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Chad is a low-income, food-deficit country, ranked 170th out of 177 countries in the 2008 UNDP Human Development Index. Chad has in the past six years hosted around 255,000 refugees from Sudan 's Darfur region and close to 77,000 refugees from the Central African Republic and 188,000 Chadians have been displaced by fighting in the east of the country.
Chad's poverty has been aggravated by various conflicts during its 40 years of independence. Tensions between ethnic groups in the north and in the south of the country have further contributed to political and economic instability. In addition, Chad is subject to spill-over effects from crisis in the neighboring countries, Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Economic development in Chad is inhibited by its landlocked location and the desert climate in the north. The Sahelian zone (central and eastern Chad) is particularly affected by chronic food deficits. The arrival of thousands of Sudanese refugees in the area since late 2003 has put additional pressure on limited resources, placing further stress on the already highly vulnerable local population.
Around eighty percent of the population depends on subsistence farming and herding for their livelihoods. Cereal production is heavily affected by erratic rains, cyclical droughts and locust infestations. Poor farming practices and limited access to food make the population vulnerable to food insecurity. Malnutrition is one of the main problems faced by the local population with an alarming prevalence, especially in the Kanem region (20 percent of global acute malnutrition rate in 2008). More than 8 percent of infants do not survive their first year, while 20 percent of children die before reaching the age of five.
Poverty and food insecurity limit access to basic education, leading to a net enrolment rate of 35 percent in 2004 and adult literacy rates as low as 26 percent.
Chad has very limited capacity to cope with the presence of refugees and relies heavily on external assistance to be able to improve its own food security, particularly in the Sahelian zone.
WFP Activities
WFP continues to provide food assistance (including general food distributions and targeted supplementary and therapeutic feeding programmes) to 255,000 Sudanese refugees who fled to Chad as a result of ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. About 77,000 Central African refugees in southern Chad who fled their homes following the conflict between CAR government forces and armed opposition are also receiving food assistance from WFP.
Food assistance is provided through general food distributions, supplementary and therapeutic feeding for children under five, as well as for pregnant and nursing women. WFP is also providing monthly feeding rations to the most vulnerable among the CAR refugees who have achieved a certain level of self-reliance and do not require regular food assistance.
In addition to refugees, 188,000 Chadians who have been displaced from their homes as a result of fighting in the East continue to receive rations from WFP through general food distribution and seed protection rations during the lean season and the planting season. About 88,000 school children are assisted throuth the emergency school feeding programme.
Another 150,000 vulnerable people in host communities receive WFP assistance through food-for-work programmes and other targeted interventions.
The WFP Humanitarian Air Service provides air transport service to humanitarian personnel and donor representatives working in support of the ongoing emergency operations and provides evacuation services and transport of non-food relief cargo to inaccessible areas. UNHAS serves over 100 UN agencies and NGOs through 12 destinations in Chad and 2 in Cameroon (Garua and Yaounde). Given the extremely poor road conditions in Chad, as well as general insecurity along the roads, the air service provides a safe and efficient transport alternative.
WFP Chad is also running a Logistics Operation for Fleet Augmentation and Logistics Cluster Coordination which has been set up to enhance interagency transport capacity of the humanitarian community and to reinforce predictability, timeliness and efficiency of the logistics response to operations in Chad.
WFP implements a development programme which promotes primary education, particularly among girls, through the provision of school meals, provides support to increased agricultural production through sustainable conservation and management of natural resources and tackles malnutrition in young children and their mothers.
Through this programme, WFP assists 247,000 Chadians in the most food-insecure parts of the country, namely Ouaddai, Batha, Guera, Kanem and Wadi Fira. High priority is given to primary education, with focus on increasing enrolment and/or reducing drop-out rates. WFP also supports community-based interventions through food-for- work activities to improve food security as part of a national safety-net strategy. Assistance is also provided through supplementary feeding to reduce malnutrition prevalence among children and to improve the health status of vulnerable groups, including pregnant and nursing women and people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Exeter police arrest man wanted on federal gun charges
February 05. 2013 7:43AM
EXETER - A convicted felon wanted on a federal firearms charges refused to come out of his Browns Court home Monday night so officers could arrest him, resulting in a brief standoff, according to police.
Police said the incident began at 9:40 p.m. when Exeter police officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Sean Meola, 41, of 17 Browns Court. Meola was wanted on federal warrants out of Massachusetts charging him with being a felon in possession of firearms.
Around midnight, after brief negotiations, Meola came out, and he was arrested without incident.
Exeter police were assisted by state police at the scene.
Meola was turned over to federal agents and transported to Massachusetts where he will be arraigned.


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About Assurex Health
Assurex Health is a personalized medicine company that specializes in pharmacogenomics and is dedicated to helping healthcare providers get the genetic information they need to determine the right medication for individual patients suffering from neuropsychiatric and other medical conditions. Assurex Health's proprietary technology is based on pharmacogenomics— the study of the genetic factors that influence an individual's response to drug treatments—as well as evidence-based medicine and clinical pharmacology.
The GeneSight test was developed in the Assurex Health clinical laboratory and is based on patented technology licensed from two world renowned medical centers, Mayo Clinic and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, who continue to be research collaborators.
The company was founded in 2006 and is located in Mason, OH.
To learn more about GeneSight, visit GeneSight.com.


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Woman shot, killed after police chaseBy MARK HAYWARD and DOUG ALDEN
New Hampshire Union Leader
September 30. 2013 10:51PM
MANCHESTER — A woman was shot and killed after leading police on a chase from Interstate 93 in Bow to a city neighborhood Monday night.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin confirmed that the woman died of gunshot wounds after being shot by a state trooper near the intersection of Dave Street and Kennard Road, just north of Mammoth Road.
Her boyfriend, Charles Peter of Warner, identified the woman as Wendy Lawrence, 44, of Canterbury, in a Tuesday afternoon interview. (See related story.)
"There is one adult female who is deceased," Strelzin said.
He would not confirm information about the chase, or say whether more than one trooper opened fire after the woman's car struck a state police cruiser.
Witnesses reported the woman tried to ram the cruiser, but Strelzin would not comment.
"For right now, everything else is under investigation," he said. An autopsy is planned later Tuesday, Strelzin said.
The two-door sedan and a damaged New Hampshire State Police cruiser remained parked at the scene as investigators set up cones and reconstructed the events. State police pursued the driver from Bow to exit 9S on I-93 and into a residential area just south of McIntyre Ski Area.
The shooting drew at least a dozen New Hampshire State Police and Manchester police cruisers. The dark-colored sedan was touching the rear tire of one state police cruiser.
At least 10 Manchester police evidence cones — often used to pinpoint shell casings — were in front of the car, whose front driver's side door was open.
Eleven bullet holes peppered the driver's side of the windshield.
Robert Britton, who lives across from Dave Street, said he was watching television about 6:30 p.m. when he heard eight to 10 gunshots.
"It sounded like somebody was squeezing off an automatic weapon rapid fire," he said.
Police roped off much of the area with crime tape and stayed mum about what happened as neighbors stood across from the cordoned-off area and watched.
Ryan Laliberte, who lives just across Mammoth Road from the shooting scene, said he heard several "pops" and initially thought it was fireworks before realizing it was gunfire.
"I saw a cruiser come down and I was like 'All right, something just happened,'" Laliberte said. "I looked out the front window of my house and saw cruisers everywhere."
Britton and his wife, Kathy, said a fire truck arrived, and paramedics quickly took the driver out of the car.
They worked on the person and put the patient in an ambulance.
The Brittons said a police officer later spoke to them and said the driver, a woman, was being pursued on Interstate 93 by state police.
She got off at Exit 9S, weaved through residential neighborhoods, and then struck a cruiser as it tried to block her.
When she backed up and struck it again, the shooting took place, the Brittons said, relaying what police told them.
Crime, law and justice Crime Public Safety Bow Manchester Top Section Stories Top Lede Story


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Some loyal Google Maps Mania readers have tipped me off on some big news in the world of Google Maps - Street maps for all of Europe! What a surprise people will have when they wake up on Tuesday morning! Not only are street level maps now available (in addition to the satellite maps available previously) but so are driving directions! Google Maps Mania is about to erupt with more new mashups to come from this area of the world! :)
Update: Check the comments section for more information about the updated street map data in various parts of Europe as observed by many readers.
[Thanks to Frank and Stefan for the tip!]


