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Welcome to the New York State
Judicial Candidate Voter Guide.
The Judiciary, along with the Executive and the Legislature, is one of the three co-equal branches of the New York
State government. New York State courts hear more than four million cases a year, including: family matters, personal
injury claims, commercial disputes, trust and estate issues, criminal cases, and landlord-tenant matters. Every one
of these cases is important to the individual parties involved; many have implications for the larger community as well.
All cases start in the trial courts. Trial courts are divided into two types, those of limited jurisdiction or
authority and those of superior jurisdiction. The trial courts of limited jurisdiction include: Civil Court and
Criminal Court of New York City; and District Courts, City Courts, and Town and Village Courts outside New York City.
The trial courts of superior jurisdiction are the Supreme Court and County Courts.
The Voter Guide, typically available two weeks before the General Election, covers elected, trial-level judge positions, other than Town and Village Justices. The list of candidates for each position is provided by the State and County Boards of Elections after the judicial nominating conventions take place. The biographical information about each candidate is provided by the candidate. You may continue reading about the different courts, or browse the Voter Guide.
The following descriptions are adapted from The New York State Courts: An Introductory Guide.
Access the Voter Guide
Additional court-related materials and resources are available on the New York State Unified
Court System web site.


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BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Malian president-elect Ibrahim Boubacar Keita vowed Wednesday to focus on national reconciliation once he takes office next month in this country wracked by a rebellion, a coup and an Islamic insurgency.
Keita won Mali's Aug. 11 presidential runoff with 77.6 percent of the vote. Many voters said they thought he was best equipped from an initial field of 28 candidates to reunify the nation after more than a year of turmoil.
Keita says his top priority will be to "gather together all Malians around the ideals of peace and tolerance."
"I will be the president of national reconciliation," he told journalists Wednesday.
A rebellion by ethnic Tuaregs in northern Mali in early 2012 followed by an Islamic insurgency in the same region has left lingering tensions that pose one of Keita's greatest challenges.
Deadly reprisal attacks have targeted those accused of having aided rebels and jihadists, and the town of Kidal remains deeply opposed to the Malian military presence there. The secular Tuareg rebels who are based in Kidal already have agreed to start talks with the Malian government 60 days after Keita's administration is in place.
Many Malians in the south, though, remain opposed to negotiating with the rebels. The soldiers who overthrew the president in a March 2012 coup had blamed the ousted government for badly handling the Tuareg rebellion. That coup unraveled decades of democracy in Mali and created a vacuum in which the radical jihadists overtook the major towns of the north until a French-led military operation was launched in January.
Mali's presidential election will restore a democratically chosen leader to the country's helm, helping to unlock some $4 billion in promised aid from international donors who made those funds contingent on a legitimate government being in place.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pontiac Indians baseball
Trent Smith was effective enough as Pontiac edged Herscher 6-4 in a nonconference baseball game Tuesday.
Smith walked one, hit a batter and scattered 10 hits in going the distance. He also struck out three and did not pitch with his team trailing.
He got offensive support in the sixth inning when the Tribe plated three markers to break a tie game.
The Indians scored a run in the second inning and added runs in the fourth and fifth frames for a 3-0 lead. The Tigers pushed across three runs in the bottom of the fifth to knot the game at 3-3. Herscher added a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Jacob Curry had a double, single and run batted in. Neil Lambert and Jon Roberts also had a double and single for the Indians while Aaron Jiles also had two hits.


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The website Private Security Regulation.net was created and developed in 2008 by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) with support from the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and was devoted to regulatory approaches for Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and their activities. The website was meant to complement and support the work carried out under the Swiss initiative to promote respect of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law by private military and security companies, namely the Montreux Document and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers.
In 2012 DCAF partnered with the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies to launch the Private Security Monitor web portal. The Private Security Monitor website now includes all the national regulations, laws, reports, and documents that where hosted on Private Security Regulation.net.
The Private Security Monitor is an independent research project dedicated to promoting knowledge of and transparency in global private military and security services. The Private Security Monitor's web portal provides an annotated guide to regulation, data and analysis of private military and security services. It is a one-stop source for public information on the worldwide use of these services and thus a resource for governments, policy-makers, activists, journalists, and researchers.


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Wrestling sure isn`t what it used to be, As we all are aware WWE is a massive industry of over developed men and women throwing each other around like rag dolls, there is endless theatrics and razzamatazz and it`s all very entertaining, if you're a fan,
me personally I used to love good . . . → Read More: WWE 12 -Wrestling Sure Isn`t What It Used To Be!


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Modules that apply to Universal Hours (Code 19) in Ambulatory Women's Health Care Nurse (AWH)
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Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass Seed - Probably the most outstanding feature of Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass is its unusually dark blue-green color, making it the darkest bluegrass available. Its high tiller density provides a thick carpet that will stand up to the abuses of high traffic associated with parks and athletic fields. Sod producers and homeowners enjoy Midnight's dwarf growth characteristics, which result in fewer mowings and reduced maintenance costs. In recent university trials, this cultivar has shown good resistance to Leaf Spot, Stem Rust, Stripe Smut and Dollar Spot, as well as good heat and drought tolerance.
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• A Very Dark Blue-Green Color
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• Very High Tiller Density
• High Drought Tolerance
• Good Tolerance to Close Mowing
Recommended Use: Golf Courses (Fairways, Tees and Roughs), Sod Farms, Athletic Fields, Parks and Home Lawns
Establishment & Maintenance: Midnight, like all bluegrasses, requires 2 - 3 weeks for complete germination. Color may be observed before that time; however in good growing weather where soil temperatures are above 65º F (18º C), expect 8 to 10 weeks for a complete stand of grass. The first mowing may be expected in about six weeks. Midnight possesses good mowing qualities and can be maintained at a cutting height ranging from 1/2 inch to 2 inches (12 - 50 mm). Midnight does well in sand or heavy clay soils, and like all bluegrasses, performs best in soils with a pH of 5.5 to 8. Three to five pounds N per 1,000 square feet per year is adequate in most areas of the United States. However, because of Midnight's dark genetic color, lower fertilizer rates will produce an acceptable color.
Seeding Rates:
Sod Farms, Golf Fairways: 100 lbs per acre(112 kgs/hectare)
Athletic Fields, Parks: 80 - 100 lbs per acre (90 - 112 kgs/hectare)
Golf Tees, Home Lawns: 2 - 3 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. (1 - 11/2 kg/ sq meter)
Plant Breeder: Dr. William Meyer - Pure Seed Testing, Inc.
Experimental Designation: PST- 1528T
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Tiger Summit anniversary elicits WWF call for elevated action to end poaching
The will shown by the leaders of the tiger range governments at the Tiger Summit now needs to be aimed at solving the problem of poaching. While many other components of the plan launched at the Summit are more complicated, putting an end to poaching of the last remaining populations of tigers and their prey requires direct action to make national parks, protected areas and tiger reserves effective refuges for tigers against poachers.
Tiger Summit
The International Tiger Forum, aka the Tiger Summit, hosted by Russian Prime Minister Putin in St. Petersburg and attended by world leaders a year ago, set out an ambitious agenda of reversing the downturn. The Summit's main outcome was an agreement to double tiger numbers by 2022 (Tx2) through the Global Tiger Recovery Programme, a document endorsed by all 13 of the countries that currently have wild tiger populations.
"Last November marked a milestone in the race to save the tiger from disappearing in the very near future," stated Mike Baltzer, Leader of WWF's Tigers Alive Initiative. "While the governments' energy and commitment is to be commended, the main cause of the decline, poaching, continues to devastate tiger numbers, and is an issue we must address with renewed vigour. Without an end to poaching, we will never get on the path of recovery. We need an elevation of action aimed directly towards zero poaching now if we are to reach the goal of doubling the number of tigers".
Lack of serious anti-poaching deterrents
Recent high profile stories demonstrate that poaching is still a crime without serious deterrents. In October on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a tiger trader caught with a skin he intended to sell received only a small fine and less than half the maximum prison sentence allowable under law after being convicted. Just a few weeks later in China, an Amur (Siberian) tiger, already a rare presence in country's border with the Russian Far East, was killed after being caught in an illegal snare.
"These incidences highlight the tiger's still precarious position, and the first step is to stop tiger killings at their source," said Craig Bruce, Protected Area and Enforcement Specialist for the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative. "Many of the protected areas that we rely on to provide refuge to tigers are poorly managed and poorly resourced. A very simple and immediate strategy is to ensure that these areas provide the refuge for which they were created. Improving their management is the most straightforward part of tiger conservation, but it requires the will of the tiger countries."
WWF calls for concrete action to build the capacity of the rangers, officials and local communities that are putting their lives on the line every day protecting tigers.
"Ideally we need to have a complete end to poaching," said Baltzer. "Criminal networks are feasting off these amazing natural assets and icons of the wild, and with their killing methods growing and becoming more sophisticated, this task will only grow more and more difficult. We must act now."
Stamping out poaching
Though halting poaching of tigers at their source is the immediate concern, efforts are required to reduce the demand for tigers and their parts that is presently fuelling the poaching. A WWF and TRAFFIC workshop held in Hong Kong this week brought together creative experts from NGOs, universities, governments and the media to address the issue, and seek new solutions for the growing appetite for tigers in Asia.
While setting a spark for a zero poaching future is the most immediate priority, some progress has been made since the Summit. The announcement earlier this month by INTERPOL of the formation of Project Predator, a consortium of international agencies and governments uniting police, customs and wildlife officials to stop tiger poaching and trafficking represents just one of many initiatives ignited across the world by the Summit and the dedication shown by the leaders at the meeting.
WWF is committed to halting the poaching of tigers and their prey. This year it has been working with partners to find better ways to improve the effectiveness of ranger patrols through the development of law enforcement monitoring systems across Asia, training teams in the latest methods, including the MSTRiPES and MIST programmes.
As these programmes develop towards the end of the year and throughout 2012, their integration into current and emerging anti-poaching efforts will be vital to reduce the killing and turn tiger numbers around.


