchases and expensive equipment to ensure school safety," said Stephanie Papas, who monitors school safety and health issues for the California Department of Education.
California legislation
Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, has a bill that would require districts to install locks on doors that can be locked from the inside. That is the law on new construction, but he wants those mechanisms in place by 2015.
"After the tragedies we've seen with intruders coming into classrooms, some people are looking around controlling weapons. Some are looking at solutions for mental health," Block said.
"This is not an either-or. We need to do everything we can to protect children," he said.
One way is have classroom doors than can lock from the inside. In the past, door locks were designed mostly to keep intruders out when no one was in the room,
"In many older schools teachers have to go back outside to lock the doors. That puts them in harm's way," Block said.
But those locks may not be cheap. San Diego Unified estimates that it could take up to $15 million for the locks, some new doors and labor. Lock sets alone are $600 each.
Candy Smiley, president of the Poway Federation of Teachers, says it's a plan worth exploring. Poway Unified has already started to install the new locks and has implemented a number of other measures.
"What we have done immediately is to re-evaluate ourselves: what are we doing and what should we be doing," Smiley said. "We want our children to be safe. We want our employees to be safe."
Another bill would require districts to install panic alarms, such as those bank tellers can press during a robbery.
"What we're missing is a direct link to law enforcement," said Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto. "In Newtown, as soon as the shooter began hearing the police sirens, the reports say the incident was over."
The mother of three school-age children, Olsen said the alarms "will give parents a greater sense of security that our kids are safe when we send them to school."
Costs could be a factor, but Olsen said she wants to address that as part of a broader funding package to provide school safety grants for various programs, from counselors to security cameras.
Other measures seek to add features to mandatory school safety plans. Examples include adopting tactical responses to emergencies, warning protocols to inform staff about troubled children who may pose a threat and even funding restrictions for schools that do not comply with existing laws governing the plans.
There is also a GOP proposal to expand a 2002 law that allows families, in limited circumstances, to seek court-ordered treatment for troubled relatives who refuse counseling and medicine.
A Democratic lawmaker has introduced legislation to restore funding for screening and prevention services in grades K-3. State spending was eliminated in 2012-13 because of the budget crisis.
Bernie Rhinerson, San Diego Unified's chief of staff, said he would like to see the state enact a new school construction bond that would earmark a share of money for school security needs.
Congressional efforts
The National Education Association supports legislation carried by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, who wants to budget at least $1 million per state to hire more school counselors, psychologists and other service providers.
Pompei, the school counselor involved with San Diego State University's Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership, said that would help.
California's ratio of counselors to students 1-to-1,000 while 1-to-250 is considered optimal, he said.
If those figures don't change, troubled students will continue to threaten others on campus. And those left untreated are more likely to be a danger to society as adults, said Pompei, who has also counseled in Riverside County schools.
"We're going to pay for it," Pompei warned. "I don't mean in money. I mean the consequences of launching kids into society with problems that are not being addressed."
California Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has been in Washington lobbying for a bigger federal commitment to mental health and plans legislation in Sacramento to improve services.
Egan, the National Education Association's lobbyist, said the planned automatic cuts under "sequestration" will move things in the wrong direction.
"Kids are not getting the attention they should now," he said. "Indiscriminate cuts will only make that worse."
Low-cost moves
Papas, the state education department's expert, said there are things schools can be doing at little, or no cost.
Employees should inspect schools to make sure there are no easy hiding places, that locks work and that fencing is in place. Schools also must follow established visitor and parent access rules to keep out intruders, she said.
It's also important to run regular emergency lockdown drills so that students and staff automatically know what to do.
"It's great to have a plan, but if it sits on the shelf what good does it do?" she said.
Littlejohn, the San Diego Unified police chief, urges parents to impress upon children the importance of taking drills seriously.
"How you practice is how you will perform," Littlejohn said,