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The Dollar Index touched a two-week high before President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers seek to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of more than $600 billion of tax increases and spending cuts.
The 17-nation euro fell against most of its 16 major counterparts after Italian borrowing costs increased at a debt sale and a report showed the French economy grew less than initially estimated. The yen weakened to a 28-month low versus the dollar after Japanese consumer prices and factory output declined.
"As far as the fiscal cliff goes, expectations are that a deal isn't going to be reached by the end of the year, so that's weighing on risk," Eric Viloria, senior currency strategist for Gain Capital Group LLC, said in a telephone interview. "What that means for the dollar is risk-off, Treasury yields lower and dollar strength."
The dollar strengthened 0.1 percent to $1.3224 per euro at 10:59 a.m. New York time, after rising as much as 0.5 percent, the biggest gain since Dec. 21. The U.S. currency was little changed at 86.08 yen after reaching the strongest level since Aug. 3, 2010. The euro dropped 0.1 percent to 113.86 yen.
Dollar Measure
The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six U.S. trading partners, added 0.1 percent to 79.673 after rising to the highest since Dec. 14.
The index will rise to 80.6 in the first quarter of 2013, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The euro will decline to 1.28 against the dollar in that span, while the yen will rally to 83, the forecasts show.
South Africa's rand has rallied the most against the greenback of the currency's major peers in December, advancing 5.1 percent. Brazil's real has gained 4.5 percent, while the yen has lost 4.2 percent.
This year, the South Korean won has returned 7.7 percent to the dollar, while Japan's currency has slipped 10.7 percent.
Obama will hold talks today with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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April 25. 2014 9:33PM
CopBlock founder indicted again for wiretapping
Staff Report
Adam Mueller
CopBlock.org co-founder pleads guilty to misdemeanor wiretapping charges
— A Hillsborough County North grand jury has indicted a founder of CopBlock.org on three felony wiretapping charges. It is the second time he has been indicted in connection with the October 2011 recordings related to an incident at Manchester High School West.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court in February threw out the felony wiretap convictions of Adam Mueller, 32, a Free Stater also known as Ademo Freeman, saying the judge erred in instructing the jury in the trial of Mueller, who represented himself.
Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Brown instructed the jury that a violation of the wiretap law requires a mental state of "purposely," which is what the November 2011 indictments alleged, although the law says "wilfully" is the applicable mental state.
Attorney Brandon Ross, who represented Mueller in his appeal, said: "You can't charge him under a law that doesn't exist."
The new indictments, again felony charges, this time accuse Mueller of "willfully" intercepting and recording telephone conversations with the principal of Manchester High School West, a secretary at the school and Manchester police Capt. Jonathan Hopkins, without their consent on Oct. 4, 2011.
Mueller made the calls, seeking comment, after a student videotaped a confrontation between the school resource officer and another student that ended with the SRO pushing the student down onto a cafeteria table. The student had met Mueller and the CopBlock co-founder not long before the cafeteria incident.
Mueller posted the telephone recordings on line and when police learned they had been made without permission of then-West Principal Mary Ellen McGorry, her assistant Denise Michael and Capt. Hopkins, Mueller was charged with wiretapping.
He was indicted by the grand jury, tried in Hillsborough County Superior Court North and convicted by the jury. Mueller appealed and the high court threw out the verdict.
Under state law, "willful" means the defendant must act with an intentional or reckless disregard for the lawfulness of his conduct. In other words, the defendant has not violated the law if he has a "good faith" belief his conduct was lawful, according to the unanimous decision written by Justice Robert J. Lynn.
At the time of trial, Mueller said he refused a plea deal because he didn't think he had done anything wrong.
This time, Mueller will be represented by a lawyer. Ross Friday said: "I have agreed to represent him at trial."


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Lawsuit says nurse turned detective, lost jobBy MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader
February 14. 2013 11:21PM
Suspecting that an anesthesiologist might be using narcotics intended for patients, a nurse did her own quick investigation, alerted Elliot Hospital officials about her suspicions and eventually lost her job, according to a recent lawsuit.
The nurse, Bedford resident Katherine K. Lacoste, switched syringes to test her suspicions that the anesthesiologist had mislabeled a syringe in order to divert a narcotic pain killer, according to a lawsuit on file at Hillsborough County Superior Court North.
Her fears proved correct, according to the lawsuit. The syringe, although labeled as such, did not contain the pain killer fentanyl. But months after Lacoste took those steps, she found herself peppered with questions from a panel of Elliot Hospital physicians and lawyers.
She was eventually told to resign or be fired; the employee of 12 years filed suit against her former employer in August 2012.
"Ms. Lacoste was shocked, saddened and stunned by this development, as she has always been exceedingly committed to conscientious and careful patient care," reads the lawsuit, filed by Concord lawyers Chuck Douglas and Stephen Duggan.
The incident touches on two of the biggest medical stories in New Hampshire during 2012.
The issue involves drug diversion - the problem that surfaced last year when Exeter Hospital discovered that one of its employees had been shooting up fentanyl and spreading hepatitis C to patients.
The anesthesiologist who fell under the nurse's suspicion - Dr. Brian Klagges - works at Amoskeag Anesthesia PLLC. Amoskeag Anesthesia is also the practice of Dr. Eduardo Quesada, the anesthesiologist and pain doctor who was brutally attacked at his Bedford home last November.
Police have yet to make an arrest in the case or give a clear explanation of what happened to Quesada.
Douglas stressed that Quesada is not part of the suit, but as the suit proceeds toward trial, his firm will seek information about Amoskeag Anesthesia.
"We would want to look at Amoskeag Anesthesia, and the people involved in the practice, to know what's going on there," he said Thursday.
Elliot Hospital issued a statement Thursday saying Lacoste's former employer was Amoskeag Anesthesia, and Elliot was not in a position to fire her. The hospital would not answer questions about an internal investigation involving Klagges.
"Elliot cannot comment on internal quality assurance activities, particularly in light of this pending litigation. However, Elliot has a robust, proactive and effective process for detecting, investigating, and addressing quality and safety issues," the statement said.
A message left with the business manager of Amoskeag Anesthesia was not returned Thursday.
Klagges is an anesthesiologist whose address is Elliot Hospital, according to his online licensing profile at the New Hampshire Board of Medicine. His license is scheduled to expire this June.
The lawsuit does not say Klagges abuses drugs, and Douglas said he's yet to receive information about Klagges as part of the discovery process.
In their responses to the suit, lawyers for Elliot and Amoskeag Anesthesia both said Lacoste does not have a case. The lawyers deny her claims, which include wrongful termination, retaliatory behavior, and violation of the state Whistleblower's Protection Act.
"Plaintiff (Lacoste) failed to first bring any alleged violation to the attention of persons having supervisory authority for defendant and allow defendant a reasonable opportunity to correct the violation," reads a response filed by David Wilson, the Boston lawyer hired by Amoskeag Anesthesia.
May 24, 2011
The lawsuit dwells on the actions of Lacoste and Klagges on May 24, 2011, when they were working together at Elliot at River's Edge. Four procedures of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy - a non-invasive treatment for kidney stones - were scheduled.
According to the lawsuit, the procedure requires the possible use of several drugs: Brevibloc, which is used to control heart rates and high blood pressure after surgery; the sedative Versed; the narcotic fentanyl.
The suit said that Lacoste's job involved making sure the drugs were on hand, getting them, tracking them in a computerized drug monitoring system, and charting their use.
The first three procedures were routine. However, when Lacoste went to fetch the fentanyl and Versed for the final procedure, the computer system said the fentanyl had already been taken out.
She took out the Versed. Klagges saw Lacoste and offered to help her get started. She gave him the Versed and said the fentanyl had already been taken out.
In the operating room, Lacoste became suspicious when she saw a cap missing from one of the three, purple-capped vials of Brevibloc. There was no reason for anyone but Lacoste to access the drugs.
She met with the patient in the pre-operative area, and something else was odd, according to the suit. The patient's companion said a doctor had come in and given him something to relax, which would have been Versed. But the surgeon had yet to speak to the patient, and normal practice is to sedate a patient after he has spoken with his surgeon.
"As the case unfolded, Ms. Lacoste was becoming increasingly uncomfortable," the lawsuit reads. "She was concerned that she might be witnessing a diversion of the controlled substance fentanyl by Dr. Klagges."
Before the procedure started, the patient was given the local anesthetic lidocaine, the sedative propofol and 1 milligram of fentanyl.
The fentanyl came from a syringe labeled fentanyl, but Lacoste knew she didn't label the syringe because the label was on a diagonal, and she is careful to label syringes straight up and down, the suit reads.
Klagges left the room and told Lacoste he would return in a few minutes to give her a lunch break.
"She immediately determined that, if she was going to be able to find out if the drug was being diverted, she only had approximately three minutes to remove the remaining fentanyl-labeled syringe for testing and replace it with one similarly labeled, as well as secure the patient's airway, administer general anesthesia, position the patient and monitor vital signs," the suit reads.
She took another syringe, and labeled it fentanyl, even placing the label askew. She filled it with 4 milligrams of Decadron, a post-operative anti-nausea drug that would not harm the patient if administered, the suit reads.
"Dr. Klagges arrived less than one minute after she put the suspicious fentanyl-labeled syringe from the induction into her pocket," the suit reads.
After that, Lacoste spoke to Rob Glew, the Elliot director of pharmacy, and gave him the syringe. The following day, Lacoste was told the syringe did not contain fentanyl.
Resign or be fired
Eighteen days later, Lacoste met with Elliot Vice President of Medical Affairs, Dr. Greg Baxter, who said the hospital was taking the matter very seriously. Then on June 15, she attended a meeting with four Elliot doctors, Glew and Elliot's in-house lawyer.
"The tone and tenure of the meeting was adversarial and tense at times," the suit reads. At one point, the lawyer, John Friberg, told the others to let Lacoste finish her answers, the suit reads.
In July, she was told to submit to a urine-drug test, and results were negative. The Elliot Peer Review Committee told her to attend a conflict resolution course and provided her with a channel for reporting suspicions in the future.
In the meantime, Amoskeag Anesthesia started to place complaints in her file. In late September 2011, she was offered the opportunity to resign or be terminated.
Amoskeag Anesthesia and Elliot reported her actions to the Board of Nursing, which dismissed the complaint, according to the suit.
"The Board acknowledged that Mrs. Lacoste was attempting to further patient safety by protecting a patient from possible drug diversion by a doctor, and there was no evidence of any intent to harm the patient in any way," the suit reads.
The case has been scheduled for trial in April 2014, but the sides have agreed to mediation.
Courts Health Human Interest Bedford Manchester Exeter Top Section Stories


