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Beginning today, The Morning Call will kick off a series of occasional stories taking a comprehensive look at how the Affordable Care Act will change health care and how Pennsylvanians access it. We will provide useful information to aid you in navigating the new marketplace and policy details to help you become a better consumer of health-care services. The series will continue through 2014, looking at the impact the program has on individuals, businesses and health-care providers. In addition to what you see in print, a full catalog of stories will be available at themorningcall.com.
A few men, mothers with toddlers and a woman with a hacking cough sat waiting for medical treatment last week in a stuffy room at the Neighborhood Health Center on Second Street in Allentown.
If they were like most of those who drop in on the center, which is in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, they were uninsured.
In a year when the clinic sees 10,000 patients, about 6,000 of them would not have health insurance, said Dr. Abby Letcher, the center's medical director.
That wouldn't be the case, however, if Gov. Tom Corbett would expand Medicaid as proposed under the Affordable Care Act, she said. Since the clinic looks at income when patients apply for reduced-price care, Letcher knows that at least half of them would qualify under an expansion of the program that now covers only very poor disabled adults, pregnant women, children and the elderly.
"We're talking about people who work multiple part-time jobs," she said. "They're trying to cobble together anything they can and the one thing they don't get is health benefits."
Expanding Medicaid, the joint federal-state insurance program, would add single adults and families who typically aren't offered insurance through work and cannot afford individual policies.
Expansion, which the Affordable Care Act promotes, would provide coverage to 350,000-600,000 more Pennsylvanians under 65, including 49 percent of uninsured veterans, according to several independent studies and the state Public Welfare Department. Less than seven months before most of the benefits of the act, also known as Obamacare, kick in on Jan 1, 23 states have decided to expand Medicaid. To entice them, the federal government has agreed to cover all the additional costs for new enrollees for three years before eventually dropping that amount to 90 percent by 2020.
Corbett, who has opposed Obamacare, has not said if Pennsylvania will expand the program.
As attorney general in 2010 Corbett had Pennsylvania join 27 other states in an unsuccessful lawsuit that tried to overturn Obamacare. As governor, he decided Pennsylvania would not set up an insurance exchange for people who will have to buy coverage to meet the new mandate. Instead, the state will be one of 27 whose exchange is set up by the federal government.
Corbett has argued that expanding Medicaid would be expensive and inefficient. One analysis estimated that Pennsylvania's Medicaid spending would rise by $180 million by 2020 if the program grows, and that includes the years when the federal government would cover all of the costs of expanding. Already, Medicaid consumes three quarters of the Department of Public Welfare's $27.6 billion budget, Corbett has noted.
Even before expansion, Medicaid in Pennsylvania was "on an unsustainable path," the governor told U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a Feb. 5 letter.
Bev Mackereth, the state Welfare Department's acting secretary, said Corbett is prudent to wait, given the enormity of the task.
"The governor has asked us to come to him with the information he needs to be able to make a decision to be able to expand Medicaid to possibly 600,000 Pennsylvanians," she said.
Since Corbett made his budget address in February, his administration has not conducted a complete financial analysis of Medicaid expansion, according to a Corbett spokeswoman.
Mackereth said it also has not sent the federal government a formal waiver requesting flexibility to design Medicaid coverage operations that could reduce the state's costs.
She said DPW, with the help of a consultant, is still working on proposals.
"That's our fault," she said.
"We often talk with states, including Pennsylvania, about the flexibility that exists within the program," said Fabien Levy, spokesman for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department." We look forward to working with the state to provide Pennsylvanians with high quality health coverage while also lowering costs in the Medicaid program."
Who would benefit?
Expanding Medicaid likely would help Irma Garcia. The 25-year-old Allentown resident is single and works part time as a nursing assistant for a local hospice. As a part-timer, she isn't offered health insurance and she doesn't qualify for Medicaid under the current stringent income rules.
So when she developed an eye problem last month, she did what hundreds of thousands of uninsured Pennsylvanians do every year — she went to the emergency room. The first treatment didn't work, so Garcia went to another hospital. By the time it was over, she had racked up $3,500 in bills that she can't afford to pay.
It's not her only hospital bill this year. Garcia suffers from depression and because she couldn't afford medication, her condition worsened and she landed in Sacred Heart Hospital's behavioral health unit. She is awaiting that bill.
Corbett, Garcia said, is holding out on the Medicaid expansion because he doesn't know what it's like to be working without health coverage. "If he was in our shoes, I think he would feel differently," she said. "He doesn't know what it's like to work really, really hard and then have nothing."
To qualify for Medicaid, an individual has to have a temporary disability and earn no more than $11,490 a year. A qualifying family of three cannot earn more than $19,530 a year.
If Medicaid is expanded, all single adults under age 65 who earn up $15,857 and three-person households with incomes up to $26,344 would qualify. Those not qualifying will have to shop for private insurance on the exchange. Some will qualify for subsidies to help them pay the premiums.
Obamacare was intended to slow the rising cost of U.S. health care, the most expensive in the world. One of the ways to meet that objective is to reduce Medicare payments to hospitals. Those payments were supposed to be offset by expanding Medicaid, which would reduce the amount of free care hospitals provide.
But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not force states to expand Medicaid. The ruling turned the mandate into an option.
In its latest report, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a California nonprofit that studies health-care reform, said 23 states, including Washington, D.C., were moving forward with Medicaid expansion, 20 have opted not to expand it and eight, including Pennsylvania, were still considering it.
Hospitals in states that do not accept expansion will face a double hit: lower Medicare reimbursements and less revenue from Medicaid.
"No expansion means that hospitals will continue to absorb $1 billion-plus annually in uncompensated care costs," said Roger Baumgarten, director of media relations for the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.
Locally, those costs continue to rise at big and small providers. Lehigh Valley Health Network hospitals in 2010 spent $14 million on charity care alone. Last year, that figure rose to $24 million. At Easton Hospital, uncompensated care, including charity care and unpaid patient bills, reached $17 million last year.
Meanwhile, expansion would bring Sacred Heart an estimated $1 million-$2 million in additional revenue, said President and CEO John Nespoli.
There's another cost to businesses in states that don't expand Medicaid.
According to an analysis by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, businesses in those states will pay higher taxes because under Obamacare, employees who qualify would get a tax credit to help them subsidize private insurance premiums. Employers with 50 or more full-time workers would have to pay a tax that the government would use to help cover those subsidies.
Employers in Pennsylvania could have to pay between $56.6 million-$85 million a year in additional charges to cover employees who would have qualified for expanded Medicaid, it said.
A political battle
In a Feb. 5 budget address and the letter to Sebelius, Corbett said Medicaid already was busting the budget and was expected to cost the state an additional $400 million in the coming year. In the letter, he said Medicaid was broken, and that for expansion to work, the federal government had to grant states the ability to mange their Medicaid offerings on an individual basis and to make sure enrollees have jobs.
"To ensure a path to independence, there also must be appropriate incentives for participants to seek and retain employment," the letter stated.
Democratic Sen. Vince Hughes of Philadelphia, who favors expansion, said Corbett should be focused on Pennsylvania's needs, not how the federal government operates. Expansion would cover low-income adults who already have jobs, Hughes said, so he does not know why Corbett would mention employment in his letter.
The people the expansion would help, Hughes said, are serving hot dogs at an IronPigs or Phillies games, stocking shelves, making popcorn at the movies, working in retail and tending to the sick, Hughes said.
"They are busting their ass on a daily basis," Hughes said.
To try to force Corbett to act, Hughes and other Democrats in the Senate plan to push for a vote in the Senate on June 23, six days before the June 30 budget deadline.
Republicans are not in lock step with Corbett on the issue either.
On Wednesday, Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bucks, chairman of the Human Services Committee, filed a bill seeking to expand Medicaid. The next day, DiGirolamo's committee held a hearing in which representatives from the state hospital association, human services organizations and others, touted the benefits of Medicaid expansion.
"I'm getting a lot of criticism for being in favor of this," DiGirolamo said during the hearing. "This is not an easy issue for members of my caucus to get their heads around. I understand the governor's concerns, but in my mind we can find a way to make this fit [for Pennsylvania]."
Rep. Brad Roae, R-Crawford, a member of DiGirolamo's committee, said he does not believe the state or federal government can afford to expand Medicaid. But, he said, he just wants Corbett to make a decision so the Legislature can move on with its work.
Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said he does not know what will happen to DiGirolamo's bill.
"Until the governor makes a decision, there's really no sense getting into it," Miskin said.
While the Corbett administration has been fighting calls for expansion, it also has been fighting an uphill battle on the policy level.
Three independent organizations — the RAND Corp., the Pennsylvania Economy League and the Legislature's Independent Fiscal Office — came out with studies over the past few months showing an economic benefit to expansion by creating between 35,000 and 44,000 new jobs, many of them in the health industry, and taxable income.
RAND, for instance, said Pennsylvania would forgo $16.5 billion in federal money to cover the extra costs between 2014-2020 without expansion.
The studies predict the state's Medicaid expenses will rise, starting in 2014, regardless of whether Corbett opts to expand coverage. The higher expenses are due to normal inflationary costs and because more people who now qualify but have not signed up for Medicaid will do so when the federal government kicks off a massive television, radio, billboard and Internet campaign about Obamacare in coming weeks.
Those new enrollees would raise the state's share of Medicaid costs by $50 million in 2014 and $120 million by 2020, according to RAND. The RAND and fiscal office reports claim those state expenses would largely evaporate if Corbett and the Legislature opt to expand Medicaid.
The Corbett administration last month attacked the fiscal office's findings, saying it did not consider possible tax changes by the federal government on some Medicaid plans, which would reduce the state's potential income from Medicaid.
The tax fears are a legitimate concern for the administration, said George Hoover, health policy director of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Partnership for Children. However, he said, he believes the state would still have a net financial benefit based on the number of new jobs, economic activity and federal payment match of between 90 percent-100 percent for new enrollees.
The state, so far, has looked at costs but not revenues.
Estimating revenues is a job for the state Revenue Department, but spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said she does not know why the department has not done a revenue calculation.
"DPW is sort of running point on this issue," she said.
It's not Public Welfare's job to run revenue projections, Mackereth said, only costs.
Corbett's spokeswoman Christine Cronkright said "revenue generation is certainly important," but the administration decided its "primary focus" would be getting more flexibility in the program to make it more sustainable.
Corbett's administration has said repeatedly that federal officials have left their questions about an expanded program unanswered. As recently as May 30, the administration was asking Washington for flexibility to keep children from low-income families in the CHIP health insurance program, rather than possibly moving them to Medicaid.
Children already routinely move in and out of Medicaid and CHIP, Hoover noted. The movement occurs when parent's income levels dip or rise. He also said federal law mandates states use Medicaid for the most needy children regardless of whether they expand or not.
"This is something Pennsylvania has had to plan for since 2010," Hoover said.
The governor gets policy support from some conservative groups. The free-market oriented Commonwealth Foundation says expansion just puts more people into a failed program many doctors don't accept. "The problem is the Affordable Care Act doesn't give us solutions to the root problem of care being too expensive," said policy analyst Elizabeth Stelle.
She also questioned how the additional federal spending would increase economic activity. More government spending, she said, means more taken out of someone's pocket.
A year of delay
While think tanks, the governor and lawmakers trade barbs and studies, many working poor living without insurance, are making tough choices between basics such as food and utility payments or hospital and doctor bills.
"I hear about it all the time," said Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network patient accounts manager John Sipko. "They ration their medicine because they can't afford it."
While Liliana Hernandez of Allentown waited for a bus last week, she did the math for her eye care — $165 for a visit to her eye doctor and another $200, when she can afford it, for her prescription drugs. It was ironic to her that when she was working, she didn't have time to get to her doctor, she said. Now that she's unemployed, she has the time, but no coverage and no income.
There's an additional blow to the most needy people: Since Obamacare anticipated that Medicaid would be expanded universally, it made no other provision for the poor to get coverage. So if their income is less than the federal poverty level, they likely won't get Medicaid and they won't qualify for subsidies to buy private insurance.
That's why it's a disappointment to people like Letcher, the clinic medical director, to see the political haggling over something as important to her and her patients as Medicaid expansion. It means that if those working people in her clinic waiting room lived in expansion states like Maryland or New Jersey, they'd likely be covered beginning next year.
But in Pennsylvania, the working poor still don't know if relief is on the way.
"It's a whole year of delay," she said.
610 778-2259


