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Pierre Laclede Honors College Home Page
The Pierre Laclede Honors Collegemission is to enrich the educational experience of a select group of highly motivated and intelligent undergraduates. With this in mind, it enrolls students who are ready to accept academic challenges and become creatively involved in the learning process.
The college has a unique structure and identity. Unlike the university's other colleges, it has no academic departments and it grants no degrees. Instead, it brings together a cross section of students and teachers in a special curriculum, designed to meet students' general education and other breadth of study requirements.
- A four‑year program open to entering freshmen and extending over a student's entire undergraduate career;
- A two‑year program open to select third‑year students who are either continuing at or have transferred to the university.
- Honors College courses are generally taught seminar style, with a stress on reading, small group discussion, and writing.
Honors College instructors are drawn from university faculty in all academic divisions but mainly from the "traditional disciplines" of the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences. These teachers share a desire to work closely with intellectually curious, high-achieving students. Faculty design courses directed toward such an audience and based on small discussion seminars. Thus the honors faculty grows each year as new faculty join the honors project. Their talents add to the Honors College's rich instructional pool of more than 100 regular and full-time faculty, many of whose teaching and scholarship have been singled out for special awards.
In addition, the Honors College has six full-time academic faculty members whose responsibilities (besides instruction) include admissions, student advice, and curricular design. These faculty are:
Robert M. Bliss, Associate Professor, dean
Ph.D, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Nancy Gleason, Teaching Professor, associate dean, and director of writing.
M.A., University of Missouri-St. Louis
Kimberly Baldus, Associate Teaching Professor.
Ph.D., Northwestern University
Birgit Noll, Associate Teaching Professor
M.A., Washington University in St. Louis
Daniel Gerth, Assistant Teaching Professor
M.A., University of Missouri-Columbia
Chad Hankinson, Assistant Teaching Professor
M.A., University at Buffalo, SUNY
Gerianne Friedline, Lecturer
M.A., University of Missouri-St. Louis
Honors College students are highly qualified and motivated individuals from a broad range of public and private secondary schools and colleges. They enter the college with diverse backgrounds and interests and remain part of it while simultaneously enrolling in classes and pursuing bachelor's degrees in other academic divisions of the university.Honor Students
Most honor students major in traditional liberal arts disciplines spanning the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences, but well over a third use their undergraduate education to prepare for careers in business, education, nursing, or engineering. Whatever their majors, most Honors college students plan to go on to graduate study or professional schools, although a significant number successfully seek employment immediately after graduation. Honors faculty and staff provide advice and guidance in both course choice and career plans.The Honors College Writing Program
Both two- and four-year programs include participation in the Honors College writing program, Writing through the Curriculum, which involves writing in most honors seminars as well as formal courses in composition (including at least one of HONORS 1100 and 3100) and informal consultations with the director of the writing program. In the final year, this culminates in the compilation of a personal Honors College writing portfolio (HONORS 4100).Independent Study Requirement
All Honors College students, whether in the four-year or the two-year program, must fulfill a 6-credit-hour independent study requirement. This can be met in several ways, including supervised research, guided reading, internships, and in many cases capstone courses in the major. Additional financial support is available for supervised undergraduate research projects in all majors.
Four-Year Program (40 credit hours total):
Approximately one-third of the 120 hours honors students earn toward graduation are taken in the Honors College or under its auspices. Most of these credits are associated with a sequence of honors courses designed specifically for the college, the majority of which are taken during the first two years. During this period, these students fulfill virtually all of the university's general education requirements, usually in innovative ways. In their junior and senior years, honors students also may earn honors credit for work done within their major fields, work which includes the possibility of internships, independent study projects, and advanced undergraduate research.
First Year
Students take HONORS 1100, 1200, and 1201, and one course each from the Western Traditions and Non-Western Traditions seminar series. Students may take a seminar from the American Traditions series as an elective or in place of the Western Traditions seminar. *
1100, Freshman Composition
1200, Freshman Symposium: Cultural Traditions I
1201, Cultural Traditions II
1110-1150, The Western Traditions Series
1210-1250, The American Traditions Series (elective)
1310-1350, The Non‑Western Traditions Series
Second Year (6 credit hours):
Students take two of the following Honors classes:
2010, Inquiries in the Humanities
2020, Inquiries in the Fine and Performing Arts
2030, Inquiries in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
2040, Inquiries in Mathematics and Computing
2050, Inquiries in the Sciences
2060, Inquiries in Business
2070, Inquiries in Education
2080, Inquiries in Nursing
Honors students in the four-year program who take HONORS 3100 ("Writing the City") may present it for their honors certificate as one of their 3000-level seminars. They may also, depending on their major, present it to meet their graduation requirement for Junior level composition.
During the first two years, honors students will take additional course work in other areas, such as mathematics, natural science, foreign language, and major prerequisite classes to satisfy various university, Honors College, and specific degree requirements.Third and Fourth Years (19 credit hours):
Honors students in the four-year program take at least four seminars (12 credit hours) from the Advanced Seminar (3010-3080) and/or Research Seminar (3510-3580) series. They may take more where this is compatible with their major and/or minor requirements. In addition, honors students do 6 credit hours in independent study projects, normally in or closely related to their major field. These independent study projects normally carry credit in the major, but can be done as Honors College independent study or research projects (Honors 4900-4990). During the final year, students also take Honors 4100, a capstone for the Honors College writing program.
Two‑Year Program (22 credit hours total):
Students in this program will take a combination of Honors College seminars and honors independent study credit (usually for work done in their major fields). The 22 credit hours must include 6 credits of independent study, as for the four-year program.
Third Year (9 credits):
During the first year of the two-year program, students take three honors seminars, including 3100, Advanced Composition: Writing the City; one course from the Inquiries series (2010-2080; one course from either the Advanced Seminar (3010-3080 or Research Seminar (3510-3580 series. In addition, 3 credit hours of independent study may be taken during this year, normally in or closely related to their major.
Fourth Year (7 credits):
The final year of the two-year program involves three courses chosen from the 3000 and 4000 level options, including 4100, the honors writing portfolio, and at least one course chosen from the 3010-3080 or 3510-3580 series. In addition, students will complete their independent study requirements with 3 or 6 hours of project, internship, or research work.
Honors and Nursing; Honors and Engineering
Because of the extensive professional requirements for both Nursing and Engineering, the Honors College has, with the support of the relevant faculties, created special programs for Nursing and Engineering majors who wish to pursue the Honors College certificate. Both programs feature reduced Honors College credit hour requirements but retain the core of the Honors program and give students ample opportunities to experience interdisciplinary inquiry, seminar-based learning, and take part in the Honors College Writing Program.
Honors and the Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS)
Pierre Laclede Honors College students who wish to present the honors Certificate as a minor for the BLS must complete the Honors Capstone (HONORS 4100, one or two credit hours) and also direct three to six hours of their Honors independent study requirement to work demonstrably relevant to their BLS program. Student should consult the BLS faculty advisor in the Honors College about this requirement. For other information on BLS requirements, please refer to the "Minors in Interdisciplinary Studies" section under the College of Arts and Sciences.Pierre Laclede Honors College Student Learning Outcomes. Both four- and two-year programs share the same learning agendas:
- Through coursework comparing and contrasting diverse cultural viewpoints, academic disciplinary approaches and information, Honors students will demonstrate the ability to synthesize knowledge from various perspectives.
- Honors students will exhibit the ability to communicate effectively in speech and writing: - by speaking in groups to present, reflect on and evaluate information and perspectives. -by completing the written assignments required in all Honors courses that focus on various perspectives, audiences and disciplinary approaches(demonstrating effective writing that employs correct diction, syntax, usage, grammar and mechanics.
- Honors students will demonstrate skills in higher-order thinking, valuing and managing information: -by exhibiting the ability to distinguish among opinions, facts and inferences; by identifying underlying or implicit ins assumptions; by making informed judgments; and by solving problems through applying evaluative standards. -by locating, accessing, synthesizing and annotating information from print, electronic, and other sources; by distinguishing between scholarly and non-scholarly sources in preparation for higher-order thinking. -by analyzing and synthesizing information from a variety of sources, applying the results to resolving complex situations and problems, and defending conclusions using relevant evidence and reasoned argument. -by utilizing cultural, behavioral, and historical knowledge to clarify and articulate a personal value system while recognizing the ramifications of personal value decisions on the self and others. -by identifying conflicts within and between multiple perspectives and value systems; by recognizing and analyzing ethical issues in a variety of contexts; and by employing standards of logic to formulate a reasonable position among multiple perspectives.
- Honors students will select and participate in Honors courses in various disciplines and will demonstrate essential skills and approaches relevant to those disciplines: -Students participating in Honors courses in disciplines such as the social sciences, life and physical sciences that rely upon the understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts and their applications will display a level of quantitative literacy that would enable them to understand and analyze quantitative data, draw conclusions, and solve problems. –Students participating in Honors courses in the social and behavioral sciences will exhibit understanding of themselves and the world around them through the study of the content and methodologies used by historians and social and behavioral scientists to discover, describe, explain, and predict human behavior and social systems; they will demonstrate understanding of the diversities and complexities of the cultural and social world, past and present, and come to an informed sense of self and others. –Students participating in Honors courses in the humanities and fine arts will exhibit understanding and critical analysis of the ways in which people have addressed their condition through literature and art; they will demonstrate their understanding of these cultural works and their historical circumstances; they will formulate aesthetic judgments of these works. –Students participating in Honors courses focusing on life and physical sciences will demonstrate knowledge of scientific principles, research procedures and empirical methods of scientific enquiry; they will display their understanding of how scientific discoveries affect and are affected by theoretical views of the world and human history.
- Honors students will complete specific Honors requirements designed to develop their awareness of career and advanced study opportunities: -by participating in internships, independent study and undergraduate research to develop and demonstrate advanced knowledge in a discipline, professional skills, and greater understanding of career and educational goals. –by creating an Honors Writing Portfolio that demonstrates the ability to assess their writing skills and development; by devising and revising documents for employment searches or graduate school applications to enhance their ability to formulate and pursue specific career goals.
Other Academic Features and Requirements
The satisfactory/unsatisfactory option does not apply to any course work undertaken for Honors College credit.
Admission and Retention
To be considered for admission to either the two-year or four-year honors program, a candidate must file a special Honors College application as well as a general university application. These application forms and additional information concerning scholarship and stipend awards, general eligibility guidelines, and the admissions process are available from the Honors College admissions office at (314) 516-7769 or from the University Admissions. See also the Honors College website.Scholarships and stipends
Every new freshman or transfer student admitted in good standing to the Honors College receives academic scholarship support. Students continue to receive these awards as long as they meet the criteria associated with their particular scholarship. .Good academic standing
To remain in good standing, a student must maintain a cumulative GPA, in all his or her UMSL courses, of at least 3.2, and must continue to meet the requirements of the honors program for which he or she was initially admitted. Unless other arrangements have been made, Honors College students are also expected to be full time, that is, to register for and satisfactorily complete at least 12 credit hours per semester. Students wishing to enter the Honors College as part-time students, or to change to part-time status, must make prior arrangements with the Honors College dean.UMSL: an Urban Land Grant Institution
Given its location in St. Louis, and because it is part of an urban land grant university, Pierre Laclede Honors College seeks to encourage awareness of the manifold benefits of pursuing an undergraduate education in a dynamic and varied urban community. This is accomplished partly through the Honors Curriculum through facilitating cultural and other outings in the city, and by encouraging students to include in their academic program courses, research projects, and/or internships which exploit the university's manifold connections with city people and its partnerships with leading city institutions such as the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Missouri Historical Society, and the Mercantile Library of St. Louis. Many honors students fulfill all or part of their independent study requirements working through such partnerships.International Study and Other Exchange Programs
Honors students are encouraged to consider a semester's or a year's study at another institution. This can be done through the University's Center for International Studies, which administers exchanges with more than 70 universities in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South and Central America as well as the Missouri-in-London program. Students not wishing to go abroad may, through the National Student Exchange, which is administered for the university by the Honors College, attend any one of more than 100 universities in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Canada.
Please note that students in the Honors and International Business program are normally required to spend their exchange study through the Center for International Studies.
Course Descriptions
Please note that all honors courses are planned to fulfill UMSL graduation requirements, primarily in general education and the state requirement for American history and government. For further guidance on these requirements, please see the university general education matrix.
Selected Honors courses may also meet divisional area study requirements, for instance in international studies or cultural diversity. Please note also that several Honors courses in the 3000 and 4000 levels, can be used to fulfill major, minor, and certificate requirements, where that has been agreed by other divisions or departments of the university.
Honors course lists and descriptions, published each semester before the beginning of the registration period, identify clearly which seminars fulfill these various requirements. When in doubt, students are urged to consult their Honors College advisor.
Important note: Unless otherwise indicated, all Honors seminars and courses require students to obtain the consent at the Honors College during registration. In practice, "consent of the dean of the Honors College" means consent of the student's Honors advisor.1100 Freshman Composition (3) [C]
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. Theory and practice of writing expository prose. Emphasis on individual tutorial. Assignments will be linked with topics discussed in HONORS 101.
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. All Western Traditions seminars will be based on the reading and discussion of works of exceptional importance in the development of western culture and civilization. The works to be discussed in each seminar will follow a central theme (defined by its particular relevance to the traditional academic disciplinary areas of the humanities, arts, social sciences, mathematics, or sciences) but will relate that theme to wider developments in Western Traditions and to the American concept of a liberal education.
1110 Western Traditions: Humanities [C, H].
1120 Western Traditions: Arts
1130 Western Traditions: Social and Behavioral Sciences [C, SS]
1140 Western Traditions: Mathematics
1150 Western Traditions: the Sciences
Cultural Traditions I and II as 'core' seminars.
These symposium seminars (1200 and 1201) are normal freshman year requirements. Each has its own academic agenda, but both are also related—in theme, problem, or subject matter—to Honors Composition (1100), Western Traditions (1110-1150), American Traditions (1210-1250), and Non-Western Traditions (1310-1350) seminars.
1200 Freshman Symposium: Cultural Traditions I (3)
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. This course surveys Western and Non-Western Cultural Traditions from their beginnings until 1800. It will introduce the intellectual traditions of a wide variety of cultures through major works of literature, religion and philosophy.
Prerequisites: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. This course surveys Western and Non-Western cultural Traditions from the 1800's to current times. It will introduce intellectual traditions of a wide variety of cultures through major works of literature, religion and philosophy.1210-1250 American Traditions (3)
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. Honors seminars in the American Traditions series involve readings and discussion of major importance in the development of the culture, politics, ideologies, and values which are or have been characteristic of the United States of America. Every American Traditions seminar will cover a broad range of time, and each may include contemporary issues. American Traditions 1230 (Social Sciences) satisfies the American history and government requirement, and any course in the American Traditions sequence may be taken to satisfy one of the core requirements for the American Studies minor.
1210 American Traditions: Humanities (C, H)
1230 American Traditions: Social and Behavioral Sciences (V, SS)
1310-1350 Non‑Western Traditions (3)
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. Study of Non-Western societies, "traditional" or "modern," offers a reminder that, however defined, "the West" does not encompass the full range of human potentiality whether in terms of culture, values, behavior or ideas. Based on reading of significant primary texts and/or important secondary works, these seminars remind us of the realities of human diversity and provide perspectives on our own world. Non-Western Traditions seminars may be used to satisfy cultural diversity general education requirements.
1310 Non-Western Traditions: Humanities [MI, CD, H]
1320 Non-Western Traditions: The Arts [CD]
1330 Non-Western Traditions: Social and Behavioral Sciences [C, V, CD, SS]
1340 Non-Western Traditions: Mathematics [CD]
1350 Non-Western Traditions: The Sciences [CD]
1310 Non-Western Traditions Series Humanities (3)
Seminars focus on different topics in the humanities but address themes and problems in non-western cultures that are related to the freshmen core classes (HONORS 1200 and 1201). These topics will be examined in depth through reading and discussion, and students will produce formal papers and participate in individual or small group presentations.
Seminars focus on different topics in the social sciences but address themes and problems in non-western cultures that are related to the freshmen core classes (HONORS 1200 and 1201). These topics will be examined in depth through reading and discussion, and students will produce formal papers and participate in individual or small group presentations.1900 Independent Cross-Cultural Readings (1-3)
This course is an independent readings course centered on cultural interactions. Students will select readings from an approved list of choices related to Western and Non-Western texts. Students will discuss the works with the faculty member online or in person. One formal paper is required for the class with the length relative to the number of credit hours of the course (1-3).2010-2080 Honors Inquiries (3)
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. Inquiries seminars focus on the particular contributions academic disciplines can make to relatively broad areas of inquiry, and reading, discussion, writing and where appropriate, laboratory work or field trips will enhance students' understanding of the strengths, frailties, and particular characteristics of one or more disciplinary strategies. Inquiries courses may be used to meet relevant General education requirements. Where special arrangements have been agreed, they can meet more specific departmental and divisional requirements. The course number may be repeated for credit whenever the topic is substantially different.
2010 Inquiries in the Humanities [C, H]
2020 Inquiries in the Fine and Performing Arts [C, H]
2030 Inquiries in the Social and Behavioral Sciences [SS]
2040 Inquiries in Mathematics and Computing [MS]
2050 Inquiries in the Natural Sciences [C, MS]
2060 Inquiries in Business
2070 Inquiries in Education
2080 Inquiries in Nursing
2310 Cultural Diversity in the Humanities (3) [CD]
This seminar focuses upon cultural diversity themes, texts, and perspectives within the humanities.
This seminar focuses upon cultural diversity themes, texts, and perspectives within the social science.3010-3050. Advanced Honors Seminar (3)
Prerequisite: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. Open only to Honors College Students and not acceptable for graduate credit. Usually restricted to juniors and seniors, these advanced seminars focus on in-depth study of a significant body of subject matter. The perspective employed will normally be interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary and will underscore the value of making connections between diverse areas of study. These courses will not usually require specific prerequisites, but may (with the consent of the appropriate department or division) be taken as major or minor courses. The course number may be repeated for credit whenever the topic is substantially different.
3010 Advanced Honors Seminar in the Humanities
3020 Advanced Honors Seminar in the Fine and Performing Arts
3030 Advanced Honors Seminar in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
3040 Advanced Honors Seminar in Mathematics and Computing
3050 Advanced Honors Seminar in the Sciences
3060 Advanced Honors Seminar in Business
3070 Advanced Honors Seminar in Education
3080 Advanced Honors Seminar in Nursing
3100 Honors Advanced Composition: Writing the City (3)
Prerequisite: Junior standing and consent of the dean of the Honors College. Enhances critical thinking, research, discussion, and writing skills by focusing on the city of St. Louis and on the specific fields of study of those enrolled in the course. Issues such as depth and development of content, voice, style, tone, correct expression, and research techniques are among the topics emphasized. Students maintain a Commonplace Book of journals, drafts, and creative writings; they also submit a minimum of four formal papers. This course is required for transfer students (two-year Honors Program) and an elective for students on the four-year program. For students on either program, HONORS 3100 meets the Advanced Composition requirement of the university.
3160 Honors Writing in the Sciences (3)
Prerequisites: Junior-level standing and consent of the dean of the Honors College This honors course, designed to meet the needs for students in the science disciplines, will satisfy the campus junior-level writing requirement. This course will stress writing observation reports, academic journals, laboratory reports and a major project suited to the specific area of study of each student enrolled in the class. Instruction will include correct documentation of science sources, synthesis techniques of research information, technology-based research skills and effective laboratory reporting methods. Four formal papers, including one large project, and several informal papers will be required for this challenging course.
3510-3580 Research Seminar (3)
Prerequisites: Consent of the dean of the Honors College. Open only to Honors College students and not acceptable for graduate credit. Modeled on and for some students affording a preview of the postgraduate or professional research seminar, Honors Research seminars bring students face to face with primary research, as appropriate in the library, the laboratory, and/or field work, utilizing appropriate disciplinary perspectives and secondary reading. These courses may be cross-listed with other advanced courses in appropriate departments/divisions of the university, and as such may carry specific course prerequisites and/or require the specific consent of the instructor.
Prerequisites: Consent of Honors Dean; Consent of Instructor. Course material based on primate behavior, demographics and morphology. Research techniques for ethological and primatological studies, including the design of research protocols, development of data collection methodologies, analysis of morphological and behavioral data, and the scientific description of findings. Students are required to conduct observations of primates at the St. Louis Zoo and participate in the Undergraduate Research Symposium.
3510 Research Seminar in the Humanities
3520 Research Seminar in the Fine and Performing Arts
3530 Research Seminar in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
3540 Research Seminar in Mathematics and Computing
3555 Research Seminar in the Sciences
3560 Research Seminar in Business
3570 Research Seminar in Education
3580 Research Seminar in Nursing
4100 Independent Portfolio Writing (1)
4100 Independent Portfolio Writing (1 or 2)
Prerequisites: Consent of the dean of the Honors College and senior status. Open only to Honors College students and not acceptable for graduate credit. Students in this course will meet on a regular basis with the director of writing and other appropriate Honors faculty to revise and polish samples in the Honors writing portfolio which the student has compiled during his or her Honors College enrollment. With the assistance of the Director, the student will write an in-depth analysis of his or her writing and will select the best examples of writing in his or her Honors Portfolio. During this independent study, the student may request help with research skills, writing issues, or application procedures for post-graduate courses or employment. All students must take one credit hour; the two-credit hour option is recommended for students whose plans include graduate or professional school.
Prerequisites: Consent of the Dean of the Honors College. Open only to Honors College students and not acceptable for graduate credit. Most Honors students will fulfill their Honors independent study requirements in another department or division of the university. Where this is not possible, and where academic credit seems an appropriate reward for the independent study in question, the project may be undertaken as HONORS 4900, normally as a 3-credit course. This will involve substantial reading, research, and/or field work, and will be supervised by a permanent member of the Honors College academic staff. Completed proposal forms for this course must be submitted to the Honors College no later than the deadline for university registration.
4910 Internship. (1-6)
Prerequisites: Junior/Senior Standing and consent of the dean of the Honors College. This independent study course is designed for students who are participating in an approved, non-paid or paid internship. Often operating in conjunction with the student's major, the class requires an on-going journal and formal paper varying in length according to credit hours and hours of the internship work. Evaluation is based on the student's work, the completed form by supervisor of internship, and assigned papers and journal.
Prerequisites: as for HONORS 4910. This course is designed for 1 to 6 hours for an outside internship, approved by the Honors College. The student will not be on campus for the hours of this internship and must work for the internship will be submitted online to the Honors College internship supervisor.