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We're bringing it old school this week, which is to say this column will consist of words. Mostly.
Enjoy it while you can.
I might not be the brightest little star in the night sky, but there is one inevitable phenomenon I can spot a mile off.
We have entered the age of emoji, and we'll be at a loss for words to describe it, mostly because we won't have words any more.
You've seen these things, and you've probably used them. Actually, anyone who's ever signed her name "Kandi" with a little heart over the "i" is as guilty as those peddling the next wave of mayhem, which apparently is one short generation of smartphones away.
Emoticons are those symbols used to punctuate electronic messages. Happy faces, frowny faces, etc. Heck, I have the least smart phone available, and I can get a heart, a star and, for some reason, a euro.
Emoji – as I understand it, and we've already stipulated I'm a bit of a dim bulb on these things – are another variation, symbols devised for the iWhatever and similar devices. Somewhere, great minds are cranking out more of these by the hour: snowflakes, see-no-evil monkeys, a hand giving the OK sign. Yes, a hand giving other signs, too. Of course.
Apparently this has at least some roots in the late '60s and early '70s, a time when many loopy ideas swirled about. In the junior high choir, we earnestly sang that medley from the musical "Hair," with the lyrics about a dawning age in which "peace will guide the planets, and lo-ove will steer the stars." Still waiting on that one.
This was also at the height of the smiley face fad, another expression of baseless optimism. Those buttons were everywhere. It was a thing. Fads fade, though the chirpy yellow smiley face never seemed to go away entirely. It just became part of the landscape. Who knew it would one day become the basis of a new language?
Now that little thing winks, grins, sticks out its tongue and attempts the entire range of human emotions. And that's just the people branch of emoji. The rest is endless: Do not litter, do not smoke, soccer balls and baseballs, any plant or animal you might imagine, including "pouting cat face," the need for which escapes me.
Where this goes is obvious. The young, whose creative little brains still work, will run with it. Lots of advantages: It's new, cool and fun. The old people will never get it and probably complain a lot, and that's always a good show. There will be no need – as if any effort were being made anyway – to use proper English. And really, can a string of colorful, animated images be less elegant than text-speak such as C U L8ter?
How those who only speak emoji will contemplate life's deep and subtle mysteries, express love and assure the continuation of the species is unclear, but I'm sure they'll manage.
A lot of these symbols come off as looking like those international symbols we were supposed to learn years ago. Kind of like the metric system, another we-are-the-world idea bubbling about the '70s. That was the next big thing for a while. Kind of like the smiley face. Kind of like emoji. We'll see. For the moment, I'm sticking with words.
On Twitter, Jeff Fox is strictly a word person. Follow him @Jeff_Fox.


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Garry Rayno's State House Dome: Crunch time for fixing Medicaid tax woesBy GARRY RAYNO
State House Bureau
May 10. 2014 10:55PM
The Senate and the House will pass bills this week aimed at fixing the Medicaid Enhancement Tax problem now that two superior court judges have found it unconstitutional and two bond rating agencies have told the state it better do something.
About $185 million a year in state revenue is at stake, although all but $72 million goes back to the hospitals either through provider payments under the Medicaid program or as uncompensated care payments to help with unpaid bills.
Senate President Chuck Morse laid out a plan last week that would phase out the tax over time and begin lowering the 5.5 percent rate on hospital services by one-quarter of 1 percent a year beginning with the next biennium.
His plan would offset the MET loss by using insurance tax revenues generated when 50,000 of the state's adult poor join the state Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act and by garnering additional federal matching money for health care services.
While Morse wants to reduce the money hospitals would have to pay, he also wants to boost what they receive for Medicaid services. New Hampshire has the lowest reimbursement rates in the country, paying about 50 cents on the dollar for what services cost.
The House Ways and Means Committee last week heard two proposals: one to expand the MET to other health care providers while lowering the rate, and another that would ensure the money collected would be used only for health care services. The proposal also would reinforce the state's position that the MET is constitutional.
The sponsors of both proposals reiterated they are just suggestions and could be changed before any solution is found.
The committee took longtime member Rep. Neal Kurk's suggestion and approved both amendments. The Weare Republican said that would give conference committee members more alternatives to work with when they begin negotiations.
Everyone knows the House and Senate plans will go to a conference committee, where key lawmakers will try to reach a consensus, although that looks nearly impossible given the differences between the proposed approaches.
There simply may not be enough time to reach a compromise by the time lawmakers are scheduled to leave Concord June 5.The problem is not only among lawmakers. Hospitals also cannot agree whether the MET tax should be eliminated or continued. Those who want it eliminated say they won the lawsuit, why negotiate; the other side says the tax provides significant federal and state money.Hospitals are doing the math to see which approach would be the best financial arrangement for them.
Morse warned last week that any agreement lawmakers reach would have to have all the hospitals on board to go forward, not just one or two, or even a dozen.
No one believes a final solution is possible in the time left this session, but a short-term fix is almost a necessity or the next budget becomes even more difficult to balance, and the bond rating agencies are watching.
A downgrade would make borrowing more expensive for everyone: cities, towns and counties.
- - - - - - - - -
Social Media: There is no better example of the kinds of games that are played this time of year between the House and Senate than several bills dealing with social media accounts and what employers and educational institutions can or cannot require employees or students to do with their accounts.
Last week, the Senate approved House Bill 1200 by attaching the bill it passed prohibiting colleges and universities from requiring or requesting their students to disclose or provide access to a personal social media account.
When the House passed HB 1200, it included educational institutions serving students from kindergarten to 12th grade as well as colleges.
The Senate took that provision out before approving HB 1200. The House took the Senate bill and added the restrictions for kindergarten to 12th grade.
The Senate tabled HB 1200 after passing it. Why? So negotiations would be over the Senate bill, which they believe will give them the upper hand.
Similar shenanigans occurred with bills dealing with what employers can require of employees and their social media accounts.
Another example is House Bill 1635, which deals with how the state will pay for the settlement reached on its mental health system. The Senate leadership has been hot on sending any spare money to the state's rainy day fund, while the House wants to divert surplus money to the settlement and Health and Human Services Department, which took a $30 million haircut in the final budget.
The Senate attached an amendment to use 10 percent of any settlement the Attorney General's Office receives over $1 million for the rainy day fund.
The House amended Senate Bill 283, which deals with funds obtained by the attorney general, to put 10 percent of settlements over $1 million in the state's general fund.
This is going to be a busy conference committee season.
- - - - - - -
Sex Offenders: Election year politics may have gotten in the way of a little common sense.
Two courts have told Dover and Franklin that restricting where sex offenders can live is unconstitutional.
But people with young children do not want a sex offender living nearby, so they pressure local officials to pass restrictions.
House Bill 1237 would have made it easier for communities to say "No" when pressure mounted for such ordinances. The bill would have prohibited local ordinances with sex offender restrictions.
The bill passed the House, 231-97, but the Senate Judiciary Committee voted, 5-0, last week to send the bill to interim study, effectively killing it.
This is not the first time the Senate has killed such a prohibition, but supporters believed this session was the best opportunity for passage in some time.
It probably would have been possible, but not this year, not as the election season fast approaches.
There is nothing like election-year politics.


