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Top Dawg Entertainment’s Official Studio Rules Are The Funniest Thing You’ll See All Day

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first_imgTop Dawg Entertainment is one of the most lucrative labels in the hip-hop world today, with top-tier artists like Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and ScHoolboy Q (who together make up the Black Hippy crew), as well as Isaiah Rashad, SZA, Lance Skiiwalker and more. Notoriously vocal Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith runs a tight ship, and enforces strict rules to maintain the creative workplace vibe in the studio for his artists.Earlier this week, ScHoolboy Q shared a photo of the behavioral commandments posted in the Top Dawg studio, and they’re pretty incredible. The document is entitled “STUDIO RULES, BITCH!!” and only gets more entertaining from there. You can read the full list of rules below:1. If you ain’t one of the homies don’t be Instagramming you creepy muthafucka. I don’t wanna look on yo twitter and find a creepy ass pic of me or one of the homies, matter of fact, No Twitter or Instagram in the studio! Act like you been around a bunch of rich niggaz from the bottom before!2. If the homies just met you and decide to clown yo bitch azz, sit there and deal with it. It’s part of the creative juices.3. Don’t touch, ask, or reach for Q’s weed, unless he thinks you cool enuff to pass it to you. We only smoke stersonals around here boy.4. Shut up and look ugly for the homies.5. Remember these rules and you might get a meal out the food budget!The rules are clearly working, as Top Dawg Entertainment has steadily grown in size and stature over the last several years. Most recently, Kendrick Lamar’s new album DAMN., was released to critical acclaim earlier this year, quickly jumping to the top spot on the Billboard charts and earning a Platinum RIAA Certification.You can watch the video for the album’s lead singe “HUMBLE.” below via Kendrick Lamar VEVO:[h/t – Fader]last_img read more

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From federal support, groundbreaking research