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Stephenson, Winker hope to build on Futures Game
MINNEAPOLIS -- As Reds prospects Robert Stephenson and Jesse Winker were preparing themselves for the Sirius-XM All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, both were keenly aware of what being part of the exhibition implied.
If things continue to progress well, they could be in the Major Leagues -- perhaps sooner rather than later. The recent history of Reds prospects who played in the game should provide added optimism.View Full Game Coverage
MINNEAPOLIS -- As Reds prospects Robert Stephenson and Jesse Winker were preparing themselves for the Sirius-XM All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, both were keenly aware of what being part of the exhibition implied.
If things continue to progress well, they could be in the Major Leagues -- perhaps sooner rather than later. The recent history of Reds prospects who played in the game should provide added optimism.View Full Game Coverage
Joey Votto and Homer Bailey played in the Futures game in 2006 and debuted in the Majors for Cincinnati by 2007. Jay Bruce played the game in 2007 and was in the big leagues by 2008. Devin Mesoraco was a participant in 2011 and with the Reds by 2012. Billy Hamilton was a two-time Futures Game player in 2012-13 and a September callup last season and an everyday player this season.
"Just to think about playing with those guys one day. That just gives you goosebumps," said Winker, an outfielder at Double-A Pensacola. "I know they've all been in this game. It's really cool to come up behind them and get to continue being among the Reds' guys who get to play in the game.
"Once I got the call, I was fired up. It's something that I've always wanted to do. I watched Billy do it the last two years."
Stephenson, the Reds' No. 1 prospect according to MLB.com, was the organization's first-round Draft pick in 2011 (27th overall). He's pitched this season for Pensacola. Winker, a 2012 supplemental first-round pick, is listed as MLB.com's No. 3 prospect in the organization.
"It's awesome," Stephenson said of playing in the game. "I'm trying to look around and soak it all in right now. It's pretty cool. I was really honored."
Winker started the Futures Game in left field, batting seventh, and went 1-for-2. Leading off the bottom of the third, he lined a double off of the left-field wall and scored the game's first run. In the fourth, Winker flied out to left field and he exited after five innings.
Stephenson pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing one hit -- a lined leadoff single by Dalton Pompey -- and recording one strikeout. Of his 11 pitches, eight were strikes and he topped 98 miles per hour on the radar.
What they've learned
Stephenson, 21, has a power right arm that can bring fastballs up to 99 mph, and is learning to deal with adversity on the mound for the first time. The results haven't come as easy in Double-A this season, where he is 4-6 with a 3.97 ERA in 18 games, including 17 starts. He has allowed 74 hits, 48 walks, while registering 93 strikeouts and a 1.31 WHIP over 93 innings thus far.
"Probably the best part of it has actually been the struggles and trying to learn from it," Stephenson said. "I'm learning from my mistakes and trying to get better. I think I've made a lot of improvements this year and I'm still working to get better."
Lacking command of the strike zone, Stephenson feels, has been his primary issue. He's leaving pitches where they can be hit more often.
"The ability to react to adversity and make an adjustment and come out of it with positive results is something we really enjoy seeing," Reds Minor League director Jeff Graupe said in late May. "While you hope each guy breezes through and never struggles, there is something positive about having some tough times and coming out the other end better."
Winker, a lefty hitter who turns 21 in August, has primarily played left field this season for Class A Bakersfield (53 games) and Pensacola (20 games). He's batting .213/.326/.360 with two homers and eight RBIs at Double-A thus far, after he hit .317/.426/.580 in high-A ball.
"I've done very well this year, I think, not just offensively but defensively," Winker said. "I was labeled early as a guy that didn't play good defense and I took that hard. I know I can play, especially good defense. I wanted to prove [something] to get rid of that label. I've also progressed on the bases and in the box."
Perhaps something you did not know
While he attended Alhambra High School in Martinez, Calif., Stephenson became interested in woodworking and became a sort-of-craftsman.
"I haven't done it in a while. I'd like to get back into it when I get a chance," Stephenson said. "I made some tables, jewelry boxes and a couple of other little things."
Winker grew up in Orlando, Fla., but is a diehard hockey fan and a football fan of the Buffalo Bills. The Bills? Really?
"I was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and moved when I was seven," Winker said. "I've gone back and visited my family quite a few times. We go back about every other year. It's a great spot."
How the future looks
Stephenson has a potential shot of being a September callup this season and could be in the big league rotation within the next two seasons. Current starters Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and Mike Leake can all be free agents after the 2015 season. Cueto has a $10 million option for next season that seems a good bet to be picked up.
Winker isn't expected to be part of the Reds' unsettled left-field situation this season. One of the current left fielders, Ryan Ludwick, has a $9 million mutual option for 2015. The other corner outfielder, Bruce in right field, can't be a free agent until 2017.
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon.


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Fast Times with Melissa Lee
By Christopher A. Pape | Photography by Andrew Walker/Getty Images
Her combination of brains, beauty and charm has made her a leading figure in the financial news business. Her ability to gauge the subtle changes in the financial markets has made her a trusted source for analysis that is accurate and hard-hitting. Her ethnicity, Chinese-American, has made her a heroine to young boys (and especially) girls of the same background. Her name, of course, is Melissa Lee. And she is the anchor of Fast Money, one of the most successful programs on the award-winning CNBC.


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Think food aid should be cut? Try living on so little yourself
For the last week, we both ate on $4.50 a day, the average amount a Michigan recipient receives for food assistance. We took this SNAP Challenge to spotlight the importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and to oppose the $20 billion in cuts House Republicans have included in their farm bill.
We learned more lessons than either of us expected.
It is barely enough to get by on. Shopping on $31.50 for the week was hard to do. Eating was worse. Neither of us felt full or nutritionally satisfied.
It is hard to eat nutritiously on so little. Admittedly, neither of us maintains a strict diet that balances carbs, proteins or fat. But seldom have our diets seen such a lack of diversity of fruits, vegetables and meats.
Even more compelling than our personal experiences was the personal outreach we received from the community. We were touched by the phone calls, e-mails, Facebook posts and random encounters of people who shared their own personal, often difficult stories with us. Countless people have relied on this vital program at some point to stave off hunger, often too embarrassed to share their hardships with others. We were honored to give a public voice to their experiences.
We better understand the social isolation many people feel, unable to accept a simple invitation to a restaurant or potluck dinner because they don't have the means to pay or food to contribute.
We got lots of menu ideas and shopping suggestions. Our Facebook pages became a sort of Pinterest board. It speaks to the basic nature of food and the importance of good nutrition.
Finally, while we already knew that 50 million Americans experience "food insecurity," the meaning of this term took on new significance as we worried about how we would stretch our purchases to last through the week without running short of a meal, and thought about how difficult it would be to have only $31.50, not just for one week — but week after week.
More than 47 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits work every day, raise their kids and live productive lives, yet are still unable to scrape enough together to provide food for an entire month. And many are disabled or too infirm to work.
Economists have found that SNAP is one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, especially in a weak economy. According to Moody's Analytics, every dollar increase in SNAP benefits generates $1.72 in economic activity. At the grocery store where we bought our food, for instance, we learned that 20% of the customers use a Bridge card.
During the last seven days, we learned all too well the challenge of putting food on the table for just $4.50 a day. If the $20 billion in cuts that Republicans have proposed were to take effect, more than 2 million Americans would lose even that much assistance. For them, the challenge would become all the more difficult.