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Share Your Story
Sample Stories
Here are some excerpts for inspiration!
How has it gotten better for you?
"Today I'm volunteering, playing sports in an LGBT league and have a wealth of people in my life who know and love me for who I am. There is only one me - and that me is awesome. It's a long way from when I cried myself to sleep; things I never imagined possible have happened. I just wish someone had been there to tell me that it gets better... Because it's true."
- David from Toronto, Ontario
How have you been working to help LGBTQ youth?
"I am currently a member of GSA and best friends with many gay and bisexual people. Our school participated in GLSEN's "Day of Silence." We are trying as a whole to get those people who are homophobic to tolerate that they can't get rid of people and can't stop people from being who they are. After we get them to tolerate, we are going to work on acceptance. I pledge to continue on helping it get better and stopping anyone who plans on not making it get better."
- Tyne from Connecticut
How has the It Gets Better Project helped you?
"I want to say...your project saved my life. As I graduated high school, a close friend gave me the It Gets Better book, and it is the one thing that I have always carried with me. It is a source of inspiration for me, and...it's kept me going. Your project has saved my life. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."
- Gay teen from Wisconsin
We know it gets better because of the uplifting and heartfelt stories that you share with us. We also know it gets better because of all the work so many of our supporters are doing in their community to help LGBTQ youth.
- How has it gotten better for you?
- How have you been working to help LGBTQ youth?
- How has the It Gets Better Project helped you?
- As an adult what advice do you have for LGBTQ youth?
- How has social media inspired you to take on bullying in your school?
In the coming weeks we'll be featuring some of your stories on our site to give hope to LGBTQ youth and to inspire more people to get involved with the It Gets Better Project. Please keep your submissions to under 750 words and if you'd like, send us a photo to go with your story. If you'd like to make a video submission, click here.


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Military cuts may ground fly-overs at NHMSBy DAN SEUFERT
Union Leader Correspondent
February 28. 2013 11:23PM
LOUDON - If government cutbacks mean an end to traditional military aircraft fly-overs before NASCAR races, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will find a new way to honor American service men and women before races start, according to the track's general manager.
"Information from our military contacts doesn't look hopeful in the wake of impending military cutbacks," NHMS' Jerry Gappens said of the government's $85 billion sequestration cuts.
"Nonetheless, we are optimistic and looking at ways to replace the fly-over with something just as exciting and visual," he said, declining to elaborate further.
Wendy Varhegyi, chief of the engagement division for Air Force public affairs, told USA TODAY Sports that the Air Force Thunderbirds are scheduled for a fly-over March 10 at a Las Vegas Motor Speedway NASCAR event.
"The Thunderbirds are expected to stand down effective April 1. (Las Vegas) is pretty much going to be, I think, the last fly-over you'll see for a while from us," Varhegyi said.
The curtailment would be at least through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, she said.
"And then at that point, we'll reevaluate ... Sequestration is a 10-year problem, so we just don't know."
Varhegyi told the newspaper that the Air Force conducts about 1,000 fly-overs a year at sports venues and other events. They are made in conjunction with pre-allotted training hours for pilots. Under sequestration, such training hours would be curtailed.
"It's no additional cost to the government for support of any public events," she said. "Typically, if you see a unit fly over a football game, that is 90 seconds out of a several-hour training sorte that they're flying.''
The fly-overs mean a lot to race fans at NHMS, Gappens said.
"Military fly-overs have been a long-standing tradition for many NASCAR pre-race ceremonies, including here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The fly-overs give us the opportunity to celebrate our military and our country while adding entertainment value to our events," he said Thursday.
Gappens said speedway officials will begin seeking an alternative in the coming days and weeks.
"We are truly committed to our fans and will continue to be a destination for 'wow' by providing them with a high level of motorsports entertainment," he said.
Politics Motor sports Loudon Top Section Stories Morning Headlines


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Triton Pietra 9.5kW Electric Shower, White
Triton Pietra 9.5kW Electric Shower, White
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Triton Pietra white electric shower offers 5 spray patterns and 3 power levels, operated by a variable power control.
- Thermostatic temperature control
- 2 years Guarantee
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The Triton Pietra features thermostatic temperature control and push button power settings.
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The bathroom is the one room in the house that treads a fine line between practical and luxurious. It has to store all the toiletries of an entire household, deal with a flurry of activity during peak times of use, and still be the place where you can forget all your troubles in a relaxing bath or shower. It's a difficult balance, and occasionally bathrooms can begin to look a bit tired and require a bit of TLC.
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A powerful, piping hot shower is one of the things we rely upon most in our bathrooms. Whether it's getting you energised in the morning, reinvigorating you after your daily exercise, or washing away the stresses and strains of the day, your shower needs to be up to the task. And let's not forget about washing your children's hair, or hosing down a filthy dog! But, if you don't make the right choices and buy the incorrect shower for your house, you could end up with a lukewarm trickle that'll be more infuriating than helpful.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:
ABC's "This Week" — Secretary of State John Kerry; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Kerry; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Kerry; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; former U.S. special Mideast envoy Martin Indyk.
CNN's "State of the Union" — Kerry; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Robert Turner of the main U.N. aid agency in Gaza.
"Fox News Sunday" — Kerry; Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; and...


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November 22. 2012 10:55PM
Postal losses: Congress can't solve simple problems
The U.S. Postal Service has recorded a $15.9 billion loss for the past fiscal year.
Congress, not surprisingly, continues to compound the problem.
The U.S. Postal Service long has been noted for its inefficiencies, its unaffordable workforce, and spending that could not be supported by its revenues. It also has been victimized by changes in the way we communicate, relying on the cheaper and quicker options of email and text messaging, as well as electronic bill payment, and competition. Those trends will only accelerate.
The Postal Service's loss in 2012 resulted primarily from defaults on more than $11 billion in payments Congress had directed the agency to pay into a fund for future retiree health benefits.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said, "It's critical that Congress do its part and pass comprehensive legislation before they adjourn this year."
But he is wrong. This cannot become another taxpayer bailout. The taxpayers cannot be asked to subsidize an agency and workforce that cannot help itself.
The argument is simple: Postal officials claim the agency's financial woes are partly the result of the funds Congress requires the service to set aside for future retirees. They say they cannot afford to pay the $11.1 billion to cover health benefits for future retirees as mail volume plummets. They say that without the pre-funding and other labor-related expenses, the Postal Service "only" lost $2.4 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
Now, seriously, does anyone truly believe that mail volume is going to increase? Or that labor costs, health care costs for retirees and pension costs will decline?
No? Well, then, who is supposed to pay the expenses for retiree health care and pension costs if the Postal Service can't? The taxpayers?
In any REAL business, when revenue falls, costs must be slashed, correspondingly and, often, painfully. Ask those workers who have seen their pension benefits eliminated and are paying more every year for their health care coverage. There is no alternative, short of raising prices. The postal service has tried that. And, in its case, it has accelerated the flight of customers to alternatives, for package handling, and electronically for bill paying and staying in touch.
Donahoe claims he has cut costs through buyouts and improved productivity - but obviously not enough.
So what does it all have to do with Congress? The postal service sought permission last year to get out of paying the $11 billion. The Senate approved a bill to give the agency $11 billion in cash by refunding payments made to a federal pension fund. The House stalled action on a bill to eliminate Saturday service and give Congress some control over labor contracts.
Last week, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R, Calif.) and Rep. Dennis A. Ross (R, Fla.), who leads a panel overseeing the Postal Service, said in a statement the agency "has failed to take reasonable steps .?.?. to reduce losses over the past several years."
And that is the bottom line.
Congress needs to stop interfering in the process, make clear there will be no further bailouts, and allow the postal service to make the cuts necessary. The level may have to be reduced, but pre-funding for retiree benefits, (pensions and health care), remains essential - to protect the American public and the employees entitled to the benefits.


