Lake Oswego resident Emma Burke has joined the race for the Lake Oswego City Council, aiming for one of three open seats on the November 2018 ballot.
Burke joins a field that already includes incumbent Councilor Jackie Manz, former Planning Commissioner Randy Arthur and restaurateur Daniel Nguyen, who were profiled in last week's issue of The Review. Lake Oswego resident Massene Mboup also joined the race this week, but after The Review's press deadline; his profile will be in next week's issue.
Councilors Jeff Gudman, Joe Buck and Manz currently hold the spots that will be up for grabs in the general election. Manz is the only incumbent seeking another term; term limits prevent Gudman from running again, and Buck is seeking a spot on the Metro Council instead.
The filing deadline for City Council candidates is Aug. 28.
Burke says she's seeking a council seat as a way to pursue further civic involvement and to provide greater representation in City Hall for parents of school-age children.
"Everything about this community has been just wonderful," she says. "I want to really just invest more of my time, commitment and energy into making this an even better place. That's why I would like to bring more engagement from the parent level to the City Council."
Burke grew up in Wenatchee, Wash, but her mother was originally from Portland. Burke says the city felt like a second home due to her family's many visits, so she eventually chose to start college in the Portland area.
She finished her bachelor's in business management at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, where she worked during her college years as an actor at Disney World. She later returned to the Portland area and worked for several years in corporate HR positions, including one that saw her living and working in Lake Oswego from 2006 to 2007.
"I moved outside the area," she says. "But when my family started, I knew I wanted to have them in (Lake Oswego) schools, so I moved back into the district."
That was five years ago, and she's remained in the city ever since. Her two daughters attend Oak Creek Elementary and are getting ready to start first and second grade, and Burke says her local community involvement began with volunteer work at their school and serving as a co-founder of their local Girl Scout troop.
She also serves as the community service coordinator for the local organization LO Moms, and was recently appointed to the Lake Oswego School District's advisory committee on diversity, equity and inclusion. Burke has openly identified as bisexual since her late teens, and she says that was one of the reasons she wanted to serve as a representative on the committee.
"It's hard to be a young adult or an older child who is going through identity issues," she says. "If the community isn't behind them, that increases the angst and the feelings of depression — it's harder to function, much less graduate."
She says her inspiration to become more involved in local government also stems from a trip she took to Washington, D.C., as a student in Portland State University's Master's of Public Administration program.
"Everyone kept really emphasizing that it's important to create faith in local government," she says. "No matter who is in the White House, everybody needs the roads and everything else at the city level to run well."
She says she considered running for the School Board, but opted to seek a City Council seat in order to have a greater impact and better represent the interests of Lake Oswego parents. If elected, Burke says she also hopes to be able to provide a voice for other underrepresented constituencies, including women, millennials, divorced parents and the LGBTQ community.
Burke currently works as a massage therapist and has previously run her own practice. She has become a familiar face in the audience at School Board and City Council meetings, and says she's quickly developed an enthusiasm for the policies and issues facing the city.
One example she cites is the annexation policy for unincorporated residents, which she says came up during the signature-gathering phase of her campaign; some of her friends offered their signatures without even realizing that they technically lived outside the city.
"I think the way we do it is going to be extremely important," she says. "The (proposed neighborhood-level annexation) vote makes sense to me, but I think first we need to have the actual numbers. What are the long-term costs? I think we need to first know the answer ourselves before we try to present it and get others excited about it."


text:
Transportation - Commercial, Public, and Private
Automobile, Taxi Cabs and Rental
Car Claims
Insurance Coverage and Appeals
General Liability Claims
Efffective Techniques for Arbitrating No-Fault Claims
Effective Techniques for Handling Bodily Injury Claims
Wrongful Death Issues in Minnesota
General Rules for PIP Priority
A Guide to the Minnesota No-Fault System
Minnesota No-Fault Checklist
New Civil Rules Flow Chart
Premises Liability Claims in Minnesota
Minnesota Construction
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While we have published numerous books and articles within our primary practice areas, and are frequently invited to speak at legal seminars and train others within these areas, we do more than "study the law" and provide our clients with theoretical opinions. Effective and efficient claims resolution can only be accomplished by having both knowledge of the law and practical experience in the area so that "real-world" options can be explored. Our vast experience in these practice areas allow us to timely identify those claims for which there is liability and to discuss ADR, settlement opportunities, motion practice, or other possible unique resolutions early on in the process.
