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Official: Body of slain Mexican drug lord stolen
MEXICO CITY Mexican marines gunned down of one of Mexico's most feared drug lords outside a baseball game in a state on the Texas border, but the body was stolen from a funeral home in a pre-dawn raid by a group of armed men, officials said Tuesday.
The theft of the body believed to belong to Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano adds a bizarre and embarrassing twist to one of the most significant victories in Mexico's militarized battle with organized crime, two months before the man who sharply expanded it, President Felipe Calderon, leaves office.
It seems certain to fuel speculation about just what happened to Lazcano, an army special forces deserter whose brutal paramilitary tactics helped define the devastating six-year war among Mexico's drug gangs and authorities.
Coahuila state Attorney General Homero Ramos said two men were killed by marines Sunday outside a baseball game in the town of Progreso. He and the Mexican navy said the fingerprints of one man matched the records of Lazcano.
Early Monday morning, Ramos said, a group of armed men raided the funeral home where the bodies were kept, and stole both corpses.
The U.S Drug Enforcement Agency said it was still awaiting confirmation that one of Mexico's most feared drug lords had been slain.
Lazcano was credited with bringing military tactics and training to the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel, then splitting from his former bosses and turning the Zetas into one of the country's two most potent cartels, with a penchant for headline-grabbing atrocities and control of territory stretching along the U.S. border and at least as far south as Guatemala. The Zetas have carried out some of Mexico's bloodiest massacres, biggest jail breaks and fiercest attacks on authorities.
Most recently, the cartel was linked to the assassination of the nephew of the governor of Coahuila last week, a slaying that prompted the federal government to dispatch additional troops, federal police and criminal investigators to the state.
Mexican authorities have announced a string of arrests of high-profile Zetas figures in recent months. Such captures often lead authorities to higher-ranking figures.
By late Tuesday morning, Calderon had made no public statement about Lazcano's death, which would also help Mexico's most-wanted man and the Zetas' bitterest enemy, Sinaloa cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who has been waging a vicious battle with the Zetas for territory along the U.S. border and other parts of Mexico.
Lazcano, who is also known as "El Verdugo" (the Executioner), is suspected in hundreds of killings, including the June 2004 slaying of Francisco Ortiz Franco, a top editor of a crusading weekly newspaper in Tijuana that often reported on drug trafficking. Ortiz Franco was gunned down in front of his two young children as he left a clinic.
- Cartel suspect blamed for jailbreak, massacre
- 16 employees detained after mass escape from Mexican prison near U.S.
- Tiffany Hartley urges Obama admin. to find dead husband
- Four suspects identified in Falcon Lake border shooting
- 72 bodies found at ranch: Mexico massacre survivor describes grisly scene
The United States has offered a $5 million reward and Mexico an additional $2.3 million for information leading to Lazcano's arrest.
The Sunday shootout came in the rural area of Progreso, Coahuila, about 80 miles (125 kilometers) west of the Texas border, near Laredo.
The navy said it received complaints about armed men in the area and sent a patrol to check out the reports. Gunmen tossed grenades at the patrol from a moving vehicle, wounding one of the marines. His injuries were not life-threatening.
Two of the gunmen were killed in the ensuing shootout, the navy's statement said. In the gunmen's' vehicle, authorities found a grenade launcher, 12 grenades, what appeared to be rocket propelled grenade launcher and two rifles.
Under Lazcano's leadership, the Zetas recruited more hit men, many of them former Mexican soldiers, and hired "kaibiles," Guatemalan soldiers trained in counterinsurgency, transforming what had been a small group of assassins into a ruthless gang of enforcers for the Gulf cartel. The Zetas also were in charge of protecting the Gulf cartel's drug shipments.
The Zetas finally split from their former bosses in 2010 and have since been fighting a vicious battle for control of the drug business in northeastern Mexico, the traditional home base of the Gulf cartel. The result has been a surge of drug-related killings.
Lazcano "is credited with strengthening the organization ... he created a new structure of regional cells that specialize in specific crimes," Mexican federal prosecutors say in their profile of Lazcano.
The Zetas also earned notoriety for brutality by becoming the first to publicly display their beheaded rivals, most infamously two police officers in April 2006 in the resort city of Acapulco. The severed heads were found on spikes outside a government building with a message signed "Z'' that said: "So that you learn to respect."
Even with the death of Lazcano, the Zetas apparently would still be run by a ruthless capo, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, who has a reputation for being even more brutal than Lazcano. Officials say Trevino Morales, also known was "Z 40," has taken on a greater leadership role and has even been reported to have replaced Lazcano as operational chief.
The report of Lazcano's death came just hours after the navy nabbed a suspected Zetas regional leader accused of involvement in some of the country's most notorious crimes in recent years.
Navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo was arrested Saturday in Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas. The official said Martinez is believed to have masterminded the massacre of 72 migrants in the northern state of Tamaulipas in 2010.
The man known as "Squirrel" also has been linked to the escape of 151 prisoners in 2010 from a jail in the city of Nuevo Laredo, the recent flight of 131 prisoners in the city of Piedras Negras and the killing of U.S. citizen David Hartley in 2010 on Falcon Lake, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border.
The death of Hartley drew wide attention as it appeared Hartley and his wife, Tiffany, were on a personal trip when he was shot by Mexican criminals on Sept. 30, 2010. The Hartleys were using personal watercraft on Falcon Lake when David Hartley was shot in the head and fell into the water.
