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At SUNY, we recognize our diversity makes us stronger and smarter. We respect, encourage, and promote all aspects of human difference. Diversity enriches lives and the educational experience. By capitalizing on diversity, our SUNY campuses invigorate conversations, awaken curiosity, foster civic engagement, and widen perspectives.
Beyond being a pathway to culturally competent employment, SUNY campuses are also the training grounds for many future corporate and community leaders. We recognize that the path to leadership should be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every background in order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry. The SUNY student body is sewn from the threads of our nation's diverse quilt, where the views of all students across the educational spectrum are sought out and given voice.
In sum, SUNY's educational environments create an intellectual climate that fosters respect for differences, stimulates innovation, encourages collaboration, and prepares students to live and work productively in a culturally diverse and globalized society.


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This week in new hires, Heidi Steiger added to U.S. Bank's wealth management business; Landon Stone went to CAIS, which also promoted Lachlan Cobon; Raymond James welcomed Aaron Kessler, Jason Harkness and Todd Speece; and Ascent Investment Partners named Brian Tournier director of research.
Also, New York Life Retirement Plan Services named Patrick Murphy, Rachel Rice and Lynda Abend to new positions; the Million Dollar Round Table named India Ehioba executive director of the MDRT Foundation; and Eagle Asset Management welcomed Donald J. Pepin as director of institutional sales.
Heidi Steiger Expands U.S. Bank Wealth Management Business
The east coast expansion of U.S. Bank's wealth management business serving high-net-worth individuals and families has been proceeding under Heidi Steiger's management. She has added new staff in the Palm Beach, Fla. office, which she is also relocating to a larger and more convenient location. The company's Private Client Reserve has had a long-time presence in Palm Beach and Naples, and recently established an office in New York City, where it has a corporate banking presence. Additional expansion plans include the Washington, D.C., to Boston corridor.
Steiger, with more than 30 years of financial industry experience, began her career at Fidelity in Boston. Among other positions, she has served as president of Worth Magazine and oversaw the flagship private client business of Neuberger Berman in New York.
CAIS Welcomes Stone as COO, General Counsel; Advances Cobon
CAIS, a New York-based financial technology company providing an independent alternative investment platform to the wealth management industry, announced Monday that Landon A. Stone has joined as chief operating officer and general counsel. He is responsible for legal, compliance and operational matters at CAIS, and will also serve as a member of CAIS Capital LLC, the firm's FINRA-registered broker-dealer.
Previously he was a director in Merrill Lynch's alternative investment origination and product management group. Prior to his tenure at Merrill Lynch, he represented hedge funds and private equity fund management companies as an attorney in Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP's investment funds practice.
The company also announced the promotion of Lachlan Cobon from managing director of finance and operations to chief financial officer. Prior to joining CAIS in 2010, Mr. Cobon was with Ernst & Young in New York and Sydney, where he was a member of the international tax services group covering alternative investments.
Raymond James Adds Kessler, Harkness and Speece
Raymond James announced Tuesday the hiring of Internet equity research analyst Aaron Kessler, Internet investment banker Jason Harkness and equity capital markets specialist Todd Speece. All are based in the firm's San Francisco office.
Kessler joins Raymond James from ThinkEquity, where he was a senior research analyst and led coverage for public Internet companies. With 11 years of equity research experience, he also has worked for Kaufman Bros., Piper Jaffray & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase.
Harkness comes from Pinnacle Ventures, a private venture capital fund, where he focused primarily on Internet, digital media, software and mobile investments. Prior to Pinnacle, he was with Thomas Weisel Partners' technology investment banking team, where he focused on Internet, digital media, software and communications transactions. He began his career in Ernst & Young's audit and advisory group.
Speece joins the firm from Piper Jaffray & Co. where he was a senior member of the private and public capital markets team for technology and clean technology. At Raymond James he will lead the firm's capital raising efforts for technology and clean technology companies. Speece also previously worked at Norwest Equity Partners and Thomas Weisel Partners.
Ascent Investment Partners Appoints Brian Tournier Director of Research
Ascent Investment Partners announced on September 15 the appointment of Brian Tournier as the firm's director of research. An industry veteran with approximately 20 years of experience in research and analysis, he joins Ascent from Stern Brothers & Co. in St. Louis. In his new role, he will lead credit research, monitoring and reviewing existing and prospective investments. He will also publish periodic research reports on market trends and credit developments.
Prior to joining Ascent, Tournier served as vice president, director of credit analysis for Stern Brothers & Co., where he managed all aspects of credit evaluation for the firm. Earlier in his career, he was vice president, group leader of municipal research for A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis, Mo., where he managed the team responsible for analyzing credit quality, identifying market opportunities and publishing action-oriented research for retail and institutional clients.
New York Life Retirement Plan Services Advances Murphy, Rice, and Abend
Westwood, Mass.-based New York Life Retirement Plan Services announced on September 15 that it has appointed Patrick Murphy managing director and head of sales, Rachel Rice managing director and head of marketing and Lynda Abend managing director of product development. They report to CEO David Castellani.
Murphy, who led the firm's Northeast sales practice for most of the last eight years, replaces Mark Strazzeri and will now manage a team of 17 sales directors representing all product platforms. Chris Messina, formerly in small-plan 401(k) sales, will be moving to fill his Northeast sales role. Before joining New York Life, Murphy served in senior sales and client service positions at American Express, Putnam Investments and Diversified.
Rice, taking over for Deanna Garen, joined New York Life in 2010 as director of web strategy, managing the firm's e-platform strategy and solutions. Rice, who has more than 13 years in the financial services industry, was previously founder of Ringel Rice LLC, a strategy and web consulting firm, and spent more than a decade at Fidelity in marketing and channel management leadership positions. She also worked in a marketing role at Upromise.com and as a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting.
Abend has been with New York Life for nearly 13 years, with responsibility for product development at New York Life since April. Previously, she held consulting actuarial roles at Mercer and George Beram & Company (now DIA).
MDRT Appoints India Ehioba New Executive Director of Foundation
The Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) announced Tuesday the appointment of India Alexis Ehioba, CFRE, as executive director of the MDRT Foundation, the philanthropic arm of MDRT.
Ehioba will oversee the foundation's administration, ensure the fulfillment of its strategic plan and create long-term fund development initiatives. Most recently, she held the position of chief development officer at Helping Hand Center, an organization that serves more than 500 adults and children with disabilities.
Eagle Asset Management Names Donald J. Pepin Director of Institutional Sales
Eagle Asset Management, Inc. announced Tuesday that it has hired Donald J. Pepin as director of institutional sales. Based in the firm's St. Petersburg, Fla. home office, he will focus on strategic initiatives targeting domestic and international consultants as well as direct new business development.
Pepin has nearly 30 years of industry experience in areas including institutional sales and consultant relations. He previously held senior positions with DuPont Capital Management, Gartmore Global Partners and Pilgrim Baxter.

subset: commoncrawl


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31st July 2008, 11:50 PM
My husband woke up and was getting ready for work when he saw Lola and I sleeping and she was laying tucked right into my neck! Please excuse me looking like a corpse with no make up and closed eyes! :yikes Needless to say I was not too happy being woken up by the flash!


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Vic teacher action to continue over pay
More disruption is set to affect Victoria's schools with teachers voting to continue their industrial campaign, while the government says progress is being made on a pay deal.
Hundreds of schools were closed on Thursday due to a 24-hour strike as an estimated 10,000 teachers and school staff decked out in red attended a rally in Melbourne before marching to Parliament House.
School staff packed Hisense Arena and spilled out onto the lawns as they voted to continue their campaign, with half-day regional rolling stoppages planned from second term and continuing 38-hour week bans.
But a move to introduce 48-hour rolling stoppages during the Naplan testing period was voted down.
Australian Education Union Victorian president Meredith Peace said the union was prepared to negotiate with the government.
"Over $2 billion of cuts and broken promises is what they've done in two years of government and they refuse to do a deal with the staff of our students in public schools," Ms Peace told reporters.
"It's not good enough. It's time for the government to come to the table with a fair and reasonable offer."
But the government said the planning of further industrial action is premature while the parties are still negotiating, with talks scheduled next week.
Minister Responsible for the Victorian Teaching Profession Peter Hall says he believes good progress has been made on negotiations, which have been under way for 18 months.
Mr Hall said the government and union had met six times in the last two weeks and another two meetings were scheduled for next week.
"I think the gap between what the union wants and what the government wants is narrowing and I think it is possible we can find a solution to this, but marching in the streets of Melbourne isn't going to help," he told AAP.
The union wants the government to honour its pre-election promise to make Victorian teachers the best paid and is against performance-based pay.
It revised its offer to the government in November, offering 4.2 per cent per year over three years, but it failed to resolve the dispute.
The government lost a federal court bid for an injunction to stop Thursday's action and Mr Hall has not ruled out taking further court action to prevent future strikes.
"That's a decision we will take after the meetings that are planned for the next week," he said.
The government said schools that remained open had supervision arrangements in place.
Premier Ted Baillieu said the strike added nothing to negotiations and just caused students, schools and families disruption.
The education department said 331 schools reported they had told parents students were not required to attend, but remained open for those that did.