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New Beginnings, 2014 Issue 1, March 2014
Features: • I Didn't Expect This! What You May Not Know About the Early Postpartum Days
"Many 'little' details about this amazing time at the start of your mothering journey may not seem so little when you experience them, and you may wonder whether these are normal for you and for your baby."
Mothers' Stories: • Katrina's Breastfeeding Journey
"I started breastfeeding and it seemed to be going well. Then we got home from the hospital and my mother took over..."
• Transitions
"I just watched my son fall asleep at the breast for the third night in a row. He'll be three years old in two weeks. The weaning process began months ago."
Staying Home: • Managing Night Shifts
"I'm home with our two boys and my husband works nights. I often feel like a single mother since my husband spends most of his time at home sleeping.... How have other families coped with the challenges of a night shift schedule?"
Toddler Tips: • Helping a Toddler Adjust to a New Baby - with responses from Forums members mommal and froggylogic
"My second baby was just born and I feel completely overwhelmed. My toddler still needs attention, I am nursing the new baby constantly, and I am exhausted... How have other mothers coped with the intense postpartum time while helping their toddlers adjust?"
Making it Work: • Tips & Resources in Preparation of Going Back to Work
"Aside from introducing the bottle and pumping, I'm not really sure what I need to do to prepare for going back to work... What books, websites, and other resources have been most helpful to you?"
Focus on Fathers: • The Jackson Family
"When Brittany told her husband that she wanted to breastfeed Everleigh, he didn't know much about it but thought being able to provide free food for his daughter was a win-win situation. Scott realized later how healthy Everleigh was and that the benefits of Brittany nursing were numerous for both his wife and for his daughter."
Giving Birth: • The Natural Cesarean Birth
"By thinking ahead about how you would like to deal with unexpected and often unfamiliar situations, you, your partner, or your birth attendant (a trained labor and delivery doula or midwife) will still know what your birth wishes are even in the face of a relative emergency."
US Breastfeeding Committee: • Breastfeeding News from Across the Country
• California Senate Bill 402
• Pediatrics study on milk sharing study
• Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine article on milk sharing study
• USBC Statement on Safe Use of Donor Milk
• U.S Department of Labor and Breastfeeding Rights in Workplace
• Break Time for Nursing Mothers Employee Rights Card
• National Breastfeeding Center Insurance Company Scorecard
• CDC Breast Cancer Infographic
Eating Wisely: • Seize the Day: Celebrate Food Holidays
"If you like to cook, you've probably exhausted your repertoire of soups, stews, crock pot wonders, and casseroles. These months are often tough for many people, and we may find ourselves longing for something to celebrate while we wait for spring to arrive."
Recipes: • Chicken and Rice Casserole
• Flatbread Pizza
• Spinach Hummus
Book Review: • The Virtual Breastfeeding Culture by Lara Audelo
"In each chapter, Audelo brings together information about a common breastfeeding concern with accompanying stories of mothers who have experienced these situations and found solutions and solace online."