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LV.Net is a Las Vegas locally owned and operated leading multi-service High Speed Internet provider. Our services range from High Speed Internet to multi-site high bandwidth access with custom intranets and recovery solutions. LV.Net offers fiber, licensed microwave, wireless and Wi-Fi to its clients. All services are backed by professional, dependable, 24/7/365 technical support. Read More »
LV.Net Internet Services is a locally owned and operated Las Vegas ISP and provider of a full range of Internet services, making LV.Net a complete Internet and web service solution for all business and residential needs.
A Las Vegas High Speed Internet Service Provider, we offer both residential and business Internet access over a number of connection types that include nationwide dial up, DSL, wireless Internet, T-1, DS3 and Metro Ethernet services. As the leading Wireless Internet Service provider (WISP), LV.Net is filling the broadband coverage gaps in Las Vegas, offering wireless alternatives to traditional broadband connections at a fraction of the cost.
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Friday, January 18, 2013
8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST
The Pepperdine Law Review and Tax Analysts are pleased to invite you to a symposium discussing Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration. Coinciding with inauguration weekend, the symposium will feature four panel discussions with a variety of prominent and well-known scholars and practitioners who will discuss how the tax code may change during the next four years. The symposium will also feature a keynote address by Columbia Law School's Michael Graetz and a luncheon address by David Cay Johnston, an investigative journalist and author and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize.
This symposium has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credit by the State Bar of California for 6.5 credit hours. Pepperdine University School of Law certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education.
If you have any questions, please contact us by phone at (310) 506-4653.
In the initial conference brochure, Pepperdine mistakenly included a registration fee schedule used for previous conferences. Pepperdine regrets the error and has since waived all fees for attending the symposium. Symposium attendees who have already submitted payment will be contacted shortly about receiving a refund.


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BOSTON (AP) — There was only one problem with a Boston hotel's plan to offer alcoholic drinks named after two city mayoral candidates: one of them is a recovering alcoholic.
Officials at the Loews Boston Hotel canceled the promotion after being questioned recently by a Boston Herald reporter.
The hotel had planned to sell $8 drinks named after Democratic mayoral candidates John R. Connolly and Martin J. Walsh, and offer $4 nonalcoholic alternatives to them, in its bar, Cuffs. Walsh, a state representative, has openly discussed his past troubles with alcohol during his campaign.
Loews Boston had planned to keep a tab on sales of the drinks — dubbed the J.R. Connelly and M.J. Walsh — as an unofficial, pre-election indicator of who was winning the race, the Herald reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/19Oudnn ).
"Loews Boston Hotel acknowledges the insensitivity of this recent promotion and have canceled it effective immediately," the hotel said in a statement after being questioned by the reporter.
Walsh's campaign declined to comment.
Walsh and Connolly, a city councilor and former teacher, were the top vote-getters in a recent preliminary election before the Nov. 5 general election.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is stepping down in January after 20 years in office.
Information from: Boston Herald, http://www.bostonherald.com