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The Emotions of Anxiety
Anxiety for most of us is an inevitable part of life. We all encounter everyday, real-life situations to which anxiety is a reasonable response. These situations can be as major as a death, divorce, or job loss, or as seemingly minor as going to the doctor or meeting new people at a social event.
Although anxiety is a very common emotional response, its expression can take different forms. It varies in intensity from being an appropriate response to stressful or difficult situations to being an actual psychiatric disorder. Disorders can occur when symptoms persist or are severe in nature. Some women have anxiety symptoms so intense that the symptoms interfere with their ability to function on a day-to-day basis.
The Physiology of Anxiety
While most women experience anxiety emotionally as upset and distress, we also react to these upsetting feelings on a physical level. What actually happens to our body when we are feeling anxious, nervous, or even panicky? Anxiety feelings normally set off an alarm reaction in our body called the "fight-or-flight" response. This response occurs to any perceived threat, whether it is physically real, psychologically upsetting, or even imaginary. Our thoughts and feelings can trigger this response; it can even occur simply when we're excited. The fight-or-flight response is a powerful protective mechanism that allows our body to mobilize energy quickly and either escape from or confront any type of danger.
The fight-or-flight response begins in our nervous system. The nervous system consists of the brain, the spinal cord, and the peripheral nerves. It is divided by function into two parts: the voluntary nervous system and the involuntary (or autonomic) nervous system.
The voluntary nervous system manages activity in the con-scious domain. For example, if you place your hand on a hot stove, pain fibers will trigger a response that is sent to the brain. The brain sends back an immediate response telling you to move your hand before you burn yourself. You then pull your hand away, fast.
The autonomic nervous system regulates functions of which the average person is usually unaware, such as muscle tension, pulse rate, respiration, glandular function, and the circulation of the blood. The autonomic nervous system is also divided into two parts that oppose and complement each other: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. These control the upper and lower limits of your physiology, respectively. For example, if excitement speeds up the heart rate too much, the parasympa-thetic nervous system's job is to act as a control circuit and slow it down. If the heart slows down too much, then the sympathetic nervous system's job is to speed it up.
A fight-or-flight response stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, triggering several different physical responses. Our adrenal glands increase their output of adrenaline and cortisone as body chemistry adjusts to meet the crisis. The outpouring of these hormones causes the heart and pulse rate to speed up, the breath-ing to become shallow and rapid, and the hands and feet to become icy cold. In addition, muscles tighten up and become tense and contracted. The sympathetic nervous system also trig-gers the release of stored sugar in the liver, an increase in the metabolic rate of the body, inhibition of digestion, and an excess secretion of acid in the stomach-all in response to feelings of anxiety and stress.
Though the physiological response to anxiety or stress is the same no matter what the initial stressor is (physical danger, psychological distress, or imaginary threat), the chemical trigger for anxiety can vary greatly. For example, the chemical imbalance that triggers PMS-related anxiety is often quite different from the chemical or hormonal imbalances seen in hyperthyroidism or menopause-related anxiety. I will discuss the chemical triggers as I explore the common causes of anxiety.
In women with anxiety or panic episodes, the sympathetic nervous system is actually too sensitive or too easily triggered. Their systems are too often in a state of readiness to react to a crisis. This puts them in a constant state of tension-fight-or-flight.
The Common Causes of Anxiety
When a woman identifies anxiety as a serious complaint, any of four body systems may be compromised:
The remainder of this chapter discusses the most common physical and psychological problems in these systems that I have encountered over the years in my medical practice. Many (but not all) of them are problems often seen by any physician practicing primary care medicine. Most likely your symptoms of anxiety are related to one or more of these health problems.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
Three major types of psychologically-based anxiety disorders are most pertinent to women: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias. Research in brain chemistry has shown that these anxiety disorders may also be linked to specific chemical changes in the brain, thus suggesting a strong mind-body link. The field of psychiatry recognizes other types of anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress syndrome, which I will not cover in this book; although they are important problems, they have less relevance for most women. While there tends to be some overlap in the symptoms experi-enced by women with the various types of anxiety disorders, there are still significant differences among the specific types.
Generalized Anxiety
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by chronic anxiety that tends to focus on real-life issues, such as problems with work, finances, relationships, or health, which feel dangerous or threat-ening to a woman's security and well-being. The emotional and physical symptoms of anxiety that these situations elicit must persist for at least six months to establish this diagnosis. Often, the real-life issues in turn elicit deeper emotional concerns, such as fear of abandonment, rejection, or not being loved. These deep fears may underlie the anxiety around troubled personal relation-ships, fear of failure, inability to cope effectively with stressful situations, and even fear of death when there are health concerns. Since the symptoms are experienced frequently, they can interfere with a woman's quality of life and her ability to function optimally on a daily basis.
Common symptoms include frequent upset, worry, and nervous tension, as well as insomnia, irritability, difficulty concen-trating, and startling easily. Physical symptoms include the typical fight-or-flight response of rapid heartbeat, cold hands and feet, shortness of breath, muscle tension, shakiness, depression, and chronic fatigue. The symptoms, however, are not so severe as to be complicated by panic attacks and phobias. Generalized anxiety disorder can date back as early as childhood, but a majority of patients are initially diagnosed in their twenties or thirties. The disorder seems to occur with equal frequency among both men and women.
Consult a physician if you suffer from an apparent general-ized anxiety disorder to rule out any possible medical disorders that could be causing these symptoms. For example, hyper-thyroidism, food allergies, or PMS are often mistaken for an anxiety disorder. In addition, since anxiety and depression can coexist, it is important to know which is the primary component, as treatment can differ depending on which is primary and which is secondary.
Panic Disorder
The experience of panic is characterized by the sudden onset of intense fear or apprehension that occurs unexpectedly for no apparent reason. Usually the panic symptoms appear without prior warning, catching a person unaware; a woman is often in the middle of a panic episode before she even has time to register what is happening. Luckily, the acute phase of the panic attack tends to be short-lived, lasting only a few minutes. However, the symptoms may persist beyond the initial attack, though at a level of lesser intensity. To have the diagnosis of panic disorder, a woman must have experienced at least four panic attacks in a one-month period, or have experienced significant apprehension and worry throughout an entire month following a single panic attack. As in generalized anxiety disorder, the symptoms are typical of the fight-or-flight reaction, although panic attacks tend to be much more intense and disabling.
Since panic attacks are acute and short-lived, they also differ in duration from generalized anxiety disorder, where the symptoms are persistent and chronic. Typical symptoms include at least four of the following: rapid heartbeat or heart palpitations, chest pain, shakiness, dizziness, faintness, shortness of breath, cold hands and feet, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, intestinal distress, sweating, feelings of losing control, and feelings of unreality. Between panic episodes, women can suffer much fear and apprehension, worrying about their recurrence. Panic disorder tends to coexist with agoraphobia (fear of open spaces or public places), which is also discussed in this chapter. In fact, panic attacks in combination with agoraphobia affect 5 percent of the population in this country, while only 1 percent suffer from panic disorder alone. Panic disorder tends to develop during the twenties in susceptible women.
It is important to differentiate panic disorder from medical problems such as mitral valve prolapse (which can coexist with panic disorder and produce similar symptoms) and hypogly-cemia,or even chemical imbalances like drug withdrawal or excessive caffeine intake. A careful diagnostic evaluation should be done by a physician to make sure that a medical problem necessitating specific, nonpsychiatric therapies has not been over-looked or misdiagnosed.
Phobias are characterized by an excessive, persistent, and often irrational fear of a person, object, place, or situation. In severe cases, the person suffering from a particular phobia will try to avoid the inciting trigger. At the very least, a phobia can create severe emotional distress and can cause a person to postpone facing situations that trigger the phobia. Day-to-day functioning or even one's health and well-being can be compromised, particu-larly when the phobia centers on being in public places, going to social gatherings, giving public speeches, or even seeing a doctor or dentist.
As mentioned earlier, agoraphobia (fear of open or public spaces) is fairly prevalent in our society, affecting 5 percent of the population to some degree. In fact, it is the most common of all the anxiety disorders. Approximately three-quarters of all agora-phobics are women. Women with agoraphobia may develop a panic attack when placed in such common situations as using public transportation (buses, airplanes, trains), being in public places like department stores, shopping malls, and crowded restaurants, or being in confined spaces such as tunnels. In all these cases, an overriding concern is the fear of being trapped in a place where escape is difficult and being overcome by a panic attack. Many women are also concerned about the reactions people around them may have if a panic attack occurs.


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Go to work, send your kids to school.
Follow fashion, act normal.
Walk on the pavement, watch T.V.
Save for your old age, obey the law.
Repeat after me: I am free.
happy bday cock smoker!
happy bday assface cocksucker
Stinky. =P Happy birthday.
happy bday bitch
Happy bday eddie
and thanks for the post on my birthday, all you twats...
Good lord are there no good games to play?
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text: The lovely Payton Simmons came back again with that big delicious ass. She started out by taking a bath and showing off those amazing curves. Mick joined the party and immediately shoved his face in her big ass cheeks. Payton sucked and fucked his cock and rode that dick like a champ, as her big round ass bounced around. Then Payton got that manjuice all over her pretty face.


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February 22, 2013
Manville, NJ - Formerly of Grahamsville, NY
Sarah "Sally" Rose (McDonald) Trksak, 95, entered eternal life on Friday, February 22, 2013 at her son's home with her loving family by her side.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, daughter of the late William and Sara (Carney) McDonald, she was formerly of Levittown, NY, and Grahamsville, NY, and for the past five years has lived with her son, Ralph and daughter-in-law, Christine in Manville, NJ.
Sally was an avid sewer and baker. She often sewed for neighbors and would make some type of dessert for family every day. Sally would love to have "happy hour" with friends or family, sharing her favorite Wild Irish Rose wine.
For the past four years, Sally attended the Somerset County Adult Day Center, where she enjoyed the Cooking Club.
She relied on God in every situation and prayed the rosary faithfully. She was a communicant of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Manville and formerly of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Woodbourne, NY.
Sally was a member of the Wantagh-Levittown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Always loving and smiling, Sally's favorite quote to live by was "do all the good you can, to all the people you can..."
Besides her parents, Sally was predeceased by her husband, George Trksak in 1989; son, William Trksak; grandson, Jonathan Futterer; son-in-law, Edward Federowicz, and daughter-in-law, Carole Trksak.
Sally was devoted to her children and family: Anne Marie Federowicz of Florida; George Trksak, Bernadette / Hans Futterer and John Trksak / Michelle DeVeau of New York; Ralph / Christine Trksak and Constance / Hamdy Tawfick of New Jersey.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend visitation at Fucillo & Warren Funeral Home, 205 South Main Street, Manville, NJ 08835 on Monday, February 25 from 3 to 7 p.m. and on Tuesday, February 26 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Woodbourne, NY at 11:30 a.m. A funeral liturgy will be held on Tuesday, February 26 at 12 p.m. at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 6317 Route 42, Woodbourne, NY 12788. Interment will follow at Grahamsville Cemetery in Grahamsville, NY.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of the following, Somerset County Adult Day Center, 872 East Main Street, Bridgewater, NJ 08807; Church of the Immaculate Conception, 6317 Route 42, Woodbourne, NY 12788; Community Care Hospice, 110 West End Avenue, Somerville, NJ 08876; Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, PO Box 924, Manville, NJ 08835.
To send condolences to the family or sign an online guest book, please visit www.FucilloandWarrenFuneralHome.com.