subset: commoncrawl


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A 7-year-old boy was shot to death under mysterious circumstances in western Pennsylvania today. The little boy was in his family car, outside a gun store, strapped into his booster seat, when police say a gun somehow fired, hitting the child square in the chest. Cops won't say yet whether the shooting outside Twig's Reloading Den in Mercer was an accident or something done intentionally.
But one thing is clear: that little boy didn't have a chance. He was strapped into his car seat, his dad was backing out of a parking space, and all of a sudden, his life was over.
We're all going to be Monday morning quarterbacking the shooting death of this child, so I want to say right now that my heart goes out to the family of this little boy. Whatever our thoughts on gun control, I hope that every American can come to a point where they agree on that.
A child is gone. His family needs our support.
They also need us all to approach this tragedy with some common sense.
Raised in a rural area, I'm all too aware of why we have the right to bear arms in this country. I know more than my fair share of people who shoot the food that their family eats. The fact is, based on its website, Twig's gun store is a place that caters mostly to hunters. There's a good chance that this was a dad taking his little boy to pick up something so they could go out on an old-fashioned dad and son bonding trip into the woods on a Saturday.
But all that said, this is one more sad story that makes me want to scream from the highest rooftop that people need to be more careful with the guns they own. Anything can happen at anytime. I've seen it in my small town, where people have unwittingly shot friends, employees, children ... because they just weren't careful enough with a loaded weapon.
What we have to remember in this gun debate isn't whether or not we have the right to be armed necessarily but the rights of people like this little boy to be around gun owners without fear.
As they say, with power comes great responsibility. And there are few powers mightier or more dangerous than gun ownership. Your responsibility to be careful and safe with that weapon is quite literally a matter of life or death.
Whatever happened to that little boy today, it was NOT his fault. Whether he touched that gun of whether he was just sitting there, it was the responsibility of that gun's owner to keep that boy safe.
What is your stance on gun control? Do you think there's a place for gun ownership in this country?
Image via Richard Elzey/Flickr


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Earlier this year, Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, held a national search for an up-and-coming band to open for Third Day, a Grammy winning Christian rock band.
Ultimately, the Matt Bartlett Band, based in Goldsboro, N.C., got the nod after Internet voting picked them among three finalists.
As the video below shows, Bartlett even got the chance to step on stage and sing with the headliners at the theme park on June 24.
Turns out, it wasn't a one-shot deal.
Next month, the contest's three...