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text:
The Minuteman » Police » SSCC #288-#290–Spokane
« Earworm Wednesday 03/21/2012
Quote of the Day–Emily Miller (03/23/2012) »
SSCC #288-#290–Spokane
By TMM | March 23, 2012 - 12:45 | March 25, 2013 Police, State Sponsored Criminal Count, Unfiled
Federal obstruction charges are expected to be filed soon against two more Spokane Police officers in connection with the city's handling of the Otto Zehm investigation, which U.S. Department of Justice officials have called an "extensive cover-up."
What were they covering up I hear you ask?
Thompson was the first officer to arrive that night at the Zip Trip, 1712 N. Division St., after two young women erroneously reported that Zehm had taken their money from a nearby ATM machine. A jury convicted Thompson after the video showed him strike the unarmed and retreating Zehm almost immediately during a struggle that later included six other officers.
Zehm was struck as many as 13 times with a baton, shocked with a Taser multiple times and was eventually hogtied. After a plastic mask was placed on his face, he stopped breathing and never regained consciousness. He died two days later.
It gets worse.
The 2006 police confrontation that led to the death of Zehm, a Spokane man with schizophrenia…
While the primary officer was responsible, what he was found guilty of was not for the homicide he committed. Instead he was found guilty of needlessly beating him and then lying to cover up his actions. He is punishment for the cold blooded murder of an innocent man who committed no crime other than not being able to grasp what was happening? Six to 8 years. Most depressing in all of this:
Otto Zehm's last words were, "All I wanted was a Snickers Bar"
Had it been any civilian who had done something like that it would have been a murder charge. The officer initiated force without any indication it was required. Beat the hell out of the suspect who was innocent, hog tied him, and then placed a non rebreather mask on him without oxygen. Where I'm from at minimum that's manslaughter since the mask was the final blow. He was negligent and it resulted in a mans death. That fact though was ignored and that's not what he went to jail for.
Two other officers then attempted to aid him in his cover up. They are just as culpable in this mans death by their actions.
State Sponsored Criminal Count #288: Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr.
#289: Officer Sandra McIntyre
#290: Officer Tim Moses
Because when someone wants a snickers bar, you beat the hell out of them and then suffocate them.
Just mind your own business! (RANDOM)


Today is the 80th anniversary of the maiden flight of the prototype B-17 bomber, one of the most successful and numerous warbirds ever built. On July 28, 1935, Boeing "Model 299" took off for the first time, piloted by Boeing test pilot Leslie Towers, the first of 12,731 built.
The plane was immediately dubbed the "Flying Fortress." Contrary to popular belief (and Wikipedia), this was not because of its multiple machine-guns. At the time, the United States was pursuing a policy of isolationism, and the new B-17 was conceived as a defensive weapon, a coastal anti-shipping/anti-invasion bomber – hence a flying coastal fortress.
In practice it was used for offense. In World War II, thousands of Flying Fortresses flown by thousands of crewmen (including pilot Captain Robert M.Trimble) dropped over 640,000 tons of bombs on German targets. Luftwaffe pilots dubbed it the "fliegendes Stachelschwein" (flying porcupine) because of the bristling defenses.


Unfortunately, I have not received enough quality questions to actually post anything this week. I was hoping to post an advice column at the very least biweekly, but first I will have to receive an ample number of publishable-quality questions. In the meantime, I figured I might as well shamelessly plug my inaugural e-book, which I hope to release on Amazon sometime around Christmas.
The tentative title of the e-book is How to Get a Girl, Then Convince Her You're a Keeper. More than anything else, it is devoted to precisely what the title implies: How to first meet (and recognize) a worthy life mate, afterwards persuading her that you, yourself, are in every way worth keeping. Culled from my own plethora of previous dating mishaps, as well as the past dating experiences of numerous others, How to Get a Girl, Then Convince Her You're a Keeper entails a step-by-step, detailed approach to near-guaranteed future dating success. I should know, as these are the very same philosophies and techniques that allowed for me to meet, and then eventually marry, my beautiful wife.
This entry was posted in Advice and tagged Keeper Promo on October 25, 2017 by Anonymous Zaius.


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200th Issue! Friday, September 3, 2004
SOLANA'S SOLICITUDE
DISENGAGING FROM ILLUSIONS
LOOK WHO WANTS BUSH TO LOSE
THE AIPAC KERFUFFLE
QUOTES AND QUICK NOTES
The Israel Referendum Campaign:
NO "Palestinian" State
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1. SOLANA'S SOLICITUDE
Jerusalem Post Editorial - August 31, 2004
The tragic fact of yesterday's double suicide bus bombings in Beersheba is that 16 people lost their lives, and another 15 nearly did. The significant fact is that this is the first suicide bombing since March. If the bombing marks the end of a remarkably long quiet spell, it also indicates the progress we have achieved.
