ter Revolutionary AI Tools Take Center Stage in Medical Education Symposium By www.streetwisereports.com Published On :: Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:00:00 PST Source: Streetwise Reports 11/05/2024 Treatment.com AI Inc. (TRUE:CSE; TREIF:OTCMKTS; 939:FRA) has announced the release of its newly updated Medical Education Suite (MES). Read more to find out how this update is set to transform medical education and enhance training efficiency. Treatment.com AI Inc. (TRUE:CSE; TREIF:OTCMKTS; 939:FRA) has announced the release of its newly updated Medical Education Suite (MES). This release aligns with the company's active participation in a major symposium focused on AI assessment in medical education. The Symposium, hosted by the University of Minnesota Medical School, drew thought leaders and representatives from over 50 medical schools and national education organizations across the United States and internationally. The updated MES has been designed to leverage Treatment's proprietary Global Library of Medicine (GLM) to help reduce the administration overhead and associated time and costs for medical schools in running key exams, such as the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Additionally, this updated version of the MES includes "easy to use" features to further support students in their clinical assessment training and exam preparation. This OSCE exam is seen as a critical evaluation used globally to assess the practical skills of medical students. It is now employed in more than 80 countries, with between 200,000 to 300,000 students participating annually.1 The MES incorporates various AI-driven features, such as automated case generation for OSCE exams, scripts for simulated patients, and instant scoring with personalized feedback. The Suite also introduces new tools, including AI Patient, which supports students preparing for medical exams, and expanded OSCE case packages, which are expected to grow to a library of 100 cases by the end of Q4 2024. Additionally, the AI Prep Tool offers both non-guided and guided exam-simulated modes, assisting students in honing their clinical reasoning. Kevin Peterson, MD, MPH, Treatment's Chief Medical Officer, delivered a keynote at the Symposium, joining an impressive lineup that includes presenters from Mayo Clinic and the University of Alberta. The company highlights that this Symposium is a crucial opportunity to demonstrate its MES and showcase its growing influence in the field of medical education. CEO Dr. Essam Hamza emphasized the significance of this event, stating in the press release, "We are excited to showcase our updated medical education software suite at this landmark Symposium. The opportunity to have a positive impact on the medical training of students and, in turn, introduce them to our range of proprietary AI tools is an important inflection point in the company's commercialization timeline." AI in Healthcare On October 10, Microsoft emphasized the importance of multimodal AI models for a comprehensive assessment of patient health. The report highlighted the growing importance of using AI to analyze complex, multimodal health data, such as medical imaging, genomics, and clinical records. The integration of these data sources has enabled more precise diagnostics and treatment planning, illustrating the sector's move toward comprehensive AI applications. The healthcare industry has faced challenges like the need for large-scale, integrated datasets and significant computational resources, but advancements have begun to bridge these gaps. Microsoft noted that these developments would help unlock new insights and improve patient care by accelerating innovation and enhancing clinical decision-making across the sector. On November 4, Forbes reported that AI-powered healthcare tools were no longer merely experimental but were instead delivering real value across the industry. Examples included enhanced diagnostic accuracy through AI algorithms, like those developed by Google Cloud Healthcare, and improved administrative processes through platforms like Cedar's AI-powered billing system. Forbes noted that these developments were reshaping patient care and reducing administrative burdens, offering measurable benefits. Also, on November 4, Tech Target highlighted the optimism among healthcare professionals regarding generative AI's potential to alleviate administrative burdens. Over 90% of healthcare workers surveyed expressed confidence in generative AI's ability to simplify tasks like prior authorizations and nurse handoff reports. Aashima Gupta from Google Cloud shared insights on these tools' transformative capabilities, while Tony Farah from Highmark Health cited an 85% reduction in provider administrative costs after automating prior authorizations. Helen Waters from Meditech added, "We believe that gen AI and AI overall is transforming how healthcare professionals access and use information to make powerful decisions confidently," reflecting the positive impact of AI tools on healthcare workflows and decision-making. Company Catalysts Treatment.com AI Inc. continues to evolve its medical education platform, incorporating advanced AI technologies that could help revolutionize medical education and training. The company is leveraging its Global Library of Medicine, which offers over 10,000 medical reviews and covers more than 1,000 diseases and associated symptoms. These AI-driven tools aim to enhance clinical decision-making while reducing administrative burdens for healthcare institutions. The updated MES is projected to impact medical training through its comprehensive and AI-enhanced features, as outlined in Treatment's investor presentation. The presentation details the significant market potential, with the AI healthcare market expected to grow from US$11 billion in 2021 to US$187 billion by 2030, according to Statista. In addition to Treatment's announced new functionality, the company has already begun work on further solutions such as AI Doctor in a Pocket and audio/video analysis tools for clinical scoring and diagnostics. The goal of this expanded portfolio is to position the company to help expedite its aggressive growth plans over the next year. Analysis of Treatment.com AI *On October 9, Technical Analyst Clive Maund described Treatment.com AI Inc. as a "Strong Buy." He emphasized the company's potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry. [OWNERSHIP_CHART-10594] Maund also highlighted that Treatment AI was "centrally positioned" to capitalize on the expected massive growth in the AI healthcare market. The research note also mentioned the company's platform, powered by its proprietary Global Library of Medicine, as having wide-ranging attributes that could make "sweeping and positive changes" in healthcare, enhancing efficiency and reducing administrative burdens for healthcare professionals. Ownership and Share Structure According to Sedi.ca, insiders own approximately 8% of Treatment.com AI. Retail investors own the remaining 92%. The company has 48.99 million outstanding common shares and has 41.3 million free float traded shares. As of November 4, the market cap is approximately CA$31.35 million. Over the past 52 weeks, the company traded between CA$0.355 and CA$1.11 per share. 1Source bodies including: https://www.aamc.org/; https://www.uems.eu/; https://www.nmc.org.in/; Education – GMC (gmc-uk.org) Sign up for our FREE newsletter at: www.streetwisereports.com/get-newsImportant Disclosures: Treatment.com AI has a consulting relationship with Street Smart an affiliate of Streetwise Reports. Street Smart Clients pay a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Treatment.com AI. James Guttman wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company. This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice. For additional disclosures, please click here. * Disclosure for the quote from the Clive Maund article published on [Date] For the quoted article (published on [Date]), the Company has paid Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, between US$1,500 and US$2,500. Author Certification and Compensation: [Clive Maund of clivemaund.com] is being compensated as an independent contractor by Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, for writing the article quoted. Maund received his UK Technical Analysts’ Diploma in 1989. The recommendations and opinions expressed in the article accurately reflect the personal, independent, and objective views of the author regarding any and all of the designated securities discussed. No part of the compensation received by the author was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed Clivemaund.com Disclosures The quoted article represents the opinion and analysis of Mr. Maund, based on data available to him, at the time of writing. Mr. Maund's opinions are his own, and are not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell securities. As trading and investing in any financial markets may involve serious risk of loss, Mr. Maund recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction and do your own due diligence and research when making any kind of a transaction with financial ramifications. Although a qualified and experienced stock market analyst, Clive Maund is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Therefore Mr. Maund's opinions on the market and stocks cannot be only be construed as a recommendation or solicitation to buy and sell securities. 1Source bodies including: https://www.aamc.org/; https://www.uems.eu/; https://www.nmc.org.in/; Education – GMC (gmc-uk.org) ( Companies Mentioned: TRUE:CSE; TREIF:OTCMKTS;939:FRA, ) Full Article