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Use search window (top left or down to right). Need help? email: proplib at gmail.com to change details or link? WE ALSO USE A NEW PLATFORM - Check it out (not all fuctionalities are operational yet!) at : NEW DIRECTORY. For Free Directory Entry: For your free directory entry. We do not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
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Hareem Mitchell, 23, of Dover, was convicted of attempted murder, robbery, firearms and other offenses by a Kent County Superior Court jury before Judge Young Wednesday.
Hareem Mitchell, 23, of Dover, was convicted of attempted murder, robbery, firearms and other offenses by a Kent County Superior Court jury before Judge Young Wednesday.
Mitchell was convicted for crimes he committed on March 17, 2012, Delaware Department of Justice spokesman Jason Miller said. On that date, Mitchell shot at a Dover police officer while fleeing from the armed robbery he committed at the convenience store Dot's Discount Cigarettes in the Carroll's Corner Shopping Center.
Mitchell was captured at the scene of the shooting, Miller said. The robbery and the shooting were recorded by video surveillance cameras, he said.
Mitchell fired four shots in close range to the officer, nearly striking him in the head. While the officer was not struck, he suffered minor injuries while avoiding being hit. One of the rounds hit a house at 808 S. Governor's Street, where two occupants were inside eating dinner.
Mitchell's trial began on Jan. 15, 2013 in the Kent County Courthouse.
He was convicted of all counts: two counts of first-degree, attempted murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, two counts of first-degree reckless endangering and one count each of wearing a disguise during commission of a felony and resisting arrest.
Closing statements were made Wednesday morning, and the jury returned with its verdict after deliberating for approximately 90 minutes, including their lunch break.
Mitchell faces 40 years minimum mandatory time in prison to life when sentenced on March 14, 2013. The case was prosecuted by state Deputy Attorneys General R. David Favata and Lindsay Taylor.
Multiple officers from the Dover Police Department were present during the trial.


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Young homers, but Kendrick, Phils hit hard by Orioles
SARASOTA, Fla. -- Matt Wieters had five RBIs and non-roster invitee Conor Jackson homered twice to lead the Orioles to a 12-3 win Grapefruit League win over the Phillies on Sunday afternoon.View Full Game Coverage
SARASOTA, Fla. -- Matt Wieters had five RBIs and non-roster invitee Conor Jackson homered twice to lead the Orioles to a 12-3 win Grapefruit League win over the Phillies on Sunday afternoon.View Full Game Coverage
Wieters connected for his first spring homer -- a three-run shot off Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick -- and Jackson followed two pitches later with a solo shot to left-field. The pair combined again to help fuel a seven-run Orioles fifth off Phillies lefty Jeremy Horst, with Wieters delivering a two-run double and Jackson driving a 2-1 pitch over the fence to bring his total to four RBIs. Jason Pridie also had a two-run homer, his second of the spring, to cap the fifth-inning scoring.
Kendrick pitched two innings, allowing all four runs via the homer, and collected a pair of strikeouts. Righty Zach Miner followed Kendrick and tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.
Oriole starter Chris Tillman went 2 2/3 innings in his second spring game, allowing two runs -- both on Michael Young's homer -- and striking out three. Tillman was charged with four hits and exited after a two-out walk to Laynce Nix put him at his pitch count.
"I made a bad pitch either way," Tillman said when asked if he thought the Young homer was wind-aided. "I guess I deserved it, but fortunately, I finished a little bit better down in the zone.
"I think the wind's blowing for both teams."
Miguel Gonzalez, who ascended from Minor League camp to the big league rotation last year, pitched two scoreless innings in his Grapefruit League debut, allowing one baserunner on a walk to Cesar Hernandez. Hernandez was caught stealing second base, and Gonzalez cruised the rest of the outing.
Up next: Phillies left-hander John Lannan will oppose Pirates righty A.J. Burnett in Bradenton, Fla., on Monday afternoon for a 1:05 p.m. ET game at McKechnie Field.
Brittany Ghiroli is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Britt's Bird Watch, and follow her on Twitter @britt_ghiroli.


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On this date in 1973, the Mets' Jon Matlack threw a one-hit shutout at Shea Stadium over the Houston Astros, 1-0.
Tommy Helms doubled in the sixth for Houston's only hit, and Duffy Dyer's double drove in Rusty Staub for the game's only run.
With the victory, the Mets improved to 36-46, sixth place in the National League East, 12 games off the pace.
It was a different time then, but the message is the same. Those Mets didn't give up on the season and reached the World Series. The road is different today, but looking back history tells us good things can still happen in this season.


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LODI – Plummeting gas prices have fallen below the $3 threshold in Lodi.
LODI – Plummeting gas prices have fallen below the $3 threshold in Lodi.
Not only is it the first time regular gas has sold for under $3 in the local market this year, the $2.89 charged at Costco and $2.99 charged at an Arco station are the lowest prices reported throughout California this morning.
The Costco membership warehouse gas station is near East Harney Lane and Highway 99. The Arco is at 800 E. Kettleman Lane between Highway 99 and Cherokee Lane. The low prices were reported through the StocktonGasPrices.com website.
The average price for a gallon of regular in San Joaquin County this morning is $3.31, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Overall, nearby Stanislaus County has the lowest regional average at $3.30 a gallon. The state average is $3.54 while the national average is $3.27 today, AAA reports.


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A gated community situated between North Lake Tahoe and Truckee, Calif., counts among its members bigwigs from Facebook, Apple, Yahoo, and Google. While North Lake Tahoe is a four-hour drive from Silicon Valley, Martis Camp serves as a year-round second-home getaway.
The homes have rustic touches and incorporate rugged materials, but community members are not exactly roughing it. The luxury mountain homes in the community start in the $2 million range, and the community buildings such as the lodge and library are all LEED-certified. The 2,000-plus acre community has an 18-hole golf course, a high-speed quad lift providing a six-minute trip to the Northstar at California Resort for skiing, 26 miles of trails for hiking/snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, as well as dining venues, fitness center and vitality pools.
Will such upscale communities become standard for the titans of Silicon Valley? Homes in Martis Camp sold for a total of more than $90 million in 2011 and $27.6 million so far this year.
The following slides single out one of the houses on the market.
By Colleen Kane
Posted 16 May, 2012


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Man of Steel (Mesh): Harry Bertoia's Famous Chairs
In the design world, Harry Bertoia's name is synonymous with his line of wire chairs made for Knoll in the 1950s, not just because those chairs are so famous, but also because he is not formally credited with making much else. Let's take a look at Harry Bertoia and how his sculptural experimentations with industrial materials yielded an important body of work both for himself and for Charles and Ray Eames.
Bertoia (image 2) was born in Italy in 1915, and moved to the US when he was 15. He studied art and design in high school and college and finally, in 1937, won a scholarship to Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he met Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen and Walter Gropius. Bertoia was heading the metal workshop by 1939. But World War II had made metal scarce and expensive, and Cranbrook suspended his workshop in 1943.
World War II demanded that designers apply their talents to the war effort. Bertoia and the Eameses moved to California to work on equipment for military application. After the war, they applied their developments in military plywood and plastics to domestic furniture. Working for the Eameses by day, Bertoia took welding classes at night. It is commonly accepted that he designed the metal base of the Eames' famous DCM and LCM chairs (image 3).
Frustrated that he wasn't getting credit for his designs, and ready to work more exclusively with metal, Bertoia left the Eames studio in 1946 and began making sculpture. In 1950 he moved to Pennsylvania and began a professional relationship with Hans and Florence Knoll, who produced his only collection of furniture in 1952 (images 1, 4-10). It was so successful that Bertoia was able to live off the royalties and focus solely on his sculpture.
Bertoia's furniture line for Knoll is made of welded steel mesh with a trapezoidal base. His famous Diamond lounge chair (images 1, 4 & 5), his Bird chair (images 6 & 7), and his Asymmetric Chaise (image 8) are particularly sculptural, and all his pieces share a biomorphic sensibility, managing to convey an organic, almost anthropomorphic warmth within their metal frames. The body-conscious curves of the chairs are one obvious point of affinity with the Eames' designs.
More striking is the similarity between Bertoia's line and the Eames Wire Chair (image 11), produced by Herman Miller. Bertoia's first iteration of his chair used an identical construction trick as the Eames Wire Chair: to limit cost and weight without compromising strength, the outside rim was constructed of two lighter-gauge wires welded together. The Eameses had received a patent on this design detail, so Herman Miller (who produced the Eames chairs) successfully sued Knoll and Bertoia for patent infringement. Bertoia had to redesign the chairs using a single heavier-gauge wire. It is impossible to know how Bertoia and the Eameses influenced one another, if either exploited the other's work, or if the similarities between their pieces are simply a benign result of the collaborative process. (Are you Team Bertoia or Team Eames?)
Until the end of his life, Bertoia made metal sculpture, much of which played with sound, movement and vibration (images 12 & 13). His pieces are often meant to be touched, by human hands or the wind, in order to evoke the inner 'music' of the metal. He gave concerts and recorded albums using his sculpture, all entitled "Sonambient." Both his sculpture and his furniture use metal almost as an organic material, often echoing the curves of the human body, the swaying of grasses in the wind (image 12), or mushrooms (image 2).
Bertoia died in 1978 at the age of 63, from cancer probably related to his exposure to the beryllium copper he used in his work (he knew it was toxic, but loved its resonance). He didn't always sign his work, preferring to think of it as the invention of the universe. The year he died, he said, "Humanity will continue without me, but I am not going away … Every time you will see some tree tops moving in the wind you will think of me …"
Sources: Bertoia's chairs are licensed through Knoll and sold at DWR (for a small fortune). Lost City Arts in Manhattan's East Village has an amazing inventory of Bertoia sculpture, big and small, as well as his fabulous monoprints, and the proprietor, James Elkind, is incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. Sick of the Bertoia chair? Here is a controversial Apartment Therapy post on some new alternatives.
Images: 1: Bertoia Diamond chair in


text: Me: Avid traveler. Avid Skier. Discriminating taste. First time visiting Beaver Creek. Although the condos were all sold out, we were able to check in early (like 4 hours early). The staff was exceptionally helpful over the duration of our stay. We did our research and, honestly, were a bit worried about the type of condo we would wind up... More


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Activity 5 {science, physical movement}: Go for nature walk around the neighborhood and collect leaves, berries, pinecones, nuts, sticks, and other natural objects in various sizes, shapes, and colors. This was totally his favorite part!
Activity 6 {math skills}: Sort by types and colors, count how many are in each pile. Also, do some simple adding {"If you have four large pinecones and three small ones, how many total pinecones do you have?"}
Activity 7 {art}: Make a collage using what we collected.