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Twenty-three-year-old Janelle Arthur of Oliver Springs is in the "American Idol" Top 8.
Twenty-three-year-old Janelle Arthur of Oliver Springs is in the "American Idol" Top 8.
Janelle found out she wasn't the one kicked off on Thursday night's episode of the popular television show, after performing the Beatles' "I Will" on Wednesday's show. Instead, fellow Tennessean Paul Jolley, of Palmersville, scored the fewest votes.
On Wednesday night, the four judges had only good things to say about Janelle's performance, including her fan, judge Nicki Minaj who said, "Janelle, can we renew our vows tonight?" Janelle was wearing a long white dress for her performance.
This coming Wednesday, Janelle and the seven other remaining contestants will perform "The Music of the Motor City," with songs centered on Detroit, according to the show's website.
On Thursday, "American Idol" will celebrate its 450th episode and former finalist Colton Dixon will perform — and Janelle and the other remaining contestants will find out their fate.
Janelle is the daughter of Judy and Gentle Dean Arthur of Oliver Springs.
"American Idol" airs at 8 Wednesday and Thursday night on Channel 43 in Knoxville. You can follow Janelle on Twitter for current updates by her, @JanelleAI12 and at Facebook, www.facebook.com/JanelleAI12.
Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5502.


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April 17. 2013 10:44PM
Really, America? Must everything always be political?
If you wanted to understand why so many Americans are turned off to politics, all you had to do was watch the partisan reactions to the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday.
Picking a side and sticking to it is not a flaw in politics or sports or much else. Being guided in politics by a core philosophy is not just OK, it's the way politics should be done. But so many Americans are now driven almost entirely by ideology or partisanship (there is a difference) that historic moments that should unite us all become opportunities to divide us further.
The injured were still being removed from Boylston Street on Monday when partisans on the left and the right speculated that surely this must be the work of the other side. If they were not blaming the other side directly, they stated with no evidence whatsoever that the blasts confirmed their own political views.
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., used the moment not to call for unity, but to take pot shots against people who advocate for lower taxes and smaller government. Conservative activists used the moment to bash the media, ironically getting facts wrong while complaining about news reports that, in the chaotic aftermath of a terrorist attack, were sometimes off base.
Have we really reached the point at which not even the bombing of a major American city can cause people to put down their partisan swords for a day?


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Wounded officer says of conviction, 'The system works'By DALE VINCENT
New Hampshire Union Leader
December 12. 2012 12:02AM
MANCHESTER - A jury in Hillsborough County Superior Court North took just two hours Tuesday to convict Myles Webster, 23, of the attempted murder of Manchester Police Officer Daniel Doherty and of three other charges related to the shooting.
Webster faces up to life in prison.
"Thank you to everyone. Everyone did a fantastic job," Doherty said while still in the courtroom. He called for applause for the prosecutors, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin and Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Karen Gorham, saying: "They are amazing people for what they do."
Doherty's father, Kevin, who has attended the trial with his son and other family members, said: "I'm overwhelmed. I can't say enough about Jeff and Karen ... They say justice is served and it is."
Defense attorneys had argued that Webster was the victim of mistaken identity and that police had conducted their investigation in such a way as to guarantee the conviction of Webster.
In his closing argument Tuesday morning, defense attorney Robert Swales said police contaminated witness identifications of the shooter by not showing them a photo array with Webster's photo in it before releasing Webster's booking photo, which appeared in the media the morning after the March 21 shooting.
Swales also spoke of the difference in witness descriptions of what the shooter was wearing and said: "There are no fingerprints. There is not DNA."
Swales and co-defense counsel Caroline Smith maintained during the weeklong trial that police didn't offer a photo array to witnesses because they were afraid the witnesses would identify the wrong person.
Tampering with evidence
Swales made the same argument Tuesday, saying the decision not to show anyone, including Doherty, a photo array was a calculated, collaborative decision. "This is the equivalent of tampering with the evidence," said Swales.
He dismissed the testimony of two women who were with Webster that day, who described his clothing and said Webster had fired a gun out the car window at rush hour at the Granite Street Bridge.
He said they were reluctant witnesses who would say whatever police wanted them to say, including that Webster said if he got into any kind of trouble, he didn't care if any officer got in his way. He'd "shoot an officer."
Webster, who was released from federal prison in January after having served six months for walking away from a halfway house, was a convicted felon who could not legally possess a weapon.
"They needed that prior comment that 'He would shoot a cop,'" said Swales, who also dismissed surveillance videos.
The defense also suggested that the gun used to shoot Doherty was planted by police next to a fence surrounding the yard at 145 Putnam, where Webster was caught.
It's not like 'CSI'
Assistant County Attorney Gorham said Webster virtually eliminated any doubt as to his guilt when he told police in the booking area after his arrest: "You might as well kill me. I'm going away for life anyway."
But Gorham said there was plenty of evidence to show that Webster was the man who fired a .357 Glock semiautomatic at Doherty at close range at Wayne and Rimmon streets, emptying his gun and leaving seven holes in the body of Doherty, who beat the odds and survived.
Doherty testified during the trial, saying he responded to an undercover officer's call for follow-up on a man seen getting out of a car at the traffic light at Amory and McGregor streets with what looked like a gun tucked in his waistband.
The officer testified he was absolutely sure it was Webster who shot him, since the two were face to face and just feet apart.
"Officer Doherty's words alone are enough for you to convict," said Gorham, but the training and experience of the police conducting the investigation provided more evidence. "This investigation was done right from the very first moment," she said.
Gorham dismissed as a "red herring" the defense contention that identifications of Webster were contaminated because a photo array wasn't offered witnesses before the booking photo was released. "(Witnesses) identified the person they saw on March 21st," said Gorham.
She said this isn't like the "CSI" television series, in which DNA and fingerprints solve the case. There was no need to send Doherty's clothing to the New Hampshire State Police lab for gunpowder residue testing to determine if he was shot, she said. Police found a .357 shell casing where Webster's female friends said he had fired his gun out of the car, so there was no need to test the car for gunpowder residue.
"This case was solved by a thorough investigation," said Gorham.
Webster was also convicted of robbery, for confronting a neighborhood woman, while holding his empty gun, and demanding her keys and car in order to flee, and resisting arrest, for running away when Doherty ordered him repeatedly to stop after the initial encounter.
A pre-sentence investigation will be conducted before Webster is sentenced by Judge Gillian Abramson.
As he left the courtroom, a smiling Doherty walked between two lines of police, hugging, kissing and shaking hands. He said it was like his departure from Catholic Medical Center three weeks after he was shot last March, but then he was in a wheelchair and this time, "I'm glad to be on my own two (feet)."
He thanked the prosecutors for their efforts, saying: "The system works."
- - - - - - - -
Dale Vincent may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Crime, law and justice Public Safety Manchester Top Section Stories


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Insanity works great in entertainment.
Whether we are talking about actual clinical forms of insanity like schizophrenia, solipsism, amnesia or made up ones, they all make for great fun on the screen.
Modern cartoons don't tend to exploit intense emotions or insanity, but I always thought the animated cartoon was the perfect medium for it.
Mike Lazzo (CARTOON NETWORK GURU) called some of my cartoons "Psychodrama" about 12 years ago and that was the first time I heard that label, but I liked it when I heard it. (I'm not sure whether it was a criticism or a compliment!)
My own life has been filled with psychodrama and I have taken real events that I've witnessesd (or caused!), and adapted them in my cartoons. Whenever someone goes nuts in front of me, instead of being scared, I usually zone out instead and go into intense study mode, so I can use the material later.
One complaint I get from many executives is that my cartoons are too unrealistic. They don't know how wrong they are.


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District Name: HANOVER 28 District Code: 1070
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) 2005-06 Reporting Data: The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, requires the Colorado Department of Education to make a determination of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for every school district in the state. CDE calculates AYP for each district by measuring participation rates, math and reading performance, and graduation rate targets for the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Summary Data
- District Made AYP 2005-06: YES
- District Made AYP Reading 2005-06: Yes
- District Made AYP Math 2005-06: Yes
- Number of Targets: 43
- Number of Targets Made: 43
- Percent of Targets Made: 100.00%
Detail Reports
Profile Reports by School Year
District Program Improvement Status:
NCLB requires every district that receives funds under Title I to make AYP targets annually. A district is identified for Title I Program Improvement if it does not make AYP in the same content area (reading or math) for two consecutive years.
- Reading: Not on Program Improvement
- Math: Not on Program Improvement
Highly Qualified Teachers Data:
NCLB requires that all teachers teaching in core-academic content areas meet the requirements for being designated as "Highly Qualified," no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. Core-academic content areas are defined as: English, Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Foreign Languages, Social Studies, the Arts (visual art music and drama).
NCLB School Level Accountability Data:
Adequate Yearly Progress, Improvement Status and Highly Qualified Teacher data is also calculated for schools.
Professional Development and School Support (PDSSP):
Return to: Previous Page, District List
Copyright © 2005 Colorado Department of Education.
All rights reserved. Title IX. Accessibility. Disclaimer. Privacy.