ter Only the Mobile Enterprise will Survive: 10 Practical Strategies for Supporting a Next-Generation Mobile Workforce By www.itsecurity.com Published On :: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:04:08 +0000 WHEN: Wed, November 18Time: 10am PT / 1pm ET Join Now!SPONSORED BY: Nortel and AT&TJoin leading mobility experts to hear why only the mobile enterprise will survive! Join Now!Why the mobile ... Full Article
ter Ten International Organizations trying to Hack into Your Computer By www.itsecurity.com Published On :: Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:16:02 +0000 Hackers have been around since the early development of computers. Although they have gone by different names at different times, they've been fundamentally known as malicious all-knowing individu... Full Article
ter Boost Performance & Efficiency with Your Data Center Infrastructure By www.itsecurity.com Published On :: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:54:12 +0000 On-Demand Webinar > Watch Now!>>SPONSORED BY: Juniper NetworksWatch this FREE on-demand webinar to learn how you and your company can get started down the road to reach the pinnacle ... Full Article
ter Co. Enters Quebec With Acquisition of Prospective Lithium Project By www.streetwisereports.com Published On :: Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 PST American Salars Lithium Inc. (USLI:CSE; USLIF:OTC; Z3P:FWB; A3E2NY:WKN) has signed a mineral claims purchase agreement with an arm's length vendor to acquire 100% of the Lac Simard South Project in Quebec. Find out why one analyst says the market for the important battery metal is due to wake up. Full Article
ter Uranium Exploration Co. Enters Into New Partnership in Athabasca Basin By www.streetwisereports.com Published On :: Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:00:00 PST Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (SYH:TSX.V; SYHBF:OTCQX; SC1P:FSE) announced it has entered into an agreement with Hatchet Uranium Corp. to acquire interest in several of its projects. One analyst says the "spotlight" is on uranium juniors as the energy transition drives a heightened demand for power sources. Full Article SYH:TSX.V; SYHBF:OTCQX; SC1P:FSE
ter 'Not Broken But Simply Unfinished': Poet Amanda Gorman Calls For A Better America By www.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:20:08 -0800 Poet Amanda Gorman speaks at the inauguration of U.S. President Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.; Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images Camila Domonoske | NPRWhen Amanda Gorman, a 22-year-old poet from Los Angeles, took to the stage on Wednesday, it was immediately clear why the new president had chosen her as his inaugural poet. Gorman echoed, in dynamic and propulsive verse, the same themes that Biden has returned to again and again and that he wove throughout his inaugural address: unity, healing, grief and hope, the painful history of American experience and the redemptive power of American ideals. Where Biden said, "We must end this uncivil war," Gorman declared, "We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another." And where Biden called for an American story of "love and healing" and "greatness and goodness," Gorman saw strength in pain: "Even as we grieved, we grew," she said. Gorman opened by acknowledging the reasons why hope can be challenging. "Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?" she asked. But she continued: "And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow we do it. Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished." She acknowledged the power of her own presence on the stage in "a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one." Like Obama inaugural poet Richard Blanco, who invoked the grand sweep of American geography in a call for unity in "One Today," Gorman dedicated a portion to "every corner called our country" from the South to the Midwest. She ended with an invitation to "step out of the shade." "The new dawn blooms as we free it," she said. "For there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it – if only we are brave enough to be it." Gorman was following in the footsteps of poets like Blanco, Robert Frost and Maya Angelou as she composed the poem "The Hill We Climb" for the inauguration. She also took her cues from orators like Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. — people who knew a thing or two about calling for hope and unity in times of despair and division. Gorman told NPR she dug into the works of those speakers (and Winston Churchill, too) to study up on ways "rhetoric has been used for good." Over the past few weeks, she composed a poem that acknowledges the previous president's incitement of violence, but turns toward hope. "The Hill We Climb" reads, in part: We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, It can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. Gorman, like Biden, had a speech impediment as a child. (Biden had a stutter; Gorman had difficulty pronouncing certain sounds.) She told NPR's Steve Inskeep that her speech impediment was one reason she was drawn to poetry at a young age. "Having an arena in which I could express my thoughts freely was just so liberating that I fell head over heels, you know, when I was barely a toddler," she said. For Gorman, a former National Youth Poet Laureate, her struggle to speak provided a connection not only to the incoming president, but also to previous inaugural poets, too. "Maya Angelou was mute growing up as a child and she grew up to deliver the inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton," she says. "So I think there is a real history of orators who have had to struggle with a type of imposed voicelessness, you know, having that stage in the inauguration." Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy were the only presidents in the past who chose to have poems read at their inaugurations. You can read all the previous poems here. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Larry McMurtry, Novelist And Screenwriter Of The West, Has Died At Age 84 By www.scpr.org Published On :: Fri, 26 Mar 2021 12:20:16 -0700 President Barack Obama presents novelist, essayist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry with a National Humanities Medal in September 2015.; Credit: Leigh Vogel/WireImage/Getty Images Anastasia Tsioulcas | NPR Updated March 26, 2021 at 2:13 PM ET Larry McMurtry, a prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Oscar-winning screenwriter, has died at age 84. He was beloved for riveting and yet unsentimental depictions of the American West in books like Lonesome Dove, as well as for tales of family drama including Terms of Endearment. In a statement, his representative Amanda Lundberg said McMurtry "passed away last night, on March 25 of heart failure at 84 years old surrounded by his loved ones who he lived with including long time writing partner Diana Ossana, his wife Norma Faye and their 3 dogs." In all, McMurtry wrote more than 30 novels as well as over a dozen non-fiction works that spanned memoir, history and essays. He also wrote over 20 screenplays and television scripts. McMurtry was also famous for his bookstore, Booked Up in Archer City, Texas. Even after selling off more than half of his holdings in 2012, he still had about 200,000 books between his private collection and the store. When he won an Oscar in 2006 for the screenplay adaption of E. Annie Proulx' short story Brokeback Mountain, which he co-wrote with longtime writing partner Diana Ossana, he thanked booksellers. "From the humblest paperback exchange to the masters of the great bookshops of the world," he said, "all are contributors to the survival of the culture of the book, a wonderful culture, which we mustn't lose." Filmmakers were drawn to McMurtry's work; his books Hud, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment were all made into films. Lonesome Dove, which earned him the Pulitzer in 1985, became a successful TV miniseries in 1989, starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. Born in 1936 on a Texas ranch, McMurtry came to his love of the West through his family. His grandfather broke horses, and his father raised cattle. "The West is mostly a very beautiful place," he told All Things Considered in 2014. "There are all those lovely spaces. There are all those running horses. It's a poetic imagery and it's been there for a long time." But he wanted to scour that landscape of sentimental nostalgia for cowboys, he added. "To me it was hollow and I think it was hollow for my father, although he might not have ever brought that to his conscious mind. He totally loved cowboys and so did most of the cowboys we worked with and that got him through his life. But he knew perfectly well, so did we, that it wouldn't last another generation, it just was not going to last." Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Need Aid For Your Shuttered Venue? End Of May Is The Earliest You Might Get It By www.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 05 May 2021 04:20:10 -0700 Live-event spaces, like the Sound Nightclub in Los Angeles, have been waiting months for emergency relief.; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images Andrew Limbong | NPROwners of live-music venues, theaters, museums and other businesses covered under the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, or SVOG, can expect to see money by the end of May. This is according to an update from the Small Business Administration, which has been handling the SVOG program's bumpy rollout. An SBA spokesperson said in an email that since the portal to apply for these grants opened a week ago, 10,300 applications have been submitted (another 12,000 have been started but not completed). The vast majority of those applications were from "Live venue operators or promoters," followed by performing arts organizations and then movie theaters. The SBA has been reviewing applications and said in a statement that "applicants will receive notice of awards this month," with disbursement by the end of May if the applicant responds in a "timely manner to the notice of award." The SVOG program is a $16 billion emergency relief program that then-President Donald Trump signed into law in late December 2020. It was a bipartisan effort to get aid money to struggling music venues and other arts and live-event spaces that have been hit hard by the coronavirus struggles. But for an emergency relief program, it has taken months to get money in the hands of business owners holding off landlords, insurance companies and other creditors. Those owners spent early 2021 waiting on an official announcement of when they could apply for the grant money while compiling any documents and paperwork they thought they might need. Then once the application site was up and running, it crashed and was closed. Even as large festivals roll out throughout the U.S. and bands announce tours for later in the year, many small live-event spaces are still at risk of closing. The National Independent Venue Association, one of the most vocal groups lobbying for support for live-music venues, has long stated that 90% of its members would be forced to close without any aid — which would hurt nearby bars, restaurants and shops, not to mention the large apparatus that is the live touring-arts industry. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Meet America's Newest Chess Master, 10-Year-Old Tanitoluwa Adewumi By www.scpr.org Published On :: Tue, 11 May 2021 17:20:11 -0700 Tanitoluwa Adewumi, pictured in 2019, just became the newest national chess master in the U.S. at age 10.; Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Mary Louise Kelly and Karen Zamora | NPRTanitoluwa Adewumi, a 10-year-old in New York, just became the country's newest national chess master. At the Fairfield County Chess Club Championship tournament in Connecticut on May 1, Adewumi won all four of his matches, bumping his chess rating up to 2223 and making him the 28th youngest person to become a chess master, according to US Chess. "I was very happy that I won and that I got the title," he says, "I really love that I finally got it." "Finally" is after about three years — the amount of time that Adewumi has been playing chess. When he started, Adewumi and his family were living in a homeless shelter in Manhattan after fleeing religious persecution by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in their home country of Nigeria. Now, Adewumi practices chess "every day" after school for "10, 11 hours" — and still manages to get some sleep. His hours of practice have paid off. As a chess player, he describes himself as a bit of an every man, "aggressive" or "calm" when he needs to be, and always thinking ahead. "On a normal position, I can do up to 20 moves [in advance]", he says. Keeping all of the pieces straight in his head might seem like a challenge but Adewumi says it's a skill that "when you master, it just keeps coming back." Adewumi competes against other chess players at all levels. But his favorite match? "I guess Hikaru Nakamura is my favorite person I've ever played," he says. "He's a grandmaster, a very strong one. He's on the top of the rankings." Nakamura won that match. But Adewumi takes each loss in stride — and there's always the possibility of a comeback. "I say to myself that I never lose, that I only learn," he says. "Because when you lose, you have to make a mistake to lose that game. So you learn from that mistake, and so you learn [overall]. So losing is the way of winning for yourself." Since the last time NPR spoke with Adewumi, his family moved out of the shelter and he's written a book about his life called My Name Is Tani . . . and I Believe in Miracles. That book has been optioned for a Trevor Noah-produced film adaptation with a script by The Pursuit of Happyness screenwriter Steven Conrad. But Adewumi's journey is not over yet. He says his goal is to become the world's youngest grandmaster. At 10 years 8 months, he has a little under two years to beat the current record holder, Sergey Karjakin, who gained his title at 12 years 7 months. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Robust Silver Deliveries Drive Record Quarterly Revenues and Growth By www.streetwisereports.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 00:00:00 PST Silver Crown Royalties Inc. (SCRI:CBOE; SLCRF:OTCQX; QS0:FSE) announced record quarterly revenues in its financial results for the third quarter ending on September 30, 2024. Read more about the impressive growth in silver deliveries and how the company is strategically positioned for continued expansion. Full Article
ter Winter is Coming; Do You Have Your Digital Milk and Bread? By enewsletter.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:46:58 +0000 Are you digitally prepared for the winter? Seems easy until you have no power and your battery in your mobile device is dead. Don't be caught digitally unprepared. Full Article Citizen Interaction Public Safety Technology
ter Animal Shelter Assistant By www.governmentjobs.com Published On :: Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:58:17 GMT Catawba County Emergency Services (Animal Shelter) is recruiting an experienced Animal Shelter Assistant with outstanding communication/customer service skills and office/clerical skills to join our growing Animal Services team. As an Animal Shelter Assistant, you will direct the flow of animals, customers, and inquiries related to Animal Services; maintain and organize information and records; and assist with multiple aspects of shelter operations. Schedule is Tuesday-Saturday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Salary is negotiable within the listed range dependent upon qualifications (directly related experience). Full Article
ter Foster Care Social Worker III By www.governmentjobs.com Published On :: Mon, 04 Nov 2024 23:52:49 GMT Catawba County Social Services is committed to making living better through serving children and families with multiple and complex needs. We are seeking individuals who share our common core values: Doing what’s right:Providing services to children and families when children must be separated from their parents or caretakers when they are unable or unwilling to provide adequate protection and care and the child enters the legal custody and placement responsibility of social services. Doing what matters most:Serving families, children, and our community by providing support and comprehensive family-centered, solution focused assessments and interventions that will support a parent’s capacity to protect and nurture their children. Doing it together:Working cohesively with birth and resource families, children, guardian ad litems, court partners, community and in-agency partners, and other child welfare entities to support and strengthen families. Doing it well:Striving for excellence in meeting all mandated standards in a fast-paced and mandated, but rewarding environment that ultimately seeks to assure child safety and develop and reinforce protective family units. Trainees, those with a Master’s or Bachelor’s degrees in other areas of human services, but do not have the required experience, may be considered. Trainee salary is $50,698.12. Full Article