The navy is also blaming Martinez for the killing of the Tamaulipas state police commander and chief investigator on the case, an attack that hampered the investigation.
The navy said Martinez is also a suspect in dozens of killings of people who were buried in mass graves at the same site of the 2010 massacre of migrants. Nearly 200 bodies were discovered in April 2011 in the town of San Fernando, close to the U.S. border. Those two crimes have been the most fatalities since Mexico's federal government launched an armed offensive against drug traffickers in December 2006.


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LITTLE ROCK � The co-chairman of a legislative panel suggested Thursday that lawmakers review the rules for what can go on vanity license plates because of concerns raised in Arkansas and lawsuit filed in other states.
LITTLE ROCK � The co-chairman of a legislative panel suggested Thursday that lawmakers review the rules for what can go on vanity license plates because of concerns raised in Arkansas and lawsuit filed in other states.
Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs, said during a joint meeting of the House and Senate transportation committees that an official of the state Department of Finance and Administration had asked that the Legislature review the list of words banned from a personalized license plate.
�There�s some concern about some language that�s not appropriate for minors and there are some items, also, that may be social issues, as well,� Barnett said after the committee meeting.
He said he was concerned about possible legal action by someone who was denied a request.
�The Legislature is probably going to have to address this at some point,� he said.
John Theis, DFA�s commissioner for policy and legal, said he had discussed the issue with Barnett because of concerns he had recently about a lawsuit in Georgia.
Earlier this year, a man in Georgia sued that state after he was denied three requests for a personalized plate that would have read GAYGUY, 4GAYLIB or GAYPWR.
That state�s revenue department rejected them because they were on the state�s �bad tag� list. The man filed suit, claiming his First Amendment right to free speech was being violated.
The man and the state later agreed to a settlement. He was allowed pick one of the requests that had been rejected � he chose GAYPWR � and the state agreed to issue an emergency regulation clarifying the standards for vanity tags.
Under the emergency regulation, approved in June, references to weapons, drugs and alcohol are prohibited on vanity plates. Georgia has four months to decide whether to keep the emergency regulation or come up with another.
Theis said employees at DF&A who review applications for vanity license plates review recent case law from around the country to determine if the requested wording is appropriate.
�There are two tests the state has to follow,� Theis said. �One is a rational basis test, there is a rational reason for denying this plate. That usually is offensive language, profanity, scatological type comments, those kinds of things.
�The second is whether the plate�s view point is neutral. It can�t promote one view point and not another. Those are the tests we balance with each requests against someone�s First Amendment right to say whatever they want to say on these things.�
He said he told Barnett that DF&A regularly gets requests for vanity license plates that need to be reviewed.
�This has been going on forever. The only thing that has changed is folks are pushing the envelope more and more each year to come up with something cute, and that�s what we�re seeing in Georgia,� he said.
David Foster, DF&A�s assistant commissioner of operations and administration, said generally if an unusual request is made, several employees review it to determine if it meets the criteria.
Foster said DF&A personnel have develop a list of words and phrases that employees who review vanity license plate requests need to watch for, and that the department also refers to the online urban dictionary.
�There are some very creative people out there,� Foster said.

subset: commoncrawl


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Shijiazhuang Ditiantai Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd.
Learn How to Choose the Best Face Paint Options
Face painting can be integral in creating a relatively inexpensive and easy Halloween costume, or it can be done just for fun. Many face painting brands and sets are on the market. How do you...


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Neighborhood Council 7
Goals and Priorities for 2010
Public Safety
Downtown Police Officer
The downtown of Great Falls has been without the services of a dedicated, community-based policing officer for over a year and the result has been increased crime and an overall detriment to public safety. Neighborhood Council 7 strongly insists that this position be replaced and that the City ensure that this position is fully funded.
Community Based Policing
Neighborhood Council 7 is the most urban part of Great Falls. The challenges faced on the lower North and South sides of town are very different from most of our City's other areas. Most of the residents of Great Falls come to the downtown at least once per day, and many residents of other neighborhoods come here to work and play. Unfortunately, as the most urban part of town, we have more crime than other neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Council 7 is convinced that community-based policing is the only way to effectively combat crime is areas like our lower North and South sides. We are very concerned that budgetary concerns have led the city to abandon community-based policing for traditional policing and we believe that the City should re-fund these efforts.
As we will discuss below, we feel that the Police Department should not be tasked with functions outside of its main mission. We feel that taking on additional responsibilities, like Animal Control, have been a detriment to the public safety budget and a distraction from the GFPD's core mission.
Neighborhood Watch
The neighborhoods of the Lower North and South sides of Great Falls are communities. Here in the downtown, it is more likely that we know and socialize with our neighbors. We celebrate this part of life in our community.
This familiarity with our neighbors should be able to make Neighborhood Watch a vital part of our community public safety effort. Unfortunately, all of us must to a better job pulling together. Neighborhood Council 7 is committed to supporting Neighborhood Watch efforts and will do anything necessary and possible to lend its influence to the Watch.
For the past several years, our Council has met with the lower Northside Watch in an effort to spur increased attendance at Watch meetings. If this initiative is a benefit to the Watch, it should be continued. However, our Council needs to do a better job coordinating with Watch representatives prior to meetings.
9th Street
9th Street has become a North-South throughway that unfortunately bisects an existing neighborhood. Children must cross that street each day to attend school at Longfellow and Whittier Elementary Schools. Pedestrian residents cross it each day to do their daily grocery shopping.
