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Uruguay 2, England 1: 2014 FIFA World Cup | Group D Match Recap
Luis Suárez returned just in time to push England to the brink of elimination.
After missing the first game of the World Cup with a knee injury, Suárez scored both of his team's goals to lift Uruguay to a thrilling 2-1 win over England in a pivotal Group D match at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo on Thursday.
Not even Wayne Rooney's first-ever World Cup goal could save England, who drop to 0-2-0 in the group and will be eliminated before their final game with a Costa Rica win or draw against Italy on Friday.
Uruguay – who were stunned by Costa Rica in their opener – are now 1-1-0 heading into their final group-stage match against Italy.
SUAREZ'S GRAND RETURN: Despite recovering from recent knee surgery, Suárez returned to the starting lineup against England and delivered in a big way. Minutes after Rooney tied the game at 1-1, Suárez scored his second goal of the game in the 84th minute to give Uruguay the lead for good. The goal came after a Uruguay goal kick flicked off Steven Gerrard's head behind the England defense, Suárez broke free to run onto it and blasted a shot past goalkeeper Joe Hart that broke the hearts of Englishmen everywhere.
Gerrard helped set up that Suárez goal by flicking the goal kick onto Suárez. One more assist to his Liverpool teammate, sadly for England.— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) June 19, 2014
THE DROUGHT ENDS: After missing two great chances earlier in the game, Rooney finally broke through in the 75th minute to end his much-talked-about World Cup scoring drought. With England trailing 1-0, the star striker was the beneficiary of a great ball from Glen Johnson. All Rooney had to do was tap it in to score his 40th international goal for England but his first in 10 World Cup games.
Wayne Rooney ends World Cup goal drought: http://t.co/vkRtWvuoUV pic.twitter.com/COIoTAQj1Y— USA TODAY Sports (@USATODAYsports) June 19, 2014
SUAREZ-CAVANI CONNECTION: In the 39th minute, Suárez scored the only goal of the first half with a well-placed header across the face of the goal. It came after his partner up top, Edinson Cavani, was given too much time near the edge of the box and played him a perfect looping ball.
Crazy: Suárez & Cavani were born 21 days apart in the same town (Salto) in a remote corner of Uruguay. Two of the world's best forwards.— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) June 19, 2014
ROONEY'S MISSES: In the 31st minute, Gerrard placed a free kick perfectly to the back post where Rooney awaited. But despite getting his head on the cross just a yard from goal, the star striker couldn't get his header down enough and it smacked off the crossbar. Then, in the 54th minute, Rooney had a wide-open shot from eight yards out denied by Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, only adding to his World Cup frustrations.
Wayne Rooney was THIS close to putting England ahead. pic.twitter.com/vkIsxr4Q3n— ESPN (@espn) June 19, 2014
GODIN LIVING DANGEROUSLY: Uruguay caught a big break that captain Diego Godín wasn't sent off in the first half, which could have changed the course of the game. Godín's first offense came in the ninth minute when his intentional handball thwarted an English break – and while he was shown a yellow, it could have easily been a red. And 20 minutes later, he took down Daniel Sturridge, but, much to the dismay of English fans, was not shown a second yellow.
Big talking point of the first half was Godin avoiding a second yellow card. Should he have seen red? #WCT #ENGvsURU pic.twitter.com/ItJcrimW6U
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) June 19, 2014
PEREIRA REFUSES TO COME OUT: When Álvaro Pereira took a knee to the head while sliding to the ground and lay motionless on the ground for a few moments, it looked like a certainty that he would come out of the game. But with Uruguay's trainers signaling for a substitution, Pereira threw a bit of a tantrum to stay in the game – and he got his way. The online debate rightly focused around whether a player should be allowed to make that decision.
Hey @SeppBlatter let me know when you want to address head injuries in our game. Perreira should've been taken off. Has to stop. #URUvsENG
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) June 19, 2014
MAN OF THE MATCH: Suárez, England. His two goals make this an easy choice. And if the Liverpool star continues on this path, Uruguay suddenly seem like a contender to make their second straight deep World Cup run.


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The Avatar wrote:Here's two ideas: Change it to +3, but every potion type only counts once or make it a flat cap of +12 (three fine swords).
paplaukes wrote:It's probably been suggested already too, but might make trisword work on health/mana pots only. Honestly, I'd just take a fine sword over much more expensive tri + pots and all that hassle and cheese.
paplaukes wrote:What's the double edge you're talking about? Cost? Limited slots?
I get triple potion hit is more powerful than separate potions, it also costs more. I wouldn't spend 50g extra on them "just in case", like I don't spend 50g on amulet of yendor/translocation scroll. It's also a one-shot thing instead of a permanent strength bump. It can be used on a hard boss or perhaps a few bonus xp but I honestly don't think that's worth the price in hard dungeons.
As for multiplication with other preps, trisword being uncapped might be the bigger problem.
At the very least I'd like to see better examples of said multiplicative combinations.
Bloggorus wrote:The 'double edge' relates to the fact that preps get out of control when they have no downside, only upside to their user.
Bloggorus wrote:For a large number of preps, the only cost of use is meta-game gold and inventory space. For this negligible opportunity cost players gain a massive starting game advantage and radically more resources through efficiency and conversion points.
Bloggorus wrote:It teaches new players to grind for gold for preps, rather than learning to play. Once they learn that elite items exist, for instance, with only a gold cost attached, why would they ever go back to properly balanced preps?
Even worse, it allows exploits. For gold only, it is possible to take in three potions for immediate consumption in synergy with the trisword and the scroll. I don't see this as a problem of the balancing of those items, but the implementation of preps in general.
paplaukes wrote:Short version: I don't think average players kill bosses at lvl1.
Long version: Unsure of what an average player is. I don't consider myself a pro at least. My impression on difficulty curve - it's there alright. The dungeon difficulty levels are accurate. Every better item has a quest or a challenge attached, a skillcheck in place. Even with all the combined preps, and I really don't count cheesy, non-average player ways of using them, you can only drop the dungeon difficulty down one notch. Every new unlocked place is scary, no matter the preparations. I never once felt like - "ok I unlocked this new place, let's faceroll it with everything I got". It's still difficult at first, there's learning to do. I think the "average player" difficulty curve peaks at hard purist gan-teleet - which is what devs designed as a win - and silver challenges. Gold are bit beyond that. Vicious dungeons, Vicious tokens - definitely not average player stuff, preps or not.
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Quickie Valentine's Day Chocolate Pie
This is my go-to dessert when I need something fast and chocolatey. I made it today for my husband and son, one who likes nuts and one who does not. The recipe calls for a stick of butter, but I mis-read it and only used a half-stick. It came out fine, just more cake-y, a little less dense.
No-Crust Fudge Pie
This is an easy recipe that my mom has made since I was a little girl. Dress it up with toppings or eat it warm right out of the pan. Makes one 9-inch pie.
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
½ cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 scant cup sifted flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup nuts, optional
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt chocolate and butter. Cool. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat. Add flour and salt. Spread in a greased 9-inch pie plate or cake pan. Top with nuts, if using. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or fresh fruit.


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golden717 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 55 designs submitted by 23 freelance designers.
Golden Solutions is the national expert for innovative electronic commerce solutions called eWIC. eWIC seamlessly incorporates WIC Program benefit delivery and grocers electronic cash register (ECR) systems via a smartcard platform. Best government benefit delivery solution in the country!
We are looking for a simple but attention grabbing design for a new startup consulting and services business. Initial focus of business will be services to state administered (USDA funded) Women, Infants and Children Programs (WIC), specializing in electronic commerce of WIC Program benefit delivery services named eWIC. The WIC Program provides nutrition services and supplemental food support to low income pregnant, breastfeeding, postpartum women, infants and children.
- Incorporate a gold highlight scheme, but primary colors should be bold and modern.
- An eWIC logo can be used as a shadow or incorporated into a tag line
- GOLDEN SOLUTIONS innovator in eWIC solutions
- Designs must be in Vector format
- Will comment on submitted designs
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel teamed up this spring to reprise their roles as childhood sweethearts, now grown up with a young daughter of their own.
The show has now been picked up by impressed network executives at Disney, who have ordered a full series. Production is slated to begin in Los Angeles this summer.
In a statement, creator Michael Jacobs says, "I am grateful to everyone at Disney Channel for the opportunity to reach my favorite audience, which has always been kids. Girl Meets World is a new show for a new generation that will be rooted in the same kind of honest, comedic storytelling about coming of age and the importance of family and friendship that made Boy Meets World so popular."
Girl Meets World, which stars 11-year-old Rowan Blanchard as Savage and Fishel's daughter, is scheduled to premiere on the Disney Channel next year.