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Bill to restrict firearms rights draws gun owners' ireBy GARRY RAYNO
State House Bureau
February 21. 2013 8:23PM
CONCORD - Gun owners turned out in force to proclaim their right to bear arms, including a former representative who took off his coat to show his holstered weapon in Representatives Hall where guns are prohibited.
Former Libertarian Rep. Donald Gorman of Deerfield spoke against House Bill 290, which would prohibit a person with a license to carry a concealed weapon from openly carrying a firearm on public property.
Testimony was overwhelming in opposition, with former Republican Party Chairman and gubernatorial candidate Jack Kimball of Dover telling the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee it needs to curtail bills that seek to take away people's "God-given rights" because the issue is galvanizing people like never before.
"It's up to you to end this stuff," Kimball told the committee. "If you put it in our hands, we will end it. Believe me, we will end it."
But several people testified something has to be done about the growing gun violence in the country.
Anne Lyczak of Portsmouth, who lost her husband to gun violence, said it is just a matter of time before something tragic happens in New Hampshire.
"Do we value gun rights, or do we value public safety," she asked. "Do we value gun rights or do we value human rights?"
Under HB 290, anyone caught carrying a firearm on public property who does not have a license to carry a concealed firearm would be guilty of a Class B felony punishable by three-and-a-half to seven years in prison and prohibited from ever owning a gun again.
Several people objected to the "severe punishment" for exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
"You want to put law-abiding citizens in jail because he has a pistol on his hip," said Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton. "This is radical gun-control legislation that will, in fact, make New Hampshire less safe."
He and many others testified the bill is unconstitutional because it violates Article 2 guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms.
"We have a right to defend ourselves wherever we have a right to be," Kimball told the committee. "It's a God-given right."
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Delmar Burridge, D-Keene, said the bill would prohibit any person without a concealed weapons license in state or local government buildings, including town halls, libraries and state university and community college facilities.
Someone at a library may not be comfortable if someone with a pistol sits down next to them, Burridge said. Or a town employee may feel threatened if someone wearing a firearm comes in to pay their taxes.
Opponents of the bill said it would put law-abiding citizens who do not choose to get a license to carry a concealed weapon at the mercy of local police or make them criminals.
"This bill treats people differently, those without the money or political clout to get a license," said Concord attorney Penny Dean.
Ralph Demicco, president of the Gun Owners of New Hampshire, said the bill assumes a person who openly carries a firearm is more dangerous than a person with a concealed weapon.
"The open carry of a firearm indicates to me this individual has nothing to hide," he said. "An individual bent on performing a violent act with a firearm is going to plan it out and not be so obvious as to have a firearm on his hip."
Donald Gorman, who is a firearms instructor, told the committee more and more women who have never picked up a gun are coming to his classes. "They are afraid," he said. "They are afraid for their safety, they are afraid for their homes."
If the bill passed, he said his concealed weapon would be illegal in a public building like the State House, and he took off his coat to reveal his weapon. "If I am asked to leave," Gorman said, "half the committee is going to have to leave with me."
Mary Bonser, a Nottingham selectman, said residents have had the constitutional right to bear arms for 229 years without a problem.
"A sidearm is the ultimate in feminine protection," Bonser told the committee.
The committee also held a public hearing on House Bill 451, which would do away with the state's requirement to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon.
Hoell, the prime sponsor, said it is not accident that New Hampshire and Vermont, two state's with the least restrictive gun laws in the Northeast, have the lowest crime rates.
Similar bills have been before the Legislature since 2005, but none have passed.
The committee did not make a recommendation on either bill.


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Propaganda — according to Websters Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language there are at least three parts to this activity.
1) Information, rumors, etc., deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
2) Deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.
3) Particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement.
Propaganda has been wildly effective since the advent of radio and television. The best example of successful propaganda was the National Socialist Movement in Germany. Adolf Hitler's charisma and the Big Lie were able to move a nation to engage in the most monstrous actions. Propaganda was put to good effect by the Democrats in November. However the success was due to the media being in the tank for Obama. ABC, NBC, CNN, and CBS shilled for the Democrats. Research found that Obama had 80 percent more favorable articles than Romney. So is this a result of investigative reportage or was something else in play? What was at play was the political bias of the journalists. A survey of reporters, TV anchors, and journalists found that 99 percent called themselves politically liberal.
OK, all the pieces are in place: a political cabal with definite objectives, a professional propaganda group that will do and say anything to seize and stay in power, and a sycophant media that willingly provides the megaphone.
The propaganda and lies are as follows:
"Obamacare will only cost $780 billion." The Congressional Budget Office now estimates the cost at $1.7 trillion and rising to over $2 trillion+ by 2014.
"If you like your doctor, you will be able keep your doctor." Surveys of companies being impacted by Obamacare show that a majority will have to drop their insurance plans. This will require the employees to find their own insurance, pay a fine, or rely on the government plans.
"The rich don't pay their fair share" Here are some facts from the IRS: Remember the 99 percent and their freaky protests? How about the fact that the top 1 percent pays more federal taxes than the bottom 60 percent combined! How about some more inconvenient facts?
"The rich earn more so they should pay more!" Right? The top 1 percent earned 22 percent of income and paid 40 percent of the taxes. The top 5 percent earned 37 percent of income and paid 61 percent of the taxes. The top 10 percent earned 48 percent of income and paid 71 percent of the taxes. The top 25 percent earned 68 percent of income and paid 81 percent of the taxes. The top 50 percent paid 97.75 percent of the taxes while the bottom 50 percent paid 2.25 percent of taxes and some paid a negative tax (they got money from the IRS).
I know I got your attention with "sex" in the title, so let's talk about that. But wait, the media is doing a bang-up job all on their own!
Can you say Benghazi? Do you even know or care about Benghazi?
Benghazi is that town in Libya where our consulate was attacked and burned, four Americans killed including our ambassador, who was brutally raped by the Jihadi Islamists. It has somehow been relegated to page 107 in most newspapers, a more titillating story about Petraeus and Allen and their paramours has replaced that embarrassing (to Obama) incident. It wasn't embarrassing to Ambassador Chris Stephens, Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith, and Glen Doherty; it was deadly, horribly deadly.
Here are the lies.
It wasn't a terrorist attack; it was just some upset Libyans that went down to the consulate to protest a video trailer they never saw but heard that it denigrated Muhammed.
Man! Those fanatical Muslims really get into a protest since they carried rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47's, Molotov cocktails (already prepared), oh and don't forget the 81 mm mortars. Just for those who have missed military service, the 81 mm mortar consists of three parts, the mortar barrel, a bipod, and the base. These three units weigh in at 115 pounds. The ammunition, high-explosive rounds, weigh in at between 7-9 pounds each. In the Corps, three men schlepped this armament. I guess those Jihadists carry them every time they go out to demonstrate. It just got out of control. Bull!
The lies by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President of the United States Barack Obama were that this heavily armed and coordinated terrorist attack was simply some over-exuberant demonstrators. They knew the facts and lied to us for seven days. Why?
Larry Tradlener lives down McElmo Canyon.


