Tony Poll: WTF?!?!? Which 2014 Nomination Snub Upsets You the Most?
Tony nomination day is the best and worst day of the year. We’re thrilled for all the stars who received nominations, but how dare the nominators flat out ignore some of our favorite performances, plays and musicals of the year? From The Bridges of Madison County being snubbed to Daniel Radcliffe getting left out of the Best Actor in a Play category, we know you’re pissed. Which snub is the most upsetting? Cast your vote below! (Have this year’s nominations left you on the floor in a puddle of angry tears? Your favorites have still got a chance to win big at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards—nominate them here!) View Comments
Letters Innocence Initiative I read with interest and relief the article in the July 15 News announcing The Florida Bar Foundation’s rescue of the Florida Innocence Initiative. Jennifer Greenberg has worked tirelessly, as the director of the program, to ensure that no innocent persons remain in prison, and that every claim is heard. She deserves all of the credit she has received, as does the Foundation, for undertaking such a critical and dramatic effort to save the program as its final deadline approaches.As president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, I would be remiss if I did not alert the News to the hundreds of volunteer hours contributed by our members on behalf of the Florida Innocence Initiative. Our association became involved more than two years ago and our lawyers have appeared in virtually every judicial circuit, pursuing court orders compelling DNA testing on behalf of inmates with claims of innocence.In particular, I want to single out two FACDL board members for their extraordinary commitment to the Innocence Initiative. Although they are not inclined to attract attention to themselves, in this case, that attention is richly deserved. James T. Miller of Jacksonville and Scott Fingerhut of Miami have volunteered to screen every case currently in the pipeline, so that Jenny can turn her efforts to recruiting other lawyers to prepare pleadings and pursue claims. They are committing themselves, their staffs, and their own financial resources to this project on a tight deadline, while continuing to run their practices. Without their volunteer contribution, it is extremely likely that there would cases that had not been reviewed at the deadline this October 1.While volunteer work is the privilege and obligation of every member of The Florida Bar, the commitment of these lawyers is truly extraordinary. The Florida Bar and the FACDL are lucky to have them. Scott and Jim deserve recognition for their effort. It’s the kind of commitment that should make every lawyer proud. Michael J. Snure Winter Park Wrongful Incarceration I write in response to the letter published in the July 1 News that expressed great consternation over the pro bono efforts of Sandy D’Alemberte to compensate Wilton Dedge for his 22 years of wrongful incarceration, and accused Mr. Dedge — a dignified and ethical man who has suffered mightily at the hands of the state — of baseless whining and attempted unjust enrichment.What happened to Mr. Dedge was far from simple “unfairness” or the lack of “perfect process.” Before accusing him of “trying to feel sorry for (himself) at taxpayer expense,” it would have been prudent to examine some of the facts. Instead of finding that the “state of Florida did neither more nor less than its duty,” the writer surely would have found troublesome evidence indeed.It is the state’s paramount duty to seek justice, to seek truth, and to use reliable evidence against its citizenry. Rather than pulling in a discredited dog scent expert, a notorious local murderer/liar/rapist, whom the state placed alone on a transport van with Wilton Dedge, and whose perjurious testimony did not come from Mr. Dedge or from press accounts, or falsely assuring jurors — contrary to the testimony of its own expert — that physical evidence belonged “to Dedge and no one else,” both law and ethics demanded much different behavior from the state.What occurred instead was tragic, and not just for Mr. Dedge, his family, and community. The rape victim received no real justice; the true perpetrator was never sought and likely remains at-large; and faith and trust in our justice system were necessarily diminished.In the face of this tragedy, we have a unique and critical opportunity to both compensate Mr. Dedge and to examine how justice went so grossly awry in his case; then we must all commit to enacting remedies designed to ensure that fewer of our citizens suffer the devastation of wrongful conviction and incarceration. The legacy of this case must be our collective resolve to learn the abundant lessons and to take corrective action.While Wilton Dedge spent 22 years in some of the most brutal institutions in Florida, he did two things equally well: He provided exceptional skilled labor to the state, and he begged those who wrongfully prosecuted him to simply test his DNA. Year after year, Mr. Dedge worked hard and beautifully, spoke the truth and did what he could to advocate for himself, which caused him additional pain and punishment as he was repeatedly denied parole because he wouldn’t confess to a crime he didn’t commit and wouldn’t enter treatment for criminal behavior he didn’t possess or exhibit. Year after year, the state blocked every attempt to forensically examine the very evidence it used to convict him.When the state wrongfully takes a citizen’s property, it must pay damages; our constitution demands the same when a citizen’s freedom is so taken and society is unjustly enriched by his diligent and exceptional labor for over two decades. Common human decency demands at least this much, as