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Obama laid out the blueprint of his economic revival plan in his annual State of the Union speech Tuesday that earned him a cold Republican response.
"It is our generation's task, then, to reignite the true engine of America's economic growth - a rising, thriving middle class," he said Tuesday.
He pledged a "smarter" rather than bigger government for "the many, and not just the few" during his second term.
Obama asked a divided Congress, with the House controlled by the opposition Republicans and the Senate by his Democrats, to work together and revive American economy.
"Now let's get this done," he thundered.
"It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country - the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love," Obama said.
Obama emphasised on economic growth and job creation in the US and said that "nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime".
Delivering growth and jobs will be the "North Star that guides our efforts", he said.
"Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants," he said, focusing on the contentious issue of how to deal with America's 11.5 million undocumented immigrants.
"And real reform means fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting periods, reduce bureaucracy, and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy."
Obama promised to sign a bipartisan reform bill "right away".
Republicans said Obama was airing ideas that won't work and they have repeatedly rejected.
Senator Marco Rubio, who was delivering the response, said Obama's solution "to virtually every problem we face is for Washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more".
House Speaker John Boehner also panned what he called the president's "go-it-alone-approach," accusing him of pushing "stimulus policies that have failed to fix our economy."
Obama also called for efforts to reduce gun violence.
He said an "overwhelming" majority of Americans supported "commonsense reform" on firearms including tighter background checks and restrictions on "weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines".
He cited several incidents of gun violence from the massacre of 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut, to the shooting of six worshippers at a Sikh gurudwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
"The families of Newtown deserve a vote... The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence - they deserve a simple vote," Obama said.
And he urged gun-control opponents to allow a vote in Congress on his proposals.
Obama also announced the withdrawal of 34,000 US troops from Afghanistan by next year.
By visiting Web sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, you can give money to any number of causes. These Web sites collect small amounts from many individuals in what is known as crowdfunding to finance everything from business start-ups to charitable causes to art projects.
While online crowdfunding is still relatively new, it has already demonstrated that many small contributions can add up. Deloitte, the accounting and consulting firm, estimates that the largest 30 crowdfunding sites raised more than $1.5 billion over the last five years, and expects that in 2013 alone the number could be $3 billion.
Now, a San Francisco start-up, SunFunder, is hoping that the collective power of the crowd can help bring a bit of clean, renewable energy to people living off the electric grid in rural areas of Africa and Asia. Since its crowdfunding site made its debut last July, the company has raised $50,000 from about 300 investors to finance four business ventures that sell solar-powered products in these areas, according to SunFunder?s founder, Ryan Levinson. Anyone is eligible to join the site ? so far investors have come from 18 different countries ? and the minimum investment is $10.
Unlike some other crowdfunding operations, SunFunder does not contribute the money to these small businesses; it lends the money and charges interest. As the loan is paid back, SunFunder returns the principal to its investors. Two of the four projects are already starting to pay the money back, Mr. Levinson said.
According to Richard Turner, the marketing director at SunnyMoney, a solar business that serves rural regions in Africa, demand is booming for small-scale solar-powered systems that provide light and charge cellphones. The alternative for many people in those regions is to rely on kerosene lamps to light homes and shops, which exposes them to potential harmful problems and the risk of starting a fire if a lamp is knocked over.
With the price of solar-powered technologies coming down, a solar-powered light can pay for itself in seven weeks with the money saved on kerosene, Mr. Turner said in a telephone interview from his London office. Since its founding, SunnyMoney has sold almost 300,000 solar-powered lights, which charge during the day and provide several hours of light at night. It hopes to hit the million mark before the end of this year.
The big challenge is finding working capital to buy inventory and build out the business. ?It?s difficult to attract funding from traditional financial institutions, and it can be a long, protracted process,? he said.
Within a month of being listed on the SunFunder Web site, SunnyMoney?s latest project, providing solar lights in the Chadiza district in Zambia, had attracted 86 investors contributing a total of $10,000.
Not only was crowdfunding quicker than negotiating a loan with a bank, it also helped SunnyMoney get its message out, Mr. Turner said. ?People who invest also spread your story on social media or word of mouth, so we?re engaging people, some of whom get more involved as supporters,? he added.
Mr. Levinson says he is encouraged by the early results of the SunFunder model and that the company is exploring additional ways to raise money.
Still, SunFunder?s $50,000 is only a drop in the bucket. The question for some in the industry is whether crowdfunding can unlock a significant amount of financing for businesses bringing renewable energy products to off-the-grid areas.
?It?s still too early to tell,? said Donn Tice, chief executive at d.light design, a manufacturer of solar light products and a supplier to companies like SunnyMoney.??This is still a new concept, and it?s unclear if and when this can really scale. Many of these businesses will be looking to raise a lot of money.?
Still, he is bullish on SunFunder?s concept. More conventional forms of financing could be attracted to this industry if crowdfunding ?can demonstrate that these businesses can make money and provide a return to investors,? he said.
Quality control at the point of a fingerPublic release date: 8-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Alexander Schick alexander.schick@iosb.fraunhofer.de 49-721-609-1620 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Hannover Messe 2013
With utter meticulousness, the quality control inspector examines a car bumper for defects in the paint work ultimately, only impeccable body parts get sent to final assembly. If he finds a defect in the paint, just a point of the finger is all it takes to send the defect to the QS inspection system, store it and document it. The employee obtains visual feedback through a monitor that displays a 3D reconstruction of the bumper. At first glance, it might seem completely futuristic, though soon enough, it could become an everyday part of quality assurance: Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe engineered the intelligent gesture control system on behalf of the BMW Group. In the future, it should supersede today's time-consuming test procedures. "Previously, the inspector had to note all defects that were detected, leave his workstation, go to the PC terminal, operate multiple input screens and then label the position of the defect and the defect type. That approach is laborious, time-intensive and prone to error," asserts Alexander Schick, scientist at IOSB. The gesture control system, by contrast, improves the inspector's working conditions considerably, and triggering substantial time savings the employee can remain at his workstation and interact directly with the test object. "If the bumper is fine, then he swipes over it from left to right. In the event of damage, he points to the location of the defect," says Schick.