It is a priority for Neighborhood Council 7 that traffic on 9th Street be better controlled and slowed down. In the past few years, we have initiated conversations on this issue that have resulted in the pedestrian median at 4th Avenue North and the turning lane at 6th Avenue South. We continue to supports any efforts to control traffic on 9th Street.
School Zones
Traffic around the school zones at Whittier and Longfellow Elementary Schools remains a significant concern for Neighborhood Council 7. We believe that the recent enactment of Senator Tropila's SB 88 by the Governor and Montana Legislature give the City of Great Falls additional resources to control traffic around these schools.
The School Zone at Whittier Elementary should be extended for a full city block around the school. We understand and applaud that this extension will mean that 9th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues North will be part of a school zone.
We are also very concerned that uncontrolled traffic around the Longfellow School Zone may have contributed to the injury of a 5 year old Longfellow student as he was walking home from school (11/17/2009). We can and must do better to ensure the safety of our students.
We call upon the Great Falls Police Department to permanently increase their patrols and traffic enforcement efforts around Whittier and Longfellow Elementary Schools, especially around the times that school starts and ends for the day.
Park Drive
We are astounded that anyone thinks it reasonable for a 30 mph speedway to be located alongside the playgrounds of Gibson Park. Neighborhood Council 7 is committed to cutting through any necessary layers of bureaucracy to see this speed limit reduced.
We also suggest that most pedestrians and cyclists entering the park do so at the park entrance at 4th Avenue North. It is worth noting that 4th Avenue North is a recognized bicycle route, which connects to the River's Edge Trail through the Gibson Park entrance. The crosswalk on Park Drive should be moved to this location with whatever traffic controls are necessary to ensure the safety of pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
Gibson Park Lighting
We are very excited that the Great Falls City Commission has voted to fund the initiative to light Gibson Park through a CTEP grant. As one of our premier initiatives over the last several years, we will continue to be part of the process to ensure that Gibson Park is lit and becomes a safer and more attractive resource for the City's residents.
Parks and Recreation
Gibson Park
Walking Path
The status of the walking/jogging path around Gibson Park is abysmal. This path presently constitutes a tripping hazard that is dangerous to users and leaves the City open to lawsuits. The Path should be re-accomplished in such a way to minimize future disruptions from growing roots. City needs to maintain its resources. We understand that the City is applying for a grant for funds to repair the path. Neighborhood Council 7 stands ready to support this effort in any way necessary. At a minimum, we are very willing to write letters of support and to solicit letters of support from our neighbors.
Park and Ponder Restaurant
We believe that it is a significant detriment to the City that the City's rental restaurant in Gibson Park has been empty for over a year. We believe that the City should redouble its efforts and actively try to find anew tenant. The City should write a clear and comprehensive lease with this new Tenant to ensure that the obligations of both parties to the agreement are clearly delineated.
Sprinkler System
It is our perception that this system has significant problems. The water that pools behind the bandshell each June almost becomes an additional City pool. In addition, it is our perception that much of the grass in the park become dry and dead by mid-August each year. The City needs to maintain its resources and fix these problems.
Lap Swimming
Neighborhood Council 7 is thrilled to see such extensive use of all the City's aquatic resources by residents throughout town. We support swimming as a lifelong activity that improves health. We believe that daily lap swimming periods should be set aside at all city pools.
Physical Plant
The current Maroney Natatorium is now over forty years old. Many parts of the Natatorium's physical plant are in poor condition due to age and deferred maintenance. The pool's boiler is in poor condition and needs to be replaced, the decking is cracking and the bathroom plumbing can best be described as quirky.
The City needs to maintain its resources. In addition, creative ideas must be considered to maintain indoor swimming resource for residents while minimizing expenses. One option that deserves further study could be to eventually abandon/demolish the existing Natatorium and enclose the Mitchell Pool. The decking and boiler in the Mitchell Pool have been replaced in the last two years. We believe that implementation of this idea could reduce overall assets and expenses while leaving year-round swimming resources at almost the same level. While we do not yet endorse such an idea, we believe it is deserving of additional study.
Annual Maintenance Closure
For many years, it has been the City's practice to close the Natatorium each December for maintenance. We submit that this closure; which annually falls during the School's Winter Break; leaves lower-income City residents with virtually no recreation options at a time when they would be very welcome.
We submit that it would be a far better use of the City's resources to annually close the Natatorium for repairs in July or August, when the outdoor neighborhood pools are available.
MItchell Pool status as Neighborhood Pool
The Mitchell Pool is a neighborhood pool. The children of the lower North and South side have historically used this neighborhood pool. The City's decision to place the Flow Ride attraction next to the Mitchell Pool shouldn't penalize lower-income residents from using this resource. Pricing decisions for the Mitchell should reflect this consideration. However, there is no reason that the Mitchell's pricing should be required to be identical to the other neighborhood pools.
Electric City Water Park Pricing and Policies
The Electric City Water Park is an incredible city resource. We believe that this facility is generally well run, enjoyed by our residents and has become a a draw for badly needed tourist dollars.