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A few days ago an article appeared which mangled some quantum mechanics and recent research quite spectacularly. In many ways, what happened is quite understandable. Quantum computing can be a rather esoteric subject, one that doesn't lend itself well to poorly-written press releases that claim huge advances in the "wiring" of quantum computers. Here's the real story.
A quantum computer is not all that different from a classical computer. Logic gates are used to perform operations and the information being operated on must be transported from one logic gate to the next to perform a sequence of operations.* This is a necessary step that must occur before a useful device is developed, but there are a few areas where classical and quantum computers differ.
The first is the nature of the qubit, which will normally be in a state that is both one and zero simultaneously (called a superposition state). The second is a ghostly and not-well-understood correlation between different qubits called entanglement. This property links the value of one qubit with another (or in a practical computer, many others). Finally, to maintain both a superposition and an entanglement, the qubits also need to remain coherent, which essentially means that if you do nothing to them, the qubits will have the same relative relationship over time. When this fails, nature "measures" the qubit, and it becomes a one or a zero.
The paper in question here, which appears in Science, details a scheme to entangle two qubits together in a controllable way. Each qubit is encoded in a ring of superconducting current where the one and zero states are given by the direction of the current flow. The two qubits are coupled through a third superconducting ring that I will call the "coupler" for clarity. The coupler never leaves the equivalent of the zero state, so only the magnitude of current circulating is adjusted. These superconducting current rings all generate a magnetic field; qubit one is linked to the coupler by their mutual inductance—the same mechanism that is used in transformers.
Likewise, the second qubit is linked to the coupler. This means that the strength of the entanglement between qubits one and two can be controlled by the strength of the magnetic field produced by the coupler. In practice, the researchers turn the microwave current going into the coupler up (or down) to control the qubit.
Why is this significant? Controllable entanglement is nothing new, having been demonstrated in optical and ion-based quantum computers before. But this is the first time it has been demonstrated using solid-state qubits, which is worthy of note. However, this is not the "wiring": the researchers did not demonstrate transportation of qubits from one logic gate to another. Furthermore, it is not a huge breakthrough and numerous problems still remain. Individual qubits survive for about 1 microsecond, but the entanglement only lasts for 200 nanoseconds—not much time in which to do calculations. Even if researchers can extend this, no one yet understands why entanglement occurs or why it will disappear even in the absence of disturbances. These really fundamental questions will need to be answered before quantum computers can become practical.
* The computer can also be set up so that the logic gates are sequentially applied to static qubits, in which case there really is no wiring at all.


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Publishing individual surgeons' death rates could lead to doctors turning away "high-risk" cases, according to an article in a leading medical journal.
Giving the public access to surgeon-specific mortality data shifts the emphasis from "patient care to self preservation", according to an editorial published in the British Medical Journal.
Last June, health officials launched the first-ever performance outcomes for medics.
The information - central to Government plans for a more transparent health service - aim to show patients how well consultants working in a number of specialities across England perform against their peers.
Patients can see the number of times a consultant has done a procedure, their mortality rates and whether or not they are performing within the "expected range".
Risk warning amid death rates move
The initiative aims to "shine a light on variation and unacceptable practice", NHS officials said at the time.
But Stephen Westaby, a consultant cardiac surgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, argued that most deaths are related to "team dynamics" and hospital infrastructure rather than surgical error.
"To the public, surgeon-specific mortality data (SSMD) reflect surgeons' technical competence," he wrote.
"Yet in reality team consistency and operating theatre practice supersede individual performance.
"Publication of SSMD diverts attention from deficiencies in NHS infrastructure.
"An understanding of why patients die allows something to be done about it; attributing a pile of bodies to an individual surgeon does not."
Publishing mortality data "has not improved patient choice, waiting lists, equipment, staffing or team consistency," he said.
He also cited publication of surgeon death rates in parts of the US in the 1980s, saying: "Soon afterwards, risk-averse behaviour and gaming with risk stratification were widely documented.
"The answer was to avoid high-risk patients."
He added: "Risk-averse behaviour exists… The drivers are self protection or the prestige and private practice that come with topping the league."
Evening Telegraph


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OXFORD Brookes University's Headington campus has been developed for the past seven years but now the hard work may be about to pay off.
The glass-fronted John Henry Brookes and Abercrombie Building has been shortlisted for a RIBA South East Award, putting Winchester-based firm Design Engine Architects in the spotlight.
The John Henry Brookes and Abercrombie Building
Design director Richard Jobson said: "It's part of an ongoing redevelopment as part of Oxford Brookes' 150th year celebrations."
Richard Jobson
Mr Jobson, 49, said of the £130m project: "It has been a very long journey, but we've had fantastic support from the client. The university was behind us, the building and design. We couldn't have wished for better."
The firm has also been nominated for a second Oxfordshire development: the Clocktower Square as part of Radley College has also been commended.
Mr Jobson said: "It has been pretty amazing. It's a big project for anybody, and we're a relatively small practice."
It is not just local buildings that are being celebrated – local architects have been featured on the shortlist for their work in the area.
West Waddy ADP is a firm based in Abingdon, and has been recognised for the Isis Building on the EF Academy in Headington.
Philip Waddy, lead architect of the Isis Building
Partner Philip Waddy said: "We are very pleased to be shortlisted. It's a good boost for morale, no doubt about that. We have a very strong emphasis on high-quality design.
"Winning this award would give us a confidence boost, to know that our work had been awarded by a national panel of architects."
Mr Waddy said he was surprised to see the Isis Building on the list, as it cost far less than others in the county.
He added: "Oxford itself is a hybrid of really high-quality architecture, but the Oxford scene is dealing with expensive buildings.
"Our project is not an expensive building when you compare it to others, costing £2m. People spend five times as much on a building, and you almost expect those to be award winners.
"I think it would be fantastic to get an award for high-quality work on a project with normal cost limits."
Not all of the developments that were shortlisted are owned by colleges, universities or hospitals.
Riach Architects has been nominated for a privately-owned family home in north Oxford.
The large house in Norham Road belongs to the Flynn family, who moved to Oxford from London last year.
Kieron Roberts of Riach Architects
Project architect Kieron Roberts said: "It really was a comprehensive refurbishment. The Victorian house used to be split into several student flats so it needed to be restored to its former glory.
"It was a challenge, but we pulled it off."
Mum-of-four and property refurbisher Jeanne Flynn said: "We absolutely love it here, we like the quieter pace and the family outlook here."
Mrs Flynn and her husband Tim, who works in finance, first started looking to relocate four years ago with their children Jack, 15, Chase, 14, Zoe, 12, and Grace, 10.
The RIBA awards are judged by a panel of internationally-renowned architects and designers, who have spent the past week visiting and assessing the shortlisted buildings.
The winners of the RIBA South East 2014 Awards will be announced on May 8 at a ceremony in Surrey.
Regional winners will then be in the running for RIBA's National Award, which will be announced in June.
Judges look for a range of aspects in the shortlisted buildings:
- How the architect responded to the brief
- Whether they exceed their client's expectations
- Value for money
- Use of materials
- Whether a building is likely to be a significant piece of architecture in the long term.
Clocktower Square, Radley College, Kennington Road, by Design Engine Architects Ltd
THE new brick building replaces an old unused structure called the gymnasium. It contained the politics and history faculties along with 10 classrooms, a staff room, and a social space with cafe, where both boys, staff and parents can go.
Design director Rob Graham said: "It sits among four existing buildings and connects to all of them."
Stonehaven (private house), Kirtlington, by Yiangou Architects LLP
Architect Andrew Inchley said: "It was the complete refurbishment of an existing house, and we added a swimming pool and gym off to the side of it.
"We gave a nod to the original building, which was a traditional barn. It's made of Cotswold stone. Everything looks traditional, then on the other side it's all glass. It's very contemporary."
Pembroke College, Pembroke Square, by Berman Guedes Stretton Architects
THE building's most striking feature is the glass bridge connects Pembroke College's main site to five new buildings across the road.
There is also a foyer area, auditorium, and art gallery.
The development provides 100 student bedrooms, seminar rooms and a café.
Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Old Road campus, by Make
ONE of the largest centres for biomedical research in Europe, this new laboratory is an integrated research centre to link science research with medicine.
The building is fronted by wooden slats, with a set-back entrance.
Inside is decorated with wooden panelling and white walls.
McCall MacBain Graduate Centre, Wadham College, South Parks Road by Lee/Fitzgerald Architects
OPENED in October 2012, this graduate student centre has study and social spaces.
It's located in a Grade II listed building, formerly the Blackwell's Music Shop, as part of the college.
It features two seminar rooms, a reading room, a library, two common rooms, a media room and terraced garden.
Gateway Buildings, St Antony's College, Woodstock Road,
by Bennetts Associates
Director of Bennetts Associates Julian Lipscombe said: "It's a new set of buildings, but in many ways it's more than that. It used to be very difficult for people to place where the college was in the Oxford scene. Now it's formally established its presence."
Andrew Wiles Building, University of Oxford, Woodstock Road, Oxford by Rafael Viñoly Architects
THE huge building stretches between Oxford's traditional colleges, but is a contemporary, cubed design.
It consolidates a department that was previously spread across multiple locations, and provides workspace for more than 500 academics and students.
There is an atrium, along with bridges and social spaces, and underground lecture theatres and teaching rooms.
The Old Indian Institute, Oxford Martin School, Holywell Street, by Berman Guedes Stretton Architects
DIRECTOR Hamish McMichael said: "What we created is a research working space that encourages collaborative work.
"There's a cafe, seminar rooms and meeting rooms.
"We also included a new entrance so it's accessible for the disabled, and remodeled the ground floor.
"We just took a Victorian building and made it fit for 21st century use."
Private house in Henley-on-Thames, by The Manser Practice
SET in woodland near Henley-on-Thames, it is owned by a professional couple.
The house is divided into a living wing and a bedroom wing, with a terrace running along one side. The exterior is made of Cotswold stone, and it has a steel roof.