3D tracking records people and objects in real time
This non-contact gesture-detection system is based on 3D data. Hence, the entire workstation must first be reconstructed in 3D. That includes the individual as well as the object with which he is working. "What does the inspector look like? Where is he situated? How does he move? What is he doing? Where is the object? all of these data are required so that the pointing gesture can properly link to the bumper," explains the researcher. In order to enable gesture control, the experts apply 3D-body tracking, which records the individual's posture in real time. Even the car body parts are "tracked." When it comes to this, the hardware requirements are minimal: A standard PC and two Microsoft Kinect systems consisting of camera and 3D sensors suffice in order to realize the reconstruction. Schick and his team developed the corresponding algorithms, which fuse multiple 2D and 3D images together, specifically for this kind of application, and adapted them to the standards of the BMW Group.
"The breeding ground for this technology is our Smart Control Room, where people can interact with the room quite naturally. They can use pointing gestures to operate remote displays without any additional equipment. The room recognizes what actions are taking place at that moment, and offers the appropriate information and tools. Since gesture detection does not depend on display screens, this means we can implement applications that use no monitors, like the gesture interaction here with real objects," explains Schick. "It makes no difference what kind of object we are dealing with. Instead of a bumper, we could also track a different part."
The technology can be subsequently integrated into existing production systems at little expense. Scientists could incorporate their effective process into the BMW Group's system through a specialized interface module. The gesture detection system will be presented at the 2013 Hannover Messe, from 8 to 12 April, at the Fraunhofer joint exhibition booth in Hall 2, Booth D18.
Plans call for the installation of a prototype model at the BMW plant in Landshut in January 2013. Working in cooperation with quality control inspectors, the system will be fine-tuned onsite before it gets deployed to production in the future.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Quality control at the point of a fingerPublic release date: 8-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Alexander Schick alexander.schick@iosb.fraunhofer.de 49-721-609-1620 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Hannover Messe 2013
With utter meticulousness, the quality control inspector examines a car bumper for defects in the paint work ultimately, only impeccable body parts get sent to final assembly. If he finds a defect in the paint, just a point of the finger is all it takes to send the defect to the QS inspection system, store it and document it. The employee obtains visual feedback through a monitor that displays a 3D reconstruction of the bumper. At first glance, it might seem completely futuristic, though soon enough, it could become an everyday part of quality assurance: Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe engineered the intelligent gesture control system on behalf of the BMW Group. In the future, it should supersede today's time-consuming test procedures. "Previously, the inspector had to note all defects that were detected, leave his workstation, go to the PC terminal, operate multiple input screens and then label the position of the defect and the defect type. That approach is laborious, time-intensive and prone to error," asserts Alexander Schick, scientist at IOSB. The gesture control system, by contrast, improves the inspector's working conditions considerably, and triggering substantial time savings the employee can remain at his workstation and interact directly with the test object. "If the bumper is fine, then he swipes over it from left to right. In the event of damage, he points to the location of the defect," says Schick.
3D tracking records people and objects in real time
This non-contact gesture-detection system is based on 3D data. Hence, the entire workstation must first be reconstructed in 3D. That includes the individual as well as the object with which he is working. "What does the inspector look like? Where is he situated? How does he move? What is he doing? Where is the object? all of these data are required so that the pointing gesture can properly link to the bumper," explains the researcher. In order to enable gesture control, the experts apply 3D-body tracking, which records the individual's posture in real time. Even the car body parts are "tracked." When it comes to this, the hardware requirements are minimal: A standard PC and two Microsoft Kinect systems consisting of camera and 3D sensors suffice in order to realize the reconstruction. Schick and his team developed the corresponding algorithms, which fuse multiple 2D and 3D images together, specifically for this kind of application, and adapted them to the standards of the BMW Group.
"The breeding ground for this technology is our Smart Control Room, where people can interact with the room quite naturally. They can use pointing gestures to operate remote displays without any additional equipment. The room recognizes what actions are taking place at that moment, and offers the appropriate information and tools. Since gesture detection does not depend on display screens, this means we can implement applications that use no monitors, like the gesture interaction here with real objects," explains Schick. "It makes no difference what kind of object we are dealing with. Instead of a bumper, we could also track a different part."
The technology can be subsequently integrated into existing production systems at little expense. Scientists could incorporate their effective process into the BMW Group's system through a specialized interface module. The gesture detection system will be presented at the 2013 Hannover Messe, from 8 to 12 April, at the Fraunhofer joint exhibition booth in Hall 2, Booth D18.
Plans call for the installation of a prototype model at the BMW plant in Landshut in January 2013. Working in cooperation with quality control inspectors, the system will be fine-tuned onsite before it gets deployed to production in the future.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Managing livestock with fences and gates is so medieval. The future, says one USDA scientist, is equipping cows with GPS units and coraling them via augmented reality. It may sound crazy, but it could be the best thing to happen to the industry in a century.
The millions of cattle who roam the world's pastures are generally enclosed in fences of wood or wire, a technique that has worked well for hundreds of years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dean Anderson thinks that it's time to bring the industry up to 21st century standards.
Grazing efficiently is tough because the landscape is unpredictable. Cows may find themselves clipping the weeds on their side of the fence, while lush green grass grows just a few feet away because of weather or erosion patterns. Sure, you can move the fence, but that's an expensive and time-consuming process. So why not remove the physical fence altogether, and replace it with a virtual one?
"It never made sense to me that we use static tools to manage dynamic resources," Anderson told Venue in a recent interview. He's working on a system somewhat like the electronic fences used to keep animals in the yard without a physical barrier ? but, naturally, a bit more sophisticated.
It builds on the popular method of rotating stock through multiple smaller paddocks, which gives better control over how the animals and land interact with each other. If you could do that without having to worry about dozens of fences and gates, wouldn't you?
The Directional Virtual Fencing system works by equipping cows with GPS headsets (they look strange, but the cows apparently don't mind) that constantly report the animal's position to a central location. Soft boundaries are set by whoever's managing the herd, and can be moved by miles to new pastures or shifted just a few yards to nudge the herd towards fresh grass.