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18 U.S. Code § 246 - Deprivation of relief benefits
§ 246.
Deprivation of relief benefits
Whoever directly or indirectly deprives, attempts to deprive, or threatens to deprive any person of any employment, position, work, compensation, or other benefit provided for or made possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress appropriating funds for work relief or relief purposes, on account of political affiliation, race, color, sex, religion, or national origin, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
(Added Pub. L. 94–453, § 4(a), Oct. 2, 1976, 90 Stat. 1517; amended Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted "fined under this title" for "fined not more than $10,000".
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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Airstreams Rally at St. Augustine Fairgrounds
April 22, 2011 by RVBusiness · Comments Off on Airstreams Rally at St. Augustine Fairgrounds
More and more glowing aluminum trailers will dot the St. Johns County Fairgrounds in north Florida this week as a group of Airstream enthusiasts set up camp there, the St. Augustine Record reported.
Members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International Florida Unit will camp at the fairgrounds off State Road 207 through the holiday weekend and enjoy shared meals and entertainment at their campsites, said Frank Carson, the director of the rally.
"The facilities here are knock 'em dead," Carson said. "We really couldn't ask for better."
By Wednesday afternoon, several dozen of the round, silver trailer rigs were set up across the large lawn of the fairgrounds. Their shimmery casings were easily visible from the roadway.
The caravanning group has returned to St. Augustine this year, even though some tension with county commissioners almost canceled the trip completely, Carson said.
According to a letter to the editor in November, "St. Johns County instituted a new rate schedule on Oct. 1, 2010. The resident rate skyrocketed more than 200% for the week. We had to set our rally fee by Sept. 1 and did so based on the proposed rate schedule and published it.
"Now unknown additional costs, loss of kitchen facilities due to fire code violations, and the intransigence of the county fairgrounds administrators will cause us to lose money. We have no alternative but to cancel the rally."
"The county is really just shooting themselves in the foot," Carson said.
Carson said the raised rates are what almost canceled the trip completely. Members who live in St. Augustine were able to secure a discounted rate, however, which allowed the group to still afford the trip.
"They have one price for people who live in St. Johns County and another for those who live somewhere else," Carson said. "By doing that, they're only hurting themselves."
This particular rally is the most expensive on the group's schedule for the year. Members are paying $225 for six nights of camping with 30-amp electric and water, and three meals.
Also included are Matanzas River cruise passes, tickets to the Fountain of Youth and four days' worth of Ripley's Believe It or Not! trolley tours.
Other weeklong rallies set in other Florida cities range from $10 to $175.
The group has traveled to spend the Easter holiday in St. Augustine for the last 15 years, Carson said.
"It wasn't that the fees went up; it's that we waived them in the past," said Karen Pan, public information specialst for St. Johns County. "We're making decisions like this in departments across the county because of the tough budget."
Pan said that fees are being charged at properties like the fairgrounds because there are costs associated with just operating the facility.
Yvette and John Landry spent a few days pulling their 1993 Airstream classic from Kaplin, La., to St. Augustine. By Wednesday afternoon they were happily settled among many other silver rigs at the fairgrounds.
"Isn't that aluminum just beautiful? You could use it to put on your makeup," said Yvette Landry, 80.
The Landrys travel with their Airstream a few times a year. This was the first time the couple traveled to St. Augustine.
"Everything we do here helps your economy," said John Landry, a retired band director. "We're out spending money in your town."


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NEW DELHI, India, June 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications and a top supplier of System-on-Chip (SoC) ICs for set-top boxes and home gateways, today announced that its STiH273 (Palma) HD cable chipset has been selected by DEN Networks, a leading Indian Cable MSO (multi-system operator) with over 6 million subscribers. The ST technology inside DEN's newest HD zapper delivers an even better user experience and helps broaden market access to HD zappers and enable DEN to win more subscribers and grow its own revenues.
The STiH273 (Palma) integrates a field-proven and widely deployed Digital Video Broadcast-Cable (DVB-C) demodulator that has been optimized to work with high-performance external Controller Area Networks (CANs) and silicon tuners to meet the stringent RF-performance requirements of the Indian Cable networks. The STiH273 (Palma) also delivers high-quality Faroudja® video, 3DTV support, connectivity, and advanced security schemes with all the latest Conditional Access System (CAS) support, including NSK2.
Manufactured in 40nm process technology, the chipset supports an enhanced processing engine with integrated on-chip features that simplify set-top box design, enable operators to take advantage of lower-cost memories, and minimize system power consumption.
"Our new high-definition digital set-top boxes leverage STMicroelectronics' feature-packed and flexible System-on-Chip ICs, providing an ideal platform for us to deliver innovative value-added services to our customers," said Mr. MG Azhar, COO, DEN Networks. "The STiH273 SoC is clearly the right choice for our latest generation of set-top boxes with the right power, versatility, and features to meet our market needs. We are confident that the chipset will help us in creating both enhanced customer satisfaction and sustaining our leadership edge in India."
"As a leading Cable MSO in India, DEN Networks sets the trend for technology, modernization, and radical transformation, and ST is proud to contribute to DEN's strategic intent," said Vivek Sharma, Regional Vice President, Greater China and South Asia region, and Director, India Design Center, STMicroelectronics. "DEN Networks' selection of ST's technology underlines our core competencies and reiterates our commitment to this fast-growing market through localization and co-operation with our India partners."
During 2014, India is expected to complete its TV digitization plan, as defined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). As a result, TV subscribers will purchase an additional 75 million set-top boxes (STBs) during 2014 alone, according to the predictions by the Government of India. ST's comprehensive and complete solutions, designed for fast time-to-market, enable service providers to bring out the best and most affordable digital set-top box solutions to their subscribers.
About DEN Networks
DEN Networks Limited is India's leading cable-TV distribution company, reaching an estimated 13 million households in over 200 cities across India. The company has been one of the front-runners in the cable-TV digitization process and has over 6 million digital-cable subscribers.
DEN Digital - DEN's digital cable services brand is one of the market leaders in India's digital television space. DEN Digital offers a wide choice of channels and services spanning all major genres and languages along with cutting-edge value added services (VAS).
DEN aims to become the default destination for entertainment, information and interactivity for the Indian family.
About STMicroelectronics
ST is a global leader in the semiconductor market serving customers across the spectrum of sense and power and automotive products and embedded processing solutions. From energy management and savings to trust and data security, from healthcare and wellness to smart consumer devices, in the home, car and office, at work and at play, ST is found everywhere microelectronics make a positive and innovative contribution to people's life. By getting more from technology to get more from life, ST stands for life.augmented.
In 2013, the Company's net revenues were $8.08 billion. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.
For further information please contact:
Sunit Rai
Deputy Manager, Corporate External Communications
+91 9711244003
STMicro STB SoC Chosen by DEN Networks http://hugin.info/152740/R/1793177/617362.pdf


text: The SHEPHERD 6-18x40 V1 Dual Reticle System Rifle Scope (618-V1) has such magnificent features as one shot zeroing in, visual confirmation of windage and elevation, instant range finding and bullet drop compensation, instant visual verification of the original zero, and so on. You will always find the brightest light transmission and the sharpest resolution in optics with the Shepherd scope. The model 618-V1 has 18" range-finding circles for deer and military silhouettes. Please note that circles can be adjusted up or down to accomodate faster or slower loads. Shepherd Rifle Scope gives you the best of both worlds with the drawbacks of neither. Sheperd uses the front focal plane location for rangefinding and bullet drop compensating circles. This gives Shepperd Scope the German dependability and, when zoomed, the circles do not block the targets but instead frame them and give you instant target engagement on any power. Then put the cross hair in the rearfocal plane (where the Americans do) in order to get the benefits of a nonmagnifying reticle. This patented Dual Reticle System lets each reticle monitor the other and thus allows for: one shot zeroing in, "at a glance" verification of the original zero, and visual confirmation of windage and elevation adjustments before you shoot. The Shepherd is truly the most reliable of all and the only one to tell you if something is out of zero before you shoot.