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A woman was stabbed to death and man shot and killed in Baltimore in separate incidents early Saturday. Another man was seriously wounded late Friday in East Baltimore.
About 2 a.m. Saturday, officers found a woman with a stab wound to her chest inside a building on unit block of S. Stockton St. in the Hollins Market section of West Baltimore. The woman was treated at an area hospital, but she later died of her injuries, police said. Homicide detectives are investigating. The woman was identified as Patricia Lynn Harwood, 50, of Baltimore.
Just after midnight on Saturday, police found a man shot in the back in the 100 block of Denison St. in southwest Baltimore's Allendale neighborhood. The man was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police identified the victim as Eric Howard, 47, of Baltimore.
Police said Howard was sitting on his front porch when two men in a dark van pulled up and started shooting.
About 10:45 p.m. Friday, officers found a man shot in the stomach in the 2000 block of Kennedy Ave. in the East Baltimore Midway neighborhood. He was taken to an area hospital where he was lisited in critical condition Saturday morning.
Police said the man was shot nearby in 200 block of Robb St., but didn't provide additional details.


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Garden of the Gods
This was to be my "church" for the day. Walked and took various shots in the Garden of the Gods for 1.5 hours. Not too many people and the weather was gorgeous. Look for more as the seasons change and develop. Also will attempt to make it early in the morning as well as toward evening...for different perspectives.Read More


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Respecting the Past, Anticipating the Future
Vista Cove Senior Living is a caring and dynamic multi-cultural long-term care provider that provides skilled nursing, rehabilitation, assisted living, memory care, adult day care, respite care and hospice care to hundreds of seniors in the communities that we serve.
We are devoted to developing new quality-based programs and services that are designed to meet the needs of all who call our campus home.
Our Vision is to create and operate quality, senior communities committed to meeting the individual needs of those we serve.
Our Mission is to faithfully provide a continuum of quality long-term care and rehabilitative services to the elderly and others needing our services in a loving, caring and supportive community.
Our Services include skilled nursing, rehabilitation, assisted living, memory care, hospice, adult day care, respite care, family support groups, education, care planning, referral sources, medication management and our unique Life Enrichment Activity Program TM (LEAPTM).
Our Slogan is Respecting the Past, Anticipating the Future. We encourage and support each resident as they experience and adjust to the passages of life. We are committed to making the transition to our senior campus as enriching as possible.
For over thirty years, our leadership has been committed to improving the quality of life of all seniors. We invite you to come and visit us to experience the care and warmth that each of our Vista Cove communities renders to its residents and families. We look forward to seeing you at Vista Cove. Please call us to arrange a tour.


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Claude Dozorme produces great kitchen cutlery and we love offering it at the KnifeCenter. Their designs, while being sleek and elegant, truly cut like much larger knives. Excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail make the fit and finish on these knives really good. The Laguiole kitchen knives with red and white Vinchy handles are downright beautiful, there's no other way to put it. They've got a French tablecloth pattern expertly designed into the handle material and paired with the mirror polished blade. These are a great look in any kitchen and they make a distinctive gift. Try out a Claude Dozorme knife for yourself and you'll agree the French know their way around the kitchen very well indeed. Available at www.knifecenter.com.
More from Claude Dozorme: Continue Reading


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Psychic Circle at Unity Church in Jupiter
Psychic Circle is a chance for like-minded folk to gather together for fellowship, exploration, learning and sharing in a compassionate environment.
Each month we do something different, but each meeting usually includes some group meditation and discussion. We share techniques for psychic development, and share readings with each other.