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The BGS Geology datasets are digital geological maps of Great Britain based on the different series of published BGS paper maps. Most paper-only maps have now been digitised into popular GIS and web formats and their lithostratigraphic nomenclature has been updated to conform to current usage. The digital data now contain information from recent field surveys conducted by BGS, as well as previously unpublished maps and additional interpretations.
Contact Digital Data for more information.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Does anyone know a good app to chat about specific surf spots? With surfline I can see the webcam and daily reports, but if I wanted to know how it was for other surfers, up to the minute, is there any app for that? Like with ChatTag you can go to #SurfScripps and you can see what surfers are saying...anything else like that?


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Back To The Canucks
It occurs to me I haven't posted any Vancouver Canucks concept art lately. Figured I ought to rectify that.
This design or a version of it has been floating around for a while as a dream third jersey for the Canucks. Unfortunately, the rumors have the stick-in-rink logo on the chest of the new alternate. On that same tack, how about another green one?
It's hard to deny they would look good in green. Or somebody would. Between the Stars and Wild, it's almost like someone in the NHL is deathly afraid of the color.
But if neither that nor the stick-in-rink is your cup of tea, how about stick-in-pond? A perfectly circular pond, that is.
There are even some folks partial to the good ol' whale — with the new colors.
Or you could just go way back and mess with everything.
I think we can safely count that one out as a potential third sweater contender.
More to come this week. And by the way, the images above, as with all images posted here, are the work of readers like you. To have your work posted on the blog for all to see, email it to me at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Clint Eastwood has waded back into the presidential election, narrating a new ad in support of GOP candidate Mitt Romney.
Eastwood narrates a 30-second spot called "At Stake," saying, "If someone doesn't get the job done, you have to hold them accountable. Obama's second term would be a rerun of the first and our country just couldn't survive that."
The Hollywood legend then appears on camera to make a direct plea to voters: "There's not much time left and the future of our country is at stake."
The new ad comes after Eastwood famously took the stage in August at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where he delivered a 12-minute scolding to an empty chair that was meant to represent President Obama.
"Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you made when you were running for election," Eastwood asked the empty chair. "I mean, what do you say to people?"
The speech went viral, inspiring a Twitter feed, and countless photos of people wagging their fingers at chairs. Even one of Romney's aides described it as "theater of the absurd."
"They vet most of the people, but I told them, 'You can't do that with me, because I don't know what I'm going to say,'" Eastwood later explained. "It was supposed to be a contrast with all the scripted speeches, because I'm Joe Citizen. … I'm a movie maker, but I have the same feelings as the average guy out there."


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We offer iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 'Certified Pre-Owned smartphones 84 point Inspected Like-New'", with one year warranty
Like New Condition
Item Added to Basket
The Samsung SGH-A737 has an attractive, comfortable design with easy-to-use navigation controls and a lovely display. It also offers a full range of features.
Samsung SGH-A737 features a 1250 contact phone book. A thousand of them on the phone memory itself and 250 on the sim card. There is room in each entry for 6 numbers, 2 e-mail, 2 URLs, an instant-messaging (IM) Screen Name, and notes.
Users can organize callers into groups or pair them with a photo or any of 10 polyphonic ringtones. Also has vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging (MMS), call timers, an alarm clock, a timer, a world clock, a calendar, a task list, a notepad, a calculator, a unit and currency converter, a stopwatch, and a tip calculator.
The Samsung SGH-A737 gives the user stereo Bluetooth, USB mass storage, a speakerphone, instant messaging (AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo), and e-mail.


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1963 Chevrolet Nova - The Family Business
Father And Sons Collaborate On This 9-Second Tire Shredder.
Oh, if cars could tell tales, imagine the tales they would tell. This superclean '63 Nova probably has some good ones. It was originally owned by a guy who worked as a salesman for a corned beef processing plant in Oakland, California. We can only imagine what his clothes smelled like when he came home from work. For years it was the conveyance of a person who made call after sales call hawking pickled meat to stores, restaurants, and maybe a few of those pastrami nacho taco stands we see in certain parts of town.
It must not have had too hard a life, because the car still has only 60,000 miles on it. For some reason, it was put into storage in 1980 and didn't see the light of day until 1993 when Bob Brynteson bought the car so he and his two sons would have a project to work on together.
Over the years, they steadily transformed it into the version you see here, and it's come a long way from its meat-selling days. It's a lot faster, for sure. Bob's son Joe is now the owner, and he credits his dad and his brother, Steve, for helping with the transformation. Steve built the 10-point rollcage and set up the ladder bar rear, while Joe and his dad did the paint and bodywork. Don Nelson at 5R Auto built the engine and transmission, and everyone was instrumental in putting the car back together.
Now in its new life, Joe's Nova has different stories to tell-tales of mighty burnouts and frenetic dragstrip passes. It smells better, too. Burning rubber is always preferable to corned beef.
Tech Notes
Who: Joe Brynteson
What: '63 Chevrolet Nova
Where: Coon Rapids, Minnesota. The city's website calls Coon Rapids "an exciting community and the area's gateway to the northern part of the state."
Engine: The Nova's block is '76-vintage Chevy iron. Wheeler Racing Engines in Blaine, Minnesota, did the machining work, and the block was bored 0.030 over and clearanced to fit a massive 3.875-inch-stroke Eagle crankshaft. Do the math and you've got a big-block-sized 396 ci in a small-block wrapper. Six-inch Eagle rods swing Diamond 10.6:1 pistons. Rings and bearings are by Total Seal and Clevite. A Bullet Racing solid roller cam specs out at an impressive 272/286 degrees duration at 0.050 and 0.675/0.662-inch lift. The pushrods are from Comp Cams, and they actuate a set of Harland Sharp 1.5:1 roller rockers. The heads are supertrick AFR 210s that were treated to a porting job, and they're fitted with 2.08/1.60-inch valves. Joe says this combination makes 570 hp, and we have no reason to doubt him.
Induction: That's an Edelbrock Super Victor intake topped by a Barry Grant Demon 750 double-pumper carburetor.
NOS: A 250hp two-stage NOS plate resides under the carb and helps this car scoot to quarter-mile times of 9.40 seconds. On the motor, it is no slouch, either, and will go 10.46 at 129 mph.
Ignition: An MSD electronic distributor doles out the sparks. An MSD coil is on the supply side, and MSD wires send the volts to NGK V-Power plugs.
Exhaust: The headers are Hooker Super Comps that measure 13/4 inches at the primaries and 3 inches at the collectors. Three-inch tubing carries the fumes to Magnaflow mufflers.
Rearend: A Victory 31/2-inch prop shaft leads back to a '70 Mopar 83/4 rear, virtually unheard of in a Chevy.
Suspension: The stock Nova stuff disappeared years ago, replaced with a much better designed AJE Racing bolt-on front subframe that employs coilover shocks and rack-and-pinion steering. The rear leaf springs were yarded out in favor of a ladder bar setup, also with coilovers.
Brakes: Wilwood 10-inch front discs handle that end's stopping duties. Mopar drums still reside on the rear.
Wheels/tires: Up front 15x3.5 M/T ET Drag skinnies are mounted with 26x6 M/T Street Radials. Out back, scope out the 28x12.5-inch M/T ET Streets on 15x10 M/T ET Drag wheels.
Paint/body: Joe and his dad did the bodywork and paint job, spraying the car with PPG Gold Metallic, a '69 Camaro color. See how we work a first-gen Camaro into every issue?
Thanks: Props to Joe's dad, Bob, brother, Steve, and Jake Cooney, Don Nelson, Blake Nelson, and TNT Race Shop. "The car couldn't have been built without these diehards."