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Bonners are responsible for reflecting each semester. Reflecting helps you to process and understand the purpose, meaning, and effect of your service. Reflecting also helps you make connections between your service, academics, personal life and vocational goals. Furthermore, reflections are one important way of connecting with the Bonner Director and Coordinator and sharing of high and low moments that should be celebrated and/or addressed.
Reflections are due as determined by your issue team or cohort leader.
Choose one of the following options to reflect on your service for the school year. All written reflections should be typed. Semester long reflection options are due to the Bonner Office before the end of the semester. Indicated in parenthesis is the maximum number of service hours you can count for each option.
Semester Reflection Options:
Unless a Bonner Scholar is selected as a "Bonner Blogger" (in which case, he/she will have a separate agreement with the Bonner Office regarding reflection), Bonner Scholars are required to do a formal reflection every other month during the school year. Reflections are intended as merely fly-on-the-wall reports of what happened at your site or anywhere else, they should demonstrate your understanding of issues, the community, the world and yourself. Care should also be given to ensure that reflections demonstrate high standards of comprehension, grammar, spelling and professionalism, just as if they were academic papers or projects. The Director and Coordinator reserve the right to deem any submitted reflection unsatisfactory and request that a new reflection be submitted. The Director and the Coordinator will determine the new deadline and notify the student. Each completed, approved reflection shall count for 1 Bonner hour and its satisfactory completion (or lack thereof) will go into the Bonner Scholar's permanent record, which is reviewed each semester. Reflections should be e-mailed to your issue team or cohort leader:Jessalyn at firstname.lastname@example.com, Allyn at firstname.lastname@example.com, or Koni at email@example.com Acceptable Forms of Bonner Reflections Bonner reflections may take one of two forms: 1) An essay of approximately 750 words on one of the topics outlined below, or a subject of your choosing for which you have received advance approval from the Director or Coordinator (topics should relate to personal development, service work, common commitments, vocational discernment, etc.). Written reflections should be dated and pledged. Please also include either the words "personal and confidential" or "may be shared." If coursework can be adapted to serve as a Bonner reflection or vice versa, that's great. 2) A 5-10 minute-long, produced video on one of the topics outlined below, or a subject of your choosing for which you have received advance approval from the Director or Coordinator (topics should relate to personal development, service work, common commitments, vocational discernment, etc.). Video cameras are available for check out from the Bonner Office. We welcome your ideas and will readily offer feedback on making your video better before you begin shooting, if you like. 3) Your issue team or cohort leader may suggest a different option for your group depending on the service you are doing. Always feel free to ask if you have a suggestion for a new reflection option Reflection Options


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Three charged in death of man found in Houston bayou
Three people have been charged with capital murder in the death of a man whose body was found in a retention pond in northwest Houston.
Juan Lopez, 20, Carino Ratcliff, 17, and Cierra Jacobs, 19, have each been charged with capital murder. They are currently being held in the Harris County Jail without bail.
Court documents charge each with the robbery and death of Jimmy Ray Boyd.
The body of the 60-year-old man was found about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on an embankment near a section of White Oak Bayou near De Soto and T.C. Jester, authorities said.
The victim's sister had reported the man missing May 14 after he failed to meet her as planned. She gave investigators information that indicated that he may have been a victim of foul play, officials said.


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Opinion: Politics
Beyond Left and Right: Awaiting the Pope's Next Encyclical
G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "The whole modern world has divided itself into conservatives and progressives. The business of progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." The tired categories of Left and Right, which we associate with Liberal (or Progressive) and… READ MORE >
Opinion: Issues
After the Disaster: Back to the Family and Localism
The rules of capitalism are being re-written. Banks are being nationalized. Governments are pouring money and incentives into the economic system. Interest rates are being lowered towards zero. Consumers are being asked to buy more in order to re-start the cycle of consumption-driven production, while Barak Obama gets on with saving the planet.… READ MORE >
Magazine: Business
The Global Crisis: Lessons from the Middle Ages
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With the 1 Ton Arbor Press (Central Machinery 3552) from Harbor Freight Tools mounted to your workbench, small production and assembly jobs are a breeze! Installing and removing bearings, staking, pressing shafts and more are all done quickly and efficiently with minimal effort thanks to the 1 ton force applied by this mighty but small arbor press. Its all-metal construction combined with a large base make this arbor press sturdy and durable so you can power through a whole variety of applications! Even installation is easy with the mount holes conveniently built into the press. Just secure the tool to your workbench and you're ready to go.
Safely Handles Small Jobs!
In case I'm not pressing the point enough, check out what some actual customers had to say:
"I am using this press to squeeze the juice of vegetables and fruits from the production of a meat grinder. It is tough enough for that and its four inch throat guarantees a small pressing area and ensures enough pressure to adequately squeeze my fruit and vegetable pulp through a flour sack towel. That gives me juice without the pulp. I am not using it for its intended use so my comment may inspire someone else to find another non-standard use for this arbor press. I no longer work on cars professionally, but it may serve double duty at some time in the future." — xenonracerx from Las Vegas, NV
"I use this to press bearings in and piston pins, also have fixed body panels with it. A+ and a great value cant go wrong" — Joel from Rogers, MN
"I use this press to press in leaf spring bushing on almost all my suspension projects. I mounted it into my vise and press in all the bushing with no problem. A lot faster than using my 20 ton h frame press." — James the fabricator from Lakewood, Wa
And I'm willing to be that James the Fabricator is telling the truth despite his profile name. Bigger or more powerful presses can't handle the smaller jobs tackled by the 1 ton arbor press. For smaller work pieces, you'll want to be sure to use a press that can handle the work safely while still applying enough force. And while you're at it, be sure to get a good look at Harbor Freight's line of vices too. The 6″ Portable Carpenter's Vise or the 4" Drill Press Vice are a great addition to work you may be doing on the arbor press.
You'll be hard pressed to find another arbor press for sale at the same low cost as this one offered by Harbor Freight. Other retailers sell similar presses for much more!


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Grand Theft Auto IV Walkthrough
|A Long Way to Fall (cont.)
Clearing the floors leading up to your target apartment should have been easy enough, but when you reach a door with a yellow arrow in front of it, things will get slightly more difficult. Reaching that arrow will allow you to breach an apartment where three well-armed thugs are waiting for an opportunity to do you in. There's little cover for you to work with, so aggressive tactics work best here (or, a grenade, if you have any). When those initial three enemies are cleared, you can then head to the bathroom and kitchen. Both rooms are empty. But when you go to return to the entrance, you find your target in an unexpected place.
Busting out of an unexplored closet (or room), your target will run out of the apartment, leaving you on the ground with a busted nose. As he heads up towards the roof (as the game tells you), you'll have to give chase. This is one of the major reasons why clearing all of the previously-explored floors of all enemies is vital, because these enemies will show up and supplement the enemies that will already be waiting for you on your route up several flights of stairs to the roof. Cap these enemies as you did with previous foes -- you should have no issues in this chase, and there doesn't appear to be an imminence in following the target too closely.
When you arrive on the roof, the final two enemies will make themselves seen. Armed with pistols, they should be nothing for you to slay with the power of your shotgun. The red dot that represents your mark should be cowering in a corner, and you can head to his location after his friends are dispatched. He'll have his final conversation with you, talking crap to the very end. When he's slain (watch him fall to the ground!), you'll find yourself back outside of the building automatically, where you're free to take on your next mission.
|Give us feedback!
|Continue Walkthrough...
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VMWare ESX Does Not Allow the Specification of the Bootloader Location
It is easy to install and use the utility partition with most Linux distributions by installing the Linux bootloader to the first linux (boot) partition. This leaves the Master Boot Record (MBR) untouched, which will allow for the <F10> option to load the Dell Utility Partition.
VMWare ESX, however, installs the bootloader to the MBR and does not provide an option to install the bootloader elsewhere. To allow the utility partition to function as designed and be able to retain use of the VMWare installation, some additional steps are needed.
Install the Dell Utility Partition with VMWare ESX
|If installing to a system which uses a RAID controller you must have a RAID array created and initialized prior to performing these steps.
|Refer to the deployment guide for your version of VMWare ESX at https://support.dell.com or http://www.vmware.com for more information.
|Do not modify or delete the existing partition, /dev/sda1, as this is the utility partition.
|The output should end with Writing boot sector. If it does not, the boot sector was not written correctly.
Identyfikator artykułu: SLN60647
Data ostatniej modyfikacji: 10/31/2012 12:00 AM
Dziękujemy za uwagi.