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New Research Indicates that Oilfield Workers in Fresno, CA Also at Higher Risk of Car Accidents
Being hurt on the job for an oilfield employee is certainly a risk that most workers are aware of. However, new research indicates that these employees may also be at higher risk of being hurt in a fatal car accident. The Fresno, CA oil industry is filled with workers who tend to be male and young while also working long hours driving pickup trucks across rural highways in the states in which oilfield drilling is becoming more popular.
Car Accidents a Leading Cause of Injuries in Fresno, CA
A recent study identified that gas and oil workers are 8 and a half times more likely to die in car accidents while on their job than individuals who work in other industries. Texas is home to more than one-third of the oilfield workers who were killed in car crashes on the job between 2003 and 2009.
The research study was published in Accident Analysis and Prevention and was created with data pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, identifying more than 200 oil and gas extraction employees died in car accidents between 2003 and 2009. This included individuals working for well service companies, drilling contractors, and operators but excluded landmen or other employee categories. In total, car crashes accounted for 28% of all work-related deaths for individuals working in that industry. Only individuals working in warehousing and transportation had higher rates of vehicle associated fatalities.
More than half of these fatalities involved a pickup truck, which does not require that the driver maintain commercial driver's license. If you have recently been injured in an oilfield accident, you need to consult with an experienced attorney as soon as possible.
If you have been involved in such an accident in Fresno, CA, there are complicated legal issues at play and these should be evaluated by an experienced oilfield accident lawyer in Fresno, CA. The right attorney can help you figure out the best way to approach your case in order to maximize compensation.
While working on an offshore drilling rig or an in oilfield is always going to carry some level for risk, being aware of the most dangerous situations and applying extra caution while traveling to and from the worksite could help prevent accidents or even save your life. If another person's negligence is behind the injuries you have sustained, consulting with an attorney can help you determine your next steps in terms of filing a personal injury claim.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Meeting of July 15, 2009 – Age Discrimination in the 21st Century-Barriers to the Employment of Older Workers
From the date of its passage, section 4(a) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 623(a) made it unlawful to "discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age; . . . ." While this statutory prohibition did not expressly mention employee benefits, another provision of the ADEA did. Section 4(f)(2) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2), under a heading captioned "Lawful Practices," set forth an exception to the prohibitions of section 4(a) which allowed an employer "to observe the terms of any . . . bona fide employee benefit plan such as a retirement, pension or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of this Act . . . ." (emphasis added). Reading these two provisions in tandem led the Department of Labor to the logical conclusion that the phrase "compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment" encompassed not only wages, but all non-wage forms of compensation and employee benefits.
Just two years after the passage of the ADEA, the Department of Labor issued an interpretative regulation entitled "Costs and Benefits Under Employee Benefit Plans." 29 C.F.R. § 860.120 (1969); 34 Fed. Reg. 9709 (June 21, 1969). The regulation announced the following rule, which has since become known as the "equal benefit or equal cost" rule:
A retirement, pension or insurance plan will be considered in compliance with the statute where the actual amount of payment made, or cost incurred, in behalf of an older workers is equal to that made or incurred in behalf of a younger workers, even though the older worker may thereby receive a lesser amount of pension or retirement benefits, or insurance coverage.
29 C.F.R. § 860.120(a). The regulation containing the "equal benefit or equal cost" rule remained unchanged until Congress amended the ADEA in 1978 to raise the upper age of coverage for the Act from 65 to 70 years of age, while at the same time amending section 4(f)(2) with an express provision outlawing the common practice of mandatory retirement. The principal purpose of the 1978 amendment was to make clear that "the exception (§ 4(f)(2)) does not authorize an employer to require or permit involuntary retirement of an employee within the protected age group on account of age." H. Rep. No. 95-950, at 9 (1978).
During congressional passage of the 1978 amendments, Congress "reaffirmed unequivocally that the employer's burden of proving 'equal benefit or equal cost' under Section 4(f)(2) was consistent with congressional intent when enacting Section 4(f)(2) in 1967." S. Rep. No. 101-263, at 9 (1990). As Congress observed during the 1990 passage of the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, "[t]he 'equal benefit or equal cost' principle under section 4(f)(2) was repeatedly, and specifically, recited by managers of the amendments and other members of Congress as an employer's exclusive means of proving compliance with the ADEA." Id.
June Betts, an employee of the Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and at the age of 61, applied for disability retirement. However, under the terms of the Public Employees Retirement System of the State of Ohio (PERS), employees who became disabled after reaching age 60 were not entitled to disability retirement benefits. So, instead of receiving the $355 per month that a younger employee with comparable service and salary would have received, Ms. Betts only received a standard age-and-service pension of $158.50 per month.
Ms. Betts challenged her denial of disability retirement benefits under the ADEA. Relying on the "equal benefit or equal cost" rule, both the district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the PERS plan qualified for the section 4(f)(2) exception only if any age-related reductions in employee benefits were justified by the increased cost of providing those benefits to older employees. The Sixth Circuit accurately described the case, "Under the disability plan, two employees with the same number of service years and the same final salary are treated identically unless one of the two employees is 60 or older." Bett v. Hamilton County Bd. of Mental Retardation, 848 F.2d 692, 695 (6th Cir. 1988). Because the age-related disparity in benefits was not supported by any cost-justification, the plan was held to violate the ADEA.
The Supreme Court reversed. In Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio v. Betts, 492 U.S. 158 (1989), the Supreme Court ruled that "the general prohibitions of section 4(a)(1) of the ADEA . . . do not apply to employee benefit plans." S. Rep. No. 101-263, at 14. The Court further ruled that the objective "equal benefit or equal cost" rule in effect from the ADEA's enactment could not be reconciled with the "subterfuge" language of the § 4(f)(2) exception for employee benefit plans. The practical effect of the Court's ruling was to permit arbitrary age discrimination in all types of benefit plans except when "intended to serve the purpose of discriminating in some non-fringe benefit aspects of the employment relationship." Id.
Congress acted swiftly to overrule Betts and "to restore the original congressional intent in passing and amending the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq.) which was to prohibit discrimination against older workers in all employee benefits except when age-based reductions in employee benefit plans are justified by significant cost considerations." Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Pub. L. 101-433, Title I, § 101 (Oct. 16, 1990; 104 Stat. 978) (emphasis added).
In order to restore its intent that the ADEA prohibits age discrimination in the provision of employee benefits, Congress enacted several changes to the ADEA. First, Congress added section 11(l) to make it unmistakably clear that "[t]he term 'compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment' encompasses all employee benefits, including such benefits provided pursuant to a bona fide employee benefit plans." 29 U.S.C. § 630(l). Second, Congress deleted the "subterfuge" provision in § 4(f)(2) and replaced it with the literal language of the "equal benefit or equal cost" rule, making it unlawful for an employer to "observe the terms of a bona fide employee benefit plan (i) where, for each benefit or benefit package, the actual amount of payment made or cost incurred on behalf of an older worker is no less than that made or incurred on behalf of a younger workers, as permissible under section 1625.10, title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on June 22, 1989) . . ." 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2)(B). As Congress noted, "Employers invoking this defense [§ 4(f)(2)] are required to provide equal benefits to, or to incur equal cost for benefits on behalf of, all employees. The [OWBPA] tracks the requirements set forth in ADEA regulations for over twenty years, requirements that had been approved by every federal court of appeals to consider the defense in the 12 years preceding the decision in Betts." S. Rep. No. 101-263, at 5.
In addition, the OWBPA made it clear that the employer bears the burden of proof to rebut a charge of age discrimination in benefits. 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2). The standard for determining whether unlawful age discrimination occurs in employee benefits is an objective one, specifically the "equal benefit or equal cost" standard. 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2)(B)(i). Congress specifically rejected a subjective standard. The codification of the "equal benefit or equal cost" standard replaced the subjective intent standard articulated by the Court in Betts. In the face of a claim of unequal benefits based on age, the ADEA dictates that the employer's only defenses are to prove (1) equal benefits, or (2) that age-related costs justify the difference in the benefits, 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2)(B)(i), or (3) one of the explicit safe harbors contained in 29 U.S.C. § 623(l) of the ADEA. These defenses are technical, objective standards. Thus, the employer's intentions in structuring a benefit or benefit plan, whether good, bad, or indifferent towards older workers, play no role in determining whether there is a violation of the ADEA.
The facts of the Kentucky Retirement System v. EEOC, 128 S. Ct. 2361 (2008) case are remarkably similar to those in Public Employees Retirement Sys. v. Betts, 492 U.S. 158 (1989), the decision that precipitated the enactment of the OWBPA. The KRS disability-retirement benefits plan disqualifies employees who are still working from receiving disability- retirement benefits if they have already reached normal retirement age (age 55) at the time they become disabled. The KRS plan also calculates disability-retirement benefits in such a way that an older employee who is eligible to receive disability benefits (i.e., who hasn't reached normal retirement age) receives fewer benefits – in the form of lower monthly benefit payments – than a younger disabled employee receiving disability-retirement benefits who is similar to the older disabled employee in every relevant factor other than age.
The case presented a textbook example of age discrimination - the KRS plan denies an employee benefit based on age and thus is facially discriminatory. The Supreme Court had made clear that an employer's reliance "upon a formal, facially discriminatory policy requiring adverse treatment of employees with that [protected] trait" establishes a prima facie disparate treatment claim under the ADEA. Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604, 610 (1993) citing Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 121 (1985).
The KRS plan is facially discriminatory because it categorically excludes still-working employees over age 55 from an employment benefit because of their age. In order to be eligible for disability-retirement benefits, employees must become disabled before they reach age 55. Kentucky's decision to make employees ineligible for disability-retirement benefits simply because they have reached normal retirement age is a "formal, facially discriminatory policy" that discriminates on the basis of age.
Although the Kentucky Retirement System case involved a plan that denied older workers a benefit that was provided to younger workers , the Court wholly disregarded the OWBPA and announced a new rule that has potential to thwart the purposes of the ADEA. That rule reads:
Where an employer adopts a pension plan that includes age as a factor, and that employer then treats employees differently based on pension status, a plaintiff, to state a disparate treatment claim under the ADEA, must adduce sufficient evidence to show that the differential treatment was 'actually motivated' by age, not pension status.
128 S. Ct. at 2370 (emphasis in original).
The Court cited six factors that caused it to conclude that the differences in treatment between older and younger employees "were not 'actually motivated' by age. 128 S.Ct. at 2367. These factors are:
(1) "age and pension status remain 'analytically distinct' concepts. . . one can easily conceive of decisions that are actually made 'because of' pension status and not age, even where pension status is itself based on age. Id.
(2) The case involved "not an individual employment decision, but a set of complex systemwide rules. These systemic rules involve, not wages, but pension – a benefit that the ADEA treates somewhat more flexibly and leniently in respect to age." Id.
(3) "[T]here is a clear non-age-related rational for the disparity. . . the whole purpose of the disability rules is . . . to treat a disabled worker as though he had become disabled after, rather than before, he had become eligible for normal retirement benefits." Id. at 2368. "The disparity turns upon pension eligibility and nothing more." Id. at 2369.