As the cows approach the edge, they get corrected ? first with a gentle noise, then a loud one, then a light shock. Anderson tested the shock gear on himself to make sure it wasn't excessive, and he's sensitive to animal welfare. These cows may be destined for the dinner table, but until then, they're living creatures and must be treated with care.
It works like a charm with most animals, although some ("Like myself," jokes Anderson) are not amenable to the system. And it's useless without solid infrastructure (water and shelter), intelligence (where there's rain or dangerous terrain), and, critically, human backup. Anderson explains:
You need that flexibility, and you always need to ground-truth. The only way you can get optimum results, in my opinion, is to have someone who is trained in the basics of range science and animal science, to know when the numbers are good and when the numbers are lousy. Electronics simply provide numbers.
It's hard to say when we'll see the Directional Virtual Fencing system in action, although Anderson says that actual physical fence companies are bullish on the technology. It's expensive at the moment and a little outside the range, as it were, of traditional ranchers ? but the benefits are hard to deny: Better-fed cattle, healthier land, less manual intervention with natural animal tendencies.
The rest of the long interview has much more information on the system and current issues surrounding livestock, and is well worth a read.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
Long-term unemployment may not be the stubborn problem we thought it was.
Some economists say there are signs it could ease in the next few years as the economy improves, raising hopes for the millions of Americans who have spent months or even years looking for work.
?There have been some improvements in the job prospects for the long-term unemployed, and while it remains a very severe social and economic problem in this country, it?s not an intractable problem,? said Rob Valletta, research advisor with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. ?There are glimmers of hope.?
About 4.7 million American jobseekers, or 38.1 percent of all unemployed people, had been out of work for six months or more in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That?s more than four times the number of people who had been out of work that long five years ago, just as the Great Recession was getting under way.
The recession officially ended in June of 2009, but job growth has remained painfully slow during the weak economic recovery. That?s meant that people who lose a job are often in for an arduous task when it comes to landing a new position.
The median duration of unemployment is currently 16 weeks, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That?s down from a high of more than 24 weeks in mid-2010, but still around double what it was in 2007.
The large number of people who are out of work for months or even years has caused some people to wonder whether long-term unemployed workers will ever find new jobs.
Related:Are you struggling in the suburbs? We want to hear from you.
But Valletta said his analysis of government data shows that as the job market slowly improved, even some who have been out of work for a long time finally landed a new position. The problem may have more to do with cyclical economic issues, therefore, and less to do with structural changes in the economy, such as a big shift in how many workers are needed in certain fields.
Valletta thinks that long-term unemployment will likely still be a problem for at least several more years. But, he doesn?t think it will last forever.
?It?s not a permanent problem,? he said.
Not everyone is so optimistic. Sylvia Allegretto, a research economist with the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley, noted that despite several years of tepid economy recovery, the job market has continued to grow at a snail?s pace. That means there are still millions fewer jobs out there for people who want a job.
The unemployment rate was at 7.9 percent in January, and 12.3 million people were unemployed and actively looking for a job.
With unemployment still at crisis levels, she argued that it may be premature to say whether the problem of long-term unemployment will work itself out as the labor market improves.
?It?s far too early in the labor market recovery to separate out whether this is now a structural problem,? she said.
Valletta?s research also delved into who has been out of work for a long time, part of an effort to understand whether the long-term unemployed are suffering from a structural problem that is keeping them from finding new work. His research found that workers of all walks of life, from construction workers to those in financial services, have had a tough time immediately finding a job.
?They?re a very diverse group, and what that suggests is that there?s not some lump of long-term unemployed out there that are different from all the other unemployed,? he said. ?Instead, the long-term unemployed are long-term unemployed largely because of bad luck and a very hard labor market.?
Related: Long-term unemployed losing benefits as jobs picture improves
Yahoo! News is gathering brief first-person accounts, photos and video from the severe winter weather in the northeastern United States. Here's one resident's story.
FIRST PERSON | BAYONNE, N.J. -- As the "snowpocalypse" bears down on the New York area, many of us are left waiting in suspense for how much the snow storm will affect us. As I walked the 15-minute trek from my home in Bayonne on my way to the train, I began to regret not bringing an umbrella, what with the snow-rain beating down on me. Even so, the weather did not seem all that intimidating as the snow turned into wet slush on the ground.
Before the storm prediction, there were plans to see friends, go to a bar, and say final see-you-laters to my grandma and aunt over the weekend. These relatives came all the way from the Philippines to attend my wedding back in November and then stayed in New York a few months longer. This week is their last week here, that is unless their airport shuts down or their flights get cancelled, which has been begun to happen with others. The weather has not been pleasant since my grandma arrived and after living through Hurricane Sandy and now this snow storm, I'm sure she'll be thrilled once she's back in the Philippines, where it's very sunny and warm.
While there were hopes of work being cancelled, my husband and I still clocked in roughly around 9 in the morning and my cousin who goes to high school in the Bronx trudged his way to classes. We later found out that where we both work in Manhattan, our offices are closing early today, his at 4:30 p.m. and mine around 3 p.m. Since we're going to have to still walk home from the train later today, I'm a bit anxious. This morning my husband noted that the slush from this morning will probably turn to ice and he just got an e-mail saying that Bayonne's street sweeping has been cancelled. I hope everyone travels safely.
For some reason some of my friends have been seeing gas lines that are a little reminiscent of Hurricane Sandy. Good thing I filled up my tank last week. Based on the advisory warning for Bayonne though, I don't plan on driving at all this weekend. I know that our cable lines were affected by Sandy and I hope this doesn't happen again this weekend, especially since my husband his to work from home on Sunday. At least my kitchen is reasonably stocked up on frozen waffles, canned food, and pasta.
Southern California Edison, the operator of the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant, pushed back against two federal lawmakers who said that the utility company was aware of defects in the plant's replacement steam generators before they were installed.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week saying that a leaked report from steam generator manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries showed that Edison and Mitsubishi knew of problems with the design.
Boxer and Markey, citing a report that has not been made public, said the utility giant and the manufacturer "rejected enhanced safety modifications and avoided triggering a more rigorous license amendment and safety review process."
