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Corn: December corn took out 547 chart support on Monday. There were plenty of bargain buyers to bring it up from the lows, but the next chart support is now 520-1/2 with next solid support at 511. Right now, the chart has opened the door lower, and it will be up to the weather to see if December walks through that door.
We are a long way from planting, but it can't be argued that conditions are improving with each weather system that passes through the dry areas. To put things in perspective, the USDA is calling for trendline yields, which the agency has worked out to a $4.80 price. Trade doesn't believe that yet, but each rain pushes corn a little lower with Monday spending most of the day around $5.50.
We will look for old crop to keep finding buyers from the squeeze, while new crop keeps pressure from a rain filled forecast…Ryan Ettner
Soybeans: Friday, the USDA will be releasing the March supply demand estimates. Allendale expects a slight increase in exports to be reflected this month. Argentina soybean production is estimated at 51.5 million tonnes (USDA 53 mt) and Brazil is at 83.5 mt (USDA latest 83.5 mt). We are estimating ending stocks to drop to 120 million bushels, down from last month's 125 million estimate.
Safras e Mercado said as of March 1, 37% of the Brazilian bean crop has been harvested vs. 28% a week ago vs. 33% a year ago and vs. 23% five-year average. Celeres weekly report out of South American reported that as of March 1, 61% of the Brazilian 2012-13 bean crop has been sold vs. 60% a week ago vs. 59% a year ago and vs. 46% five-year average…Jim McCormick
Wheat: The USDA will start releasing ratings on the first or second Monday of April. Export inspections were released at 24 million bushels with trade expecting 23-28 million bushels. The moisture equivalent received for several major Kansas City growing areas have seen almost twice as much as average. Wichita averages 1.23 inches in February a year and the actual total is 2.58 inches. Enid, Okla., averages 1.56 inches and actual is 4.41 inches. Lubbock, Texas, averages 0.78 inches and actual was 1.51 inches.
The CME is expected to change trading hours sometime this week. With the purchase of the Kansas City exchange, several traders are thinking we could see the Kansas City contract become the lead contract compared to the Chicago contract. Wheat looks to continue to trade under pressure as the weather situation appears to be getting better…Cordon Sroka


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in which month maruti sx4 diesel will b launched;wana purchase dat car so pls reply soon
Sir, Can i install LPG kit in SX4 Zxi 2008 model? will there any problem if it is fitted so?. Let me know.
Hi Akshay,
Yes, you can fix the reverse camera in Maruti Suzuki Sx4. However, it recommended that you must buy and install the camera from the Authorised Maruti Suzuki dealer. To track the nearest Maruti Suzuki dealer please visit the link below:
Maruti SX4 - is the production of this car going to be discontinued by Maruti in near future?
one of my car door lock remote is spoilt.i have a duplicate that works but i require to repair the spoilt one. whom do i contact here in Ahmedabad??
It will help us serve you better content and best deals

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Validation::Class::Directive::Telephone - Telephone Directive for Validation Class Field Definitions
version 7.900056
use Validation::Class::Simple; my $rules = Validation::Class::Simple->new( fields => { user_phone => { telephone => 1 } } ); # set parameters to be validated $rules->params->add($parameters); # validate unless ($rules->validate) { # handle the failures }
Validation::Class::Directive::Telephone is a core validation class field directive that handles telephone number validation for the USA and North America.
Al Newkirk <email@example.com>
This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Al Newkirk.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.


text:
Opponents of a ballot initiative to label genetically engineered food in Oregon have gone to court with their objections to the proposed ballot summary.
Scott Dahlman, executive director of the Oregonians for Food and Shelter industry group, has challenged the proposed ballot summary in the Oregon Supreme Court. The group's former director, Terry Witt, has joined in the challenge.
Supporters of the labeling initiative say they want to get the initiative onto the statewide ballot in time for the 2014 general election, which means they would need to collect nearly 90,000 valid signatures by the end of next June.
It's critical that the ballot language accurately reflect what the initiative would actually do, Dahlman said. "It's the only thing many voters get to look at."
The summary language for the labeling initiative doesn't fully explain the new authority for citizens to sue food manufacturers for alleged mislabeling, he said.
The initiative is written in a way that would allow people to bring lawsuits over any product that doesn't acknowledge containing genetically modified ingredients on its label, Dahlman said.
Manufacturers would effectively have to prove in court that they don't use genetically engineered crops, which would quickly get expensive, he said.
Consumers would also be able to sue over other alleged misbranding of foods, such as a fish product that's labeled as halibut, according to a court document filed by Dahlman and Witt.
The ballot title summary doesn't sufficiently spell out the numerous exemptions to the proposed labeling law, Dahlman said.
"We think once the voters get an opportunity to see what this measure is about, it's not something they will vote for," he said.
Scott Bates, acting director of the GMO Free Oregon group, said the court challenge is merely an attempt to "stall the clock" and reduce the amount of time supporters have to gather signatures. He expects the legal question to be resolved before the end of the year.
Despite the recent failures of similar measures in Washington and California, Bates said he's optimistic that a majority of Oregon voters will vote in favor of labeling of genetically modified organisms. The terms genetically modified, genetically engineered and genetically modified organisms are often used interchangeably.
"Oregon is much more prepared to have conversations about GMOs," he said.
Labeling has already been a hot button issue in several counties, and public awareness of genetic engineering is high due to the discovery of unauthorized biotech wheat in Oregon earlier this year, Bates said.
"It has helped move our GMO consciousness forward," he said.
Fundraising for the initiative could be challenging, as companies that supported the measures in Washington and California may not be able to commit as much money to the campaign, Bates said.
Similar labeling proposals may also appear on other state ballots, he said. "There will be more mouths to feed, if you will."
On the other hand, the money from labeling opponents would then also be spread more thinly, Bates said.
Dahlman said he disagreed with the notion that Oregon voters are more likely to support a labeling initiative, noting that 70 percent voted down a similar measure in 2002.