(4) "[A]lthough Kentucky's Plan placed an older worker at a disadvantage in this case, in other cases, it can work to the advantage of older workers." Id. (emphasis in original).
(5) "Kentucky's system does not rely on any of the sorts of stereotypical assumption that the ADEA sought to eradicate. It does not rest on any stereotype about the work capacity of 'older' workers relative to 'younger' workers." Id.
(6) "The difficulty of finding a remedy that can both correct the disparity and achieve the Plan's legitimate objective . . . ." Id.
The Court suggests that these are the factors a plaintiff "might show to provide that differential treatment based on pension status is in fact discrimination "because of" age. Id.
At its core, the Kentucky Retirement System case was about denying older workers a benefit that was provided to younger workers. Yet, the Court deemed the OWBPA to be "beside the point." 128 S.Ct. at 2370. The OWBPA is hardly beside the point. The denial of an employee benefit to older workers based on their eligibility for retirement, when such eligibility is defined by age, is a clear violation of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 623 (a)(1) and 623(f)(2)(B)(i), as amended by the OWBPA. The OWBPA expressly requires employers to provide equal benefits or to incur equal costs in providing benefits to older and younger employees.
Under the OWBPA, the discrimination is the difference in the benefits, plain and simple. In the Court's own words, the KRS plan "treats some of those disabled individuals more generously than it treats some of those who became disabled only after becoming eligible for retirement on the basis of age." 128 S.Ct. at 2364 (emphasis added).
In passing the OWBPA, Congress thoroughly examined the practice of denying benefits to older workers based on pension eligibility and repeatedly declared that the practice violated the ADEA. See H.R. Rep. No. 101-664, at 40 (1990) ("pension benefits are age related. . . Accordingly, it is per se age discrimination to use pension-eligibility as a basis for denying an older worker any other benefits.") (emphasis in original); S. Rep. No. 101-263, at 23 (1990) (same). Representative Clay, one of the leading proponents of the OWBPA, remarked on passage:
We do not permit employers to pay an older workers less than a younger worker solely because of age; employers must also be prohibited from providing older workers smaller benefits or no benefits solely because of their age or other proxies for age for example, pension or Medicare eligibility.
Cong. Rec. H8617 (daily ed. October 3, 1990) (statement of Rep. Clay).
This decision opens the door for employers to not only deny benefits to older workers based on their age-based eligibility for retirement benefits but to justify all kinds of policies that discriminate based on age. As the dissent explains, "If the ADEA allows an employer to tie disability benefits to an age-based pension status designation, that same designation can be used to determine wages, hours, health care benefits, reimbursements, job assignments, promotions, office space, transportation vouchers, parking privileges, and any other conceivable benefit or condition of employment." 128 S.Ct. at 2376. The Court "create[d] a virtual safe harbor for policies that discriminate on the basis of pension status, even when pension status is tied directly to age and then linked to another type of benefit program." Id. at 2375.
Under Kentucky Retirement System, an employer could offer an early retirement incentive plan that offers a cash incentive – say $20,000 – but limit the incentive to those not already eligible for normal retirement benefits. They could also offer $10,000 a year beginning say at age 58 – but that stipend would terminate once the individual became eligible for normal retirement – which is almost always going to be defined by age. An employee's only recourse would be to adduce evidence that the incentive was denied to retirement-eligible workers because of the stereotype that they would be retiring soon anyway – and that is if courts can be convinced that the assumption that retirement-eligible workers will be retiring soon anyway is a stereotype and not a "trueism" If not, it will be difficult to challenge a hiring policy where the employer refuses to hire individuals within 5 years of normal retirement age – on the theory that they won't be staying long anyway. Similarly, what would prevent an employer from refusing to promote retirement-eligible employees for the same reason - the decision not to promote them was not based on age – but pension status.
Since the 1980's, courts uniformly held that the ADEA prohibits the practice of denying benefits to employees because their age (sometimes combined with years of service) makes them eligible for retirement benefits. See EEOC v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 725 F.2d 211, 222-23 (3d Cir. 1983) ("If eligibility for . . . retirement can be used to justify the denial [of benefits] to older employees, the purpose of the ADEA will be defeated."); EEOC v. Borden's, Inc., 724 F.2d 1390, 1393 (9th Cir. 1984) (rejecting arguments that a severance policy that denied benefits to retirement-eligible employees "distinguished employees on the basis of their retirement status, and not solely because of age. . . ."). And, the OWBPA's legislative history contains clear and specific language condemning the practice of denying severance benefits to pension-eligible individuals. Yet, the Kentucky Retirement System decision seems to leave the door open to that practice surviving scrutiny. After all, KRS's rationale for denying benefits to older workers was that it was seeking "to provide assistance to members who are unable to continue working, but would not have a source of income through unreduced retirement benefits," Brief of Petitioners at 13. It was merely seeking to "provide a boost" to younger workers. Id. at 23. Yet, the Supreme Court held that rationale was not "because of age."
Another disturbing possibility is courts extending this holding to allow employers to not only discriminate against those already pension-eligible – but those within proximity to eligibility. This is not outside the realms of possibility. Indeed, not everyone harmed by the KRS policy was already pension-eligible – they were just the most harmed – the closer you were to eligibility the less benefits you received.
a. EEOC v. Baltimore County, 593 F. Supp. 2d 797 (D. Md. 2009)
Under the challenged pension system, the percentage of salary that new hires pay into the pension plan varies depending on the number of years to retirement eligibility. Because participation was mandatory, the result was that older workers had lower take home pay than younger workers. The court ruled that the system did not violate the ADEA because the fact that older new-hires had to pay more into the plan than younger new-hires was not "because of age" but instead was motivated by the permissible principle of time value of money.
b. Schultz v. Windstream Communications, Inc., 2009 WL 1028175 (Apr. 16, 2009 D. Neb)
Defendant's pension plan had a normal retirement age of 65. It also allowed unreduced early retirement for workers with 30 years of experience irrespective of age, or actuarially reduced pensions for workers at least 50 years old with 25 years of experience. Defendant amended its pension plan to allow employees (all under age 50 with more than 25 but less than 30 years of service whose employment was being terminated due to a reduction-in-force, and who were not eligible for but would have qualified for benefits had they been allowed to work until December 31, 2008, to receive unreduced pension benefits immediately upon their termination. The plaintiffs were all over 50 with more than 25 but less than 30 years of service which qualified them for a reduced pension benefit. Had each of the plaintiffs received the same enhancement, i.e., been presumed to work until December 31, 2008, they would have also qualified for an unreduced pension benefit.
Denying the plaintiffs' age discrimination claims, the court held that "[a]t least four of the factors discussed in Kentucky Retirement weigh against the plaintiffs in this case." For one, "[t]he eligibility provisions of the Plan and the Early Retirement benefits created and assigned [by the plan amendment] are not based on stereotypical assumptions that older workers have less work capacity. . . Rather, Windstream assumed all employees nearly early retirement eligibility, but release [as part of the reduction-in-force] would have continued working until they were eligible for early retirement." Significantly, but ignored by the court, the plaintiffs were not given the benefit of the same assumption.
c. Walker v. Monsanto Co. Pension Plan, 2009 WL 1651378 (S.D. Ill. June 11, 2009)
Plaintiffs challenged the manner in which the employer converted its defined benefit pension plan to a cash-balance plan. Specifically, at issue was a section of the plan which directed that "interest credits" be awarded at a rate of 8.5% per year until the participant reached age 55, at which time the interest credit awards ceased. Defendant argued that interest credits did not cease "because of age" but because the early retirement discount had been fully restored which happened to coincide with the participant reaching age 55. Holding for the defendant, the court ruled that "Nothing in the record indicates the early retirement discount reversal designed to provide a fully subsidized early retirement benefit at age 55 was 'based on a 'prohibited stereotype' of older workers, produce[d] any 'attendant stigma' to those workers, [or was] 'the result of an inaccurate and denigrating generalization about age,'" the evils age discrimination statutes were designed to remedy." 2009 WL 1651378 at * 8 quoting Kentucky Retirement System, 128 S. Ct. at 2366-67.
In Hazen Paper co. v. Biggins, the Supreme Court observed that, "Congress' promulgation of the ADEA was prompted by its concern that older workers were being deprived of employment on the basis of inaccurate and stigmatizing stereotypes." 507 U.S. 604, 610 (1993). See also EEOC v. Wyoming, 460 U.S. 226, 231 (1983) ("Although age discrimination rarely was based on the sort of animus motivating other forms of discrimination, it was based in large part on stereotypes unsupported by objective fact, and was often defended on grounds different from its actual causes."). In the wake of the Hazen Paper decision, numerous lower courts have seized upon that observation to argue that the ADEA prohibits only discrimination based on inaccurate stereotypes.
There is no basis in the language of the ADEA to restrict its reach to employment decisions based on stereotypes. The language of section 4(a)(1), which prohibits discrimination in the "terms, conditions and privileges of employment," is not conditioned by any language such as "only if the discrimination is based on 'inaccurate and stigmatizing.'" Section 4(a)(1) makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate "because of such individual's age . . . ." 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1). The ADEA's legislative history, which was the basis of Justice O'Connor's dicta regarding stereotypes in the Hazen Paper opinion, cannot revise and limit the ADEA's statutory prohibitions.
The purposes of the ADEA also speak in much broader terms than just inaccurate and stigmatizing stereotypes. The purposes of the ADEA are to prohibit arbitrary discrimination, to promote the employment of older workers, and to help workers and employers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment. 29 U.S.C. § 621(b). In McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., 513 U.S. 352, 357 (1995), a unanimous Supreme Court emphasized that the ADEA "reflects a societal condemnation of invidious bias in employment decisions . . .[that is] part of a wider statutory scheme to protect employees in the workplace nationwide." This strong language contradicts attempts to limit the reach of the ADEA to stereotypical thinking alone. To the contrary, the ADEA is a broad, remedial statute and should be construed liberally in order to further its purposes. See Oscar Mayer U Co. v. Evans, 441 U.S. 750, 765-66 (1979) (Blackmun, J. concurring); see also Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 121 (1985) quoting Lorillard v. Pons, 434 U.S. 575, 577 (1978) ("The ADEA 'broadly prohibits arbitrary discrimination in the workplace based on age.'").
Moreover, in City of Los Angeles, Dep't of Water and Power v. Manhart, 435 U.S. 702 (1978), the Supreme Court held that even reliance on stereotypes that were accurate and nonstigmatizing violated Title VII. Since the prohibitions of the ADEA and Title VII are identical, Lorillard v. Pons, 434 U.S. 575, 584 (1978) ("the prohibitions of the ADEA were derived in haec verba from Title VII"), liability under either statute clearly does not depend on whether the employer is motivated by inaccurate stereotypes or accurate facts about the protected class. Indeed, the ADEA prohibits an employer from denying or reducing employee benefits based on age, despite the fact that when it enacted the ADEA, Congress was aware of the fact that the cost of providing certain benefits to older workers can be higher than providing the same benefits to younger workers. S. Rep. No. 90-723, at 14 (1967). Denying an employee benefit based on age, even if motivated by accurate cost data and not unfounded stereotypes, violates the ADEA unless the employer's actions meet the strict requirements of § 623(f)(2)(i).
In sum, although Congress may have been "prompted by its concern that older workers were being deprived of employment on the basis of inaccurate and stigmatizing stereotypes," Hazen Paper, 507 U.S. at 610, when it actually came time to draft the statutory language it chose to prohibit all forms of arbitrary age discrimination. Requiring age discrimination victims to prove that in discriminating against them, the employer was motivated by stereotypes severely limits the ADEA's effectiveness to fight discrimination against older workers. After all, as the Supreme Court has recognized, "[t]here will seldom be 'eyewitness testimony' as to the employer's mental processes." United States v. Postal Serv. Bd. of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 716 (1983).