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Monday August 19, 2019; 04:25 pm EDT
A terrific kids' show — no kidding
Lies. Falsehoods. Tall tales. Call them what you will, some children cling to them long after attaining the age of reason, and Infinity Theatre is to be applauded for broaching the topic with a humorous touch in founder Alan Ostroff's original play for three to 10-year-olds, The Tall Tales of Enoch.
Enoch (Lance Hayes) is just such a child, a rambunctious third-grader with super-powered imagination, nuclear-fueled energy and a likely diagnosis of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. He lives in a lonely dreamland, or Enochland as he calls it, where his motto is, "I do not lie. I play."
He plays so well he assumes seven identities in seven hours: paratrooper, Kung Fu master, police officer, scientist, French chef, professional baseball player and giant. Is it any wonder his mother, classmates and lunchroom monitor (all played by the versatile Kimberly Wilpon) are frustrated? Is his new teacher, Mr. Worthington (Dan Reardon) in for the "drama that was second grade?"
Thanks to a patient counselor, a like-minded new student (both played by Wilpon) and self-evaluation, the answer is no. Enoch learns that his self-imposed exile is less inviting than the friendship that awaits him without self-aggrandizement.
This is no preachy morality tale but a delightful comedy of character sketches, puppetry and pop culture references that will entertain both children and adults. An original score of techno music by Clayton Colwell punctuates the action with bouncy choreography replete with jazz hands and ballet. The minimalist stage is decorated with one simple flat illustrating Enoch's day in a cartoonish style that offers clear visual orientation before the action begins. Costumes works just fine at suggestion.
All three performers are top notch, but Hayes is so convincing that if he were not six feet tall, young audience members would be inviting him home for play dates. Theater-goers participate in the show by ruling on the veracity of his tales.
According to Enoch, "It's not lying if it's fun." I had a blast at this matinee, so trust me that this is one kid's show worth your price of admission, no matter your age.
Produced by Infinity Theatre. Directed by Lena-Moy Bargen. Set: Andrew Cohen. Costumes/props: Nola Denett and Emily Chalmers. Stage managers: Jimmy Mavrikes and J.Z. Zaeske. Production assistants: Samantha Brewer and Josh De Bernardi.
Playing thru August 4 at 11am Sa at Bay Theatre Company, 275 West St., Annapolis. $15: 877-501-8499; www.infinitytheatrecompany.com.


text: Our inventory is ever expanding. We understand that many people are on a budget and we have set up this grouping of our jewelry for those of you looking to spend a specific amount, for you or your loved ones. We have something that will fit almost every budget out there.


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If you are a first-time CDL applicant, you must obtain a CDL instruction permit to operate a vehicle requiring a CDL on the highway. The CDL instruction permit is valid for six months. The minimum age for a CDL is 21. If you are at least 18, you may apply for an intrastate CDL that is valid only in Arizona. Drivers under the age of 21 are prohibited from transporting hazardous materials.
To obtain a CDL instruction permit, you must follow these instructions provided on this page.
First, have the following documents on hand before you pay any fees or take any tests:
Then, prove one year of driving experience in a vehicle other than a motorcycle. For drivers with an Arizona license, this information is already available on our database. For out-of-state applicants, your out-of-state license must have been issued more than one year ago or you must provide a motor vehicle record (MVR) issued by another state that is less than 30 days old and shows proof of at least one year of driving history. No third-party MVRs will be accepted.
Finally, successfully complete all applicable knowledge testing. Use the Commercial Driver License Manual as a study reference. The manual is available online or at any CDL office. For CDL offices outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas, an appointment is required to take the knowledge tests. You must pay for the class of license prior to taking the test. The fees are:
*NOTE: A Class C CDL must include a Passenger or HazMat endorsement, although, only those applying for a Class C with a Passenger endorsement will be issued a permit. Class C permits can not be issued with a HazMat endorsement.
**NOTE: To add a passenger and/or school bus endorsement, you must obtain a CDL instruction permit with the passenger and/or school bus endorsement for the class of bus you intend to drive. Then, you must take CDL pre-trip, basic controls and road/skills tests in the appropriate class of bus/school bus.
For more information, please see our Permits FAQ.
Arizona Department of Transportation
Contact Us
Copyright © Arizona Department of Transportation – All rights reserved.


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Are adverbs an important part of the English language? Of course they are. If adjectives describe the subject of a sentence, adverbs describe the action. So it is important to know adverbs and how to use them. Adverbs are not hard to use, and they complete sentence formation and vocabulary, improving the use of English. So let us see which the most important aspects of adverb use are.
Are you confused about punctuation in English? Well, then you have come to the right place! I hope to explain punctuation rules briefly with clarity.
1. What is an Adjective and its Functions
An adjective is used with a noun, describing or improving it. It has the function to modify the noun, to complement it, or to support it within the phrase. With their help, we can describe the subject or the object in the sentence, enriching the content and increasing comprehension.


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This year we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Team Tourney here in SD. It's really our 31st as we didn't have a perpetual trophy the first year (1981) but there are now 30 names of winners on the perpetual trophy so we'll call it the 30th. Not playing this year due to shoulder surgery last summer allowed me to focus on just being tourney director. As such it was maybe the most fun Team Tourney I can remember. We made a big deal out of the "Spirit of the Event" award this year . Shane Dehner of Voodoo Golf Discs donated 12 high end custom golf bags to the team winning the spirit award. To that we added a 4 pack of Green Flash Brewery's finest, and $100 worth of donated plastic from the disc sponsors Innova Champion, DGA, Discraft and Legacy Discs. Retail value over $250 per player.Considering 1st place is $250 cash per player plus some plastic the Spirit Award was a huge bonus. Rocky Mountain was invited this year and the team collapsed the final week before arriving here so for the 3rd year in the last 4 a second San Diego team was cobbled together at the last minute. All the team's names are displayed on different color poster boards. Since Rocky Mountains names were displayed on a pink board they adopted the color to show their team spirit. All the team players either wore pink hats, pink socks or had pink tassles hanging from their hair. It was hilarious. They also howled whenever they won a point (not much howling). It made for a difficult decision for the staff to pick a clear winner for the Spirit Award. But Santa Cruz eventually prevailed. They were led by the reigning world champion Nate Doss and former world champion Avery Jenkins. They do such a good job corralling their team mates for pre tourney calisthenics and team cheers, all done in a group circle. Also they all have matching team shirts they supply themselves. They do everything as a team unit. We ran a new event this year right after lunch on Saturday. Our new logo is a picture of an ace occurring on the mound hole at 15. All the #1 players from each team were invited to throw 2 throws for a $100 prize if they could hit the ace. Nate's team all roared and cheered when he was introduced as the Great Nate. And Nate didn't disappoint. He threw a perfect line drive with a putter right at the basket only to dip below at the last second just as it got there. But his team howled and roared their support for his awesome effort. For the first time in several years we had a great lunch for the players. . My son Alex co-owns California Kebab Restaurant and catered the event. The response from the players was overwhelmingly positive. There was plenty of chicken, lamb, pita bread, hummus, several salads and several kinds of sauce to put on it. It made for a delicious feast.
Another first at this event, San Diego's disc golf team was nearly out of contention by the end of day 1. There were 3 teams ahead of San Diego with 4-1 records when the dust settled Saturday night.. San Diego was tied with Arizona at 3-2. Sunday morning pits all the top seeded teams against each other. So at that point San Diego still had control of their own fate. Arizona stepped up to the plate and won both of their matches Sunday giving them a 5-2 record. Having beaten head to head the other 2 teams finishing at 5-2 they moved onto the finals against 6-1 Huntington Beach. San Diego went out with a whimper losing both Sunday matches to end in a (3-4) tie with Sylmar who beat them head to head so they fell to an inglorious 6th place. So much for home court advantage. Truth be told most of the teams playing have many repeat players and the teams have finally reached parity having played here so much. Many matches come down to just 1 or two putts between a team winning or losing. I think the positive influence of team camaraderie makes the team stronger than the some of the individual parts. I didn't see or hear much swagger or trash talk this year. There were no fights or any other altercations as everyone wanted to win the Spirit Award. There seemed to be more smiles on faces and laughter in the air. It seemed like everyone was on their warm and fuzzy best behavior this weekend and it seemed their positive attitudes paid them dividends.
I can't remember ever in the past so many players coming up afterward and thanking staff and telling us this is their very favorite tourney of the year. Even a number of tour guys stopped by to encourage us to never stop running this event as they always look forward to coming to Morley Field every December.
I've always felt the good karma this event creates in the Disc World makes losing a weekend's revenues seem like a minor inconvenience. This year that was especially true.
Finally, I'd like to thank our new sponsors this year; Voodoo Disc Golf (Shane and Niki Dehner), Legacy Discs(Steve and Bamba Rico), Green Flash Brewery(Chuck Silva), and California Kebab Restaurant(Alex Pierson). Also thanks to our continuing sponsors Hamiliton's Tavern, North Park Trophy, Innova Champion Discs, DGA, and Discraft Discs.
Staff was awesome as always. Mac on scorecards, Eric and EJ Simmons doing all the heavy lifting, Daniel Vega and Oscar Garcia, and Chris Cullen were spotters. All my guys in the shop had a hand in tourney prep work…big thanks to all of you.
Till next year…
Z ya