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No time to read long book reviews? Every review on this site is condensed into a one-line summary saved in the Books in a Sentence category. Summaries of recently reviewed novels and short stories for adults appear below. You'll find other one-line condensations, many of them shortened versions of reviews of books of nonfiction and poetry, in the Books in a Sentence category at right.
Finger Lickin' Fifteen. By Janet Evanovich. Evanovich's series about bounty hunter Stephanie Plum goes further south with a tasteless beheading and sophomoric jokes like, "Nobody calls me pecker head and lives."
The 8th Confession (Women's Murder Club Series). By James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. A glorified San Francisco police procedural set in such large type, you wonder: Was this novel written for for people who will be reading it by candlelight while eating Beanie Weenies out of a can during a power blackout?
Love in a Cold Climate. By Nancy Mitford. A beautiful English heiress flouts convention by marrying a man who had been her mother's lover in a modern classic of comedy, inspired partly by the author's half-batty upper-class family.
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. By Ann B. Ross. A rich Presbyterian widow in North Carolina learns that her dead husband has left her a startling legacy — an illegitimate 9-year-old son — in the first of ten novels that are more irreverent than those of Jan Karon's "Mitford" series but cut from a similar bolt of pop fiction.
The Pains of April. By Frank Turner Hollon. An 86-year-old retired lawyer looks back on his life from a Gulf Coast rest home, where he has held onto more of his marbles than some residents. (Briefly mentioned.)
The Naked and the Dead. By Norman Mailer. Nowhere near as good as some of the 20th-century war novels often mentioned in the same breath, such as All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms. (Briefly mentioned.)
A Summons to Memphis. By Peter Taylor. One of the great American writers of the late 20th century shows how a move from Nashville to Memphis has reverberated over time — all but destroyed a family that was once a model of Southern gentility — in a novel that deservedly won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The Ponder Heart. By Eudora Welty. A comic novella about a rich and kind-hearted uncle put on trial for a murder he didn't commit, full of examples of Welty's wonderful ear for the dialect of many Southern groups.
The Genocides. By Tom Disch. Unseen aliens sow the seeds of an ecological catastrophe in a book two experts recently named one of the "100 must-read" science-fiction novels of all time. (Briefly mentioned.)
Middlemarch. By George Eliot. The first great multiplot novel in English — and maybe the greatest ever — tells the story of a young woman who longs to be useful as it reminds us that "that there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it."
The Host. By Stephenie Meyer. A woman wages a host-versus-graft struggle with a new soul, inserted in her body by aliens, in a creepily Freudian tale written at a fourth-grade reading level.
Bright Shiny Morning. By James Frey. A dark, postmodern novel about Los Angeles that combines stories of stereotypical characters — a Mexican-American maid, a closeted gay male superstar — and so many trivia lists, you almost expect a recipe for huevos rancheros.
Jane and Prudence. By Barbara Pym. A clergyman's wife plays matchmaker for a female friend and fellow Oxford graduate in a quiet novel salted with wry observations on the sexes. (Briefly mentioned.)
A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living. By Michael Dahlie. A witty and intelligent novel of New York manners (and a recent prize-winner) about a blueblooded father who finds comfort in the love of his adult sons after a divorce and other crises.
Short Stories
Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes. By Tamar Yellin. An award-winning English writer's superb collection of 10 linked short stories about geographically or otherwise displaced characters, inspired by accounts of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Olive Kitteridge. By Elizabeth Strout. An uneven collection of linked short stories (published in Seventeen, South Carolina Review, O, the Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere) that, alas, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for its tales of a retired math teacher in a coastal town in Maine.
All Souls. By Christine Schutt. A skimpy Pulitzer finalist that its publisher has billed as a novel but is, in fact, a collection of linked short stories — many no more than vignettes — about how students and others react when a Manhattan prep school senior gets a rare connective-tissue cancer.
One-Minute Book Reviews has a policy that at least 50 percent of all reviews will deal with books by women. The "About This Blog" page describes other principles of the site, including that it does not accept free books or other promotional materials from editors, publishers, authors, agents or others with ties to books that may be reviewed here. The "FAQ" page answers questions such as, "Why don't you take free books?" and "If you don't take books from publishers, where you do you get them?"
(c) 2009 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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I bought an RT classic off him, great communication, packaging, a tracking number and everything! I can easily recommend him!
I bought an RT classic off him, great communication, packaging, a tracking number and everything! I can easily recommend him!
I'm nothing more than text to you...
I bought a reg off vf-xx a while back, it was a great trade, he sent the reg out before I even got the MO in the mail.
fast payer. nothing but good things to say.....
I've been in contact with vf-xx a few times over this last week due to the fact that I was looking for a Lapco Autospirit barrel. After calling about 10 different places, I posted in the Paintball Talk section asking if anyone knew a place that had them in stock. vf-xx replied to the thread saying he had both a SS Autospirit and SS Bigshot that he was looking to get rid of and he'd give me a "good deal" if I bought them both.
It wasn't until Tuesday that we finally really connected over PM and worked something out. I mentioned to him that I would really like to see the barrels by Saturday since that's when I generally play and all the paint I have at the moment was too small for the mammoth barrels I usually run on my 'mag. I sent him my phone number, which he called Tuesday afternoon. After a short discussion, he agreed to send the barrels out via USPS priority mail that afternoon, allowing me to send out a money order when I got time, which was Wednesday morning. It impresses me that there still are people out there who are willing to trust someone else, whom they don't even know, at the appropriate times in order to help them out.
Well, much to my surprise, I received the barrels on Thursday afternoon. They are exactly as he described them, used but in great shape. And it WAS a good deal, too.
The moral of the story here is, vf-xx is an excellent guy to deal with. He's extremely trust worthy and very easy to get along with. If I have the opportunity in the future, I will not hesitate to deal with him again! Furthermore, I highly recommend him to anyone else who may have a chance to deal with him!
Just bought a Foregrip Extender from the guy. Great condition, quick responses to emails, and got the extender in 2 days.
Great Seller...
"Yea, well, if wishes were horses, then we'd be all eating steak."
Good buyer. Communicated well and quickly sent MO. Very good person to deal with, would deal with him again.
Christian, and proud of it.
My setup, built by Tunaman:
Good Traders: Tunaman, dnm5d, vf-xx, cphilip
One 'cocker barrel and a pre-2k APBBOLTS anti-chop bolt. PM for info.
Awesome trader. A++ Got me my freak back in 2 days!!!!
Check out this shotty yo!
Great buyer, QUICK payment. Recommend to EVERYONE!
Bought an ANS quick pull bolt for my cocker.. Excellent trader! quick emails, and he shipped it within a day of payment!
very fast and reliable person, got the emag body before he got the cash..
I bought his lower Emag parts. Great deal! Traded a pump mag and cash for it. Communicated really well and a pleasant guy to deal with overall. Parts were in great shape...no complaints here.
Great guy...don't hesitate to do business with him!
Thanks again VF!
"I just came for your mayonaise." ~ TooDamnSweet
My Buyer/Trader Feedback
Paintball's Best Photo Gallery: Jayloo.com
My Jayloo Photos
i just bought a freak and 2 inserts from him. great price and he parted with 2 inserts so i could buy it.
very fast getting it to me, a++
would recomend vf-xx if you want a good deal and quick shipping.
bought a mag setup of vf-xx, awesome, sent it out asap and got me a tracking number.
University At Buffalo
Black Unmilled '03 AKA Viking #813
WAS Board and Eyes
JMJ Double Swing Trigger
Halo No-Rise
Halo B with Z-Code
WGP Kanner Kit
AGD Flatline N2 68/3000
Just bought a gun to hose adapter from him on the 13th of Nov. Got it on the 17th.
Quick response. Thanks!
it was very easy to work w/vf-xx and he was very quick w/the MO. good guy and a good trader. he makes durty happy.
Traded gameboys for his nitro tank. Very fast, very good communication. Would gladly trade again! A+++!
'people should not be allowed to own paintguns which are smarter than they are'
Great trader, i lost contact due to the fact that i was unable to acess a computer for some time, but when i got back on, he was there
FAST with payment, and ill have it out tonite
Thanks man!
Great trader, bought 2 warp shells off him, very good guy to deal with. Would definately do business with again.
My feedback thread
My email:firstname.lastname@example.com
Good traders: richie,Roguefactor,moufo48,845,brtncstm160,vf-xx
Mags don't shoot darts... they shoot nails.
I used to be bertmcmahan, that I did.
Great Buyer,fast payment and good communication.
Would deal with anytime.
Logic Paintball Forums
My A O Feedback Here
Other Feedback Here
If I've Been Any help
Please Leave Some.
takes paypal and ships fast. the part was great. Thanks alot man, hope to de business again
"Marry you!? I was just tryin to find someone to play with your ding-a-ling."
Dealed with him a second time...why? because hes FAST, RELIABLE, and HONEST
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Trader 10/10 across the board
Yet again! VFXX is great
nothing but speed and good times. vf-xx is a good guy. from texas. he plays D+D...instead of playing paintball on sunday. but great price and great service good guy. buy his stuff.
great buyer, sent MO quickly and the deal was flawless. pleasure to do business with.
sold some tubing to him. Quick payer, and overall nice guy. I would deal with him again for sure. A+. ... (+2)
Sold him one of the rarest thing you can get for a AM/MM - a Toxic Toy Vemon Hardline Deluxe with bleed...A real good find...
He's very quick to pay and has good communication... Do deals with this guy...
He bought my barrel. He was friendly and was easy to deal with. Super fast payment. A++
Current Gun Setup:
Red Ule Body
Red X Valve w/LX and ULT
Red Winged Roguerai
lRed CP Foregrip
Black Logic 1.1 Vert Frame
Black Unimount
Black 14" 689 Matchstik
68/4500 Crossfire
Empire Reloader
My Feedback
I bought a Benchy frame, which arrived promptly and in great condition.
Jeff P
The Canadian Contingent Paintball Club
Cousins - EMR - PaintStorm - Odyssey - StraightShot
Bought a Rouge 15* and gas thru from vf-xx and it came fast, was packed well! I would buy from him again!
Sold him a T-Stock. Good communications, prompt payment!
Neil Looby
SMT Thunder Chickens
Ontario, Canada, Eh!
Tequila EMag LX, PumpMag, PGP,
VM68 Magnum, Trracer Tagmaster
AGD 68ci 3000psi Flatline
Play with the Best. Win with the Best. AGD!


text:
ROCKFORD — A man was shot to death early Sunday morning on the city's northwest side.
According to the Rockford Police Department, the shooting occurred at about 12:30 a.m. in the 3400 block of Garfield Avenue.
Officers responded to a report of a aggravated battery with a firearm, police said, and upon arrival found an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound.
The man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
An investigation into the shooting has revealed that the man may have been involved in an altercation with an unknown person at a party in the 3400 block of Garfield.
The name of the victim has not been released pending notification on family.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Rockford police at 815-987-5824 or Rockford Area Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.