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first_img Related Behind the numbers, a deep personal dimension to financial aid College stories illuminate Harvard’s far-reaching commitment to helping students thrive A call to halt endowment tax Faust among 49 college presidents signing protest letter to Congress Faust worries measure could undercut financial aid, research center_img For Allon Klein, federal scientific research funding allowed him to build a microscale device to analyze single cells affected by disease, adding new precision to understanding how cancer causes things to go wrong in the human body.For Shelly Greenfield, federal dollars meant being able to investigate and develop a new substance-use-disorder treatment program, filling a gap in women’s care amid a spreading opioid epidemic.For Conor Walsh, government financial support meant being able to assemble large, interdisciplinary teams to develop soft, wearable robotics that can help those disabled by stroke and other conditions, and even boost the abilities of healthy people — such as soldiers — who work under challenging conditions. The research of those and thousands of other investigators at institutions across the United States represents a rare spending priority valued by lawmakers of both parties, according to the chairman of a key House subcommittee. That’s why, when statutory spending caps were eased earlier this year, lawmakers looked to boost the bottom line for agencies that finance research into human health, engineering, energy, and other areas.“In an era where we’re very divided, it’s nice to find an area where people will really work hard to see what we can do to make an investment here, [and ponder] what tough choices do we have to make elsewhere in the budget,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee that oversees the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a major source of funds for life science and medical research. “It’s something that Democrats and Republicans like to work on together.”In the most recent budget process, Cole worked closely with his congressional counterpart, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the NIH budget, to include a $3 billion, 8.8 percent increase for the agency. The hike is the third multibillion-dollar increase in as many years for the NIH, as Congress works to return the agency to funding levels not achieved since 2003. At that time, Congress had just completed a historic doubling of the NIH budget, but years of stagnating funding eroded purchasing power because of inflation.“This was a pleasant surprise, actually shocking,” said Sarah Axelrod, assistant vice president and head of Harvard’s Office for Sponsored Programs (OSP), which oversees Harvard’s external research funding from both private and public sources. “That [NIH increase] for us is great news, considering 68 percent of our [research] money is coming from the NIH.”The federal budget approved by Congress and signed by President Trump in March also includes increases for other agencies that fund university research, with the Defense Department getting additions of 7.3 percent for applied research, 4.7 percent for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and 2.9 percent for basic research. The National Science Foundation (NSF) received 4 percent more, while NASA’s science budget rose 7.9 percent, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), which funds high-risk, high-reward energy projects, received a 15.5 percent increase.“The increase in federal research funds in this year’s budget is a welcome sign that the vital partnership between universities and the federal government is strong,” said Harvard President Drew Faust. “It is gratifying to see that Congress shares our conviction that federally funded research benefits the public in manifold ways. It drives economic growth as new inventions and discoveries are brought to market, improves health and well-being through advances in diagnostics and treatment, and opens new avenues of achievement by expanding knowledge and sparking discovery. No collaboration holds more promise for the people of this country.” “It’s not just that the quality of the science is good, but the environment and the culture of the science here is really intoxicating. There’s such a strong spirit of collaboration; it’s such a can-do attitude. It really is the American spirit embodied in the scientific enterprise.” —Allon Klein, researcher and assistant professor of systems biology, Harvard Medical School Tax on university endowments passes At Harvard, external research funding provides critical support for the University’s scientific enterprise, totaling about 18 percent of the University’s annual operating budget. Axelrod said that reliance on outside research money varies widely from School to School. Harvard Business School, for example, accepts no external funding, while outside support for faculty research makes up 68 percent of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s budget.“It’s a huge range,” Axelrod said.Last year, Harvard’s Office for Sponsored Programs tallied 3,388 active awards for Harvard faculty members, of which 58 percent were federal and 42 percent were from private sources. The federal grants tend to be larger, Axelrod said, resulting in federal research support significantly outstripping that from other sources, $613 million versus $255 million.Harvard’s share of federal research dollars peaked at $639 million in 2013, the last year of an Obama-administration stimulus program designed to buoy the economy in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. Funding subsequently declined or remained stagnant, followed by gradual increases over the past three years, Axelrod said. Even with those increases, however, Harvard’s federal research funding in 2017 remained below that 2013 peak, at $613 million.Cole said Congress has generally looked at funding for the NIH and other research agencies more kindly than presidential administrations have, whether Republican or Democratic. Discussing his own motivation, Cole said he recognizes the potential of medical research to ease human suffering and also sees compelling economic reasons to support the nation’s robust scientific enterprise.Not only does scientific research result in new technology, inventions, and devices that spark the economy — for example, 57 percent of drugs patented in the world are patented in this country, he said — medical advances can also reduce costs of care.That’s critical in the case of ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease, which will become more prevalent in an aging nation, exacting both a rising human toll and skyrocketing medical costs.