However, we believe that this facility can be enhanced by some policy and pricing changes. In particular, we are very interested in the success that the City of Missoula is seeing with policies for their new outdoor water park. We believe that Great Falls should follow Missoula's example here and enact several of those policies. These include:
One all-inclusive entrance fee for all attractions
The current wristband system for the three attractions at the Park creates a policing nightmare for Park staff that just fosters resentment on the part of users. This system should be abandoned in favor of one all-inclusive price for access to the entire facility. Missoula charges residents a $5 fee for one time access. This fee, which is higher than the current base fee for Mitchell Pool, is reasonable and the incorporation of such a rate structure may increase both use by residents and total revenue received.
Sale of season passes
Many residents, especially children, use the water park almost daily. The city should sell season passes for these residents. We understand that the City has had a negative experience with season passes at its golf courses. However, as use of a swimming pool does not depend on a pre-determined tee times, we suggest that any comparison between golf and swimming here is sophistry.
Resident v. non-resident pricing
The citizens of Great Falls paid for our facilities. There is no reason for the City to extend its subsidy for its aquatic resources to our tourists. The city should follow the example of municipal water parks throughout the United States, including the City of Missoula, and have resident pricing at subsidy and non-resident pricing at a reasonable, higher level.
Reform of concession stand to include healthier food and more options
Obesity is becoming a nationwide scourge. Childhood diabetes is becoming less of a tragedy than it is an expectation. At our water park, we do not allow outside food and only sell greasy, fat-laden and sweet concessions. As long as we do not allow outside food in the concession stand, a wide variety of menu options should be explored. As an idea, it may be valuable to discuss the water park concession menu with the nutritionist at the Great Falls School District.
Marketing of Park to local hotel guests
We believe that we are missing out on potential municipal revenue by inadequate marketing of the Great Falls Water Park to hotel guests. The City of Great Falls could try to maximize water park revenue by allowing local hotels to sell water park passes and/or include them in a guest's hotel bill.
Use of Free Internet Marketing Tools
Our Electric City Water Park is a great draw for tourism and tourist dollars. We believe that the City could increase revenue at the Park by creating free Facebook Pages and marketing the park through regular Twitter posts.
Dog Park
Neighborhood Council 7 is thrilled with the success of the new Dog Park, and will do anything it can to support the efforts of animal lovers throughout Great Falls to continue to make the Dog Park a great place for our canine companions.
Economic Development
Support for Overall Economic Development Efforts
Many of the challenges facing the residents of the Lower North and South sides can be traced to insufficient employment opportunities. We support the efforts of the Great Falls Development Authority and other agencies to bring additional primary sector employment to our area and our City. We stand ready to support these efforts in any way required or necessary.
Parking Fees
We can not revitalize the retail sector of our downtown as long as the general public believes that it is inconvenient to shop on Central Avenue. We should remove all possible obstacles from those that may wish to spend their retail dollars downtown.
We believe that our downtown parking meters keep retail dollars away from downtown shops. We believe that these fees should be reduced or eliminated. In order to keep downtown employees from using shopper's parking places, the fines for leaving a vehicle in place for several hours should be substantially increased.
Other Issues
Overnight Train Noise
Over the past several months, we have received increasing numbers of complaints about the train whistles blaring through town in the middle of the night. Safety on the tracks is and should remain our primary concern.
However, we are encouraged that other Montana cities, Billings in particular, has managed to maintain public safety and still turn their downtown into a "no-whistle" zone for train traffic. Neighborhood Council 7 is committed to beginning the process to see if changes can be made to our crossings and other areas so that a similar designation can be made here in Great Falls. These changes may include the erection of a fence along the train tracks next to Gibson Park. This may become an area where our council will have to work on fundraising.
Animal Control
As discussed above, we believe that part of the funding shortfall for the Police Department can be traced to the ongoing expenses and efforts that the department must make to run the City's animal control efforts. We believe that this experiment has gone on long enough, and that the City should immediately issue a RFP for operation of animal control and award a contract to the best value offeror in order to divest the Police Department of this responsibility.
Whittier Staff Parking
Whittier Elementary has a staffing that fluctuates between 35 and 50 employees, depending on the time of day. It has only been able to secure 15 parking places for staff. Several of these spaces are located across a dark alley at the Heisey Memorial. We thank the Montana Diocese for making those spots available.
The staff at Whittier are predominantly young women, many of whom are justifiably concerned about walking through downtown alleys in the dark. We think that the City should make parking spaces at the Great Falls Recreation Center available to the Great Falls School District for the use of Whittier staff. We believe that GFPS should pay a reasonable fee to the city for the dedicated use of those spaces during school hours.
City Ordinance Enforcement Policies
We suggest that we have a fundamental problem in Great Falls with how we go about enforcing ordinances. Virtually all ordinance enforcement in Great Falls is complaint-driven.
The problem with this is that the City does not currently have the resources to enforce an ordinance without first receiving a complaint. This leads the situation where the exact same activity will either result in an ordinance violation letter or not, depending on whether a neighbor decides to complain about the activity. This effectively becomes selective enforcement and is unfair.
We should not have ordinances that are not universally enforced. We suggest that the City needs to reform its ordinance enactment and enforcement process to ensure that all of our residents are subject to the same rules.
In addition, some very valuable ordinances (such as snow removal) have effectively been repealed without a vote of the commission as a result an executive decisions not to enforce them. City staff should not have the option of enforcing some ordinances and ignoring others.


text:
Little Johnny asks his mother her age.
She replies, "Gentlemen don't ask ladies that question."
Johnny then asks his mother how much she weighs.
Again his mother replies, "Gentlemen don't ask ladies that question."