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The first ever Fr. Vincent Ferrer All India Invitation Hockey Academies Championship came to an end here in Anantapur Sports Village (ASV). The championship was organised by Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) in partnership with Hockey Anantapur. The championship was held over six days beginning on 29th May 2017 and for the first time a hockey championship in Anantapur was presided by Hockey India officials. 11 Hockey Academies from various regions of India participated in this All India Hockey Academies Championship for (U-21).
11 teams were divided into four pools and each team had to play once against each other in their pool during the group stages. The usual suspects who performed well in the group stages were there in the semi-finals. TN Hockey Academy (Chennai), Dhyan Chand Hockey Academy (Guntur), One Thousand Hockey Legs (Delhi) and Rural Development Trust(RDT) Hockey Academy (Anantapur) were the teams in the semis. TN Hockey Academy knocked out Dhyan Chand Hockey Academy (Guntur) to seal their spot in the finals.And Dhyan Chand Hockey Academy (Guntur) were placed third in the championship after playing against One Thousand Hockey Legs (Delhi) who looked fiercely in the beginning.
The final match between TN Hockey Academy and RDT Hockey Academy was going toe-to-toe with equal chances given the fact that both had shown good maneuvering and tactical skills throughout the championship. Both teams were good at defense which kept the score board idle.
Eventually, in the 25th minute with Tamil Nadu giving away a penalty corner, Sandeep Kumar of the RDT Hockey Academy made use of the opportunity and scored a goal to break the deadlock. The second goal wasn't far behind too, Charan Kumar scored a field goal in the 27th minute.
It was turning out to be an unexpected one sided match as the ball possession was mostly with RDT and they limited the TN Hockey Academy team to defense before the halftime. Few minutes into the second half saw one more goal from Sandeep Kumar helping RDT Hockey Academy to gain a comfortable lead of 3-0.
With the blow of the final whistle, there was a loud cheer from the home crowd and supporters ran towards the winning team with RDT Hockey Academy winning the maiden Fr. Vincent Ferrer Hockey Academies Championship 2017. The player of the match for all matches were felicitated with hockey sticks.
BJ Kariappa, the Hockey India Manager High Performance (South India) who was in Anantapur Sports Academy said that the championship was a good opportunity for the players to showcase their skills and the coaches to see the growth in their players. He also felt that there was a great potential in the players and if they continue with the same spirit, they could surely excel at national and international level.


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Work Out
Hi Fashion Tadpoles,
With the new year in full swing it's time to get started on those resolutions. This for me means making the time to exercise and get healthy. I find that the best motivation is great workout wear. Whether that is a new sports bra or a shaping pair of leggings, clothes can be the extra boost you need to get out the door and get going. I find that having a diverse workout wardrobe is the key to meeting your exercising goals. There are so many awesome workout clothes these days that are so stylish that they can easily transition to casual wear so that you can run errands after your workout. That is what I love about the clothing brand Sweaty Betty.
They have tons of amazing options from yoga wear to running clothes. They have styles to meet any of your exercising preferences. I find that trying new classes can help mix up your work outs and help you stay inspired. Sweaty Betty has outfits for Pilates, spinning, and cardio barre. They also have clothes for playing tennis and doing outdoor activities like hiking or swimming. I love doing yoga and I especially love the versatility of yoga clothes. I love wearing yoga pants because you can simply add a sweater and go grocery shopping or to run errands and still look chic. My favorite celebs to look to for workout style inspiration are Kate Hudson, Nicole Richie, and Vanessa Hudgens.
Whenever I am feeling unmotivated I find that it helps to look at pictures for inspiration and to always have your clothes laid out and ready to go. And with the amazingly fun and chic clothes from Sweaty Betty it can be fun putting together workout looks that will make you feel strong and confident. I think that workout clothes have the power to give you the extra boost of motivation needed to kick start a great workout and a fabulous new year.
images via: justjared.com
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That January morning, the 12th, I accidentally caught on a TV clip about a prisoner, who started painting in prison. San Clemente – if I am not mistaken. This man, of Mexican descent, incarcerated for something he did in, was in great pain and deep remorse of his actions. Pouring out his pain – and his disappointment from his own mistakes by drawing on the prison wall. In these brief few minutes, the presenter let him speak. He said, that when he draws and paints – he is at peace.e has time to think and look deeper in his soul. He kept drawing on the walls, with (permission of the guards) without having any formal training. His enthusiasm was so contagious, that the other prisoners started supplying him with whatever they can, so he can continue his work. Pencils, crayons.
It was admirable! Watching this human being, who fell prey to circumstances and his to own temper perhaps, and entrapped himself – to elevate himself and rise from the ashes of self-destruction. He found a way to awaken a talent , he did not know he had – and found a noble way to bypass anger and channel it into a whole new level of thinking.
Talk about the transformational quality of Art!
It made me think about imprisonment of the spirit. Imprisonment of the spirit, that has nothing to do with walls – everything to do with the limitations in our minds. Do we imprison our spirit when we surround ourselves with people, whose superficiality is numbing ? Do we imprison our spirit when we distract ourselves with things that have no relevance to the world around us or within us? Do we imprison our minds when we squander valuable time and devote time to exploring limiting belief systems, that impose on us ready-made values, impose on us how to think, how to react -to the point that we become a mere reflection , not a source?
Angel – the imprisoned person with a free spirit – made me think.
The power of this unusual uplifting of a human being still stays with me. The paintings were a pure expression of his pain. The mural was executed in mixed medium – crayons, pencils and acrylics – whatever he finds. (I presume there are no art shops in prison…. ). Not only does he lack the conventional environment of being an artist – not only is he lacking in mental stimulus of his environment by virtue of a formal art education! Yet the little glimmer of opportunity, time and space became his main motivator. After all – he does have the encouragement of the other prisoners and even of the prison guards, who gave him a permission to draw and paint. He needed permission to draw!!!!!
Think about it!
The sheer focus and determination he had! Many of us would try to achieve and sometimes it simply does not work. Could it be that the more freedom and time we have – the less our desire to value it?
Could it be that the very presence of obstacles generates light and power beyond one's expectations not only to overcome but to excel?
Is it any wonder that some of the greatest creations of art have been created under impossible circumstances. Maybe the obstacles are simply a spark plug that gets the desire to create in a mode, that overrides the trivial, the unimportant and the minutia?
Some of us create, because they love art and have spent time to develop their skills and talents and want to share with the world. We simply breathe and live Art. Others create – because they have an obligation for a project or a commission or a gallery. Lucky ones! And then there are many levels of creativity between the highly skilled professional and the dilletante. But to create in the face of insurmountable obstacles – is probably the highest form of Art. What he lacks in training – complements in inner desire to express and reflect the life-changing experience his life.
Angel – the prisoner – artist , whose spirit is anything but imprisoned. I was hoping I could find some photograph of his work – but none was accessible. What I saw – was a complex composition, a large mural, depicting the events of his life, that lead him to this corner. So, I have no pictures of Angel nor of his murals. Just a deep impression from an accidental TV show about a prison and an incredible human being. And a deep admiration of the human spirit and the transformational power of Art.
Stay inspired, my friends! Stay inspired, despite all odds! Stay inspired – no matter what!
Yours truly,
Tsvetana for TheArtChronicle
PS.The photo inset above is by Gerhard Richter.
And the Signature Image below is a Painting by this Author..


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Azamat Tazhayakov (left), Dias Kadyrbayev, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (right) in a photo taken in Times Square. The picture, which appeared on Tsarnaev's page on VKontakt, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, is believed to be from November 2012.
Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were accused Wednesday of removing evidence from his dorm room as new details about the case emerged in court papers.
Criminal complaints against the trio revealed that Tsarnaev cut his long hair after the April 15 attack but before the FBI released his photo and that he allegedly told friends a month earlier that he knew "how to make a bomb."
The court papers also suggest that the 19-year-old suspect was practically blasé when one of the friends texted to say he looked like the man in the FBI photos of the bomb suspect.
Among his replies: 'lol," according to the complaints.
Attorneys for the three suspects that were arrested for allegedly assisting in the Boston Marathon bombing maintain their clients' innocence and say that they were shocked by the attack.
The complaints were filed against Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, who were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice, and Robel Phillipos, who was charged with making false statements.
The three friends, who are all 19-years-old, allegedly went to Tsarnaev's dorm room after the FBI photos came out April 18 and left with a backpack that contained fireworks tubes that had been emptied of their explosive powder, according to the documents.
The backpack was later tossed in the garbage, though the suspects' gave conflicting statement about whether that happened before or after Tsarnaev had been publicly named as the bombing suspect following a night of bloody mayhem.
As the allegations against them were unveiled, Tsarnaev's three friends appeared in Boston Federal Court Wednesday afternoon. None of the charges suggested they had prior knowledge of the dual bombings that killed three and wounded more than 200 near the finish line of the race.
This May 1, 2013 FBI handout image released in a criminal complaint, shows fireworks tubes found in a backpack that was disposed of by friends of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev — who are from Kazakhstan and were detained more than a week ago on immigration charges — did not seek bail and were ordered held until a May 14 hearing.
Phillipos is being held until a detention hearing Monday. As he was read his rights, Federal Judge Marianne Bowler admonished him, saying, "I suggest you pay attention to me rather than looking down."
Outside the courthouse, Harlan Protass, a lawyer for Tazhayakov, said his client "has cooperated fully with the authorities and looks forward to the truth coming out in this case."
Robert Stahl, a lawyer for Kadyrbayev, said the college sophomore "absolutely denies" allegations of a coverup and was "shocked and horrified" by the bombing. He said his client told investigators about ditching the items from the dorm room but "did not know those items were involved in a bombing."
Although only Tazhayakov is currently enrolled, all three men knew Tsarnaev from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
The narrative outlined in the court papers begins about a month ago when, according to Tazhayakov, Tsarnaev told him and Kadyrbayev that he "knew how to make a bomb."
Kadyrbayev last saw Tsarnaev on April 17, two days after the bombing, at his dorm room and noticed that he had given himself a short haircut. They chatted outside the dorm, the complaint said.
Little more than 24 hours later, the FBI released photos and video of two men wanted in the bombing. The suspects were not yet identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan.
At least two of the three friends thought one of the men in the pictures looked like Tsarnaev, and Kadyrbayev texted him to say so, the FBI said.
This still image is taken from a YouTube video made by Robel Phillipos.
Tsarnaev fired off a flurry of texts, including, "lol," "you better not text me" and "come to my room and take whatever you want," the court papers said.
The trio then met at Tsarnaev's dorm room, where they learned he had already left and were let in by his roommate.
After watching a movie, they spotted a dark backpack containing seven red tubes of fireworks that had been emptied, and Kadyrbayev decided to take it, according to one of the complaints.
They also took a laptop – now turned over to the FBI, according to Kadyrbayev's attorney — because they didn't want to arouse the roommate's suspicions about the backpack, the document said.
After leaving the dorm, the three friends "started to freak out" because they realized Tsarnaev was wanted in the bombing, Phillipos said, according to the feds.
They then "collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get in trouble," Kadyrbayev told agents, according to the complaint.
Kadyrbayev allegedly put the items in a large trash bag and tossed it into a dumpster near his off-campus apartment.
The suspects' statements clashed on whether that happened the night of the April 18, before Tsarnaev was formally identified as the accused bomber, or the morning after – an important point if their defense is that they had no idea the items could be evidence.
Tsarnaev never returned to his dorm room. Authorities say that after the FBI put their pictures out, he and Tamerlan executed a campus police officer, stole a car at gunpoint and led police on a wild chase.
It ended with Tamerlan dead after a firefight and Dzhokhar captured in a boat in a Watertown, Mass., backyard. Dzhokhar, who was wounded, has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.
Law enforcement officials have told NBC News that Dzhokhar told them during questioning he and his brother wanted to defend Islam after the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Investigators have been trying to determine if pair – ethnic Chechens who had lived in the U.S. for more than a decade — they received assistance from anyone else in the U.S. or abroad.
NBC News' James Novogrod contributed to this report
- Tzarnaev's pal drove with 'Terrorista #1' novelty plate, classmate says
- From 'Lol' to bomb boasts: New details from Boston court papers
- Boston carjack victim: 'God was with me'
- Tsarnaev's best defense: Judy Clarke, who keeps clients off death row
- American widow of bombing suspect wants body released to Russian family
Heightened security, empty streets, and memorials mark the the days after the Boston Marathon bombings.
This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 6:36 PM EDT


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Published on 21 December by Jacqueline Klopp
Last month, amongst much fanfare, the Thika Highway Improvement Project came to an official close, although for another year the contractors will be liable for any needed changes. Thus it is timely to reflect on how people will come to terms with this new infrastructure that can allow for extremely high speeds in densely populated areas along the Nairobi-Thika Corridor. It might also be time to look more systematically at what this project can teach us for other ongoing or new highway projects such as the proposed World Bank-funded elevated Uhuru highway and the African Development Bank funded transformation of Outer Ring Road. It is time to ask ourselves, what are the broader implications of highway building for the Nairobi Metropolitan Region as a whole?
In a forum on November 20 at the University of Nairobi, academics, civil society and some government officials came together to review three recent studies on the social, environmental and engineering dimensions of the new highway. A portion of this meeting can be viewed online along with a previous forum hosted by the Kenya Alliance of Residents Association . What is clear is that a lot more public consultation, independent research and monitoring needs to take place on these large-scale projects that have huge impacts on the city region and on public coffers. One issue that came up was that, despite the right to information enshrined in Article 35 of the new Constitution, many of the researchers had difficulty in actually obtaining key information including the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments and the actual design plans. KARA also raised concerns about the quality of the public consultation and communication throughout the project, a point reflected in their report available online (http://csud.ei.columbia.edu).
Poor road design is partially caused by a lack of citizen engagement and feedback including from independent experts within local academic institutions. This combined with poor regulation leads to frightening numbers of road accidents, raising the negative costs of the highway (road accidents are now one of Kenya's top public health issues). State of the art highway engineering involves "context dependent design and solutions" where engineers work with and consider all people affected by a project, not just drivers of vehicles but pedestrians, school children, cattle herders, business people, transport operators. Context dependent design ensures that a highway plan takes into account settlements, transport hubs, important economic assets and how people move during the course of the day. Also safety audits during highway construction should be legally mandated and conducted by independent experts. As a number of participants noted during the 20 November forum, this requires a re-training of engineers and a re-fashioning of process around road building as well as institutional reform.
When it comes to the Thika Highway Improvement Project a number of problems arose because of a closed process of hiring consultants who employed a conventional, car-centric approach to highway construction. They also seemed to shy away from opening the design plans and process to adequate public scrutiny. This resulted initially in a very dangerous road. In the last year, the newly constructed Thika highway had to be significantly retrofitted under pressure from the African Development Bank and according to a report by engineers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), may need additional changes. The government's obvious failure to take road safety seriously was reflected in the meager 12 footbridges that were planned across a span of 50.4 km of road cutting through highly populated cities and towns such as Nairobi and Ruiru. They were also not properly placed and did not link up to places where large numbers of people are likely to cross. Only after pressure, the Ministry of Roads has now agreed to 18, still a shockingly low number.
What will also happen, besides the deaths of people trying to run across the road at various points, is what happens in every place where a large highway cuts through a community, isolating one side from another. As Prof. Gariy from the JKUAT pointed out during the November forum, high speed category A highways are really not made for such built up areas like the Thika corridor. Because proper land controls are not in place, land speculation will mean an increase in the population growth along the highway which in turn, without adequate public transit, will lead to more congestion. It was Jane Jacobs in her famous book the Death and Life of American Cities who noted that expanding highways increases traffic and hence traffic congestion eventually.
Of course, as Senior Infrastructure Specialist for the African Development Bank George Makajuma noted at the forum (and it was to his immense credit that he has been very open and engaged), the traffic congestion will only improve with proper mass transit (bus, matatu, train service, walking and bicycle paths) and a better road network. This raises the question of why build massive highways before you start working on other needed changes in a careful and systematic way? And why if the same consulting firm that did the engineering designs for the highway and also had a contract to do the mass rapid transit study, were the two not linked? The engineering analysis presented at the forum showed that like safety, non-motorized transit, was an afterthought of the government and there was little connection between highway design and matatu, bus and train stops. This reflects the general lack of engagement by the project with key actors in the transport sector including public transportation operators. Yet, a high quality public urban transportation system is a fundamental component to any "world class" city.
The plans for improving the Nairobi regional road network are under way but the truth is no integration of land use and transportation planning is occurring; if the current literature on the topic is correct, a failure to address this bigger problem before building highways, will lead to an expensive mess in one of East Africa's most prized cities and regions. For example, there was a plan hatched somewhere to build a Greater Southern Bypass on the Southern end of the Nairobi National Park – a choice that would negatively impact tourism that boosts the economy and employment in the region, and the ecology and environment of the city. Now there is an idea to build an elevated highway along the current Uhuru highway. As architect Eric Kagada notes, "elevated highways become 'Chinese Walls that divide urban communities and create unpleasant and poorly kept environments. An elevated highway creates a virtual barrier which most residents below it will not cross."
In truth, in many places including the United States, Europe and even China, planners and transport specialists are rethinking locating highways in the central core of the city. Many cities like New Haven are tearing down city center highways at great cost. Which brings me to the eight-lane strip of Uhuru highway that now severs the lovely University of Nairobi main campus from the center of the city and creates a hazard in crossing from one side to another: again, it seems neither the city nor the university were seriously involved in designing this stretch of highway. I predict that in the future this part of the highway will need to be torn up and redesigned to allow a more practical and safe circulation for both cars and people. Also no one travelling this stretch in a car can seriously entertain travelling at high speeds in the middle of the city.
Highways are wonderful symbols of modernity and power especially for a social class with cars. I have to admit Thika Highway is an impressive piece of infrastructure to travel on and even to just look at these days. Nevertheless, what we have learned, not only from the Thika highway project but also from examples across the world, is that highways do not belong in the core of a "world class" city (the bypasses, of course, make a lot of sense). Instead, Nairobi will need world class and cutting edge engineering, planning, and public transportation institutions to regulate and open up the process of how the city and region develop. Since Nairobi's transportation infrastructure will determine the growth of the city far into the future, it is time to work on first things first and avoid dangerous and potentially costly mistakes of large-scale highway projects in cities. In the end, not only will these highways create new problems, but they will also ultimately fail to fix the traffic problems they were designed to solve.
Dr. Jacqueline Klopp is Associate Research Scholar of the Earth Institute's Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD).


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Discover all you need to know about safe and successful beekeeping, on our one-day beekeeping course at River Cottage.
Did you know, 60 per cent of food plants depend on honey bees for pollination? But bees are not only essential to the environment – these sophisticated insects are also a real pleasure to look after. Our one-day Beekeeping course offers a complete introduction to the craft, helping you to understand the whole process and all its parts before you commit to keeping bees yourself.
Your day will see you getting hands-on at the beehive, learning how to care for bees and make wonderful products from their wax and honey. You'll be treated to plenty of our famous River Cottage hospitality, and hopefully leave buzzing with enthusiasm for your new hobby.
Your day
09:30 - 17:00
Arrive at River Cottage
You'll be met at the top of the hill at 9.30am and begin your River Cottage experience with a 10-15 minute walk through the wonderful pathways down to the farm, enabling you to really soak up the views of the valley.
Make yourself at home
You will meet your hosts and start the day with tea, coffee and treats fresh from the kitchen.
Session one
Your course will begin with the fundamentals of beekeeping – from the reasons for keeping bees to recognising the honey bee, and all the equipment you will need.
Session two
Next you'll walk up to the River Cottage apiary for some hands-on practical experience with colonies of bees.
Food is always the focus at River Cottage, and a two-course lunch of local, seasonal fare will be one of the highlights of your day.
Session three
In the second of two practical sessions, you will visit a local apiary and have the chance to examine a beehive, with lessons on safety and beekeeping etiquette.
Session four
We'll return to HQ, where David will show you all the products you can make from a hive, such as floor wax and face cream. He'll also share useful advice and tips to help you on the road to beekeeping.
There will be time to chat to your fellow scholars and the River Cottage team before heading back up to the car park, with course notes in hand.
Please note: This is a guide to the activities that will make up your course at River Cottage. This is by no means set in stone and will depend on seasonal availability.
On occasion cookery schools will use equipment that includes induction hobs. It is recommended that people with pace makers should not work on these units. If you are concerned or would like to check whether or not induction hobs will be used on the course you are interested in, please call us on 01297 630302.
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Further information...
This course is run from River Cottage HQ on the Dorset/Devon borders. Full address details of HQ will be provided once you have booked.
We are a licensed venue. We have a wide selection of the finest organic wines available to purchase.
Stay in our famous Farmhouse, click here. For other local accommodation click here.
We would advise that this course is only really suitable for 12 years of age and upwards. Under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult. We put these guidelines in place for the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all our guests.
With many of our courses there are often treats and leftovers to take away with you. In our quest to be more sustainable we are encouraging guests to bring their own containers and bags to transport their produce home. Details of what is required for each course will be included in booking emails.
- Sustainable Restaurant Association
- Food and Travel Magazine 2017
- Great British Food Awards 2017
- Great British Food Awards 2018


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I thought I'd step into the Recruiting Wayback Machine again and take a look back a quarter-century ago at the Ohio State class of 1984.
Twenty-five years ago, the Buckeyes signed 25 high school players to national letters of intent and several of them turned to be stars. Two became among the top performers at their position in school history – some would even argue the best wide receiver and linebacker to ever suit up for the Scarlet and Gray.
OSU head coach Earle Bruce had just completed his fifth season in Columbus and was in the middle of a seven-year streak of three-loss campaigns, a stretch that had earned the coach the derisive nickname of "Ol' 9-3 Earle." However, lost over time is the fact the 1983 team came within an eyelash of contending for a national championship.
The Buckeyes went 9-3 that season, but their three losses came by a total of just 13 points, all to ranked teams and all on the road. As a result, OSU finished ninth in the final AP poll that season and eighth in the UPI rankings. The team that year featured such future NFL stars as offensive tackle William Roberts, tight end John Frank, center Kirk Lowdermilk, linebacker Pepper Johnson and quarterback Mike Tomczak. Just those five players alone went on to combine for 59 NFL seasons and seven Super Bowl championship rings.
Roberts and Frank were among those graduating after the 1983 season, so Bruce and his coaching staff put heavy recruiting emphasis on restocking the roster with offensive linemen and tight ends. At the same time, OSU broke tradition in a couple of different areas. The Buckeyes did well in the Cincinnati area, where Bruce had experienced trouble keeping top players away from Notre Dame, and they uncharacteristically signed a couple of junior college standouts.
Two of the most highly rated players came from Ohio. Recruiting analysts are often a hit-and-miss bunch, but even the most myopic of the gurus could have foretold future greatness for receiver Cris Carter of Middletown and Chris Spielman of Massillon Washington.
That duo was the foundation upon which the Buckeyes' class of '84 earned the grade of "B to B-plus" from West Virginia recruiting expert Doug Huff. Illinois was given Big Ten honors followed by OSU and Michigan in a tie for second place. The Illini, who were defending conference champions, were given top marks for signing so many college-ready athletes. Head coach Mike White signed a whopping 12 JUCO transfers, including 11 from California.
In addition to landing Carter and Spielman, Huff gave Ohio State upgrades for landing a bevy of talented offensive line prospects. He listed junior college transfer Ron Paulsen and Chicago-area high school star Mike Durham as major "gets" for the Buckeyes. (If you recall either player, consider yourself a real student of Ohio State recruiting history.)
Bruce and his staff followed their tried and true recruiting philosophy in 1984, concentrating most of their efforts on Ohio-grown talent. As a result, 20 members of the class came from the Buckeye State with OSU signing one player each from Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania as well as junior colleges in Kansas and California.
As with nearly every recruiting season, though, the Buckeyes couldn't sweep Ohio completely clean. They fought hard for linebacker Frank Stams of Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, but it those days it was extremely different to pry any credible SVSM player away from Notre Dame. (After all, St. Vincent-St. Mary also plays as the Fighting Irish). Stams indeed signed with Notre Dame and became an All-America defensive tackle, helping those Irish win the 1988 national championship. He later had a seven-year NFL career with the Rams, Browns and Chiefs.
Other top-rated Ohio players who got away from the Buckeyes in 1984 included Akron Garfield running back Charles Gladman, who signed with Pittsburgh, and Cleveland St. Joseph tight end Mike Kovac, who signed with Michigan. Gladman became one of only nine Pitt running backs to rush for 2,000 or more yards in his career. Kovac, meanwhile, never lettered for the Wolverines.
Huff rated USC's class as the nation's best for an all-around effort by head coach Ted Tollner and his staff. The Trojans were able to sign national player of the year Ryan Knight, a running back from Riverside (Calif.) Rubidoux. Knight lettered four years for the Trojans, but never turned out to be anything more than a backup. (His younger brother, Sammy, also played at USC and has been an NFL safety since 1997.) Also signing with the Trojans that season was quarterback Rodney Peete of Shawnee Mission, Kan.
Here is a complete list of Ohio State's recruiting class of 1984. See if you can remember some of these names.
Tom Anderzack, OLB, Toledo (Ohio) Central Catholic – Anderzack was an athletic prospect who had been named Toledo's defensive player of the year during his senior season. He was 6-3 and 210 pounds, a sprinter on the track team and president of his junior class. Unfortunately, none of that success carried over to his college career. He redshirted in 1984, played only sparingly during the next two seasons and never lettered for Ohio State.
Sean Bell, DB, Middletown, Ohio – Bell was the younger brother of Todd Bell, who starred for the Buckeyes from 1977-80 and then had a pro career with the Chicago Bears. Sean was the total package at 6-2, 185 pounds and 4.5 speed, but he could never match his older brother's performance. Sean was a three-year letterman for OSU from 1985-87, but a broken leg suffered during the first week of fall practice in '86 hindered his progress and he could never crack the starting lineup.
Mike Bloemer, OL, Cincinnati (Ohio) Aiken – An All-Ohio and honorable mention All-America offensive tackle, Bloemer was another excellent all-around prospect from the class of '84. In addition to football, he played basketball for the Falcons and was an honor student, graduating 11th in a class of 345. Bloemer redshirted in 1984 and fought his way to No. 2 on the depth chart at tackle before an ankle injury slowed his progress. He never lettered for the Buckeyes.
Jim Carroll, TE, Berea, Ohio – The 6-4, 238-pound Carroll was supposed to be in line to succeed Frank at tight end after catching 51 passes during his high school career, including 20 for 350 yards as a senior. He saw action in two games as a true freshman in 1984 and entered the '85 season in contention for the starting position. But he never earned a letter at OSU.
Cris Carter, WR, Middletown, Ohio – Carter exploded onto the scene as a true freshman in 1984 and continued to get better every year he was a Buckeye. He led the team in receiving as a sophomore and junior, becoming the first OSU receiver ever to record a 1,000-yard season when he caught a school-record 69 passes for 1,127 yards in 1986. Improper dealings with a sports agent cost him his entire senior year, but despite playing only three seasons, Carter remains second all-time at Ohio State in career receptions with 168. He went on to a Hall of Fame-worthy career in the NFL, earning eight Pro Bowl berths in 16 seasons with Minnesota, Philadelphia and Miami. Carter ranks third in league history in receptions (1,101), fourth in touchdown catches (130) and seventh in receiving yards (13,899). In 2009, his son Duron will join Ohio State as a receiver.
Gary Clift, QB, Brunswick, Ohio – Clift was a three-sport star in high school, but excelled as a dual-threat quarterback on the gridiron. He completed 190 passes for 2,286 yards during his final two years for the Blue Devils and added another 12 rushing touchdowns as a senior. A torn tendon in his throwing shoulder that required surgery forced Clift to move to defense in 1985 and then to a receiver position in the spring of '86. He remained there for the remainder of his OSU career and Clift won his only letter in 1987.
Jeff Compton, PK, Ottawa (Ohio) Ottawa-Glandorf – Compton was a converted soccer player who didn't play football in high school until his junior year. He was a quick learner, however, and earned a scholarship based on making 12 of 15 field-goal attempts as a senior. Compton was locked in behind veteran kickers Rich Spangler and Matt Frantz during the early part of his career and wound up never lettering for the Buckeyes.
Jim Davidson, OLB, Westerville (Ohio) North – The 6-5, 225-pounder was the son of former OSU captain and All-America tackle Jim Davidson. Jim Jr. earned second-team All-Ohio honors as a high school senior and was also a standout in the classroom, graduating as valedictorian of his class and serving as president of the National Honor Society. He lettered in 1985 as an outside linebacker, but was moved to the offensive line to bolster depth there. Davidson eventually was forced to accept a medical waiver prior to the 1987 season because of chronic neck and shoulder injuries. His brother, Jeff, later became a two-year starter at guard for the Buckeyes in 1988 and '89 and is currently offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.
Dino Dawson, WR, Detroit (Mich.) Cooley – Dawson was a quick all-star prospect who had 4.46 speed and was a championship hurdler. He caught 48 passes for 925 yards and 12 TDs as a senior, and was projected along with Carter to give the Buckeyes a pair of deep threats for many seasons to come. After lettering in 1984, however, Dawson left OSU and transferred to Kent State, where he led the team in receptions in 1989. Dawson finally earned his degree from Wayne State in 1991 and began a college coaching career that has included stops at Wayne State, Illinois State, Bowling Green, Toledo, Cincinnati, Tuskegee and Illinois. He is currently offensive coordinator at Alcorn State.
Mike Durham, OL, Evanston (Ill.) Loyola Academy – An excellent prospect who was a two-year starter at Loyola Academy, the 6-6, 254-pound Durham earned Chicago area All-Catholic and Catholic All-America honors in 1983. Injuries plagued him throughout his OSU career and he never lettered.
Alex Higdon, TE, Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton – The 6-5, 234-pound Higdon was an excellent all-around athlete. In addition to football, he played forward on the Vikings' basketball team, was a pitcher on the baseball team, threw the discus and ran hurdles for the track team and even dabbled in boxing. After a prep All-America career, he became a four-year letterman for the Buckeyes, who used his versatility all over the field. Higdon won his first letter as a backup tight end, his second as a defensive tackle and his third as an outside linebacker before returning to tight end and taking over the starting position as a senior. Higdon tied for second on the team in receptions in 1987, grabbing 26 balls for 252 yards.
Frank Hoak, WR/TE, Richeyville (Pa.) Bethlehem Center – Hoak was another excellent all-around athlete in the class of '84. The 6-2, 205-pounder caught 100 passes for 1,989 yards and 24 TDs during his high school career, punted for a 38.1-yard average and converted 45 of 50 PAT attempts. Hoak, who is the nephew of former OSU tight end and assistant coach Fred Pagac, also lettered in basketball and baseball and enjoyed playing golf. After redshirting in 1984, Hoak was switched to the fullback position and spent a year there before returning to tight. He won his only letter in 1987.
Jamie Holland, WR, Butler County (Kan.) Community College – Holland was a speedster originally from Wake Forest, N.C., who became a JUCO star. He had been an all-state running back in high school before being converted to a receiver who used his speed to score 11 touchdown on only 31 receptions in 1983. Holland won his only OSU letter in 1986. That year, he led the Buckeyes in kickoff returns, averaging 20.9 yards on 24 runbacks. Holland also caught eight passes for 142 yards and one TD in '86.
Tim James, OL, Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder – James was following in the footsteps of his father, Dan, who played center for Woody Hayes at Ohio State from 1956-58 and then spent eight years in the NFL, mostly with San Francisco. Tim earned All-Ohio honors as a guard for Elder, and was an athletic prospects who also enjoyed softball, golf and rugby. He redshirted in '84, but was considered a candidate for one of the starting guard positions the following season. It was not to be, however, and James never won an OSU letter.
Mike Madigan, OL, Wapakoneta, Ohio – Madigan was twice named his league's lineman of the year and he earned honorable mention all-state honors as well as being named to play in the Ohio North-South All-Star Game. He redshirted in 1984, and then broke his arm during spring practice in '85. He never lettered at Ohio State.
Michael McCray, OLB, Dayton (Ohio) Dunbar – McCray had an excellent prep career at two different high schools. As a freshman and sophomore, he attended Dayton Roth and started on the team that won the 1982 state championship in basketball. He later transferred to Dunbar, where he was a prep All-American in basketball and track. McCray earned three letters during his OSU career and was a two-year starter at linebacker in 1986 and '87. But he is probably best remembered for recovering a fumble in the 1987 Michigan game, a turnover that began Ohio State's comeback from a 13-0 deficit. McCray's recovery led to a 61-yard touchdown pass from Tupa to Everett Ross and touched off the Buckeyes' eventual 23-20 win in Bruce's final game as head coach.
Ron Paulsen, OL, Norwalk (Calif.) Cerritos Community College – After an all-state career as an offensive tackle in Long Beach, Calif., Paulsen played two JUCO seasons before joining the Buckeyes in '84. He was redshirted that year with an eye toward contending for one of the starting guard positions the following season. But a knee injury that required minor surgery set his progress back, and although Paulsen managed to win a letter in 1985, he left the team before the '86 season began.
Scott Powell, QB, North Canton (Ohio) Hoover – Powell first made a name for himself as an outside linebacker, but when the Vikings needed a quarterback, he switched positions before his senior year and completed 119 of 220 passes for 1,580 yards and 17 TDs. That was good enough for the Buckeyes to offer him a scholarship, which he accepted. Powell was equally versatile for Ohio State, playing a variety of positions during his career including returning to an outside linebacker position and serving as the holder on PATs and field goals. He earned three letters from 1986-88.
Greg Rogan, DB, Urbana, Ohio – Rogan was generously listed at 5-10 and 180 pounds, but he oozed athleticism from every pore. He won All-Ohio honors as a defensive back but just as easily could have won them as a running back after gaining 1,800 yards as a senior. Rogan was a four-year starter at cornerback for the Buckeyes from 1984-87, but his senior season was cut short after only five games. Rogan sustained a broken left ankle early in the fourth quarter of his team's 31-10 loss to Indiana.
Dwight Smith, DB, Middletown, Ohio – Smith was a two-sport star for the Middies, playing for championship football and basketball teams. He bounced back and forth between cornerback and safety during the early part of his Ohio State career before finally settling in as a backup safety and special teams player. He earned letters in 1987 and 1988.
Chris Spielman, LB, Massillon (Ohio) Washington – Spielman was born to play football and proved that assertion at an early age. After tearing up his parents' house and the sandlots around Canton, Spielman moved with his family to Massillon and became an outstanding star for the Tigers. He earned prep All-America honors and was even pictured on the front of a Wheaties box while still in high school. Once he reached the college ranks, he never slowed down. Spielman begged Bruce to start him as a freshman and then spent the next four years as one of college football's best linebackers. By the time his OSU career was over, Spielman had established a still-standing school record with 283 solo tackles, earned back-to-back consensus All-America honors and won the 1987 Lombardi Award. Detroit made him its second-round selection in the 1988 NFL draft, and Spielman played eight seasons with the Lions, averaging 127.5 tackles per year and making four Pro Bowls. He spent two years in Buffalo before a neck injury ended his career. Spielman is currently a college football analyst on Columbus radio as well as for ESPN, and is a tireless fundraiser for breast cancer research.
Tom Tupa, QB/P, Broadview Heights, Ohio – Tupa quarterbacked his high school team to the Ohio state championship in 1983, and then concentrated on punting when he got to Ohio State and wound up the school's career leader in punting average at 44.7 yards per kick. (Andy Groom later broke the record with his career mark of 45.0.) Tupa also has the best two single-season punting averages in OSU history – 47.1 as a freshman in 1984 and 47.0 as a senior in 1987. Tupa doubled as the Buckeyes' starting quarterback in '87, completing 134 of 242 passes (55.4 percent) for 1,786 yards and 12 TDs. He was a third-round pick by the Phoenix Cardinals in the 1988 NFL draft and spent 15 seasons in the NFL with the Cardinals, Patriots, Jets, Browns, Buccaneers and Redskins. His career punting average of 43.4 yards ranks 28th all-time in NFL history. Tupa also threw for 3,430 yards and 12 TDs as a pro quarterback.
Jeff Uhlenhake, OL, Newark (Ohio) Catholic – Uhlenhake anchored the offensive and defensive lines for the Green Wave teams that made three consecutive state finals and won the title in 1982. When he got to Ohio State, Uhlenhake started at guard as a sophomore and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors. The following year, he switched to center and was named a first-team All-American at that position as a senior. Uhlenhake was drafted by Miami in the fifth round of the 1989 NFL draft and started for five seasons for the Dolphins. He later spent two years each with New Orleans and Washington, and started for both of those teams. He retired following the 1997 season after starting 112 of the 119 NFL games in which he had played. After his playing days were over, Uhlenhake got into coaching and was an assistant at Cincinnati and with the Cleveland Browns. In 2007, he returned to his alma mater has spent the last two years as coordinator of strength and conditioning on Jim Tressel's staff at Ohio State.
William White, DB, Lima (Ohio) Senior – Overshadowed by some of the other names in the class of '84, White was one of the best cornerbacks Ohio State has ever produced. He was a dangerous tailback and punt returner in high school before concentrating on defense when he became a Buckeye. White was a rare four-year starter at cornerback and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior in 1987. He finished his career tied for third on the career interceptions list with 16, is one of only six OSU players ever return two picks for touchdowns during his career, and one of only nine Buckeyes ever to record three interceptions in a single game. White was a fourth-round selection by Detroit in the 1988 NFL draft, and he played 11 pro seasons with the Lions, Chiefs and Falcons. When he retired after the 1998 season, White had totaled 20 career interceptions, averaging 15.5 yards per return, and recovered three fumbles, returning two of those for touchdowns.
Greg Zackeroff, OL, Warren (Ohio) Harding – A hard-working, lunch-bucket kind of guy, Zackeroff came to the Buckeyes after winning All-Ohio honors and being named Trumbull County offensive lineman of the year. He toiled away on the scout team during his first season before earning his first of four letters in 1985. The following season, Zackeroff was inserted into the starting lineup at right guard and anchored that position for the next three seasons.
Today's Buckeye birthday belongs to former defensive end Matt Finkes.
Matthew Scott Finkes was born Feb. 12, 1975, in Piqua, Ohio, and starred for his hometown high school, earning Division I all-state and district lineman of the year honors as a senior. Finkes signed with Ohio State in 1993 and made an immediate impact. He broke into the starting lineup in '94 as a sophomore and teamed with fellow defensive end Mike Vrabel to terrorize Big Ten quarterbacks for the next three years. The duo combined for 125 career tackles for loss – 66 by Vrabel and 59 by Finkes – and those totals remain first and second in OSU history. Finkes also had 25 sacks during his career, and that ranks third in school history behind only Vrabel (36) and Jason Simmons (27½). Finkes was a sixth-round selection by Carolina in the 1997 NFL draft, but never played for the Panthers. He was signed off waivers by the Jets and appeared in eight games for New York during the '97 season. Finkes later played for Scotland in NFL Europe before returning to his hometown of Piqua where he owns his own construction business.
Also celebrating birthdays this 12th day of February: former baseball player and broadcaster Joe Garagiola is 83; Fifties quiz show scandal figure Charles Van Doren is also 83; U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is 79; NBA Hall of Fame center Bill Russell is 75; veteran character actor Joe Don Baker is 73; children's author Judy Blume is 71; three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford is 71; The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek is 70; Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak is 67; actress and two-time Bond girl Maud Adams ("The Man With The Golden Gun" and "Octopussy") is 64; former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett is 59; singer, former Doobie Brothers frontman and (some say) Mark Rea lookalike Michael McDonald is 57; TV actress Joanna Kerns (Maggie Seaver on "Growing Pains") is 56; former talk show host Arsenio Hall is 54; Oscar-nominated actor Josh Brolin is 41; Wilson Phillips singer Chynna Phillips is also 41; model/celebrity wannabe Anna Benson is 33; and actress Christina Ricci is 29.
Also, Happy 200th Birthday today to Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.
Congratulations are also in order today for our friends in East Lansing. On this date in 1855, Michigan State University was established as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. Happy birthday, Sparty.
** College football is evidently serious about cracking down on taunting, so much so the NCAA rules committee is considering disallowing a touchdown if a player is flagged for taunting during a scoring play. Citing an increasing concern over unsportsmanlike conduct, rules committee chairman and Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said yesterday that the group is considering a major change to the taunting rules. Taunting, baiting or ridiculing an opponent verbally is currently considered a dead-ball foul with penalty yardage assessed on the next kickoff. If the rule is changed, penalty yardage would be marked off from the spot of the foul and the touchdown would be nullified. I don't like taunting but I also dislike wringing every drop of emotion out of college football. There has to be a better way.
** I still love baseball despite all of its flaws. But I guess I'm numb to the steroids issue because the owners and their puppet commissioner looked the other way when they knew players were taking performance-enhancing drugs. That's why everyone should just shut up about Alex Rodriguez and how his admittance of taking PEDs will ruin the game. A-Rod is a great player, and just like Barry Bonds, he was great before he took steroids. But no one player is "the game." It was being played more than a hundred years before A-Rod arrived on the scene and it will be here long after his shadow has faded.
** While we're on the subject, why not release the other 103 names from 2003 who tested positive for steroids? I have no particular affinity for Rodriguez, but why must he be the only one made to pay a price?
** The Washington Nationals are rapidly becoming an eastern version of the Cincinnati Reds. When Adam Dunn signed a two-year, $20 million deal Wednesday with the Nats, he joined fellow ex-Cincinnati players Austin Kearns, Aaron Boone, Dimitri Young, Wily Mo Pena and Ryan Wagner in the Washington organization. Nationals GM Jim Bowden has also invited several other former Reds such as Javier Valentin and Corey Patterson to the team's spring training camp.
** The most recent mock draft from NFL draft analyst Chad Reuter has Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford going to Detroit with the No. 1 pick. Reuter has Cleveland taking outside linebacker Aaron Curry of Wake Forest at No. 5 and Cincinnati taking Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin at No. 6. Reuter forecasts cornerback Malcolm Jenkins as the first Ohio State player taken, going to Green Bay with the No. 8 selection. Two others Buckeyes are projected first-round selections: linebacker James Laurinaitis at No. 20 to Detroit and running back Beanie Wells to Philadelphia at No. 21.


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Large two row palmette scroll and square tiara.
Ref: TC013
A large two row palmette scroll and square cut tiara set with brilliant cut Swarovski crystals mounted on a palladium plated bronze frame.
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See colour chart.
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Tilaco is one site of the Sierra Gorda Missions located in the central Mexican state of Queretaro. It was built by the Franciscan missionary Junipero Sierra circa 1750 and is noted for its colorful facades and stonework. They were named a World Heritage Site by 联合国教科文组织 in 2003.
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(CNN) -- Two journalists covering civil unrest following a fatal shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, said they were briefly arrested Wednesday night inside a McDonald's in the community.
Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Ryan J. Reilly of The Huffington Post said on Twitter that they were arrested while they were doing work and then released within roughly 45 minutes. Neither was charged.
"This was very unnecessary," Lowery said in a telephone interview. He said he was never told why he and Reilly were detained, except that they were "trespassing" by being inside the fast-food restaurant.
SWAT just invade McDonald's where I'm working/recharging. Asked for ID when I took photo. pic.twitter.com/FOIsMnBwHy— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 13, 2014
Lowery recorded a portion of his interaction with an officer inside the McDonald's. In the video, which was published on The Washington Post's Web site, an officer is heard demanding that he "stop videotaping."
Citizens and professional journalists generally have the right to record police activities.
Video of my arrest: http://t.co/baiYPQGfc7/s/ZHkX— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Afterward, Reilly wrote in a Facebook post that a police officer "in full riot gear" "purposefully banged my head against the window on the way out and sarcastically apologized."
Reilly added, "I'm fine. But if this is the way these officers treat a white reporter working on a laptop who moved a little too slowly for their liking, I can't imagine how horribly they treat others. And if anyone thinks that the militarization of our police force isn't a huge issue in this country, I've got a story to tell you."
Lowery emphasized that he did not want his arrest to overshadow the ongoing protests in Ferguson or the treatment of the protesters. "I want this to be about the community," he said. "But this arrest is in some ways an anecdote of what's going on here."
The arrests came amid an already-tense situation between journalists and the authorities in Ferguson, the site of last Saturday's police shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old, Michael Brown.
There have been several reports of reporters and the camera crews being told to leave protest areas, but no reported arrests until Wednesday.
The Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson, told CNN he did not know who the arresting officers were. "We had a lot of different agencies out there," Jackson said.
At 11 p.m. CDT, Jackson said 18 people had been taken into custody on Wednesday, including the two reporters.
Officers decided we weren't leaving McDonalds quickly enough, shouldn't have been taping them.— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Elsewhere in the area on Wednesday evening, a number of reporters said they were doused with tear gas when authorities tried to disperse crowds. Ash-Har Quraishi, a correspondent for Al Jazeera America who previously worked for CNN, said his crew was in a place "we believed to be safe" when people started running toward them.
"Rubber bullets were fired on us, and then a canister," he said. "We had to retreat into the neighborhood."
In a statement about the "worsening situation in Ferguson," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon urged law enforcement agencies "to keep the peace and respect the rights of residents and the press during this difficult time."
Apparently, in America, in 2014, police can manhandle you, take you into custody, put you in cell & then open the door like it didn't happen— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Officials at both The Washington Post and The Huffington Post issued statements that assailed the reporter arrests.
Martin Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post, said in a statement Wednesday night that "there was absolutely no justification" for Lowery's arrest.
Baron noted that the reporter was "illegally instructed to stop taking video of officers. Then he followed officers' instructions to leave a McDonald's -- and after contradictory instructions on how to exit, he was slammed against a soda machine and then handcuffed. That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news."
Ryan Grim, The Huffington Post's Washington bureau chief, noted in a statement that Reilly "has reported multiple times from Guantanamo Bay." According to Grim, Reilly "said that the police resembled soldiers more than officers, and treated those inside the McDonald's as 'enemy combatants.'"
Grim concluded his statement by saying, "Police militarization has been among the most consequential and unnoticed developments of our time, and it is now beginning to affect press freedom."
Complete coverage on the Ferguson shooting and protests


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First post, by keropi
- Rank
- l33t++
(this is a cross-post from the release thread on summvm forums , the thread there seems pretty much dead atm)
basically the patch for DOS completes fine and without any errors but when playing it I get random freezes. The music will still play in the background (lapc-i) and the cursor continues to flash as usual... but the controls are stuck and you have to reset the pc.
I am using my p1/200mmx 128MB machine with a LAPC-I and a SB16 with DOS7.1
Normal dos MIs run fine , as all other games I am playing. There is no IRQ conflicts or hardware faults, the system has been running playing old DOS games for 3+ years now...
What I have tried so far is:
a. Using an XMS environment with HIMEM
b. Using an EMS environment with EMM386
c. Using a ramdisk to consume ALL XMS/EMS above 16MB (actually leaving ~15MB free and ~610kb conventional , thought I give it a shot)
d. Using either ctmouse or original ms-mouse drivers (tried it since the cursor was getting stuck, another crazy thought)
atm I am out of ideas...
here are the game files I got after patch ran without any errors:
anyone here faced this problem?


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This resource is no longer available
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Academic Advisor, Dixie Baker, B.S.
212 College Hall
Welcome to Duquesne University! My name is Dixie Baker and I have been advising undergraduate Liberal Arts students in the McAnulty College for 18 years. I like to follow students through their academic careers as they mature and grow into exciting
young adults ready to meet the world. After graduation, it is always great to receive an e-mail or phone call and even personal visits from students to hear about their career paths as well as celebrations of engagements, weddings and even babies.
Fun Facts
- I live in the South Hills of Pittsburgh with my chocolate lab, Sadie.
- I am the Mother of two college age students.
- I have spent time at the Italian Campus and recommend study abroad for any student
- I enjoy my children, dogs, cooking, gardening, power walking and reading.
- I have a B.S. degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.


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Nicollette Sheridan's battery allegation against the creator of the "Desperate Housewives" series was dropped Tuesday, but testimony continued regarding the former star's wrongful-termination allegation against Touchstone Television Productions.
Sheridan alleged that series creator Marc Cherry smacked her in the head during a September 2008 rehearsal. Cherry contended that he only tapped Sheridan on the head to instruct her about a scene.
"I'm thrilled, but I'm going to hold commentary on this until the entire case is resolved," Cherry said during a lunch break Tuesday outside the courthouse. "But I'm going to lunch now, and I'm a very happy man."
U.S. & World
The judge's dismissal was part of another day of surprises in the trial, which included testimony Tuesday from a set construction supervisor. Michael Reinhart told the court he received an email nearly two years ago that indicated ABC execs wanted to delete all emails that involved plans for killing off Sheridan's character.
Sheridan's character, Edie Britt, was killed off during the show's fifth season.
Reinhart testified that he probably received the emails by mistake. He could not remember the exact text of the message, but testified that it included the words "hard drive," "IT" and "delete."
He added that he might have "misunderstood" the content of the email.
"Reinhart was a very strong witness, and I'm really pleased that he was willing to come forward," said Sheridan attorney Mark Baute. "It's very rare for someone to come forward and say, 'I'm having a crisis of conscience.'"
The email was sent to Reinhart's work email address after the lawsuit was filed, Baute said.
As for the dismissal of the battery allegation, Baute said it was "irrelevant" and "not what the case is about."
The trial is winding down, and closing arguments were expected to begin Tuesday. Reinhart's testimony might delay the start of closing arguments.
Follow NBCLA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: Twitter: @NBCLA // Facebook: NBCLA


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Hi all. I'm currently making a text-based RPG (isn't everyone?). Right now I'm creating all the different rooms that the user can walk through.
Well I created this post to see if anyone would like to help in the creative proccess by thinking of an area that the user could go through that has a theme, complete with monsters.
For example, maybe a swamp that has giant mosquitos, poisoness* frogs, and enchanted vines.
It's not that I'm lazy, but you at the c++ board have been really helpful when i am having trouble understanding something in C++. You all could have a part in making it, and I would put your name in the credits and name some monsters after you (hehe).
Well if you have any ideas, feel free to post them. If you think I'm lazy and should do my own work, say so.


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Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White told securities lawyers Wednesday that while the "headline-grabbing" cases against large firms and high-profile CEOs are important, it is often the "less sensational" actions taken by the agency that best embody the regulator's "unrelenting efforts" to protect investors.
White told securities lawyers at the Practicing Law Institute's 45th Annual Securities Regulation Institute in New York that in the financial crisis arena alone, the SEC brought actions against more than 160 individuals and corporate entities, resulting in more than $2.7 billion in disgorgement and penalties, nearly all of which she said would be returned to harmed investors.
Of the individuals charged, more than 60 were CEOs, CFOs or other senior corporate executives, with more than 30 of them being barred from the securities industry or from serving as directors or officers of public companies.
While these cases were being brought, White said, "we were filing literally thousands of other cases in other areas," cases and settlements that didn't make "a big splash" or include "impressive statistics."
Many of the SEC's cases, White continued, "you never hear about, but they are no less meaningful and not just to the parties involved, but also to the functioning of our markets."
White highlighted three such cases.
First was a case involving the Sisters of Charity, a Catholic organization located in the Bronx, "not far from Yankee Stadium, my home away from home," White said, in which an SEC examiner noticed suspicious trading in the account by a Florida broker-dealer during a regular exam.
While these accounts held by the Sisters of Charity "were not huge accounts," White said, "they were important to many people," providing, among other things, "funding to help children and families in some of New York's toughest neighborhoods."
After noticing the unusual trading in the accounts, the SEC examiner reached out to a colleague in the SEC's Enforcement Division "who had substantial expertise on the type of securities held and the type of trading that would be expected in such accounts," White said. "Immediately, the attorney knew the matter was worth looking into to determine if the broker had been trading excessively in the accounts simply to generate fees, an unlawful practice that long ago was given the name 'churning.'"
After further investigation, the SEC filed an action against the broker who had managed the account, and after several months of litigation, he agreed to settle, White said. "As a result, on Christmas Eve, an SEC staff attorney was able to place a call to the nun in charge of the Sisters of Charity to tell her that she would be receiving a very special present: the return of $350,000 to their account."
The enforcement team also obtained an order permanently barring the broker from associating with other firms, a crucial action White said "helps protect against future harm."
International Pyramid Scheme
Noting that much of the global work performed by the SEC's Office of International Affairs is "unseen" by those outside the agency, White also relayed the case a matter of weeks ago that involved a business consisting of five entities located in Hong Kong, Canada and the British Virgin Islands that allegedly targeted Asian-Americans in what appeared to be a pyramid scheme.
The scheme's operators, White said, were charged with "exploiting their close connections in the Asian-American community by using Internet videos, promotional materials and seminars to create the appearance of a legitimate enterprise."
The SEC "asserted that the scheme falsely promised exponential, risk-free returns to investors from a venture that purportedly sold Internet-based children's educational courses," White said, but "our complaint charged that, in reality, the firm had no sales and no apparent source of revenue other than money received from new investors."
The SEC alleged that the bulk of the $20 million invested with the company by more than 400 investors ended up in accounts controlled by executives and promoters of the company.
"With the assistance of the securities agencies in Hong Kong, Canada and Malaysia, the staff was able to amass the evidence needed to freeze the assets and obtain an order that will help us take steps to prevent the defendants from keeping the ill-gotten gains held overseas," she said.
Municipal Underwriting
White also noted that in 2011 the agency's Chicago Regional Office set out to examine a number of regionally and nationally prominent broker-dealers engaged in municipal underwritings to see whether the broker-dealers had a process for determining that the bonds they were selling to investors were sound.
"Unfortunately, not only did many broker-dealers do an inadequate job of due diligence – if they conducted any at all – but several had decided not to keep records of their inquiries into specific offerings as required by the rules," White said. "We were deeply concerned that this practice created significant risks for retail investors."
As a result of the information gathered in these exams, the SEC exam program issued a risk alert reminding municipal underwriters of their obligations. "We did not bring a case and we did not write a new rule," White said. "But we believe that firms are now more likely to maintain due diligence files and improve the overall quality of the practices they use."
Check out Former SEC Chairman Levitt: Mary Jo White a 'Rock Star' After SAC Plea on ThinkAdvisor.