text:
A complete archive of Pakistan's Education news releases since 2007
VCs unanimous in rejecting proposal
Lahore, April 13: Vice-chancellors of all the public and private universities of the
country on Saturday again strongly rejected the proposed legislation for the
restoration of students unions in the varsities and suggested to postpone the
idea for indefinite period due to prevailing law and order situation in the
After hot debate over the issue, a few vice-chancellors of the
public sector expressed their viewpoints in the favour of the proposed bill
while the rest of the VCs strongly criticised the government's initiative saying
that the student unions would destroy the peaceful atmosphere of the educational
The unanimous decision of all the VCs came in a videoconference
meeting of vice-chancellors of public and private varsities to discuss
restoration of student unions in the country.
The vice-chancellors were
unanimous in opposing the idea, however, they suggested alternatives such as
student societies, clubs, forums and federations to provide the students a
platform to raise their voice and develop leadership qualities.
The meeting
was held simultaneously at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
under the directives of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).During the
videoconference, the participants at 11 different locations simultaneously in
various cities across the country discussed the issue.Some VCs registered
their protest while criticising the working paper suggesting restoration of
student unions, saying that maintaining peace and law and order within the
premises of the universities was not a job of the students as mentioned in the
They said according to the working paper, the students unions have
been given responsibility to invite eminent personalities in the university
programmes, seminars and ceremonies. This would politicise institutions and
affect the overall atmosphere, as the students unions would call leaders of
political parties of their choice instead of educationists, doctors or other
learned persons.
Vice Chancellor GC University Dr Khalid Aftab took a very strong stand against
the restoration of student unions. "In the prevailing law and order situation,
the education institutes cannot afford protests, scuffles and other negative
activities which are sure to take place once the unions are restored", he
A Vice Chancellor from Karachi said his university has a bitter
experience when activists of a student union thrashed the senior faculty members
and other administrative officers and locked them up in a room. The way they
misbehaved with them was highly condemnable. They were participating in the
syndicate meeting at the time of incident, he said.
Muhammad Akram, Vice
Chancellor UET, giving references of some ugly episodes and bitter experiences
said several students have been murdered while scores of other injured in the
armed clashes between the student unions in a bid to get hold of the education
Vice chancellor University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar
strongly opposed the idea saying the NWFP could not afford such activates as the
province was already undergoing worst law and order situation.
VC Taxila
University Dr Habibullah Jamal referred the restoration as genie, that he said,
should remain in the bottle.
Rector The University of Lahore Prof Dr M Saleem
Shuja raised objections over the working paper. He was of the view that the
political parties would get hold on all the private universities through their
student wings.
He suggested to the federal Government not to play with the
future of the students and also the teachers imparting education in a peaceful
After a sizzling debate, the HEC has asked the VCs to prepare
their recommendations and submit them within next three days. It also informed
the participants that after analysing the recommendations, another meeting would
be called within a week for a final discussion upon the issue.
In the
metropolis, apart from UVAS the videoconference was also held at the University
of Engineering and Technology (UET).
The federal education secretary and
Executive Director HEC Sohail H Naqvi were also present in the meeting. The Nation
Post your comments
Education policy on hold
Not many were surprised when the education policy that should have been
announced on March 23 was put on hold yet again by the cabinet last week. After
all, knowing the priorities - and education is low among these - of successive
governments there was really no room for shock when the cabinet postponed its
approval of the draft policy of the federal education ministry. The main reason
cited for the postponement by the information minister was that the policy was
not comprehensive enough. It is strange that having worked on the draft for a
year, the ministry should fail to draw up a sound implementation plan and
targets to be met within a specified time frame. Hence the draft will be sent
back to the provinces and we can expect it to go into cold
Meanwhile, the challenges before the education sector continue
to be formidable, especially as no relief is in sight. The three major issues
that are undermining education in Pakistan remain unaddressed. One is the
quality of education - at least in the public sector - which is deplorable.
Second, there is no effective and independent monitoring to ensure that policies
are being implemented transparently and corruption is being checked to prevent
wholesale damage to the education sector. Third, the capacity to utilise funds
flowing into the sector to the maximum, and in a judicious manner, is not being
developed. Obviously, all this calls for policy guidelines that may differ in
detail in different areas but broadly follow similar principles all over the
country. Hence the need for a national policy.