The boy then asks, "Why did Daddy leave you?"
To this, the mother says, "You shouldn't ask that," and sends him to his room.
On the way, Johnny trips over his mother's purse. When he picks it up, her driver's license falls out.
Johnny runs back into the room. "I know all about you now. You are 36 years old, weigh 127 pounds and Daddy left you because you got an 'F' in sex!"


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U.S. Army War College >> Strategic Studies Institute >> Publications >> Details
Yugoslavia's Wars: The Problem from Hell
Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
- Added October 01, 1995
- Type: Book
- 136 Pages
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Brief Synopsis
The continuing warfare in the former Yugoslavia looms as one of the most intractable problems in contemporary world politics. For four years the international community has struggled merely to contain this fire and prevent it from inflaming a general European crisis. Only now does there seem a real chance of extinguishing it. By late 1994, it was apparent that the danger of continued fighting could fracture the NATO Alliance and lead to the spread of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Bearing this possibility in mind, the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), U.S. Army War College, convened its second annual roundtable on the subject on January 30, 1995. SSI asked the specialists published in this volume to assess how we have gotten to the present situation, to define its parameters, and, finally, to suggest where we should and might be going in the future. Because of the continuing urgency and intensity of the crisis these wars have caused, SSI offers the analysis and information herein to specialists, policymakers, and laymen alike with a goal of helping to clarify the issues at stake in former Yugoslavia.
You may also be interested in the following titles:
Deterrence in the Nordic-Baltic Region: The Role of the Nordic Countries Together With the U.S. Army
Conventional Deterrence and Landpower in Northeastern Europe
Assessing the Collective Security Treaty Organization: Capabilities and Vulnerabilities
The Relevance of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the United States...
Current Russia Military Affairs: Assessing and Countering Russian Strategy, Operational Planning, an...
Friendly Force Dilemmas in Europe: Challenges Within and Among Intergovernmental Organizations and t...
Also by the /Editor:
Politics and Economics in Putin's Russia
Central Asia After 2014
Russia's Homegrown Insurgency: Jihad in the North Caucasus
Russia and the Current State of Arms Control
Perspectives on Russian Foreign Policy
Arms Control and European Security
Can Russia Reform? Economic, Political, and Military Perspectives
Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future
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Zynga ( ZNGA - Get Report) topped Wall Street's estimates on Tuesday, posting profit of 1 cent a share on fourth-quarter revenue of $311.1 million. Analysts were looking for a loss of 3 cents a share on sales of $212.1 million. For the full year, Zynga reported sales of $1.28 billion, up 12% from a year earlier, as daily active users (DAUs) increased to 56 million in the fourth quarter from a year-earlier 54 million. DAUs decreased 6% sequentially from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. For the first quarter of 2013, Zynga said it expects revenue of $255 million to $265 million, and a loss off 2 cents to 4 cents a share. Zynga Has 'Words With Investors,' Earns Profit
Time Warner ( TWX), which owns networks CNN and HBO and the New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers movie studios, is expected by analysts Wednesday to post fourth-quarter earnings of $1.10 a share on revenue of $8.25 billion. Give Amazon Some Respect
News Corp ( NWSA - Get Report) is expected by Wall Street Wednesday to report quarterly profit of 42 cents a share on revenue of $9.28 billion. The media company plans to split later in 2013 into a publishing company and a filmed entertainment business.
Drug retailer CVS Caremark ( CVS - Get Report) is forecast to earn $1.10 a share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $31.13 billion. 5 Hated Stocks Set to Soar on Earnings
Chipotle Mexican Grill's ( CMG - Get Report) fourth-quarter earnings rose 7% as same-store sales jumped 3.8% on higher customer traffic.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel >To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel >To submit a news tip, send an email to: firstname.lastname@example.com.


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I have been amazed with the wonderful response I have received for my latest design for Twist Collective, Cypri, mainly because it actually began with a rejection letter. A year earlier, I had submitted a design idea for a shawl that didn't make the cut. I felt strongly about the idea – slip stitch cables on a striped background. They create a strong graphic and are really fun to knit. So I went back to the drawing board and reworked the design.
First, I changed the shape. The original was a top down triangle; this one would be a crescent shape (which is what I would actually prefer to knit for myself.) I liked the idea of lots of detail at the bottom edge, and less detail in the short row shaping portion.
Next I looked at the cable design. The pattern in the original submission was inspired by a traditional twisted-stitch pattern. This design needed something unique, so I began sketching. I started with the idea of a long strand of gems hanging from a chain.
The first sketches (above, left) were okay, but when I turned one upside down, I liked it much better. The design started to fall into place. I refined the shapes and they began to remind me of lady's slipper orchids (above, right).
The next step was to turn the sketch into something knittable. I lightly sketched the shapes on graph paper, trying to keep in mind the scale and potential gauge. Then I charted the cable symbols right over the sketchy lines. This step involved a lot of erasing as I worked out the cable crossings. I refined it bit more as I knit the swatch. It was finally ready to submit.
The sample I knit for Twist is in Breathless by Shalimar Yarns. It is a superwash merino/cashmere/silk blend that is very soft and creates a fabric with the perfect drape for this shawl. While I love the colors of the sample, byzantium and mole, I want to knit my own in bing and scarab, a purple and teal combo similar my swatch. Or maybe glacier and driftwood, or copper pennies and black truffle. I could go on and on, there are so many colors to choose from.