Edison responded Thursday by denying the allegations and saying the lawmakers had taken "selective comments" from a lengthy report:
"It is simply not accurate to suggest, as the letter does, that when they were installed SCE and MHI were aware of serious problems with the design of San Onofre nuclear plant's steam generators," the company wrote in a statement.
"Indeed, MHI, the manufacturer of the steam generators, warranted the steam generators to be free from defects for 20 years after installation. SCE would never, and did not, install steam generators that it believed would not perform safely."
Neither the lawmakers nor Mitsubishi and Edison have elaborated on what changes the companies chose not to make.
The plant has been shut down for just over a year because of unusual wear on steam generator tubes that carry radioactive water. One tube leaked in January 2012, releasing a small amount of radioactive steam.
Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric ? which owns a 20% share in the plant ? spent a combined $771 million replacing the steam generators, which ratepayers are now repaying.
Representatives of both companies, as well as of several consultants involved in the investigation of San Onofre's problems, gave a briefing Thursday to the five-member governing board of the NRC.
The meeting, scheduled before Boxer and Markey's letter, was the first time since the plant's shutdown that the full commission has questioned Edison and Mitsubishi. But the discussion steered clear of the allegations in the letter and focused on the technical causes of the tube wear.
Steam generator tube degradation has long been an issue in the nuclear industry, although it has become less prevalent since the majority of plants switched to a more corrosion-resistant tube material. In 1976, there were 28 forced outages at U.S. nuclear plants because of tube leaks, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Before the leak at San Onofre, there had been no such incidents in six years.
An NRC investigation concluded that Mitsubishi's computer code failed to predict thermal-hydraulic conditions ? high-velocity, dry steam flowing around the tubes ? that caused the tubes to vibrate excessively and rub against each other and against support structures.
The phenomenon, known as fluid elastic instability, has occurred at other plants, but the tubes at San Onofre showed a new pattern of vibration, leading to rapid wear in one of the plant's two reactor units.
Edison is proposing to restart the other unit ? which had less-severe damage because of differences in the support structures ? at partial power. The NRC has not made a decision on that plan.
Dan Hirsch, a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, was the lone critic of the nuclear industry who made a presentation at the meeting. Hirsch and his students put together a report showing that both units at San Onofre had more worn tubes than all but one other similar plant in the U.S. with recently replaced steam generators.
"San Onofre in just one or two years has experienced more damage than most steam generators do in decades," Hirsch said.
Ken Karwoski, a senior advisor with the NRC's division of engineering, said the depth of the wear determines the safety significance, not the number of tubes with wear. Unit 2, which is proposed for restart, had nearly as many tubes with wear as the other unit ? about 1,600 and 1,800, respectively ? but the wear in Unit 2 was shallower.
The NRC has scheduled a public meeting to discuss the status of its San Onofre review Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Capo Beach Church in Capistrano Beach.
>>>as the "new york times" put it today, quote, perhaps any other year this nor'easter would have been met with little more than a shrug. but little more than
100 days
after sandy decimated a huge part of the area, even hardened new yorkers are taking no chances this time. a lot of people getting prepared well in advance in case the power went out, some waiting more than an hour to get gasoline. some gasoline stations we found in new york and new jersey are already out of gas.
weather channel
meteorologist
mike seidel
is in
revere beach
, just
north of boston
. as we said, they are already getting the leading edge of this storm. hey, mike.
>>hey, good evening, brian. out here on the
north shore
, we're already getting gusts to 50 miles per hour before the storm moves out tomorrow, we could see gusts to 70. the beaches and islands are going to take a
big hit
. major to moderate
beach erosion
. also look for extreme -- certainly extreme coastal flooding.
tomorrow morning
's
high tide
, the worst of the bunch. where surges as much as 4 1/2 feet could lead to structural damage and send coastal roads under water. because of that, affected communities are asked to head to higher ground and evacuate. the combination of near hurricane-force winds and snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches an hour will lead to tremendous drifting, at least 6-foot drifts. and then the
big dig
-out will kick in on sunday. brian, it's going to be a
wild night
out here on the beach. we'll be here on the
weather channel
throughout and tomorrow. back to you.
>>mike, i know you love
severe weather
, but please take care. that's for you and your crew.
mike seidel
out on the cape tonight.
The Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire took in 2,420 animals in 2012. This is an increase of 122 animals from 2011. One of the more remarkable statistics is that our average length of stay for an animal dropped from 47 days in 2009 to just 20 days in 2012. This means animals are being adopted faster than ever and more people are choosing adoption rather than buying purebred puppies and kittens. This is great news for shelters. The paradigm is certainly shifting.
If you walk into the shelter, it hardly looks like we service almost 2,500 animals in a year. Most of the cat cages are empty, dogs are able to stretch out into two kennels, and the lobby isn?t nearly as full as it is during the summer months. So, what?s going on? Where are all the animals?
Each year, typically between January-March, the League experiences a decrease in animal intakes and the general animal population within the shelter.
There are many contributing factors to these statistics that are shared by many other shelters in New England:
First, we see a drop in kittens entering the shelter due to the reproductive nature of cats. Second, we see fewer surrenders coming in during this time. Third, we get fewer stray cats during this time.
?The good news is that empty cages may mean some of our preventative programs are taking effect,? chief operating officer Lindsay Hamrick said. ?The more we spay and neuter and educate the public about responsible pet ownership, the fewer the number of animals that will need our services. We do not expect to be out of a job anytime in the near future but it is a welcome relief to see a light at the end of the tunnel each winter.?
Rest assured, the ARL-NH continues to help hundreds of animals. Our outreach program sees a continuous intake of animals throughout the year and we are actively collaborating with the Friends of Manchester Animal Shelter to continue transferring rabbits recently removed from a cruelty situation. We are also able to bring in local surrenders faster while still providing exceptional customer service during this often difficult emotional process.
The ARL also uses this time to improve and develop more preventative programs. We have more time to work with animals who find it challenging to adjust to the shelter environment.
?It?s a very satisfying time of year and allows us to work more on the big picture,? Hamrick said. ?This will not be the case in July when we have over 200 cats in the building.?
The ARL is at 545 Route 101 in Bedford. For more information, visit www.rescueleague.org.