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Crimes of (A) Global Nature
Crimes of (a) Global Nature
Forging environmental treaties is difficult. Enforcing them is even tougher.
Last February, armed troops and fisheries officials on two Australian navy ships and a helicopter boarded and seized the Volga and the Lena, Russian-flagged fishing vessels operating near Heard Island, some 2,200 nautical miles southwest of Perth. The two ships were found to be carrying about 200 tons of illegally caught Patagonian toothfish in their holds. This bounty, valued at an estimated $1.25 million, had been taken in violation of conservation agreements negotiated under the auspices of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
Few casual seafood lovers have heard of Patagonian toothfish, but many are familiar with Chilean sea bass, a different name for the same fish. Chilean sea bass began appearing on menus in the early 1990s, and consumption of the flaky, white fish took off fast, quickly endangering the health of the fishery. Large-scale commercial fishing of the species began only a decade ago, but scientists estimate that at current rates of plunder the fish could become commercially extinct in less than five years.
A few months after the drama in the Southern Ocean, a different front in the same battle opened up thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., where nearly 60 restaurants and caterers pledged to keep the fish off their menus. More than 90 restaurants in the Los Angeles area did the same a few weeks later, following similar promises by chefs in Northern California, Chicago, and Houston. Thus the fight to save the Patagonian toothfish is beginning to hit close to home. But many Chilean sea bass fans remain unaware that they may be accomplices to a growing phenomenon known as international environmental crime.
Although variously defined, in this article international environmental crime means an activity that violates the letter or the spirit of an international environmental treaty and the implementing national legislation. Trade in endangered species, illegal fishing, CFC smuggling, and the illicit dumping of wastes are all cases in point that are explored below. Illegal logging is another major category of environmental crime, although environmental treaties currently impose few specific constraints on logging (see sidebar, Logging Illogic, page 23). The rapidly growing illegal trade in these environmentally sensitive products stems from strong demand, low risk, and other factors (see sidebar, Variable Crimes, Constant Incentives, next page).
The number of international environmental accords has exploded as countries awaken to the seriousness of transboundary and global ecological threats. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that there are now more than 500 international treaties and other agreements related to the environment, more than 300 of them negotiated in the last 30 years.
But reaching such agreements is only the first step. The larger challenge is seeing that the ideals expressed in them become reality. What is needed is not necessarily more agreements, but a commitment to breathe life into the hundreds of existing accords by implementing and enforcing them.
Here the genteel world of diplomacy often runs into hard-nosed domestic politics. Countries that ratify treaties are responsible for upholding them by enacting and enforcing the necessary domestic laws. This requires the backing of businesses, consumers, and other constituencies, which may not be easily secured. Countries with strong fossil fuel industries, for instance, may meet staunch resistance to international rules to mitigate climate change. And countries where natural resource industries are politically powerful will probably find it difficult to adequately enforce environmental treaties designed to regulate resource-related activity. The effect has been to expand trafficking in a number of restricted substances, an increasingly urgent problem that is beginning to stimulate a stronger international response.
Trading in Wildlife
Undercover Russian police officers in the port city of Vladivostok recently trailed two investigators from environmental groups posing as eager purchasers of Siberian tiger skins from a corrupt official. When the deal went down, the officers arrested the wildlife trader on the spot. Russian investigators earlier had infiltrated the wildlife trade crime ring and determined that it was raking in some $5 million a year from smuggling wild ginseng, tiger skins, and bear paws and gallbladders across the Russian border.
Trade in these wildlife products is restricted under the terms of the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which bans international trade in some 900 animal and plant species in danger of extinction, including all tigers, great apes, and sea turtles, and many species of elephants, orchids, and crocodiles. CITES also restricts trade in some 29,000 additional species that are threatened by commerce, among them birdwing butterflies, parrots, black and stony corals, and some hummingbirds.
CITES has shrunk the trade in many threatened species, including cheetahs, chimpanzees, crocodiles, and elephants. But the trafficking in these and other species continues, earning smugglers profits of $8 billion to $12 billion annually. Among the most coveted black market items are tigers and other large cats, rhinos, reptiles, rare birds, and botanical specimens.
Most illegally traded wildlife originates in developing countries, home to most of the world's biological diversity. Brazil alone supplies some 10 percent of the global black market, and its nonprofit wildlife-trade monitoring body, RENCTAS, estimates that poachers steal some 38 million animals a year from the country's Amazon forests, Pantanal wetlands, and other important habitats, generating annual revenues of $1 billion. Southeast Asian wildlife has also been plundered: the Gibbon Foundation reports that in a single recent year, traders smuggled out some 2,000 orangutans from Indonesia- at an average street price of $10,000 apiece.
The demand for illegal wildlife-for food and medicine, as clothing and ornamentation, for display in zoo collections and horticulture, and as pets-comes primarily from wealthy collectors and other consumers in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East. In the United States (the world's largest market for reptile trafficking) exotic pets such as the Komodo dragon of Indonesia, the plowshare tortoise of northeast Madagascar, and the tuatara (a small lizard-like reptile from New Zealand) reportedly sell for as much as $30,000 each on the black market. Wildlife smuggling is also a growing concern in the United Kingdom, where in 1999 alone, customs officials confiscated some 1,600 live animal and birds, 1,800 plants, 52,000 parts and derivatives of endangered species, and 388,000 grams of smuggled caviar.
The multibillion-dollar traditional Asian medicine industry has also been a strong source of demand for illegal wildlife, with adherents from Beijing to New York purchasing potions made from ground tiger bone, rhino horn, and other wildlife derivatives for their alleged effect on ailments from impotence to asthma. In parts of Asia, bile from bear gall bladders (used to treat cancers, asthma, eye disease, and other afflictions) can be worth more than narcotics. The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society reports that the illegal hunting and trafficking of animals for medicine, aphrodisiacs, and gourmet food is now the single greatest threat to endangered species in Asia.
The scale of the illegal wildlife trade reflects the serious obstacles to enforcement under CITES. Smugglers may conceal the items on their persons or in vehicles, baggage, or postal and courier shipments, resulting in fatality rates as high as 90 percent for many live species. They may also alter the required CITES permits to indicate a different quantity, type, or destination of species, or to change the appearance of items so they appear ordinary. In February 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arrested a Cote d'Ivoire man for smuggling 72 elephant ivory carvings, valued at $200,000, through New York's John F. Kennedy airport. Many of them had been painted to resemble stone.
As wildlife smuggling grows in sophistication, it accounts for a rapidly rising share of international criminal activity. RENCTAS now ranks the illicit wildlife trade as the third largest illegal cross-border activity, after the arms and drug trades. Wildlife smugglers commonly rely on the same international trafficking routes as dealers of other contraband goods, such as gems and drugs. In the United States, consignments of snakes have been found stuffed with cocaine, and illegally traded turtles have entered on the same boats as marijuana. The U.S.-Mexico border has become a significant transfer point for environmental contraband: in the first eight months of 2001, Mexican authorities reported seizing more than 50,000 smuggled animals en route to the U.S. border.
As the scope of international wildlife trafficking becomes clearer, authorities are beginning to take action on the domestic, regional, and global fronts. In Europe, officials are working together to improve regional cooperation in enforcement of CITES and to strengthen legal mechanisms for prosecuting violators. The United Kingdom has established a new national police unit to combat wildlife crime and announced tougher penalties for persistent offenders. And in the first program of its kind in East Asia, a team at South Korea's Seoul airport now uses specially trained dogs to detect tiger bone, musk, bear gall bladders, and other illegal wildlife derivatives smuggled in luggage and freight.
In general, developing countries have had greater difficulty in controlling wildlife smuggling and implementing CITES. Many lack the political will, money, or equipment to effectively monitor their wildlife populations, much less the wildlife trade. In Kenya, where elephant deaths declined dramatically following a CITES-imposed ban on the international ivory trade in the late 1980s, poaching is again surging as funds to hire additional game wardens have run dry. In two separate incidents in April 2002, poachers armed with automatic weapons slaughtered 25 elephants in the country's wildlife parks and removed the tusks for sale on the black market.
At the international level, one tool that has proved successful in enticing (some would say coercing) countries to uphold their obligations under CITES is the use of trade sanctions. CITES is empowered to recommend that its members temporarily suspend all wildlife trade with noncomplying countries. Within the past year, such sanctions have been levied against the United Arab Emirates for not taking strong enough measures to combat the illicit trade in falcons, against Russia for not cracking down on the illegal caviar trade, and against Fiji and Vietnam for not enacting adequate wildlife trade legislation by the required deadline. In most instances, the governments scrambled to strengthen their legislation and enforcement, and the sanctions were soon lifted.
High Seas, High Crimes
Although CITES focuses mainly on terrestrial animals and plants, it protects several highly endangered fish species as well. In February 2002, the Philippine navy arrested 95 Chinese fishermen near a national marine park in the Sulu Sea and charged them with multiple counts of poaching fish, harvesting endangered species, and using illegal fishing methods like poison and explosives. Among the species found aboard their four vessels were endangered sea turtles and giant clams, both of which are prohibited from trade under CITES.
Countries have negotiated a wide range of other agreements to oversee and regulate the world's fisheries. Like CITES, many of these are poorly enforced, resulting in illegal fishing in all types of fisheries and in all the world's oceans, including national waters, regionally managed fisheries, and the high seas. In some of the world's most important fisheries, as much as 30 percent of the catch is illegal, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
As with other forms of wildlife trade, booming consumer demand is an important driver behind the rise in this activity. Big profits can be made selling black market seafood to selective buyers, who are willing to pay a premium for increasingly rare items. In Japan, species such as the threatened Southern bluefin tuna now fetch up to $50,000 per fish.
One major form of illegal fishing occurs when foreign vessels fish without authorization in the waters of other countries, often developing nations unable to patrol their shores adequately. In early 2000, the Tanzanian government estimated that more than 70 vessels, most of them from Mediterranean countries and the Far East, were fishing illegally in its waters. Tanzania has few police boats of its own and has had to rely on assistance from France and the United Kingdom to crack down on offenders. Mozambique, Somalia, and other African countries also report increased illegal fishing, often by heavily armed foreign vessels, and worry that the continued poaching will damage national economies and deprive coastal villagers of the healthy fisheries they depend upon for their livelihoods.
Commercial fishers are also turning to the largely unmonitored high seas, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian, South Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. Their ships illegally penetrate the borders of regional fishing grounds that are closed or restricted under international law, and deliberately hide their flags or other markings to avoid recognition. Some offload their illicit catch to other vessels to further disguise its origin and to minimize the penalties if discovered. Often these fishers do not report their activity, or if they do, they may falsify the equipment used, the fishing area frequented, or the species or amount caught.
TRAFFIC, a UK-based nonprofit group that monitors the international wildlife trade, reports that illegal Russian trawlers are accelerating the collapse of once productive fisheries in the Bering Sea. Backed by the Russian mafia, the fishers remove billions of dollars worth of pollack, cod, herring, flounder, halibut, and other species from the ecosystem each year, often trawling in prohibited areas and using illegal nets and other gear. They then transfer the catches to ships bound for ports in the United States, Canada, and Asia, in particular the South Korean port of Pusan, where vessel inspections are rare.
One of the most serious challenges to adequate fisheries enforcement is the rapid rise in so-called flag-of-convenience (FOC) fishing. Increasingly, commercial fishing companies register their ships in countries known to be lax enforcers of international fisheries laws or that are not members of major maritime agreements. By transferring their allegiance to these new "flags," the companies can easily enter the waters of their adopted countries or operate undercover on the high seas where only the country of registry (the flag state) can make an official arrest. Some vessels change their flags frequently in order to hide their origins or identities, making it difficult for enforcement officials to track them down.
An estimated 5 to 10 percent of the vessels in the world fishing fleet now fly flags of convenience. This includes more than 1,300 large industrial fishing vessels registered in such countries as Belize, Honduras, Panama, St. Vincent, and Equatorial Guinea.
The countries and companies that own the re-flagged vessels are also partially to blame for the problem. Fishing companies from Europe (primarily Spain) and Taiwan own the highest numbers of FOC vessels. Many of these firms receive special government subsidies to register their ships abroad.
FOC vessels also pose a serious problem in the cruise and shipping industries. Freight companies may re-flag their vessels in order to avoid higher taxes, labor, and operating costs at home, or to take advantage of the lower safety standards and weaker pollution laws in countries like Liberia, Panama, and Malta. The International Transport Workers' Federation reports that FOC ships accounted for nearly a quarter of all large freight vessels in 2000, and carried 53 percent of the world's gross tonnage. The re-flagged ships account for a disproportionate share of pollution and accidents at sea, as well as detentions in ports for violations of maritime laws.
Some of the most serious offenses have been breaches of MARPOL, the international treaty regulating the disposal of garbage and other pollutants at sea. Vessel owners may decide to dump their waste overboard illegally either because they lack the storage or incineration capacity onboard or because they wish to avoid the high costs of eventual disposal on land. Often this at-sea discharge occurs in the waters of countries where monitoring and enforcement are minimal and the activity can go undetected. In 1999, however, U.S. officials fined Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. a record $18 million for releasing oil waste from its ships into U.S. waters, among other violations. In April 2002, rival Carnival Corporation was also fined $18 million for similar offenses.
As the scope of maritime violations becomes increasingly evident, many countries are redoubling their efforts to combat illegal fishing, including by exchanging information about illicit activity, making vessel registries more transparent, increasing inspections at sea and in ports, denying landing and trans-shipment rights for illegally caught fish, and improving monitoring and surveillance of fleets. These steps appear to be working, at least in some places: in the North Pacific, Canadian officials attribute the recent drop in the number of vessels using illegal driftnets to stepped-up air patrols by Canada and its partners (the United States, Russia, and China) in regional enforcement.
Significant effort has also been made at the global level to crack down on illegal fishing. In March of last year, 114 countries agreed to a non-binding plan to combat illicit activity, including that by flag-of-convenience vessels. Developed under the auspices of the UN Food and Agricuture Organization, the plan calls for improved oversight of vessels and coastal waters by flag states, better coordination and sharing of information among countries, and stronger efforts to ratify, implement, and enforce existing fisheries accords. The plan is expected to work in conjunction with other international efforts to protect global fisheries, including a 1993 pact known as the Compliance Agreement and the 1995 UN Agreement Relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.
Dumping on Land
A Japanese district court last March sentenced Hiromi Ito, the president of a waste disposal company, to four years in prison and slapped him with a 5 million yen ($40,000) fine. Ito and his accomplices had masterminded an elaborate scheme to illegally dump some 2,700 tons of industrial and medical waste in the Philippines, in containers marked 'paper for recycling.' When the Filipino importer opened the 122 shipping containers, each 40 feet long, he found not just paper but also hazardous materials, including contaminated hypodermic needles and bandages, used plastic sheeting, and old electronics equipment.
With Ito's conviction, the Japanese government closed the books on an embarrassing international incident. But the episode points to a much larger global challenge: effectively regulating the 300 to 500 million tons of hazardous waste generated worldwide each year. This vast waste mountain includes everything from used batteries, electronic wastes, old ships, and toxic incinerator ash to industrial sludge and contaminated medical and military equipment.
Roughly 10 percent of this waste is shipped legally across international borders, under the terms of the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. The agreement requires member countries to obtain prior consent from the importing country for waste shipments and uses a system of permits to track the pathway to disposal. Most of the waste originates in and moves among industrial countries, but some also travels to and within the developing world.
As waste disposal problems mount in countries like Japan, so does the likelihood of a lucrative illegal trade in hazardous wastes. Asia is thought to be one of the biggest destinations for the illicit waste. Greenpeace India reports that more than 100,000 tons of unauthorized wastes entered India in 1998 and 1999, including toxic zinc ash and residues, lead waste, used batteries, and scraps of chromium, cadmium, thallium, and other heavy metals. The illicit imports, originating in places like Australia, Belgium, Germany, Norway, and the United States, violated both the Basel treaty's notification rules and a 1997 Indian government ban on waste imports.
China receives a massive flow of illegally imported hazardous electronic waste each year. A recent study by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a watchdog group that monitors implementation of the Basel treaty, and the California-based Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition reported that workers in Chinese recycling factories risk serious exposure to heavy metals and other poisonous chemicals as they salvage components from old computer circuitboards, monitors, batteries, and other equipment. This toxic trade continues despite a Chinese import ban on the material, and hence violates Basel rules that forbid the export of wastes to countries that have banned their import.
Roughly half of this "e-waste" originates in the United States, where an estimated 20 million computers become obsolete each year. Yet the U.S. government doesn't consider the high-tech shipments to be illegal because the waste isn't technically classified as hazardous. The United States is also the only industrial country that hasn't ratified the Basel Convention.
Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the health and environmental effects associated with the illegal waste trade. Many governments lack the infrastructure or equipment to dispose of or recycle waste safely, prevent exposure to workers and communities, clean up dumpsites, or monitor waste movements. For this reason, a bloc of developing countries secured passage in 1995 of a far-reaching amendment to the Basel Convention, known as the Basel Ban, which would outlaw all transfers of hazardous wastes from industrial countries to the developing world. Though many countries already observe its terms voluntarily and the European Union has already implemented it, the Ban is not yet in strict legal force and still faces serious opposition from a few industrialized countries, including the United States.
Even so, the Basel Ban has helped slow the flow of hazardous wastes from industrial countries to the developing world, says Jim Puckett, coordinator of BAN. And once the amendment enters into legal force (it needs 32 more ratifications), it should be even harder for waste traders to operate, as violators would face strict criminal penalties. If the ban fails to enter into force, however, or if it is weakened through continued opposition, the waste flood could resume.
But the ban alone would likely fail to wipe out the illegal waste trade. Smugglers rely on a wide range of tactics, including false permits, bribes, and mislabeling of wastes as raw materials, less dangerous substances, or other products, to evade the laws. Moreover, no port in the world can check all sea-going containers, let alone developing-country ports.
One growing trend is the export of hazardous wastes under the pretext of "recycling." Like Hiromi Ito, illicit waste dealers increasingly pass off waste as recyclable material, which in many cases frees them from strict government oversight. Greenpeace estimates that as much as 90 percent of waste shipped to the developing world-particularly plastics and heavy metals-is now labeled as destined for recycling. Much of this waste, however, is never recycled-or, as with e-waste in China, is recycled in highly polluting operations that are little better than dumping. Typically, the end result is the same: the export of a serious pollution problem from a rich country to a poor one.
In many cases, organized crime is thought to be behind large-scale waste trading, which can be closely linked with money laundering, the illegal arms trade, and other criminal activities. The Italian mafia is reportedly a key player in the robust trade in radioactive metal waste from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, which it re-sells to smelters as "safe" scrap metal.
Efforts to combat the illegal waste trade face serious challenges. A recent survey by the Basel secretariat revealed that many countries lack adequate-or any-legislation for preventing and punishing illegal waste traffic. On a global scale, the absence of uniform definitions of hazardous waste and of coordinated enforcement efforts among customs officers and port authorities has contributed to the spread of illegal waste trading. Even for countries that do have the resources, the lack of hard data on the extent or geographic flow of this trade makes it hard for officials to know how to allocate the resources properly.
The member countries of the Basel Convention have taken some steps to give the treaty sharper teeth. In 1994, the Basel secretariat strengthened information sharing among member countries by agreeing to set up a centralized system for reporting suspect activity. The treaty also requires members to pass laws to curb and punish illegal waste traffic and outlines how to handle illegally traded waste once it is discovered.
A new liability protocol to the convention, negotiated in December 1999, could further discourage illegal activity-if it ever comes into force. It makes exporters and disposers of hazardous waste liable for any harm that might occur during transport, both legal and illegal. It also requires dealers to be insured against the damage and to provide financial compensation to those affected. But the protocol will not be legally binding until 20 ratifications are received (none have been registered so far). Moreover, it still only covers harm that occurs in transit, not after disposal, and only applies to damage suffered in the jurisdiction of a treaty member.
CFCs on the Loose
The landmark Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, adopted in 1987, mandated far-reaching restrictions in the use of certain chemicals that damage the thin, vital veil of stratospheric ozone that protects the earth and its inhabitants from excessive ultraviolet radiation. The Protocol and its later amendments set target dates for the phaseout of 96 different ozone-depleting substances, most notably CFCs and halons, chemicals once widely used in a range of industrial applications. Industrialized countries were required to halt production and import of CFCs in 1996, while developing countries have until 2010 to complete the phaseout.
Considered one of the world's most successful environmental treaties, the Protocol has resulted in a dramatic decline in the overall use of ozone-depleting substances. But starting in the mid-1990s, the different phaseout schedules for industrial and developing countries helped stoke a flourishing illegal trade in the banned chemicals. CFCs that were still legally produced in the developing world began to make their way to lucrative black markets in the United States and Europe, where demand for substances like Freon (used in older-model auto air conditioners) remained high.
Government and industry reports suggest that in the mid-1990s, as much as 15 percent of global annual production of the chemicals, or 38,000 tons, was smuggled into industrial countries. Early shipments originated in Russia, but today the bulk of the smuggled CFC supply is thought to originate in China and India, which together account for more than half of the world's remaining CFC production.
CFC importers resort to fraud and other evasive tactics to smuggle the banned chemicals. For instance, traders abuse existing loopholes in the Montreal Protocol and domestic laws to pass off shipments of new CFCs as recycled material or as CFC replacements, neither of which are restricted under the treaty. The chemicals are typically colorless and odorless, making them easy to disguise and virtually impossible to differentiate without chemical analysis.
In the United States, the illegal CFC trade is believed to have peaked in the mid-1990s, just after the initial phaseout. At that time, as much as 10,000 tons of the chemicals entered the country each year. By 1995, CFCs were considered the most valuable contraband entering Miami, after cocaine. Following a crackdown on large consignments through East Coast ports, much of the illegal trade shifted to the Mexican border.
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that in total, some 10,000-20,000 tons of CFCs have been smuggled into the United States since 1992. Despite stronger enforcement efforts, officials have recovered only a fraction of this contraband. So far, activities under the North American CFC-Anti-Smuggling Initiative, an interagency task force established in 1994, have led to 114 convictions and the seizure of some 1,125 tons of smuggled CFCs.
Today, a second, smaller, spike in black market activity is occurring as the remaining U.S. stockpiles of legal CFC-12 are depleted. Traders can once again earn a high profit on the contraband supplies: a 30-pound cylinder of CFC-12, bought in China for as little as $30 to $60, can be resold on the U.S. black market for as much as $600. For auto repair shops and other end users, obtaining this illegal product can still be cheaper than buying the legal supplies, which now cost as much as $1,000 per cylinder.
Europe has been another significant market for illegal CFCs. In the mid 1990s, researchers with the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) uncovered a thriving regional trade amounting to between 6,000 and 20,000 tons of the chemicals annually. Well after the phaseout deadline, supplies were still abundant and prices disproportionately low, suggesting that the market was being swamped with illegal imports. Meanwhile, regional sales of CFC replacements were slower than expected.
The European black market has thrived in part because regional refrigerant management programs have been poorly organized, and because consumers perceive alternatives to CFCs to be too costly and less efficient. In Central and Eastern Europe, where the illegal CFC trade is thought to be increasing, a major problem is that border officials are typically untrained in identifying the chemicals and have difficulty deciphering their often vague customs codes.
European efforts to control CFC smuggling have generally lagged behind those of the United States, but there are signs that European enforcement is improving. In 1997, authorities in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom jointly nabbed a multimillion-dollar crime ring that had illegally imported more than 1,000 tons of Chinese-made CFCs for redistribution in Europe and the United States. And in an unprecedented move, in September 2000 the European Union adopted a regional ban on CFC sales and use.
Demand for contraband CFCs has also been high in Japan, especially as retail prices for the chemicals have skyrocketed. Although the Japanese government banned the use of Freon in new cars in 1994, 15 to 20 million vehicles in the country still use the refrigerant. The Japan Times reports that auto repair shops in the country circulated more than 100,000 canisters of illicit CFC-12 in 2001, most of them originating in China and other developing countries.
As the CFC phaseout begins to take hold in the developing world (countries were required to freeze consumption in July 1999), black markets are beginning to emerge in places like Asia, where there are still millions of users of CFC-based equipment, including old cars and refrigerators that have been exported from the industrial world. In October 2001, EIA reported on a growing multi-million dollar market for illegal CFCs in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Between early 1999 and March 2000, smugglers slipped some 880 tons of ozone-depleting substances into India, representing an estimated 12 percent of national consumption.
To improve monitoring of the CFC trade and head off future black markets, parties to the Montreal Protocol recently adopted a new licensing amendment that entered into force in 1999. It requires member countries to issue licenses or permits for the import and export of all new, used, and recycled ozone-depleting substances and to exchange information regularly about these activities. By identifying who is and is not licensed to trade, the system should make it easier for police and customs officials to track the movement of the chemicals worldwide.
From Words to Action
Four years ago, the environment ministers of the leading economic powers expressed "grave concern about the ever-growing evidence of violations of international environmental agreements," and called for a range of cooperative actions aimed at stepped-up enforcement. This initiative was followed by the adoption last February of international guidelines to promote compliance with multilateral environmental agreements and prevent cross-border environmental crime. This August's World Summit on Sustainable Development will focus renewed international attention on the importance of adequately implementing and enforcing international environmental treaties and other agreements.
In other promising developments, the World Customs Organization is working with governments to harmonize classification systems for waste and other environmental contraband. The international police organization INTERPOL is training national enforcement officers and customs agents to identify illicitly traded goods more easily, and is also working with national police forces to bring international environmental criminals to justice. Both institutions have established close working relations with UNEP and with the CITES and Basel Convention secretariats.
NGOs are playing a strong role as well. Brazil's RENCTAS is cooperating with the police and the federal environment ministry to train officers in wildlife inspection and is investigating anonymous tips about wildlife smuggling left on its Web site. At the international level, TRAFFIC is tracking national customs enforcement efforts, documenting areas of unsustainable wildlife trade, identifying trade routes for wildlife commodities, and investigating smuggling allegations.
New technologies are also being deployed against international environmental crime. Remote sensing, for instance, was used by the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1990s to gather the evidence of illegal dumping of oil in international waters that helped to bring Royal Carribean to justice. Satellite-linked Vessel Monitoring Systems are also increasingly being used to monitor the movement of fishing boats in order to detect illegal harvesting. DNA tracing is being used to monitor both fishing and wildlife trade by enabling researchers to link seafood items and wildlife parts back to the species or even the animal of origin.
Targeted industries and countries have bowed to the combined might of NGOs and consumers in several cases. In 1999, pressure from the World Wide Fund for Nature and increased public awareness of the threats that traditional medicine usage poses to wildlife caused leading practitioners and retailers in China to pledge not to prescribe or promote medicines containing parts from tigers, rhinos, bears, and other endangered species. Late last year, Belize, which Greenpeace calls "the world's most fish pirate-friendly country," struck five notorious pirate vessels from its shipping register after Greenpeace showcased the plight of the Patagonian toothfish.
Although so far they are exceptions rather than the rule, these examples demonstrate that international environmental crime can be controlled through the combined efforts of governments, international institutions, businesses, NGOs, and ordinary citizens. That's good news for the integrity of the Earth's protective ozone layer, numerous threatened species, and the health of communities poisoned by hazardous wastes.
Lisa Mastny is a research associate at Worldwatch Institute. Hilary French is director of the Institute's Global Governance Project.
Variable Crimes, Constant Incentives
International environmental crime involves many different kinds of activities and contraband, ranging from illegal fishing and trading in endangered wildlife to smuggling ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) across borders. But in most cases there are several common elements:
‹Booming demand, minimal investment, high profits. Such crime is generally very attractive to traders and smugglers. Demand for increasingly rare plants, fish, or CFCs is strong. Investment can be minimal and the rewards great, with prices climbing substantially as the items change hands. For instance, a Senegalese wholesaler may buy a grey parrot in Gabon for $16-20 and sell it to a European wholesaler for $300-360, who then gets $600-1,200 for it.
‹Low risk, low penalties. Environmental crimes normally carry low risk, with domestic penalties often light or nonexistent. A 2000 study by the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora found that roughly half of the treaty's 158 parties failed to implement the treaty adequately. A common deficiency is a lack of appropriate penalties to deter treaty violations.
‹Creative smuggling methods. Smugglers have devised clever ways to evade controls on restricted items, from using unauthorized crossing points to shipping illegal items along with legal consignments.
‹Links to organized crime. Environmental criminals sometimes launder or funnel the proceeds from their trafficking to other illicit activities, such as buying drugs or weapons. The National Network for Combating the Traffic of Wild Animals (RENCTAS), a Brazilian NGO, reports that as much as 40 percent of the 300 to 400 criminal groups that control that country's wildlife trade also have links with drug trafficking.
‹Weak domestic treaty enforcement. Because treaty secretariats have little centralized authority, signatory countries are expected to designate their own permitting authorities and train local customs inspectors and police to detect and penalize illegal activity. But many countries simply don't have the resources to do this.
‹Porous borders. Many countries lack the money, equipment, or political will to effectively monitor illegal activity at border crossings. In the developing world in particular, customs offices are chronically understaffed and underfunded. Agents are often untrained to spot crimes or overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of items they must track.
‹Permitting challenges. Local authorities may unwittingly issue permits for animals, seafood, chemicals, or other items they don't know are restricted, or let consignments slip through because they can't identify a fake or altered permit. Corrupt local officials may issue false permits or overlook illicit consignments in return for bribes or kickbacks.
Logging Illogic
Money doesn't grow on trees, but some trees might as well be pure gold. The world's voracious (and growing) appetite for wood, paper, and other forest products is driving a stampede to mow down forests.
Much of this logging is illegal. Illegally cut wood accounted for up to 65 percent of world supply in 2000, according to the World Resources Institute. Estimates of illegal logging as a share of the total range from 35 percent in Malaysia, to 50 percent in Cameroon, 50 percent in eastern Russia, 70 percent in Gabon, 73 percent in Indonesia, and up to 80 percent in parts of Brazil. About 40 percent of the wood processed in the pulp and paper industry in Indonesia is of questionable origin, and up to 46 percent of the domestic demand in the Philippines is supplied from illegal sources. Precise global data are unavailable, but in terms of commodity value, illegal logging may be the most serious transnational environmental crime.
Illegal logging activities include logging in national parks and protected areas; harvesting protected timber species; overcutting and underreporting of timber volume, grade, and species; logging for illegal commercial charcoal and fuelwood production; logging without permits; smuggling; and violating forest laws and restrictions. Like money, timber can be "laundered;" in May the BBC reported on illegally logged Indonesian timber that was imported openly into Malaysia, processed into garden furniture, and exported as of Malaysian origin.
National governments have taken a range of measures against these crimes-overhaul of forest legislation, reforming permit processes, adjusting tax codes and royalty systems, various bans-with mixed success. Indonesia, for instance, banned log exports last year and in May declared a temporary moratorium on logging concessions. Logging persists, however, to supply pulp and paper mills and (via bulldozing and burning) to clear forests for palm oil plantations. Logging bans often increase illegal logging in neighboring countries; a recent Chinese logging ban has boosted demand for timber from Cambodia, Vietnam, and far eastern Russia. Thailand's logging ban in the 1990s encouraged the extraction of timber in Laos and Myanmar, especially teak.
On the plus side, in northern Tanzania, pilot village forest management programs were so successful in controlling illegal forest activities, including logging, that Tanzania's forest policy now promotes community involvement in forest management nationwide. Ecuador recently launched Vigilancia Verde, a coalition of the Environment Ministry, the armed forces, police, and environmental NGOs, to collaborate in monitoring the transport of timber to markets and mills. In its first year it seized five times the volume of timber confiscated by the government the year before.
Controlling illegal logging is dangerous. After Brazil banned mahogany logging, one of the promoters of the ban was gunned down at his house. In Guerrero, Mexico, the army shot one farmer and jailed and tortured two others who protested logging abuses. A campaign by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources against illegal logging and its own corruption has made progress-in 2001, over 12 thousand cubic meters of illegal timber confiscated, 76 criminal cases filed, and 14 DENR personnel suspended-but at the cost of nearly 80 DENR staff killed in the line of duty over the years.
The risk is commensurate with the profits, which are high because of strong demand for timber products, especially from the developed world. According to the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency, the European Union imported about $1.5 billion worth of illegal timber in 1999; in 2000 the United States imported an estimated $330 million worth of illegal timber from Indonesia alone. The G8 nations (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States) account for about three-quarters of global timber and wood products imports, yet to date no G8 nation has laws requiring routine seizure of illegal timber imports.
-Christine Haugen
Ms. Haugen (firstname.lastname@example.com) is a consultant on resource and energy issues. She is the author of the Directory of Tropical Forestry Journals and Newsletters (FAO-Bangkok, 1997) and co-author of Keeping It Green: Tropical Forestry Opportunities for Mitigating Climate Change (World Resources Institute, 1995).