The danger is that the
spread of education will be curtailed enormously due to spiralling inflation and
the unceasing quest for profits by the private sector. The two have combined to
make education costly and beyond the reach of ordinary persons. The new concept
of public-private partnership promoted by the government assigns a growing role
to private entrepreneurs in education. That has left the public sector even more
deprived of funds and attention. The low-income groups have few choices. They
can send their children to government schools that impart virtually no
education. Or they can enrol them in private schools that may teach them
something but leave the family impoverished in the process. Parents have yet
another option. They may not educate their child at all, and that is what the
bulk of them are doing. Dawn
Interference not to be tolerated: Wifaqul Madaris
Lahore: Wifaqul Madaris General Secretary Maulana Hanif Jullundhry
has said any internal or external interference in the working of madrassas would
not be tolerated, a private TV channel reported on Sunday. According to the
channel, while addressing a press conference at Jamia Ashrafia in Lahore,
Jullundhry asked the government not to make any changes in the syllabus of
madrassas, adding "they do not need to take dictation from the government". He
asked the administration of madrassas to not provide their particulars to the
agencies and ask the government to contact the Wifaqul Madaris in this regard,
the channel said. Daily Times
PU MA/MSc exam rescheduled
Lahore: Punjab University Examination Department has
rescheduled the MA/MSc Part-I & Part-II, Annual Examination 2009. Now the
MA/MSc Part-I, Annual Examination 2009 will commence from June 5 instead of June
24 while MA/MSc Part-II, Annual Examination 2009 will commence from July 7
instead of July 16. Ppi
PU announced BEd results
Lahore: The Punjab University on Saturday declared the results of Bachelor of Education (BEd),
Supplementary Exam 2007 and Annual Exam 2008. According to a press statement, a
total of 2,477 candidates appeared in the exams and 1,731 were declared
successful. Detailed results are available at PU website: www.pu.edu.pk.
Preservation of PU record ordered
Lahore: Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran on
Saturday stressed the need to preserve all the record of the university,
especially of the registration branch and examinations
According to a press release, chairing a meeting of the
university administrative officers, the VC said that short terms and long terms
plans should be adopted to carry out the task. He said cabinets should be
prepared, while for long terms plan, he urged the need for archives and
constituted a committee under Director Planning and Development Tariq Majid
Qureshi and comprising other members, including Additional Registrar Prof Dr
Aurangzeb Alamgir, Deputy Registrar (General) Iqbal Khalil, Deputy Registrar
(Admin-I) Muhammad Akram Chaudhry, Deputy Registrar (Academic) Muhammad Amir
Khan and Project Director Sheikh Muhammad Ali. He directed the committee to hold
a separate meeting in this regard and present its recommendations. The
establishment of the Archives Department in the basement of PU Main Library was
also suggested.
Another GCU departure revives resignation issue
Lahore: The Government College University (GCU) has been in the spotlight
ever since over thirty faculty members of the Science Department resigned en
masse last month.
However, what gave a new life to the whole issue and
drew attention of the academic circles and common people once again was the
resignation of a senior faculty member of the Economics Department last
Dr Pervaiz Tahir, eminent economist and academician, who was
heading the Mahboob ul Haq Chair in Economics at the GCU Economics Department,
resigned last week.
His resignation has concerned academic circles who
were already stunned on the departure of 31 employees of the varsity.
GCU spokesman had, reportedly, confirmed that Dr Tahir had left the university
but said he did not mention any reason for his resignation.
On the other
hand, those who had resigned en masse at the GCU Computer Science Department
including head of the department had linked their resignations to registrar's
alleged illegal interference. They had submitted a presentation to
Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Aftab in which they exposed alleged illegal
interference of the high official.
The allegations were refuted by
registrar Sahibzada Faisal Khurshid and when asked about the en bloc
resignations he had claimed that the computer science was a need-based
discipline and teachers usually leave an institution when offered better
salaries and packages.
A senior official of the Punjab Higher Education
Department, seeking anonymity, said the department had sought a detailed report
from the GCU authorities over the issue adding the report was submitted recently
but it contained nothing except details of those who had resigned.
GCU reply is quite innocent," the official said adding "it is also strange that
no inquiry committee has been constituted to look into the issue of mass
The official said the new case of resignation had once
again sparked the debate as to why "unrest" was growing among teachers and other
staffers of the GCU.
Talking anonymously to us, a GCU faculty
member said the resignation issue had created quite a stir not only in the
university but also in the academic circles adding everybody was puzzled over
the these developments.
Annual dinner of the Lahore College Associates (LCA)
Lahore: The annual dinner of the Lahore College Associates (LCA) was held at the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) last
week which provided a wonderful opportunity to old students to sit together and
talk about past.
A number of stalls featuring handicrafts were also set
up on the occasion while a puppet show, calligraphic exhibition and a music
programme were also part of the annual event.
Punjab teachers protest
Lahore: The Punjab Professors Lecturers Association (PPLA) has announced staging a sit-in in connection with
college teachers' long standing demands outside the Punjab Assembly on 21
According to a press statement, college teachers from across the
province would gather at MAO College from where they would march towards the
Punjab Assembly to stage a sit-in and demand the government solve their problems
especially those relating to promotions.
Tenure Track System termed white elephant
Lahore: A renowned physicist and leading scientist of Pakistan, Dr M Anwar
Chaudhri, has called upon the authorities to abolish the Tenure Track System
(TTS) under which academics have been drawing huge salaries, saying publishing a
few papers a year and supervising research students must never be an excuse to
pay such high salaries.