Let's remind ourselves – or rather, the wider world – of where we were 30 months ago, on the eve of Operation Defensive Shield: terrorist attacks nearly every day, sometimes twice a day. Yet when Israel launched its invasion of the West Bank, the sage men of the world assured us it would fail. "For Mr. Sharon," sniffed New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, "tanks seem to work no better in the West Bank than they did in Lebanon."
As it turned out, however, the tanks did work, as did the targeted assassinations and all the other counter-terror and counter-insurgency tactics developed by the IDF and Shin Bet. So too did the security fence: The telling fact about yesterday's attack is that the attackers arrived in Beersheba from Hebron, unimpeded by the fence. Had the fence been there, it's doubtful they would have penetrated.
By now, it's too late for the International Court of Justice to take this fact into consideration – not that they would have done so anyway. It's also too late for the European Union, which instead offered Israel a five-sentence condolence note via EU representative Javier Solana.
"I condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in Beersheba today," he wrote. "I want first of all to express my sympathy and deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the Israeli authorities. Violence must stop. It seriously undermines all efforts to find a solution to the Middle East conflict. The implementation of the road map is the only way ahead."
Note well: Solana condemns "terrorist attacks," but does not name its perpetrators. He says "violence must stop," without addressing the source of this particular violence. He offers sympathy for Israeli victims and authorities, then prescribes the road map as "the only way ahead." But the road map has not saved a single Israeli life. The security fence has saved dozens of lives, perhaps hundreds. What kind of sympathy is it that would deny victims the means to defend themselves? This is more than a rhetorical question. Solana, no doubt, would answer that he approves of all means provided they are "legitimate." But we search our minds in vain for "legitimate" means to stop terrorism that are also effective. In his recently published memoir, former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami relates a conversation he had with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in late October 2000, after the outbreak of hostilities.
"I asked in a harsh tone, for the first time since our talks began, to cease to give us advice and to try to enter into Israel's skin. 'Please ask your country's military experts, what can be done in such a situation? Send your military attache in Tel Aviv to join the OC Central Command; maybe he will have a proposal about which we did not know,' I said. 'What do you want us to do? Should we evacuate the residents of Jerusalem's outlying neighborhoods and send them northwards, so that we will not have to respond to Palestinian shooting?'"
Ben-Ami does not relate Fischer's response. We wonder if he had one. For the plain fact is that Europe's idea of friendship comes down to offering Israel simplistic platitudes about the advantages of cooperation over conflict (as if this had not occurred to us), not practical advice about how a democracy at war ought to operate.
There is something profoundly amiss about a species of condolence that offers itself in lieu of the kind of help that might have made the condolence unnecessary in the first place. We are perfectly aware that, ultimately, the "solution" is peace. The question is, will the European Union allow us to defend ourselves in the meantime? Or in defending ourselves, do we put the ultimate peace further out of reach? The fact that this is presented as a "choice" demonstrates how false it really is.
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2. DISENGAGING FROM ILLUSIONS
By Yossi Klein Halevi - Jerusalem Post - September 2, 2004
Is the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza a reward for terrorism? Is the very talk of withdrawal encouraging terrorism, as several right-wing Knesset members insisted after the terrorist atrocity this week in Beersheba?
Astonishingly, Israeli society has yet to hold an intelligent debate over Ariel Sharon's Gaza plan. Instead, we have the cynical taunts of the settlers and their supporters, who assume that Sharon has become a defeatist, and the inarticulate responses of Sharon's supporters, who assume that the arguments in favor of withdrawal are so self-evident that they barely require defense.
In large measure, the poverty of our debate over withdrawal is the fault of Sharon himself. A disastrous communicator, Sharon hasn't offered a single compelling speech - or, for that matter, a single memorable argument - in defense of the trauma we are about to inflict on ourselves.
The arguments of opponents need to be treated seriously by those of us who support unilateral withdrawal. We need to admit that the opponents have a point: The projected scenes of Palestinian celebrations on the ruins of Gaza settlements could very well encourage terrorism, at least in the short term.
And what do we do when the missiles start falling on Ashkelon? What will we have gained by destroying thriving communities, dividing Israeli society, and embittering some of our most idealistic citizens? The most obvious answer as to what we will gain is what we will lose: We will be freeing ourselves from more than a million Palestinians.