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Bringing in a 72-room Hampton Inn hotel into the city may have hit another snag.
Following the good news that a sewer line had enough capacity to handle the needs of the business and its lodgers, now comes bad news.
It could be quite expensive for Hampton Inn to open up a hotel in Cortez anytime soon.
For the proposed 72-unit hotel, the plant investment fee, commonly referred to as the tap fee would be a little more than $160,000.
The Cortez Sanitation District board, realizing the figures could be skewed, has submitted a request for qualifications (REQ) for a company or person who could tell them if the tap fee figures are too high.
"We think they are a little high," said board member Jim Candelaria. "We need to find out for sure."
If AAA Hotel Developers wanted to build immediately it would be subject to the current tap fee, and Candelaria said this would be decided when and if the project moves forward.
The hotel would be located east of the Holiday Inn Express and south of the Baymont Inn and Suites.
Candelaria also said that they are seeking a person or company who could look at the fees for the entire district, not just the Hampton Inn or the land where the new Cortez high school will be built.
Candelaria said the hotel company has not submitted any plans to the sanitation district yet, though, he added that they have expressed an interest in building and opening up a hotel in Cortez.
AAA Hotel Developers recently opened a hotel in Alamosa. Candelaria said the fees charged in that area have little bearing on what they will charge because geographical areas cannot be compared.
"It's hard to compare apples to oranges," he said. "We need to find out what is right for us."
Completing the study to determine what the rates should be could take plenty of time so the current fees are what any new developer would have to pay prior to the study being completed.
"As a board we want this (study) to be developed as soon as possible," he said, adding how long it will actually take is an unknown.
Phil Starks, sanitation district superintendent, said the REQ is simply being done to see whether the fees being charged are justified.
Candelaria also said the board is concerned that the current fee could result in Hampton Inn representatives deciding to go elsewhere.
"It is a concern," he said. "Speaking for myself, anything we can do to benefit the community is a good thing for the economy."
Still, determining what the fees should be is paramount because the method used to determine the fees have remained the same for at least the past 18 years.
The Cortez Sanitation District's tap fees for this hotel would be $4,500 for the first unit, $2,430 for units two to 50 and $2,262 for units 51 to 72.
"The fees do not seem right, and we need to see what is (correct)," Candelaria said.


text:
Maurice Emmanuel Hippolyte Binet Collection
During the revolutionary era of 1789-1848, Belgium was ensnared in power politics on a continental scale, with all the drama and turbulence entailed. From the conquest of the region by French Republican forces under Napoleon in 1794 through the dissolution of French control in 1814, modern-day Belgium was divided into nine administrative departments, including the centrally-located Département de la Dyle, which included the key cities of Brussels, Louvain, and Nivelles.
Collected by Maurice Emmanuel Hippolyte Binet, this small collection of manuscripts is relatively tightly focused on the years of French Republican domination of Belgium (1794-1814), with a particular focus on the Département de la Dyle. The majority of the collection consists of letters received by the Central Administration in the Dyle, including letters to and from Napoleonic generals and French military hierarchy, civic authorities, administrators, and police. Many of the letters concern the challenges of asserting control over a subject population and the political fallout of the French Revolution, but the collection also reflects the greater tensions within a complex society changing rapidly during an age of revolution.
- Subjects
- Belgium--History--1794-1814
- Brabant (Belgium)--History
- Dyle (Belgium)
- France--History--1789-1815
- France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799
- Napoleonic Wars--1800-1815
- Police--France--18th century
- Contributors
- Lambrechts, Charles Joseph Matthieu, 1753-1823
- Mallarmé, François René Augustin, 1755-1831
- Types of material
- Letters (Correspondence)


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In light of the National debates over guns and the Second Amendment, concealed weapons classes have been booming in the area.
Howard Miller, a concealed weapons permit instructor for Centurion Firearms Training, taught a concealed weapons class in Dove Creek on Saturday. He said that over the last few weeks his class sizes have more than doubled.
At the Dove Creek class, he said at least three of those in attendance were among administrators with the Dolores County School District, including one who works at the high school.
A committee in the Colorado Senate recently voted down a proposal to allow public school officials the right to carry guns on campus. With the defeat of the proposal, the school officials at the class will not be allowed to take weapons onto school grounds even with a concealed weapons permit.
Saturday's CCW class had about 30 students and the Feb. 9 class, also at Dove Creek is scheduled to have another 30 people enrolled in the safety course.
The Summit Shooting Center in Cortez is also offering a free class to Montezuma County teachers on Feb. 9.
Normally, Miller's classes are much smaller with six to eight participants taking part.
He also said many of the calls he receives are from sheriff's offices in neighboring communities, who often are the first ones to realize the need for one of his classes.
While not caught off guard that the classes are booming, he is surprised that a small town like Dove Creek is filling two of his classes in back-to-back weeks.
He said the majority of the people who take his classes in the region remain former or retired police officers.
The increased number of people taking CCW classes relates to two things, Miller said: The re-election of President Barack Obama and the recent school shootings where children were victims.
While not saying it would be a complete solution, arming educators would likely help if there was another attempt to kill students at a school, he said.
But he stressed that educators or anyone who legally carry weapons should be trained on how to use them.
He said President Obama may be able to push legislation through to ban the high capacity magazines, but will face a difficult challenge to ban certain firearms.
"This is the American way of life of being allowed to carry guns," he said.
Miller, who is retired, said the increase of residents wanting to protect themselves if necessary is evident by the increased number of people who are taking the firearm safety courses.
He said this is the main driving force behind his business.
"It's more of a public service than anything else," he said. "It is a calling to help people out and educate them."
Once the concealed weapons safety course is completed, it's up to the sheriff's office to approve a new CCW application in the county.
In 2011, there were a total of 132 concealed carry permits issued in Montezuma County. The 2012 numbers are not available yet.


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text:
Welcome to the steam and power forum, a bulletin board dedicated to questions and answers to Steam Plants and Power Generation Plants for steam boilers, turbine generator and heating problems. Dedicated to power plants, power generation, supercritical, and heating plants as well as steam boilers, steam turbine generators, gas turbines or combustion turbines, hrsg, steam heating, pressure vessels, steam line, including ASME questions and more. Remember the forum is made up of volunteers from experts to beginners. Unfortunately, we cannot allow free commercialism that promotes products, services, or sites.
Jim Watts on Concrete chimneyBy: Jim Watts [764]
Date: Sunday, April 08, 2018
Time: 10:40:44 AM
Do you mean cement for bricks or brick lined concrete
Viewed 233 times
Published on steamforum.com
There are three-methods to find all the replies to this steam or power forum question or answer: 1) Use the 'Next >>' or '<< Previous' menu links above, or 2) Look at the year of the post and click on the applicable year an scan the postings for the date/title, or 3) Use the 'View Post Tree' feature, which is new to help you find all tree-truncations to the postings and replies on the steam & power forum that you are interested in.
FeaturedHigh Sulfite Residual
By: Ross. [390]
First, I want to say that large amounts of Sodium Sulfite NaSO3 becomes a contaminate because it will produce foaming and other problems, but foaming is the primary problem.
Your 500-psi Water Tube Boiler is seems to have reasonable level of residual Sodium Sulfite NaSO3 remaining in the boiler water. Nice pH too.
Your 300-psi Waste Heat Recovery Boiler has twice what I would expect for Sodium Sulfite NaSO3 at ranging 80-ppm to 100-ppm. pH is good so you are getting a good yield.
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text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 25th Jul 2012 22:18 UTC
The article I'm about to link to, by Oliver Reichenstein, is pretty terrible, but it's a good way for me to bring up something I've been meaning to talk about. First, the article: "Apple has been working on its file system and with iOS it had almost killed the concept of folders - before reintroducing them with a peculiar restriction: only one level! With Mountain Lion it brings its one folder level logic to OSX. What could be the reason for such a restrictive measure?" So, where does this crusade against directory structures (not file systems, as the article aggravatingly keeps stating) come from?


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First-time jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 7,000 to 340,000 in the week ended March 2, the lowest since the period ended Jan. 19, according to data today from the Labor Department in Washington. This is now two days in a row with very positive labor market data from the U.S., and the U.S. equity indexes are continuing to rally, with the MAR 13 E-mini S&P 500 trading up 4.75 pts to 1543.75.
Everyone is waiting for the big employment numbers tomorrow, and the biggest mover could end up being the bond market. If we get a big surprise to the upside, we could see a big sell-off in the U.S. bond market. The JUN13 U.S. 10-year note is down 14 ticks today, and is experiencing some weakness as the recent jobs figures of today and yesterday have been surprises to the upside.
One of the big stories in the grain markets is in wheat. Wheat futures have been in a strong and steady downtrend since trading over the $9 level last November. Today, MAY13 Wheat futures are down $.01 to $6.82. We see strong resistance right below the $7.50 level and see the first key support/target level at around $6.70. If wheat does get a big liquidation down to the low $6s, we could see a big short covering rally. Also, The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas in storage shrank by 146 billion cubic feet to 2.083 trillion cubic feet in the week ended March 1.
Natural Gas is one of the biggest movers on the commodities board today, trading up $.11 to $3.58 (APR13 contract). Natural Gas has been in a volatile but clear uptrend since last May, and we believe this market could continue to march higher, possibly testing the $4 level before the year ends.
We focus more on the U.S. 10-year note today. This market has been in a pure range trade since last August, and we look for the breakout to occur to the downside. We have resistance at 132 for the JUN13 contract, and our first support is very close to being hit at 130'16. Our next key level to watch for is 129'16. For this market, tomorrow's labor report could be huge. If we get a surprise to the upside, we would not be surprised to see the bond market tank and for the 10-year note to approach the 129 '16 level.
Click to enlarge.