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Pocono daredevils and thrill seekers, take ease: You don't have to leave the area to take part in bold, daring adventures this summer.
Pocono daredevils and thrill seekers, take ease: You don't have to leave the area to take part in bold, daring adventures this summer.
The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau in Stroudsburg has compiled an Adventure Bucket List — 10 adrenaline-inducing activities to do in the area before reaching the end of your mortal life. Activities include riding in or driving a NASCAR-style stock car, skydiving and zip-lining.
Alicia M. Quinn, Mid-Atlantic Tourism chair, director of public relations and communications for the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau in Stroudsburg, said the bureau has lists and top 10s, but this is the organization's first bucket list.
"Bucket lists are great life achievement goals of doing things that would be out of the ordinary or something that one has always wanted to do," Quinn said. "Everyone's bucket list will be different; however, at the top of many lists, often is adventure-type activities — climbing, traveling, trying new things."
During the past winter season, the bureau received requests for activities other than skiing and snow tubing.
"One of our favorite winter activities is dog sledding," Quinn said. "That got us thinking about how few people actually have gone dog sledding and how fantastic it is, and the next thought that came was, you know what, that should be on my bucket list. That got us to thinking about all the bucket-list type of activities we have in the Pocono Mountains."
In compiling the list, the bureau "wanted to stick with the more unique or specialized activities that many have heard about, but never have tried," Quinn said.
While those unaccustomed to thrilling adventures may express safety concerns about some of the list's activities, "our partners go to great length to ensure that every guest safety comes first," Quinn said. "We would always recommend that visitors work with trained professionals and consult their physicians if they have medical issues first."
One such activity puts race fans behind the wheel of a 600-horsepower Sprint Cup-style stock car at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond. The activity comes courtesy of StockCar Racing Experience in Blakeslee, which operates the program from May to October on the 2.5-mile super speedway.
Steve Fox, general manager/chief instructor for StockCar Racing Experience, said that in the program's 15 seasons, "maybe there were five or six times where somebody just pulled in and said, 'I can't do this, this isn't for me.' But, it's never been a girl."
Even though males dominate the StockCar Racing Experience's clientele, Fox said the number of female customers continues to rise.
Regardless of gender, riding in a stock car puts race fans front and center with the racing experience. "How many people can say that they have participated in it, other than being a spectator?" Quinn said.
Driver participants must be 18 years old to drive and possess a valid driver's license, while riders must be 14 years old and have both parents present. The maximum height and weight for participation is 6'4" and 300 pounds, respectively.
When marketing the program, "we try to present it in a way that's thrilling, exciting, not scary or terrifying, and to tailor it to whatever adventure level our student takes with them," Fox said. "If they want to go out of their comfort zone, we don't want to take them out very far."
On a busy day for the Stock Car Racing Experience, "one of our mid-summer, sunshine Saturday/Sunday afternoons, we will do about 100 drivers and 130 riders," Fox said.
Participation cost varies by the package, with prices ranging from $139 to $149 for a three-lap ride, to $1,999 to $2,050 for an 8-mile drive.
"What's good isn't always good and what's good isn't always cheap," Fox said. "Some like it a lot and are able to come back several times a year. It's like playing golf, they enjoy doing it frequently."
If participants do everything right in the introductory program, "they can drive speeds in the mid-150s," Fox said. "As long as you can get in and out of the window and can drive a 4-speed, we'll teach you anything you need to go 150 miles an hour legally. Here, we yell at you for going too slow; on the highway, they yell at you for going too fast."
The program, which gives fans the option of riding as a passenger or driver, will surpass 2 million injury-free miles this month. "We haven't handed out a Band-Aid yet," Fox said. "We do realize maintaining our safety record is going to be harder than establishing it."
Another activity on the bucket list — skydiving — comes courtesy of Sky's the Limit Skydiving Center in East Stroudsburg, at Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport. Participants must be 18 years old and weigh under 245 pounds to experience one minute of free fall and a five-minute canopy ride, as they enjoy views of the mountains, the Delaware Water Gap and the New York City skyline.
Sara Mueller, a Sky's the Limit office employee, said that depending on the weather and the type of plane, skydivers may freefall anywhere from 10,000 to 13,500 feet above the Poconos, at a rate of 120 miles per hour. Despite the daunting height and speed, rarely does anyone back out of a jump.
"If they absolutely do not want to jump, they don't have to," Mueller said, adding that the company issues rain checks for anyone who has second thoughts before boarding a plane.
"It's normal for people to be anxious and scared," she said. "One person who went up was upset with herself that she couldn't do it, so she bought it again."
Skydivers pay an all-inclusive price — which includes gear, class time and training — of $195 (cash) or $205 (credit), with discounts available for groups of five or more. Sky's the Limit operates daily March through October.
While some see the thrill of skydiving as a younger person's activity, skydivers come in all ages, Mueller said, with jumpers even in their 70s through 90s taking the plunge. "As long as you're in good health, you can skydive," she adds.
While not offering a comparable altitude to skydiving, zip lining presents adventure-seekers with thrills in its own right. Participants have the chance to zip through and over trees 150 feet above the ground, at speeds exceeding 50 miles per hour, on a 3,000-plus-foot-long zip line at Kittatinny Canoes in Milford.
Amsley Lukacinsky, Adventure Center manager at Kittatinny's location in Barryville, N.Y., said there have been customers who backed out at the last minute, "as they must be comfortable with heights to do it. But, we're in our third year of operations and business keeps increasing every season," she said.
Zip-line participants, who must weigh between 60 and 250 pounds and be at least 8 years old, pay $37 to $39 for one ride, depending on the day.
"Zip lining is one of these great activities that you really don't have to do anything but enjoy the rush," Quinn said, adding that enthusiasts could double their pleasure at CBK Mountain Adventures' 4,000-foot-long tandem Zip-Flyer in Tannersville.
While the bucket-list items may be enough to pique the interest of thrill seekers, the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau isn't finished quite yet.
"We have a few additional activities that we are going to be announcing, such as paddle boarding and moonlight kayaking/rafting," Quinn said. "These are brand new experiences to the Pocono Mountains."


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Leo's winning kiss and Bradley Cooper's mother
There were a lot of winners at the Globes the other night. But, if you read the full column yesterday, you know that in my mind, one person stood triumphant over them all. That would be Bradley Cooper's mother. Click here for a refresher. In her jacket and sunglasses, which she kept on even during the telecast, that woman stole my heart and I'll never get it back. Even her name is awesome:
Gloria Campano.
Come on!
Why would anyone ever want to hang out with anyone else when Gloria Campano is around?
Here she is, throwing up two fingers, posing with her son and Leonardo DiCaprio, also with his mother, at The Weinstein Company party. Now you know why both of them have commitment issues.
Leo did manage some time with his current supermodel vagina – thank you Tina Fey – at the CAA party though. If I don't look too hard I can almost convince myself that they are gazing at each other lovingly before coming in for a kiss.
FameFlynet, Jeff Vespa/ Getty


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I want to go but fuck, thats a lot of money, plus i dont want to camp, too much of a hassle, do i have to buy the tickets individually for every day or is there a combo of non camping tickets?
I want to go but fuck, thats a lot of money, plus i dont want to camp, too much of a hassle, do i have to buy the tickets individually for every day or is there a combo of non camping tickets?
Generally a thicket is priced according to bramble quality and demand. A blackberry or raspberry thicket is likely to be less expensive than another type because those particular brambles are so easily found in alleys behind corner stores in residential areas of college towns. My suggestion is to figure out exactly what type of fruit you're hoping to bear and how cute you want your bunnies to be and then progress from there according to your budget.
Nobody knows. Golden Voice purposely doesn't reveal any of this information. You just have to show up and go where they tell you. sorry pal, but that is the way it is.
Originally Posted by stinkbutt
Also, have you considered the possibility of an orchard instead? They're very orderly.
I am neither foxy, nor a lady.
Neil Young - Kanye West - Beck - PJ Harvey - The Knife - Basement Jaxx - Tom Waits - Shpongle (Live) - Flying Lotus (Live) - The Avalanches - Autechre - Eels - Fat Freddy's Drop - Liquid Liquid - OFWGKTA - Freddie Gibbs - Big K.R.I.T. - Phantogram - Christian Scott - Nosaj Thing - Gold Panda - James Blake
For 2011
.................................................. ..............
She added the phrase "meany head" to my profile.I hardly think I'm an attention whore.I train birds of prey and am I licensed falconer
all kinds of win going on in here!
aww i can't stop laughing and feel bad that i am
So the festival ticket - currently only sold as a three day pass - is approximately $300 (including fees) through Ticketmaster.
If you were to get a camping spot it would be approximately $66 (including fees.)
I don't think I'm hosting a 2016 collaborative playlist.
Also I would pick blackberries.
I don't think I'm hosting a 2016 collaborative playlist.
oh god, so good
"When I die and go to heaven and see Jesus im going to say SHIT!"
Anybody see that Tourettes Guy is alive and making more videos?
this is funny
The Glitter Freeze
Coachella 99-10 Vet, the run has ended in 2011
Coachella 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12A, 13A
the creepy baby
crawling backwards with head down
is terrifying
"Give me women, wine and snuff
Until I cry out 'hold, enough!"
John Keats


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Bickell, Frolik hoping new season brings better results
In a shortened NHL season where depth is going to mean everything, Bryan Bickell and Michael Frolik need to step up for the Blackhawks after disappointing years in 2011-12.
Bickell had only 9 goals in 71 games (down from 17 the previous season), while Frolik had just 5 goals in 63 games, scoring on 4.3 percent of his 117 shots.
Both players were in Europe for the majority of the lockout and posted impressive numbers they hope translates into successful NHL seasons.
Bickell had 9 goals and 18 assists in 28 games playing for Znojmo in Austria, while Frolik had 13 goals and 10 assists in 29 games for Pirati Chomutov in the Czech League.
"For sure, I wasn't very good last year and I know I can be better," Frolik said. "I worked in the summer and tried to play some games in Czech. I think I'm in good shape and hopefully I can prove I can be better than last year."
Frolik admitted to pressing too much last season.
"Maybe I put too much pressure on me and think too much about it," Frolik said. "It's just hockey.
"For sure, if it (the puck) doesn't go in you think about it. Then the more you want to score and everything goes against you. Last year maybe I was thinking too much and kind of squeeze(d) my stick too hard. I just try to be relaxed more and play the game and we'll see what happens."
This is a contract year for the 26-year-old Bickell, who knows he must produce if he wants to stay with the Hawks.
"My first year was a good year, last year was a little speed bump, but being overseas and coming into this season where I am now, I feel good," Bickell said. "I need to have a good start and help this team out.
"I need to bring it every game, no shifts, no days off. I've got to be mentally focused. If it's talking to doc (team mental skills coach Jim Gary) or talking to the leaders ... this is an important year for me and for the team -- 48 games is a lot different than 82. We need to have a good start and so do I."
Frolik would like to show Hawks fans he is more the player who scored 21 goals two years in a row for Florida than the one they saw for a full season last year.
"I think I got the first 2-3 years very good and then it's kind of been down a little bit," Frolik said. "I just want to find a way to play like the first two years and be even better. Hopefully I get the chance here. I want to prove I can be in this league. I just want to be here and do something here."
Frolik would love to pick up where he left off playing in the Czech League.
"I played 15 minutes from my home, so I was back home," Frolik said. "I got like a point a game so it was fun. I played a lot and I played everything: power play, PK, so I got a lot of ice time. Hopefully, I can have an advantage for the start here."
Bickell, who sees himself playing on the third line with Dave Bolland, knows the goals probably won't come as easy as they did in Austria.
"They gave me more leeway to score goals and there wasn't much hitting over there, with the bigger ice," Bickell said. "They're a lot smaller and quicker; they're very good skaters over there. Being over there helped my skating."