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Repent, all ye doubters. There can be no question south of Heaven now. The Chargers are a great road team. Well, they are if you close your eyes and pretend to be somewhere else -- like, you know, Dallas.
For the few Chargers fans who steadfastly refused to sell their tickets to Cowboys rooters and made their way to Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon, they had to feel like Woody Allen trying to sing over Pavarotti. It seemed like half of America was rooting for half of America's Team.
But their whispers were answered. The Depleteds -- I mean the Chargers -- roamed around like Ulysses, overcoming obstacle after obstacle and bad news after bad news, eventually getting to Ithaca and kicking out the scoundrel suitors and beating the Boys 30-21.
It was a nice win, a big win, the largest reason being that they avoided slipping to 1-3, which generally puts playoff hopes toe-tagged in the NFL morgue. And given this team's current health, this column had all the earmarks of an obituary.
"This is a huge win," said quarterback Philip Rivers, who was so good it was enough to scare goblins, whatever goblins are.
Probationary coach Mike McCoy is to be congratulated. He entered the game missing three starting offensive linemen, forcing quarterback Philip Rivers to play behind some people he'd probably recently met at a checkout stand in Vons. And if Rivers didn't have his best day as a pro -- recording the highest completion percentage in NFL history in a game in which a quarterback threw for 400 yards -- it's this close to being tied to the dock.
And the defense responded, making plays and actually stopping the Cowboys when it mattered after allowing 21 first-half points. The visitors were scoreless in the second half.
The big defensive play came with 2:41 to go in regulation. The Chargers were up 31-20, but Dallas was driving. Tony Romo threw a pass to the goal line that was complete to receiver Terrance Williams. But when he reached to put the ball over the stripe, undrafted rookie safety Jahleel Addae batting it from his hand into the end zone, where corner Richard Marshall recovered to seal things.
Chargers v. Cowboys, 9/29/13
- Rivers' three TDs power Chargers over Dallas
- Chargers report card: Cowboys lassoed
- Big blow: Dwight Freeney tears quad
- For Chargers, a 'huge win'
- Rivers keeps flowing like old
- Chargers schedule, game snapshots
"They did a fantastic of controlling the football and controlling the game," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would say. "Rivers did a great job getting them into the right plays over and over again. He threw the ball as well as he has in a long time. They stayed on the field. They limited our offense."
The Chargers ran off 70 plays. They gained 506 total yards, 107 of it rushing. They had 27 first downs. The Cowboys managed 307 total yards. Even after rush linebacker Dwight Freeney left with a groin pull in the second quarter, the defense managed to swarm and make plays when it had to.
"There's a lot of good all around with the whole team," McCoy said after the win, speaking at about 150 mph. "But this is just one game. It's another step. We have a division opponent (Oakland) next week, so it's the next one on the list. But I'm very proud of this football team, the way they played. There was great energy and excitement in the stadium, and that's the way it has to be all the time."
With thousands of Cowboys fans, it sure was, but that's what they got hoarse watching a loser. In any event, this was Rivers' game, and it's not easy to be as good as he was. He completed 35 of 42 pass attempts for 401 yards and 3 scores, his lone interception (that became a 52-yard pick six by Dallas linebacker Sean Lee) coming when he was hit by throwing and the ball fluttered.
But this stuff is crazy. Tight end Antonio Gates was targeted 10 times. He caught 10 passes. Receiver Keenan Allen: 5-for-6. Back Danny Woodhead: 5-for-7. Receiver Eddie Royal: 3-for-3. Receiver Eddie Brown: 7-for-9. Back Ryan Mathews 4-for-4. Tight end John Phillips: 1-for-1.
Rivers has been good enough for this team to be 4-0. That he has been able to do it behind an offensive line with virtually no experience only makes it more stupid-good. He is stupid-good when McCoy and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt hurry-up the offense. And to think this guy was finished.
"I think when we're in that no-huddle mode, and we really feel like we got it going, and we feel like we're the aggressors, it's just about taking completions -- take them, take them, take them," Rivers said. "And that's what we did."
McCoy said he may not speed things up every week. The way Rivers is playing, that's telling Jimmie Johnson to back off the pedal.


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Successful Shred-A-Thon's and Operation Medicine Cabinet's
Over 30,000 Pounds of Documents Destroyed
Last weekend BSO hosted two successful Shred-A-Thon and prescription drug take back events at the BSO West Park/Pembroke Park district office, and at the Sunrise Jewish Center. Hundreds of participants came out to shred information-sensitive documents and turn in unused or unwanted medications for safe disposal.
Over 30,000 pounds of documents were destroyed and over 50,000 pills were collected for safe disposal. For an event near you, please visit: www.sheriff.org/idtheft
Posted At: 08/13/2013 09:42 AM
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Topic: My husband was diagnosed CC on his 32 years' birthday.
3 months ago, my husband was diagnosed CC on his 32 years' birthday.
At first, the docs of UCDMC told us that the Mayo Clinic is our only choice. We waited for a month to get the approval from our insurance.
Then we went to the Mayo Clinic for liver transplant evaluation. Since Mayo is not a contracted hospital of our insurance, every step needs to get an approval from insurance. We stayed there for 3 weeks, my husband was finally accepted to their protocol. But our insurance didn't give the approval for that. According to them, the protocol (liver transplant after chemo and radio therapy) is not a standard treatment for CC.
So we came back to UCDMC. I tried to persuade the oncologists here to follow Mayo's protocol. But they don't think the liver transplant is effective for CC. Anyway, they will give my husband chemo and radio therapy on Jan 23rd, and they'll schdule us to see the doc of liver tranplant team here. Hopefully everything goes well.


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This game was classified by the community with the following category scores - Violence=1/3, Sex=0/3, Mature Content=0/3. After years of being hit back and forth, the balls have decided to fight back.For the first time, they have the advantage, in numbers and firepower. Try to hold back the ever increasing barrage as the balls escalate their attacks in 32 waves of intense action. This time, the balls will get their revenge!
Buy Xbox content on Xbox.com. Your Xbox 360 console will automatically download the content next time you turn it on and connect to Xbox Live.Learn More


text: With companies across all retail channels vying for convenience customers, the pressure is on c-store operators to protect their market share. By Greg Ehrlich, Contributing Editor. As the convenience store industry continues to evolve, one area that is demanding greater attention is brand image. Once a concern primarily for larger chains, brand image is a


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Credit History and Reports
- Understanding your credit report
If you're about to apply for credit, get a copy of your credit report so you can see what lenders see when they evaluate your creditworthiness. To make sure your credit record is correct and consistent, obtain a copy from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies; the reports may be free or have a low fee. Among other things, the reports contain information on your accounts with each lender, the type of account, your payment history, and current account status. You can formally request an investigation to dispute incorrect or misleading information on your report.