For Sharon's opponents, though, the demographic gain of withdrawal isn't obvious at all. The demographic argument, they insist, is bogus: Israel has no intention of granting citizenship to Palestinians, so they pose no demographic threat.
But what opponents fail to understand is that in the 21st century, Israel doesn't have the luxury of indefinitely maintaining the status quo - or of granting "autonomy" to Palestinians, a position once vehemently opposed by settlers.
Instead, we have the following choice: continue to keep the Palestinians in limbo and turn Israel into an international pariah, the target of a campaign to become a bi-national state. However isolated we are today, we haven't yet become a pariah, and the still-intact Israeli economy is proof of that. For some settlers, the notion of Israel as pariah is hardly disconcerting but, instead, confirms Jewish chosenness. Yet the vision of the biblical Balaam of "a nation that shall dwell alone" is the antithesis of Zionism, which intended to restore us not only to the Land of Israel but to the community of nations. For Zionists, Balaam's vision isn't a blessing but the curse he intended it to be.
The second counter-demographic argument settlers raise is that withdrawal from Gaza does nothing to address the demographic dangers posed by Arab Israelis. Yet it makes no sense to demographically destroy the Jewish state now because, in a generation, we may face a demographic crisis within the 1967 borders. There are ways of dealing with that future threat: For example, the Triangle, which contains Israel's most fundamentalist Muslim population and borders the West Bank, could be ceded to a Palestinian state. According to every poll I have seen, a majority of Israelis agree that we shouldn't remain indefinitely in Gaza. Sharon needs to hold a national referendum to decisively refute settlers' contention that "the nation is with Gush Katif" as the pro-Gaza slogan puts it.
Where Israelis are, legitimately, divided is over how and when to withdraw. If we withdraw under fire, we risk repeating the disastrous miscalculation of Israel's flight from southern Lebanon, which directly encouraged the present terror war.
But this time we are not fleeing from victorious terror. Despite the Beersheba attack, the army and security services have been remarkably successful in deterring the terrorists. The time to unilaterally withdraw is precisely when we have managed to control terror. If terrorism returns to the level we endured before Operation Defensive Shield, the timing of the withdrawal would have to be reconsidered. So far, though, that is not the case.
Unilateral withdrawal holds one clear gain for Arafat and Hamas leaders: the chance to prove to their own demoralized people that terror works. But it also holds one potentially devastating disadvantage: If Gaza implodes after Israeli withdrawal, the Palestinian national movement could self-destruct.
Nor are the Palestinians oblivious to the political gains Israel may achieve from withdrawal. The very promise of withdrawal has already won Israel a historic American concession: The recent administration decision to accept Israel's building in settlement blocs - the first time since 1967 that America has endorsed Israel's right to build over the Green Line - is a direct result of Sharon's withdrawal initiative.
And if missiles start falling on Ashkelon and we need to return to Gaza? Then we will hit back - state against state, rather than occupying army against an occupied people. Optimally, we will reach a similar balance of terror with Gaza that we've achieved, at least for now, in the north with Hizbullah, whose missiles can reportedly reach Tel Aviv.
And as for the argument that Sharon's plan is responsible for the murders in Beersheba - spare us the demagoguery. Don't expect us to believe that Hamas is blowing up buses now, as opposed to blowing up buses, say, in 1996 or 2003, because Sharon has decided to withdraw from Gaza.
Politically, this isn't the 1990s. Sharon isn't Rabin or Peres, who would use terror attacks as justification for redoubling negotiations. Nor is Sharon promising peace in our time. We are withdrawing not to further peace negotiations, but because there is no peace to be negotiated. This isn't a withdrawal of illusions but a withdrawal from illusions - the illusions of Greater Israel and of Peace Now.
We need to articulate our positions without patronizing or contempt. That is the least we owe each other as fellow Israelis who will pay the price for whatever policy prevails.
The writer is the Israel correspondent for the New Republic and an associate fellow at the Shalem Center.
3. LOOK WHO WANTS BUSH TO LOSE
By Michael Freund - Jerusalem Post - August 31, 2004
The excitement is palpable. You can almost feel it in the air. The dictators of the Arab world just can't wait for George W. Bush to lose the US presidential election in November.
Gripped with fear as they watch Bush's democratic experiment in Iraq take shape, the tyrants and despots of the Middle East are pinning their hopes on Democratic challenger John Kerry to prevail.