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2013: Played in all 12 games, starting 10 ... Finished third on the team with 73 tackles ... Garnered 5.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups and forced a fumble ... Completed his career second in school history with 232 tackles, second only to 340 by Craig Wilkins ... Had nine tackles and a tackle for loss in the opener at ECU ... Registered nine tackles in the win over HU ... Set a career-high with nine 11 stops in the win over The Citadel ... Notched nine tackles in his final home game against Campbell ... Had seven stops in season finale at UNC.
2012: Started all 13 games at linebacker ... Third on the team with 75 tackles and 10.0 tackles for loss ... Recorded two sacks and had one interception ... Recorded seven tackles in ODU's win over No. 18 New Hampshire ... Had eight tackles with season-best 2.5 tackles for loss in the win at UR ... Registered season-best nine tackles and a sack in the win over W&M ... Made seven stops in the playoff setback to No. 6 Georgia Southern
2011: Appeared in all 13 games and was fourth on the Monarch defense in tackles ... Had three starts at linebacker ... Made 63 stops (28 solo, 35 assisted) ... Had a season-high 10 tackles in the week eleven regular season finale at William & Mary ... Also registered nine tackles in the week seven loss to CAA Champion Towson and eight stops at Georgia Southern in the second round of the FCS playoffs ... Had 1.5 sacks including a ten-yard sack in week five against #20 UMass in ODU's first CAA victory ... Finished the season with 5.0 tackles for loss, including 1.5 tackles for a total loss of 23 yards in the first round FCS playoff victory against Norfolk State.
2010: Appeared in eight games at linebacker ... Made 21 tackles (5 solo, 16 assisted)...Had a career-high seven tops (1 solo, 6 assisted) vs. VMI ... Also made six stops (2 solo, 4 assisted) against Savannah State ... Forced a fumble at Hampton ... Had three pass break-ups on the year - Gardner-Webb, Georgia State, and Savannah State ... Also recorded a QB hurry vs. VMI.
2009: Redshirted.
HIGH SCHOOL: Helped guide Suitland to a record of 33-4 over the last three seasons, winning the 2006 state championship ... second team all-state as a senior after totaling 118 tackles and four forced fumbles ... listed as one of the 50 best players in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland by the Washington Post ... selected to play in the inaugural Maryland State All-Star Crab Bowl where he led the Washington Team in tackles with 12.5 ... also appeared in the P.G. County All-Star Game ... All-Met as a junior when he recorded 125 tackles, four forced fumbles and an interception ... coached by Nick Lynch.
PERSONAL: Born July 27, 1991 ... son of John and Linda Darr ... uncle played safety for West Virginia ... Majoring in sports management.


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"Atrocious" atmosphere for journalists now, watchdog says
UNITED NATIONS - The past two years have been "absolutely atrocious" for the killing and imprisonment of journalists, with Syria the deadliest place to work and Turkey the number one jailer, a press freedom advocacy group said Wednesday.
The Committee to Protect Journalists' annual report "Attacks on the Press" also takes sharp aim at sprawling government surveillance by the U.S. and others as a growing threat.
"Journalists must hang together in holding our metastasizing surveillance states accountable. If not, we shall all hang separately," the report said.
Joel Simon, the New York-based committee's executive director, said 2013 saw "a near record" of 211 journalists imprisoned and 70 killed - slightly fewer than 2012, when 232 journalists were in jail and 72 were killed. That's tied with the highest death toll of the Iraq war.
"The last two years have been absolutely atrocious, the worst ever in CPJ's history," Simon said.
He blamed that in part on the deadly conflict in Syria, where "there is no respect whatsoever for the work of the media," with journalists being targeted and killed in crossfire. He said "anti-terror" charges are the main factor in the increasing imprisonment of journalists.
Globally, the overwhelming number of killings last year, or 94 percent, were committed with complete impunity, the report says.
According to the report, Egypt experienced the greatest deterioration in press freedom in 2013 between the regime of President Mohammed Morsi and the state of emergency imposed after the military ousted him. Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Mideast and north Africa coordinator, said for the first time Egypt was among the top jailers of journalists in 2013, and it was the third deadliest country with six journalists killed.
Syria remains the most dangerous country for journalists with more than 63 killed since 2011, including 29 last year, and "an unprecedented number of kidnappings" - more than 80 since 2011 including 57 in 2013, Mansour said. CPJ has also documented more than 70 Syrian journalists forced into exile, he said.
Turkey was the world's "leading jailer of the press," the report says, with 40 journalists behind bars. After anti-government protests in the summer, nearly 60 people who reported on them were either fired or forced to resign.
The new report also singles out surveillance activities as a "unique threat to journalism in the digital age," after a series of revelations last year by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden angered American allies such as Germany and Brazil.
With the vast sweeping-up and storage of phone calls, tests and emails, "it could soon be possible to uncover sources with such ease as to render meaningless any promise of confidentiality a journalist may attempt to provide," the report warns.
It adds that the U.S. with its surveillance activities "has undermined its own global leadership position on free expression and Internet openness, especially when it comes to battling efforts by repressive countries like China and Iran to restrict the Internet."
More traditional threats to the media continue, the report says.
Iran remains the second major jailer of journalists, with 35 behind bars at the end of 2013, he said, and in Iraq 10 journalists were killed in the last quarter of 2013, compared to zero in 2012.
China had the third-highest number of journalists behind bars, with 32. Committee members found "particularly alarming" that the traditional safe haven of Hong Kong is coming under greater pressure from Beijing, resulting in increasing self-censorship by journalists and less aggressive reporting on mainland issues.
Vietnam's crackdown on bloggers worsened, with the country second only to China in Asia for holding the most journalists, with 18 imprisoned.
Even as Russia continued to celebrate its hosting of the Winter Olympics, Nina Ognianova, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia coordinator, said "Russia and Turkey have gotten progressively more repressive for journalists" over the past year.
"The current climate for freedom of press and freedom of expression ... has not been as repressive since the collapse of the Soviet Union," she said.
In Latin America, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia all ranked in the world's top 10 worst countries for fighting violence against the press. Venezuela, the report says, has been left with "no reliably independent and critical broadcaster."
Mohamed Keita, CPJ's Africa coordinator, said "a great press freedom crisis" also persists in Ethiopia, Somalia, Congo and Gambia, and "there are alarming trends or backsliding in countries that are relatively democratic such as Tanzania, Zambia, Liberia, Kenya and even South Africa."


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The Ionosphere is a single person lightweight bivi tent manufactured by Snugpak; a UK company based in Silsden in Yorkshire. The tent seems to be aimed at lightweight campers who are prepared to compromise internal space, particularly height, in order to save weight and packed bulk. It is primarily marketed to military personnel or for outdoor professionals looking to carry a robust emergency shelter.
The tent was reviewed during my five-day paddling trip on the River Obra in Poland during May 2016. During the trip, the weather was fair throughout with temperatures regularly exceeding 25o C. This tent was chosen for the trip in order to save space and weight in hold baggage on the outbound and return flights.
The tent has an RRP of £150 however, it can be purchased for as little as £112 (www. polimil.co.uk retail the tent for £124, with free postage, and offer a 10% discount on your first purchase if you sign up for their newsletter).
What you get
The tent comes delivered in a printed cardboard box. Inside, the tent is packaged in its stuff sac. The stuff sac was the first thing I was impressed by. This is no flimsy, readily damaged, draw-string bag but, rather a robust, roll-top green drybag with taped seams.
The tent is remarkably compact and could easily be strapped onto the side of a day pack. It weighs a very modest 1.52 kg with all parts present. Snugpak claim a trail weight of 1.2 kg if you take only the inner, poles and fly but, why youd want to leave behind the pegs and guys is genuinely a mystery to me.
On first opening the tent out, I was particularly impressed with the design of the pegs. These were of the very strong three pronged design and astonishingly light. When it came to putting them into the ground, heeling them in worked fine, even in firm ground and I found that by holding a spare peg and hooking this into the top of a peg in the ground, gave me all the purchase I needed to pull the pegs back out. During the trip, not a single peg bent, even though the ground was on occasion quite firm.
The Ionosphere also came with a comprehensive repair kit. A patch of each different material used in the tents construction was included along with a spare guy loop and a sleeve that can be used to temporarily fix a broken pole. Within the repair kit, a small card is included that provides instructions with clear diagrams on how to erect the tent.
Design and materials
The first thing to note is that the Ionosphere is a proper tent, not simply a single layer drippy bivi bag with a hoop to keep the bag clear of your face. It has a separate inner and outer, with two poles, a smaller one at your toes and a larger hoop at the level of your shoulders.
The tent inner is made of no-see-um mosquito netting that is soft to the touch and is fully stitched into the waterproof groundsheet tray that has a claimed hydrostatic head of 5,000 mm. I found that the design of the tent inner using transparent black mosquito netting helped maximize ventilation. This was important during the warm weather I experienced on my trip, in for what is still quite a confined internal space. This also helped reduce any feeling of claustrophobia that can be a problem in some other small tents. The tent inner comes with two small pockets, one either side at about waist level. These are handy for keeping small items off the tent floor, such as watches or glasses.
The tent comes with a single door at the front, on the right hand side as you lie on your back. The door in the inner closes with two zips, one vertical and one horizontal that meet in a small nylon fabric gusset that helps seal the zip junction to any unwanted bugs. The door in the outer is a single vertical zip running up to the highest point of the tent, which is covered by a tight storm flap when the zip is closed. I found the zips on the inner very easy to use but, as is often the case with tent zips, the zip on the outer was a bit fiddly to close without catching on the fabric. Both the inner and the outer flysheet have tie-back loops for holding the door open.
The tent outer is made from PU coated ripstop nylon with a claimed hydrostatic head of 5,000 mm. Whilst some tents use a heavier weight material offering greater waterproofing, this seems fully sufficient given the tents shape which readily sheds water and offers no opportunities for ponding. The tent comes in only one colour option dark green that is well suited to those, like myself, who are seeking to blend into the countryside rather than make a fashion statement.
In terms of dimensions, the Ionosperes tent inner is 240 cm long, 90 cm wide, 70 cm high at the shoulder level and 40 cm high at your toes. Even though Im just shy of 6 ft tall, this was actually surprisingly spacious and not at all like sleeping in a bivi bag. As the tent is only 70 cm high, you are meant to enter feet-first, but I was able to go in head first and, with a bit of a squeeze, get myself turned round. In terms of height, I was not able to sit up fully, so getting dressed or undressed inside is something that needs to be done on the horizontal.
Once the tent outer is on, the overall footprint increases to 265 cm long by 100 cm wide. The Ionosphere therefore has a very small footprint that meant that I found it pretty easy to find a flattish and smooth area where itd fit.
Overall, I think the design is simple and effective. The materials all seem to be of good quality and the build quality seems sound. For the money, I was impressed that no corners seemed to have been cut.
Of all the many tents Ive owned and used in over 30 years of camping, I can genuinely say that the Ionosphere is probably the easiest and most intuitive tent to pitch Ive ever used.
On laying out the inner, I found that 4 pegs was all I needed at this stage. By assembling the lightweight sprung aluminium poles youll find that one is shorter than the other. Feed the short pole through the sleeves at the foot end and then slot the pole ends into the metal eyelets. Repeat for the large pole at the front. Then peg out the front of the tent, drawing the whole inner upright and tight. The poles and sleeves are colour coded but, being colour-blind, I found that the considerable difference in length of the two poles made identifying which was which very easy.
The next step is to attach the outer flysheet to the poles. This is done with two small Velcro straps on each pole. Then simply pull the flysheet out and peg it down using the elasticated loops around its edge. The flysheet sits approximately 10cm clear of the ground. I assume this is to help maximise airflow into the tent inner to improve ventilation. Finally, there are two string guy ropes, one at the head end and one at the toe end that keep the poles upright and the flysheet taught. All up, it took about five minutes from start to finish to erect the Ionosphere.
Two minor issues become apparent during first pitching. The first is that the Ionosphere pitches inner first, which, is not ideal if it is pouring with rain. Another criticism was that the pole sleeves on the inner are made of three separate sleeves in order to allow two sections of pole to be clear for the Velcro straps on the fly sheet to be attached. This made inserting the poles a little more fiddly as the poles had to be fed through each sleeve section in turn but, to be fair, this was only a very minor frustration.
I liked the Ionosphere. I liked it a lot. Once I accepted that this is not a base-camp tent with lots of space to sit up and administrate myself, it was a very easy tent to live with. In terms of internal space, it was much better than anticipated. At 240 cm long, there was plenty of internal space for me to lie out fully stretched with enough space remaining at the head end for a large daypack to be stored inside.
One small thing that could have made it even better would have been the inclusion of a small hanging loop at the apex of the large hoop at shoulder level. If this had been present, I could have clipped a torch of small tent light onto it. This is something that Ill probably retro-fit myself as it would improve the usability of the Ionospehere.
Overall, I think Snugpak have done a fantastic job with the Ionosphere. It meets its headline objectives of being very light and packing really small. The design and build quality are good, maximising the internal space, ventilation and resilience to weather. For the money, I think the Ionospere is genuinely a bit of a bargain and it will be a tent that features regularly on my future packing list, irrespective of whether Im flying or not.