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Mother settles in California shooting of teen
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The mother of a Southern California teenager who was unarmed when he was fatally shot by police two years ago has settled with the city of Pasadena, according to a published report.
Anya Slaughter agreed to drop her portion of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city in the death of her son, 19-year-old Kendrec McDade, according to court filings Friday that were obtained by the The Pasadena Star-News (http://bit.ly/1kU9JOU ). City Manager Michael Beck confirmed the settlement, but declined to release the dollar amount.
McDade's father Kenneth McDade, however, has not settled and is due to go to trial Tuesday in his lawsuit against the city.
McDade was shot and killed in March 2012 by Pasadena officers who later said they were on high alert because a 911 caller had reported that two men had taken his backpack at gunpoint. McDade was later found to be unarmed and the caller, Oscar Felipoe Carrillo, later pleaded guilty to filing a false police report.
Carrillo said he lied about a gun to get a faster police response.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office concluded that the officers had acted lawfully and noted that Carrillo mentioned a gun eight times in his 911 call.
The report from the prosecutor's office said McDade was clutching his waistband with his right hand as Officers Matthew Griffin and Jeffrey Newlen chased him by car and on foot.
McDade was running on a sidewalk when he suddenly turned into the street and headed directly at Griffin, who opened fire from his patrol car.
Newlen, who was on foot at that point, also opened fire, believing McDade was firing at Griffin, the report said.
Two months after the fatal shooting, a 17-year-old boy who had been with McDade appeared in juvenile court and acknowledged his role in the theft that led to the shooting.
The minor made the admission — the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty plea — to two felony counts of burglary, one count of grand theft and a misdemeanor count of failing to register as a gang member. He was not identified because of his age.
Information from: Pasadena Star-News, http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/
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Strong First Half Leads Rams to Skyline Win
Farmingdale State - 4, Bard College - 0
Farmingdale, N.Y. - A four goal first half would be all the Rams needed, as they cruised to a 4-0 shutout over Skyline opponent, Bard College. The Rams improve to 6-1 overall, while the Raptors drop to 2-3 on the season.
Sophomore forward Melissia Elie (Brentwood, N.Y./Brentwood) opened the scoring just 4:58 in, off a pass from freshman forward Sarah Golden (Greenport, N.Y./Greenport). Ten minutes later, Farmingdale State sophomore forward Jamie Smith (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem East) was successful on a penalty kick to give the Rams a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore forward Corine Magee (Mastic, N.Y./William Floyd) increased Farmingdale's lead to 3-0 with an unassisted goal at the 21:40 mark. The final goal of the day would come a minute and a half later, as sophomore forward Christina Merrill (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) netted a pass from junior defender Katrina Cerverizzo (Center Moriches, N.Y./Center Moriches).
The Rams would not allow a shot in the second half, en route to victory in the first Skyline Conference game of the season, and stretching their conference undefeated streak to 15 games, dating back to November 2008.
Farmingdale State will now host Maritime College in another Skyline game on Thursday, September 23rd at 4:00 p.m.