ter A California Town Has No Reliable Running Water During A Heat Wave By www.scpr.org Published On :: Sat, 03 Jul 2021 15:20:02 -0700 Hafsa Fathima | NPRFor the last month, Frank Galaviz has wondered when running water will return to his town. The 77-year-old resident of Teviston — a small rural community in Central California — has been forced to depend on stored and bottled water after the pump in the town's only functioning well broke down in early June. Since then, residents have had to travel to neighboring towns to shower or depend on the town's water storage tanks for their daily needs. Temperatures continue to reach into triple digits as a brutal heat wave sweeps across the West Coast. The ongoing drought only exacerbates the problem, Galaviz says. "[My wife and I] have lived through many challenges," he says. "We both have survived cancer, but we will not be able to survive without water. This is a problem that is not going away." Teviston sits between the cities of Fresno and Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley and is home to mostly Latino farmworkers. Normal days in town are usually slow-paced and idyllic, Galaviz says, with many residents commuting to the nearby towns and cities on business. Now, they leave to find more water. This is not the first time Galaviz or his neighbors have struggled with a broken well. He says two other wells had broken down in previous years and had not been repaired. A new, more modern well is in the works, but Galaviz estimates its completion is still a few years off. The community continues waiting for repair parts to arrive in hopes it will fix the current well's pump, he added, a process that could take a few weeks. "It is not normal to not be able to flush toilets," he says. "It's not normal to not be able to take a shower." Residents have managed to come up with a temporary fix, using their water storage tanks to offer relief. "We were able to get some of the water pressure back," Galaviz said. "We put a submersible pump into one of our old wells and we're forcing water from the storage tanks through that system. But it's not a permanent fix." Rural Latino communities in California have been particularly vulnerable to drought conditions, according to a report from the state Legislative Analyst's Office. "Having no water equals bad health," state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, who serves California's 14th District, tells Weekend Edition. Hurtado says her bill, SB 559, would allot $785 million to fund and repair water supply infrastructure. One of the waterways posed for fixing is the Friant-Kern canal, which supplies Teviston and the towns around it. Over the years, the canal has become subject to subsidence — a condition that has caused some parts of the canal to sink and means it can't deliver as much water. "SB 559 would help fix the canal so that the basin and the communities that rely on water here would be able to have more access to it," Hurtado says. Galaviz has spent the last few weeks knocking on doors to check in on neighbors and trying to organize help. "I have a neighbor whose daughter has medical problems. She needs drinking water, pure water," he says. "It hurts to see people suffering." Hafsa Fathima and Jan Johnson produced and edited the audio story. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter I-95 Partially Closed For Hours After Police Standoff With Armed Men By www.scpr.org Published On :: Sat, 03 Jul 2021 21:00:08 -0700 Traffic on Interstate 95 was diverted for hours after a group of armed men fled from police near Wakefield, Mass. on Saturday. Massachusetts state police say 11 suspects have been taken into custody.; Credit: Michael Dwyer/AP Matthew S. Schwartz | NPREleven people were taken into custody Saturday after an hours-long standoff with police early Saturday outside Boston. While police engaged in negotiation, members of the group engaged the public on social media, saying their group was called "Rise of the Moors." The heavily armed men were said to be driving from Rhode Island to Maine for "training." The incident started around 1:30 a.m., when state police noticed two cars stopped at the side of I-95 near Wakefield, Mass., apparently out of fuel. As troopers stopped to assist, they noticed that some individuals near the cars had "military-style" gear, and were carrying long guns and pistols, Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason told reporters. "You can imagine 11 armed individuals standing with long guns slung on an interstate highway at 2 in the morning certainly raises concerns and is not consistent with the firearms laws that we have in Massachusetts," Mason said. Police requested backup, and thus began a standoff that lasted several hours. The men refused to lower their weapons, saying that they "don't recognize our laws," police said. Some of the armed men fled into a nearby wooded area, police said, and a portion of I-95 was closed for several hours. The standoff was broadcast on social media Around 4 a.m., a man whom the Boston Globe identified as Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey said he was broadcasting live from I-95 and said that he told police they had nothing to fear. "I reassured them that we are not sovereign citizens," a man who appeared to be Bey said in a live-streamed video. "I reassured them that we are not Black identity extremists. I reassured them that we are not anti-police. I reassured them that we are not anti-government. I reassured them that these men here will not be pointing guns at them. I reassured them that we are trying to come to a peaceful resolution." "We're going to our private land to train, which is our Second Amendment right," he said, showing a vehicle he said contained camping equipment. As police tactical teams brought in armored vehicles to surround the area, and negotiators interacted with the men, they ultimately surrendered. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan told reporters the suspects were expected to appear in court on Tuesday morning. State police "don't have any knowledge about this particular specific group" but as state police "it is not unusual for us to encounter people that have sovereign citizen ideologies — I'm not saying that this group does — but we have had those encounters before in the past," Mason said at a Saturday morning press briefing. "We train to those encounters," Mason continued. "We very much understand the philosophy that underlies that mindset. And we train our officers, actually, at the academy, on these interactions and how to de-escalate those situations, and how to engage with people that have that philosophy and mindset and resolve those situations in a peaceful manner." The group calls itself "Rise of the Moors" The same man appearing to be Bey said in a later video: "They keep portraying us as being anti-government, but we're not anti-government at all." The group's website lists Bey as a leader of the "Rhode Island State Republic and Providence Plantations." According to the site, Bey served in the military for four years, some or all of that time in the Marines, after which he began studying "Moorish Science." That website, "Rise of the Moors," explains that Moors are not "sovereign citizens" because "sovereignty does not stand alone," but can rather be considered synonymous with "nationality." "The record show that the Moors are the organic or original sovereigns of this land — America," the FAQ says. "When we declare our nationality as Moorish Americans we are taking back the position as the aboriginal people of the land, to which the sovereign power is vested in." Bey's group may be associated with the Moorish sovereign citizen movement, which the Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes as an offshoot of the antigovernment sovereign citizens movement. Moorish sovereigns "have come into conflict with federal and state authorities over their refusal to obey laws and government regulations," SPLC writes. "The Moorish Sovereign movement is a rapidly growing group of people who believe that they belong to a sovereign nation that has a treaty with the US but otherwise operates outside of the federal and state laws," JJ MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, explained on Twitter. "They rely on an alternative history that borrows from Moorish Science Temple, Black Hebrew Israelism, Nation of Islam, UFO theories, phony Native American tribes, and the pseudo-legal arguments crafted by white supremacist 'patriot' groups in the 1970s," MacNab said. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Three More Bodies Found As Search Accelerates After Demolition Of Surfside Condo By www.scpr.org Published On :: Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:00:07 -0700 Rescue workers move a stretcher containing recovered remains at the site of the collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., on Monday. Rescuers have recovered three more bodies and officials say the demolition of the building will accelerate search efforts.; Credit: Lynne Sladky/AP Dan Charles | NPRMiami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on Monday morning that three more victims have been recovered from the ruins of the collapsed condo tower in Surfside, Fl., bringing the total death toll so far to 27. Cava added that the demolition of the rest of Champlain Towers South "was executed exactly as planned" the previous evening, and that it would now allow rescue teams to work on a section of the collapsed building that was previously inaccessible. She noted that 118 individuals remain unaccounted for. "Truly, we could not continue without bringing this building down," Cava said. "The area closest to the building was not accessible, due to the enormous risk to the team of first responders, because of the instability of the building." According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the newly accessible section of rubble is also