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March 28. 2013 3:22PM
Central High locked down briefly after man with weapon seen
— Central High School was thrown into a lockdown Thursday afternoon after a motorist told police she saw a man with a large gun and clip near the school, police said.
Although police arrived quickly and searched the area where he was reportedly seen — the intersection of Maple and Lowell streets — nothing was found. Nor did police find an witness who saw the man.
Nonetheless, Central was thrown into lockdown for about 15 minutes, said police Lt. Maureen Tessier. Students were dismissed at the normal end of the day. Tessier said officers saturated the area, and extra patrols stayed in the area during dismissal.
The motorist, who was traveling north on Maple Street, described the person as a white man with a gray beard. He was wearing glasses, khaki pants and a light-colored, button shirt. He was holding the large gun above his head.
"She is absolutely the only person who saw this," Tessier said, who said people should call police if they see something suspicious.
"We welcome any kind of information of that nature. You never know," she said.


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When Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 announced it was putting $1.89 million in general obligation bonds up for sale last week, officials hoped some of them would go to locals.
As it turns out, they all did.
According to Dan O'Connell of RBC Capital Markets, 100 percent of the Re-1 bonds were claimed by eight individuals and Dolores State Bank at an average annual interest rate of 2.5 percent.
Dolores State Bank purchased $1.73 million worth of bonds; the remaining $160,000 was divvied up between the eight individuals. The bank also claimed all $3.6 million of Dolores School District Re-4a bonds, president Ed Merrit said.
In November's election, voters in both school districts approved ballot measures to build new school buildings or renovate old ones.
Merritt said his bank was happy to make the investment.
"We're a locally owned bank. Our stockholders live in Montezuma County," he said. "Our board of directors has five individuals. Three went to school in Dolores and two in Cortez. We value education and are excited to keep our money local."


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Former Sen. Brown mum on political future at appearance at fundraiser for Child Advocacy Center in NashuaBy TIM BUCKLAND
New Hampshire Union Leader
May 05. 2013 1:37AM
NASHUA - Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown gave no further hint of his political aspirations during an appearance Saturday night at a fundraising gala for the Child Advocacy Center of Hillsborough County.
Brown, who has a vacation home in Rye, has said he hasn't ruled out running for office again, possibly against U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and repeated that message Saturday.
"I don't think I need to make any decisions right now, really," he said in an interview before his speech. "I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, to be honest with you."
Brown served three years in the Senate after defeating Democratic candidate Martha Coakley in a special election held in February 2010 to fill the remaining term of the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Edward Kennedy in 2009. Brown was defeated in a reelection bid in November by Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.
Brown said in his address Saturday that his "real" reason for speaking at the event - he accepted no appearance fee, according to organizers - was to highlight the terror children face when trying to tell someone about abuse and to ask people to listen to and love their children.
"Do not assume that your kids do not want to hear your love and affection for them," he said. "They want you to be involved. They want you to ask those questions. They might be saying, 'No, no, no,' but in the back of their minds they're saying, 'Oh good, mom and dad are always there.'"
Kristie Palestino, executive director of the Granite State Children's Alliance, which oversees the Child Advocacy Centers in Hillsborough, Cheshire and Belknap counties, said the event is more than about raising money for the organization.
"It's about those children who, right now, are afraid, but they're acting happy," she said. "They're acting like everything is OK because they don't want anyone to ask them questions. They don't want anyone to find out their secret. It's about those children who are living in silence."
Brown said he remembered that many people doubted that he, as a grown, successful adult, was truthful when talking about the sexual and physical abuse he suffered as a child.
"I'm 53 years old. Imagine a 6-, 7- or 10-year-old trying to tell their mom or dad or their brother or sister or their coach or their teacher or their doctor. The pressure is incredible," he said. "Because I remember, 'I'll kill you. You tell anybody, I'll kill you.'
"It's not political, it's personal," he said.
In introducing Brown, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., made sure to mention his New Hampshire connections and called him "a great leader for our country."
Before his speech, Brown said he found it amusing that the New Hampshire Democratic Party responded the way it did to his run of recent New Hampshire appearances. In news releases, state Democratic officials have called their GOP counterparts "desperate" because Brown is giving speeches in the Granite State.
"It shows that they must be concerned," he said. In a jab at Shaheen, he said: "You know what's desperate is the fact that you have a senator who voted for Obamacare that's crushing businesses and has never hesitated to raise taxes.
"What's desperate is that Washington is broken and they want to make sure that people like me don't get back down there to solve problems," he said.


text:
Back muscles, illustration
F017/1241 Royalty Free
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Credit: SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Release details: Model release not required. Property release not required.
Keywords: 3 dimensional, 3d, anatomical, anatomy, artwork, back, biological, biology, biomedical, biomedical illustration, black background, bones, digitally generated, fitness, graphic, health, healthcare, human, human anatomy, human body, illustration, male, man, medical, muscle, muscular, musculature, posterior, rendering, shoulder, skeleton, system, teres minor, three dimensional
Licence fees: A licence fee will be charged for any media (low or high resolution) used in your project.


text:
New Manchester schools boss spends first days addressing issues in audit reportBy TED SIEFER
New Hampshire Union Leader
July 08. 2013 10:51PM
MANCHESTER — The district's new superintendent made her debut at a Board of School Committee meeting Monday that was notable for its light agenda.
"What an exciting week this has been," Superintendent Debra Livingston, who began her first week on the job last week, told the board. "I feel like I've been welcomed with open arms."
In her address to the board, Livingston said she would make the recently released audit report of the school system a guide for her first actions.
"I think this is such a benefit. My first priority is to find a way to align all the work we do in curriculum and instruction through the audit findings," she said.
The report, by an Iowa-based consulting company, was critical of the school committee and district, and singled out a lack of curriculum coordination across the school system. Livingston met earlier in the day with a team of teachers revising the district's curriculum in line with the state's new Common Core standards.
In addition, the superintendent said that the state Department of Education has designated seven schools in need of special support as a condition of the waiver the state recently received from the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The designation will make the schools eligible for more professional development training and other state resources, Livingston said.
"This will help build capacity in these schools," she said.The schools are Beech Street, Gossler Park, Wilson, Parker-Varney and McDonough elementary schools, and Parkside and Southside Middle Schools.


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WASHINGTON Durango-La Plata County Airport should have a second X-ray machine for carry-on luggage operational by May or June, just weeks after its body scanner is moved to a different airport, officials said.
The L-3 body scanner nicknamed the Gumby because it produces a generic, cartoon-shaped image of passengers was taken from the airport in mid-February and sent to a larger airport with more traffic to replace a scanner that made explicit, full-body images. Other airports experienced similar measures after finding privacy concerns in a different type of scanner.
The Durango airport is using a single metal detector and pat-downs for security.
The addition of a second X-ray machine is unrelated to the L-3 scanners departure, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., wrote a letter to the TSA on Tuesday, urging the agency to bring the Gumby-like machines back to Colorados smaller airports as soon as possible.
Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, had conversations with the TSA, according to spokesman Josh Green. Tipton is concerned about the agency disproportionally targeting small airports, especially during the ski season, Green said.
Gary Suiter, interim airport director, said the airport has not suffered any customer-service delays from the loss of the L-3 scanner. However, the Herald reported that at least 20 passengers missed their flights in February because of security-line bottlenecks.
According to the report, lines extended from the checkpoint to the front of the airline ticket counters. The departure lounge became so congested that the security checkpoint has had to temporarily shut down for safety reasons.
But the backups werent the fault of the metal detector, Suiter said. It was the lone X-ray machine.
Those machines have a capacity of X, and thats been the primary pinch point of the delay, he said.
Suiter said he has not heard if or when the airport will get another L-3 scanner, but added that the TSA has worked with the airport to minimize problems.
Stefanie Dazio is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald. You can reach her at email@example.com.


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Pharmacy robbed in Manchester
April 22. 2013 10:59AM
MANCHESTER - Police are searching for a man who held up CVS Pharmacy on Mammoth Road early Monday morning.
A white man, wearing a ski mask, entered the 271 Mammoth Road pharmacy about 4:45 a.m. and, claiming to have a handgun, demanded prescription medication from the clerk. Police said the showed the clerk what appeared to be the grip of a pistol while ordering the employee to give him the medications.
He eventually fled the store with an undisclosed amount prescription drugs.
The robber is described as having a medium build, between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-8, with a small amount of facial hair around his mouth. He wore a dark gray hooded sweatshirt, jeans, tan boots and a backpack. Police said he fled the immediate area on foot.
The investigation is on-going. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call police at 668-8711, Ext. 5508, or Manchester Crimeline at 624-4040.