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photo 1 of 104
Tom Watson
TRAINING: It is easy to become blind and see each day as a similar one. It is not the case. Training can't reflect routine and structure. A fight is not that, so why engineer a schedule like that? Most mornings I wake up and decide what and how I feel like doing then go from there.
When and why did you start training for fighting? My fight career began at 16 years old, when I realized that by living a few years of my life like most won't, I could live the rest of my life like most can't.
What ranks and titles have you held? UCMMA Middleweight MMA Champion, 3 time BAMMA Middleweight World Champion, ISKA Cruiserweight British Champion, 3 time ABA Southern Counties Champion, Full Contact Unlicensed Boxing Champion, Cliff Richard Invitational Chess Champion 1991
Do you have any heroes? Karen and Michael J Watson
What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? Anywhere that I can represent Queen and Country is a great honor.
Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? BA (Honours) Degree of the highest order in Media and Cultural Studies
What was your job before you started fighting? Agricultural land owner and licensed slaughterman
Specific accomplishments in amateur competition? Amateur Boxing Standout 2006, Multiple ABA Southern Counties Champion
Specific accomplishments in pro competition? MFC Knockout of the Year 2010, Five Time Fight of the Night Winner, Three time Knockout of the Night Winner, Longest Reigning BAMMA Champion
Ranks in any martial arts styles: Orange belt in Kyokushin Karate, Purple belt in BJJ, Lau Gar Kung Fu green belt, Muay Thai A Class rank, Black belt with a green stripe in Wing Chun, Silver 2 gloves in Savate back when I trained in France in the 90's,Open class international amateur boxing
Favorite grappling technique: The one that works
Favorite striking technique: Repeat as above
Getty Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this image or clip. If you violate our intellectual property you may be liable for: actual damages, loss of income, and profits you derive from the use of this image or clip, and, where appropriate, the costs of collection and/or statutory damages up to $150,000 (USD).


text:
Free access to journal articles mentioned in INBOX is provided for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available to journal subscribers only.
April 8, 2014
April 2, 2014
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text:
More of the region's rural and suburban schools are performing below the state average as they deal with more low-income students and those with limited English skills.
A Rockford Register Star analysis of the latest school test scores tell a sobering story of poverty and education and the increasing challenges non-urban schools face in teaching today's students.
For the past four years, 100 elementary and middle schools in Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties have straddled the fence of mediocrity when it comes to state test scores. About half of the schools tested above the state average.
This year showed a dramatic shift in those numbers, with 43 schools above and 57 below.
Only two schools — Centennial Elementary in Polo and Meehan Elementary in Belvidere — went from below the state average to above. Of the nine schools that fell below the state average, only one, Froberg Elementary, is in Rockford.
The rest are in places like Machesney Park, Winnebago, Oregon, Creston, Rochelle, Capron and Poplar Grove.
They represent Rockford's near suburbs and collar towns, places where safer communities and better schools have long been selling points for newcomers and people looking to escape Rockford's high tax and crime rates.
These schools have much more in common than declining test scores. Most have seen double-digit increases in low-income student populations since the Great Recession. Most also have higher numbers of students who are behind in English because they grew up speaking a different language or speak a different language at home.
Addressing these factors is a costly venture; public school systems have long received millions of dollars each year because of scale-tipping poverty.
But for many of the schools that fell below the state average this year, serving larger populations of low-income students is a relatively new challenge. And because they don't have the big enrollment numbers that Rockford and Chicago do, they typically don't get as much money to throw at the problem.
"This used to be a rarity," said Lori Fanello, superintendent of the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education. "Back in the 1990s, you didn't see as many schools with large numbers of low-income. Today, you're seeing it in Harlem, in Belvidere, in North Boone."
Sweeping changes
Rochelle Superintendent Todd Prusator has had a front-row seat for the demographic shift.
The five-school, 1,700-student district has gone from 33 percent low-income students in 2003 to 62 percent. In 2000, 4.7 percent of its students had limited English proficiency; this year, it's 21.1 percent.
"There's a reason why those percentages are on the report card," Prusator said. "They have an impact."
Rochelle has instituted intensive bilingual education for students at its elementary and middle schools to address the increasing numbers of Spanish-speakers entering the district. Central Elementary, one of the nine schools that dropped below the state average, features bilingual classrooms for kindergarten through third grade.
The district provides an after-school program for low-income students at four of its schools. About 250 students attend every day for about two hours. They spend about an hour on education and the other hour is enrichment.
When it comes to low-income students, enrichment is anything that helps make a low-income student's life more like that of a wealthy student. It's about visiting places and interacting with new and different people.
"Regardless of the scores, we're doing the right things," Prusator said. "We can see good growth. ... It's unfair to compare us to schools that don't have the same demographics."
Playing catch-up
The correlation between poverty and educational attainment is well-documented, from the landmark Coleman Report of 1966 to new research from universities and education think tanks across the country.
Wealth matters more so than any other factor, including race. Racial achievement gaps in education are closing, but the achievement of high-income students versus low-income students is increasing.
Schools with a majority of poor and language-deficient students often have to work twice as hard for students to perform half as well as students from wealthier schools.
They battle against a multitude of social, cultural and financial obstacles that stand between their students and success, offering intervention services, tutoring and enrichment programs in an effort to get children in their schools on a level playing field.
"When you're living in poverty, you don't do the same things as people who are not in poverty. You're not exposed to the same life experiences and you lose the ability to connect things to those experiences," said Travis Woulfe, the Rockford School District's executive director of improvement and innovation.
"If you've never been to the ocean, how do you put the ocean compared to a lake compared to the Rock River? ... You hear fewer words at home. You hear different words. You have fewer opportunities to participate in activities. You move more. ... You are always trying to play catch-up.
"As the numbers of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch rates creep up around us, there will be more hurdles for those schools. It saddens me, but I'm not surprised."
Magic of education
Representatives from dozens of tutoring services greeted Tiara Spates when she arrived at Ellis Elementary this month.
Spates registered her sons Isaac Dixon, 8, and Azriel Dixon, 5, for free tutoring services because the boys qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and attend Ellis, which gets additional federal money to address poverty.
Spates said Isaac is having problems in reading and math, and Azriel seems to be doing just fine in kindergarten, but both qualify for the service, so she's taking advantage of it.
"This helps a lot," she said. "I wouldn't be able to afford all of this on my own."
Ellis is one of the poorest performing schools in Rockford this year. According to adjusted scores released by the district, Ellis went from 32 percent of its students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading last year to 17 percent. In math, it went from 23 percent to 13 percent.
Addressing problems like low ISAT scores and high poverty populations is par for the course in Rockford.
Principal Maceo Rainey saw West Middle School's ISAT scores go from 17 percent in reading and 21 percent in math in 2011 to 30 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Nearly 90 percent of the students at West receive free or reduced-price lunch.
They do things differently at West, Rainey said, using a combination of high expectations and incentives to encourage success.
Students who get good grades get perks: They go on special field trips. They can participate in Saturday activities at the school. They get uniform-free Fridays.
Students failing in two or more subjects get mandatory tutoring over lunch. They eat in a classroom and complete missing work. When they raise their grades, they get to go back to lunch with their friends.
"Being with peers is very important, but we tell students, 'That's a privilege'," Rainey said. "Sometimes students of poverty don't see education as a means of empowerment. It's our job as educators to show them the magic of education."
Meets vs. exceeds
Another factor in the Rock River Valley's significant one-year performance drop could be a rude awakening for school leaders and parents.
The nine schools that fell below the state average this year had a disproportionately large number of students who met state standards last year and a small number of students exceeding them. Most data analysis lumps both categories — meets and exceeds — into a single score for each school.
The problem is, meeting or exceeding standards is a wide berth. Some students barely meet the cut-off, and some score in the 90th percentile. They're all counted as "meeting or exceeding" standards.
Under this system, schools across the state could get similar composite scores but be made up of radically different student bodies.
One school could have 80 percent of its students meeting and exceeding standards, with 60 meeting and 20 exceeding. Another school, also with a score of 80, could have the opposite.
The result? Suddenly, one year, when the bar is raised just enough, the first school will get a lower score and drop below the threshold while the second stays on.
Those nine schools had a large number of students who were just meeting standards last year.
At Winnebago Middle School, 73 percent of its students met reading standards last year and 13 percent exceeded standards.
It was 70 percent to 11 percent at Rochelle Middle School and 69 percent to 12 percent at North Boone Middle School.
Keep the pipeline going
Weaker testing performance because of a rise in low-income students isn't just a school problem, community leaders said. It's everybody's problem.
"All communities are going to have to start absorbing these challenges," said Jason Anderson, economic development director for the city of Rochelle.
"We're probably in a better position than most to absorb them because of the investments we've made as a community. The grade schools and high school are very much focused on English as a Second Language education."
Communities need to support struggling schools with jobs where parents can make a good living and by raising the equalized assessed value of property in the area so schools get a financial boost.
"We have to keep that pipeline going," Loves Park Mayor Darryl Lindberg said, referring to the path from grade school to high school to trade school or college to a local job with good pay and benefits.
If the pipeline dries up, he said, companies won't want to come to town and those here already will start to wonder why.
Loves Park and Machesney Park are served by the Harlem School District. Two of its elementary schools went from above the state average last year to below it this year.
The number of low-income students in the district has grown from 25 percent in 2003 to more than 50 percent in 2013.
A tipping point
The Register Star analysis put a magnifying glass to state trends, as well.
According to demographic information released Thursday, Illinois is on a educational precipice.
The percentage of low-income students has increased steadily, from 37.9 percent in 2003 to 49.9 percent in 2013 — a 31 percent increase in 10 years.
This probably will be the last year that public schools in Illinois have fewer low-income students than not.
"We are at a tipping point," said Mary Fergus, a spokeswoman with the Illinois State Board of Education.
More low-income students means more students needing food assistance, more students without adequate school supplies or clothing, increased mobility and increased homelessness.
"We try to address that through funding," Fergus said. "Schools that qualify get a portion of their general state aid that's a poverty grant to help address students' needs. ... Of course, this comes at a time when we're seeing cuts to state funding in education."
The number of students with limited English proficiency, a label often put on students who are behind in their English skills, has increased by nearly 50 percent statewide, from 6.3 percent of all students in 2003 to 9.4 percent in 2013.
Despite the state's low-income and language proficiency numbers, scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test have risen the past 10 years. The average has gone from 64 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in 2003 to 82 percent in 2012 to 58.8 percent this year because of the new scoring system.
The disparity between the state's scores and low-income population is likely a product of another troubling disparity: funding per student.
The amount of money each school is able to spend on each child varies greatly from district to district. Schools in wealthier communities take in more money in local property taxes. Schools in poorer communities take in less.
Some of the state's poorest communities spend about $6,000 per student a year, Fergus said.
Rochelle spent just under $8,000 on each student last year. North Boone spends a little more than $9,000.
The highest in the state? A handful of districts chime in at $25,000 a student.
Corina Curry: 815-987-1371; firstname.lastname@example.com; @corinacurry