Talking exclusively to us, Dr MA Chaudhri,
who is associated with Klinikum-Nuernberg, Germany as a guest professor, said
many academics, especially the professors, had been drawing huge, and almost
'obscene' salaries of up to 2-4 lac rupees per month under the Higher Education
Commission's Tenure Track System in a country where a poor worker would be lucky
to make about Rs 5000 to 6000 per month by hard labour.
justification is there for paying such salaries to these academics", he
questions while adding a full professor's salary in Grade-20, along with the
necessary perks, should be adequate to lead a very comfortable life."
"Just by publishing a few papers a year and supervising research
students must never be an excuse to pay such high salaries", he said adding,
"After all, a university professor is meant to conduct research, guide research
students and publish papers."
Dr MA Chaudhri, son of late Dr M Rafi
Chaudhri, also a renowned physicist, further said to the best of my knowledge
this does not happen in any developed or even developing country. He the TTS
also causes a great deal of jealousy amongst the Tenure Track and non Tenure
Track academics.
To a question that the private institutions including
industry pay a lot more than the government universities and institutions and
the good staff would go there, he said let them go there and still would be
enough good academics and scientists to fill the places in the universities."
"After all, this problem exists in the western world too but still most
of the best academics and scientists prefer to stay in the government
institutions because of the job-security and other perks", he added.
Talking about the HEC's Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme Dr Chaudhri
said it is a good programme provided it is properly and fairly executed and
"In my opinion, it should be almost exclusively applicable
to Pakistani scientists actively working abroad and not just living or are in
inactive- retirement", he said adding "Pakistani scientists living and working
in some of the most developed and advanced countries are discouraged from even
trying to help Pakistani science & technology."
They are never
consulted in important government's decision on science and technology, he
Sharing his views about the foreign faculty in Pakistani
institutes of higher learning, he said the foreign nationals who came on the
Foreign Faculty Scheme were really not interested in science and technology and
higher education developments in Pakistan but only making good and quick money.
"Most of them are in fields with no real practical application to help
solve Pakistan's problem or to improve the socio-economic condition of
Pakistanis", he claimed adding "They do produce research publications, which is
good for themselves but not for Pakistan."
"Many of them are from the old
USSR or Communist countries where they are out of job or interested in just
making some "quick buck" as they usually say", he said adding "They are all
drawing very handsome salaries from a very poor Pakistan".
The students
they produce and the research they conduct has no real practical application in
Pakistan and their activities contribute nothing towards improving our
socio-economic conditions, he went on to say.
"There are many similar
cases in Saudi Arabia and other rich Arabian countries where foreign scientists
have gone, worked for a few years and made a lot of money without contributing
anything substantial into the development of higher education and/or science
& technology there," he said. Talking about the HEC foreign scholarship
programme, Dr Chaudhri was of the view that students were not being sent for
postgraduate work in the fields which were badly needed by Pakistan such as
solar and other form of renewable energy; environmental sciences, town &
traffic planning and sewerage and garbage disposal etc. Such fields could help
improve the socio-economic conditions of the people and contribute to technical
and industrial development of Pakistan, he added.
Expressing concerns
over scientific equipment acquired over the years, he said in spite of the fact
that certain "Experts Committee" and 'Advisors' apparently scrutinized the
projects, in my opinion some of the projects were 'out-dated' and had not been
modified in line with modern developments.
At least in a couple of ìvery
bigî projects some important modern attachments, which would bring the
projects/equipment to the state-of-the-art status, are missing as the scientists
putting forward the projects were, perhaps, not aware of these developments, he
The leading scientist suggested that all the scientific
appointments at the level of Principal Scientific Officer and above must be
advertised internationally and Pakistani scientists working in overseas
laboratories should be encouraged to apply.
An impartial commission,
consisting of the representative of the respective organization (for example the
PCSIR and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, etc), the Ministry of Science &
Technology and the HEC, etc, should be formed for stopping any injustices from
being carried out, he added.
Similarly, he said, the positions of Vice
Chancellors and Chairmen of National Laboratories and Academic/ Scientific /
Organizations, such as the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; Pakistan Council
of Scientific & Industrial Research and Pakistan Science Foundation etc must
be advertised openly and in the international press in order to select the best
available and capable Pakistani scientists / academicians.
I would even
strongly recommend that the positions of the chancellors of all the government
universities must not be the governors but famous Pakistani personalities from
any appropriate fieldî, Dr Chaudhri concluded.