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New Website Serves as Single Source for State IT Information
Site includes state web standards plus laws related to IT
OKLAHOMA CITY – May 8, 2012 – The State of Oklahoma's information technology (IT) policies and resources, from web standards to the official IT Modernization Study, are now available on state Chief Information Officer Alex Pettit's new website (http://www.cio.ok.gov).
In his cabinet-level position, Pettit manages the Information Services Division of the Office of State Finance and is Chief Information Officer for all state agencies.
Pettit manages statewide efforts to procure computer hardware and software and heads up the effort to define a consistent design across approximately 120 state agency websites. The CIO's new website informs the public and state employees on these matters, and includes the state's use of social media, as well as current IT solicitations. The site also provides state agency employees with a self-service help desk to resolve less complex technology issues quickly.
"As technology changes at an ever increasing pace, the state's IT needs continue to evolve and expand," said Secretary Pettit. "I am pleased that this new site can serve as a complete resource, providing assistance on a day-to-day basis for state agencies while giving the public an overview of the state's technology laws and future roadmap."
The new website was built using OK.gov's GoGov! Web Management Suite, allowing for easy and quick web development and maintenance, while utilizing a standard state agency web template. The CIO website and services result from a partnership between the Office of State Finance and OK.gov. More information about the new site can be found at http://www.cio.ok.gov.
About CIO Alex Pettit
CIO Pettit has jurisdictional responsibility related to information and telecommunications systems of all Oklahoma agencies, as provided under the Oklahoma Information Services Act. CIO Pettit was re-appointed Oklahoma's State Chief Information Officer by Gov. Mary Fallin in January 2011. Gov. Brad Henry appointed him as Oklahoma's first State CIO in April 2010. For more information regarding the CIO, please visit www.cio.ok.gov.
About OK.gov
OK.gov is the Official website of the state of Oklahoma and a collaborative effort between the Oklahoma Office of State Finance (OSF) and Oklahoma Interactive, LLC to help Oklahoma government entities Web-enable their information services. OSF is responsible for OK.gov. Oklahoma Interactive operates, maintains, and markets OK.gov and is part of eGovernment firm NIC's (NASDAQ: EGOV) family of companies.
About NIC
NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV) is the nation's leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,500 federal, state, and local agencies in the United States. Additional information is available at http://www.egov.com.
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Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Observing Student Communication
|Introduction | Problem: Folded-Square Shapes | Solution: Folded-Square Shapes | Problem Reflection #1 | Problem: Sorting Shapes | Solution: Sorting Shapes | Problem Reflection #2 | Classroom Practice | Observe a Classroom | Your Journal
Before you move on to student work, you may want to explore the activity yourself. Use the PDF image (an Adobe PDF document) to print and cut out the square. (If you do not have Adobe Reader, which is necessary for viewing this document, you may download it for free from the Adobe Web site.) Try to create several different shapes, as outlined below:
|Teaching Math Home | Grades 3-5 | Communication | Site Map | © |
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By now you've most likely chosen 2 professions. In fact, you probably chose them 3-4 years ago and are 400+ ranks into your chosen professions by this point. However, if you're a new tank or, more likely, a Frosty Death Knight, and are wondering what crafting can do for you as a tank, here are some of the new craftables available in WotLK, with direct comparisons to other available items that are of reasonably comparable level. If you're ever looking for good information about craftables, I always reference www.crafterstome.com. Calliope does a FANTASTIC job here. Recipes are very easy to locate, good search filters, and the information is always very very accurate. And of course, there's always my other highly recommended site for all your searching needs – www.wowhead.com. Lets get to those professions!
Elixir of Mighty Agility – a nice 2-hour long (hooray for Mixology!) +45 Agility boost. It's a battle elixir, so you can't use it in conjunction with any other Battle Elixirs
Elixir of Mighty Defense – the perfect soulmate for Mighty Agility, this Guardian Elixir provides you, the tanking Alchemist, with 2 hours of an extra 45 Defense. However, if the extra defense is wasted on you (Bears, for instance) then really, you're better off sticking w/ old school BC's Elixir of Major Defense for your Guardian Elixir of choice.
Nothing beats a Flask for progression raiding, though, thanks to the super-handiness of the persistence through death of Flasks. If that's where you find yourself, this health nut recommends you start your raid night off with a tall, cool, refreshing Flask of Stoneblood. An extra 650 Health may not sound like much, but what if I phrased it as +65 Stamina for 4 hours that perisists through death? Not too shabby, eh?
From the shorter duration department, if you can manage to make it to the waning minutes of that really hard-hitting melee boss without needing to use a Runic Health Potion and need a little extra mitigation to stay on your feet through the soft enrage, I really like the Indestructible Potion. Now I have not tested this myself just yet, but as I understand it Mixology only affects Elixirs and Flasks, which means Potions are most likely only going to last an average of 2 minutes… but in my experience, that's still a SUBSTANTIAL amount of time during any boss fight. Potion sickness, however, does exclude use of this and a health potion or multiple uses of this potion, like we could do before v3.
In addition to consumables, ever since BC Alchemists have been able to create very nice trinkets for themselves via Transmutation. The WotLK incarntation of the Tank's Transmute Trinket is the Indestructible Alchemist's Stone. GREAT Stamina boost and a decent Dodge bonus, plus the nice benefit of additional effect from all the Runic Health Potions you'll be making for yourself.