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Sepia Saturday invites us this week to post those odd photographs in our collections which we've found difficult to identify, categorize or even understand. While not denying that I have several oddities in my own collection worthy of inclusion in my What were they thinking? category, I've chosen to use an image from the Tauranga Heritage Collection, where I've spent much of the last three weeks helping to photograph, research and document a large but jumbled collection of old cameras.
Dogs at The Strand, Tauranga, Undated
Loose print by unidentified photographer
Image © and courtesy of the Tauranga Heritage Collection
The pile of logs seemingly jettisoned on The Strand, more or less in the middle of town, had probably been offloaded from a boat at the wharf, just off to the left the photograph. Devonport Road is to the right, disappearing behind the double storey building which houses Cart & Co's clothing and footwear store. The dogs are doing what dogs always do, but quite why the photographer saw fit to save this snapshot from the dustbin, I can't really understand.
View Larger Map
Google's Streetview (above) shows a landscape superficially different, although it's worth noting that general layout, at least in this view, is still much the same. None of the original stores are there. Telegraph poles have been replaced by nautically flavoured lamp posts (although I don't think many have swung from these yardarms in the recent past) and the roads and pavements have been sealed, concreted or bricked over. That particular palm tree is long gone, but there are many more in the vicinity, as panning to the left in the Streetview image above will reveal.
A short post from me this week, as I've been a little busy on other projects, but if you're hankering after more sepian oddballs, I'm sure the other participants will happily oblige.


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There's an interview on GamesIndustry International talking with Ole Schreiner, the new CEO of Funcom, discussing The Secret World and the MMOG's subscription model versus the free-to-play scheme that many feel is the only viable future for such games. He says they considered F2P, and while a lot of how the game was created was based on subscriptions, they have the "tools" to make the switch should the decide it's necessary:
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The Wellington Heat defeated El Dorado 8-1 Friday. The team will play for the title in the NBC World Series at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Wellington Heat is two games away from winning a world series title. The team will have to win two games Saturday, but it has been on a roll especially in the postseason, so confidence is pretty high.
Wellington beat El Dorado 8-1 Friday. The Heat faces the Seattle Studs, who hare 6-0 in tournament play, and also on a great roll. Wellington will have to beat Seattle twice to win the World Series title, but if it can win that first game, it will have a lot of momentum on its side.
Games are at Lawrence Dumont Stadium in Wichita. You may purchase tickets at the gate. There is also a barbeque cookoff going on there tomorrow.
You may watch video of the game here.
You may also listen live here.


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The government shutdown has taken an immediate toll on ranchers hit by last week's intense blizzard in the Great Plains and farmers and ranchers who have borrowed operating money from USDA's Farm Service Agency.
The early blizzard in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska has had a devastating impact on ranchers, with cattle losses in the tens of thousands, said Roger Johnson, president of National Farmers Union.
With USDA's Farm Service Agency closed, there's no where for them to go to report losses for possible financial relief or get advice, he said
"For those cattle guys, it's a pretty isolating feeling," he said.
It's unclear if they'll get any financial help. Livestock disaster programs in the 2008 Farm Bill weren't funded when Congress extended the bill last year, and that extension is now expired.
Both the Senate and House versions of a new farm bill contain those programs and provide assistance retroactively, but the farm bill remains stalled as Congress deals with the shutdown and the upcoming debt ceiling, he said.
In addition, producers who borrowed from FSA aren't able to cash checks from recent and current sales due to the FSA closure.
FSA loans require that payment checks to producers bear both the name of the producer and USDA, and there's no way to get the checks endorsed, he said.
As a result, he said, they have no way to get those checks endorsed, pay back the FSA loan or pay other bills.
It won't affect producers' FSA loan but it could affect other loans and add finance costs to the operation, he said.
That impact of the shutdown is hitting young farmers the hardest. With little if any equity, they are operating primarily on loaned money and with the narrowest of margins and not much room for error, he said.
Many of those beginning farmers "are living month to month, scraping to get by," he said.
The shutdown is also affecting markets due to the lack of USDA data. The impact on producers varies, but it's hurting some producers badly as a lot of them depend on open and transparent trade numbers and prices, he said.
Trade volumes have been lower, he said.
"How do you market if you don't know the value? Everyone is feeling this in one way or another," he said.
In general, farmers and ranchers are not yet seeing a huge impact on their operations, but each passing day will make things more difficult, said Dale Moore, director of public policy for American Farm Bureau Federation
A number of producers are paid on a formula or contractual basis or sell on a cash price, all of which are based on USDA data. Domestic and foreign buyers also use that information for price discovery, he said.
USDA's closure causing a dearth of independent information on which all sides of transactions rely, he said.
If the shutdown continues, it will become a much larger issue for more producers, Johnson said.
FSA isn't open to take loan applications, he said, and producers might also see their long-term conservation contracts expire and no one will be able to sign up for new contracts.


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Recipes brought to you by Avanti Savoia
Visit us online at www.avantisavoia.com
Be the first to review this recipe.
(Recipe ID: 279)
Source: Chef Joseph Lowery
A famous speciality of Nice, France. Serve with a dry Rose.
Items indicated with an astrisk (*) available for purchase in the Avanti Savoia store. See below to add these items to your cart.
- 3 cups Unbleached white flour (approximately)
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt *
- 1 package Fleischmanns Rapid Rise yeast
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil *
- 1 cup Warm water
- 1/4 cup Olive oil *
- 3 to 4 cups Yellow onions, sliced
- 3 Cloves of garlic, minced and mashed
- 1 teaspoon Each of oregano, thyme, basil, and rosemary *
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper *
- 1 2 ounce can of anchovy filets, drained
- 18 Mediterranean style oil cured black olives
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 cups Unbleached white flour (approximately)
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1 package Fleischmanns Rapid Rise yeast
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 cup Warm water
- Mix dry ingredients including yeast together in a mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
- Pour olive oil and warm water into the well.
- Stir together until liquid is mixed with flour and then work the mixture with your hands until it is smooth.
- If it is still too sticky, you may need to add a little more flour.
- Cover the dough with a warm, damp cloth and allow it to rise about 30 minutes.
- While dough is rising, prepare the following topping.
1/4 cup Olive oil
3 to 4 cups Yellow onions, sliced
3 Cloves of garlic, minced and mashed
1 teaspoon Each of oregano, thyme, basil, and rosemary
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1 2 ounce can of anchovy filets, drained
18 Mediterranean style oil cured black olives
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- Heat olive oil in a large pan and cook onions over a medium heat about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute more, before removing from heat.
- Preheat pizza stone to 450.
- After dough has risen, divide it in half (you may freeze half or make a second pizza).
- Shape dough into a ball, place on a lighly floured surface and flatten it with your hands.
- Finish rolling out the dough with a rolling pin until it is aobut 1/8" thick.
- Sprinkle 2 teaspoons cornmeal on a pizza peel and then place dough in the middle of the peel.
- Roll and pinch edge of the dough to form a border.
- Spread seasoned onion mixture evenly across the prepared dough.
- Arrange the anchovies in a criss cross pattern, forming diamonds across the top of the onions.
- Place a whole olive in each diamond and sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the whole Pissaladiere.
- Slide off pizza peel onto preheated stone and bake for about 15 minutes or until crust has browned.
- Remove from oven, cut into pieces and serve.
Buy Ingredients
The following ingredients are available in the Avanti Savoia online store. Click the product name for more information.