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60 years ago
Lions pack ball mile in winning championship: In going through to their second EBCAL football championship, the Liberty Lions moved the ball for more than a mile in eight games, gaining 1,000 more yards than the combined opposition.
A summary of season statistics by Coach Lou Bronzan showed who did it and how as they scored 227 points to their opponents' 105.
"Snake" Gutierrez was not only the honorary team captain for the season, but its top scorer. He had a total of 61 points, with 10 touchdowns and one conversion. Tarango was close behind with 54 points, Bristow was third with 36, and Domingo fourth with 30.
Tarango carried the ball 114 times for 765 yards, a 6.3 average. Townes also had a 6.3 average carrying 34 times for 214 yards, and Bristow, with 97 carries, rolled up 625 yards and a 6.0 average. Don Dal Porto, switching to the backfield on occasion, carried the ball only six times, but gained 66 yards for a 11.0 average. Liberty's passing combination, Domingo to Gutierrez, was regarded as one of the best in high school football for the area in several years.
25 years ago
Liberty to honor oldest adult student: With the theme "Never too old to get and education" the Liberty Adult Education staff will be honoring their oldest student, 103-year old Gertrude Peggy Shutterly, Dec. 15 at the Delta Community Service Center.
Shutterly, who resides in Vine Hill Manor, a board and care home for the elderly in Oakley, occasionally attends an arts and craft class co-sponsored by Liberty Adult Education.
Roy Ghiggeri, administrator of Liberty's Adult Education program, met Shutterly for the first time at the Oakley rest home Monday.
"Here we have a lady that's 103 who is still active in learning. What a beautiful thing that is," Ghiggeri said.
Sitting with her grandson Harry Dillion of Pittsburg, Shutterly recalled some of her youth while growing up in the hills on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pa. The daughter of a coal miner, she remembers seeing her very first train in 1892 at the age of 8.
— Brentwood News files
When asked how she attributes her health and long life, Shutterly smiled and said, "Hard work and poor pay."
— Brentwood News files


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I'm building a web system from scratch (based on openlayers). All layers in map will be my own (raster and vectors). I want to show polygons/points on map and when user click on them he gets info or list of links of files to download (and need to have the ability using some kind of back office to update new vector layers). I can set up wms server (geoserver or ms4w). I'm not sure If all layers should be shown as wms or the vectors (which are created in qgis) should be kml files (or something else) and how/where to save the vectors information , in db or on the shp file.
Any recommendation on best practice or guidance for such task will be welcome


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A Weekend in Denver
Last July when I was on
, I happened to be on during the same hour as Amy Gibson of
. Amy was talking about some
she had displayed in the
. Well, you
my mom was listening and afterwards she sent me an email that said "We must go see this exhibit! And visit family while we are out there!" (Much of my extended family lives in Denver.)
So last weekend we took off and met up in Denver! What a fun trip. I hope you are ready for some major, major picture overload. We flew in on Saturday, bright and early, and went straight up to get my grandma in Berthoud. I haven't seen my grandma in a really long time, so it was pretty great to get to spend the day with her.
She wanted to take me to her local quilt shop - which actually turned out to be all sorts of awesome! This is the Laughing Ladies Quilting shop. And I can tell you that not only is the shop H-U-G-E and full of great stuff (I picked up some of the latest Sweetwater!), but the ladies that work inside are also very nice and friendly! The store just had a very happy vibe. If you are heading north of Denver or south of Loveland, definitely make the stop to check it out.
After the quilt shop we headed into the mountains to get our tourist on. We visited Georgetown to take my grandma on a short narrow gauge train ride.
It was really fun! Being from the midwest, the mountains are so cool to see. I feel like the Rockies have such great contrast. One minute they are covered in trees. The next it's all rocks that look like they are going to fall on your car. Kidding...but not really. lol
Sunday we woke up early to visit Red Rocks before going to the museum.
That was a fun study in contrast too - one group of people were there and camping out before the Grateful Dead concert Sunday evening. Another group of SUPER fit people were there exercising on the endless stairs.
Next we headed off to Spun at the Denver Art Museum (and it happened to be the very last day of the exhibit!)
The exhibit was spread in little bits and pieces all over the museum. Which does get you to see areas you normally wouldn't visit...but also was exhausting. lol I loved this banner in the building, which included a little section that looked like a ticker tape quilt to me.
There was an area where you could get hands on and try all sorts of things from hand quilting to block designing.
There was a big section of crocheted items set up to look like coral in the ocean.
Really beautiful paper art by Bruce Price.
A section called Material World which were items made out of different, well, materials. From top to bottom, Reconstruction #20 (Sewn fabrics) by Lucas Samaras, 1977; Lucas/Rug (Silk and linen) by Chuck Close, 1993; Rain Has No Father? (Found bottle tops with copper wire) by El Anatsui, 2008.
Loved this piece. Does anyone else feel like they have this many quilts? Untitled by Marie Watt, 2013.
I was also really inspired by the Pattern Play area, designs by Jacqueline Groag. Boy do I wish some of these were printed on fabric today.
This quilt was my favorite, made by Annie J. Peight at age 10(!!), from the Pennsylvania Amish community in 1926. Not only do I love the design, but the hand quilting was amazing. She had acorns around the entire border.
And then of course I had to see Amy's beautiful mini quilt, made from silk fabric her grandfather purchased in France during World War II.
The whole exhibit was set up beautifully.
Looks like someone got ahold of my scissor drawer. Just kidding. ;)
After the museum we had a bite to eat and then headed to Fancy Tiger Crafts, a modern quilting and yarn store in Denver.
They had a great selection!
Monday we were going to drive out to Vail but had to change our plans due to snow creating a problem in one of the tunnels. Yes, snow people. Ha! We ended up going down to Colorado Springs and visiting Garden of the Gods.
It was a great trip! I'm slowly catching up on my sleep and hopefully will sit back down at my sewing machine later by the weekend.