“It’s a terrible disease, and I’m familiar with it — my dad had it — but it also costs us $259 billion a year in Medicaid,” Cole said. “It will literally bust the federal budget if we don’t figure out a way to at least slow the onset. If we can slow the onset for five years, it will cost 42 percent less.”,Cole said he and Blunt had struck a deal on NIH funding to boost the agency’s revenue significantly, and, in the final flurry of negotiations that increased the overall budget’s bottom line, were able to add even more.“We’d already made all the tough decisions we had to make, so the extra money allows you to go back and ‘plus up’ some of the areas you thought were important, and NIH is one we felt strongly about,” Cole said. “I thought we could do better than $2 billion; it turned out to be a lot better.”Cole said the NIH’s $3 billion increase is likely to be “a one-time deal,” however, and the budget for fiscal 2019, which starts on Oct. 1, will likely be tighter. Still, Cole said, the goal is to provide the NIH with steady annual increases above the rate of inflation.“We’re at a very interesting time for science right now, with precision medicine, initiatives on the brain,” Cole said. “We’re going to be able to do some spectacular things if we make the investments now.”Harvard researchers share the vision of steady funding to enable breakthrough research that moves from the lab to the clinic, where it can help patients.Shelly Greenfield, the Kristine M. Trustey Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and chief academic officer at McLean Hospital, and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS), said much of her research into substance-use disorder and treatment over the years has come from two NIH institutes: the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).Research conducted under a NIDA grant, Greenfield said, led to development of a group treatment for women with substance-use disorders, which filled “a much needed treatment gap.”Federal dollars, Greenfield said, support the basic science that helps people to understand how drugs such as opioids affect the body, to identify targets in the brain for new therapeutic drugs, to devise innovative treatments, and to test delivery to ensure that those can reach patients.“NIDA and other institutes fund incredibly important research that is basic, translational, clinical, and implementation science, all of which are tremendously important in improving the delivery of effective treatments to patients,” Greenfield said. “Increases in the NIH budget are absolutely critical for opioid use disorders, substance use disorders, and mental health disorders.”Greenfield said that continued increases are important not only to support new efforts to curb existing problems like opioids, but also to head off areas of emerging concern, like the possible resurgence of methamphetamine use.At Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Conor Walsh, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is conducting research on soft robotics with the aim of designing assistive devices that can be worn like clothing and boost the capabilities of healthy individuals or help those afflicted by disease more easily carry on their daily lives.,“Our work is very translation-focused, usually strongly motivated by a clinical need or a significant opportunity we’ve identified, and where we think bringing new disruptive robotic technology can make a difference,” Walsh said.Walsh, who has received funding from the NIH, NSF, DARPA, and the Office of Naval Research, said the additional dollars are good news for large interdisciplinary projects like those he leads, because the grants have to support investigators from different disciplines, including engineering, materials science, and physical therapy or movement science.“Larger budgets enable more diverse types of research projects and more interdisciplinary research projects that are critical to making some of the next breakthroughs,” Walsh said. “We have big teams supported on these projects.”Walsh and Cole agreed that also important are the signals that funding sends to a new generation of researchers. Tight federal budgets mean fewer projects can get funded, which can influence junior scientists who are evaluating their career paths to think their future may be rosier elsewhere.“If somebody is just deciding to choose a career path in academia, one thing to think about is what the funding landscape looks like, and are they going to have realistic chances and good opportunities to get funding,” Walsh said. “It’s showing that the country is supportive.”Allon Klein, assistant professor of systems biology at HMS, said federal funding is part of what sets this nation apart from others. Klein, who was raised in Israel and received bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from Cambridge University, came to HMS for a postdoctoral fellowship and became so enamored by the science scene that he decided to stay.,“My immediate impression … is the science here is absolutely electrifying. It’s not just that the quality of the science is good, but the environment and the culture of the science here is really intoxicating,” Klein said. “There’s such a strong spirit of collaboration; it’s such a can-do attitude. It really is the American spirit embodied in the scientific enterprise.”Klein has developed a device to analyze single cells. By doing that in large numbers, researchers can understand with more precision what is going on in disease states. In cancer studies, for example, tumors are typically ground up and analyzed in bulk, providing an averaged view of what’s going on inside. But tumors don’t work as a single cellular mass, Klein said. Instead, the cancerous cells are fed by blood vessels, and the mass influences the immune system to shut off the body’s defensive response. By studying those cells individually, Klein said, researchers will have a better idea of what’s going on and where to intervene.“It’s rare that a disease only affects a single cell type, and a good example of that is cancer, where inside a tumor there is much more than just the cells themselves of the cancer. They would not be able to survive without being fed from blood vessels. They’re able to co-opt blood vessels from surroundings. They take advantage of our immune system,” Klein said.The device he developed, with the help of an NIH pilot grant, has been licensed to private industry, thereby potentially not just helping patients but also creating private jobs. Klein and Greenfield see research funding as one of the government’s best investments.“The money is being spent right at the place where value is being created,” Klein said. “It’s essentially funding not how to make [an existing] product better, but rather [funding] completely new concepts which will empower the next generation of drugs, or cures of disease. I think as far as the government is concerned, this is money very well spent.”last_img read more