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TCHO Chocolate Factory Tour and Tastings
Enjoy a tasty tour through the local TCHO Chocolate Factory! The experience includes a presentation and factory tour with knowledgeable tour guides, and a guided tasting of TCHO's flavor-driven, artisan chocolate.
Tours are held at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. most days, and last about an hour. The tour is free, but an RSVP is required.
Pier 17
Sunday, July 27, 2014 -
10:30am to 11:30am
Free, RSVP required
More Info
Please Note
No open-toed shoes allowed.
Kids 8 and under are not allowed.
Jewelry, watches, loose objects, cameras, and cellphones must be put away during the tour.
Tour participants are required wear the provided hair net, beard guard, and earplugs.
If You Go
Stay at one of our three hostels in San Francisco.


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PCCUA-Stuttgart will once again offer yoga classes as part of its continuing education program.
Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA)-Stuttgart campus will once again offer yoga classes during its spring semester.
The classes will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning tomorrow, Jan. 8 and ending on Thursday, Feb. 28.
Lori Bailey, administrative assistant for the continuing education classes, said the classes will again be taught by Whitney Koch, a Teach America teacher at Stuttgart High School.
"Whitney began teaching for us in September," Bailey said. "We are excited she is coming back for the spring semester."
The classes last semester were well attended and everyone who attended enjoyed the class, Bailey said.
Koch has been teaching yoga for more than five years and last summer was encouraged to begin teaching the course at PCCUA by students and others in the community after teaching yoga for a brief time during the summer.
"They were telling us about her and my boss, Tiffany Rogers, recruited her for our yoga classes," Bailey said. "This will be her second semester with us."
Bailey said the eight-week course costs $40. Yoga, which originiated in India, stresses physical, mental and spiritual disciplines. It gained popularity as a physical system of health exercises in the Western world.
Yoga practitioners report musculo-skeletal and mental health improvements in a national survey,.
"It is fun and you will meet new friends," Bailey said. "You don't have anything to lose."
For more information or to reserve a place in the class, contact Bailey at (870) 673-4201 Ext. 1804.


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Posted on July 31, 2012
So I will have more to say about this in weeks to come, but we had a Book Fair last weekend, and it went very well. Thank you for coming–most of those who did–and as for the rest of you, what was so interesting about the Olympics? At our event, you could have seen Synchronized Shopping, the Overhand Book Toss, and truly international level Bargain Hunting.
I would like to award a few medals right away; I may, as I say, discuss these matters more in depth later on. But on to the awards.
A Gold medal to the customer who asked where to find a copy of In Cold Blood and later returned, book in hand, to thank me.
A medal of very heavy Lead to the customer who smuggled a postcard away from the Collectors Section because all he/she really wanted was the stamp. I found the postcard, with that corner ripped away, at the end of the fair. (Well, I was charging a WHOLE DOLLAR for the postcard.)
A Gold medal to the two kids I saw explaining, very patiently, to their grandmother that they did know what videocassettes are, and they did so have a VCR. This taught me the foolishness of making assumptions about people's interests based on their age.
And a Gold medal along the way for Henry, a small boy who bought a 45 rpm record. I still wonder if he knew what it was, but these prejudices are obviously faulty.
A medal made of Poison Ivy for all those customers who began by saying, "These are in terrible condition and NOBODY was looking at them, so why not sell them all to me cheap?" if nobody was looking at them, you wouldn't have found them, friend.
A Gold medal in the synchronized selling goes to the two women who convinced a third woman to buy a cookbook. Woman A said "That's a great cookbook. My grandmother has that cookbook." Woman B was Woman A's grandmother, who said, "I'll buy it if you don't want it." (The customer, impressed, bought the book.)
A Gold medal, with a side salad, goes to the groups who donated food for the volunteers this year: Bistro Zinc, Caffe Baci, Corner Bakery, D'Absolute Catering, Food Evolution, J&L Catering, Jewell Events Catering, Marcello's Catering, Occasions Chicago catering, Simply Elegant, Tri-Star Catering, and Whole Foods Market. They kept us all alive so we could cope with the thousands of customers.
Like the fellow who gets a Medal of solid shellac for deciding he wanted to carry his books home in the box I was using for religious records. He jammed all the records into one of the Chicago boxes and walked off with it.
A Gold medal goes again to Potash Bros. Market for the thousands of plastic bags we forced on people so they could buy more books than they could carry in their arms.
A Gold medal also goes to Whole Foods Market for those heavy-duty bags which went to the first shoppers to arrive on Wednesday night.
A Medal of tin for general cluelessness to all those of you who donated books over the weekend. The big box of economics textbooks particularly made me wonder. Did you think in all the fuss and confusion we wouldn't catch you bringing those in?
And medals of Gold for the volunteers who came to tidy, to scold, to sell, to guide, and to gently assist as all those customers came around and found prizes of their own. Many of these are solid gold, while others are, um, plated over recycled paperback books. But the books were published by the Gold Medal Company, so it all comes to the same thing, right?


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Barbara Erakko of Hannibal has published a book about her late mother titled "Elsie at Ebb Tide: Emerging from the Undertow of Alzheimer's."
Barbara Erakko of Hannibal has published a book about her late mother titled "Elsie at Ebb Tide: Emerging from the Undertow of Alzheimer's."
"I would like to help you see Alzheimer's a little differently, in a way that might give you and your loved ones more peace," she said. "Anyone dealing with this disease faces a lot of fear and anger.
"Alzheimer's is a physical disease, not a spiritual disease," Erakko continued. "We often say it is a dreadful disease, terrifying, unrelenting and sad, these descriptions define the physical expression of the disease. But let's just change the story a little bit, insert different words: metamorphosis, transformation, emergence from body to spirit, amazing and Inspiring."
The book was inspired by Elsie Julia Elizabeth Norlund and describes her life story, including when Erakko cared for her with Alzheimer's.
The book cover is a picture by Brenda Beck Fisher, based on a photo of Erakko's mother on the beach, showing where she wrote her name in the sand.
"My mother was a second generation Finn, left as a child on her grandparent's farm in Finlayson, Minn., in a household that spoke no English," Erakko said. "She went to school in a covered wagon and graduated as valedictorian of her class of 17. With only a high school degree, she ended up flying on Air Force One (called Two when the president was not aboard) as a protocol officer for the State Department. She met queens and presidents, popes and astronauts. She kept a memory full of funny stories." One incident was when helicopter blades blew the petals off the bouquet of red roses that Lady Bird Johnson was supposed to hand to another first lady. When her mother handed the bouquet to Mrs. Johnson, only the stems remained.
Erakko said her mother's "most prized ability was her incredible attention to detail, and her memory, which is precisely what she lost. As her primary caregiver, I went through every transition with her. For the most part, she was in assisted living, except for a period when she was in my home near the last year of her life. ... The more she lost ground mentally, the more transcendent she seemed to become.
"The most shocking experience was when she awoke from her nap after she was virtually non-verbal and she said clear as a bell, 'I can't stop him. He won't listen to me.' 'Who?' asked the aide. 'My brother,' she said."
The next day the family learned her brother had died that day. "He was passing over; and Mom had seen him," Erakko explained. "For the first time, I had concrete proof of what I had been suspecting — Mom crossed back and forth from a spirit world where she could visit with deceased friends and family — and her physical world.
"Another time, Mom gestured, saying, 'There's Eddie and Wayne.' Eddie had died years earlier — and Mom knew that before the onset of her disease. But Wayne, his son, died after Alzheimer's had erased virtually all of Mom's memory, so we never bothered to tell her. Yet she adamantly and with irritation, repeatedly said, 'He's right there.' On many occasions she'd mention names, and never once were they among the living.
"She fell and broke her hip, and the doctor predicted she'd die within the year," Erakko said. "It was at this moment I think that for the first time I felt as though our two souls connected. With an absolute certainty, I sensed that she was not ready to go yet, and that somehow I'd know when the time was right, but I had to buy her time, so that's when I brought her into my home.
"I believed Mom's soul was entirely intact, totally unaffected by the disease. I am referring to the essence of Elsie, the part that is not ego, not brain, but that which we all sense within us—that 'more' that we believe continues on, even after death. I talked to her, always, in a totally normal way.
"My advice to those with Alzheimer's and caregivers is to be open, explore and never ever believe the soul has been damaged or diseased. ... If I hadn't sensed that Mom's soul was intact, whole and untouched by this disease, I doubt I would have written a book about what happened.
"The last time I saw my mother alive, six weeks before she died, she took my arms in her bony grasp and gazed straight into my eyes. Her eyes were not lights OUT. They were lights ON. I felt as though I were looking through her into heaven itself - the light of her soul now skilled in the ways of spirit. Once again, she was lighting the way for me."
The book may be ordered from www.elsieatebbtide.com or from amazon.com.
Erakko has written two previous books and other articles, some of which have received awards in writing contests.
She explained her first book, "Silence Making the Journey to Inner Quiet," is "about having a closer journey with God."
The second, "Silent Dwellers, Embracing the Solitary Life," she described as "essays on different fields of silence and why I decided to quiet my life down."