80-acre land to be transferred to Bahawalpur varsity
Lahore: The Punjab government has decided to transfer 80 acres of land to
Islamia University Bahawalpur for its 'Rahim Yar Khan' campus.
decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Punjab Governor Salman Taseer on
Islamia University Bahawalpur vice-chancellor Dr Bilal A Khan,
Member Colonies of the Punjab Board of Revenue Tariq Yousaf, the Executive
District Officer (EDO) Revenue Rahim Yar Khan and the Additional Secretary
Academics were also present on the occasion. The meeting decided the
construction work on new campus of Islamia University would be started by the
next month and the project would cast Rs 410 million. Governor Salman Taseer on
the occasion directed the officials concerned to initiate work of leveling 600
acres non-irrigated land allocated for 'Baghdad e Jadeed' campus for the
University of Agriculture and the University of Veterinary Sciences Bahawalpur. The News
BISE deaf to a blind student's plea
Layyah: The Dera Ghazi Khan Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education has turned a blind eye to the genuine demand of a blind student who
has proved her academic brilliance by disallowing her disability to become
Noorul Huda, who clinched a distinguished position in the
intermediate Part-I examination conducted by the Dera Ghazi Khan BISE, claims
she is being denied a 'skilled' writing helper for the second-year board
The daughter of Sagheer Ahmad, a worker at a sugar mill,
Noorul Huda fought both visual impairment and poverty to continue her studies
and showed her class by securing third position in arts in 2008.
As she
is looking forward to preparing herself for the FA final-year examination, she
demanded that the board authorities should allow her a helping hand who could do
the writing job.
The BISE rules stipulate that a helping writer for a
blind student should be one class junior to the examinee.
But the
authorities have allowed her an eight-class student to be her writing assistant,
though she is in second year.
Interestingly, the same officials had
allowed her a matriculate for help when she appeared in the FA Part-I
Having limited means, the student says she can't travel to
the chief minister's open court to plead her case. She
demanded that Mian Shahbaz Sharif should consider her case and save her from
being led to a blind alley.
Board chairman Maher Bashir Ahmad defended
the official stance by saying that the nominee of the girl as her examination
assistant had left school after matriculation.
"As he is no more a
student, the board can't allow him for the job. Only a student can be allowed to
sit with a blind examinee," he said. Dawn
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text:
An Editorial
By Dr. George Winslow Plummer
Mercury – March 1926
LIGHT travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second.
That is about three laps behind its nearest competitor- GOSSIP!
This pernicious phase of human energy accomplishes its deadly work with greater rapidity than almost any other manifestation of human or inhuman activity.
Gossip has murdered more reputations, destroyed more characters, blasted hopes, dynamited constructive enterprise and disrupted worthy activities than any other single factor we can name.
And we 're all guilty!
It appears to be an almost inescapable characteristic of human nature; perhaps it is the inhuman side of our nature.
Even the so-called silent human who has a reputation for saying little, can be seduced into gossip if he is taken right and though he may say little, yet he adds his bit.
The dear old Quilting and Knitting (also Knocking) societies of our country churches; their charming "socials," the salon troglodyte, the social fabric of religious, scientific and academic institutions and our daily home and office life.
ALL are permeated with this miasmatic vapor of gossip.
Compared with gossip, the deadliest bacterium is an archangel in good standing, for it can be isolated and an antitoxin administered.
But you cannot isolate gossip. You cannot certainly fix its source. It germinates instantaneously and flourishes like the proverbial green-bay tree.
And there is NO antitoxin.
Once started, it goes on its merry, merry way, with incredible speed, adding to its substance until, in a short time, the original fable has been distorted, exaggerated and recast out of all semblance to the primitive model.
The Good Book tells us to let our conversation be yea, yea and nay, nay. It seems like a tough verbal diet, but if we could manage to set aside one week in each year as "yes, yes, and no, no, week," we would not be able to recognize ourselves.
Or our neighbors, for that matter.
The self-discipline involved would wake us up to such an extent that we would be ashamed of ourselves by comparison.
The world won't take kindly to this idea, but we think it is good enough to copyright. Some day, this same Old World may advance a bit, in things worth while, as well in things mechanical, productive of shining ducats.
Everyone remembers the story of the "Three Black Crows" in the old Sixth Reader. Well-it is ancient history now. We lie and gossip in terms of millions; in terms of slander; in terms of intimation and insinuation; any one of them far more dangerous than the delightful tale of childhood days.
One of the most potent forms of destructive gossip is the phase known as "damning with faint praise." Few reputations can stand this.
Another instance is the fatal "but"! "He is a good fellow, BUT…" "She is really doing a fine work, BUT…" Even the angels would soon have to surrender their union cards if subjected to this sort of attack.
Gossip is the greatest thief of time. Beside it, procrastination wears the halo of a saint.
If all the golden moments every one of us human beings have wasted in idle, or at best unprofitable, gossip, could be estimated, we would stand appalled at the percentage of valuable time we have stolen from our none too long span of life.
Statisticians can estimate the number of human beings slain and the gallons of human blood shed in the wars of history. But who can estimate the number of decent, respectable, reasonable honest people who have gone down under the blasting and withering blight of gossip?