well.May I remind the writer that citizens are not at war with our justice system, and that Americans facing wrongful conviction are not enemy combatants—they are our neighbors, our friends, our family, and members of our community. They, and all of us, expect, deserve, and demand truthful, competent prosecutions, and the punishment of those individuals responsible for criminal acts. Unlike his prisoner of war analogy, Americans charged with crimes are not facing a hostile foreign power; they are facing their peers, their elected officials, their laws, and the system of justice that belongs to them.Were it not for the pro bono efforts of many of Florida’s lawyers, Mr. Dedge would still be wrongfully incarcerated; many inmates with viable claims of innocence would not be achieving DNA tests; and hundreds of prisoners trying to find help in proving their claims would have no prayer of finding any prior to the October 1 filing deadline.So, to Sandy D’Alemberte and the scores of exceptional lawyers around the state donating their time and expertise in defense of indigents victimized by wrongful incarceration, I say well done and thank you. Like me, they believe in another of those abundant Latin maxims; dum tempus habemus, peremur bonum — “while we have the time, let us do good.” It is my privilege to know many Florida lawyers who deeply believe in “doing good” and in facing and ameliorating injustice whenever possible. Jennifer L. Greenberg Tallahassee August 15, 2005 Letters August 15, 2005 Letters
by: Tim DevaneyCredit unions are calling for “regulatory relief” from the new Republican-controlled Congress.The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) signaled its discontent with heavy-handed regulations from the Obama administration’s top consumer financial watchdog in a letterto top lawmakers.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should focus its regulatory efforts on large systemic banks, rather than “good actors” like federal credit unions, NAFCU President Dan Berger wrote.“NAFCU was the only credit union trade association to oppose the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau having rulemaking authority over credit unions, Berger wrote. “Unfortunately, many of our concerns about the increased regulatory burdens that credit unions would face under the CFPB have proven true.”The letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lays out the credit union association’s legislative priorities for the new Congress.Chief among them was tackling “overregulation” from the Obama administration. 3SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr continue reading »
Mr. Biden, appearing in the battlegrounds of Ohio and Pennsylvania, had a more disciplined closing message.“Tomorrow we have an opportunity to put an end to a presidency that’s divided this nation,” he said at a drive-in rally at an airport hangar in Cleveland. “Tomorrow we can put an end to a presidency that has failed to protect this nation. And tomorrow we can put an end to a presidency that’s fanned the flames of hate all across this country.”As the campaign ended, voters were speaking their minds.- Advertisement – In Des Moines, 18-year-old Mikayla Simpson stood in line to cast her first vote for president wearing earbuds and a tan Trump 2020 baseball cap. A student at Drake University, she said she was unfazed by the long wait. “I’d stand here all day if I had to,” she said.In Monroe, Pa., Millie Cooper, 63, a retired health care administrator, dropped off her mail-in ballot and was zipping up her coat against the wind. “I pray Biden wins,” she said. “We need stability, and we don’t have it.”In Detroit, Gary Bennett, 67, said he, too, wanted to see a change in the White House. Unemployed, but getting by with odd jobs at restaurants and as a handyman, he said he was ready for life to return to normal. He is not a huge fan of Mr. Biden, he said, “but he’s got to be better than what we’re going through now.”- Advertisement – – Advertisement –
At a stop on Monday in Avoca, Pa., Mr. Trump criticized a recent Supreme Court decision allowing Pennsylvania to accept absentee ballots for several days after Election Day, suggesting cryptically that it could be “physically dangerous,” an apparent prediction of postelection violence.Later, on Twitter, he complained without evidence that the decision would lead to “rampant and unchecked cheating” and told reporters in Wisconsin, “I hope the Supreme Court has the wisdom to change it.”- Advertisement –
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Apriadi GunawanThe Jakarta Post/Medan, North SumatraHundreds of people staged a peaceful protest in front of the North Sumatra Legislative Council (DPRD) building in Medan on Monday, calling on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to address the thousands of pig deaths caused by African swine fever (ASF) without culling the remaining, healthy animals. The protestors, who identified themselves as members of the #SaveBabi (#SavePig) movement, said they did not want the pigs to be wiped because of the ASF outbreak, which has killed over 40,000 pigs in the province.North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi said last month that he was considering a cull of all pigs in the province as a last-ditch effort to halt the spread of the virus.Read also: Over 40,000 pigs killed as African swine fever outbreak in N. Sumatra worsensThe movement’s leader, Boasa Simanjuntak, said pigs played an important cultural and economic role for North Sumatra’s Batak people, adding that many politicians had obtained their seats by using funds from the sale of pigs. “Don’t be hypocritical. We all know that many Batak people are successful because of pigs. Many people have become generals, officials and perhaps even DPRD members […] by selling pigs,” Boasa said during the demonstration.He added that Jokowi should immediately take action to tackle the ASF outbreak, which has caused heavy economic losses among livestock farmers in the province.