from a part of the building where many bedrooms were located, and may contain the remains of many victims. The building collapsed in the middle of the night. Authorities had been concerned that an approaching tropical storm might topple the standing part of the building onto the section that had already collapsed. That would have been a massive setback in the search for victims and for clues to the cause of the disaster. Tropical Storm Elsa now appears to be tracking further to the west, and is more likely to hit the west coast of Florida, rather than the site of the disaster. But officials at the National Weather Service say the storm's course still could change. Cava acknowledged that demolishing people's homes "is a devastating decision" and said that "our teams are doing everything possible to help those who lost their home begin to rebuild." She said that authorities are working with insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to streamline claims and help those who've lost homes and property. One animal rescue volunteer had gone to court to stop the demolition of the rest of the tower, asking the court to allow more time to rescue pets that might still be trapped inside. The judge denied the motion. Cava said in her Monday briefing that Miami-Dade rescue teams had already gone through parts of the building that were still accessible, "searching in closets and under beds" to find missing pets. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter After Tenure Controversy, Nikole Hannah-Jones Will Join Howard Faculty Instead Of UNC By www.scpr.org Published On :: Tue, 06 Jul 2021 09:00:08 -0700 Author Ta-Nehisi Coates, seen here in 2019, will join the faculty of Howard University.; Credit: Mary Altaffer/AP Laurel Wamsley | NPR Updated July 6, 2021 at 11:31 AM ET Less than a week after trustees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill belatedly voted to grant tenure to New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, Howard University announced Hannah-Jones will instead be joining its faculty. Howard, the prestigious historically Black university in Washington, D.C., also announced it is hiring writer and Howard alumnus Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me. Their positions were funded by nearly $20 million in donations from the Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as an anonymous donor. The funding establishes the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism, a tenured position to be held by Hannah-Jones. Hannah-Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her 1619 Project, will also establish the Center for Journalism and Democracy, which the university says will train aspiring journalists in "the investigative skills and historical and analytical expertise needed to cover the crisis our democracy is facing." The news is a blow to UNC, which has had its reputation damaged by its handling of Hannah-Jones' appointment to an endowed professorship at its journalism school. For months, trustees declined to consider granting her tenure, a highly unusual move considering her tenure was backed by the relevant academic leaders. Some of the opposition came from Walter Hussman, an Arkansas newspaper publisher and alumnus whose $25 million donation to the UNC's journalism school led to its being named for him. As NPR's David Folkenflik reported, Hussman said "he was given pause by some prominent scholars' criticism that Hannah-Jones distorted the historical record in arguing that the protection of slavery was one of the Founding Fathers' primary motivations in seeking independence from the British." Amid the turmoil, other Black faculty members at UNC said they were considering leaving the university, and students protested on behalf of Hannah-Jones. The university's student body president Lamar Richard penned an open letter last month to the UNC community, saying the university is unprepared for the reckoning that's required, and "[u]ntil this rebirth occurs, Carolina is not deserving of your talents, aspirations, or successes." Hannah-Jones had said she would not accept UNC's offer without tenure, which UNC's Trustees finally approved in a 9-4 vote. But the messy and contentious process spoiled it for her. "Look what it took to get tenure," Hannah-Jones said, noting that every other chair of the position dating to the 1980s had been granted tenure, and that all were white. Hannah-Jones received unanimous approval from the faculty during the tenure process. "And so to be denied it, and to only have that vote occur on the last possible day, at the last possible moment, after threat of legal action, after weeks of protest, after it became a national scandal – it's just not something that I want anymore," she told CBS This Morning. Hannah-Jones said she never wanted her hiring to become a public scandal — she was simply hoping to give back to her beloved alma mater. And instead, she said, it became "embarrassing" to be passed over for tenure. She said she was never told by UNC-Chapel Hill's chancellor, provost or trustees why her tenure was not taken up in November or January. The veteran journalist reportedly had offers from a number of universities after the botched process at UNC. So how did she pick Howard? She said one of her few regrets was not going to Howard as an undergraduate. And she traced her choice to join its faculty to her own story, beginning as a second-grader bused to a white school. "I've spent my entire life proving that I belong in elite white spaces that were not built for Black people," she told CBS. "I decided I didn't want to do that anymore. That Black professionals should feel free, and actually perhaps an obligation, to go to our own institutions and bring our talents and resources to our own institutions and help to build them up as well." She said she won her battle for fair treatment at UNC, "but it's not my job to heal the University of North Carolina. That's the job of the people in power who created this situation in the first place." Hannah-Jones said she's trying to raise even more money for Howard, and that she's eager to join the faculty this summer. "To be able to bring that type of resources to a university that always punches above its weight, I'm so excited," she said. "Something great came out of this." Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Sonata Software adds new functionality to its enterprise mobility product Halosys By cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com Published On :: Thu, 15 Mar 2018 16:02:45 +0530 Sonata Software announced that its Unified Enterprise Mobility Platform, Halosys, has been enhanced with additional features that boost optimization and usability Full Article
ter Micromax releases AI powered mobile launcher, Steroid By cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com Published On :: Wed, 04 Jul 2018 07:00:00 +0530 Micromax forays in the race of in-house mobile launcher driven by Machine Learning and AI to enhance the user experience. Full Article
ter How QR codes work and what makes them dangerous: A computer scientist explains By cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com Published On :: Fri, 08 Apr 2022 15:28:35 +0530 The data in a QR code is a series of dots in a square grid. Each dot represents a one and each blank a zero in binary code, and the patterns encode sets of numbers, letters or both, including URLs. Full Article
ter Catawba Co. joins other area counties & cities to approve settlement of Catawba River Basin Inter Basin Transfer issue By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST The Catawba County Board of Commissioners, at its January 19, 2010 meeting, joined with other local governments across the region in approving the agreement. The main points of the agreement hinged on Concord and Kannapolis modifying their ability, contained in their IBT certificate, to withdraw 10 million gallons of water per day (MGD) from the Catawba River at all times, by significantly limiting withdrawals during times of drought. The agreement limits withdrawals to 6 MGD during times of most severe drought, or �exceptional� drought; 7 MGD during �extreme� drought; 8.5 MGD during �severe� drought; and 9 MGD during �moderate� drought. Further, the agreement restricts Concord and Kannapolis from withdrawing more than 3 MGD from the Catawba until July 1, 2015, and after they first are withdrawing 5 MGD from the Yadkin River. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Veteran of Catawba County Cooperative Extension is named new director By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:08:00 EST Jeff Carpenter, who will begin new duties as Cooperative Extension Director on September 1, 2010, will oversee delivery of services to meet the Extension mission of sustaining agriculture and forestry, protecting the environment, maintaining viable communities, developing responsible youth and developing strong, healthy and safe families. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Catawba County makes information on traffic incident locations available via Twitter. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:57:00 EST Catawba County has upgraded a feed from its 911 Center of the information on calls regarding traffic incidents. The feed shows the type of incident reported, such as a vehicle accident, stranded motorist or vehicle fire, and gives the location of the incident. Only traffic related incidents are reported through this feed. Full Article News Release FYI Public Notice