Ram trucks Super Bowl "Farmer" ad struck a chord with viewers, and raised eyebrows among some Latinos who felt it didn't accurately portray the face of modern farming.
By Ben Popken, TODAY contributor
Ram's?"Farmer" ad resonated with many Super Bowl viewers on Sunday but missed the mark with some Latino groups that criticized the commercial as a "white-washed" portrayal of a bygone era in America.
The two-minute Chrysler Group?spot features a?slideshow of mainly white American farmers and their families set to a recording of deceased radio personality Paul Harvey intoning a folksy paean to the ruggedness and determination of the American farmer.
"And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker.' So God made a farmer," went the crackly recording, a speech Harvey made at a 1978 convention of what is now known as the National FFA (Future Farmers of America) Organization, a youth group dedicated to promoting agricultural education. "God said, 'I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.' So God made a farmer."
The commercial left some wondering: Where are all the Latinos?
"It's a white-washed ad," said?Axel Caballero, founder of Cu?ntame, a Latino nonprofit. "(The) composition of America has changed. The faster brands understand that, the better they're going to do."
In response, Cu?ntame uploaded its remixed version of the Ram truck ad?to its Facebook page, keeping the audio but replacing some of the photos with images of Latino farmworkers. Cu?ntame's?caption to the post read, " 'God made a farmer' ad - K, we fixed it!"
The video, which also includes a link to the LatinoRebels Facebook page, went viral on the social media network, generating 3.5 million extended network impressions, Caballero said. In the days following the tweaked video's release, users uploaded two more versions that similarly "fixed" the Ram ad with Latino farmworker imagery.
The number of U.S. farms peaked at 6.8 million in 1935. Today, there are more than 2 million American farms, of which about 180,000 account for more than 63 percent of all agricultural products sold, according to data from the 2007 USDA Census of Agriculture.
As for the faces of farmers in America, 71 percent of agricultural workers in the U.S. were born in Mexico and Central America, according to a 2011 U.S.?Department of Labor National Agricultural Workers Survey. Just 29 percent of U.S. farm workers were born in the USA and Puerto Rico.
"This is weird," said Julio Ricardo Varela, an NBC Latino contributor and founder of?LatinoRebels.com, after he?saw the commercial. In a column for NBC Latino, he wrote that "the reaction via the Latino social media space has been overwhelmingly negative for the simple reason that the commercial does not reflect the reality of the farming industry in the United States."?
Chrysler, which manufactures the Ram, has declared 2013?"The Year of the Farmer" in a year-long initiative aimed at bringing national attention to the significance of the American farmer, the automaker said in a fact sheet emailed to TODAY. "The 'Farmer' video uses slices of farming life to remind us of our shared identity and character, the greatness born out of perseverance and determination, and the rewards that come from hard work."
The spot featured documentary photographs of real farmers the brand commissioned from 10 photographers, including William Albert Allard, noted for his National Geographic work, and Kurt Markus, who is celebrated for his images of cowboys.
The Ram truck is built in two plants, one in Warren, Mich., the other in Saltillo, Mexico.?Italian automaker Fiat purchased Chrysler Group LLC in 2009 and owns a 58.5 percent share.
Chrysler?Communications Manager?Eileen Wunderlich said the carmaker is "getting all kinds of requests" about the Ram Super Bowl commercial, and one for Jeep that run during the game, but is "not making any comment whatsoever about the ad." She said the Ram brand makes a donation to the FFA for every YouTube view, download or share and?"would like the video and the initiative behind it to speak for itself." The fundraising goal is $1 million to be used for the FFA's hunger relief efforts.
The FFA counts 560,000 members, serving both urban and rural communities, with chapters in 17 out of the 20 major U.S. cities, said Robert Cooper, executive director of the National FFA Foundation. The ad, which has over 6 million YouTube hits and continues to spread three days after the Super Bowl, has ?really struck a chord with how important agriculture is in this country? across all sectors, he said.
That includes positive reactions from African-American and Latinos.
?No matter who you are, or where you work in the agricultural industry, this ad is about celebrating your contribution to America and that you are part of America?s number one employer,? said Cooper.
Feb. 6, 2013 ? Researchers have discovered a gene associated with a form of cholesterol that increases the risk of developing aortic stenosis, the most common form of heart valve disease, by more than half. This international study, involving the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), is the first of its kind to uncover a genetic link with aortic valve disease -- a condition that affects more than 5 million people in North America.
The results of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, point to the first known cause of aortic stenosis and to a potential treatment to prevent this disease. "We found that an unusual type of cholesterol called Lipoprotein (a) or Lp(a) -- that is not normally screened for in current clinical practice -- appears to be a cause of aortic valve disease," says Dr. George Thanassoulis, one of the co-lead authors of the study, who is also director of preventive and genomic cardiology at the MUHC and an Assistant Professor in Medicine at McGill University. "High levels of this type of cholesterol are predicted primarily by an individual's genetic make-up with only modest influence from lifestyle or other factors."
Aortic stenosis (AS) is the third most prevalent form of cardiovascular disease in the western world, after hypertension and coronary artery disease. It mainly affects people over the age of 60 years. AS is caused by calcification and hardening of the aortic valve which impedes blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body leading to chest pain, loss of consciousness and shortness of breath. In severe cases, patients need aortic valve replacement surgery. Currently, there are no medical treatments to prevent this disease or reduce the need for valve replacement. According to the study's lead investigators -- from the RI-MUHC, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Washington University, the University of Iceland and the US National Institutes of Health -- the findings not only explain why heart valve calcification may run in families, but could also lead to the development of targeted medications that might slow the progression of valve disease and reduce the need for valve surgery in patients. "Previous studies could not differentiate whether Lp(a) was a cause or simply a marker of valve disease," says Dr. Thanassoulis. "But our results strongly suggest a causal link and add to the mounting evidence that Lp(a) may be an important drug target for cardiovascular diseases."
"This is an important step forward in understanding the biology of the development of aortic stenosis and how this common genetic variant, which is found in thirteen per cent of the general population, contributes to that risk," says Dr. Wendy Post, a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who is a senior author of the study. "Advancing age is a major risk factor for aortic stenosis and, with the aging population this will become an even bigger health concern."