“We demand that the government immediately intervene to overcome the outbreak, which has caused tens of thousands of pigs to die in North Sumatra.”Hasudungan Siahaan, a protestor representing local community group Horas Bangso Batak, added that the movement was an expression of public unrest over the government’s plan to eradicate pigs in North Sumatra and had no political motives.Responding to the rally, Victor Silaen, chairman of the DPRD’s Commission B, assured the protesters that pigs in the province would not be culled as they contribute to the province’s locally generated income (PAD).Viktor said the North Sumatra DPRD had taken a number of steps to address the outbreak, including summoning regents from the 18 regencies affected by the virus, as well as related agency officials.He also assured the public that it was safe to eat pork despite the virus.“Go ahead and eat pork; no one who eats pork will contract the disease,” he said. Separately, North Sumatra Food and Livestock Resilience Agency head Azhar Harahap said the provincial administration did not have sufficient funds to deal with the virus.He explained that no specific funds could be allocated to overcome the outbreak and that his agency had requested funding assistance from the central government.“We have asked the central government for Rp 46 billion [US$3.35 million] to help handle the swine fever outbreak here,” Azhar said during a meeting with the DPRD on Monday.Azhar also asserted that culling all the pigs was not a solution as it would be in conflict with a 2012 government regulation on animal welfare, as well as the principles of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).“The North Sumatra administration will not kill pigs because it will harm the community both economically and culturally,” he said.There is no cure yet for ASF, he added, but the North Sumatra administration had formed a rapid reaction unit to take preventative measures such as spraying disinfectant and cleaning pig pens in order to ensure that healthy pigs do not get infected.Azhar said the administration was also closely monitoring livestock movement between villages, subdistricts, districts, cities and provinces, and had banned the movement of pigs to and from North Sumatra to prevent the spread of the virus, steps that have already borne fruit.“An average of 302 pigs per day have died from the virus in North Sumatra, which is the lowest amount compared to ASF outbreaks in other countries,” Azhar said, adding that the number of dead pigs totaled around 3.6 percent of the total 1.2 million pigs in North SumatraThe Agriculture Ministry confirmed the existence of the ASF virus in 16 regencies in North Sumatra on Dec. 12 last year and reported the case to the OIE on Dec. 17. (syk)Topics :
Major Japanese light equipment maker Ushio has recently launched an ultraviolet lamp that can kill the coronavirus without harming human health — the first of its kind in the world.The “Care 222” UV lamp, which Ushio developed together with Columbia University, is expected to be used for disinfection at occupied spaces where people keep coming in and out and the risk of contracting the deadly virus runs high, such as buses, trains, elevators and offices, the company said.UV lamps have been widely used as an effective means of sterilization notably in the medical and food-processing industries. But conventional UV rays cannot be used in spaces where there are people as they cause skin cancer and eye problems. Ushio’s new lamp, however, emits the UV rays with a wavelength of 222 nanometers, as opposed to the conventional 254-nanometer wavelength, making them lethal to germs but benign to humans.At this particular wavelength, the firm said, UV rays cannot infiltrate the surface of the skin nor the eyes to bring about cancer-causing genetic defects and other damage.The Care 222, when emitted from a ceiling, inactivates 99 percent of viruses and bacteria in the air and up to a 3-square-meter surface of objects some 2.5 meters away from the lamp, in six to seven minutes.A recent third-party study by Hiroshima University confirmed the 222-nanometer UV rays are effective in killing the new coronavirus, Ushio said.The 1.2-kilogram Care 222 emitting device comes in about the size of a hardcover book and with a price tag of 300,000 yen ($2,860).The company said it only accepts orders from medical institutions for the moment but will serve other customers once production catches up with demand.Ushio has also teamed up with Toshiba Lighting and Technology, a subsidiary of Toshiba, to develop general-purpose lamps with Care 222 emitters installed to cater to a broad range of situations. The companies aim to release such products next January.Topics :