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Summary of the Final Rule for Meaningful Use
Enacted on February 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) under the Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provision established incentive payments for eligible professionals (EP) and eligible hospitals that meaningfully use EHRs. On July 28, 2010 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program and the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC) released the final rule on the specification and certification criteria for EHRs to provide the final criteria EPs and eligible hospitals must meet to demonstrate that they are meaningful users of EHR.
The Academys recommendations and Changes from the Proposed to the Final Rule
In our comment letter to CMS regarding the proposed rule, although we supported the benefits of adopting EHR to improve health outcomes and the overall quality of care, we addressed some concerns to CMS:
We opposed the all or nothing approach that the agency proposed for EPs to obtain incentives. Rather, we supported a more gradual process to encourage EPs to adopt EHRs.
- We recommended the reduction of the threshold submissions for electronic prescriptions
- We suggested that CMS modify the criterion for recording chart changes by requiring EPs only to report relevant vital signs based on their specialty
- We requested that CMS require EPs to supply clinical summaries for patients only upon request
- We motioned the agency to exclude the five clinical decision support rules from the meaningful use criteria until a more appropriate time
- We asked CMS to exclude otolaryngologist head and neck surgeons from reporting specialty clinical measures since there werent any specialty groups applicable to us.
Changes Made in the Final Rule
In the final rule, due to our advocacy CMS reduced the total number of objectives that EPs must satisfy to show meaningful use. Also, they decreased the threshold levels for clinical quality measures, established two sets of objectives core and menu (there are 15 core objectives that EPs must report and EPs may select 5 out of 10 menu objective to report) and will allow EPs to be excluded from reporting measures that dont apply to them. In these cases, CMS will allow the EPs attest that the measures dont apply to them. CMS reduced the clinical decision support rules from five to one and reduced the clinical quality measures from 90 to 44. Also, they removed the requirement of reporting specialty group measures.
Things that Didnt Change
- CMSs definition of Meaningful users: An eligible professional, eligible hospital, or an eligible Critical Access Hospital who, for an EHR reporting period for a payment year demonstrates meaningful use of certified EHR technology in the form and manner consistent with CMS standards and declines requests to treat participation in Qualified Health Information Exchange Networks or in the Medicare Electronic Health Record Demonstration Program as meaningful use.
- EPs are not allowed to double dip so they must either participate in the Medicare OR Medicaid EHR Incentive program. (Eligible hospitals can participate in both incentive programs).
- EPs who are receiving incentive payments (IPs) under the Medicare E-prescribing program cannot participate in the Medicare EHR incentive program.
- EPs who are receiving IPs from the Medicaid EHR incentive program may also participate in the Medicare E-prescribing program.
- The maximum amount for incentives for Medicare ($44,000) and Medicaid ($63,750) EPs
- Participating EPs can change their election from one EHR incentive program to another once during the whole program after making their first choice (EPs will not be allowed to switch programs after CY 2014).
What do the Stages Entail?
The CMS finalizes its plan to phase the meaningful use (MU) criteria in three incremental stages. However, the agency only finalized the MU requirements under stage 1 for 2011 and 2012. CMS plans to expand the stage 1 criteria and include them into the subsequent stages. The agency will update the meaningful use criteria on in future rule makings and the current MU criteria will be valid until future proposals are made.
Meaningful Use for EPs who Work at Multiple Sites
According to CMS, EPs that work at multiple locations and do not have Certified EHRs (CEHR) at all of these locations need to have at least 50% of all their patient encounters at sites that have CEHR. In this case, CMS will only base their MU on encounters that occurred in these areas.
Clinical Quality Measures (Applies to Medicare and Medicaid Eligible Professionals (EPs))
To fulfill the meaningful use criteria for the 2011 Payment Year (PY), EPs must submit (to CMS) required clinical quality data with an attestation that they used certified EHRs to collect the data elements, calculate the results and vouch for the accuracy and completeness of the data they submitted. EPs are required to submit the numerators, denominators, and exclusions for the required measures for all applicable patients (not just Medicare and Medicaid patients). For the 2012 PY, EPs may start reporting the required data on quality measures electronically via a CMS designated portal. Beyond 2012, CMS plans to test (and possibly adopt) submission through Health Information Exchange/ Health Information Organizations or through registries. The agency plans to announce the technical requirements for electronic submission on or before July 1, 2011 for Medicare EPs.
Measures Required for 2011 and 2012
For the 2011 and 2012 EHR reporting periods, CMS requires each EP to submit information on six measures from the 44 clinical quality measures: three core and three additional measures. If the denominator for one or more of the core measures is zero, CMS requires the EP to report results for up to three alternate core measures. If all 6 of the core measures have a denominator of zero, CMS requires EPs to report on 3 measures selected from the 38 measures that are not identified as core measures or alternate core measures. In addition to reporting the core measures, CMS requires that EPs report on three additional clinical measures. To be exempt from reporting these measures, EPs must attest that all of the other clinical measures calculated by the certified EHR have a value of zero for the denominator.
Measures beyond 2013
CMS stipulates that the number of measures for EPs to report on will increase by 2013 and that they will consider measures from the 2010 PQRI program.
To view the clinical quality measures for the EHR incentive programs, please visit
The Medicare EHR Incentive Program
The EHR reporting period may be any continuous 90-day period within the first payment year and the entire payment year for all subsequent payment years. The Medicare EHR Incentive program will be consecutive i.e. CMS will treat every year following the first payment year (PY) as a PY whether the EP received an incentive payment or not. The first PY for the program is Calendar Year (CY) 2011. For EPs who change practices during the reporting period, they may still be eligible for IPs since these are contingent on the EPs ability to demonstrate meaningful use. To demonstrate meaningful use EPs must show that they meet the entire 15 core set objectives and their associate measures for stage 1. For some measures, EPs that dont have any patients that meet the criteria may be excluded from reporting these measures. According to CMS, each objective must be satisfied by an individual EP as determined by unique National Provider Identifiers (NPIs). CMS plans to convert every measure in the menu set in stage 1 to the core set for stage 2 and to increase the thresholds for stage 1 as the program advances to the second and third stages.
Incentive Payments (IPs)
EPs who are meaningful EHR users during the relevant EHR reporting period are entitled to an incentive payment amount, subject to an annual limit, equal to 75 percent of the Secretarys estimate of the Medicare allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the relevant PY. EPs are eligible for IPs for up to five years. There wont be any IPs after 2016 for the Medicare program. The last year to begin participation is 2014. The first IP will be made in 2011. CMS plans to make a single consolidated IP to EPs yearly. CMS will not allow EPs to reassign their benefits to more than one employer or entity to reduce any administrative burden and confusion. Hence, EPs are responsible for reimbursing any relevant parties or associates with IPs. The Medicare contractors will calculate the IPs for EPs and disburse them on a rolling basis. The IPs will be made through a single payment contractor with the Integrated Data Repository (IDR) accumulating the allowed charges for each qualified EPs National Provider Identifier.
Payment Adjustments (penalties) for EPs who are not Meaningful Users of CEHR
There will be a one to five percent payment adjustment for EPs who are not meaningful CEHR users after 2015. EPs that are able to prove that they are undergoing significant hardship may be exempt from this payment adjustment (on a case by case basis reviewed by the CMS secretary). EPs that fall under this category would need to renew their status annually and will not be granted this status for more than five years.
How Can EPs Register?
Registration for the Medicare program will begin in January 2010 via the CMS website. CMS is requiring that each EP has an enrollment record in PECOS. If you do not have one, please visit.
The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program
The common definition for meaningful use (MU) will be the minimum standard for the Medicaid program. States may obtain approval from CMS to add more objectives to the MU definition. However, for CY 2011 and 2012, CMS will only consider states requests to modify the stage 1 objectives for public health or data registries. In the first year, EPs may obtain their incentives through upgrading, adopting, or implementing a CEHR (EPs would need to show proof of their installation rather than any efforts to install). If the EPs decide to go through this route, in their first year they wont need to show meaningful use of EHRs. However, for subsequent payment years (PYs), they must demonstrate meaningful use of their EHRs. CMS finalizes that to be considered EPs for the Medicaid program, EPs must have at least 30% of their patient volume receive Medicaid over any continuous 90 day period within the most recent Calendar Year (CY) prior to reporting (exceptions to this rule, are for pediatricians who may have at least 20% or their patient volume receive Medicaid and Medicaid EPs who practices in predominantly FQHC or RHCs and have a minimum or 30% patient volume attributable to needy individuals). EPs are not required to participate on a consecutive basis in the Medicaid EHR incentive program to obtain IPs.
Incentive Payments (IPs)
IPs for Medicaid EPs will equal 85% of net average allowable costs associated with adopting EHRs (these costs can vary by practice size, costs of licensing, support training and man power required). Hence, the maximum IPs that EPs can receive under this program is $63,750 over a 6 year period. IPs would be disbursed by states within the CY. If EPs practice in multiple states they will need to select one state Medicaid EHR incentive program to participate. There will not be any penalties for EPs who do not participate in this program.
To view the stage 1 meaningful use criteria, visit
For more information on the Medicare and Medicaid Incentive Programs, visit
Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program; Final Rule. Accessed at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-17207.pdf on August 10, 2010