Frequently used statin medications, which reduce the common form of cholesterol that clogs arteries, do not reduce Lp(a) or prevent aortic valve calcification. "Therefore, it is very important that these results benefit our patients," says Dr. Thanassoulis. "For this to happen we need to test whether lowering this type of cholesterol with other drugs slows valve calcification in a randomized clinical trial. Our hope is to eventually prevent valve disease with medication and reduce the need for surgery."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by McGill University Health Centre.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
George Thanassoulis, Catherine Y. Campbell, David S. Owens, J. Gustav Smith, Albert V. Smith, Gina M. Peloso, Kathleen F. Kerr, Sonali Pechlivanis, Matthew J. Budoff, Tamara B. Harris, Rajeev Malhotra, Kevin D. O'Brien, Pia R. Kamstrup, B?rge G. Nordestgaard, Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, Matthew A. Allison, Thor Aspelund, Michael H. Criqui, Susan R. Heckbert, Shih-Jen Hwang, Yongmei Liu, Marketa Sjogren, Jesper van der Pals, Hagen K?lsch, Thomas W. M?hleisen, Markus M. N?then, L. Adrienne Cupples, Muriel Caslake, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, John Danesh, Jerome I. Rotter, Sigurdur Sigurdsson, Quenna Wong, Raimund Erbel, Sekar Kathiresan, Olle Melander, Vilmundur Gudnason, Christopher J. O'Donnell, Wendy S. Post. Genetic Associations with Valvular Calcification and Aortic Stenosis. New England Journal of Medicine, 2013; 368 (6): 503 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1109034
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Text adventure games, such as the well-known Zork series, were some of the first computer games ever made, second only to the likes of Spacewar! and the better-known Pong.
So let's travel back in time for a moment, to a time that never was.
Charles Babbage successfully built his Difference Engine, and went on to build a more successful Analytical Engine, thus ushering in the Age of Computing nearly a hundred years earlier than its time. That's the premise of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's book, The Difference Engine, often considered a seminal work of Steampunk literature.
What games would they have played on the Analytical Engine? Considering that cathode ray technology was still half a century away, there would be no digital (or analog, for that matter) displays. Instead, readouts would be done entirely in text form, possibly even printed (or typed) out on paper.
What I'm getting at is that this would have been a prime opportunity for the birth of the text adventure game!
For those who are too young to have lived through it, text adventure games were pioneered by a game called Colossal Cave Adventure, or sometimes just Adventure. The game was entirely made of text, and the player had to navigate through a fantasy-inspired cave, successfully recovering a variety of treasures. This soon led to the much-more-successful Zork franchise, and then spawned a huge number of other text games.
This is one of the most famous pieces of text in video game history, from Zork 1.
These games developed certain styles of play in order to make it an easier experience for the user. For example, instead of the player having to guess at what words are necessary in a given situation, the available vocabulary was narrowed down to just a dozen or so verbs which could then interact with a potentially unlimited number of nouns.
For example, you would say something like "take potion" (picking up the potion and putting it in your inventory) and then "drink potion" (to, well, drink the potion). Sometimes 'quaff' was used instead of 'drink'. There's your vocabulary word of the day: quaff.
Anyway, to carry on the non-existent tradition of text adventure games that may or may not have existed in an alternate Steampunk history, I wrote a Steampunk text adventure game. Why don't you give it a try, and take a trip back to what Victorian computer gaming enthusiasts may have enjoyed?
The game is available to play thanks to the Z-machine interpreter Parchment. The game is called "Trouble in the Workshop", and in it, you play a young laboratory assistant to the brilliant and eccentric Doctor Edgar von Winterstein. However, when Doctor von Winterstein leaves you alone in his lab, various hijinks (another vocabulary word!) ensue, which could lead to either the destruction of the workshop, or perhaps even the dawn of a new age for humanity!
If you're a newcomer to text games, or Interactive Fiction as it's called today, here's a quick rundown on what you need to know to play them:
The syntax will always be <verb> <noun>, such as the "take potion" example I mentioned earlier.
Sometimes the syntax will require <verb> <noun> in/on <second noun>, such as "put potion on table", or "put potion in backpack".
"Look" by itself will show you the room you're in.
"Inventory" will show you what items you're currently carrying.
Here's a list of all the verbs you need in "Trouble in the Workshop":
Look, read, go, take, put, open, close, turn on, and push.
You can also try to eat various things, if you'd like, but it won't really get you anywhere. So that's it, just nine verbs to keep track of!
I hope you enjoy my humble entry! Let me know what you think.
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This week brings more evidence that publishing giant Cond? Nast is remaking its PR/communications team for the new year. Last month we reported on the departure of Maurie Perl: industry leading light, Barbara Walters confidant and veteran of such titles as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
Now we?ve learned of another big-name departure?and the arrival of some new blood.
Shannon Eis, who led internal and executive communications at Cond? , left last week for a new role as senior vice president of corporate communications at top PR firm MMW. Eis previously worked as senior vice president at Kaplow Communications (and yes, she will continue making regular appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman as a parenting expert).
This week brings news that Patricia R?ckenwagner has been named Cond? Nast?s senior vice president of communications. Industry vet R?ckenwagner previously served as senior VP of marketing and communications for McGraw-Hill Companies and corporate comms director at Paramount Pictures.
It would appear that Cond? Nast is reshaping its communications team as part of a larger strategic shift. Expect more announcements to foll0w.
Feb. 4, 2013 ? Having adequate levels of vitamin D during young adulthood may reduce the risk of adult-onset type 1 diabetes by as much as 50%, according to researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The findings, if confirmed in future studies, could lead to a role for vitamin D supplementation in preventing this serious autoimmune disease in adults.
The study was published online February 3, 2013 and will appear in the March 1 print edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
"It is surprising that a serious disease such as type 1 diabetes could perhaps be prevented by a simple and safe intervention," said lead author Kassandra Munger, research associate in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH.
This study provides the strongest findings to date to suggest that vitamin D may be protective against type 1 diabetes.
In type 1 diabetes (once called juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent diabetes), the body's immune system attacks and permanently disables the insulin-making cells in the pancreas. About 5% of the estimated 25.8 million people in the United States with diabetes have type 1, according to the American Diabetes Association. Although it often starts in childhood, about 60% of type 1 diabetes cases occur after age 20.