The occupational pension funds for general practitioners (SPH) and medical consultants (SPMS), as well as the industry-wide pension fund for care insurers (SBZ), have also banned investments in cigarettes and cigars.TNO said that its decision was in line with the view of both its participants and the pension fund itself, as healthy living was among its primary investment themes.DNB to survey management operational and IT risksFinancial regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is to survey the management of operational and IT risks at six medium-sized pension funds and their providers.In a recent newsletter, the regulator said that the outcome would enable it to improve its supervision, and would also help boost pension funds’ ability to deal with these tasks.DNB added that, depending on a scheme’s specifics, its researchers would look at matters such as the implementation of risk management as part of the governance of the scheme.At pension funds carrying out significant data migrations or conversions, the supervisor said it would assess the process as well as data quality.In addition, the DNB’s survey would also look into how pension funds’ boards managed the process of outsourcing to external providers.KAS Bank to co-operate with fintech firm SimCorpCustodian KAS Bank has appointed SimCorp to run its back office activities using the fintech provider’s ‘Dimension’ software.“The co-operation with SimCorp is an important step in the transformation of our organisation into a European administration bank,” said Sikke van Katwijk, executive chairman of KAS Bank.He made clear that his firm wanted to anticipate the trend of outsourcing administrative matters.Copenhagen-listed SimCorp – which also has an Amsterdam office – services 180 large insurers, pension providers, asset managers and sovereign wealth funds.Its Dutch clients include PGGM and MN, the pension providers for the large healthcare scheme PFZW and the metal pension funds PMT and PME, respectively. PGGM has been a client of SimCorp since 2006.Note: The final story was updated on 9 April to clarify the nature of KAS Bank’s and SimCorp’s arrangement. The €3.4bn pension fund of technical research institute TNO has announced that it will divest its tobacco holdings.It said that tobacco didn’t fit in its policy for responsible investment.TNO said it would sell its stake in 12 companies that generate more than 5% of their turnover from tobacco, as a consequence of the decision.Several large pension funds – including healthcare scheme PFZW, civil service pension fund ABP, metal scheme PME and the multi-sector pension fund PGB – have also cut their tobacco industry investments.
HealthLifestyle Surgeons remove 232 teeth from Indian teenager by: – July 24, 2014 Share Sharing is caring! 30 Views no discussions MUMBAI, India (AFP) – Surgeons in Mumbai have removed 232 teeth from the mouth of an Indian teenager in what they believe may be a world-record operation, the hospital said Thursday.Ashik Gavai, 17, sought medical help for a swelling on the right side of his lower jaw and the case was referred to the city’s JJ Hospital, where they found he was suffering from a condition known as complex odontoma, head of dentistry Sunanda Dhivare-Palwankar told AFP.“We operated on Monday and it took us almost seven hours. We thought it may be a simple surgery but once we opened it there were multiple pearl-like teeth inside the jaw bone,” she said.After removing those they also found a larger “marble-like” structure which they struggled to shift and eventually had to “chisel out” and remove in fragments, she added.The youngster’s father, Suresh Gavai, said that the family had been worried that Ashik’s swelling was a cancerous growth.“I was worried that it may turn out to be cancer so I brought him to Mumbai,” Gavai told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper.Dhivare-Palwankar said the literature they had come across on the condition showed a maximum of 37 teeth being removed in such a procedure, whereas she and her team had counted more than 232 taken from Gavai’s mouth.“I think it could be a world record,” she said.Gavai’s jawbone structure was maintained during the operation so it should heal without any deformities, the surgeon added.Associated Free Press
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“Stevie’s probably not only the best captain for Liverpool and before with England, but in the game itself,” Henderson told the official Liverpool FC magazine. “Being around him has benefited me a lot. It’s been huge. Every day I watch him. “It’s his desire to improve. He’s been the best and most influential player here for such a long time but he still wants to get better. “He takes training really seriously and sets the tone for how things should be. Everyone else follows. He does a lot of things that people on the outside don’t see. “On the pitch he’s a great leader. You can see the goals, the passes and the tackles he makes; the way he inspires the team. “But off the pitch he conducts himself brilliantly too. He’s a genuinely nice person and everybody in the squad knows they can go to him. “The most important thing is he puts the team in front of everybody else including himself. The most important thing is the team.” Henderson’s growing importance and maturity has not only seen him elevated to Gerrard’s deputy but has helped him become more comfortable with the expectations and associated dissapointments which come with being at a club like Liverpool. “That was one of the biggest things that I needed to come to terms with when I first came here,” he admitted. “I was 20, 21 when I joined and when you’re young, you can dwell on things quite a lot. It’s one area where I’ve improved a lot. “At the end of the day you can’t change what’s happened. You can only influence what happens in the future. As long as you learn from mistakes, you’ll be fine. “When we have a bad result or I have a bad performance, it isn’t nice. It hurts, it ruins your evening, but the next day you’ve got to move on, taking the negatives and the positives.” Gerrard marked another anniversary of wearing the armband for his boyhood club by writing on Instagram: “11 years ago today I became the captain of my boyhood team one of the proudest days of my career. It’s a huge honour to captain this great club #YNWA.” Henderson has been identified as Gerrard’s long-term successor after being appointed vice-captain last month and he is keen to follow the 34-year-old’s example. Press Association Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson believes Steven Gerrard is the best captain in football. 