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|Flexible prostheses of predetermined shapes and process for making same
|Method of inducing osseous formation by implanting bone graft material
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 07/606,449, filed on Oct. 31, 1990 abandoned.
The present invention relates to implants for use in the repair and replacement of the various portions of the human skeletal system. More particularly, it is directed toward implants for use in clinical procedures such as sinus elevation, nasal-oral fistula, mandibular augmentation, poncho cover for the salvage of peri-implantitis, guided tissue regeneration, and related procedures.
The repair, as well as the replacement, of diseased and damaged human bone have been the subject of substantial research efforts over the past several decades. This research has yielded advances in the reconstruction of many areas of the human skeletal system. As a result of these advances, replacements and repair are presently being undertaken in several areas including the restructuring of the craniofacial system, the introduction of artificial knee and hip joints, and the application of additional features during cosmetic surgery.
The biological mechanisms underlying the aforesaid reconstruction and repair varies according to the type of bone implant selected. New bone can be formed by three basic mechanisms: osteogenesis, osteoconduction and osteoinduction. In osteogenic transplantation, viable osteoblasts and periosteoblasts are moved from one body location to another where they establish centers of bone formation. Cancellous bone and marrow grafts provide such viable cells.
In the transplantation of large segments of cortical bone or allogenic banked bone, direct osteogenesis does not occur. In these cases, osteoconduction transpires--the dead bone acts as a scaffold for the ingrowth of blood vessels, followed by the resorption of the implant and deposition of new bone. This process is very-slow however, often requiring years to reunite a large segmental defect.
Osteoinduction is the phenotypic conversion of connective tissue into bone by an appropriate stimulus. As this concept implies, formation of bone can be induced at even non-skeletal sites. Osteoinduction is the preferred method of providing new bone growth as grafts of this type are typically incorporated into the host bone within a two week period. In contrast, osteoconductive grafts have been found to be non-incorporated as long as one year after implantation.
In order to provide an environment suitable for osteoinduction, a material should be selected which is not only capable of inducing osteogenesis throughout its volume, but is also biocompatible, non-inflammatory, and possesses the ability to be ultimately resorbed by the body and replaced with new, natural bone.
One approach to bone repair and reconstruction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,472,840 and 4,394,370. These references, the second being a divisional of the first, are directed toward bone graft material and a method of inducing bone growth which center upon a material which comprises a complex of reconstituted collagen and demineralized bone particles. This material may be fabricated into many forms, such as thin membranes, gels, or preferably a sponge-like configuration, depending upon the particular application. One purported advantage of this material, as stated in the reference, is in its ability to promote bone regeneration. For example, the use of bone particles in implant materials has been shown to induce greater quantities of new bone growth than unmodified, larger particles such as blocks or chips. Moreover, large, unmodified sections of demineralized bone appear to induce osteogenesis only at their surface, not within the graft itself.
A similar approach is found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,1485,096 and 4,485,097 which disclose the use of bone particulates, or powders. Bone-equivalents are prepared by incorporating bone powder into hydrated collagen lattices contracted with fibroblast cells prepared in accordance with this reference. This allows the material to be cast into any shape desired, such as sheets. Certain methods and devices have been developed to assist in the casting of this material into sheets. One method requires the material to be coated onto a mesh of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or stainless steel which serves to maintain the length and width of the material. The inclusion of such a dimensional stabilizing material is required due to the presence of fibroblast cells. If left unrestrained, the collagen lattice would undergo contractions in all dimensions.
A related type of material which may be used as a bone substitute is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,760. This reference discloses a bone prosthesis comprising demineralized bone or dentin powder contained in a porous medical grade casing. This casing is manufactured from biocompatible polymeric fibers or a microporous membrane. Crosslinked collagen is the preferred material. This material may be used to replace or repair non-stress bearing bone tissue, i.e., craniofacial bone other than load-bearing parts of the jaw. Demineralized bone powder is advantageously used because, as a particulate, it is more readily and completely invaded by osteogenic cells than solid, one-piece demineralized bone.
Yet another material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,470 which provides a bone grafting material which is produced from allogenic or xenogenic bone which may be pulverized, used as a large block, or machined into a precise predetermined shape depending on the bone defect being repaired. The method for deriving the material comprises tanning the bone with glutaraldehyde. This treatment of the material serves to stabilize the material as well as cross-link the proteins. The bone may also be demineralized, if desired. The resulting demineralized bone will have a "spongier" texture and thus finds use only in non-weight bearing situations, i.e., repair of small defects, filling of small tunnels or other hollow areas, cosmetic surgery, and similar uses.
Present processes used in the field of periodontics also utilize an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene material, e.g., GORETEX® e-PTFE, which is stated to be flexible and biocompatible. One example of an application of such material is when it is implanted next to a tooth root after extraction of a tooth. Such implantation with this material allegedly isolates the root from the epithelium and connective tissue such that only alveolar bone and connective tissue fill the space. This material superficially attaches itself to the body, a second surgical procedure being required to remove the material from the patient after sufficient bone growth has occurred.
Thus, and despite the materials known in the art, there exists a need for a material that possesses all of the aforementioned advantageous properties, e.g., biocompatible, non-inflammatory, capable of inducing osteogenesis, the ability to be ultimately resorbed by the body and replaced with natural bone, while not sacrificing flexibility for strength or dimensional stability and, importantly, not requiring a second surgical procedure to remove the implant or a portion thereof.
It has now been surprisingly discovered that completely or partially demineralized organic bone matrix can be sliced into thin sheets or membranes and that such sheets have totally unexpected properties. The sheets are flexible while exhibiting significant tensile strength. Thus, the present invention provides a membrane produced from demineralized organic bone matrix which is useful for the in vivo repair, replacement or reformation of preselected portions of a skeletal system. The membrane comprises a continuous sheet of demineralized natural bone, having a thickness such that the sheet has sufficient flexibility to allow the sheet to be shaped to conform to the configuration of a skeletal region to be repaired and sufficient tensile strength to allow the sheet to be so shaped without damage to the sheet.
Furthermore, there is provided a method for the in vivo repair or replacement of a preselected section of an animal or mammalian skeletal system comprising affixing to said section a continuous flexible sheet of demineralized natural bone to the section, wherein the thickness of said sheet is such that the sheet has sufficient flexibility to allow the sheet to be shaped to conform to the configuration of a skeletal region to be repaired and sufficient tensile strength to allow the sheet to be so shaped without damage to the sheet.
An additional method is drawn toward the in vivo reformation of an animal or mammal which comprises inserting a continuous sheet of demineralized natural bone into said animal or mammal, wherein the thickness of said sheet allows for the induction of osteogenesis throughout the volume of the sheet.
While the present invention will be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments, it is not intended that the present invention be so limited. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalent arrangements as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The present invention provides a novel material and method for the repair and replacement of a portion of a skeletal system, e.g., the human skeletal system. The material comprises a continuous sheet of demineralized natural bone having a predetermined and therapeutically advantageous thickness. This material is biocompatible, non-inflammatory, capable of inducing osteogenesis, and has the ability to be ultimately readsorbed by the body and replaced with natural bone. Further, the aforementioned material surprisingly is flexible while retaining its structural and dimensional integrity both prior to and after hydration and additionally possessing significant tensile strength.
Although demineralized bone heretofore has existed in the art, no one has previously produced demineralized bone in the form of thin sheets or membranes. Indeed, it is quite surprising and unexpected that a thin sheet of completely or partially demineralized bone could be produced having both significant flexibility and tensile strength. Nothing in the art heretofore indicated that such a thin sheet of demineralized bone could be made, let alone that it could exhibit such desirable flexibility and tensile strength.
The bone itself may be produced from any natural bone. Generally, the bone material is harvested from any suitable vertebrate. The harvested material may be further processed by various techniques to remove substantially all blood and lipid residue. The resulting bone may be cut into plates of approximately 0.5-1.5 mm in thickness using, e.g., an Isomet Plus precision saw (Buehler LTD., Lake Bluff, Ill.) which has a diamond wafering blade mounted thereon. Cutting of the bone should be undertaken with continuous irrigation of the blade to prevent unwanted heating of the bone. The resulting plates may be further processed to remove any remaining blood and lipids.
Demineralization of the bone is subsequently conducted by any known method, e.g., subjecting the bone to different acids, chelating agents, electrolysis or any combination of the foregoing. If desired, the bone may be perforated according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,973, the specification of which is herein incorporated by reference, prior to demineralization, this serving to increase the osteoinductivity of the final bone product.
It has been discovered that the aforementioned demineralized bone matrix, when machined to a certain thickness, induces osteogenesis throughout its thickness and ultimately is substantially completely resorbed by the living system into which it is implanted. Further, the matrix is flexible. Generally, the thickness at which this will occur ranges up to about 10 millimeters. Advantageously, the thickness will range from about 0.05 to about 1.5 millimeters, and the thickness preferably ranges from about 0.7 to about 1.2 millimeters.
In accordance with the aforesaid dimensions, natural bone sheets having a length and width of up to about 25 by 500 millimeters may be produced, this being limited only by the dimensions of the bone material supplied. The material may then be reduced to the desired length and width dimensions by cutting. Use of the term "sheet" throughout this disclosure is intended to encompass those portions of an original sheet which have been reduced to a desired length and width.
The present material is further capable of osteoinduction despite the absence of any attachment to existing bone or cartilage. This use of the material in this manner is generally made during the reconstruction of areas which have incurred massive bone loss.
The following examples, which are not intended as limiting the scope of the invention, illustrate the osteogenesis capabilities of the present material.
Bone thickness in the floor of this sinus is often inadequate for dental implants. The problem is typically approached by opening a bone window and lifting a plate of bone to push the mucous membrane of the sinus away from the bone, creating a new space to contain bone graft for more secure implantation. Rarely, this membrane may be torn, predisposing the area to infection. The bone of the present invention may be used as a patch in this situation, thus avoiding delayed and necessary subsequent surgical procedures.
The oral and nasal cavities are compartmentalized by bone plates which may become deficient, this creating abnormal passages in these cavities which interfere with swallowing, secretions, and speech. Restoration of the function requires restoration of form, i.e., the insertion of a bone plate. This may be difficult using known methods but may be accomplished easier and more successfully using the material of the present invention which may be machined to a similar thickness and which will induce new bone growth.
Aging and disuse atrophy cause bone loss from the tooth socket portion of the jaws. These parts cannot be loaded, for example with a dental prosthesis, unless metal implants are inserted. However, these metal implants can only be properly implanted where there exists an adequate bone surface. Various methods have been attempted to build up this alveolar area with limited success. For example, powders tend to migrate from their original placement, particularly when this placement is in a mandibular or maxillar location or on the crest of such a ridge. The present invention may be employed by, for example, successively layering of the material over the atrophied bone. Alternatively, it may be used to cover and contain particulates which have been inserted to increase bone mass.
Bone is frequently resorbed from around teeth (periodontal disease) or around a metal implant. These structures cannot function without firm bone support and will be ultimately lost. Particulate materials are typically placed in the semi-circular defect and are covered with a sheet of E-PTFE which allegedly prevents invasion of certain unwanted tissue forming cells. Use of the present material functions as such a limiting membrane but is not a foreign body, is not predisposed to infection and does not require a subsequent second surgical procedure to remove same.
Additional examples of uses for the present material include the replacement, augmentation and recontouring of natural bone structures in plastic and reconstructive surgery, cosmetic, otolaryngolical, and neurological surgical procedures.
In view of the material's ability to be reabsorbed into the living system after promoting osteogenesis, a subsequent surgical procedure to remove any remaining portion of the material is totally eliminated.
Other advantages include the flexibility of the material. The material is flexible at the time it is manufactured as well as after hydration. By use of the term "flexible," it is contemplated that the material may be deformed or bent from its original configuration. Flexibility is a desirable property because it is often desirable to be able to bend and shape the material such that, after the area is completely healed, the contour of the bone being repaired matches the contour of the original bone, or matches the original bone as closely as possible. Also, specific surgical procedures benefit from this characteristic, such as those described in the previous Examples.
The material also advantageously provides a tensile strength which is higher than other materials which are capable of osteoinductive activity throughout the volume of the material.
Generally, the method for using the present natural bone sheet comprises affixing the material onto the portion of the skeletal system in need of repair or replacement. Affixation may be accomplished by any known surgical technique.
In addition, the present sheet can be implanted without being affixed to existing bone, for example, during submucosal tunnelling and demineralized bone sheet insertion for maxillary/mandibular ridge augmentation.
Although the present material and methods are useful in humans, they will also be found useful in treating many different types of animals, e.g., horses, dogs and the like.