Finally, one big benefit of being an Alcatank – you can craft your own metagems to be cut by your JC buddies, which saves you a fortune in mat gathering. You'll be able to transmute your own Earthsiege Diamonds for cutting into the absolutely sensational Austere Earthsiege Diamond.
Despite being one of (arguably THE) hardest profession to skill up due to the amount of mats required in nearly every recipe, Blacksmithing remains a very popular choice for tanks, and with good reason. There are innumerable benefits to being able to make your own armor and weapons. The quality is better than nearly anything you'll find outside of heroics (and some even better) and you save yourself the small fortune in AH prices to buy the gear yourself. It's worth noting that nearly all the craftables worth having in Blacksmithing in WotLK are BoE, which means if you have a guild blacksmith, he/she can make all this for you (though it might cost you.) Arguably the biggest benefit to being your own blacksmith is the ability to add your own prismatic gem slots to your equipment for gem socketing. Some of the better craftable pieces, however, are…
Icebane Chestguard, Icebane Girdle, and Icebane Treads are likely to be must haves for Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad and beyond (what are the odds something in Icecrown Citadel will do a metric ton of Frost dmg… hmmmmmm? Maybe Sauron, Jr. himself for instance.) Tempered Titansteel Helm is one sexy head piece and Tempered Titansteel Treads will go great on the other end. Finally, la creme de la creme, the Titansteel Shield Wall. Oooooo Mamacita! The Icebane pieces require 425 (waist and feet) and 440 (chest) and all the titansteel pieces require 440 to craft, but again. all are BoE, so you don't necessarily need to be a blacksmith to enjoy them… just bring a very full wallet.
As always, the vast majority of Enchants can be placed on virtually any piece of gear by any enchanter and you need not be an enchanter yourself to enjoy the benefits. The sole exception is, once more, Ring Enchants. There is a very nice Tank Ring enchant available in WotLK, and that is Enchant Ring – Stamina. Getting an extra 48 Stamina from your fingerwear is a big plus for tanks who also Enchant, however, just as a matter of personal opinion, I don't think the end value for being able to grant one special boost to only 2 of your gear slots is worth the time and expense involved in the long run. That said, for those who want to absolutely positively maximize every single stat point possible to be the absolutely most awesomely perfect number machine that they can be, then Enchanting and Jewelcrafting are likely the (highly unprofitable) answers you seek.
Near and dear to my heart (I never said this would be an impartial write-up) is Engineering. Not only is it fun (and reasonably profitable… old Parts always sell) but you can also make some great Trinket, Head and Ranged pieces to boost your tanking skills. IF you want them (like I do) the new Tinker stuff is cute and situationally beneficial, but in the long run, you're better off sticking to Enchants to boost your gear (Belt being the exception, as there are no Belt enchants, so go ahead and Tinker up your belt with whichever option you like best… just don't expect any major combat benefits out of any of the available choices.) Bombs are great for AoE DPS/Threat, too, and pulling with Grenades is always fun, and a great way to initiate the fight with more threat spread out among all mobs.
The Sonic Booster – a great little pre-Naxx trinket available at 420 Engineering. Tons of Stam and a great equip proc that can happen once a minute! YAY! The AP boost will be nice for both DPS and Threat.
Armored Titanium Goggles – the craftable headpieces have been THE crafting goal of many engineer tanks ever since BC introduced the Tankatronics. These really kick it up a notch and put you in great shape headgear-wise for Naxx. For Bears, there's the leather version, the Weakness Spectralizers.
Finally, for Warriors there's the Armor-Plated Combat Shotgun. A ranged weapon with lots of extra-crunchy stats we like to see on an item that otherwise only serves as a mob-puller.
I'm skipping Inscription for now, as this really should have it's own article. No two tanking classes are going to use the same inscriptions, so to really do it justice, it needs to be featured.
An excellent choice for tanks due to the variety of Crafter Only recipes available. Even with the new limit of no more than 3 Crafter Only gems socketed at any given time in equipped gear, the benefits are huge.
In terms of crafter-only gems, my personal favorite is the Solid Dragon's Eye. However, Thick Dragon's Eye is great if you need help reaching 540 DEF. Flashing Dragon's Eye and Subtle Dragon's Eye are great for upping your avoidance, and Precise Dragon's Eye or Rigid Dragon's Eye will help you reach Expertise and Hit caps, respectively.
Something new in the JC Trinket department (which I had found a little lacking for tanks previously) is the Monarch Crab! Not only is it a nice Stamina bump for a trinket slot but it has 2 SLOTS (ON A TRINKET!!!) AND a FANTASTIC 10 Sec. Dodge Boost on ONLY a 1 Min CD!!! I really like this item as an excellent pre-Naxx choice, especially compared to some of the lackluster trinkets available from heroics. There are a couple of other really nice epic (but expensive!) neck and finger choices as always from JC'ers, but as they are BoE, you don't have to be a JC to enjoy them.
Fortitude! Woot! Not to mention, a great source of free gemstones (even w/out prospecting) and Crystalized elemental motes.
That little self-heal is cute, but ultimately not a gamebreaker in my experience. Still… better than what we got before from Herbalism! The real benefit to Herbalism is if you are an Alchemist or Inscriber in the metric tons of gold you will save yourself buying overgouged herbs from the AH… OR, benefitting by selling overgouged herbs on the AH yourself.