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Disgraced former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner could mount a serious Democratic primary challenge against City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose lead in the mayoral race is slipping, a new NBC New York/Marist College poll shows.
Weiner, who resigned after a 2011 sexting scandal but has been edging back into politics, could throw the Democratic primary into disarray, siphoning votes not only from Quinn but from other contenders, including Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson, the poll reveals.
The poll of registered voters taken last Thursday through Monday offers the first glimpse at what the race would look like with Weiner. The survey shows that if he entered the race now, he'd start out in second place, with 15 percent of the vote among Democratic respondents.
That's short of front-runner Quinn's 26 percent, and nowhere near the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. And there are still many voters who are wary of his return, including 50 percent of Democrats who said they wouldn't consider voting for him.
People like 70-year-old Mary Reynolds, who lives in Weiner's former Brooklyn congressional district and took part in the poll.
"Oh, Anthony Weiner, he annoys the devil out of me," Reynolds told NBC 4 New York in a follow-up interview. "He's a spineless person. I would not vote for him at all. I speak with my neighbors, and they say, "What is he, a joke?'"
Still, some findings in the poll could be seen as encouraging for Weiner, who aspired to be mayor for many years before his career hit the rocks. He has only recently gone public with his story and begun attempts to repair his image.
In that context, he can already tout results.
His favorability rating jumped from 34 percent to 45 percent since Marist last asked voters about him two months ago. The number of voters with an unfavorable impression of him hasn't changed much; it stands at 41 percent.
"These are not great numbers, but from his perspective, he's trending more positive," said Lee Miringoff, director of Marist Institute for Public Opinion. "He's obviously polarizing, with a high negative rating. But when he gets into a field that's not well formed, he does fall into second place and becomes a player in this."
Weiner declined to comment.
The poll surveyed 873 registered voters, 556 of whom were Democrats. Results for the Democratic respondents had a plus or minus 4 percentage point margin of error. Results for the entire group of registered voters had a plus or minus 3 percent point margin of error.
Quinn has suffered from being the front-runner, and the target of most negative campaigning, Miringoff said. The City Council speaker polled at 37 percent in February, several points higher than she stands now, with or without Weiner. Her favorability is also down among Democrats since February, from 65 percent to 59 percent.
According to the poll, if Weiner entered the Democratic primary today, his 15 percent would put him behind Quinn's 26 percent but ahead of City Comptroller John Liu (12 percent), de Blasio (11 percent), Thompson (11 percent) and former City Councilman Sal Albanese (2 percent).
By comparison, without Weiner, Quinn would receive 30 percent of Democratic votes and de Blasio would be second with 15 percent, followed by Thompson (14 percent), Liu (11 percent) and Albanese (2 percent).
In short, with Weiner in the race, Quinn, de Blasio and Thompson all suffer.
"He'd make it much more difficult for anyone to reach 40 percent to avoid a runoff," Miringoff said.
Those numbers illustrate the fluidity of the Democratic primary, in which 22 percent of voters remain undecided, the poll shows. And even among those who have a preference, only about a third say they're firmly committed.
"This is a race with no incumbent," Miringoff said. "It's understandable that voters are going to be shopping around. And Weiner doesn't clarify that."
The undecided include Arthur Raphael, 52, of Brooklyn.
Raphael, who participated in the poll, said in an interview that he was a supporter of Weiner's when he was in Congress, and thought that the sexting scandal was blown out of proportion. He said he wanted Weiner in the mayoral race, if only as an option.
"He deserves to be given a voice and to be in the race and to be heard and to be a part of the debates," Raphael said. "I"m not saying I'm voting for him, but I believe he's earnest and possibly not corrupt."
Pollsters asked general election voters about two hypothetical November matchups against likely Republican nominee Joe Lhota. If Quinn was the Democratic nominee, she'd beat Lhota 59 percent to 19 percent. If Weiner were the nominee, he'd beat Lhota 51 percent to 28 percent. In both scenarios, 21 percent said they were undecided.
Weiner, 47, resigned from his Brooklyn congressional seat in June 2011 after using Twitter to send provocative photos of himself to women and when the exchanges became public, he claimed he'd been hacked. He eventually confessed and went into virtual hiding with his wife, Huma Abedin, a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton. At the time, Abedin was pregnant with their first child.
Weiner first ran for mayor in 2005, and nearly forced a runoff against Fernando Ferrer, but conceded in the name of party solidarity. He planned to run again in 2009, and was considered a leading contender, but dropped out after Mayor Bloomberg chose to run for a third term. Prior to his unraveling, Weiner had begun to plan for a 2013 campaign. He still has more than $4 million in his campaign account.
In recent weeks, Weiner has been making slow steps toward another mayoral run. He commissioned an internal poll in March to gauge what voters thought of him. He granted a series of intimate interviews with The New York Times Magazine, which resulted in a cover story that detailed his efforts to repair his marriage and decide whether to pursue his political dream. He released a policy booklet that was similar to one he distributed in anticipation of running in 2009. And he sat down with NY1 for an interview, broadcast Monday, in which he talked policy, apologized for his past behavior and said he was nearing a decision on the 2013 race.
One advantage that Weiner enjoys is name recognition: for good or ill, a lot of New Yorkers know who he is.
Democrats seem to be warming to the idea of a Weiner candidacy. In an October poll, only 28 percent wanted him to run, and 57 percent did not. Now, 40 percent want him to run, and 46 percent do not, the poll found.
But Democrats are divided on whether Weiner has changed as a person. Thirty-seven percent think he has, and 32 percent disagree. The remaining 31 percent aren't sure.
"Weiner can look at that and say, 'A third are on my side right now,'" Miringoff said. But the numbers also show that if he chooses to run, "he's clearly going to have to prove himself."
More Stories:


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Why Boston Marathon Runners Can Expect Quadriceps and Calf Muscle Pain
Running downhill makes it worse, and other tips for coping: Pickle juice or cherry juice?
One experience unites all long-distance runners: At some point a marathon becomes an experiment in discomfort and pain management.
Don't fret if you are the sort of marathoner who plans to drag yourself across the finish line at the Boston Marathon next Monday in five-plus hours, your thighs feeling as if knives are jabbing with every step. There are very likely races when last year's winners, Lelisa Desisa and Rita Jeptoo, experience their share of misery, too. Last month, Mo Farah, the Olympic champion in the 5,000- and...


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SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets crept higher on Tuesday as Japanese stocks rebounded and Chinese money rates eased, while the U.S. dollar got a fillip from a report the Federal Reserve would again trim its bond buying next week.
The dollar broke the early lethargy with a hop to 104.48 yen when the Wall Street Journal reported the Fed is on track to trim its bond-buying program for the second time in six weeks, paring back by $10 billion to $65 billion a month.
A lackluster U.S. jobs report had not diminished the central bank's confidence in the economy, wrote Fed watcher Jon Hilsenrath. Investors suspect he has an inside line to policy makers and put a lot of weight on his opinion.
It was enough to nudge 10-year U.S. Treasury yields up a couple of basis points to 2.84 percent, following the U.S. market holiday on Monday.
The drop in the yen helped Japan's Nikkei <.N225> bounce 1.1 percent, and dragged up markets from South Korea to Taiwan. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> swung round to be 0.36 percent firmer.
Investors had a wary eye on Chinese money markets after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced a surprise injection of funds on Monday aimed at curbing a recent spike in rates.
Traders on Tuesday said the central bank intended to add 255 billion yuan ($42.13 billion) to the money markets, the largest single-day injection since February 2013.
The move dragged the 7-day bond repurchase rate down to 5.25 percent, from 6.60 percent on Monday.
Dealers assume the authorities were attempting to avoid a repeat of the severe cash crunch that roiled markets in June.
Likewise, investors will be watching liquidity operations by the European Central Bank later Tuesday to see if it acts to correct a recent sharp rise in money rates, a tightening of conditions that could threaten the region's recovery.
The euro edged back a touch to $1.3542, not far from Monday's two-month trough of $1.3508.
The early mover in Asia had been the New Zealand dollar which surged half a U.S. cent to $0.8336 after inflation data came in higher than expected and fuelled already intense speculation of a rate rise.
Annual inflation ticked up to 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, the fastest pace in 21 months.
The country of 4.5 million is undergoing an economic revival thanks in large part to China's insatiable demand for its dairy exports, and particularly baby formula.
That has greatly lessened the need for rates to remain at record lows of 2.5 percent and led markets to price in a series of hikes this year.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand next meets on January 30 and if it does not move then, an increase is considered virtually certain for March.
Attention will also be on Turkey's central bank as a crumbling currency piles pressure on for a hike in interest rates at its policy meeting on Tuesday.
The lira has hit a string of record lows while the cost of insuring Turkish debt spiked to 18-month highs as a government corruption scandal undermined investor confidence.
In commodity markets, gold steadied at $1,251.49 an ounce, after hitting its highest level since mid-December at $1,259.85 on Monday.
U.S. crude futures slipped below $94 a barrel in early Asian trade on Tuesday as supply worries eased after world powers and Iran took another step to end a decade-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.
Brent crude oil for March delivery eased 2 cents to $106.33 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 47 cents to $93.90.
(Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Eric Meijer)


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You may lament the widening inequity of wealth in this country, but damned if there aren't way more supercars on the road than there used to be. And as the Wall Street Journal points out today, that's just fine unless you're one of those guys who wraps their Lambo around a bridge abutment on the way to MBA class. Apparently wrecking expensive cars isn't just the domain of drink-addled rock stars or Swedish underworld figures anymore. Check out these stats from the great state of Californication:
According to the California Highway Patrol, the total number of accidents involving Aston Martins, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Lotuses and Maseratis rose to 141 last year, an 81% increase from 2002.
Where have you gone, Bob Bondurant? [Thanks to, well, everyone for the tip.]
Honey I wrecked the Porsche [Wall Street Journal]
Holy Crap, He Walked Away With Barely a Scratch: Audi RS6 Crash; Most Amazing Porsche Crash To NOT Result In DeathSave the Enzos [internal]