Most people have heard the story of woman who went to the confessional and admitted her penchant for talking about her neighbors. The priest instructed her to purchase a chicken and to go about the village plucking the feathers and casting them to the winds. Then she reported again to him. He instructed her further, to go over every street she had traversed and gather up all the feathers. She objected. The winds had blown them in every direction and she could not possibly gather them.
"That," said the priest, "is the way your words have gone. You can never recover them and all through life, they will go on and on, doing harm where you cannot possibly know it and where you never intended it."
The good priest was right. Verily, the tongue IS an unruly member.
Gossip is not only the worst thief of time; it is tremendous waste of energy. We have plenty of courses on economics, but like stupid ostriches, it never occurs to us to shut off this enormous seepage of otherwise good, constructive energy. Modern life makes severe demands upon each one of us and none of us can afford to shorten our lives by this inexcusable waste of an energy we need to use in other ways in order to keep alive.
This coat fits YOU, my friend – and it fits me too! Not one of us is exempt.
Gossip is a universal human habit and trait, developed since the first attempt of mankind to live in group or community conditions.
Just because it is an archaic habit or trait, an atavism, some would call it, there is all the more reason why we should have outgrown it ages ago. But we haven't outgrown it, we've simply become more refined in our manner of indulging it.
"Silence is golden." Obviously, the lack of silence is the reason why so many are poor.
My friend, it is up to each of us to do something about this matter of gossip. I know what I'm going to do, but that won't do YOU any good. You must work of the personal problem for yourself and it is not anything you can learn in a correspondence course either.
Think it over. Then act. And if each one to whom these presents shall come, will take some definite stand, we shall start a little circle or sphere of influence that will radiate outwards like the ripples on a clear lake, wider and wider, exercising a constructive influence.
Come on into the game; it's worth while.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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On: <Date
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On: March 04, 2002
© Terence T. Gorski, 2001
Commentary By Terence T. Gorski
March 4, 2002
treatment for pregnant women and women with children make more sense
than incarceration. Drug treatment is at least seven times less
expensive and nearly twice as effective as incarceration. Putting
addicted mothers in prison breaks up families and over burdens the
foster care system helping to create the next generation of criminal and
addicted people. Treatment can break that cycle. Here's an
Feb 19, 2002
By KARLA JACKSON
TAMPA - From the time
she was 16 years old, through three pregnancies, a string of low- wage
jobs and countless beatings by her husband, Shannon Alvarez snorted
She was arrested on coke
possession charges in 1996, violated probation repeatedly by continuing to
use the drug, and wound up in jail for three months in fall 2000.
Her youngest son, Roger, was
22 days old when she was incarcerated.
``It'll either slap you smart
or slap you stupid,'' Alvarez said of her jail experience. ``It slapped me
smart in a big way.''
Now 29, she has been clean for
14 months with the help of a local program for addicted mothers run by the
Drug Abuse Comprehensive Coordinating Office.
The program is called
SAMI, short for Substance Abusing Mothers and their Infants, and it
boasts a 2001 ``Best Practices'' award from the state Department of
Children and Families and the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association.
``You have no clue what SAMI
has done for me,'' said Alvarez, her eyes filling with tears. ``I've had
so many wonderful things happen for me since I've been clean.''
SAMI helped Alvarez walk away
from the drugs and violence in her marriage, find public assistance, get
an apartment, get her children back from state-ordered custody, and, most
importantly, combat her addiction.
``Recovery is just about
living life the way it should be lived,'' she said. ``I had no idea how to
do that. They taught me the skills I needed and helped me figure out what
was broken inside of me.''
Today, Alvarez works part time
as a telemarketer and cherishes taking care of her boys: Cesar, 11;
Lorenzo, 8; and Roger, 16 months.
Just four years ago, services
for mothers with multiple problems such as Alvarez's were scattered and
hard to find.
Three local agencies that were
serving such women started a collaborative, called Family Centered
Substance Abuse Services, to streamline the process.
DACCO became the lead agency
for the effort and started SAMI. The other partners are the Centre for
Women, which operates a similar program called Project Recovery, and the
Child Abuse Council, a local nonprofit agency working to reduce abuse and
The collaborative receives $1
million annually from the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, which
distributes some $24 million in local property tax dollars that fund about
70 programs for children.
``We took that money and
created a seamless system for addicted mothers and their children,'' said
Kay Doughty, the collaborative director.
The Children's Board funding
for the collaborative ends in September 2003.
What happens then is unclear
because the board is reconsidering the way it distributes money, said its
executive director, Luanne Panacek.
``Right now our funding is so
diverse, you can't put a lot of money toward any one area,'' Panacek said.
``We want to put the most dollars where they will have a measurable
That doesn't mean SAMI and
programs like it won't be funded, Panacek said.
Every program the board funds
will be evaluated based on how well it meets three criteria:
* How well it performs.
* Whether there are other
sustainable funding sources, such as grants or federal dollars.
* How well it fits into the
board's new ``strategic focus,'' which is being crafted and is likely to
be announced in June.