Previous studies have suggested that a shortage of vitamin D might boost type 1 diabetes risk, although those studies mostly examined the link between vitamin D levels in pregnancy or childhood and the risk of type 1 diabetes in children. Other research, in young adults, uncovered an association between high vitamin D levels and a lowered risk of multiple sclerosis -- an autoimmune disease genetically and epidemiologically related to type 1 diabetes -- suggesting that inadequate vitamin D in adulthood may be an important risk factor for autoimmune diseases in general.
Long-term study of military personnel
The researchers conducted a prospective case-control study of U.S. military personnel on active duty, using blood samples from the Department of Defense Serum Repository, which contains more than 40 million samples collected from 8 million military personnel since the mid-1980s. Identifying 310 individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 1997 and 2009, the team examined blood samples taken before onset of the disease, and compared the samples with those of 613 people in a control group.
The researchers found that white, non-Hispanic, healthy young adults with higher serum levels (>75 nmol/L) of vitamin D had about half the risk of developing type 1 diabetes than those with the lowest levels of vitamin D (<75 nmol/L). Although the researchers found no significant association among Hispanics and blacks, the authors said this may be due to the small number of individuals in these groups.
"The risk of type 1 diabetes appears to be increased even at vitamin D levels that are commonly regarded as normal, suggesting that a substantial proportion of the population could benefit from increased vitamin D intake," said Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at HSPH, the study's senior author.
About vitamin D
Worldwide, an estimated 1 billion people have inadequate levels of vitamin D in their blood, and deficiencies can be found in all ethnicities and age groups. While sun exposure is an excellent source of vitamin D, sunscreen, clothing, skin pigmentation, and winter months reduce vitamin D production. Food tends to be a poor source of vitamin D, with "good" sources, such as salmon and fortified milk, containing 400IU or less per serving. "Whereas it is premature to recommend universal use of vitamin D supplements for prevention of type 1 diabetes, the possibility that many cases could be prevented by supplementation with 1,000-4,000 IU/day, which is largely considered safe, is enticing," the authors said.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard School of Public Health, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Kassandra L. Munger, Lynn I. Levin, Jennifer Massa, Ronald Horst, Tihamer Orban, and Alberto Ascherio. Preclinical Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Risk of Type 1 Diabetes in a Cohort of U.S. Military Personnel. American Journal of Epidemiology, Online February 3, 2013; March 1, 2013 print edition
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Lance Armstrong telling his story to Oprah Winfrey.
Photo by George Burns/Oprah Winfrey Network via Getty Images
?I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times.?
That?s the key line in Lance Armstrong?s interview with Oprah Winfrey. Unable to preserve his initial story?that he never doped?Armstrong is peddling a new story: He doped, he lied about not doping, and that?s all there is to it.
But that?s not all there is to it. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency?s report on Armstrong, issued three months ago, details numerous incidents in which Armstrong, according to sworn witnesses, pressured, threatened, or intimidated others. Among them:
1. In 2002, according to Armstrong?s ex-teammate, Christian Vande Velde,
Armstrong told Vande Velde that if he wanted to continue to ride for the Postal Service team he ?would have to use what Dr. [Michele] Ferrari had been telling [Vande Velde] to use and would have to follow Dr. Ferrari?s program to the letter.? Vande Velde said, ?[t]he conversation left me with no question that I was in the doghouse and that the only way forward with Armstrong?s team was to get fully on Dr. Ferrari?s doping program.?
2. At the 2004 Tour de France, after cyclist Filippo Simeoni testified against Dr. Ferrari,
Armstrong rode [Simeoni] down and threatened [that] if Simeoni did not return to the peloton Lance Armstrong would stay with the break and doom it to failure ? As Simeoni and Armstrong fell back to the peloton, Armstrong verbally berated Simeoni for testifying in the Ferrari case, saying, ?You made a mistake when you testified against Ferrari and you made a mistake when you sued me. I have a lot of time and money and I can destroy you.? Armstrong was captured on video making a ?zip the lips? gesture which underscored what Armstrong had just said to Simeoni about how Simeoni should not have testified against Dr. Ferrari.
3. In 2005, after fellow riders Jonathan Vaughters and Frankie Andreu
exchanged text messages in which they discussed doping on the U.S. Postal Service team, Mr. Vaughters? texts became an exhibit in [a court] proceeding. ? Since that time, Mr. Vaughters? employer, Slipstream Sports, has received several phone calls from Mr. Armstrong suggesting that Mr. Vaughters should be removed from the management of Slipstream Sports.
4. According to Armstrong?s former teammate, Tyler Hamilton,
after Mr. Hamilton had testified about Mr. Armstrong?s doping and after Mr. Hamilton?s cooperation with federal law enforcement officials had been publicly reported, on June 11, 2011, Mr. Hamilton was physically accosted by Mr. Armstrong in an Aspen, Colorado restaurant. ? Mr. Armstrong said, ?When you?re on the witness stand, we are going to fucking tear you apart. You are going to look like a fucking idiot.? ? ?I?m going to make your life a living ? fucking ? hell.?
In his interview with Winfrey, Armstrong categorically denied that any riders had been pressured to dope: ?The idea that anybody was forced or pressured or encouraged is not true.? When Winfrey asked Armstrong whether he had been the real boss of his team, he replied evasively: ?Well, I was the top rider. I was the leader of the team. I wasn?t the manager, the general manager, the director.? He went on: ?There was never a direct order, or a directive to say, ?You have to do this if you want to do the Tour, if you want to be on the team.? That never happened. It was a competitive time. We were all grown men. We all made our choices.?
Winfrey asked Armstrong about Vande Velde?s claim ?that you threatened to kick him off the team if he didn?t shape up and conform to the doping program.? Armstrong shot back, ?That?s not true.? Instead, Armstrong softened the story into a matter of setting the wrong example: ?But even if I don?t say it, if I do it, and I?m the leader of the team, you?re leading by example, so that?s a problem.? With this maneuver?deflection disguised as contrition?Armstrong reduced the charge of coercion to a plea of doping. He pointed out ?the difference between that and saying, ?You have to do this if you want to do the Tour or stay on this team.? ? I view one of them as a verbal pressure, as a directive. And that didn?t exist.?