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Beverly Jones, BSJ '69, MBA '75 and Andrew Alexander, BSJ '72, both E.W. Scripps School of Journalism graduates.
Photographer: Ben Siegel
Feb 20, 2014
By Kelee Riesbeck
Ohio University couple Andy Alexander and Beverly Jones, both seasoned professionals in the communications industry, believe one thing will always be constant: change. That's why they recently committed to establishing three funds through their estate that will help OHIO's Scripps College of Communication and The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs keep pace with the future of innovative thinking, projects and technology.
Moving the "Do Tank" forward
Through her consulting work with The Voinovich School, Jones—who received her bachelor's degree in journalism in 1969 and her Master of Business Administration degree in 1975—experienced first-hand the school's exciting identity as a "do tank" as opposed to a "think tank."
"I asked myself, 'What could I do to make a difference?'" Jones said about her decision to establish The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs Director's Innovation Fund.
The gift provides $250,000 and aims to do two things: move the school forward in a robust way and provide both seed money and a solid foundation for the projects it funds.
"The fund can be used at the Voinovich School director's discretion to support the purchase of cutting-edge technology or an innovative program, idea or service," said Jones, who consults on leadership matters, coaches executives and professionals and serves as a Voinovich Fellow.
"The Voinovich School already provides structure for big ticket projects, but I felt the school needed funds for smaller student or community–related projects—money that could be used to invite speakers to campus, buying equipment or for student travel."
Professor and Director of the Voinovich School Mark Weinberg said these funds will go a long way in supporting innovative thinking.
"The Voinovich School is grateful to Bev for her gift that supports one of our key missions: innovative thinking," Weinberg said. "Her gift will enable us to support students, faculty and staff to develop creative projects and expand on new ways of thinking. It's support from alumnae like Bev that makes the difference, not only at the Voinovich School, but also at Ohio University."
Supporting New Media Delivery
"We are in a period of unbelievable innovation and entrepreneurship" when it comes to how we communicate, said Alexander, an award-winning journalist, current Scripps Howard Visiting Professional and 1972 E.W. Scripps School of Journalism graduate. "[Veterans] in the business can either get depressed [about the industry's new tools] or they can think it's fantastic how media is creating new ways to communicate."
Alexander chooses the latter and proved it by establishing two funds. The Scripps School of Journalism Director's Innovation Fund, guided by the school's director, provides $100,000 in support, and the Scripps College of Communication Dean's Innovation Fund, directed by the college's dean, provides $150,000. Both support projects, programs and development grants for students, faculty or other purposes that encourage innovation. The funds support students by giving them the tools they need to learn how to merge the basics of journalism—including ethics, storytelling, multi-media training, investigation, and writing skills—with new media, digital media, entrepreneurial skills, technological innovation and cross-platform teamwork.
Like the fund Jones established at the Voinovich School, both funds for Scripps College aim to provide flexible funding options, Alexander said.
"These funds provide maximum flexibility for Scripps College. They are funds that are nimble enough to change direction and also be part of the Scripps Innovation Challenge. They would support efforts like visits to campus by venture capitalists and new media experts."
Scripps College Dean Scott Titsworth said Alexander's gift benefits students in two ways.
"Andy's gifts provide that vital, flexible support our students need as they learn about and train with our industry's ever-changing media delivery platforms and tools," Titsworth said. "These gifts give our students exactly the right support mechanism to supply them not only with this next-gen technology they will use in the workplace, but also with practice in navigating the fast pace of change that takes place in our industry."
Keeping pace with change a must for industry professionals
Jones and Alexander agree that keeping pace with new media and the innovative ways that media are delivered is crucial to staying current in the communications and innovation industry.
"People resist change because that requires work," Jones said. "[Andy and I] want to stay connected to the world, so we have to keep up with new technology. I like being around young people. If you don't do the work [to keep current on the newest communication technology] then you're too boring to be around."
Alexander, The Washington Post ombudsman from 2009-2012, currently teaches journalism ethics. He explains how the importance of staying current and media savvy was reflected in the advice he got from colleagues who taught media ethics.
"Everybody said that instead of setting my syllabus for the year, I should be prepared to change it every semester because that's the pace at which [change in] media delivery happens," Alexander said.
Jones and Alexander's gifts are part of Ohio University's The Promise Lives Campaign, which seeks to raise $450 million by June 30, 2015, and already has secured more than $441 million toward its goal in support of students, faculty, programs, partnerships and select facilities at Ohio University. Learn more at www.ohio.edu/campaign.


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I am only now recovering; it has been four days since Andy and I planted out 100 asparagus crowns.
Planting asparagus is an investment on all accounts – time, labor, money, patience – and then the big payoff, which is fresh asparagus for 2 months each spring right from your own garden.
This is the second time I have a participated in an asparagus-planting extravaganza (I told Andy when we were finished that two times in a lifetime is enough for me!).
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July 14, 2010
LOS ANGELES -- Kevin A. Plank, CEO & Chairman of Under Armor Performance, will deliver the keynote address at the Executive MBA Commencement Ceremony on July 31 in Royce Hall at UCLA.
Plank developed the initial concept for Under Armor's innovative product line as the special teams captain on the University of Maryland football team. Tired of repeatedly changing the cotton T-shirt under his jersey as it became wet and heavy during the course of a game, Mr. Plank set out to develop a next generation shirt that would remain drier and lighter. He created a new category of sporting apparel called performance apparel, and built Under Armor Performance into a leading developer, marketer, and distributor of branded performance apparel, footwear and accessories.
Mr. Plank has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1996, and was president from 1996 to July 2008. Mr. Plank also is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation.
About UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson School of Management, established in 1935, is regarded among the very best business schools in the world. UCLA Anderson faculty are ranked #1 in "intellectual capital" by BusinessWeek and are renowned for their teaching excellence and research in advancing management thinking. Each year, UCLA Anderson provides management education to more than 1,600 students enrolled in MBA, Executive MBA, Fully-Employed MBA and doctoral programs, and to more than 2,000 professional managers through executive education programs. Combining highly selective admissions, varied and innovative learning programs, and a world-wide network of 35,000 alumni, UCLA Anderson develops and prepares global leaders.


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WELLNESS WEDNESDAY: 10:30 a.m., Warren County Library Franklin Branch, 1502 Route 57, Washington, N.J. Learn how to make healthier food choices. Snacks and handouts will be provided. Free, but sign-up required. For information or to register, call 908-689-7922 or visit warrenlib.org.
SPRING FLING NO. 4 CRAFT, BAKE RUMMAGE SALE: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Canadensis Moravian Church, Route 447, Canadensis. Fresh baked goods, homemade soups, craft and rummage items. A light lunch is available for purchase. For information, call 570-424-6365 or email email@example.com.
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT BREAKFAST: 7:30 a.m. to noon, Albrightsville Fire Co., Route 534 West, Albrightsville. The menu will include ham, eggs to order, sausage, pancakes, cream chipped beef, home fries, juice, toast and coffee. Cost is $7.50 for adults and $5 for children. For information, call 570-722-8325 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
FREE CHICKEN PARMIGIANA DINNER: 4 to 6 p.m., East Bangor United Methodist Community Church, 136 W. Central Ave. (Route 512), East Bangor. Free baked goods are available for take-home. Call 610-599-2601.
TALENT SHOW AND POTLUCK SUPPER: 4 p.m., St. Paul's United Church of Christ Church, 406 Upper Swiftwater Road, Upper Swiftwater. Enjoy music, singing and poetry performances, Followed by a community potluck supper at 5 p.m. Bring a dish of food. Call 570-970-5643 or email email@example.com.


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Gun owners deserve more privacy, O.C. official says
Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) introduced a bill Wednesday aimed at keeping the addresses of law-abiding gun owners private.
Assembly Bill 134, dubbed the Family Protection Act, would prohibit law enforcement agencies from releasing personal information, like addresses or phone numbers, about firearm owners under the California Public Records Act.
Right now, because the release of that information isn't expressly banned, it's theoretically accessible through a public records request, said Saulo Londoño, Mansoor's spokesman.
The bill would "extend the protection of privacy" that police officers and legislators already have, Mansoor said in a statement.
"For the same reason that I believe in certain limits and regulations to gun ownership, I also believe in protecting the privacy of law-abiding citizens," he said. "There is no reason for us to provide criminals with a list of who does/does not choose to protect their household by carrying a firearm."
Names of gun owners would still be public record, Londoño said, and law enforcement officers would still have access to addresses for safety reasons.
Londoño said Mansoor was spurred to action after hearing reports of the New York newspaper that published a map showing the names and addresses of area handgun permit holders.
Mansoor, he said, "considers this — giving that information out — basically the same as giving criminals a shopping list."
The bill is expected to make its way to the Assembly's Public Safety Committee for consideration.
Ex-Santa Ana councilman calls D.A. biased in sexual assault case
Family of special-needs child gets $950,000 in teacher abuse case
Maker of porn films gets 4 years in prison in federal obscenity case
-- Jill Cowan, Times Community News