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Pinkerton lacrosse team wins
April 22. 2013 1:07AM
Dominic Corsetto and Jake Lisauskas each scored three goals to lead Pinkerton Academy of Derry to an 11-7 Division I boys' lacrosse victory against Exeter at Bill Ball Stadium Saturday.
The Astros (5-1) were led by Brett Dattilo, who won 17 of 19 face-offs.
Girls' lacrosse
Portsmouth 10, Bishop Guertin 7: In Portsmouth Saturday, the Cardinals (3-1) were led by Caley Prunier (two goals) Nicole Pettiglio (two goals), Callie Santos (goal) and Averi Farhat, who scored once.
Andover, Mass. 7, Nashua North 0: In Nashua Saturday, Kyle McCarthy took the loss for North (3-2) going five innings. He gave up two unearned runs. Spencer Madden had two hits for North.
Bishop Guertin 3, Chelmsford, Mass. 0: In Nashua Saturday, Jason Ferlan went six innings, allowing one hit. Ferlan struckout five batters. BG (5-1) was led offensively by Matt Morais, who drove in two runs.


text: Growing the game - South Delta Leader May 23, 200812:00AM PDT Previous Next Philip Raphael Steve Cardwell stands on the main staircase landing of the Delta School District's main office, balancing a soccer ball on his right instep. The Supt. of Delta's schools is posing for a photograph to go along with the district's announcement last week it has given the green light to set up three soccer academies in local schools in conjunction with the Vancouver Whitecaps pro soccer club. Two are slated to operate in North Delta for boys starting in September, and one in Tsawwassen for girls is scheduled to kick off in 2009. Cardwell's athletic feat with the soccer ball is strikingly symbolic as dwindling enrolment in Delta's schools has prompted a search for ways to balance the district's books. If all goes as planned and young soccer players are drawn to the academies, Delta could have a net gain of a dozen or more students from outside the district in the first year of operation. And with provincial funding at around $5,800 per enrolled student that would help address future funding shortfalls. This year, local trustees had to grapple with a deficit of just over $3 million—something that required cuts to teaching support staff and administrative workers in the district. The fear is school closures are next if funding and enrolment solutions are not found. Funding not the only motivator But listening to Cardwell the move to set up another sports academy in Delta—one for ice hockey has been run from South Delta Secondary since 2004 and a softball academy is located at Seaquam Secondary in North Delta—is not purely done for financial reasons. "It really stems from the symposium we had earlier this year—Vision 2012—The Schools We Want," he says. "That talked about offering students a wider variety of choices in programs." And if that helps retain local students and then attracts those from outside the district it would provide a win-win situation for local schools and the individual student, he adds. So far, the numbers look promising with spots filling up at the academies at Delview Secondary—for boys in Grades 8 to 10—and North Delta Secondary—for players in Grades 11 and 12. The association with the Vancouver Whitecaps is also a big boost for the district's academies and the game of soccer locally as well, Cardwell adds. "Soccer is inexpensive, multicultural, open to boys and girls, highly involving at all levels of skill, a great team sport and fun to watch," he says. Pro game to benefit Watching closely is Bob Lenarduzzi, president of the Vancouver Whitecaps and a recognizable face in the Canadian soccer scene as a player and former head coach of Canada's national team. He is delighted the pro club has found a home in Delta's schools and hopes the program will solidify the Whitecaps' efforts to grow the game at the grassroots level, while at the same time developing elite players who may one day suit up for a professional team and even represent Canada on the world stage. The three academies slated for Delta will be run in addition to the Whitecaps' residency program for older elite players in Burnaby. "We had nothing like this when I was growing up," says Lenarduzzi who started playing with the Whitecaps in the early 1970s. "Before that, when I was 14 I had to go to England and play with Reading if I wanted to progress." He adds it is the responsibility of professional clubs in Canada to provide elite prospects with the opportunity to train at a high level and now the Whitecaps have stable financial backing to support that. "We have solid ownership and can look ahead at player development like this at the grassroots level," he says, adding praise for the school district, Corporation of Delta and the community for making similar programs such as the Vancouver Giants involvement in South Delta a success. Lenarduzzi says while examining the possibility of putting down roots in Delta the Whitecaps talked with the WHL club's officials and looked at their relationship with the community and found a wealth of support the soccer club would like to tap into. Local connection Growing the game of soccer from the ground up has been the vocation of Bart Choufour. A teacher at South Delta Secondary who has been running his own soccer schools for many years, he now divides his time in the classroom with being the Whitecaps' head coach of the boys' prospects. He believes the establishment of the academies in Delta a step in the right direction. "You've got to give the Delta School District some credit here for jumping on this right away and making this program happen," Choufour says. "This will be a program that will help identify the elite players and also give them an excellent academic foundation as well. But more often than not, those kids who are the top players are also very committed and excel at academics." According to the Whitecaps, the objective of the Delta School programs is to provide a formal training program, within the school timetable, with a commitment to academic and athletic excellence. The curriculum is designed to enhance the technical and tactical components of the student-athlete's game through extensive on-field and off-field training. Community asset Falling in line with the academy program in Delta schools is the prospect of the Whitecaps establishing a training facility at John Oliver Park. The club is currently in discussions with Delta officials on setting up new playing fields and support services at the site. Part of a deal would include community access. While an agreement is being worked on, no timetable has been set to reach a deal. But Lenarduzzi concedes having soccer academies in Delta does help. Convinced of positive impact on the community through the academies and the possible inclusion of a training facility is Rick Connors, president of the Tsawwassen Soccer Club. "You look at what is being proposed and you can see the benefits to the community and the kids, and that comes in the form of continuity which is lacking in the sport of soccer," Connors says. "We know soccer is well supported, but there was not much there at the high school level." Throw in the prospect of a top level training facility locally and, Connors adds, Delta could be home to a "complete soccer package unlike anything elsewhere." Previous Next


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Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry
Comprehensive Description
Given its ecological importance, the phylum Chaetognatha is surprisingly poorly known. Chaetognaths (commonly known as "arrow worms") are marine predators that typically locate their prey by detecting vibrations produced by copepods and other zooplankton, then use sharp hooks and teeth at the front of the body to grab their victims and immobilize them with neurotoxins. Chaetognaths, most of which are distinctly transparent, are important predators in many marine food webs. Around 120 to 125 species of chaetognaths are known. Most are planktonic, but a small number of species are benthic or live just above the ocean floor. Although species diversity is low, chaetognaths can be very abundant, sometimes dominating the biomass in mid-water plankton sampling tows. Many chaetognaths undergo daily vertical migrations, rising to surface waters at night and sinking downward during the day, possibly to avoid predators. These vertical movements are facilitated by ammonia-filled vacuolated cells in the trunk, which regulate buoyancy. (Brusca and Brusca 2003; Margulis and Chapman 2010; Jennings et al. 2010) At least one chaetognath species (the cosmopolitan Caecosagitta macrocephala, which is generally found below 700 meters) is bioluminescent (Haddock and Case 1994).