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Holy Cross leaders, Catholic community members consider effectiveness of lay review boards in combating sexual assault

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first_imgIn January of 2002, when the Boston Globe Spotlight team released an article exposing the sexual abuse crisis in Boston parishes, the Catholic Church entered a state of deadlock. In response to the mass allegations, Church leaders met in Dallas that June and created the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The charter established several stipulations, including a key way for lay communities to check their clergies’ power: the creation of review boards. “Article II of the charter asked that every dioceses and group form a review board, and that the majority of its members are to be laypersons not in the employment of the diocese or the religious order,” Fr. Peter Jarret, assistant provincial and vicar of the Congregation of Holy Cross, said. “So pretty much every entity — all the dioceses, religious communities which are broken up into provinces — formed review boards.” The lay review board lives on in the Congregation of Holy Cross to this day. Its current purpose is to review allegations of sexual assault made against Holy Cross priests and brothers.The board is mainly made up of lay people who have some expertise in law or psychology, Jarret said. The board includes a psychologist, two attorneys, one former prosecutor, an education [worker] and a mother and Holy Cross parishioner, among others. “It’s a consultative body to the bishop — or in our case, to the provincial of the United States Province of Priests and Brothers of Holy Cross,” Jarret said. “If one of our members were to receive an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor about one of our members, we would of course inform the authorities right away and remove that person from ministry. But we would use the board to help us investigate, or they would be kind of our sounding board in terms of how to proceed.”The board members are appointed, not elected, and serve for a six-year term. Jarret said the Holy Cross provincial, or head of the order, is also elected for a six-year term, and another three-year term if he is re-elected, so leadership often tries to coincide board member terms with the term of the provincial. Jarret said the congregation has very specific procedures to follow when a person comes forward with an accusation against a Holy Cross clergy member. “We would respond immediately and remove the person from active ministry,” he said. “And then if the person is currently a minor, or it happened when the person was a minor, we would notify the police, the authorities and then work with them to do an investigation. We would usually meet with the person making the allegation and listen to their story, and all that would get written up, and if there’s other people that were involved in terms of someone who witnessed it or had knowledge of it … we write all that up and we would call the review board together and we would present all that to them and they would help us think through it.”The role of review boards proved particularly influential last year. When allegations against Cardinal McCarrick surfaced in June, the review board in the Archdiocese of New York found the allegations against him “credible and substantiated.” The Pope soon called for McCarrick’s resignation, who forfeited his position as Cardinal later that month.Jarret said many of the cases the board receives are from many years ago, which he attributes to the Catholic Church’s work to reduce clerical abuse since 2002.“The Church has done a good job since 2002 in terms of its protection of minors, so many and most of the cases are previous to [2002] and some are back from the 1950s and ’60s, so the priests are deceased,” he said. “Now, we’ll still do a full investigation, but the board is helpful in how to think through that … I think both for us and for most dioceses, really, since the Dallas Charter, there haven’t been many cases, and for us, none since 2002. Even if you look at the Pennsylvania report, they’re pretty much all before 2002. So I think the system is actually working.”Terry McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, a website that seeks to document all cases of clergy sexual abuse, said new cases of sex abuse are still emerging.“[While] it is true that I think there are fewer cases, it’s also wise to be wary of that rhetoric — that ‘Oh, these are all old cases.’ There are plenty of new cases,” McKiernan said. “The Church will say, ‘Oh, things have gotten a lot better,’ and that’s to some extent true, but it’s not thanks to them. All of these dioceses that are putting out lists now are putting out lists because the grand jury report in Pennsylvania resulted in all of these attorneys general investigations, and the bishops are really worried about that. There’s also a federal investigation going on right now. So there’s high anxiety among the American bishops.”McKiernan said it is also necessary to consider how information about sexual abuse is passed from clergy to the boards.“The second important question is, how do they get the cases, and how do they get the evidence that they are deliberating on? … When the news [of the 2011 Philadelphia abuse scandal broke] there was a grand jury report that revealed that the review board had really performed terribly and there were dozens of accused priests still in ministry,” he said.McKiernan pointed to a work written by Ana Maria Catanzaro, head of the Pennsylvania review board, in 2011 in which she said her board was alarmed to find they were not already familiar with all the cases the grand jury had reviewed.