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quote:Originally posted by Guest9934IM only saying this one thing get bettman out of the damn NHLcause hes ruining a good game i mean an area where golies dont touch the puck or they get a penalty thats just elementry sshool gay that rule is made to make everyone equal. But what i was getting to is make the new GM of hockey DON i know what im talking about and u can kiss my ass CHERRY. the sportsnet panel are a buch of washed up players that cant play no more and couldnt play. he i scored one goal in my 15year nhl career im gonna go work at T.S.N too bad i didnt get my face punched in every fight i had (kypreos) cause than id work at sportsnet.
quote:Originally posted by nux-sukBy Far #1 Worst sportscaster is John Garret. He is not only a homer, but his analysis is worse than a blind deaf and dumb version of Howie Meeker
quote:Originally posted by Beans15All due respect, if you are not a Leaf Fan, Bob Cole was one of the worst ever. .
quote:Originally posted by Tiller33Bob cole is the reason Harry Neale now does sabres games, he got sick tired of rescuing every leafs broadcast he had to do with cole.
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Noemi Alicea, a Hoboken native, is caring for two special needs children. Her son Richard, 3, was diagnosed with autism when he was a little over a year. Her 2-year-old, Zoemy, has been diagnosed with a rare chromosome disorder that has no precedent and thus no prior medical research. Zoemy, who had a platelet transfusion at birth, has spent a quarter of her life in hospitals. She has since been diagnosed with Turner Syndrome, epilepsy, hypotonia, and hemiparesis.
Through additional DNA testing, it also turned out that Zoemy has a rare chromosome disorder. Zoemy's mother was told that she is the first in the world to be diagnosed with a deletion duplication syndrome of chromosome 1. Alicea said that in the six months she has looked, from the Bronx to North Jersey, she has only now found a doctor willing to look at her little girl. The liability of taking on Zoemy's case has been seen as too high for most.
A mother's intuition
Alicea gave birth to Zoemy in Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx. Alicea said that after her C-section delivery of a seemingly healthy 7 lb. 9 oz. little girl, she did not see her baby for hours.
"She was born at 3:53 p.m.," said Alicea. "I didn't see her until 1 a.m. and that was only because her father was told a 'fat baby' was taken into ICU. I wasn't supposed to move, but I was angry, so I left my room. By the time I saw her, she was all wired up."
Alicea was told that Zoemy's platelet count dropped to 30,000 and was supposed to be at 150,000, so the hospital was doing a platelet transfusion.
"My feeling is that they are to wait 24 hours after the baby is born to start poking at it," Alicea said. "She hadn't had any milk, any sugar in her system. My feeling was that they did this too early."
"For six months she has had no meds and no doctors." – Noemi Alicea
Alicea was right. Within two months, she began to notice a left side drooping and weakness in Zoemy's face, specifically around her eye. Alicea's little boy had just been diagnosed with autism.
"After that she started bobbing. I was telling the doctors to try and get her to grab a simple toy. She couldn't do it."
Within six months, Zoemy had her first seizure and what Alicea called "baby strokes." Zoemy also displayed signs of hemiparesis, a weakness on one side of the body, and hypotonia, a state of low muscle tissue along with high blood pressure and low blood sugar.
"We started neurological testing after [the seizure] and at that point she was diagnosed with Turner Syndrome," Alicea said.
Turner Syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality that occurs in 1 in 2,000 females. Normal females have 46 chromosomes, with two sex chromosomes known as "X." Females with Turner Syndrome are missing one of those "X"chromosomes, or face additional abnormalities to the cells. This can result in non-working ovaries, the absence of a menstrual cycle, and often sterility.
Alicea said that the physical characteristics shown are often broad chests, swelling or puffiness (hands and feet), low-set ears, webbed necks, and others. It was after the Turner Syndrome diagnosis that DNA testing known as FISH analysis was begun on Zoemy.
First in the world
DNA testing showed that Zoemy had even rarer chromosomal abnormalities. What is known as 1q21.1 duplication syndrome now has 57 genetically confirmed cases worldwide. In the duplication, the part of chromosome 1 is duplicated twice or more. She also has 1q21.1 deletion syndrome. In that case, part of the DNA is missing from a particular spot where the duplication syndrome occurs.
At the time that doctors found this out, Alicea said they could not find any other children confirmed before her.
"They looked all over the world," Alicea said. "She was the only child they could find with deletion duplication of chromosome 1, so they could not tell me what to do."
Because of this, Alicea failed to find a doctor in the Bronx, where she lived at the time, that would take on Zoemy's case. Alicea moved back to Hoboken, where she grew up on Ninth and Clinton streets.
"For six months she has had no meds and no doctors. Nobody would touch her because of the chromosome 1 [issues]. [Doctors] would say, I have never seen something like this," Alicea said. "She needs a primary doctor. She needs a lot of referrals."
Alicea found the first doctor willing to take her on, after six months of scouring New York and New Jersey. Dr. Iyad Baker of Ridgefield Park has started the process of seeing Zoemy and assembling a necessary team of therapists to help. Zoemy needs at-home care due to the reaction she could have from germs. Lights and noises also trigger seizures.
"She had four seizures during the hurricane," Alicea said. "It is scary because she loses motor skills after a seizure. She can't tell me if she is in pain or if she needs something. We are trying to teach her basic signing so she can tell me when she wants to eat."
Zoemy, notoriously known as a "cookie monster," has the sign for Nilla Wafer cookies down pat.
Despite all she has been through, she remains a very smiley toddler.
"She is the happiest baby," Alicea said. "She is always smiling. She will even come out of surgery with a smile."
Alicea also remains smiling, for Zoemy. "If she sees me upset, she will know something is wrong. I don't want her to think something is wrong with her, so I can't break down."
What's next?
Alicea is hopeful that a new team of doctors may help Zoemy's progress. Thankfully, she has health insurance, but Alicea said insurance will not cover most of the things she will need. A set of growth hormone shots for Turner Syndrome could cost $3,000, Alicea said.
After tests proved that neither parent showed a genetic disposition for these diseases, Alicea is still investigating the hospital where she was born.
"All I have received was a letter saying it was under investigation. I can't stand still until I figure this out," Alicea said.
"The most important thing to me was to get the word out," Alicea said. "Especially if other parents wind up in a similar situation."
If you or anyone you know would like to learn more about Zoemy or have a way to help, you can email email@example.com.
Amanda Palasciano may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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NEWARK � When Paul Peters learned about comments made by village trustees at the last board meeting, he was disappointed.
�I know how hard they work,� he said of the Newark police officers. �They have the highest stats (closing cases) in Wayne County and that includes the county and state.�
Peters is union president for Local 859, which includes the Newark Police Department, a position he has held for two years. But Peters has been active in the union for many years, working with the county and other local police departments, including Palmyra and Clyde, during union negotiations. For him to hear Mayor Peter Blandino say that unrest is common among police departments and village boards, he was appalled.
�That�s just not true,� he said. �He (the mayor) creates the unrest. It�s not the chief, it�s not the officers. It�s him and a couple of board members.�
Peters said the only department he has problems with is in Newark.
The unrest was made public at the last Village Board meeting when Trustee Jonathan Taylor questioned Chief Dave Christler about sending a patrolman to investigation training. Taylor�s concerns were prompted by money. The class cost of $600 was in the police department�s budget, but there was additional expense in sending the officer to school in that another officer would have to cover his shifts, and that meant overtime. The department is anticipating OT expenses will reach $180,000 this year.
Christler said the training would increase the skills the officer already possesses. But Taylor felt it was only throwing money at a growing problem.
�You�re (the police department) already 41 percent of the budget,� Taylor said at the meeting. �We have to get control of this.�
The board ultimately denied the chief�s request in a 3-2 vote with Taylor, Trustee Helen Blandino and the mayor voting against the request.
Peters concedes the Newark Police Department�s overtime is a bit high compared to other departments, but that is because the department is understaffed. The labor agreement with the village calls for two officers on duty for every shift, requiring current staff to work 16-hour days to keep up. Officer injuries have also been a problem, Peters said, cutting the staff back further while still costing the village money since injured officers still receive full pay and benefits. That�s a state mandate, he said.
Under the police contract, the village has agreed to cover 100 percent of officers� health insurance and manning shifts with at least two officers.
�Two-man coverage is something I insist on,� Peters said. �With a village this size, it would be impossible for one cop to manage.�
Peters said the department is accomplishing a great deal with the staff they have. As for patrol cars in the parking lot and not on the street - a criticism by Trustee Taylor � it�s part of an officer�s job to process a person following an arrest, said Peters. As liaison to the police department, Peters said Taylor should have a better understanding of what the officers are doing.
�Mr. Taylor is supposed to be the police liaison,� Peters said. �He has no idea what a cop does.�
Peters was also disturbed to learn the mayor felt the department�s vehicles were sufficient. With six patrol cars used by officers and sergeants, the average mileage is just under 90,000 miles, he said. Last week one of the cars with over 120,000 miles was in the shop with transmission and rear-end trouble, Peters said. Another vehicle has over 150,000 miles, and two weeks ago a wheel fell off an officer�s patrol car right in front of Parker�s on Main Street. There�s a liability there, Peters said, noting that someone could�ve gotten hurt.
Peters said he intends to monitor the vehicle situation with the department, and if he has to, he will have each vehicle inspected by the state.
�I don�t want officers in unsafe cars,� he said. �It�s a liability issue. What if that officer had been traveling faster when his wheel fell off? What if someone gets hurt?�
Blandino assured the police department�s vehicles have always met with safety requirements. As for being the cause of unrest, the mayor was unsure what to say.
�He�s entitled to his opinion,� he said. �I�m the mayor of the village and I�m responsible for the police department, and included in that is the safety of the community. As I�ve said before, the board will never jeopardize public safety.�
Union responds to police criticism
NEWARK � When Paul Peters learned about comments made by village trustees at the last board meeting, he was disappointed.