SAMI is ``outstanding,''
Panacek said. ``We're never going to just walk away'' and leave a program
stranded without funding.
For more information about
treatment programs for addicted mothers and for women without children,
call the Children's Board at (813) 229-2884.
Every day in Hillsborough
County, an average of 75 women await an opening in a publicly funded
substance abuse treatment program. About 10 percent are pregnant or
postpartum. Of the women admitted to treatment in 1995-96:* 59.7 percent
were 31 to 45 years old.
* 61.6 percent were white,
34.9 percent were black, 7.3 percent were Hispanic. (Some women considered
themselves more than one race.)
* 66.4 percent had two or more
* 67.9 percent were
* 70.9 percent were involved
with the criminal justice system.
* 84.3 percent were paid less
than $10,400 annually.
* 55.7 percent were unlikely
to complete treatment successfully.
Reporter Karla Jackson can
be reached at (813) 259-7606.
This story can be found at : http://health.tbo.com/health/MGA6P2F9VXC.html
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text:
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Be a Voice for the Hungry
Together We Can Solve Hunger
Thank Your Colorado and Wyoming Senators for Voting "Yes" to pass the Senate Version Bipartisan Farm Bill.
Your Support is Working to Protects SNAP, TEFAP and CSFP! There's Still Work to be Done!
Click on the red box for our urgent alerts, sign up for Hunger Action Alert emails and read on for more information. Thank you for caring!
As part of the Feeding America network, we join with more than 200 food banks across the country to advocate for programs that increase opportunity and maintain a bipartisan commitement to protect hungry men, women and children.
Take action today!
Thank You for Contacting your Colorado State Representatives and Senators !
Please Thank Them for Supporting Colorado Senate Bill 18-141.
On May 29, Governor Hickenlooper signed SB 18-141!
Special thanks to Senator Lois Court (D-Denver) and Representatives James Wilson (R-Salida) and Chris Hansen (D-Denver) for sponsoring the bill!
Thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators and signed our petition!
141 authorizes a new line on the tax form for 2020 (2019 tax year) called the "Donate to a Colorado Nonprofit Fund," which allows Colorado taxpayers to donate part or all of their tax refund to any nonprofit registered in Colorado. All the taxpayer would need to do is write or type in the amount of the donation and provide information to identify which nonprofit will receive the donation.
The Donate to a Colorado Nonprofit Fund provides donors with the opportunity to give at a time when they have additional disposable income. It encourages donors to give during tax season in addition to year-end giving.
To be eligible, the nonprofit must be registered with the Colorado Secretary of State for charitable solicitations for at least five years and in good standing.
Why This Bill Matters
Last year, Coloradans received over $1 billion in income tax refunds. They donated almost a quarter of a percent of their refunds ($1.9 million) to the 20 tax checkoffs on the form. If they increase their giving by one percent, nonprofits will receive an additional $10 million to support their essential work of strengthening our communities.
Giving Coloradans the choice of donating their tax refunds to eligible registered nonprofits will encourage them to give more and support a wider range of organizations If 141 becomes law, taxpayers could still choose to donate their tax refunds to any other checkoff fund on the form. Nor does 141 affect the renewal of existing tax checkoffs or establishment of new ones.
In 1977, Colorado became the first state to allow taxpayers to donate to nonprofits and charitable causes via the state tax return. By signing SB 18-141 into law, Colorado would become the first state to allow taxpayers to write-in the nonprofit of their choice when they donate their tax refunds via the state tax return.
How Will it Work?
- Nonprofits will complete their annual charitable solicitations report with the Colorado Secretary of State, so they remain registered for five years and in good standing
- On the Voluntary Contributions Schedule on the Colorado Tax Return, taxpayers will see a line starting in 2020 for the Donate to a Colorado Nonprofit Fund
- Taxpayers can write or type in the amount of their refund donation and provide information to identify which nonprofit will receive the donation
- Taxpayers can make their entire refund donation to this fund or donate various amounts to this fund and other tax checkoffs
- The Department of Revenue (DOR) will direct payment of the donation from the Treasurer to the recipient nonprofit organization.
- Gifts, grants and donations will pay for start-up and ongoing management of the program by DOR.
Don't Miss Important Messages
Sign up for our Hunger Action email alerts. We'll only send emails when we need your help and we never share your name with outside organizations..
Contact Your Members of Congress
Contact Congress through Feeding America's hotline:
- Call the advocacy hotline at (888) 398-8702
- Listen to the pre-recorded message and enter your zip code when prompted.
- Connect to your Representative first.
- Once you are connected to your Representative, state that you are a constituent and give your name and your hometown. Be sure to give the name of the food bank or local agency you are affiliated with as well.
- Let them know why you are calling and deliver your message.
- Dial back in to make sure you talk to both of your Senators and your Representative.
- Recruit others by spreading the word through your social media channels and share our posts for call-in day so others can help too.
Thank you for reaching out with us!