“Until the grand jury report came out, the board was under the impression that we were reviewing every abuse allegation received by the archdiocese,” McKiernan said in the work. “Instead, we had been advised only about allegations previously determined by archdiocesan officials to have involved the sexual abuse of a minor — a determination we had been under the impression was ours to make. The board still doesn’t know who made those decisions.” Fr. Richard Wilkinson, former assistant provincial and vicar of the Congregation of Holy Cross, said the only documents the Holy Cross review board would not have access to would be the medical documents from the examination priests receive at medical facilities made confidential under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which protects patients’ health information.“I would share with the board the general observations and recommendations, for instance, if … their initial recommendation is, ‘Yeah, we think he needs long-term [treatment] and this seems not only credible, but very likely, that there are other issues going on with this person — whether it be codependency or co-addiction with alcohol or drugs or something like that,’” Wilkinson said. “But that’s industry standard now … because both pedophilia and hebephilia … that’s a disease that’s usually accompanied by other [markers such as] personality disorders. You want people on your review board that can understand that kind of context of psychological, medical, legal issues.” Review boards have also received criticism because they’re set up to be strictly advisory — meaning bishops, or provincial in the case of Holy Cross, ultimately have control over the boards’ decision-making.“Once you set it up that way, where the bishop is picking the people and the bishop is getting their advice — but they’re not in any sense an independent body — they are advisory to the bishop,” he said. “Number one, who’s on the review board? Usually the aspiration is these days to make them majority lay, but even if they’re majority lay, if there is a powerful monsignor on the board, what are the dynamics? Some survivors were put on these boards in the early days, and generally they kind of resigned in disgust.” Kathleen Cummings, associate professor of history and American Studies and director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, also said makeup of the review board members are an important factor to consider. “Who is the bishop appointing to the lay board?” she said. “Are they people that are going to want to tell him what he wants to hear? Are they going to be people that are going to challenge him on decisions? My guess is most bishops would go with the former. So, people who might be very talented, very faithful Catholics but do not have a history of criticizing the bishop [could be appointed], and I think that is a flaw in the system.”Wilkinson said in his six years as vicar — in which he attended lay board meetings in place of the provincial — he never once went against the recommendation of the review board, however.“I found them incredibly helpful, as I often told them, ‘Your questions are very challenging, but that’s what I need to hear,’ because they were very straightforward, they would challenge me. And so number one, you have to have confidence in the board and they have to have confidence in you,” Wilkinson said. “They know the standards, they know the process, they know Holy Cross, they’re committed to Holy Cross — but in a good way of not trying to protect us, but to hold us accountable.”Jarret echoed Wilkinson’s claim.“I would say that it’s pretty rare, I don’t even know if I know any case in which, at least in our situation, where we’ve kind of gone against the recommendations of the lay board,” Jarret said.There has also been some question as to whether the problem of clergy sex abuse is worse in religious orders than with diocesan priest, McKiernan said.“How can it not be?” he said. “Often the charism of religious orders has to do with the education of young people.”On the contrary, Wilkinson said he believes the community-oriented culture of religious orders allow clergy to watch for warning signs of abuse, as compared to diocesan communities, which are more isolated.“I think there’s some built-in accountability, safety in living with others,” Wilkinson said. “Whereas a diocesan priest, oftentimes today they live alone … Years ago, they lived in a rectory with maybe three, four more priests, sometimes in the city, and they all had their little suites and came together for meals. But they didn’t pray together, and so there wasn’t as much accountability, unless your pastor had a good eye, I guess.”Wilkinson said keeping priests accused of sexual assault in a community will ensure they stay supervised.“I would err on the side of ‘keep [accused priests] accountable’ … so that we can make sure that [they are] never around kids,” he said.Religious communities also routinely send these clergy members to neighboring dioceses across the globe, making them difficult to keep an eye on, Cummings added.“A lot of the religious communities have missions abroad in developing countries,” she said. “Imagine, if it’s so hard to figure out where an abuser went within the U.S., imagine if you’re shipping him to … Bangladesh, Uganda?”Ultimately, Cummings said, much of the problem resides in a Church trapped in a culture of clericalism — in other words, excessive deference to the authority of clergy. “A lot of people hear clericalism and think only clerics can be guilty of the sin of clericalism,” she said. “But actually, lay people can be, too, when they defer too much to the bishops and priests and things like that … I think one thing is for lay people to realize their own clericalism. When are they giving the priests and the bishops a pass just because they’re priests and bishops?”McKiernan echoed Cummings’s belief.“There’s still a smugness, there’s still an insularity,” McKiernan said. “… We have to acknowledge that we all participate, in a way, in this clerical culture.”Tags: 2011 Philadelphia abuse scandal, BishopAccountability.org, Holy Cross, lay boardlast_img read more