ter Low interest Small Business Administration loans available for Catawba County residents who suffered tornado damage. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:20:00 EST Residents and businesses affected by severe storms and tornado on Oct. 26 in Catawba County can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills announced today. Mills made the loans available in response to a letter from North Carolina Gov. Beverly E. Perdue on Nov. 12, requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA. The declaration covers Lincoln County and the adjacent counties of Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell and Mecklenburg in North Carolina. Full Article Public Notice FYI News Release
ter Catawba County Public Health brings flu immunization to 2500 students after cases increase in schools. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:12:00 EST Between February 16 and 24, 2011, more than 2,500 students in Catawba County�s three public school systems received the 2010-11 flu vaccine due to a successful partnership between the schools and Catawba County Public Health. School nurses collected permission forms from parents and coordinated flu vaccine mini-clinics at 43 schools. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Next Household Hazardous Waste Collection set for May 7, Government Center parking lot, Newton. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:19:00 EST Do you have any unwanted household products, such as paints, cleansers, solvents, antifreeze, batteries or used motor oils; or electronics like computer equipment, old radios, mobile phones, TVs, VCRs, calculators or copiers? Dispose of them properly, free of charge, on May 7th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Full Article Public Notice News Release FYI
ter Catawba County Children's Agenda Planning Committee releases report after two years of gathering information. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Thu, 12 May 2011 13:33:00 EST The committee compiled existing information about the status of children in the county. It also held public meetings and surveyed members of the public about their priorities and ideas. The committee found that most children in the county are well-cared for, but that a substantial number are falling through the cracks. A major cause of concern is the large number of children living in poverty. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Computer equipment, televisions to be banned from landfills by new State law effective July 1st. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:14:00 EST Beginning July 1, 2011, computer equipment and televisions will be banned from disposal in North Carolina landfills, under a law passed last year by the General Assembly. Catawba County will provide four one-day electronics recycling collection events in fiscal year 2011-2012, free of charge. All residents of Catawba County will have access to these electronics recycling events, including those who live in the cities and towns in the county. Full Article News Release FYI Public Notice
ter Catawba County veteran, supporters of veterans, have part in new NC Veterans Park By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:27:00 EST The North Carolina Veterans Park in Fayetteville includes a visitor�s center, gardens, fountains, sculpture and displays. Five Catawba County residents, including World War II veteran Carmie Cook, had a �hand� in the park�s creation. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Rita Beaver, Assistant Register of Deeds, named Catawba County 2011 Emloyee Of The Year By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:40:00 EST A 35 year veteran of the Register of Deeds Office, Beaver was praised by all her co-workers in that office for excellent customer service, for being a patient instructor on the laws involved in her work, and for preserving the County�s history. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter EPA announces Catawba County to again be "in attainment for particulate matter (PM 2.5) By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:55:00 EST The United States Environmental Planning Agency (USEPA) has announced that Catawba County will be classified as �attainment� from its current �nonattainment� designation for Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) on December 19, 2011. PM 2.5 (fine particle pollution) refers to tiny particles of droplets in the air that are two and one half microns or less in width. Two and one half microns is about thirty times smaller than the width of a human hair. Full Article News Release FYI Public Notice
ter Mason Strother, Startown Elementary School fifth grader, wins Severe Weather Awwareness Week poster contest! By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 11:50:00 EST Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba County students in the 4th or 5th grades submitted posters related to the theme �Severe Weather Awareness� and illustrated an example of a natural hazard that affects North Carolina. One poster from each county and one overall winner from all entries were chosen as the winners of the Unifour Area Severe Weather Awareness Week Poster Contest. The winners were announced during Severe Weather Awareness Week with surprise presentations at each winner�s school. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Catawba County EcoComplex featured in report on "green" building projects in 5 Southeastern states. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:30:00 EST The EcoComplex is a system that recovers all useable products and by-products from a group of private and public partners located in a close-knit defined area. This group of partners works together to use each other�s waste products either as a source of energy (electricity, steam, or heat) or as a raw material for the production of their own product (pallets, lumber, compost, brick shapes/art). The EcoComplex is also focused on making and using �green� energy and on economic development. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Electronics component manufacturer selects Conover as national headquarters By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST Smart Electric North America, LLC is opening its North American headquarters in Conover, NC at 1550 Deborah Herman Road SW. SENA plans to build market share by supplying quality components and finished goods to the top tier lighting companies in the US first; then abroad. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Bed, Bath and Beyond to open data center in Claremont in 2013 By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Tue, 2 Oct 2012 08:30:00 EST Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., headquartered in Union NJ, has chosen to locate one of its data center facilities in Claremont, Catawba County. The company will locate the data center in the 48,000 square foot Center Point shell building in the Claremont International Business Park on Kelly Drive. Bed Bath & Beyond�s investment is expected to equal or exceed $36,800,000 and the new facility will create a minimum of 7 new jobs by the end of 2018. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Assistant County Manager Dewey Harris earns international Credentialed Manager distinction. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:00:00 EST Catawba County Assistant County Manager Dewey Harris has earned the International City/County Management Association's (ICMA) Credentialed Manager designation. Established in 2002, the ICMA Credentialed Manager program recognizes professional government managers whom the ICMA certifies as having a "commitment to continuous learning and professional development". Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Twenty year veteran in Library Service is named new Catawba County Library Director. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:35:00 EST Suzanne M. White, who has managed comprehensive library programs, services and personnel at two full service library branches in Rowan County for more than seven years, and has had a successful career in library services spanning more than twenty years, has been named Catawba County�s new Library Director. White succeeds Karen Foss, who will retire on February 1, 2013, after serving as the County�s Library Director since July 1999. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Entrance to Justice Center dedicated in honor of retired Sheriff L. David Huffman By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Mon, 4 Feb 2013 12:25:00 EST The Catawba County Board of Commissioners took action at its meeting on February 4, 2013, to dedicate the entrance area of the Catawba County Justice Center in honor of retired Sheriff L. David Huffman and his 32 years of services to the county, including four as a county commissioner and 28 as Sheriff. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Western Piedmont Council of Governments wins national honor for Western North Carolina Annual Air Quality Conference. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Tue, 7 May 2013 11:10:00 EST The Western Piedmont Council of Governments has won a national honor for the Western North Carolina Annual Air Quality Conference held at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Leadership Academy helps families in transition through Family Care Center project. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:35:00 EST County employees in the first Leadership Academy recently helped families in transition through a Family Care Center project. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Adult Services Social Worker Chandra Henson is honored by North Carolina Adult Foster Care Association. By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 09:58:00 EST Adult Services Social Worker Chandra Henson with Catawba County Social Services has been honored by the North Carolina Adult Foster Care Association. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Social Services program named 1 of 15 programs in US making critical difference in lives of youth in foster care By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:00:00 EST Social Services program honored as one of only 15 programs in U.S. making critical difference in lives of youth in foster care. Full Article News Release FYI Please Choose
ter Charter Communications' Government Channel for Catawba County moving to channel 192 By www.catawbacountync.gov Published On :: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 16:00:00 EST Charter Communications' Government Channel for Catawba County will move from Channel 3 to Channel 192 effective January 28, 2014. Full Article News Release FYI Public Notice
ter 'Dear Son': How A Mom's Letter Inspired A Graduation Speech — From Prison By www.scpr.org Published On :: Thu, 27 May 2021 06:00:10 -0700 ; Credit: LA Johnson/NPR Elissa Nadworny and Lauren Migaki | NPRWriting a graduation speech is a tricky task. Should you be funny, or sincere? Tell a story — or offer advice? For Yusef Pierce, a graduating senior in California, the job of putting together his public address was a bit more challenging. "Being inside, I can't really refer to other graduation speeches," Pierce says. He's speaking by phone from inside the California Rehabilitation Center, a medium-security prison in Norco. "I was just trying to come up with what sounded like a graduation speech." He is the first person to graduate with a bachelor's degree from the Inside-Out program at Pitzer College, a liberal arts school outside Los Angeles. In a normal year, the school would bring traditional students by bus to the prison to take classes alongside the students who are in prison. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, those classes are happening online. Pierce shared his Zoom square with 10 other guys, all wearing the CRC's blue uniforms and seated at those classic classroom desks, where the chair and the table are attached. This spring, his classes included topics like feminism for men, microeconomics and mass incarceration. In one of those classes on a recent evening this spring, professor Nigel Boyle goes around asking each student what they're looking forward to doing that week. Pierce replies: "I'm looking forward to doing a lot of homework!" "Every professor wants a Yusef in your class," says Boyle, who leads the Inside-Out program and teaches Pierce's Wednesday night class about mass incarceration. "You want that student who's bright, does the work, but is also helping to bring along the others." It was only natural then that Pierce would be one of the college's graduation speakers. "We don't label the student speaker as a valedictorian," explains Boyle. "But it happens that Yusef has a 4.0, and he's got a really interesting story to tell." Pierce is in his early 30s and is a bit of a nerd and a class leader. He also writes poetry and paints. "It is true that oppression often requires that individuals make themselves extraordinary in order to simply survive," reads his artist's statement in an online exhibit of his work. "My paintings are entire conversations on canvas." Eventually, he says, he wants to be a college professor, working with formerly incarcerated students. "So he wants my job," says Boyle, laughing, "and he'd be much better at it than I am." Boyle serves as the academic adviser to all of the incarcerated students, and he has become a mentor to Pierce, navigating him through the graduation process. In one of the last classes of the semester, Boyle hosts an impromptu fashion show, wearing his own blue cap and gown, backing away from the camera to give the onlooking students a full view of his outfit. The guys inside cheer and whistle. "Do a spin," one guy shouts. "Beautiful! Beautiful!" another yells. As the cheering dies down, Boyle looks for Pierce on the screen. "He doesn't know this, so it may be a slight surprise," he tells the class, "but, Yusef, you will also be receiving these cords." He drapes dark orange cords around his shoulders. "These cords are for students who graduate with honors in their degrees. Congratulations, Yusef, you are going to graduate with honors." *** The story of how Yusef Pierce wound up in these college classes, wound up inside prison at all, starts with trauma. When he was a teen, his older brother was shot and killed. "He was murdered in the front yard of our home, right in front of my face," he explains, "and so I had to call my mom and let her know what had happened." All these years later, it's still something he doesn't like to talk about. He considered putting it in his graduation speech, but took it out, worried it might be too much for his mom to hear. "It had a traumatic effect on all of us," Drochelle Pierce tells me over the phone, from her house in Victorville, Calif. She remembers a change in Yusef around that time. "It was just kind of one thing after another. He got into a little bit of trouble. He allowed people that he associated with to kind of influence him in a direction that really wasn't him." Yusef finished high school, but in his early 20s he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery. Drochelle Pierce says she was beside herself when she learned his sentence would be nearly 20 years. "I tell you, honestly, I never envisioned that Yusef would ever go to prison. Never, never. Never." A few months into Yusef's prison sentence, she wrote him a letter. "What's done is done," she wrote. "You, now more than ever, must diligently seek and obtain higher education." It wasn't a new message. Education had always been at the center of her relationship with Yusef. When he was young, he remembers riding in the car with his mom, a sociology textbook open on his lap. "She wouldn't let me turn on the radio," he says. "She would make me read to her." "Oh, I made [my kids] read everything," Drochelle Pierce says. "If they read it out loud, I knew they were reading it. That's the only way I would know that they were actually reading anything." Today, the two talk on the phone nearly every day. "He was always a deep thinker," says Pierce. She knows she sounds like a typical proud mother, but she can't help it: "Yusef is very smart." In California, college classes can shorten a prison sentence. So when the opportunity first arose for Yusef Pierce to take courses in prison, it felt like simply a means to an end. "I just want to get home sooner," he remembers joking with a friend at the time. "If they gave us time off for going to college, I would walk out of here with a Ph.D.!" But by the time Pitzer College started offering classes for a bachelor's degree, Pierce found to his surprise that he really liked college. "I loved it because it gave me validation," he says. "To know that somebody was reading my stuff and that somebody felt like the things that I was thinking about and writing were worth something. I got really addicted to that validation, and it just really turned me into an overachiever. And I just took class after class after class." That drive paid off. After writing and rewriting a number of drafts, on May 15 Pierce delivered his final graduation speech to hundreds of Pitzer graduates and their family members and friends. The content he landed on? That letter his mom sent him all those years ago. "I realize now that I've saved this letter because it was meant for me way back then to share it with you all today," he says, dressed in his white cap and gown, draped in a kente stole, with the prison classroom where he has spent so much time in the background. "It reads, 'Dear son, I was so glad to see you Monday ...' " As he reads the letter aloud, he gets to the part where his mother, a big poetry fan, included the lines from Invictus, a poem by William Ernest Henley. Pierce looks directly into the camera as he reads; he knows this part by heart. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. Drochelle Pierce watched the speech on her laptop at home, with family gathered around. "We were all crying. We were just boohooing. It was just so sweet," she says. The final line of the poem: It matters not how strait the gate, / How charged with punishments the scroll, / I am the master of my fate: / I am the captain of my soul. "I love that so much," she says. "I sent that to my son because I wanted him to think in terms of 'OK, here you are now. What happens to you from this point going forward, it really depends on you.' " She is proud of her son and inspired by him too. "Look what he did. He turned a bad situation into something very, very positive. Here he is, graduating with his degree." Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. 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ter This School District Erased All Holiday Names After Dropping Columbus Day By www.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 16 Jun 2021 16:40:14 -0700 Some institutions have scrapped Columbus Day or switched to celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day. One New Jersey school district came up with a new solution: eliminate all holiday names.; Credit: Olesya Semenov/EyeEm via Getty Images Joe Hernandez | NPRMemorial Day. Thanksgiving. Labor Day. You may be used to seeing your calendar punctuated by the various holidays that occur throughout the year. But on one New Jersey school district's calendar, each one of these days will be listed, simply, as "day off." It all started when the school board in Randolph Township voted to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day. Some residents were outraged, so the board said that instead it would wipe holiday names from the school calendar altogether while still observing the days off. "The overwhelming majority of the township population feels that they've [Randolph Township school board members] grossly overstepped their bounds, that they're completely pushing their own personal, political ideologies," Randolph resident Tom Tatem told Fox News. He started a petition calling on school officials to resign. Institutions across the country are wrestling with the question of what to do with Columbus Day. Critics have derided the idea of celebrating the Italian explorer, who perpetrated violence on Native Americans when he arrived in the United States. Boosters say it is critical to recognize the contributions of Christopher Columbus, and that Italian-Americans have historically faced discrimination. Some places have switched to marking Indigenous Peoples' Day in recognition of the Native Americans who occupied the United States long before European explorers like Columbus arrived. Randolph Township arrived at a novel solution to this problem: eliminate every holiday name to avoid taking a side. The goal appears to have been to sidestep the debate over Columbus Day, but the Randolph Township school system instead found itself squarely in it, and opponents of the move have called on school officials to resign. The Randolph Board of Education is now scheduled to convene Monday for a special meeting to reconsider its plan to remove holiday names from the school calendar. What's happening in New Jersey In May, the Randolph school board voted unanimously to replace Christopher Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day. Some parents grew angry with the decision, but instead of reverting back to the old calendar, the board moved in early June to scrap all holiday names from the school calendar, not giving preference to either one of the October celebrations. "If we don't have anything on this calendar, then we don't have to have anyone [with] hurt feelings," Randolph school board member Dorene Roche said during a June 10 public meeting, according to NJ.com. The backlash has only grown. A petition calling on Randolph Township Schools superintendent Jennifer Fano and members of the board of education to resign has topped 4,000 signatures. "They represent everything that is wrong in education today and are completely incompetent in every aspect of their role," the petition says. For its part, the school board acknowledged the public outcry but said its decision was misconstrued by some people. A press release issued by the Randolph board of education on Sunday clarified that the holidays will still be observed as days off and that their decision was not meant to dishonor "the great veterans and the heroes" after which several of those holidays are named. "These State, Federal and other holidays have not been cancelled or taken away by this Board of Education as some are falsely claiming," the board said. "Everyone is still encouraged to celebrate them in whatever way they deem appropriate." Matthew Pfouts, director of communications and digital media for the Randolph Township Schools, told NPR the board has no further comment. Changing views on holidays On the national level, Columbus Day remains a federal holiday. But a number of states, including Alaska and Virginia, as well as some cities either observe Indigenous Peoples' Day as a holiday or celebrate it in some way. The movement away from Columbus Day has not come without controversy. The New York City Department of Education tried to rename Columbus Day over objections and eventually settled on marking a holiday called "Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People's Day," which drew its own set of critiques. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was wrong to make the two groups share one holiday. There are also other efforts to recognize the role people of color played in American history. This week, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to make Juneteenth — the day marking the end of slavery in the U.S. — a public holiday. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Supreme Court Restricts Police Powers To Enter A Home Without A Warrant By www.scpr.org Published On :: Wed, 23 Jun 2021 10:00:23 -0700 In a case originating with a California Highway Patrol officer's pursuit of a vehicle and ultimately entering the driver's home, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police may not enter homes without a warrant for minor crimes.; Credit: Chris Carlson/AP Nina Totenberg | NPR Updated June 23, 2021 at 12:31 PM ET The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police cannot enter a home without a warrant when pursuing someone for a minor crime. By a unanimous vote, the court declared that police violated the rights of a California man by pursuing him into his garage for allegedly playing loud music while driving down a deserted two-lane highway late at night. Writing for the court majority, Justice Elena Kagan said police had no right to enter the man's home without a warrant for such a trivial offense. "On many occasions, the officer will have good reason to enter – to prevent imminent harms of violence, destruction of evidence, or escape from the home," she wrote. "But when the officer has time to get a warrant, he must do so – even though the misdemeanant fled." The court's ruling came in the case of Arthur Lange, who was playing loud music in his car late one night, at one point honking his horn several times. A California highway patrol officer, believing Lange was violating a noise ordinance, followed him, and when the motorist slowed to enter his driveway, the officer put on his flashing lights. Lange, who later said he didn't notice the police car, drove into his garage. The officer, in "hot pursuit," got out of his car and put his foot under the closing garage door sensor to force the door open again. He had no warrant to enter the home, but once inside, he said, he smelled liquor on Lange's breath and arrested him, not only for the noise violation, but also for driving under the influence. Lange appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, contending that the officer had no right to enter his home without a warrant and that the DUI evidence had been illegally obtained. The Supreme Court has long held that police may conduct a warrantless search when pursuing a fleeing felon. The question in Lange's case was whether police are free to do the same thing when pursuing someone suspected of a minor offense like playing loud music. "[P]ursuit of a misdemeanant does not trigger a categorical rule allowing a warrantless home entry," she wrote. Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org. Full Article
ter Report Links Disease to Herbicides - Calls for New Studies of Exposed Vietnam Veterans By Published On :: Tue, 27 Jul 1993 05:00:00 GMT Evidence exists linking three cancers and two other health problems with chemicals used in herbicides in the Vietnam War, a committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded. Full Article
ter Health Study of Atomic Veterans Families Not Feasible Study Says By Published On :: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 05:00:00 GMT A scientifically accurate and valid epidemiologic study of reproductive problems among the families of veterans exposed to radiation from atomic bombings and nuclear weapons tests is not feasible, concluded an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee in a new report. Full Article
ter Radon in Drinking Water Constitutes Small Health Risk By Published On :: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 05:00:00 GMT Radon in household water supplies increases peoples overall exposure to the gas, but waterborne radon poses few risks to human health, says a new report by a committee of the National Research Council. Full Article