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A new trailer from Aliens: Colonial Marines shows off some "kick ass" footage from Gearbox Software's upcoming first-person shooter. Word is: "In anticipation of the upcoming release of Aliens: Colonial Marines, SEGA and Gearbox Software are excited to debut the new Kick Ass trailer. Revealing exhilarating gameplay, stunning visuals and pulse-pounding action, this new glimpse into the Aliens universe shows US Colonial Marines doing what they do best – kicking some Xenomorph ass."
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thepittman wrote:I don't believe he was ever born
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Oh, you think randomness is your ally. But you merely adopted the random; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't make the thread until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!
...or something
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DURHAM, N.C. – No. 15 Miami rallied from an early deficit to edge the Duke baseball team, 4-3, Sunday afternoon in the series finale at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Duke (30-21, 15-12 ACC) led 3-1 after three but could not hold off the Hurricanes in the end. Miami (38-14, 15-12), winner of 25 of its past 27 games, tied the game with three-straight doubles in the sixth and took the lead on a Brandon Lopez RBI single in the eighth. The Blue Devils had a runner in scoring position in the eighth and the ninth, but closer Bryan Garcia worked out of the jam in both innings to secure his 14th save of the season.
The Blue Devils had a runner on base in all but one inning and stranded 10 for the game. Miami starter Bryan Radziewski (6-2) allowed three runs over the first three frames, but kept Duke off the board over his final four innings of work. The left-hander surrendered 10 hits, striking out four and walking one.
"We feel like we had our opportunities and didn't take advantage of them," said head coach Chris Pollard. "We had a lot of guys in scoring position and we just didn't come up with the big hits. We did a great job of setting the table, just didn't come up with the big two-out hit when we needed it. [Miami] did and that was the difference in the ball game."
The Blue Devils took their first lead of the series in the second, aided by a Radziewski throwing error. Senior David Perkins laced a base hit through the right side to get the inning started before advancing to third following the errant pickoff attempt. Redshirt junior Mike Rosenfeld drove in the game's opening run, sending a high chopper over third for this 26th RBI of the season. The single was one of two hits for Rosenfeld, who also added a two-out triple in the sixth.
Miami countered with an unearned run of its own the following frame. Dale Carey sent his second hit of the afternoon up the middle, scoring Brad Fieger who reached on catcher's interference and took second on a Jacob Heyward sacrifice bunt. Carey ended the day 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI.
Senior Mark Lumpa started the bottom half with his 46th walk of the season before Radziewski hit junior Andy Perez with a pitch to place two runners on. Senior Jordan Betts then added his second single of the afternoon to load the bases. Redshirt junior Aaron Cohn delivered the clutch hit, driving Radziewski's 0-2 pitch through the right side for a two-run single and 3-1 Duke lead.
After facing the minimum in both the fourth and fifth innings, Duke ran into trouble in the sixth. Carey, Tyler Palmer and Zack Collins began the frame with three-consecutive doubles, tying the game at 3-3. Duke starter Michael Matuella was able to minimize the damage, retiring the next three Miami batters. The sophomore right-hander exited the game after six complete frames, yielding three runs on five hits while striking out seven.
After facing the minimum the previous inning, Miami secured its first lead of the afternoon against reliever Andrew Istler (8-6). Palmer beat out an infield single and stole second before Willie Abreau also legged out an infield hit. With runners at the corners and two outs, Lopez delivered the RBI single to plate the game-winning run.
Carey and Palmer led Miami at the plate, combining for five hits, three runs and two RBI. Perez extended his hit streak to 12 games, adding three singles to help the Duke cause. During that span, Perez is hitting .417 and has raised his average from .214 to .275. Betts also amassed three hits in the contest for his sixth three-hit game of the season.
Duke concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule Tuesday, hosting Richmond at Jack Coombs Field at 6 p.m.


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The Canton Ex-Newsboys charity has clothed more than 45,700 Stark County children since its foundation in 1960 Members have raised a total $3.3 million in the past 50 years with the sale of an annual newspaper, and will hit the streets again Friday.
The Canton Ex-Newsboys charity has clothed more than 45,700 Stark County children since its foundation in 1960.
Members have raised a total $3.3 million in the past 50 years with the sale of an annual newspaper, and will hit the streets again Friday. All proceeds help the Ex-Newsboys purchase shoes, coats and other clothes for school-aged children.
Judy Meek, a lifelong resident of Plain Township, was one of the first children to benefit when the organization started 54 years ago.
"They knew that we didn't have anything," she said.
Then in the eighth grade, Meek said, she and her younger sister would walk more than a mile to school without shoes at times. They wore sweaters when they didn't have coats. The Ex-Newsboys gave her family the clothes they needed to make it to school on a regular basis. "We went more often," Meek said.
A group of newspaper carriers and Repository employees formed the charity so "no school child shall miss school for need of shoes or clothing." Members do not need to be former newspaper carriers, or males. All are volunteers, and dues pay for operational costs.
Now, more than ever, Ex-Newsboys President Karl "Butch" Kraus said donations are needed. The organization has not had to cut back on what he calls "big-ticket items" such as coats and shoes, but there's increasing possibility that community needs could outstrip the charity's capacity.
"The need has grown every year," Kraus said.
As of October 2012, 85 percent of Canton students, 76 percent of Alliance students and 65 percent of Massillon students qualified for free and reduced lunches, said Canton doctor Albert Domingo. The keynote speaker at Wednesday's Ex-Newsboys banquet, which kicks off the annual fundraiser, urged people to get involved and help children in need.
"Our children are our most valuable resources," Domingo said.
Students can seek assistance through an application available in school counselors' offices, Kraus said. The group awards donations between the start of the school year and Thanksgiving break.
The 54th annual charity newspaper will be on sale from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at various businesses in Canton, Massillon and Louisville. Locations include:
• John's Bar & Grille, 2749 Cleveland Ave NW, Canton.
• Fraternal Order of Eagles, 306 W. Main St., Louisville.
• Key Bank, 4428 Tuscarawas St. W, Canton.
• Heggy's Nut Shop, 743 Cleveland Ave. NW, Canton.
• Area CSE Federal Credit Unions.
Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or firstname.lastname@example.com
On Twitter: @kbyerREP


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Circa 1930
A wrought iron and brass octagonal gothic revival lantern with frosted glass and a fluted, egg and dart bordered canopy.
Current height: 72-3/4"
Minimum height: 41-3/4"
Overall: 17" diameter
Can be UL listed for use in dry environments
6 Edison sockets, maximum 40 watts per socket
1 fixture total available.
On display at our Los Angeles showroom.