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8 perks that might be hiding in your credit cards

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first_img 20SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr Credit cards often get a bad rap, and deservedly so. They aren’t for everyone, and even the most responsible people can get into trouble if they find themselves amid a layoff or an expensive illness. But when everything is going well, and you know what you’re doing, credit cards can save you a lot of money.However, you have to know your credit card, and know it well. Because if you don’t, you may be unaware of the plentiful perks some credit cards offer, and if you aren’t taking advantage of those perks, well, in a way, you’re back to losing money.So check the fine print. These are some of the many hidden perks you may be entitled to when using your credit card.Rental insurance. Thomas Nitzsche, a spokesman for ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions, headquartered in Atlanta, found himself with a problem last year after renting a car to drive from Missouri to Georgia.“I was street-parked for three days where I was staying in Atlanta, and when I returned to the car, I noticed I had been hit on the rear bumper,” Nitzsche says. “The bill to fix the car was nearly $800.” continue reading »last_img read more

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Nassau Contract Process ‘Broken,’ Needs Reform, DA Says

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first_imgSign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York A Nassau County contactor with organized-crime connections is one of many problems investigators found in a county contract probe authorities launched after New York State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) was arrested.Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas released Thursday the 36-page report, which included a host of other serious issues uncovered as well as recommendations on how to prevent those problems from recurring. Top among the recommendations was urging County Executive Ed Mangano to appoint an independent inspector general to review all county contracts regardless of cost—not just those over $25,000 that require legislative approval.“Nassau’s antiquated contracting process is a recipe for corruption and it’s critical that our leaders take immediate action to modernize and fortify this broken system,” said Singas, who called recent the county’s recent creation lobbyist registry inadequate.Singas launched the probe in April shortly before Skelos and his son, Adam, were arrested on federal corruption charges for allegedly conspiring to take bribes in exchange for, among other things, steering a $12 million Nassau stormwater treatment contract. The county has not been accused of wrongdoing and both men have pleaded not guilty.Shortly after Skelos’ arrest, Mangano issued an executive order creating a county lobbyist registry. The legislature later passed a bill codifying that move. But the new Nassau lobbyist registry still requires a fraction of the information compare to what New York City collects, Singas warned.“We look forward to reviewing the Acting DA’s report delivered today and will discuss her suggestions with the County Attorney and Comptroller to determine how best to improve the procurement process that was put in place in 2004, and then follow up with the Acting DA,” Brian Nevin, a spokesman for Mangano, said.“We’re glad to see that the report encompasses a lot of the things that we’ve been pushing for over the past two years,” said Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport), adding that he’s hopeful that Mangano and his allies in the Republican-led legislature will adopt the suggested reforms.A spokeswoman for Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) said she wasn’t immediately able to comment because she was still reading the report.Other “gaping holes” that Singas said her office found in their investigation, which is continuing, include the discovery of a contractor who is a bankrupt felon, a multi-contract recipient with multiple tax warrants and a contractor barred from government business in another jurisdiction.Contributing to the problem, among other things, is the fact the county has no credible process to verify self-disclosed information provided by prospective vendors, politically influenced compliance investigations, unchecked discretion that leaves the county vulnerable to lobbyist manipulation, the lack of a central database of contracts, an inadequate vendor registration system and difficulty in crosschecking bidder’s information against public officials’ financial disclosure statements, which she said should be submitted electronically, Singas said.“When it comes to government contracts, the honor system just doesn’t cut it,” Singas said. “Senior attorneys and investigators in my office are comprehensively reviewing contracts for illegality, undisclosed relationships and misrepresentations or omissions by county contractors… I will prosecute any crimes our review uncovers, and I am eager to work with county leaders to improve the broken contracting process that necessitated this review.”last_img read more

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New plans to link Binghamton and Vestal through one trail

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first_img“It’s a way to reduce their carbon footprint, and at the same time, live a little bit of a healthier life,” said Cook. “It’ll give people the opportunity to think about, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t get in a car,'” said NYSDOT Region 9 Public Information Officer Scott Cook. DOT officials say the new pathway will make shopping along Route 434 and in downtown Binghamton more accessible to both residents and students. “It often does stimulate economic activity, it increases healthiness for the residents in the area, and in most cases it actually brings property value up,” said Cook. The two and a half mile trail, called the Greenway Project, would run mostly down Route 434, connecting downtown Binghamton to Binghamton University. center_img (WBNG) — The New York State Department of Transportation hosted a public hearing session to discuss new plans for a possible trail linking Binghamton and Vestal. The trail is estimated to cost $18.8 million to construct. DOT officials say the cost is worth working toward other methods of sustainable travel. After the public hearing, the DOT plans to work on finalizing plans, with the intent on breaking ground in the Fall of 2020.last_img read more