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Forum Index > Paul MacLean faced the most adversity, losing several stars
wangya321 5 years ago
ActivityRank: 0
WASHINGTON -- Stephen Strasburg struck out nine over seven innings, Ian Desmond homered in the seventh to help give the righty his first win in June and the Washington Nationals beat the slumping Colorado Rockies 2-1 on Friday night. Making his 14th start of the season, Strasburg (4-6) allowed one run on five hits for his first victory since May 31. After DJ LeMahieus RBI single in the third inning, Strasburg kept the Rockies scoreless. Colorado lost its fifth straight. Trailing 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Anthony Rendon singled off Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood and came around to score the tying run on Ryan Zimmermans double into the right field corner. Facing reliever Manny Corpas (0-2) leading off the seventh, Desmond swatted a 2-0 pitch over the centre field wall for his 12th homer of the year. Reliever Drew Storen worked the eighth and Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 19th save as the Nationals moved one game above .500 at 37-36 while the Rockies fell one game under at 37-38. Colorado picked up a timely two-out hit in the third as LeMahieu singled to left, scoring Josh Rutledge from second. That was the Rockies only hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They have scored two runs through the opening two games of the four-game series. After Dexter Fowler reached second base with one out in the eighth following a walk and Storens throwing error, Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer struck out. In two starts since returning from the disabled list on June 16 following a lower lat strain, Strasburg has surrendered one earned run and seven hits over 12 innings. That type of effort has not always led to wins thanks to Washingtons batting woes. In his six losses, the Nationals have scored eight total runs. Corpas pitched 1 2-3 innings, allowing only Desmonds homer. Chatwood gave up one run and four hits over six innings with four strikeouts and two walks. He entered the game having allowed one earned run in three road starts. The Nationals failed to put a runner into scoring position through five innings. Rendon had two of the Nationals five hits. Cuddyers opposite field single in the first inning extended his hitting streak to 19 games, the longest active streak in the majors. Cuddyer promptly stole second base and moved to third with one out, but Strasburg neatly ended the threat with a strikeout and grounder. NOTES: Nationals manager Davey Johnson said he expects OF Bryce Harper to begin a rehab assignment at single-A Potomac on Tuesday. Sidelined since May 26 with left knee bursitis, Harper ran in the outfield on Friday and was expected to take swings in the indoor batting cage. ... Cuddyer has reached base safely in 38 straight games, tying the Rockies record set by Matt Holliday in 2007. ...Fowler (right ring finger) returned to the Rockies lineup in the leadoff spot after missing the previous three games. ... The Rockies called up OF Corey Dickerson from Triple-A Colorado Springs and designated RHP Logan Kensing for assignment. ...Colorado RHP Jhoulys Chacin (5-3, 4.26) opposes Dan Haren (4-8, 5.72) for Saturdays 12:05 p.m. matchup www.houstontexansjerseysonline.com/elite-joe-mays-texans-jersey/ . The 2012 Super Bowl host committee chairman is still moving ahead, as scheduled, with his plans. www.houstontexansjerseysonline.com/elite-shiloh-keo-texans-jersey/ . Thomas Mueller put the visitors ahead off a rebound in the 43rd minute, Mario Mandzukic scored from another in the 59th, and Arjen Robbens shot took a deflection off the unlucky Thomas Kleine in the 78th. http://www.houstontexansjerseysonline.com/elite-randy-bullock-texans-jersey/. Myers pitched five innings of three-run ball against Houston on Friday, then said he had been dealing with a problem with the flexor tendon in his arm since spring training. www.houstontexansjerseysonline.com/elite-brice-mccain-texans-jersey/ .J. Umberger. The theme remains the same: When will the NHL be back? Umberger, a top-six forward for the Columbus Blue Jackets, doesnt know. www.houstontexansjerseysonline.com/elite-duane-brown-texans-jersey/ . Schwartzel and Wu shot 4-under 68s Friday to finish 9-under overall at the European and Asian Tour event. Some 75 players, half of the remaining field, were unable to complete the round. Scoreboard leader Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand was 10 under through nine holes.With the shortened 2013 NHL season in the books, Scott Cullen has his final take on the award races. Injuries played a factor this year, seemingly more than usual. Both the Hart and Norris Trophy had contenders that missed at least a quarter of the season and the Vezina race could have been different had Ottawas Craig Anderson not missed so much time. Its hard to provide value from the press box, dont you know? My previous installments this season are here: First Quarter, Midseason, Three Quarters and now these are my final award picks for the 2013 NHL season. HART TROPHY Winner: Alex Ovechkin, RW, Washington Runners-up: Jonathan Toews, C, Chicago; Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Comment: Through the first three quarters of this shortened NHL season, it was easy to have Sidney Crosby at the top of the MVP ballot. He was clearly having the best season, but then he suffered a broken jaw and missed the final quarter of the season, casting doubt on his Hart Trophy candidacy. I covered this in my three quarter awards and my position hasnt changed. Its one thing to say Sidney Crosby was having the best year prior to his injury; its another to say that hes 25% better than the second-best player in the league. As it turns out, there has been late charge among the contenders. Washington Capitals RW Alex Ovechkin scored a goal-per-game over his final 23 games to end up leading the league with 32 goals in 48 games (a 55-goal pace in an 82-game season) to emerge as a viable MVP candidate, something that seemed downright impossible early in the season. Toews has been great all season and would be a worthy winner, so he gets a runner-up spot ahead of teammate Patrick Kane and Columbus Sergei Bobrovsky. NORRIS TROPHY Winner: Ryan Suter, Minnesota Runners-up: P.K. Subban, Montreal; Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Comment: This race has been fascinating. Letang was my leader at the three-quarter mark, but was sidelined by a broken toe. Combined with several other injuries during the season, that left Letang missing 13 games in a 48-game schedule, more than Crosby, raising the question about whether Letang was that much better than every other defenceman that he could miss more than 25% of the season and provide more value. At the same time, Letang finished with 38 points, the same total as Subban in 42 games (remember, he missed a handful of games at the start of the year while negotiating a new contract), so with little to choose between them at the offensive end, it opened the door for a guy who was a viable candidate all along. Ryan Suter played more minutes than anyone in the league this year, a career-high 27:17 per game, but he did more than just hop the boards. His 32 points in 48 games represented the best per-game scoring output of his career and Suter regularly faced the oppositions best lines while paired with impressive rookie Jonas Brodin. Thats good enough to get the nod, ahead of two impressive puck-movers. Others that deserved consideration include familiar names: Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Zdeno Chara as well as 32-year-old Ducks veteran Francois Beauchemin, who had the best year of his career. VEZINA TROPHY Winner: Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Runners-up: Henrik Lundqvist, N.Y. Rangers; Tuukka Rask, Boston Comment: There were three goaltenders to stop more than 94% of the shots they faced at even strength: Bobrovsky, Craig Anderson and Tomas Vokoun. Anderson missed a bunch of time due to injury and Vokoun was the backup in Pittsburgh, starting 17 games, so Bobrovsky is deserving of the honour as leagues top goaltender. More of the same from Lundqvist puts him in the discussion again and Rask didnt miss a beat, reclaiming the starting job in Boston with Tim Thomas gone. Others that warranted consideration include Anderson (.941 SV% in 24 games), Antti Niemi and Jimmy Howard. Lundqvist, Niemi and Howard all started more than 40 games and there should be some credit for durability in addition to stopping a high percentage of shots faced. CALDER TROPHY Winner: Brendan Gallagher, RW, Montreal Runners-up: Brandon Saad, LW, Chicago; Jonas Brodin, D, Minnesota Comment: None of the rookies ran away from the pack this year, leading to an argument to be made for several candidates. Im keeping Gallagher in top spot for good production, ranking second in goals (15) and fourth in points (28) among freshmen, despite playing fewer than 14 minutes per game. He was also a plus-10, one of three rookie forwards to be in positive double figures. The plus-minus leader among rookies was Saad (plus-17), the 20-year-old power forward whho finished strong (24 points in his last 28 games) while skating on the Blackhawks first line.dddddddddddd Brodin didnt have gaudy traditional stats (11 points, plus-3), but logged more than 23 minutes per game for the Wild, playing on the top pair with Ryan Suter. Since 2000-2001, Drew Doughty, Tyler Myers, Tobias Enstrom, Ryan Whitney, Duncan Keith, Francois Beauchemin and Filip Kuba are the only rookie defencemen to have logged more han 23 minutes per game (minimum 40 games). Myers and Doughty were the only teenagers from that group and Myers the only one with a positive plus-minus, so Brodins play puts him in rare company and would make him a worthy winner. A late-season charge (11 goals, 15 points, plus-7 in 14 April games) vaulted Nail Yakupov into a tie for the rookie scoring lead with Floridas Jonathan Huberdeau. Montreals Alex Galchenyuk also finished strong (six goals, 12 points, plus-6 in last 13 games) and Edmonton defenceman Justin Schultz showed he could score, putting up 27 points in 48 games, but his defensive play still needs work. While there was no runaway winner in this short season, there was pretty decent depth in the rookie class. SELKE TROPHY Winner: Patrice Bergeron, C, Boston Runners-up: Pavel Datsyuk, C, Detroit; Jonathan Toews, C, Chicago. Comment: Using www.behindthenet.ca to look at strength of opposition, zone starts and shot differential, it becomes apparent which forwards are asked to do more than score. Any of these three are deserving winners and have been the leaders for quite some time. Some others that warrant consideration? The Blues David Backes remains a beast, taking the toughest assignments and still driving play in the right direction. While the top four are highly-regarded, Phoenixs Boyd Gordon doesnt get the same kind of publicity, but he was tremendous, generating positive shot differentials despite facing tough competition and starting 32.6% of his shifts in the offensive zone. LADY BYNG AWARD Winner: Martin St. Louis, RW, Tampa Bay Runners-up: Matt Moulson, RW, N.Y. Islanders, Logan Couture, C, San Jose Comment: I havent tracked this award all season, but can acknowledge the contenders for an award that is a consolation prize or a way to reward a player for a good season, so long as they had modest penalty minute totals. Martin St. Louis doesnt need a consolation award, since he won the Art Ross Trophy as the leagues scoring leader, with 60 points in 48 games, but he also had just 14 penalty minutes. Moulson (44 points, four PIM), Couture (37 points, four PIM), Pavel Datsyuk (49 points, 14 PIM) and Patrick Kane (55 points, eight PIM) are all plenty deserving too. JACK ADAMS AWARD Winner: Joel Quenneville, Chicago Runners-up: Paul MacLean, Ottawa; Ken Hitchcock, St. Louis Comment: As always a difficult call. Ive had Quenneville in top spot ever since the Blackhawks went through the first half of the year without a regulation loss. No one is suggesting that the Blackhawks arent a very talented team, but Quenneville deserves credit for getting them to show up and perform at a high level night-in and night-out. Paul MacLean faced the most adversity, losing several stars -- Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza, Craig Anderson -- for long stretches, and dragging that team into the playoffs was an accomplishment unto itself, but at least part of the reason that the Sens survived was the strength of their goaltending (Robin Lehner had a .936 SV% after he was called up from the AHL, Ben Bishop had a .922 SV% before he was traded to Tampa Bay). That doesnt take away from what MacLean achieved, it only puts some question on where the responsibility lies. In any case, MacLean is plenty deserving if he ends up winning. A team that reached the playoffs despite a messy goaltending situation, the St. Louis Blues, probably warrants Ken Hitchcock garnering some votes. The Blues play stifling defence, in typical Hitchcock fashion, but the trio of Jaroslav Halak, Brian Elliott and Jake Allen combined for a pedestrian .904 save percentage and only after Elliott was spectacular in April (posting a .948 save percentage). If not Hitchcock, Montreals Michel Therrien and the Islanders Jack Capuano could get consideration for turning around teams that struggled in 2011-2012, while Pittsburghs Dan Bylsma has tons of talent to work with, but he kept getting results despite numerous injuries. Scott Cullen can be reached at email@example.com and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '