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Etheldred Dryden Newbern was a pioneer settler of Berrien County and a noted participant in the last Indian encounters in Berrien County (see Martha Guthrie: Babe of the Indian Wars).
The Newbern's homestead was located on the east bank of Five Mile Creek, perhaps about eight miles northeast of Ray City. This was probably somewhere in the present day vicinity of the Highway 168 bridge over Five Mile Creek.
The Newberns were the nearest neighbors of Short-arm Billy Parker. The Parker place was located a few miles further to the east, at a spring on the Alapaha River. When marauding Indians came by the Parker place in 1836, Mrs. Parker and her daughters fled to the Newberns:
…the women ran through the field , a back way, a distance of five miles to the home of Dread Newborn.
Arriving there she related what she had seen, as fast as her fright and exhaustion would allow, for she had run every step of the way, and she was almost overcome with heat and fatigue. On learning this Mr. Newbern realized that the cause of their own experiences of the night before when the horses had become greatly frightened, snorting and breaking out of the horse lot and coming back the next morning. It was supposed that they had become frightened at the sight of the Indians who were prowling around the neighborhood to steal.
A company of men soon collected together, under the command of George Peterson, Dread Newborn, William Parker, and others. The Indians were overtaken at the Allapaha river and three were killed, others made their escape but were overtaken at the St. Illa river [Satilla], at what is now known as Indian Lake, about two miles northeast of the town of Axson, Ga. They were all shot and killed, except one squaw; it was reported that she was captured and shot. Dread Newborn, the son of Dread Newborn, who followed the Indians, informs me that the Indian woman was kept in prison for a while and then by direction of the government was returned to her own people.
Etheldred Dryden Newbern, called Dryden or Dred by some, was born 1794 in South Carolina. He was the eldest son of Thomas Newbern. Folks Huxford said the name of Dryden's mother was not known, but some Internet genealogies indicate she was Nancy Christian. Dryden's grandfather, also called Thomas Newbern, was a revolutionary soldier.
About 1798 Dryden's father, Thomas Newbern, brought the family from South Carolina to Georgia, Thomas Newbern served as a lieutenant and captain in the Bulloch County militia.
Dryden's mother died about 1803 when he was a boy, probably nine or ten years of age. His father, a widower with seven young children, quickly remarried and Dryden was raised into manhood by his stepmother, Kizzie Collins. Some time prior to 1815, Thomas Newbern moved the family to Tatnall County, where he was elected Justice of the Peace.
It is said that Dryden Newbern served in the War of 1812, although no documentation is known to exist other than the testimony of his son, Dred Newbern. Dryden would have been 18 years old at the time the war broke out, and considering the military legacy of his father and grandfather, his service in the Georgia Militia seems reasonable. In 1814, the British forces occupied St. Marys, GA and made investments against Traders Hill, which disrupted the economy of the entire region. It was during this time that Georgia militia cut the Blackshear Road from Fort Early on the Flint River, around the eastern side of the Okefenokee Swamp, to Traders Hill on the St. Mary's River. The British occupation certainly interrupted trade on the Alachua Trail which ran from the Altamaha River through Centerville, GA, then across the St. Marys River and into East Florida. The resistance of the Georgia Militia against the British and St. Marys and other coastal Georgia incursions is described in the New Georgia Encyclopedia article on the War of 1812.
About 1823, Thomas Newbern relocated the family again, this time moving to Appling County and homesteading on a site about five miles northwest of present day Blackshear, GA. Dryden Newbern, now a man of 29, apparently came along with his father to Appling county for there, in 1823, Dryden married. His bride was Elizabeth "Betsy" Sirmans, a daughter of Artie Hardeman and Josiah Sirmans, Sr. Of her father, Huxford wrote, "According to the best available information, the first permanent white settlers in what is now Clinch County were Josiah Sirmans, Sr., and his family."
About Dryden's father, Huxford's History of Clinch County relates the following:
OF the Clinch County Newberns, Thomas Newbern was the progenitor. This old pioneer came to this section from South Carolina and settled in what is now Ware County, about 1820. He was married twice. By his first marriage he had three children, viz. : John, William C, and Dryden Newbern. By his second marriage he had five children, viz. : George W. Newbern ; Cassie, who first married Martin Nettles and later Chas. A. Griffis; Lucretia, who married Jack Lee ; also a daughter who married James Sweat, and one who married John Sweat. Thomas Newbern was a prominent citizen of his time. He was elected surveyor of Ware County and commissioned February nth, 1828. Two years later he was elected a justice of the Inferior Court of Ware County, to which he was commissioned April 28th, 1830. He was also commissioned justice of the peace of the 451 district of Ware County, April 3d, 1833. He is the fore-father of many of Clinch's prominent citizens.
After their marriage in 1823, it appear that Betsy and Dryden Newbern for a time made their home in Appling County, near the homestead of Dryden's parents. In 1825, their farms were cut into Ware County into the 584th Georgia Militia District. From 1825 to 1827 Dryden Newbern served as the First Lieutenant of the militia in the 584th district.
About 1828, Betsy and Dryden moved their young family to Lowndes County (now Berrien) to a site on Five Mile Creek. They established a homestead about seven or eight miles northeast of the home of Levi J. Knight, who had settled a few years earlier on Beaver Dam Creek at the site of present day Ray City, GA. In Lowndes County, Dryden was elected First Lieutenant of the militia in the 664th district. Levi J. Knight was the Justice of the Peace in this district.
At that time the land was still unsettled , and the Native Americans who had occupied the territory for so long in advance of white settlers were being driven out of their ancestral lands. As Wiregrass historian Montgomery Folsom said, " The Indians were goaded into madness." When open conflict with the Indians emerged in 1836, Dryden Newbern was one of the first responders in the area. Sending out the alarm when the Parker place on the Alapaha River was raided, he was among the leaders in the skirmish that routed the Indians (see Short-Arm Bill Parker and the Last Indian Fight In Berrien County). In the Indian Wars, Ethedred Dryden Newbern served as a private in Captain Levi J. Knights Independent Militia Company.
Huxford says the land on Five Mile Creek where Betsy and Dryden Newbern established their Berrien County homestead later became the property of John Fender. The Newberns then acquired land a few miles to the east and moved there, making a home on the west side of the Alapaha River. About 1865 they sold this property, which later came into the hands of George N. Sutton, and moved east to Clinch County. They purchased Lot 256 in the 10th Land District and made their home there for several years. When their youngest daughter, Sarah "Sallie" Newbern, and and her husband, William Franklin Kirkland, moved to Echols County, the elderly Newberns moved with them. In Echols county, the Newberns purchased land and a herd of cattle; the late 1860s and early 1870s were a time of expansion in Georgia livestock production.
In 1874 Etheldred Dryden Newbern suffered a "rupture" and died. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Wayfare Church, Echols county, GA. A monument has been placed in the cemetery in his memory.
Children of Etheldred Dryden Newbern and Elizabeth "Betsy" Sirmans:
- Benjamin Newbern (1824-1895) married Nancy Griffin, daughter of Noah H. Griffin. In the Civil War enlisted in 9th FL Regiment. Burial at Wayfare Church Cemetery.
- Rachel Newbern (1826-) married Ashley Winn and moved to Florida. Burial at New River Cemetery, Bradford County, GA
- Thomas "Tom" Newbern (1828-1877) married Elizabeth Moore, daughter of John Moore. In the Civil War enlisted in Company G, 29th GA Regiment as a private in 1861.
- Caroline Newbern (1829-1891) married Edward Morris. Burial at Arna Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Atkinson County, GA.
- Joseph Newbern (1834 – ) married Emily Gaskins, daughter of John Gaskins.
- Martha Newbern (1836-1925) married Samuel Guthrie. Burial at Guthrie Cemetery, Berrien County, GA.
- John Ashley Newbern (1839-1864) married Mrs. Sarah Ann Sirmans Gaskins, widow of John Elam Gaskins. In the Civil War joined Company H, 29th GA Regiment. Killed in action near Atlanta, GA in 1864. Burial at Arna Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Atkinson County, GA..
- Etheldred Dred Newbern (1844-1933) married Wealthy Corbitt, daughter of Elisha Corbitt. In the Civil War enlisted in Company I, 50th GA Regiment. Burial at Arna Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Atkinson County, GA..
- Berrien A. Newbern (1845-1863) never married. In the Civil War enlisted in Company H, 29th GA Regiment. Died of wounds received in battle in Benton, MS on 26 June 1863. Burial at Arna Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Atkinson County, GA.
- Sarah "Sallie" Newbern (1848-1921), born November 7, 1849; married William Franklin Kirkland. Died July 13, 1921. Burial at North Cemetery, Dupont, Clinch County, GA.
Related articles
- Early Berrien Settlers Traded at Centerville, Georgia
- Short-Arm Bill Parker and the Last Indian Fight In Berrien County
- Pennywell Folsom Fell at Brushy Creek
- Col. Thomas E. Blackshear's Report on the Battle of Brushy Creek
- Samuel Register and the East Florida Militia
- Bryan J. Robert's Account of the Last Indian Fight in Berrien County
- Coffee Road Led to Creation of Lowndes County
- Morz Swain was Innkeeper, Blacksmith, Sheriff & Jailor of old Troupville, GA
- From the King's Tree to Ray City: Family of JHP Johnson
- Norman Campbell Collected Taxes, Fought Indians
- Wolves in the Wiregrass
- Interview With an Indian Fighter
- Early Berrien Settlers Traded at Centerville, Georgia
- Historical Marker ~ Last Indian Fight in Berrien County
- Berrien Skirmishes, the Battle of Brushy Creek, and the Indian Maiden
- John Gaskins ~ Berrien Cattleman
- Me and Mrs. Jones: Harmon Gaskins Had A Thing Going On – Twice


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A high school in Las Vegas has been dealing with fights breaking out all week, and on Thursday (10/11) the violence erupted into a massive brawl during lunch. The fight started in the cafeteria and quickly spilled outside onto the quad at Western High School.
Around 20 students were involved in the melee and police officers had to use pepper spray to get them to stop fighting. According to KTNV, between 40 and 45 students were affected by the pepper spray and required medical treatment from paramedics.
One student, who was not involved in the fight, told News 3 Las Vegas that he saw one of the officers draw his gun inside the cafeteria in an attempt to get control of the situation. That report was not confirmed by officials, but Clark County School District Police Captain Roberto Morales said that his department will investigate the claim and suggested it may have been a Taser.
No arrests have been made, but police said that they will be issuing citations to the students involved.
School officials said that they are trying to get to the bottom of what has been causing the recent outbreak of fighting.
"We are dedicating multiple officers until we can identify the problem and control it and get the students back into a learning environment," Morales said.
Photo: Google Maps

subset: commoncrawl


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|المكتبة الرقمية
|مشاركات اليوم
|اجعل كافة الأقسام مقروءة
|Speeches From Grand Mosque Speeches From Grand Mosque
|كاتب الموضوع
|محب الإسلام
|| |
انشر |
|انشر الموضوع
|أدوات الموضوع
|ابحث في الموضوع
|انواع عرض الموضوع
تاريخ التسجيل: Oct 2005
المشاركات: 4,538
28 / 1 / 1436 = 21 / 11 / 2014 - Rights of the Ruler and His Subjects - Khayat
Sheikh Dr. Osama Khayat 28-1-1436 (21-11-2014G)
Rights of the Ruler and His Subjects
Khutbah Topic
His Eminence Sheikh Osama Ibn Abdullah Khayyāṭ –May Allah protect him– delivered this Friday khutbah titled "Rights of the Ruler and His Subjects." He spoke about the duty to obey the Muslim ruler, to disengage from any disobedience to him or any type of insurgency against his authority. The Sheikh cited evidence from the Holy Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) and some scholars' statements in this respect.
Part One
All praise is due to Allah, Who commanded believers to obey Him, His Messenger, and Muslim rulers. I praise Allah Almighty, for it is a duty to offer praise to Him at every single moment. I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah, alone with no associate. He is the Provider of Livelihood, the Powerful, the Invincible. I equally bear witness that our Prophet and Master Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of Allah; he is the Seal of Prophets, the Imam (leader) of the Messengers, and the Mercy sent by Allah to the whole universe. O Allah! Send Your Salat (Graces, Honours, Mercy), Peace and Blessing upon Your Servant and Messenger Muhammad! O Allah! Be pleased with his family, all his Companions, the tabi'īn (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him] after his death) and all those who virtuously follow in their footsteps till the Day of Judgement!
Now then,
O servants of Allah! Observe taqwa (fear of disobeying Allah) and remember that you are bound to return to Him and be brought to account before Him:
...the Day when man will see that (the deeds) which his hands have sent forth, and the disbeliever will say: "Woe to me! Would that I were dust!" [Al-Naba': 40]
Thus, he who anticipates this awesome moment and makes preparations for the encounter will enjoy happiness. This is because he had already made provisions for this day by performing commendable deeds, traversing all twists and turns to seek Allah's contentment, making strenuous efforts to attain Him, using every possible medium to come closer to His realm, and hoping for His favourable reception, pardon, and satisfaction.
O servants of Allah!
Whenever ignorance of Allah's incontestable signs and blessed guidance revealed to His Messenger prevails, and knowledge of the truth taught by His Messenger (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) regresses, many people will feel disorientated and their reasoning becomes fallacious. Once feeble-minded, they will soon deviate from the Path of Allah and follow bifurcated and twisted tracks, which will eventually diverge from the Path of Allah and lead them astray.
Consequently, many of these people would hasten to commit sins and perpetrate blasphemous acts through making false claims about Allah. Responding to the call of their ignorance, they proceed to propagate impermissible groundless claims prompted by their instinct-driven whims. In so doing, they are simply obeying Satan through worshipping him and adhering to what he and his party would embellish in their minds as ideal behaviour. They follow Satan who calls them to adopt certain methods, and spread rumours, slogans and claims which reflect sheer ignorance and sound totally unsupported by evidence from the Holy Book, the Noble Sunnah, and the tradition of the Salaf of this Ummah (early model precursors of the interpretation and implementation of Islam). Besides, their rumours and false claims are neither supported by tangible evidence nor justified by any plausible proof based on the exigencies of modern life. In fact, their rumours, slogans and claims can hardly construct a cogent argument.
O servants of Allah! The central focus of their contention now is the duty to obey the Muslim ruler and to disengage from any type of insurgency against his rule or retreat from loyal obedience to him. In fact, a number of sects, groups, parties and organisations are continually engaged in strife against this principle through denying its very existence, casting doubt on its essence, and falsifying its original significance. These groups have used this foundational principle of Ahl Al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā'ah (the Sunnites) as a springboard to expound on their denial of its existence, express their scepticism about it nature, and formulate falsehoods leading to totally unprecedented confusion. In so doing, they are actually shying away from sound evidence testifying that such a principle is unequivocally and overtly documented in clearly formulated verses of the Holy Qur'ān, in authentic Sunnah books containing explicit hadiths about this issue, and in the documented consensus of reliable Muslim scholars and imams of divine guidance.
O servants of Allah!
The divine command to obey the Muslim ruler has been formulated explicitly and unequivocally in the Book of our Lord, Allah Almighty, when he said:
O you who believe! Obey Allâh and obey the Messenger (Muhammad SAW), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allâh and His Messenger (SAW), if you believe in Allâh and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination. [Al-Nissā': 59]
According to the Sheikh of exegetes, Sheikh Ibn Jarῑr Al-Ṭabari –May Allah bless his soul– the expression "and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority" in the verse refers to "emirs and rulers, because in the authentic narrated hadith, the Messenger of Allah (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) ordered people to obey their emirs and rulers as long as their rule coincides with obedience to Allah and with the public interest of Muslims." This opinion is also shared by Imam Ahmed –May Allah have mercy on his soul– and by a number of other scholars.
Ibn Jarῑr Al-Ṭabari elaborates on his argument by saying, "If we know that no obedience can be exacted from people except to Allah, His Messenger, or an equitable Imam [i.e. ruler], bearing in mind that Allah has decreed in His verse that we must obey our rulers ... Obey Allâh and obey the Messenger (Muhammad SAW), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority..., then we are equally supposed to know that the people Allah (Glory Be to Him) ordered us to obey from among those of us vested with authority are actually our Imams and exclusively those entrusted with Muslim affairs. In fact, although it is obligatory to listen to every person who orders people to refrain from disobeying Allah and who enjoins them to obey Him, yet none has the authority to exact obedience from other people in terms of directives and proscriptions except the Imams (rulers) to whom obedience has been decreed by Allah, whose servants (i.e. people) are in turn obliged to obey such rulers in their commands issued to the Muslim people they govern as long as they serve the interests of the entire governed community."
Servants of Allah! This command about obedience to Muslim rulers vested with authority was as plain and evident as daybreak in the Prophet's authentic Sunnah. Both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim reported in their Sahih Books the hadith narrated by Abdullah Ibn Omar –May Allah be pleased with him and his father– where Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) is reported to have said, "The Muslim is required to acquiesce and obey both what he likes and dislikes, except when he is instructed to engage in sinful disobedience (to Allah); in such a case, he should show neither acquiescence nor obedience." What is meant by "what he likes and dislikes" is what coincides or conflicts with his own interests.
In his Sahih Book, Imam Muslim Ibn Al-Hajjāj Al-Kushairi –May Allah have mercy on his soul– reported, with his own chain of narration, the hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah –May Allah be pleased with him: "Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Salāt and Peace be upon him) said, "Show acquiescence and obedience in times of hardship and comfort, in affairs coinciding or conflicting with your own interests, and even in case the emirs favoured themselves to you." That is to say, in satisfaction and dissatisfaction, in hardship and comfort, in good and evil, and in what human nature finds arduous or otherwise, provided no disobedience to Allah is entailed.
In their Sahih Books, both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim reported a hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) where Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) said, "Whoever obeys me will have obeyed Allah; whoever disobeys me will have disobeyed Allah; whoever obeys my emir (i.e. the governor I appointed) will have obeyed me, and whoever disobeys my emir will have disobeyed me." In the version reported by Imam Muslim –May Allah have mercy on his soul– the second half of the hadith reads as follows, "whoever obeys the emir will have obeyed me, and whoever disobeys the emir will have disobeyed me."
Imam Bukhari also reported in his Sahih Book via a narration chain reaching up to Anas Ibn Mālek –May Allah be pleased with him– that Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) said, "Acquiesce and show obedience even if you are governed by an Ethiopian slave whose head resembles a (dried) grain of raisin."
In their Sahih Books, both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim equally reported the hadith narrated by Obādah Ibn Al-Ṣāmet –May Allah be pleased with him– where he says, "We were summoned by Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) in order to take an oath of bay'āh (i.e. express vow of allegiance to him as commander of the Muslims). After we took the oath, he explained to us that by doing so we had actually acquiesced to obey him in times of hardship and comfort, in affairs coinciding or conflicting with our own desires, even in case he favoured himself to us, and that we should not contest for authority vested in people who deserve it. 'Except when you notice overt disbelief for which you have valid evidence from Allah', he added." By "overt" is meant crystal clear, unmistakable, instantly recognisable, and unquestionable.
O servants of Allah! One of the guarantees devised by the religious legislator to preserve this principle, exhort people to adhere to it, and train individuals to observe it, is to pay due homage to the ruler and venerate his prestigious status, avoiding any sign or act showing disrespect or denigration to him or sowing dissention in the community. Some scholars said, "If backbiting the ruler (governor) or counselling him in public and traducing him is a kind of defamation whose perpetrator has been seriously warned by Allah, then it would certainly be incumbent upon scholars to take advantage of their privileged position whenever they are presented with the opportunity to meet rulers, pay private visits to them, keep their company, and benefit from their exclusive counselling and guidance.
In fact, public expression of disagreement with the ruler in matters that do not make part of the fundamental precepts of religion and condemning him in gatherings, mosques, newspapers, exhortation platforms, etc. are practices that are far too removed from the spirit and principle of admonition. Therefore, don't let those who indulge in such practices deceive you, though they may have good intentions, as this runs contrary to the long-time established tradition of Al-salaf Al-Ṣālih who set for us examples to follow in this regard. May Allah guide you to the right path!"
No wonder then that religious scholars have judged the issue of reverence and veneration vis-à-vis the Muslim ruler to be an obligation on the part of his subjects. This is justified by Imam Qarāfi (May Allah bless his soul) thus: "Settling public matters is a duty. However, it may only be processed after glorification of leaders in the hearts of their subjects has been instilled, for any discord between the two parties would entail disruption of public interest. It follows then that whatever is deemed necessary to carry out an obligation becomes in itself an obligation."
Therefore –O servants of Allah– you are urgently called upon to hold tight to this great tradition marking the creed of the Sunnites, to follow the examples of the Ummah's predecessors from among the Prophet's Companions, the tābi'ῑn (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him] after his death) and those who righteously followed them, and to observe commitment to such an infallible approach. Only then will you be able to put an end to the ongoing conflicts and discord, draw closer to one another at heart, unite your word, put out the burning flames of fitnah (sedition), avoid evil, suppress your enemies and make their cunning and plotting to their own detriment. Only then will growth and prosperity find their way forward so that you may be able to uphold your religion, enjoy your lives with much bounty and goodness, and widespread security and peace.
May Allah benefit me and you with the Guidance of His Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him)! I say this and ask Allah, the Almighty, the Lord of Majesty to forgive you and me and all the Muslims, for He is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful!
Part Two
All praise be to Allah! We praise Him, seek His assistance and guidance, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Him from the evils of our own souls and from our wicked deeds. Whoever Allah guides no one can misguide and whoever He misguides no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, with no partners. I also bear witness that our Prophet, Muhammad, is His Servant and Messenger. May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him, his family, and Companions!
Now then, O servants of Allah,
Worthy of mention in this context is an honourable hadith, included in Imam Ahmad's Musnad and narrated, through an authentic chain of narration, by Mohammad Ibn Jubair Ibn Muṭ'im via his father (May Allah be pleased with him) who said: "The Prophet (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) stood up in Al-Khaif Mosque at Mina and said: 'May Allah make his face radiant him who hears my words and retains them in his memory; then he conveys them to those who did not hear them. It may be that the bearer of knowledge does not understand it, and it may be that he takes it to one who will understand it more than he does. There are three things against which the heart of the believer would bear no rancour: integrity at work for the sake of Allah, offering sincere advice to the rulers of the Muslims." In another version, the hadith proceeds as follows: "… and obedience of the rulers and adhering to the Jamā'ah (main body of the Muslims) as their supplication is answered." In yet a different version: "…their supplication encompasses all the people."
This hadith is sublime and comprehensive as it touches on fundamental matters without which there would be no basis for religion and life and no well-being in the herein and the hereafter.
The three qualities comprised in this hadith, as Ibn Taymiyyah –May Allah bless his soul– said, "encompass all the foundations of religion as well as all the rights pertaining to Allah and to His servants and set in order the interests of this life and those of the hereafter. That is to say rights fall into two different categories: those proper to Allah Almighty and those pertaining to His servants. Allah's right is to be worshipped (by us) alone with no associate. But, with respect to Allah's servants, there are two types of rights: private and public. The private rights include –for instance– those of the parents, wife, and neighbours to be treated with kindness, and they form a subsidiary part of religion as they may not apply to certain people, in addition to the fact that the interests involved are purely private. Insofar as the public rights are concerned, there are two classes of people: rulers and subjects. The rulers' rights include their exhortation and obedience while those of the subjects involve commitment to congregation as their interests may be accomplished only through it. Certainly, they do not congregate on the premises of perversity. Rather, their gathering and commitment to the "rope of Allah" is but a prerequisite towards realizing their interests in the herein and the hereafter. Hence, such qualities encompass the fundamental principles of religion."
Therefore, do observe taqwa, O servants of Allah, and make of this prophetic guidance the best instrument towards achieving happiness and well-being in the herein as well as securing everlasting bliss in the gardens of paradise on the Day of Resurrection.
Ask Allah to send His Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy) and Peace on the best creature of Allah, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, for you were commanded to do so in the Book of Allah:
Allâh sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the Prophet (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and also His angels (ask Allâh to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât[1] on (ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As-Salâmu 'Alaikum. [Al-Aḥzāb : 56]
O Allah! Send Your Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy) and Peace on Your Servant and Messenger, Muhammad! O Allah! Be pleased with the four Caliphs: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali, with all his family, his Companions, the tābi'ῑn, and those who follow them righteously until the Day of Resurrection! O Allah! Be also pleased with us all, along with them, by Your Pardon, Generosity and Bounty, O You, the Most forgiving of all!
O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! And protect the unity of Your Religion! Destroy the enemies of Your religion and all despots and corrupters! Unite the hearts of Muslims and unify them, guide their leaders and unite their word on the Truth! O You, Lord of al-'ālamîn (the worlds)!
O Allah! Grant victory to Your religion, Your Book, the Sunnah of Your Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Salat and Peace be upon him) and Your truthful, believing, and Mujahideen servants!
O Allah! Grant us security in our homelands, make good our leaders and those responsible for our affairs, support with truth our Imam and leader, provide him with a righteous retinue and guide him to do whatever you love and accept! O You, the All-Hearing of our prayers! O Allah! Guide him, his Crown Prince and his brothers to do what is good for Islam, for the country and for the people, O You to Whom people shall return on the Day of Resurrection!
O Allah! Protect us against Your enemies and ours in any way that pleases You! O Allah! Protect us against Your enemies and ours in any way that pleases You! O Allah! Protect us against Your enemies and ours in any way that pleases You! O Allah! We leave them to You (to deal with them) and seek refuge in You from their evils! O Allah! We leave them to You (to deal with them) and seek refuge in You from their evils! O Allah! We leave them to You (to deal with them) and seek refuge in You from their evils!
O Allah! Make good all our last deeds (just before we die)! Save us from the disgrace of this worldly life and the punishment of the Hereafter!
O Allah! Make better our religion which is our bond, make better our Dunya (life in this world) which is the source of our living, make better our Hereafter to which we are returning, and make life an increase of everything that is good, and death a relief from every evil!
O Allah! We ask You to guide us to do the righteous deeds, to forsake evil deeds and to love the needy! O Allah! We ask You to forgive us and have mercy upon us! O Allah! If You will to send an affliction on a nation, please make us die before Your affliction was sent!
O Allah! Protect Muslims everywhere! O Allah! Spare their blood! O Allah! Spare their blood! O Allah! Spare their blood and reconcile their differences! O Allah! Save us and them from the evil of fitnahs! O Allah! Save us and them from the evil of fitnahs! O Allah! Save us and them from the evil of fitnahs, those apparent or concealed, O Lord of al-'ālamîn!
O Allah! Cure those of us who are sick. O Allah! Bless the souls of our dead! O Allah! Fulfill our hopes in accordance with Your pleasure! And make our last deeds good ones!
(They say): "Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower." [Ᾱl Imrān: 8]
Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers! [Al-A'rāf: 23]
Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire! [Al-Baqarah: 201]
O Allah! Send Your Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace on our Prophet, Muhammad and on his family and Companions! All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!
(ربكم أعلم بما في نفوسكم إن تكونوا صالحين فإنه كان للأوابين غفورا) [الإسراء - 25]
|الكلمات الدلالية (Tags)
|1436, 2014, khayat
|يتصفح الموضوع حالياً : 1 (0 عضو و 1 ضيف)
|أدوات الموضوع
|ابحث في الموضوع
|انواع عرض الموضوع
العرض العادي
|المواضيع المتشابهه
|كاتب الموضوع
|المشاركة الاخيرة
|21 / 1 / 1436 = 14 / 11 / 2014 - Warning against Fitnahs - al-Ṭālib
|محب الإسلام
|Speeches From Grand Mosque
|14 / 1 / 1436=7/11/2014 - al-Budair - Grudges and Damaging Relation
|محب الإسلام
|Speeches From Prophet's Mosque
|خطب المسجد النبوي لعام 1436 هـ
|محب الإسلام
|تلاوات وخطب المسجد النبوي
|فيضانات اوروبا 2014
|مهندس عارف النعمان
|منتدى المـكـتـبـة الرقــمـيـة
|The Status of the Messenger & His Rights upon Us
|Forum For Foreign Language


text:
Launch site
Proba-V was launched from Europe's Spaceport, in the northeast of South America in French Guiana, an overseas department of France.
The Vega launch site is located at the previous ELA-1 complex, originally used for Ariane 1 and Ariane 3 missions.
The pad and infrastructure have been adapted to meet Vega's requirements. It retains the original flame ducts, which channel Vega's exhaust gases during ignition and liftoff. A new fixed umbilical mast provides power and environmental control connections to the launcher and its payloads from mission preparation to the final countdown and liftoff.
Launcher preparation takes place on the pad inside a mobile gantry that houses all the support equipment to assemble and check the vehicle. The gantry provides a protected environment for launch personnel. Its height is 50 m and weighs more than 1000 t.
The Operational Control Centre for Vega is in the Launch Control Centre built for Ariane 5. It houses Vega's operational and monitoring systems.
Vega payloads benefit from Ariane 5's state-of-the-art facilities. The payload preparation buildings accommodate satellite and control equipment unpacking, mechanical assembly work, electrical and mechanical inspections, and checkout of the various platform and payload subsystems.
Final integration of the payload composite takes place at the complex before its transfer to the launch pad for hoisting onto the top of the launcher.
The launch site at Kourou lies at latitude 5°3', just over 500 km north of the equator. Its nearness to the equator makes it almost ideally placed for launches into geostationary transfer orbit because few changes have to be made to a satellite's trajectory.
Launchers also profit from the 'slingshot' effect, that is the energy created by the speed of Earth's rotation around the axis of the poles. This increases the speed of a launcher by 460 m/s. These important factors save propellant and money, and prolong the active life of satellites.
Thanks to its geographical position, Kourou offers a launch angle of 102° from east to north, enabling a wide range of missions. In fact, Europe's Spaceport is so well placed that it can carry out all possible space missions.
Safety is equally important. French Guiana is sparsely populated and 90% of the country is covered by equatorial forests. In addition, there is no risk of cyclones or earthquakes.


text:
19A: Genetic coding for an official legislative trip?: JUNKET DNA (Junk DNA)
23A: NASA scrapheap?: ROCKET PILE (Rock Pile)
51A: Long-eared dog's performance?: BASSET SOLO (Bass Solo)
52A: Young hen's bar bill?: PULLET TAB (Pull Tab)
2D: Horn section?: CORNET ROW (Cornrow)
34D: Dance after getting a shock from an outlet?: SOCKET HOP (Sock Hop)
"ET TU, Brute?" are Julius Caesar's famous last words. I got the answer immediately. Then I got PULLET TAB in a hurry and realized that ET is added into the theme answer. But I simply could not parse ET TU. Forward to 1:24, you will hear ET TU is pronounced like "Add TU", homophonically. I was confused.
I've never heard of Junk DNA, but JUNKET came easily. Is Jack Abramoff sentenced yet? I think I would have taken his Scotland golf JUNKET too. I actually did not know what a pullet is. Only knew the French "poulet". Not familiar with the Sock Hop dance either.
Very choppy solving today. Quite a few tricky clues. I really liked the overlapping and the interlocking of the theme answers.
The helper squares Gareth Bain mentioned in his interview refer to two black squares directly above and below ADJ (13D) and BEL (60D).
1A: Bank holding: Abbr.: ACCT
5A: Village Voice awards: OBIES. Yep, OBIES are given by Village Voice.
10A: Place to wear a coat: LAB. Nice clue. I did not get it immediately. I need a science or chemist word for hint.
13A: Parting of the Pacific?: ALOHA. Another great clue. I was misguided into really "parting" the Pacific like Moses did with the Red Sea.
14A: They help form joints: ULNAE. More used to the "Arm bones" clue.
15A: Loved, with "up": ATE
16A: Florida home of Golf's WGC-CA Championship: DORAL. Played on its Blue Monster Course. Used to be the spot for DORAL Open.
17A: Jazz great Art: TATUM. I forgot. Googled this guy before. His left eye was blind.
18A: Columnist Hentoff: NAT
21A: It's shaken out: SALT. My favorite clue. I suppose PEPPER can be clued the same.
22A: __ Spielgel: German magazine: DER. German for "The Mirror". A weekly magazine. Similar to our Time or Newsweek.
28A: Organic compound: ENOL
29A: Mo. in which the Civil War began: APR. April 12, to be exact.
31A: Hercules' neighbor: LYRA. See this diagram. I did not know Hercules is a constellation. I kept thinking of the young boy Hylas, who found the treasure chamber with Hercules in "Jason and the Argonauts".
33A: Inventor friend of Henry Ford: EDISON. Easy guess. I don't know those two were friends.
37A: Ruth's mother-in-law: NAOMI
39A: H.S. VIPs.: SRS. Never attended a school here. Don't know why SRS are VIPS. You'd think the principals are.
46A: Cry near the ears?: CAW. Why? I wanted COO.
47A: Blacksmith's item: SHOE. For horse? I don't know.
49A: "Eight Days __": A WEEK. Beatles' song.
55A: Pic source: NEG. And PAN (30D: Shoot with a moving camera).
57A: Large group: ARMY. Like Arnie's ARMY, fans of the golf legend Arnie Palmer.
61A: Mauna __: KEA. Wrote down LOA immediately. Mauna KEA is "white mountain". Mauna LOA is "long mountain". LOA=long. Both are volcanos.
62A: Larry Flynt concern, briefly: PORNO. I forgot who Larry Flynt is. Did know his "Hustler" though.
65A: Funny pair?: ENS. Two letter N's in Funny.
66A: Give the boot: EVICT
67A: Fairy tale threat: TROLL. Do you collect TROLL dolls?
68A: Sound of support: RAH. Wanted OLE.
69A: Places for guards: GATES. This is so unfair. We see Mac and iPod so often in the grid, yet Bill GATES has never been given an opportunity to shine.
70A: Org. with carriers: USPS. Mail carriers.
1D: Audibly: ALOUD
3D: Yoga energy point: CHAKRA. No idea. It's also spelled CAKRA. Sanskrit for "wheel"/"circle". Humans have seven CHAKRA points. I guess I know why #7 is.
4D: Ghost story, e.g.: TALE
5D: Great area?: OUTDOORS. Stumped. Is this about the movie "The Great OUTDOORS"?
6D: Man with many voices: BLANC (Mel).
7D: Pipe opening: INTAKE. Silly. But I really did not know this.
8D: Evian, par exemple: EAU. Evian is part of Danone, which has many joint ventures in China.
10D: Island on the Kalohi Channel: LANAI. Well, I know LANAI the Dole "Pineapple Island". Have never heard of Kalohi Channel. Please come to Comments section if you found a good map.
11D: In any way: AT ALL
12D: Davis of "The Little Foxes": BETTE. Ignorant of the movie.
13D: Dict. designation: ADJ. Adjective. Got the answer from Across fills.
20D: Priam's kingdom: TROY. Priam is the father of Paris/Hector/Cassandra.
21D: Took off: SPLIT
24D: 67.5 degrees: ENE. Mine was NNE.
27D: Happy-go-lucky: BLITHE. This word always brings to mind Blythe Danner, mother of Gwyneth Paltrow.
29D: "Wheel of Fortune" buy: AN I. I like this clue better than the black ANI bird.
32D: Discipline: ART. Don't get this one.
35D: Words with whim: ON A. On a whim.
36D: Out-of-the-box: NEW
38D: Hip-hopper Elliott: MISSY. Ha ha, a rare gimme for me. She is quite slim now.
40D: Leek cousins: SHALLOTS. Oil/Vinegar/SHALLOT/mustard, classic vinaigrette recipe.
43D: Angry: HOT. Mine was MAD.
45D: Missing at roll call, maybe: AWOL
48D: Lively wit: ESPRIT. Wrote down BON MOT.
50D: Partner of breaks: ENTERS. "Partner" in the clue always suggests an "and". Breaks and ENTERS.
51D: One of a nursery rhyme trio: BAKER. Butcher and the candlestick maker.
52D: Spartacus' stage: ARENA. Oh, the gladiator. I confused Spartacus with Spartan.
53D: Shatter: SMASH
54D: Wee bit: OUNCE
56D: Certain Scots: GAELS. Are CELTS "Certain Scots" too?
60D: Sound measure: BEL. I forgot. Saw this clue before. It's equal to 10 decibels. SONE is "Loudness measures".
62D: Hanging aid: PEG. I was in a totally different direction, thinking of the hanging of Saddam.
63D: Oft-donated cells: OVA. Oh, I thought only sperms are "Oft-donated".
Answer grid.


text:
Residents living next to Sterling Middle School, where the body of an 18-year-old woman was discovered early Wednesday, feel the area is unsafe and in need of more security.
Residents living next to Sterling Middle School, where the body of an 18-year-old woman was discovered early Wednesday, feel the area is unsafe and in need of more security. Jessica S. Wesson was found lying next to the building on the north side of the school, an area next to a large field and easily seen from Sterling Avenue. She suffered "trauma to her head and chest," police said Wednesday in a news release. "It scares me to death," said Jennifer Ryans, a mother of two teenage girls, 17 and 13, as she stood in her front yard on Westminster Avenue, across the street from the school, as she watched officers crowd around the body. "It makes me scared for my girls." A District 150 maintenance worker made the grisly discovery about 5:45 a.m., police said, as he made his morning rounds. Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said Wesson's body had been there for only a few hours before its discovery. Whether Wesson was killed at the scene or was dumped there was not being released. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday. Wesson, a recent graduate of Richwoods High School, lived with her foster mother, Maxine Jenkins. Friends and family gathered at the home Wednesday night, but declined to comment. Police worked most of Wednesday morning to identify the body. With no solid leads by noon, a news release was issued, requesting help from the public. Fingerprint analysis eventually helped authorities identify the body as that of Wesson, a ward of the state from Bloomington. Police said, though, she'd lived in Peoria for most of her life and was a habitual runaway. Wesson's death is the city's third homicide of the year. As of Wednesday night, police had no suspects or persons of interest in the case. The police presence at the school Wednesday, along with the barren basketball courts, reminded neighbors of the brutal beating less than two years ago that sent a shock wave through their usually quiet neighborhood . Shortly before 8 p.m. Sept. 8, 2006, the victim, 14 at the time and a student at the school, and several other juveniles had been playing basketball. As they were shooting baskets, three boys attacked the victim, knocking him to the ground where they kicked, punched him and stomped on his head. The victim, who spent three days in a coma and used a walker for three weeks, suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs and a head injury. His attackers, two 14 and one 15, were sentenced to juvenile prison, but have since been released from the Department of Juvenile Justice on parole. "I'm mad, sad. You name it," said Tom Schmitt, a father of seven, who has lived next to the school the last 28 years. "After the kid got beat up … it's just getting out of hand." Another resident, who asked not to be named, said neighbors have said since the beating that the school should do something to amp up security on the property. "They need to put a light up," he said, adding simply removing the backboards and rims from the basketball courts is not going to eliminate problems. He called Wednesday's homicide "unexpected." "This is going to take awhile to settle in," he said. "You think this happens in other people's neighborhoods. Not yours." Debra Baker, who watches her grandchildren and several other children during the week at her daughter's Westminster home, has never hesitated to let them play in the ball fields behind the school. "They're not going over there anymore," Baker said. "That is so sad." Leslie Fark can be reached at (309) 686-3188 or email@example.com. Erinn Deshinsky contributed to this story.


text: The Neighborhood Services Division is comprised of the Neighborhood Development Specialist who supervises the division, Mason City Public Transit , Neighborhood Inspection Services and Animal Control. The goal of Neighborhood Services is to focus the energies of citizens in the neighborhoods and City staff on solving neighborhood problems, to develop a vision for neighborhoods, and implement neighborhood improvements. The duty of the Neighborhood Development Specialist is to help organize the leadership in neighborhoods, coordinate the neighborhood activities of City staff, and to connect the neighborhoods to City staff. The impact of this collaboration will be to build relationships between the people in the neighborhoods to create more harmonious neighborhoods, and to make physical improvements in neighborhoods, such as improved neighborhood parks, removal of inoperable vehicles, and the cleanup of unsightly properties and infrastructure improvements.


text:
A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film.
The distributor may set the release date of a film and the method by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing: for example, directly to the public either theatrically or for home viewing (DVD, video-on-demand, download, television programs through broadcast syndication etc.). A distributor may do this directly, if the distributor owns the theaters or film distribution networks, or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors. A limited distributor may deal only with particular products, such as DVDs or Blu-ray, or may act in a particular country or market. The primary distributor will often receive credit in the film's credits, one sheet or other marketing material.
Theatrical distribution
If a distributor is working with a theatrical exhibitor, the distributor secures a written contract stipulating the amount of the gross ticket sales the exhibitor will be allowed to retain (usually a percentage of the gross). The distributor collects the amount due, audits the exhibitor's ticket sales as necessary to ensure the gross reported by the exhibitor is accurate, secures the distributor's share of these proceeds, surrenders the exhibitor's portion to it, and transmits the remainder to the production company (or to any other [intermediary], such as a film release agent).
The distributor must also ensure that enough film prints are struck to service all contracted exhibitors on the contract-based opening day, ensure their physical delivery to the theater by the opening day, monitor exhibitors to make sure the film is in fact shown in the particular theatre with the minimum number of seats and show times, and ensure the prints' return to the distributor's office or other storage resource also on the contract-based return date. In practical terms, this includes the physical production of release printsand their shipping around the world (a process that is being replaced by digital distribution in most developed markets) as well as the creation of posters, newspaper and magazine advertisements, television commercials, trailers, and other types of ads.
The distributor is also responsible for ensuring a full line of advertising material is available for each film which it believes will help the exhibitor attract the largest possible audience, create such advertising if it is not provided by the production company, and arrange for the physical delivery of the advertising items selected by the exhibitor at intervals prior to the opening day. Film distributors spend between $3.5 billion and $4.0 billion a year in the United States alone on direct buys of advertising such as TV commercials, billboards, online banner ads, radio commercials and the like.[1] That distributor-spending figure doesn't include additional costs for publicity, film trailers and promotions, which aren't classified as advertising but also market films to audiences.
Distributors typically enter into one of the two types of film booking contracts. The most common is the aggregate deal where total box office revenue that a given film generates is split by a pre-determined mutually-agreed percentage between distributor and movie theater. The other method is the sliding scale deal, where the percentage of box office revenue taken by theaters declines each week of a given film's run.[2] The sliding scale actually has two pieces that starts with a minimum amount of money that theater is to keep—often called "the house nut"—after which the sliding scale kicks in for revenue generated above the house nut. However, this sliding scale method is falling out of use. Whatever the method, box office revenue is usually shared roughly 50/50 between film distributors and theaters.
Foreign Distribution
If the distributor is handling an imported or foreign film, it may also be responsible for securing dubbing or subtitling for the film, and securing censorship or other legal or organizational "approval" for the exhibition of the film in the country/territory in which it does business, prior to approaching the exhibitors for booking. Depending on which studio that is distributing the film,the studio will either have offices around the world, by themselves or partnered with another studio, to distribute films in other countries. If a studio decides to partner with a native distributor, upon release both names will appear. The foreign distributor may license the film for a certain amount of time, but the studio will retain the copyright of the film.
Early distribution
Although there are numerous distribution techniques today, previous to the multi-channel transition, studios and networks did not experiment with different distribution processes. Studios believed that the new distribution methods would cause their old methods of revenue to be destroyed. Within time, the development of new distribution did prove to be beneficial. The studios revenue was gained from myriad distribution windows. These windows created many opportunities in the industry and allowed networks to make a profit and eliminate failure. These new distribution methods benefited audiences that were normally too small to reach and expanded the content of television. With the new age of technology, networks accepted the fact that it was a consumer demand industry and accepted the new models of distribution
Home video distribution
Some distributors only handle home video distribution or some sub-set of home video distribution such as DVD and/or Blu-ray distribution. The remaining home video rights may be licensed by the producer to other distributors or the distributor may sub-license them to other distributors.
If a distributor is going to distribute a movie on a physical format such as DVD, they must arrange for the creation of the artwork for the case and the face of the DVD and arrange with a DVD replicator to create a glass master to press quantities of the DVD.
Today some movie producers are using a process called "DVD-on-demand." In DVD-on-demand, a company will burn a DVD-R (a process called "duplication") when a copy of the DVD is ordered, and then ship it to the customer.
A distributor may also maintain contact with wholesalers who sell and ship DVDs to retail outlets as well as online stores, and arrange for them to carry the DVD. The distributor may also place ads in magazines and online and send copies of the DVD to reviewers.
Distribution credits
The primary distribution company(s) will usually receive some billing for the film. For example, Gone With the Wind was shown on the one sheet as "A Metro-Goldwyn-MayerRelease". A modern example, Jurassic Park, would be the credit "Universal Pictures presents …". The Universal production logo also opened the film's trailer. In some cases, there is split distribution as in the case of Titanic (1997): "Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures present …". Both companies helped finance this very expensive film.
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text:
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- main material 93% polyamide, 7% elastane


text:
Perhaps the biggest news this year in terms of acquisitions, Lionsgate bought Kristen and Jesse Eisenberg's American Ultra, penned by Max Landis, for a whopping $7 million. American Ultra is set to begin filming in Louisiana mid-April.
The appetite for scripts and partially finished films is soaring. Lionsgate is tying up a deal today to pay $7 million to pre-buy U.S. distribution rights to American Ultra, the action comedy that begins shooting in New Orleans in five weeks with Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart starring for Project X director Nima Nourizadeh. In the script by Chronicle writer Max Landis, Eisenberg plays a stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend (Stewart) is upended when his past catches up with him, putting him the crosshairs of a government operation bent on wiping him out. It's a co-production between A Likely Story and Circle Of Confusion, with Anthony Bregman, David Alpert and Britton Rizzio producing, and Kevin Scott Frakes of Palmstar Media Capital and Raj Brinder Singh of Merced Media Partners exec producing.
Source: Deadline


text: What a shitty season for umpire Greg Gibson. First, he gets a Stephen Strasburg fastball to the crotch in April. Now, he's actually in the correct position (as far as I can tell) for making the call on Torii Hunter's attempt to score last night, only to have Hunter's cleat roll up and clip him right above his left eye. Gibson had to leave the game, Hunter was ruled out on the play, and we can only wonder what unfortunate injury will befall Greg Gibson next, once he returns to action behind the plate.


text:
Universities are in a bind, trying to deal with spiraling costs and the rapidly changing demands of students and their parents. Tuition and fees have been rising faster than inflation, even as the supply of new enrollees has begun to shrink. The explosion in project-based learning methods, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and online courses is turning academia upside down. Mixed online and in-person offerings have emerged, such as one approach known as "flipping the classroom," in which students are required to view lectures online before their classes for more focused group instruction.
Against this backdrop, competition for students to attend four-year institutions is getting more intense, even as college enrollment experienced its first decline (0.2%) in 15 years, according to the U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics. With the prospect of shrinking matriculations and with "plausible alternatives emerging" to a traditional higher education experience, experts like Adam Newman, a Managing Partner at Education Growth Advisors, say that colleges face increasing pressure to enhance student academic and lifestyle expectations.
But how to offer higher-quality facilities without significantly boosting tuition and fees? University officials must watch project budgets carefully, but they're also looking for creativity. Building Teams are responding by using flexible classroom designs and repurposed facilities whenever possible, rather than constructing new, purpose-built spaces. Universities like this approach, as they feel compelled to reposition or renovate for new uses or to add highly desirable features, notably common areas for collaborative work and socializing.
Higher education has also long been at the forefront of sustainable design. In the last five years, green building in higher education has doubled in dollar volume to a total of about $16 billion, according to a report by McGraw-Hill Construction. Sustainability is particularly essential to any facility where design, engineering, forestry, environmental studies, or related fields are taught. Many such buildings are being designed or retooled for direct integration into the curriculum.
To earn 1.0 AIA CES HSW learning units, study the article carefully and take the exam posted at BDCuniversity.com.
Colleges and universities are looking for solutions to outmoded campus planning, changing facility needs, and ineffective space usage and programming. Building Teams are responding with breakthroughs in reorganizing campuses and repurposing existing facilities. Sometimes the subject buildings are historic, or iconic, or simply outmoded. New building projects are more rare, and for that reason take on increasing significance. Yet a look at campuses across the country shows there is no shortage of new and effective ideas for sustainable, high-performance building design.
Many institutions are faced with a growing demand for usable, up-to-date space from students, faculty, administrators, and partner institutions. Inside Higher Ed recently analyzed the results of an inquiry by the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission into spiking college tuition rates. It turns out that "spending on auxiliary enterprises funded by students was the largest driver of these spending increases." Among the top cost factors, according to the commission, was housing.
With that in mind, colleges and universities are reorganizing their residence halls to raise admission and retention rates and possibly improve student performance. One such campuswide revamp took place over several years at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., as part of a sweeping master plan to organize student residences and some academic spaces into college "house systems," similar to the models used in England's Oxford and Cambridge universities and later adopted at some Ivy League colleges.
Using a comprehensive master plan, a project team led by MGA Partners (www.mgapartners.com) planned a rollout of new, low-cost improvements to be staged over several years that would include existing buildings and grounds and about 1,000 student beds, as well as 150,000 sf of new construction. The master plan resulted in four "commons" buildings that became the entrance, identity, and student activity spaces for each of the newly minted college houses, according to the Philadelphia-based firm.
Bonchek College House at Franklin & Marshall College, by MGA Partners (architect) and Wohlson Construction (GC). The Lancaster, Pa., school's adoption of the "college house" system, based on an English university model, has led to a rise in applications, enrollment, and donations. Photo: Halkin Photography
The modern, low-key buildings are all about 5,000 sf in size and share a fresh, recognizable architectural vocabulary, but all are different in order to reflect their unique place in the school's original quad; for example, one of the new commons buildings links two adjacent residence halls. Yet all of the "insertions" are intended to unite the students and enhance residence life by including a living room, kitchen, seminar room, faculty master office, small library, trophy case, and fireplace. Each has a large hall for gatherings, studying, and presentations. A sole secure entrance for students and a number of new, handicapped-accessible entrances also enhance the student experience. The project cost totaled about $65 million.
According to Franklin & Marshall, the move to the college house system has contributed to an increase in applications—up 27% in 2012—as well as to greater enrollment and retention of freshman and sophomore students.
Other colleges and universities are strengthening student engagement, enjoyment, and educational success by concentrating on their campus centers. A few, such as those at Colorado State University and the University of Cincinnati, are high-profile architectural statements, while many more employ incremental improvements.
Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., first expanded its historic landmark building, known as "Main," in the 1970s. Its College Center complex, designed by Shepley Bulfinch (www.shepleybulfinch.com), added much-needed space and a modern touch to James Renwick's original 1865 design. More recently, the college's Department of Buildings and Grounds engaged Sloan Architects (www.sloanarch.com) to assess how the 60,000-sf multipurpose building has fared in meeting the "continuously changing needs and the wear of time," according to Alexandra Sloan, AIA, Principal.
"Due to the scale of this renovation, and the need for the building to remain in continuous operation, it has been broken down into a multi-phase project that spans over the course of three years," says Sloan. As a first step, the Building Team considered the glass-enclosed cube volumes that are now occupied and managed by a national bookstore chain. While the glass boxes clearly marked the entry and served as a welcoming gateway to College Center with good retail visibility, the project team recommended a bridge structure to provide better connections between the old building and the new.
The plan also sought to enhance the utilization and efficiency of the dual complex. "One of the main goals for this renovation was to increase student activities on the upper floor, and to reorganize the functions within the building to better utilize the space," says Sloan. The design connects the two floors with an open, central stairwell and adds new offices for relocated staff so that student services could be closer and more visible to students. Alterations to other interiors, HVAC and restroom upgrades, ADA accessibility improvements, and a full exterior renovation complete the plan for getting more out of Vassar's College Center.
According to the Delta Cost Project (http://www.deltacostproject.org/resources/pdf/Trends-in-College-Spending...), public community colleges added the most students over the last decade. Yet many such systems have been saddled with woefully inadequate facilities, many of them built in the 1970s with relatively poor aesthetics, circulation, visibility, and adaptability.
At West Valley College in Saratoga, Calif., a new student center building cut off two outdoor plazas from each other, blocking traffic and pedestrian circulation. The college called in BFGC-IBI Group (www.bcfg-ibigroup.com), which introduced broad spans of opening glass walls and door systems to the main floor of the student center structures. The thermally broken aluminum system replaced existing single-glazed, bronze-finish storefront windows. One of the installations reconnected the two separated plazas, creating a new channel for foot traffic, restoring the plazas to regular use by students and faculty, and improving wayfinding by providing new sightlines.
The high energy performance of the glass system improved the building's sustainability, reduced its heating and cooling load, and increased the penetration of natural daylight. It also reduced solar heat gain by virtue of the low-e glass specified for the fenestration, helping the project move toward LEED certification.
An office area at Yale Shared Services. Workplace changes at many colleges and universities are consolidating administrative functions while also improving office environments for better collaboration, creativity, and productivity. The concept of "shared services" comes from the commercial office sector. Photo: Robert Benson Photography
Established private universities in well-developed areas, especially urban locales, face a different problem: surrounded by development-averse neighborhoods, they often have little or no room to expand.
Princeton University faced such a town-gown dilemma in trying to find suitable office space on campus for its Department of Public Safety and, ironically, its Office of Physical Planning. With square footage at a premium, the administration began to look at existing unused and underutilized built space on campus.
The school settled on an adaptive reuse plan for its former boiler house. Built in 1928 to house heating infrastructure, the facility was marred by a 1959 addition that obscured the original Collegiate Gothic façade. A design team led by Clarke Caton Hintz (clarkecatonhintz.com) and University Architect John Hlafter, along with Westcott Studio, set out to make the most economical use of the interior space, while simultaneously restoring and preserving the boiler house's idiomatic character. After demolishing the addition, construction began on the insertion of new floor levels within the boiler house.
To make the best use of the increased available area—about 26,000 gsf—the team convinced the university to abandon its traditional use of gypsum wallboard and stud walls in favor of a modular wall system for the two-story atrium and office fronts, according to Marlyn Zucosky, IIDA, formerly of Westcott Studio and now Partner and Director of Interior design for JZA+D. "Princeton University typically doesn't use this type of product," she says.
But proposing a modular wall system proved a relatively easy sell. First, the "floating system elements" did not require precise field measurements before fabrication, which speeded up delivery and shortened the construction schedule. Second, the systems provided flexibility for changing needs, allowing walls, partitions, and sliding doors to be moved, removed, or added to with only minor disruption to operations, making the facility one of the most adaptable office buildings on campus.
Third, and most important, the use of glass partitions increased the penetration of natural daylight throughout the interiors. They even provided a bonus, in the form of a tax benefit for accelerated depreciation. The result is a preserved traditional façade in keeping with the university's architectural character, containing a high-performance campus office facility. "The boiler house interior produces a dialogue between the building's original industrial character and the crisp, modernist aesthetic of the new offices," says Zucosky.
Princeton is hardly alone in looking for innovative ways to make its administrative offices more efficient. Some institutions of higher learning are adopting shared services, a private-sector model for centralized administration and operations that serve multiple departments. To make the leap to this proven and cost-effective setup, a growing number of universities are seeking facility renovations that will accommodate the changes. Offsetting the construction budgets is the promise of reduced operational costs as well as soft benefits like enhanced interdepartmental collaboration, thanks to a supportive workplace design.
"Shared services is practically a standard in the private sector, but it is making headway among institutional organizations," says Ronn Kolbash, Assistant Vice President of Shared Services at Yale University, who helped implement the concept for the state of Ohio. "The model applies differently in higher education, as universities have more diverse needs," he says.
For the design of its shared-services facility, Yale enlisted local firm Svigals + Partners (www.svigals.com). The plan called for an administrative services facility to be carved out of a business services center located in a New Haven redevelopment area known as Science Park. The designers undertook an analysis of shared-services staff work habits. If a team member used a workstation less than 60% of the time, the standard workstation would be replaced with a "touchdown space." The shared-services workplace would have no enclosed offices, thereby reinforcing the university's "80-20" mandate: 80% open offices and no more than 20% traditional walled offices in any given workplace interior. Saved space in the planning process would roll over into collaboration areas, alternative workspaces, and even "recreational zones." As Kolbash notes, "You want to maximize space to be the most productive for the whole, not just one person or some people."
Most intriguing is the solution for the central hallway, which the design team envisioned as an area for informal collaboration. Programmed as an egg-shaped circulation area, "the design process focused on how to create a sense of place, a space that helps you clear your mind and find a connection with someone else," according to Chris Bockstael, AIA, Associate Principal with Svigals and Project Architect for Yale Shared Services. The space provides comfortably furnished zones, such as an Art Niche, a Living Room (with 80-inch LCD screen), and a Meeting Space (with oversized whiteboard). The bright yellow oval room and modernist furnishings bring intensity and scale to the otherwise relaxed workspaces.
Its unique ceiling treatment, a bold arrangement of vertically hanging acoustical panels, serves to disguise the open plenum and attenuate noise levels—and is a work of art in its own right. "The environment affects the task," concludes Kolbash, "and the innovation space has demonstrably improved collaboration at YSS."
Another way that universities are reinventing their campuses is by reconfiguring departments that appeal not just to students and faculty but also to the public at large. The obvious example is the college athletic program; less obvious are academic programs in the sciences, fine arts, and performing arts and music. A university's museums, galleries, and events are a valuable cultural draw for their local and even regional communities. In some university towns, the scale of the changes is significant enough to help create entire new cultural districts.
This was the case at Indiana University, where a performing arts center revamp to incorporate a major film studies department changed the local arts dynamic as it advanced capital planning. As part of a master plan conceived more than 15 years ago, the Bloomington campus is now home to a 300-seat, high-fidelity movie theater. The so-called IU Cinema—an art house and repertory theater with holdings topping 50,000 reels—occupies what was an obsolete 1930's WPA-built theater, complete with 176,000 cubic feet of stagehouse and fly loft space. Renovated facilites serve not only the Film and Media Studies program but also the Department of Theatre, Drama & Contemporary Dance.
The design, by MGA Partners, is a high-performance example of adaptive reuse, preservation, and economical reorganization. Partner and Director of Design Daniel Kelley, FAIA, proposed an insertion into the massive backstage and vaulted fly loft. This created space for a studio theater and a dance/rehearsal studio at a fraction of the cost of building a new structure. And by retaining as much as possible of the working character of the original space, the rough brick, catwalk stairs, and original rigging helps connect the students visually to a unique part of American theater history.
A former boiler house at Princeton University was reconstructed for use as high-productivity administrative office space, designed by Clarke Caton Hintz, with Marlyn Zucosky of Westcott Studio (now with JZA+D). Photo: Jeffrey Totaro
The design scheme also made significant changes to the theater to transform it into a top-flight venue for film art. IU Cinema is one of a very small number of renovated theaters equipped with THX-certified sound reproduction, a widely recognized standard for high-fidelity audiovisual reproduction that applies to movie theaters, screening rooms, computer speakers, and similar equipment. Certification standards are stringent; many of the 22 speakers required for surround sound had to be inserted into chandeliers, which had to be skinned with acoustically transparent material. The fixtures had to be built and installed to resist swaying that might result from the vibrations.
The speakers could not be mounted on many parts of the theater walls because the walls are arrayed with Thomas Hart Benton murals dating back to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The project included restoration of the murals, in cooperation with the Indiana University Museum. When a film is being presented, ceiling-mounted masking obscures Hart's pictorial representations of Indiana history.
This painstaking work has made Indiana University's IU Cinema a breakthrough on two levels. The design and construction amounted to a highly successful, if radical, intervention in a valued historical building. And IU Cinema's Director, Jon Vickers, believes that the project will put Bloomington on the cinéaste's map, making it "one of the best-recognized cinémathèques in the country."
On a somewhat smaller scale, colleges and universities can reposition built assets to better serve departmental focus in the arts. "For universities with performing arts majors, we see increasing need to allow for multipurpose spaces that also support varied performance needs, with better audiovisual capabilities, lighting, and reconfigurable furniture systems," says Andrew Franz, RA, LEED AP, Principal of Andrew Franz Architect (www.andrewfranz.com). "This helps for the impromptu and site-specific performances that many department heads believe activate the campus."
Sloan Architects' Michael Sloan, AIA, sees the integration of technology—for both Web access and expanding audiovisual requirements—as a primary feature of the renovations. At Vassar College, Sloan employed adaptive reuse and historic preservation techniques along with the careful introduction of new technologies to update facilities.
For Vassar's Rockefeller Hall, the renovation incorporated friendly educational technologies into the lecture rooms, while restoring these spaces to their original and historical beauty, says Sloan. The retrofits included a user-friendly lighting and control system, complete with appropriate period light fixtures and modern energy efficiency. Antiquated wood seating was refurbished and upholstered, and stretched acoustical panels were set into the dome ceiling to achieve optimal acoustics. "We were also able to provide the rooms with a new fresh-air and cooling system, while maintaining superbly low sound levels," he says.
The college's Blodgett Hall auditorium was redesigned to show movies. At the same time, the Building Team saw an opportunity to restore much of the old auditorium's architectural grandeur inexpensively and simply through the application of new finishes and by adding comfortable, durable seating "in the appropriate style," according to Sloan.
For improved acoustics, the team devised a fabric-wrapped, floating acoustical panel system between the ceiling beams, which improves the film appreciation experience while also minimizing undesirable sound transmission. Behind the scenes, a new projection room was specified to allow for the showing of a wide variety of film types, including 35mm, 16mm, and digital video projections.
The vertical acoustical panels enclosing the outer walls reflect the same Gothic Revival style of the building, while absorbing unwanted acoustical reverberation. "The newly implemented accessibility provisions, along with an ultra-quiet HVAC system, a new projection screen, and an authentic theater appeal, make this the ultimate place to enjoy a movie," says Sloan. He adds that the key to these highly technical projects is close coordination among facilities and AV personnel, acoustic consultants, MEP engineers and critical equipment suppliers.
Integrating the mechanical, electrical, and AV systems in collegiate performing arts projects is equally crucial to the success of reconstruction projects for engineering buildings, laboratories, and medical school facilities, where technical obsolescence and end-user flexibility are never-ending concerns.
At Yale University, cross-disciplinary research has demanded a variety of facilities strategies to support breakthrough research and continuously groom and recruit the next generation of top scientists and principal investigators. The Yale Medical School is relocating some of its newer research centers, including several highly focused institutes, to the West Campus, an assemblage of properties and existing buildings about seven miles from the main campus and Yale–New Haven Hospital.
"At West Campus, there is extensive laboratory space where experts from diverse disciplines are working side by side using innovative technologies to address important issues in science, art conservation, health, energy, and the environment," according to the university. The expansion also houses facilities for archiving museum and library overflow collections and is the new home of the School of Nursing, the oldest university-based nursing school in the world (established 1923).
One of the facility strategies employed at West Campus has been the tactical reconstruction of a 136-acre property with laboratory and office buildings formerly occupied by Bayer Pharmaceutical. After Yale acquired it about five years ago, the site was transformed into W-B 24, a scientific research core of the Integrated Science & Technology Center. Designed by Svigals + Partners, the 460,000-sf complex hosts scientists in biophysics, cell biology, and nanobiology. DNA sequencers, cell culture stations, and microscopy suites are complemented with bright, colorful offices and ample conference spaces.
In a unique take on the facility type, the designers employed environmental graphics and university branding to enliven the space and enhance camaraderie. Such symbolic elements, logos, and typeface applications are believed to enhance competitiveness, productivity, and esprit de corps. Window films, signage, paints, and fritted glass partitions patterned to recall a molecular structure enliven the scientific work setting. "Our approach was to strategically combine existing resources with key enhancements and a bright, fresh new look that would attract the leaders of these brand-new scientific institutes," says Robert Skolozdra, AIA, LEED AP, a Partner with the firm. "This reduced costs by as much as 50% as compared to a total gut renovation, yet W-B 24 also has been instrumental in helping recruit directors and principal investigators."
Another key to making the lab spaces work was providing generic solutions for the many unknowns of scientific research. The nature of emerging scientific institutes and their research programs is constantly in flux, so Building Teams must focus on adaptable uses and space allocation models that can change easily over time, according to Skolozdra.
Typical solutions include reconfigurable casework, plug-and-play MEP systems, rolling cabinets, and other modular, pre-engineered solutions. Existing fixed lab benches in the Bayer buildings were refurbished using electrostatic painting and fitted with new wood shelves and wood-faced rolling cabinets, adding a warm look while remaining flexible, economical, and durable. New welded seamless floors were spliced into the existing floors, and epoxy lab bench surfaces were cleaned and brought back to like-new condition by the construction team. The original recessed fixtures were replaced with pendants that provide both ambient uplighting and direct downlighting, while meeting the latest LEED standards.
University lab reconstruction projects also need to focus on ways to create comfortable, uplifting, and fresh interiors. Recent projects at major research universities in Maryland, Michigan, and California have used retrofit strategies to add daylight—through the use of glass furniture and partition systems, for example—as well as ample wood surfaces and wood-grain floors and casework. Brightly colored walls, lightweight furnishings, and nature-inspired textiles further reinforce the friendly, welcoming appearance of today's new university research centers.
At 22,000 sf, Yale's new Nanobiology Institute is an example of this growing trend. The spaces "unite scientists from engineering and biological sciences to explore the relationships of synthetic and living molecules at the nanoscale," according to Yale. In addition to private offices, ample new amenities and break zones will help keep scientists comfortable and energized, with several modern, glass-walled meeting areas just off the lab and two remote conference rooms, including a large seminar room.
Glass alcoves that look out onto the naturally landscaped campus are a noteworthy feature of the interiors. The architects also designed work carrels for post-doctorate and lab researchers, and located them where the building originally had perimeter offices, opening up outdoor views and daylight for dry bench areas and generic support zones deeper in the floor plates. Required customization and redesign tweaks accommodate specific types of equipment, such as the latest technologies in high-powered microscopy, including confocal and fluorescence microscopes that utilize floating tables, darkroom curtains, overhead racks for equipment storage, clean air walk-in chambers, and specialty lighting.
"This is a new opportunity for Yale to recruit for this and other new institutes," says Jay M. Brotman, AIA, Laboratory Studio Director at Svigals + Partners.
At most universities today, cap-ex planning strategies put a heavy emphasis on the reuse of existing assets coupled with the latest in environmentally preferable building methods. "Green building techniques do more than make universities more efficient and healthier. They also improve many of the measures that students use to describe their satisfaction with the college experience," says Franz. Many architects in higher education have also begun to incorporate sustainable design elements as a pedagogical tool.
For Lehman College, a City University of New York school in the Bronx, Perkins+Will New York delivered a LEED Platinum science facility for research and teaching. The facility embodies a new academic typology whereby the structure functions as a tool for active learning, in this case supporting the college's strength in plant sciences.
Students and faculty have access to the rooftop greenhouse and a rainwater collection system used for irrigation and toilet water, so that they can control variables as needed for instruction and experimentation. Another interactive system supplies graywater to the central courtyard framed by the new building and the existing Gillett Hall. This water supply regulates the wetland system constructed within the courtyard and features planting beds, retention tanks, and an outdoor laboratory. This "open lab" serves double duty as a learning space and as an urban oasis for the surrounding community.
The 300,000-sf facility offers both research labs and instructional space. Teaching labs are constructed flexibly to serve as research labs when programmatic demands, or research methodologies, change. Likewise the facility's seminar rooms can easily be modified to serve as graduate assistant bullpens. The design also focuses on 24-seat lab/lecture rooms, which improves overall utilization rates.
For the University at Buffalo's new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Perkins+Will's design brought the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering Departments under one roof, while supporting the institution's goal of net-carbon neutrality by 2030 and LEED Gold certification for new building projects.
The building's energy performance exceeds ASHRAE 90.1-2004 by 33.8% above the baseline, through such features as enhanced insulation, high-performance glazing and fenestration, energy-efficient lighting systems, and plentiful natural daylighting. The SEAS building also employs stormwater capture for water-efficient landscaping, waterless urinals, and high-performance HVAC systems.
The SEAS design recognizes the importance of casual interaction and spontaneous collaboration to scientific research. SEAS is nominally programmed as two separate "blocks"—one for computational research, the other for applied (hardware) research—but the blocks are joined at the facility's core by a multistory, glass-enclosed gallery.
This atrium serves as a science commons, with broad sightlines and open stairs to encourage spontaneous interaction among staff and students. The gallery also offers windows into the research being performed in the adjoining labs.
High-level architectural designs like these are a reminder that the online world simply cannot provide the same educational experience as the physical campus. Yet projects like the SEAS building are designed to incorporate more and more of the audiovisual requirements that will be needed in a future environment that is already blending hybrid learning with in-person pedagogy.


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Donor-advised funds experienced double-digit growth in assets and contributions in 2012, according to National Philanthropic Trust's eighth annual report.
The report, published Monday, detailed an 18.9% growth in assets under management to $45.4 billion, up from a revised $38.1 billion in 2011.
Contributions to DAFs grew by 34.6% to $13.7 billion. This represents more than 4% of all charitable giving or upward of 6% of all individual giving in the U.S.
"The economic 'fiscal cliff' at year-end and the debate on Capitol Hill about the status of the charitable tax deduction — as well as increased awareness of the flexibility and functionality DAFs — sparked especially dramatic growth in DAF accounts and contributions in the last quarter of 2012," Eileen Heisman, president and CEO of National Philanthropic Trust, said in a statement.
"Looking forward, I expect next year's report will also reveal a second year of back-to-back record increases for key metrics in the DAF market related to the fiscal cliff and its threat to change the charitable tax deduction."
NPT's DAF report uses data primarily from IRS Form 990 filings to provide up-to-date and reliable analysis of the DAF market. The 2013 report examined 1,007 charitable organizations that sponsor donor-advised funds, including national charities, community foundations and other sponsoring charities.
Other key findings from the 2013 report:
- Grant making was estimated at $8.6 billion, up 6.7% over 2011.
- The number of DAF accounts increased by 7% in 2012, to 201,631, while the number of private foundations grew by 4%.
- The payout rate slowed slightly for 2012, to 16%, reflecting the rapid rise in DAF assets alongside a modest rise in grants from DAFs. Payout rates from 2007 through 2012 annually exceed 15%, three times the mandated 5% minimum payout rate of private foundations.
Check out Have a Strange Gift for a DAF? Fidelity's Interested on ThinkAdvisor.


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COLONIE >> The leaders of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Capital Region Economic Development Council (CREDC) said Thursday they aren't involved with the massive "E23" gambling casino project, though they left the door open for a possible future partnership.
"I think casinos belong to another group, primarily the electeds and the people of the communities who might be impacted by casinos," CREDC co-chair James Barba, the president and CEO of Albany Medical Center, said after a meeting at Siena College. "It is not so far within our charge."
As for the CREDC's future involvement, "I'll never say never," Barba said. "You know, as I said earlier, the economic development council does not develop its own projects. We respond to applications that may be made to us for projects, for project funding."
"Should 'E23' or any other site for a casino file such an application, it would be our responsibility to respond to it," he said.
At Barba's side was CREDC co-chair Robert Jones, the president of the University at Albany. They spoke after a two-hour public meeting held at Siena College that focused on revitalizing local cities and job creation. Promoters of the "E23" casino say the project will cost as much as $400 million and create 1,800 permanent jobs and 1,500 construction jobs.
Cuomo awarded the CREDC $82.8 million last December for 100 projects in the region. Thursday's meeting opened the latest round of planning for new Cuomo grants.
The "E23" project is planned for an 84-acre tract of land on Noonan Lane in Albany near Exit 23 of the Thruway. The parcel is currently owned by the family of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand's grandmother, Polly Noonan, who was a legendary associate of Albany Mayor Erastus Corning II, and her children own homes on the property.
Last month, Flaum Management Co. Inc. proposed the E23 project in partnership with Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. The deal calls for a portion of casino revenues to go to OTB's members, 19 upstate counties and two cities.
Developer David Flaum is a Rochester shopping center developer involved with Republicans for Cuomo, a business group put together by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, to raise money to support his fall re-election campaign.
A Casino Siting Commission appointed by Cuomo is on track to take applications then announce by fall the winners of four licenses to operate commercial Las Vegas style casinos in Upstate New York.
One is envisioned for the Albany-Saratoga Springs region. There have been proposals for casinos in all the counties surrounding Albany, but an organized community group is trying to stop a casino expansion at the site of the successful Saratoga Casino and Raceway.
The proposed Albany casino has been welcomed by most local business leaders and elected officials who don't want to see a gambling casino go up across the Hudson River in Rensselaer County.


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These photos were obviously taken on the same day as my makeup monday post. I originally wore this dress for Closetista, but decided to wear it again (for more than an hour) a few days later. Instead of my go-to bow sash, I paired it with this incredible vintage belt that my mom got for me. It's covered in beads and rhinestones!
My good friend Drew Lindo is in town, so I have to cut this short. More outfit photos that aren't boring inside photos (the weather has been gross) later.
Outfit Details:
vintage lace dress - thrifted
bead and rhinestone belt - gift from my mom
lace tights - courtesy of ModCloth
bow pumps - Nine West
Love love,
Keiko Lynn


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