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To enter Croatia, tourists will have to take a PSR test

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first_imgHowever, what attracted the most attention, at least as far as the tourism sector is concerned, is the procedure for entering Croatia, when, of course, the borders are opened. The PCR test is currently being discussed, Bilateral talks are currently under way with neighboring countries on opening borders, while epidemiologists will have the final say on both the opening date and the protocol for entering the country. Therefore, tourists will have to have a certificate that he has done a virus test and only with such a certificate will they be able to enter Croatia. Prof.dr.sc. Alemka Markotić, director of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases “Dr. Fran Mihaljević ”last night was a guest in the central Dnevnik of HRT and said that we are more ready to fight COVID-19 than five months ago when we knew nothing but that it was a new virus. When asked that a PCR test will be performed upon entering the country and how reliable it is, Markotić emphasized: “Until all countries get rid of the virus, Croatia cannot be sure either. Those who want to enter Croatia will have to take a PSR test in their country, which must not be older than 24 hours. Only with this confirmation will they be able to enter the country. It is a highly reliable test, but there is no 100% test, so even here you need to be careful if you go from an area where there are infections. Do not go home if you know you have been near an infected person”Said Markotić and additionally pointed out that we must not relax and that Croatia is endangered until all countries get rid of the virus. “Today, thanks to science, connectivity, technology, we already know a lot and in the second phase we will be able to fight the virus more readily”Added Markotić. Source: HRT / Photo: MUPlast_img read more

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Thomas Partey wants Arsenal transfer but Gunners hit impasse with Atletico Madrid

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first_img Metro Sport ReporterTuesday 1 Sep 2020 5:07 pmShare this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messengerShare this with Share this article via emailShare this article via flipboardCopy link19.4kShares Comment Advertisement Thomas Partey is keen to join Arsenal this summer (Getty Images)Thomas Partey wants to join Arsenal this summer but will not force through a move away from Atletico Madrid if the Gunners are unable to meet his buyout clause, according to reports.Mikel Arteta has already secured Willian on a free transfer from Chelsea as well as the £27 million signing of Brazilian centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille.Partey is also one of Arteta’s priority targets for the summer window but Arsenal have struggled in their negotiations with Atletico Madrid so far.Atletico are adamant that Partey will only be sold if his €50m (£43m) release clause is met, a figure which Arsenal are currently unable to match without trimming their squad first.AdvertisementAdvertisementADVERTISEMENTArsenal had offered Matteo Guendouzi plus £22.7m in exchange for Partey earlier this summer but Atletico rejected that bid.According to Goal, Partey is attracted by the prospect of joining Arsenal but the midfielder is happy at Atletico Madrid and will not push for a move away from Diego Simeone’s side. Atletico Madrid will only sell Thomas Partey if his €50m release clause is met (Getty Images)The report also claims that Arsenal’s former head of international recruitment, Francis Cagigao, who was surprisingly let go by the club last month, had been urging the Gunners’ hierarchy to move for Partey.Arsenal are already attempting to offload several players before the start of the new season with Sead Kolasinac, Rob Holding, Lucas Torreira, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Callum Chambers and Emiliano Martinez all in talks over potential exits.More: Arsenal FCArsenal flop Denis Suarez delivers verdict on Thomas Partey and Lucas Torreira movesThomas Partey debut? Ian Wright picks his Arsenal starting XI vs Manchester CityArsene Wenger explains why Mikel Arteta is ‘lucky’ to be managing ArsenalKolasinac and Martinez, who impressed in goal following Bernd Leno’s injury last season, are both wanted by Schalke.Rob Holding is reportedly closing in on a season-long loan to Newcastle United, while Leeds United have made an approach for Chambers.Sokratis is reportedly on the verge of a £3.5m move to Napoli, while fellow Serie A club Fiorentina are keen on Torreira but want to lower Arsenal’s £27m asking price.Follow Metro Sport across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.For more stories like this, check our sport page. Thomas Partey wants Arsenal transfer but Gunners hit impasse with Atletico Madrid Advertisementlast_img read more