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Jefferson Co. could lose millions in grant funding
Jefferson County held a workshop Monday, July 29, to discuss about $2 million worth of Round 1 TRDA Grant funds administered by The General Land Office of the state of Texas. The funds are allocated to use for storm water drainage improvements in Drainage District 7, which covers an area of 107.42 square miles and encompasses the cities of Port Arthur, Groves, Nederland and Port Neches and unincorporated areas of Jefferson County.
According to a report by Tolunay-Wong Engineers Inc. to Carroll & Blackman Inc., the company consulting with Jefferson County on the Main B diversion project, the project consists of constructing an overshot gate structure on a new diversion canal at the Main B Canal in Port Arthur. The gate structure and diversion canal will be used to channel water from the Main B Canal to Golden Pond Detention Pond Facility approximately 1,250 feet southwest of the project site. The diversion canal will pass under a new steel bridge structure and a 20-foot wide concrete roadway prior to entering the proposed gate structure and Main B Canal.
"The Main B Diversion really helps Port Arthur more than it does anyone else because it reduces the load of storm water that goes down to Port Arthur," said Allen Sims, vice president of Carroll & Blackman Inc. "It helps upstream some but it really helps downstream."
The county has received bids on DD7 Main B Lateral and Diversion, but the bids the county has received for the project have been too high, Judge Jeff Branick said.
Branick also said the county has until Dec. 31, 2015, to finish the project or it will lose the funding.
The project bid in at around $8 million, but the county only has around $3.6 million left in funding for the Main B Diversion project to add to the $2 million grant from the state.
Relocation of three pipelines, two gas lines and a petroleum line, were discussed and estimated to cost $1 million each for relocation and would take up to a year to relocate.
If the county cannot find a bid that's within range of the funds available, including the $2 million, and if the project is not completed by Dec. 31, 2015, Jefferson County will lose the grant funding. If the county planned to complete the project after that, it would have to fully pay for the project from county funds.
"We need to get those prices for moving those pipelines like … yesterday. We don't want to lose the money. We don't want to lose a good project," said Pct. 2 Commissioner Brent Weaver.
The Drainage District 7 Board plans to further discuss the cost of relocating pipelines and return to Jefferson County Commissioners Court in around two weeks for another workshop


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What is a good structure for a conclusion?
The conclusion is closely related to the introduction: it is often described as a 'mirror-image' of the introduction. That is, where the introduction begins with general information and ends with specific information, the conclusion moves in the opposite direction.
- It often begins by summarising (briefly) the main structure or scope of the paper. (This is not necessary if the paper follows a very predictable structure, such as the Methods, Results, Discussion structure of a scientific report.)
- The conclusion then confirms the topic which was given in the introduction. Depending on what type of paper you are writing, this may take the form of the aims of the paper, a thesis statement (point of view) or a research question/hypothesis and its answer/outcome.
- The conclusion usually ends with a more general statement about how this topic relates to its context. This may take the form of an evaluation of the importance of the topic, implications for future research or a recommendation about theory or practice.


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A solemn warning, a serious call, an amazing hope!
Grace is something you can see.
The Fellowship of Ailbe is a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. We are not a "Celtic" order or fellowship; rather, our vision, values, and ministry are informed and shaped in many ways by the example and teaching of Christian leaders from Ireland who, between the fifth and ninth centuries, were used of God to bring a far-ranging revival and awakening to traditional Celtic lands, as well as to much of Europe.