Hardly an orthodox choice for most tanks, Feral Druids will really get a kick out of some new Leatherworking features. Fur-Lining: Stamina allows you to basically "Enchant" your own bracers with +90 Stamina…which is VERY FTW if you are a Bear. Gone may be the days of the Strength of the Clefthoof set where Leather Craftables offered Feral Druids tons of Bonus Armor and great tanking stats, but there are still some benefits to Leatherworking. Obviously, however, I would really only recommend this for Feral Druids, as the Fur Lining and making your own Leg Armor bonuses just don't seem worth it to me for Plate Tanks who would really get no other real benefits from any of the other items they crafted.
If you're a LW Feral Druid, you'll be needing this. Otherwise, nothing to see here.
…Seriously? If you need bags THAT badly, befriend a Mage who was around Pre-BC. They're all Tailor/Enchanters.
So there you have it. Based on my findings (and strictly in my opinion) the best choices for crafting professions for tanks are Jewelcrafting, Blacksmithing (Substitute Leatherworking if you are a Druid,) Engineering and Alchemy. There are some benefits to be gained from the other choices, but ultimately, you'll get the most mileage out of these. Obviously, for gathering professions, you'll likely want to select the one that best corresponds with your chosen crafting profession. If you're just looking to turn a quick profit, Mining and Herbalism are a dynamic duo and you will be rolling in gold before you know it based on current AH prices on most realms, and that quickly becomes gold you can use to deck yourself out in BoE goodies from all the other crafters on your server. But me, I do it for the fun, and I really love making my own stuff


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Congress is off to an optimistic though rancorous start on comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates across the political spectrum recognize the need to address the arcane and often incomprehensible set of rules that govern legal and illegal immigration in the United States. We must also continue to honor our treasured commitment to refugee protection.
But a crucial issue that cries out for action is the need to ensure that any person detained in the context of immigration enforcement must have access to legal counsel. America cannot continue to propound the rule of law abroad while denying upward of 400,000 individuals (the number deported in 2012) the opportunity to be meaningfully informed of legal charges against them and of their options to steer through the legal maze.
Due to Supreme Court precedent from the 1880s that arose in the context of viral anti-Chinese sentiment, it has been accepted doctrine that an immigration removal proceeding is civil rather than criminal in nature. That means only limited access to counsel.
Congress has since determined that individuals in removal proceedings are allowed representation by counsel, but not at the expense of the government. That possibility creates the opening to rectify this injustice. Congress should change the law to provide access to counsel at government expense if necessary for those in detention.
Under the present scheme even detained children and the mentally disabled are not provided with counsel, except for the scarce non-profit resources and occasional attorney from an immigration project who may be able to step in. But a handful of such lawyers cannot provide counsel to hundreds of thousands of detained individuals. Victims of sex trafficking, genuine refugees, and torture survivors are among those held without possibility of ever finding legal counsel.
Those who are apprehended and detained during the course of removal hearings are often shipped thousands of miles away from families, doctors, and friends and warehoused in remote private facilities in the desert such as the Eloy and Florence detention centers in Arizona. A migrant ripped from her community in New York is likely to end up in Florida.
Government statistics show that only about 17 percent of people detained on charges of deportation ever have the benefit of counsel. The cost of such detention averages $40,000 annually for one individual. Most often the detained have no way of understanding the charges against them and whether there is any meaningful "relief" from deportation for which they may be eligible.
Without counsel they are certainly hindered in gathering documents, evidence, and witnesses who could appear in court and demonstrate to a judge how they qualify for asylum or legal residency and why they should be allowed to remain in the United States. Several stories in recent years tell of deportations of US citizens who didn't have the wherewithal or understanding of the system in order to convince a judge that they were indeed US citizens. These stories attest to the gravity of the dilemma.
When I was an immigration judge in San Francisco from 1997 to 2004, I presided over the detention calendar. I saw scores of immigration detainees who had the potential to win their immigration hearing. But they threw up their hands and accepted deportation, after months-long and often arbitrary detention, because they had no prospects of ever finding counsel to assist them.
A professionally trained corps of public immigration defenders – authorized by Congress through immigration reform – could fill the need, usually at great savings to the government.
Rather than over broadly detaining upward of 400,000 migrants a year (the current administration has each year detained more migrants than ever before) at an annual price tag of $2 billion, migrants can largely be released under "alternative terms of detention" such as ankle bracelets and home monitoring at 20 percent of the cost, according to a 2012 study by the National Immigration Forum. That savings can be reallocated to pay for attorneys to represent detained migrants.
The Supreme Court held that the US is not required to provide counsel in civil deportation hearings at government expense. But now, more than 100 years later in a world of more enlightened and pragmatic thinking, Congress can surely act to make sure that the US immigration procedure conforms with American values and due process.
If an individual has no chance of fighting a charge of deportation, counsel can break the bad news to respondents so that they don't waste months or even years of their lives, and heaps of taxpayer money, floundering around in a system that is difficult even for experienced attorneys to understand. If there is an avenue of relief, appointed counsel can greatly speed up the process to the benefit of all government agencies involved.
It is un-American to detain someone in a remote facility with no realistic means of consulting with family or legal counsel for months or years and then drop-kick them across the border. Multiply such an injustice by the hundreds of thousands and you have today's state of affairs with US immigration detention. Future generations will look back with disbelief on such a callous, inhumane travesty of justice. We can fix it this year.
Paul Grussendorf is a former immigration judge and recent author of the book, "My Trials: Inside America's Deportation Factories."


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