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Family of Jenni Rivera's Hairstylist Demands Answers
The loved ones of Jenni Rivera's hairstylist, who perished in the tragic jet crash with the singer last month, is seeking accountability for the accident.
Rivera's makeup artist, Jacob Yebale, was among the seven people killed when the aircraft crashed Dec. 9 in northern Mexico.
Yebale's family filed a request this week in an Illinois court to compel the plane manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace and its Learjet division to turn over information on the aircraft's history.
The petition for discovery was filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois because Bombardier does a substantial amount of business in the state.
As Fox News Latino previously reported, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is investigating the company and the man who runs the business that owns the luxury jet.
DEA spokeswoman Lisa Webb Johnson confirmed that the planes owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management were seized in Texas and Arizona, but she declined to discuss details of the case.
The agency also has subpoenaed all the company's records, including any correspondence it has had with a former Tijuana mayor who U.S. law enforcement officials have long suspected has ties to organized crime.
Christian Esquino, 50, who runs the business and has a long and checkered legal past, told The Associated Press a few weeks ago that the DEA has been investigating him for more than 20 years but has yet to prove a single drug-related charge. Esquino said his sister-in-law owns the company but he has the "expertise."
His legal woes date back decades. He pleaded guilty to a fraud charge that stemmed from a major drug investigation in Florida in the early 1990s and most recently was sentenced to two years in federal prison in a California aviation fraud case.
Esquino, a Mexican citizen, was deported upon his release. He and various other companies he has either been involved with or owns have also been sued for failing to pay millions of dollars in loans, according to court records.
The 43-year-old California-born Rivera died at the peak of her career when the plane she was traveling in nose-dived into the ground while flying from the northern Mexican city of Monterrey to the central city of Toluca early Sunday morning. She was perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated Mexico regional style, and had branched out into acting and reality television.
Based on reporting by The Associated Press
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If you are looking for the best real estate Tauranga has to offer, talk to the team at Tauranga First National. Our real estate agents offer a premium service to ensure that you get the best of the best when it comes to Tauranga houses for sale or for rent.
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On Thursday, October 23, the following
students from Chicago-Kent were honored by the Justinian
Society of Lawyers for their academic achievements:
Maria Pellegrino
Sharyn Procaccio
Frank Strigari
Danielle Valente
Joseph Vito
The Chicago-Kent Justinian Society of Lawyers would like to
extend a hearty congratulations to these students for their
fine work and accomplishments at Chicago-Kent.
- 1st Annual Cocktail and Dinner Party -
Rescheduled for Thursday, November 13!!!!
Justinian Society has rescheduled our First Annual Cocktail
and Dinner Party with our Parent Organization for Thursday,
November 13,
2003. The festivities will begin at 6:00 pm, where cocktails
and a traditional style Italian feast will be served in the
lobby of Chicago-Kent After dinner, Justinian Society
President, Tom Battista, will talk to the students of
Chicago-Kent about the role law students can have with the
Parent Organization , and afterwards entertainment will then
be provided compliments of Onesti Entertainment.
We ask that
everyone in attendance please come dressed business casual
because all the attorneys that will be attending will be
dressed business professionally. This will be a great time for
everyone to meet fellow classmates, and more importantly, to
network with many influential attorneys and judges throughout
the city.
details will follow in the next couple weeks. If you would
like to help out in planning for the evening, please contact
Tony Lucafo at email@example.com.
look forward to this function being a huge success and we hope
to see everyone there!
On Tuesday, November 25,
2003, the Justinian Society of Lawyers will be conducting a
blood and platelet drive with Children's Memorial Hospital to
help out many needy children. The drive will be on the 10th
Floor, in the event room, and will last from approximately
9:00 am - 5:00 pm. We ask that all students who are able to
donate please take 30 minutes out of their day to help a good
cause. There will be sheets for all interested students to
sign up with as the drive approaches. If you would like to
help work at the event, or would like to sign up in advance,
please contact Frank Strigari, email@example.com.
.: Main
Chicago-Kent event calendar
Academic calendar
Alumnae/i event calendar
Admissions calendar


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Roistr is a project that's smaller than our typical API feature. It shows the falling barrier to entry in the API world even in a the demanding academic area of natural language processing and semantic analysis. The primary Roistr API function is a "best match" engine. It offers an interesting use case to demonstrate the relevance of the service: take a Twitter username and use tweets from this account to find content most relevant to the user's interests.
Using a Twitter account to sign in at a new site has become a common experience on today's web. I thought of this as mainly a convenience to the user. What I didn't realize is that in addition to the benefit of not needing to create yet another username and password, the website can use public profile information on twitter to customize the users's experience of the site. I typically thought of this as more of a feature of Facebook sign-in, when you just assume that you're giving away all you're personal details to some anonymous party.
The Roistr API is RESTful and is offered with a client implemented in Python. This site seems very new since there are lots of plans for expansion. It seems like each passing week brings another player to the natural language and semantic analysis space. Currently there are more than 80 semantic APIs in our index. Will Roistr gain staying power? Stay tuned to find out. The service kind of reminds me of Text-processing.com, which we profiled back in April 2011.


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Khara Aloogadde
This is good to eat on its own or you can serve this a side dish with chapathi or rice. Here is what you need to make khara aloogadde..
Baby Potatoes-10 (pressure cook potatoes with enough salt for 3 whistles. Drain excess water and refrigerate for 3-4 hrs. Deskin them and keep ready)
Green chillies -4
Grated fresh coconut -2tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Oil -1/2 tbsp
Mustard, Curry leaves
Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add mustard. When mustard stops crackling add the chilli coconut paste and deskinned potatoes.
Stir and fry till all the paste gets coated to potatoes and the whole mixture is hot.
Garnish with coriander if you have any and serve.
Tip : More chilli, tastier is the dish there is a thril is saying aah, aah and eating :P ;-)
Basale Hashi
Basale hashi recipe is from Sushma of Savi Ruchi blog. She was very happy to share her sis-in-law's recipe with me when I approached her. Thanks sushma, we all enjoyed hashi to the fullest!
"Basella alba is the botanical name and it is called Basale Soppu in Kannada, Valchi Bhaji in Konkani, Pui Shak in Bengali, Bachhali in Telugu. It is most commonly used in Indian, Srilankan, Chinese and Vietnamese cuisi says WIKI . The soppu gets slimy as you chop them just like ladies finger/Bendekayi/Bhendi and hence it needs bit frying to get rid of that sliminess while making hashi. Here is the recipe:
You need the following to make hashi :
Basale Soppu - 1 bunch (chopped leaves and stem made 1 cup, 1cup holds 100ml of water)
green chillies - 2
grated fresh coconut -1tbsp
beaten curd - 1/2 cup
oil -1tsp
Tampering Ingredients : 1/2 tsp oil, few seeds of mustard, 1/2 red chilli broken, hing/asafoetida
2. Grind to a coarse paste : chillies,coconut,salt
Note: I just used the same mixture I made for aloogadde, so cumin is a extra ingredient here.
3. Heat a tsp of oil in a non-stick pan and add chopped stems first stir and fry till they are soft, next goes chopped leaves, continue to fry till the sliminess in the leaves is not seen.
4.Trasfer these leaves to a bowl, add ground chilli coconut paste, beaten curd and mix.
5.Do the tampering by heating oil and adding the ingredients in the order mentioned above.
6.Pour the tampered oil over hashi mix and voila it is ready to be served with rice/chapathi.
Khara Mandakki
I made a bowl of Khara Mandakki for Challenge event of Veda. I am not sure whether this qualifies. I am waiting for Veda's reply, to e-mail this recipe and pic to her.
You need :
Oil : 2tbsp
Mustard : 1tsp
Garlic Pods : 4 chopped into fine pieces
Peanuts : handful
Green Chillies : 8 (chopped into rounds)
Roasted gram/hurgadle/kadale poppu : handful
Curry Leaves : leaves from 3 lines
Turmeric : 1/2 tsp
Hing/Asafoetida : 1/2 tsp
Puffed Rice/Mandakki/Mandalu/Puri - 100g (Microwave for 2-3 seconds if they are soft)
2.Add ingredients in the order mentioned above. When should you add the next ingredient ?
1. Mustard should stop spluttering before you add garlic
2. Garlic should turn brown before u bring in peanuts
3. Let peanuts brown and become crisp before you add green chillies
4. The moisture from green chillies should evaporate and chillies should turn crisp then add roasted gram
5.Next goes turmeric, immediately jumps curry leaves. Leave curry leaves for a while.It emanates nice aroma when it gets crisp
6.Now sprinkle asafoetida/hingu pudi, wait for a sec you start feeling hungry with the aroma of hing now it is time to add salt and puffed rice and switch off the stove.
7. Remove the pan from the stove and keep it aside . This is a imp step
8. Mix puffed rice thoroughly with other ingredients and leave it aside for next 5-8 mins before you start munching it ....
To make it extra rich : Add thin coconut pieces and cashew nuts. Add them just after peanuts turn brown n crisp. Cashew goes first let it brown next goes thin slices of coconut.
Do not add shredded coconut/dessicated coconut.
Do not forget to munch crispy peanut with spicy chillies and tasty curryleaves with puffed rice and in-btw if you get a roasted garlic piece it is just an aaaha... pleasure while you enjoy them :)