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Governor Wolf Announces BrightFarms, Inc. to Construct a Hydroponic Greenhouse and Create New Jobs in Snyder County

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first_img April 23, 2019 SHARE Email Facebook Twitter Press Release Harrisburg, PA – Today, Governor Tom Wolf announced that BrightFarms, Inc., a producer of locally grown leafy greens and herbs, will expand into Pennsylvania by constructing a new hydroponic greenhouse. The project is expected to create more than 50 jobs at the selected Snyder County project site.“BrightFarms’ expansion into Pennsylvania isn’t just a big deal for the company – it’s a big deal for workers and their families in Snyder County,” Governor Wolf said. “I’m proud to welcome BrightFarms to the commonwealth and I look forward to seeing them grow their crops and their company here in Pennsylvania.”BrightFarms plans to construct a new, 250,000-square-foot greenhouse operation in Penn Township. The new facility will serve as one of the company’s four primary facilities in the U.S. and will utilize hydroponics to grow its greens and herbs without soil. BrightFarms plans to invest more than $20 million into the project, which is expected to create 54 jobs over the next three years.“BrightFarms is extremely grateful for the support we have received while searching for our next location in Pennsylvania,” said Paul Lightfoot, CEO of BrightFarms. “This is an exciting chapter for our company as we push forward with our mission of providing more Americans access to the freshest, tastiest and most responsibly grown local produce through their supermarkets. Our next step will be recruiting members of the community to fill over 50 ‘green-collar’ jobs at the greenhouse. These employees will receive competitive pay, industry-leading benefits and world-class training from our team members.”The company received a funding proposal from the Department of Community and Economic Development for a $24,300 workforce development grant to help the company train its existing workers. The company was also encouraged to apply for a $2,950,000 low-interest loan through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to assist with land, machinery, and equipment costs. The project was coordinated by the Governor’s Action Team, an experienced group of economic development professionals who report directly to the governor and work with businesses that are considering locating or expanding in Pennsylvania.BrightFarms is a producer of leafy greens and herbs. Its produce is grown locally, picked at the height of freshness, and delivered to supermarkets within 24 hours. Each greenhouse uses sustainable farming methods that take advantage of natural sunlight and conserve water. The company uses hydroponic systems with mineral-based nutrient solutions in order to grow its products in a soil-free environment while reducing the overall environmental impact.For more information about the Governor’s Action Team or DCED, visit dced.pa.gov, and be sure to stay up-to-date with all of our agency news on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.center_img Governor Wolf Announces BrightFarms, Inc. to Construct a Hydroponic Greenhouse and Create New Jobs in Snyder Countylast_img read more

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US pilots charged in UK for drinking before flight

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first_img 114 Views   no discussions Share Share LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Two American pilots were charged on Monday with being under the influence of alcohol at a Scottish airport as they prepared to fly a passenger plane to the United States.Paul Brady Grebenc, 35, and Carlos Roberto Licona, 45, were released on bail and will appear in court at a later date.Charges were brought two days after the duo were arrested at Glasgow airport, as they were due to fly a United Airlines jet to Newark in New Jersey.Concerns were reportedly raised over the pair ahead of the 9:00am (0800 GMT) UA162 flight. The service, carrying 141 passengers, eventually flew with a new crew later Saturday.A Police Scotland spokesman said on Sunday the men were arrested under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, Section 93, relating to “carrying out pilot function or activity while exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol.”A United Airlines spokesman said: “The two pilots have been removed from service and their flying duties.“We are co-operating with the authorities and will conduct our own investigation as well. The safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority.”The charges come after two Canadian pilots were charged with being drunk as they prepared to fly from Glasgow to Toronto last month.Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, were arrested on July 18 as they were due to pilot an Airbus A310 plane, which carries up to 250 passengers, for Canada’s Air Transat.Perreault, from Ontario, and Syed, from Toronto, are charged under laws covering alcohol and drug limits in aviation.They also face charges of threatening or abusive behaviour and were released from custody on bail last month. Sharing is caring!center_img Share InternationalLifestylePrintTravel US pilots charged in UK for drinking before flight by: Associated Free Press – August 29, 2016 Tweetlast_img read more

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