Tax Credit for Colorado Farmers and Ranchers Helping the Hungry
Colorado HB14-1119 helps Colorado farmers, ranchers and the hungry. Thanks to all who helped make this tax credit a reality. It's expensive to harvest food farmers don't plan to sell. This credit will help farmers and ranchers get food to food banks rather than letting it go to waste.
We Appreciate Our Agricultural Community
More hungry people will have nutritious local food to eat because of our ag community's generosity. If you're a farmer or rancher with questions about donating, please contact us.
Key hunger facts
Who Are The Hungry?
- Children make up about half of the clients served through Food Bank of the Rockies.
- 14% of clients are seniors, age 60+
- 31% are White, 18% are Black/African American, 38% are Hispanic/Latino , 13% identify as some other race
- 23% did not graduate high school or obtain a GED, 45% have a GED or HS Diploma, 25% have education beyond a high school diploma/GED and 7% have a 4-year college degree or higher
- 10% are living in temporary housing
- 10% do not have access to cooking facilities or refrigeration
- 37% of households had a member working for pay in the last four weeks, 63% had a person working for pay in the last 12 months
- 19% are grandparents who have responsibility for grandchildren who live with them
- 21% have a household member who has served or is serving in the US military
- 20% are in poor health
- 93% have incomes less than $30K/year, 48% have incomes of $10K/year or less
- 70% have incomes at or below the poverty level
- 61% choose between medicine and food
- 65% choose between mortgage/rent and food
- 68% choose between transportation and food
- 72% choose between utilities and food
Hunger and Poverty in Colorado
- 18.1% of Colorado children live in poverty and 8% are living in extreme poverty. (coloradokids.org – 2014)
- 39% of Colorado children live in households with incomes less than 200% of poverty. (coloradokids.org – 2014)
- Poverty in Colorado has increased since 2001. The total poverty rate in Colorado increased from 9.6% in 2001 to 12.9% in 2012. Furthermore, Colorado's child poverty rate increased from 12.2% in 2001 to 18.1% in 2012.
- 7% of Colorado seniors live below 100% of poverty and 28% live below 200% of poverty.
Additional Resources
- Denver's Road Home Point in Time Study 2013
- Kids Count Report 2016
- USDA Food Insecurity Report 2011 – 2013
- QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
- Feeding America
- Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
- The Colorado Children's Campaign
- Colorado Center on Law and Policy and Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute
- Nutrition.gov
- Piton Foundation
- U.S. Census
- USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension service
- USDA Economic Research Service


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War Torn – ★★★½
From tearful hanky-powered farewells on train platforms to the ordeals of a bloody, muddy military hospital James Kent's feature debut tries to push all the buttons for a timeless melodramatic tale of war.
Testament of Youth is based on the autobiography of Vera Brittain and begins in the years before Europe is ripped apart by the outbreak of The Great War and shows the personal toll it can take on a woman trying to find herself. Brittain (Alicia Vikander) battles her father to be allowed to go to Oxford (no mean feat in the era of suffragettes and before "the vote") but then turns her back on her studies to serve as a military nurse, first in Britain and then at the Front in France. Before the outbreak of war she falls in love with Roland Leighton (Kit Harington), a school friend of her brother Edward (Taron Egerton). Rounding out the pack is their largely forgettable friend Victor (sorry Colin Morgan) and the Brittain parents played by Dominic West and Emily Watson.
This illiterate reviewer had not read the book and so was able to be swept up in the wonderful romance in play between Roland and Vera. Harington isn't a very versatile actor as fans of "Game Of Thrones" will know, but he does angst-laden, frowning romantic very well. Like in GoT, he identifies a cause (in this case War – not The Wall) and if that gets in the way of romantic fulfilment, then so be it. A few silly mis-adventures aside (the auntie-plays-chaperone scenes with "The Thick Of It's" Joanna Scanlan for example), their relationship is well developed and paints a brilliant picture of just how hard the people of Western Europe must have been hit when the War – which was supposed to be done and dusted quickly – just kept dragging on.
We see very no real combat or trench scenes, instead focusing on the toll the war took on the people nearby in the military units and those back home waiting on news of loved ones. The film doesn't feel like it had a huge budget, but the production values are all brilliant and it's a much more relatable sense of war-time Britain than we usually see in the likes of War Horse or "Downton Abbey".
Vikander gives a good performance in the lead but is perhaps a little too polished and well-presented to be completely believable as a woman physically and mentally falling apart. Would hair and make-up really have been that good in the huts full of dying Tommys and huns just a few miles back from enemy lines? It's just an aside though and the Swedish-born actress deserves huge credit for being the lynchpin for the entire film. She has lots of projects coming up, starting with next week's Ex_Machina.
Under-developed supporting characters (there's a unspoken gay subplot that feels rushed) and final scenes that kind of whimper away as life "post-war" kicks off for all involved are the only major flaws with a worthwhile example that sometimes doing things the old-fashioned way is just the job.