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This game is scheduled to happen again in Feb. I will have to look up the dates and costs to verify everything.
I am interested in finding other AO'ers going down that would like to split some gas and a room. I am near Atl, GA right off I-75.
More as it develops.


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I didn't see a thread covering free agency news so I thought I would start one. Feel free to add any Chiefs news or rumors regarding free agency here.
According to ArrowheadPride.com, here is a slist of current Chiefs who are unrestricted free agents:
NT Ron Edwards
DE Shaun Smith
WR Terrance Copper
C Casey Wiegmann
S Jon McGraw
LB Charlie Anderson
WR Kevin Curtis
CB Travis Daniels
LB Mike Vrabel
FB Tim Castille
OT Ryan O'Callaghan
LB Corey Mays
TE Leonard Pope
C Rudy Niswanger
QB Brodie Croyle
Vrabel has announced his retirement and Wiegman has expressed an interest in playing another year. I think he is a must sign. What other Chiefs do you think we need to sign and who should we let go?
Here are some other UFAs that the Chiefs are reportedly interested in:
Right Tackle: Doug Free (Dallas), Jermon Bushrod (new Orleans)
Last year Jamaal Charles averaged 6.4 yards per carry when running to the left, but only 4.3 ypc when running to the right.
Nose Tackle: Aubrayo Franklin (San Francisco)
The Chiefs drafted Jerrell Powe (6th round) this year but he'll be raw and probably only a rotation player to start with. They may resign Ron Edwards, but if they don't Franklin would would be a force up the middle.
Other free agents that the Chiefs are reportedly interested in:
Offensive Tackle: Jared Gaither (Baltimore)
Running Back: Le'Ron McClain (Baltimore)
Wide Receiver: Steve Breaston (Arizona)
What are your thoughts?


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GREENCASTLE — With three weeks still remaining in the regular season, a lot is yet to be decided in the world of boys varsity basketball.
But, when referencing the battle for the Mid-Penn Colonial Division, no game is bigger than Friday night's showdown between Greencastle-Antrim and Gettysburg.
Currently, the Blue Devils (12-2, 6-1 MPC-Colonial) trail the division-leading Warriors (13-4, 8-0 MPC-Colonial) by a game and a half in the Colonial standings, with Gettysburg having already played eight league contests to G-A's seven.
Despite boasting a better overall winning percentage and a higher ranking in the recently updated District 3-AAA Power Ratings — G-A is No. 3, Gettysburg is No. 5 — the Blue Devils' pursuit of a third-straight Colonial crown relies heavily on Friday's outcome, with a G-A victory giving each team one loss in the division.
The Warriors were responsible for the only blemish on the Blue Devils' Colonial record thus far, defeating G-A 57-54 in overtime back on Dec. 17. This time around, the Blue Devils will enjoy the comforts of home, hosting the marquee contest scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
"It likely makes or breaks us in terms of winning the division," G-A head coach Gary Martin said of Friday's importance. "We still have some tough games left, but if we don't get this one, our chances of repeating as league champions dramatically decreases. They won the first meeting on their home floor so hopefully we can return to favor Friday night."
Since that loss, the Blue Devils have won nine straight, building plenty of momentum heading into the second half of the season. Still, Friday's shot at redemption looms large, with G-A hoping to flip the script in Round 2, beginning from the opening whistle.
"In the first game, we dug ourselves a hole and then had to dig ourselves out," Martin explained. "We did an excellent job fighting back to force overtime, but they hit some big shots and ended up winning the game. We need to start the way we've been starting lately and keep finishing strong. We've won nine straight games, so if we continue to play the way we have been, it's hard not to like our chances."
Both sides boast their fair share of impact players, with G-A's one-two punch of Joel Zola and Zach Faulkner sharing the spotlight with Gettysburg's leading trio of Cody Kiefer, Trey Thomas and Ben Kroll.
Zola enters averaging a healthy 19.1 points per game while coming off a 25-point performance in Monday's victory over Southern Fulton. Faulkner (12.8 PPG) has increasingly returned to form over the last three games after missing a pair of contests with a knee injury, reassuming his role as G-A's captain at the point guard position.
Both will be relied upon heavily come Friday night, with contributions from fellow starters Brandon Puffenbarger, Danny Stepler and Austin Scott being critical to the Blue Devils' success on both ends. Sixth-man Holden Baker also played a large role in the first meeting, netting 10 points back on Dec. 17, including some key buckets late in regulation.
For Gettysburg, Kiefer, Thomas and Kroll have shared the workload throughout the season, giving opponents plenty to account for. Thomas paced the Warriors in the first meeting, recording a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Kiefer was ultimately the difference however, burying a clutch 3 to force overtime before scoring six of his 15 points in the extra frame, propelling Gettysburg to victory.
"They have their version of the 'Big Three' with Kiefer, Thomas and Kroll," Martin said. "Thomas got us last time and Kiefer came up big for them down the stretch. We feel like we match up well with them and we're hoping to be the one creating the match-up problems, not the other way around."
Looking ahead, a divisional loss by either team in their respective, remaining schedules would certainly change the complexion of crowning a champion. Gettysburg's Colonial slate still includes games against James Buchanan, Boiling Springs and Big Spring with G-A still hosting Shippensburg and JB while traveling to Boiling Springs and Big Spring in the coming weeks.
Assuming neither slips, a Blue Devil victory on Friday would result in both teams finishing 11-1 in the division, thus forcing a third meeting at the end of the season to determine which school would represent the Colonial in the Mid-Penn Conference Tournament.
Regardless of scenarios, a Warriors' win Friday night firmly places Gettysburg in the driver's seat while leaving G-A in need of some help down the stretch.


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A four-year environmental bond bill, including $10.2 million in funding for park improvement projects in Taunton, was approved on Thursday by a StateHouse conference committee.
TAUNTON — A four-year environmental bond bill, including $10.2 million in funding for park improvement projects in Taunton, was approved on Thursday by a StateHouse conference committee.
Additionally, the bill also includes $5 million toward the creation of an Eastern Regional Center for Urban Sustainability at Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton, said state Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, who was on the bond conference committee along with five other legislators. There is also $100,000 set aside for the development and installation of a solar energy farm at the school.
The Senate originally passed the $1.9 billion bond bill in early July, adding $200 million to the House version of the bill. The environmental bond bill will authorize Gov. Deval Patrick and the next elected governor to release the funding.
In Taunton, the project would make millions available to improve the Boyden Wildlife Refuge, in addition to other public parks in the city.
The bill includes $5 million for improvements to the refuge and an adjacent piece of conservation land in Taunton, in accordance with the 2002 Boyden Park/Conservation Land master plan, Pacheco said.
Other projects in Taunton include $2 million for the construction of a trail around Watson Pond and for connecting access trails in Watson Pond State Park, which Pacheco said would help attract corporations to the Myles Standish Industrial Park located next to the park. Also, $400,000 is provided in the bill to reconstruct the Sabbatia Lake boat ramp and to rebuild the boat ramp parking. In addition, $790,000 is provided to repair Big Bearhole Dam in the city.
The bond bill also provides a total of $2 million to Taunton for improvements to Hopewell Park, Memorial Park, Weir Field and Whittenton Field, although it's not clear how exactly the funding will be used.
Outside of Taunton, the environmental bond bill provides $500,000 for land to protect a drinking water well field in Dighton, and $5 million to create a University of Massachusetts Cranberry Research Station in East Wareham.
Statewide, some of the biggest projects in the environmental bond bill include a $100 million effort to design, construct and preserve parks, forests and other recreational sites. Another $100 million project in the bill would dredge Boston and New Bedford harbors. The bill also includes provisions to control the overpopulation of deer.


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The New York Times recently ran an interesting front-page article about Diane McLeod, a Philadelphia woman who is struggling to dig herself out from under a mountain of consumer debt. Her plight is hardly unique. According to the Times, the average household carries credit card debt of $8,565, which is 15 percent higher than in 2000.
Other statistics are equally sobering. The Times reports that "household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, represents 19 percent of household assets, according to the Fed, compared with 13 percent in 1980."
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