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I've been checking back through all the great innovation blogs I like to follow, and I found a nice post on InnovationManagement.se by Chuck Frey titled "The Surprising Connection Between Simplification and Innovation." It seems rather serendipitous to stumble across this article reviewing Matthew E. May's book The Laws of Subtraction because just last night a colleague approached me about a new interface in a product update he had just received. He told me how very much he liked the new interface.
What my friend didn't know was the debate that had gone on behind the scenes during the design of this interface. The designer had put together a very visually compelling, but very different design for the new interface. The design included many components and provided for a rich interaction model. My concern was that users don't always value richness in interaction; they do like directness and ease of function. So, I asked for an alternative design that drew upon familiar data visualization paradigms to provide a simplified interaction model and that the two designs be tested with actual users.
In the end, the simpler design was selected based on user preference. This was no surprise. The value of simplicity in design has long been recognized. The very essence of this notion is captured in the discipline of value engineering through value equations and codified in various systematic innovation methods such as TRIZ.
Every journey of innovation should include several stops along the way to ask if the current solution can be simplified. This question alone has the power to drive high value innovations.


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Transform your photos into one-of-a-kind, hand painted masterpieces!
Boundary: Bleed area may not be visible.
Click and drag to re-position the image, if desired.
The more you buy... the more you save.
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The image is near the edges of the product but doesn't cover the entire product. Some of the background color may appear around the outside edges of the image.
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Our greeting cards are 5" x 7" in size and are produced on digital offset printers using 100 lb. paper stock. Each card is coated with a UV protectant on the outside surface which produces a semi-gloss finish. The inside of each card has a matte white finish and can be customized with your own message up to 500 characters in length. Each card comes with a white envelope for mailing or gift giving.
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Inside View
i love this typical southern down-town style architecture... the details are fabulous... how terribly sad that this is not being preserved or restored... i really admire your art, another pleasant visit! gregory
Brenda Bryant replied:
Thank you Gregory...what a compliment. This is actually on a back street in the French Quarter in New Orleans where the architecture is fabulous. And yes it is sad to see a beautiful building like this in such a mess. Maybe one day it will be restored.
Thank you. It was a good time of day for it!
I love this...the colors are fabulous!
Average Rating (5 Stars):
Veronica Deschambault
October 20th, 2018
Hawk Granville
October 19th, 2018
Hawk Granville
October 19th, 2018
October 19th, 2018
Welcome to my galleries. I painted exclusively in the 80's, then later fell in love with photography. After many years of doing portraits of families, children, seniors and weddings, I finally slowed down and started challenging myself to look at things around me differently. I will always love photography, but I am rediscovering painting as well. My galleries will include both..I am simply an artist at heart and always will be. Please feel free to send me a message if you need a different size uploaded or have any questions. My work here is for sale and I will be happy to help you in any way. FAA does an excellent job of custom printing and framing. I hope you enjoy my galleries and your comments are always welcome.
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If you're not happy with a purchase that you made on FineArtAmerica.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 30 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - Fine Art America does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
Fine Art America sells thousands of pieces of artwork each month - all with a 100% money-back guarantee. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of thousands of artists have chosen Fine Art America to fulfill their orders, and we look forward to helping you select your next piece!
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Silver Alley Event Hall was the setting for the Twentieth Century Club's February 20 meeting. Members of the Yearbook Committee shared hostess duties. Following the call to order by President Jean Hamil and invocation by Cal Arnold, members responded to the roll call by naming their favorite book that has been made into a movie. The overwhelming response was the epic book/movie "Gone With the Wind". The business meeting included an announcement that Alexis Williams, daughter of member Irma Williams and granddaughter of member Barbara Williams, has accepted the club's invitation to serve as their Yamboree queen candidate in the upcoming race.
Raye White introduced the day's program, author and screenwriter Jenny Wingfield. Ms. Wingfield was born in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, grew up all over Louisiana, attended Southern State University (now SAU) in Magnolia, Arkansas, and taught language arts and French in Ashdown, Arkansas. She is the daughter of a Methodist minister and much of the material in her critically acclaimed novel The Homecoming of Samuel Lake came from her personal life. She currently resides in Upshur County and is working on a novel.
Ms. Wingfield stated at the beginning of the program that she "always wanted to write". While living and teaching in Ashdown, she decided she should write what people wanted to read and, it seemed to her, people wanted to read about celebrities. But, there were no celebrities living in Ashdown so she expanded her search to the ArkLaTex area and discovered that Sandy Duncan lived in Tyler. She tracked down Sandy's family and arranged an interview with her mother. When she tried to sell her article to Scene magazine in Dallas they told her they would be interested….if the interview were with Sandy Duncan, herself. Fortunately, with the cooperation of Sandy's mother, Ms. Wingfield obtained her interview and sold her story, beginning her writing career. For the next couple years she used her ingenuity to track down celebrities in creative ways, interview them, and have her stories appear in a number of publications. Meanwhile, she was self-studying screenwriting by reading movie scripts and books. Her career as a screenwriter was launched and some of her credits include the films The Man in the Moon and The Outsider, as well as Hallmark Hall of Fame's A Dog Named Christmas, which was the winner of the 2010 Genesis Award. Along the way, she began writing her novel The Homecoming of Samuel Lake but set it aside for a number of years before finishing it and having it published in 2011. In her closing remarks, the author attributed her successful writing career to her determination to be successful and encouraged those with career dreams so persevere until they are a reality. A question and answer session followed where among other things, members learned that most movies are filmed in 4-6 weeks and once screenwriters have sold their scripts they have minimal input into the final production.
At the conclusion of the program, members were treated to a preview of the club's upcoming project "Tasters Salad Luncheon" on April 17 at the First Methodist Church. Each member had provided one of the three salads they plan to prepare for the luncheon. Each salad was presented in a glass bowl on a table featuring an animal print tablecloth and red roses. Members served themselves from the wide selection of vegetable, fruit, grain, pasta, gelatin, and meat salads as well as peach tea.
Committee hostesses included Bridgett Fowler, Bettye Lou Smith, Abby Stewart, Raye White. Project chairman Melinda Smith assisted the hostesses.
Those attending the meeting in addition to those mentioned above included Annette Breazeale, Mikie Clark, Merle Cross, Sandy Dean, Betty Finney, Janice Gage, Annette Herrmann, Cindy Murry, Mary Ann Patterson, Rolinda Shipp, Rebecca Skinner, Jeannie Smith, Barbara Williams, Irma Williams, Margo Carter, and, special guest and friend of Ms. Wingfield's Sharon Priddy.


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15 U.S. Code § 7 - "Person" or "persons" defined
§ 7.
"Person" or "persons" defined
The word "person", or "persons", wherever used in sections 1 to 7 of this title shall be deemed to include corporations and associations existing under or authorized by the laws of either the United States, the laws of any of the Territories, the laws of any State, or the laws of any foreign country.
(July 2, 1890, ch. 647, § 8, 26 Stat. 210.)
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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Ermax screen, high
High fairing windshield for relaxed riding with optimum wind protection.
The indication in cm in the item description refers to the height over the original windshield.
Made of high-strength plastic that is 3 mm thick.
The original mounting material is used for installation (additional mounting material included with delivery for use as required).
Available in smoky grey (lightly tinted) or dark (black tinted) depending on model.
With ABE type approval.


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Densha De Go! Cheats and Codes
Welcome to the Densha De Go! Cheats and Codes page where our team of contributors will help you with a set of cheats, codes, hints, hacks, tips and unlockables.
If you are stuck on something specific and are unable to find any answers on our Densha De Go! Cheats page then be sure to ask the Densha De Go! Forum / Community for help and advice in the discussion box below and they will get back to you as soon as possible with an answer!
Finally, if you have been playing Densha De Go! and wish to help other users, feel free to sign up and start contributing!
Densha De Go! Overview
Densha De Go! is a simulation game developed by Taito Corporation and released on Game Boy, PlayStation, WonderSwan.