Released across Ireland on January 16th 2015
[youtuber id="0tP7k4wqVJo"]
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No matter how smart you are or how well you know your industry, if you can't make sales, your precious dream of being a business owner will not last very long.
There are countless books, videos, and courses on this subject, but rarely any of them speak about the current climate of online business. But don't you worry, we have a few tips that will help you become an online selling machine:
- Make Customers Feel Like Insiders: People love feeling like they have an advantage over others. They love being part of a movement or an exclusive club, something bigger than themselves. Plenty of businesses like Starbucks and Amazon have used this philosophy to produce more sales and it has grown their businesses exponentially.
So how does this apply to your business? Simple: You can use your newsletter (like Bloomforth's newsletter app for instance) to offer deals to just those who are part of it. Or you can have an online membership program where customers can whatever they want before everyone else for a flat or reoccurring rate. Either way, making your customers feel like a member of an insider club will be sure to help increase sales.
- Throw Some Sugar on The Floor: This saying comes from investor Charlie Munger when it comes to incentivizing your customers. He says, "If you want ants to come, throw some sugar on the floor." What he means is that people love an incentive. No one is going to want to purchase anything from you unless you are doing something for them.
Just like when you were a kid and you went to the doctor to get a shot and the doctor gave you a lollipop afterward, the same applies to your customer. Give them an incentive, a reason, or a reward of some sort if they purchase your product or service. Maybe it is donating a portion of the sales to a charity, charging an extremely low price for something that costs boatloads, or promising something that will enhance your customer's life. Almost every company does this, and their online sales increase as a result.
- Be The Ultimate Giver: When it comes to sales, most companies throw their products/services and their offers in the customers face. It is always either a big popup when you visit their website or an annoying YouTube ad pressuring the consumer to buy from them.
That style may have worked in the early 20th century, but it doesn't work anymore. As stated in the previous step, no one will buy from you if you don't give them a reason to. When they see your ad, the consumer will think, "Well what have they done for me?!" You as a small business owner can change that through your marketing. Give out free content at every chance you get, whether it is quick tips on Facebook, or inspiring pictures and articles, doing this will show that you care about your customer and their dreams, not just their money. People who have done this, like Gary Vaynerchuk and Tai Lopez, have had massive success because of it.
- Use Reciprocity: Reciprocity bias is one of the cognitive biases in our brains when it comes to decision making. This bias means that people are willing to treat others the way they want to be treated in order to get what they want.
Using this method to become the online selling machine is simple: view yourself in the eyes of the customer. Think of what you would want to see on your website. Would you want an ad to pop up immediately when going on a website? Would you want to see a long, boring YouTube ad? Of course not, so don't expect your customer to either. Give your customer the same online experience like you would want. Many successful businessmen, like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, understand this and have the success to show for it.
- Understand Marketing: Most people when they go into business think marketing and sales are similar. Although they do have some commonalities, they are far from the same. Even if you are pretty good at sales, it is worthless if you don't know marketing. You do not have to be an expert, but have some knowledge in it or get experts around you to help you because, without marketing, your online sales will deteriorate.
Any machine needs the proper tuning and help in order to get the gears running and achieve the task that needs to be done. We understand that sales is a tough concept to understand and put into action, but these tips have worked for many of great businessmen including those mentioned and Mark Cuban. Hopefully, these tips should help ease that stress and hopefully will make it easier to become the online sales machine you dream of being.
Now go out there and sell!


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Though, to choose mysql for the database backend is still a good decision - if you have a really big collection.
And that's amarok's audience - users with a huge audio collection.
Well, actually i have a huge audio collection too, but since i actually just play around ~40 tracks all the time besides mostly listening to streams, i really don't wanted a audio player which depends on mysql.
While looking for a new player i found cmus. A very simple console player. It's perfect. It has all the things which i need (playlists, mp3/flac support, stream support) and also has a really tiny memory footprint.
To make the player really comfortably in kde i wrote a small script which shows me some basic information about the actual track which i'm listening too.
And that's the script:
declare -i duration=$($CMUSREMOTE -Q|$GREP "duration"|$AWK '{ print $2 }')
declare -i position=$($CMUSREMOTE -Q|$GREP "position"|$AWK '{ print $2 }')
artist=$($CMUSREMOTE -Q|$GREP "tag artist") # ${artist:10}
title=$($CMUSREMOTE -Q|$GREP "tag title") # ${title:9}
$KDIALOG --title "CMUS is playing... ($percent%)" --passivepopup "${artist:10} - ${title:9}" 3
It looks like this:
To make it even more comfortably i put some code into my .bashrc and initab.
if ! [ "$(pidof cmus)" ];
then /usr/bin/cmus
c8:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -a michael 38400 tty8 linux
With that settings, cmus always get started on tty8. And with the alias p="cmus-remote -u" i just have to press "p" after login to play music (just a note: i don't use a login-manager, thats why i always login at the console and start kde/X with startx).