Armstrong couldn?t deny all the lawsuits he had filed and all the times he'd accused people of lying. So he attributed these intimidation tactics to fear, a rough childhood, and his cancer. He had vilified witnesses who told the truth because he saw them ?as a friend turning on you.? He had attacked any threat because when he was a kid, his family ?felt like we had our backs against the wall.? And, tragically, ?my diagnosis ? turned me into a person? who was resolved to ?win at all costs,? since cancer compels you to ?do anything I have to do to survive. ? And I took that attitude, that ruthless and relentless and win-at-all costs attitude, and I took it right into cycling.?
That seems to be the game plan Armstrong brought to this interview. Downplay your power over others. Deny issuing explicit orders to dope. Convert any such story into a matter of setting a poor example. ?Take responsibility for yourself, but suggest that others?those who claim you pressured them?must do the same. Recast your threats, retributions, and demands for silence as products of a hard life. Reduce your sins of coercion to a sin of deceit. When Winfrey asked Armstrong ?what made you a bully,? he answered: ?Just trying to perpetuate the story and hide the truth.?
That?s Armstrong?s message: Everything he did, no matter how domineering, menacing, or manipulative, was a desperate effort to protect a single lie. ?I tried to control the narrative,? he says. And he?s still trying to control the narrative. Which is a good reason not to believe it.
William Saletan's latest short takes on the news, via Twitter:
President Barack Obama (Carolyn Kaster/AP)President Barack Obama embarks on his second term with half the nation giving him a good performance review, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Friday.
Fifty-one percent of Americans surveyed Jan. 11-15 approve of how Obama is handling his job, the poll said. Forty-one percent disapprove.
The Times' Marjorie Connelly notes in her analysis that Obama's approval rating is similar to the one held by former President George W. Bush at the start of his second term, but far below ratings garnered by former President Bill Clinton (60 percent) and former President Ronald Reagan (62 percent) at the beginning of their second terms.
The "fiscal cliff" negotiations didn't alter public opinion of the president's ability to handle the economy, the poll said. Forty-six percent of adults surveyed said they approve of the president's ability to handle the economy and 49 percent disapprove.
The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
President Obama begins his second term this weekend, but the Toronto Star prefers to remember a past inauguration.
Mitch Potter of the Star's Washington bureau has gotten his hands on the official program of the 1901 U.S. presidential inauguration. His attention was drawn to a futuristic article that envisioned the 2001 inauguration of President ?George McKinley Barrington of the State of Ontario.?
Writes Potter: "How Canada and the rest of the Americas actually came to join the United States, whether by choice or force, is left unclear."
Nearly five months ago, a federal appeals court in Atlanta issued a set of opinions that invalidated numerous provisions of Alabama HB 56, the most pernicious state immigration law in the country. After Alabama asked the full court to reconsider its rulings, the active judges unanimously rejected its request. Out of other legal options, the state filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to revive some (though not all) of the invalidated provisions. While the odds remain small that the Justices will take up the case, granting the petition could set up another legal showdown similar to the case over Arizona SB 1070.
With federal lawmakers now poised to finally tackle immigration reform, Alabama?s petition will serve only as an unwanted distraction.
The petition filed on Wednesday asks the Court to consider the legality of three distinct but related provisions of HB 56: one which criminalizes the harboring of immigrants who are unlawfully present; one which criminalizes the transportation of immigrants who are unlawfully present; and one which criminalizes encouraging unlawfully present immigrants to enter the state. In striking down these provisions, the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that each conflicted with, and was therefore ?preempted? by, federal immigration law?the same legal theory the Supreme Court used to strike down three provisions of SB 1070.
Because of the staggered way in which the Eleventh Circuit resolved the cases, however, Wednesday?s petition deals only with provisions struck down in the suit brought by the Department of Justice. As of today, the state has more than a month left to challenge the ruling in the separate case brought by civil and immigrants? rights groups, which struck down the notorious provision requiring school administrators to determine the immigration status of students at the time of enrollment.
Of additional importance, Wednesday?s petition did not challenge the invalidation of numerous other provisions struck down by the Eleventh Circuit. For example, Alabama declined to defend provisions of HB 56 that would have made entering a rental agreement itself a form of ?harboring,? and which would have barred courts from enforcing most contracts with immigrants who are unlawfully present. By failing to challenge these aspects of the Eleventh Circuit?s ruling, Alabama has effectively abandoned its legal defense of the provisions.
Filing the petition is just the first step, however. The Justice Department has until late February to respond, but it could very well receive at least one extension. Moreover, if Alabama files a second petition in the suit brought by civil rights groups, the Court would likely wait until each case is briefed and consider both at once. Under either scenario, it is possible that the Justices won?t make a decision before they recess for the summer?in which case an announcement would not come until the end of September at the earliest.
Whatever the Justices decide, Alabama?s mere filing of the petition is itself a disappointing development. When Arizona filed its original petition in the SB 1070 case, it could at least claim that Congress was abdicating its responsibility to fix our nation?s immigration system. But with federal lawmakers now poised to finally tackle immigration reform, Alabama?s petition will serve only as an unwanted distraction. The Supreme Court made clear that the federal government?and the federal government alone?is responsible for determining the nation?s immigration policy. Now that Congress is set to take up the issue, Alabama should let federal lawmakers do their job.
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Public release date: 8-Feb-2013
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This week brings more evidence that publishing giant Cond? Nast is remaking its PR/communications team for the new year. Last month we reported on the departure of Maurie Perl: industry leading light, Barbara Walters confidant and veteran of such titles as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
Nearly five months ago, a federal appeals court in Atlanta issued a set of opinions that invalidated numerous provisions of Alabama HB 56, the most pernicious state immigration law in the country. After Alabama asked the full court to reconsider its rulings, the active judges unanimously rejected its request. Out of other legal options, the state filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to revive some (though not all) of the invalidated provisions. While the odds remain small that the Justices will take up the case, granting the petition could set up another legal showdown similar to the case over Arizona SB 1070.