After all, the last thing they want to see is a second-term Bush determined to reform the region, a development that would threaten their grip on power and stymie their efforts to obtain more lethal types of weaponry.
And so the rhetoric in the Arab world is heating up, pointing to a real desire to see the US president go down in defeat.
Take, for example, a recent article in the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly (August 12-18 issue) by Cairo University's Prof. Hassan Nafaa. Bush, he wrote, is a "wild eyed zealot" and an "evil fanatic" whose "departure from the Oval Office will mark the beginning of the decline of the forces of extremism and the rise of the forces of moderation."
A Kerry victory, Prof. Nafaa says, barely containing his glee, would mean that "US foreign policy will undergo a major shift that will ultimately impact positively on Washington's approach to the affairs of the Middle East."
In other words, a Kerry administration would be far more compliant as far as the Arabs are concerned.
An August 4 editorial in the Syria Times expressed a similar sentiment, urging Arab-Americans not to make "the very mistake they made in the past when they gave their votes to Bush the Junior" in the 2000 presidential election. Instead, suggested the government-run paper, a vote for Kerry this time would prove to be "a wise one."
Judging by their leadership, the Palestinians seem to feel the same way, with Yasser Arafat said to be among those who is rooting for a Democratic victory.
"Arafat is waiting for November in the hope that George Bush will lose the election to John Kerry," Israel's military intelligence chief Maj.Gen. Aharon Ze'evi Farkash told a cabinet meeting just over a month ago.
Following Arafat's lead, the official Palestinian media has made no effort to hide where its sympathies lie. On July 27, the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, for example, ran a political cartoon depicting an American soldier bleeding to death in Iraq, his final words being, "Don't Vote Bush."
And then, of course, there is Iran. The mullahs, whom Bush famously labeled part of the "Axis of Evil" in his January 2002 State of the Union Address, are also panting at the prospect of a Republican defeat.
Just last week, on a visit to New Zealand, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said that the US government was "looking for excuses" to act against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
A June 17 article in the English-language Tehran Times entitled "Pity the Next US President" was even more critical, comparing Bush and his neo-conservative advisers to "neo-Nazis" who have created a "stinking heap of a mess" throughout the world. "Kerry," the paper asserts, "is exactly what the US needs right now."
That the prospect of a Kerry presidency is evoking so much enthusiasm in the terror capitals of Damascus, Ramallah and Teheran is reason enough for Americans, and especially American Jews, to think twice before supporting the Democratic candidate.
Why, after all, would Arafat, Bashar Assad and the ayatollahs want to see Kerry elected if they didn't have good reason to believe he would go soft on terror?
To be fair, Kerry has sought to dispel this image, taking a slap at the Saudi royal family in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last month and subsequently criticizing President Bush for not imposing tougher sanctions on the Syrian regime.
But these statements did little to dispel the notion throughout the Arab world that Kerry is "their man." As Martin Sieff, United Press International's senior news analyst, recently pointed out, no one in the Arab world "really thinks Bush will change: And that is why so many old or former friends of the United States in the Arab world are praying for his defeat."
Nonetheless, it seems, a majority of American Jews continue to lean toward Kerry, as a recent poll by the National Jewish Democratic Council is said to have found. According to the survey, an astonishing 75 percent of US Jews back the Massachusetts Senator, while just 22 percent support Bush.
With the election just two months away, now would be a good time for America, and particularly its Jews, to start thinking long and hard about the choice they face in November.
Because if the ayatollahs are banking on Kerry to win, that certainly cannot be the right way to go.
The writer served as deputy director of Communications & Policy Planning in the prime minister's office under Binyamin Netanyahu.
"Faith to Faith - Face to Face" Christian Video Conferencing
4. THE AIPAC KERFUFFLE
Spy. Israel. Pentagon. AIPAC. Pollard. Iraq. Iran. Mix these words together and you have quite a story on the weekend before the Republican convention in a hotly contested election campaign. The question is whether the smell that is in the air is that of a spy scandal or of a Washington political and policy war run amok.
On Friday, anonymous FBI officials leaked aspects of an ongoing investigation of Larry Franklin, a mid-level Pentagon official specializing in Iran. Franklin reportedly shared a draft memo on Iran policy with staff from AIPAC, an organization that lobbies to strengthen the already close relations between America and Israel. Those staffers reportedly "may" have passed that information on to Israel.
We are told that the FBI has been investigating Franklin for a year, giving the impression of heft to the story. But as our news pages reveal today, the two AIPAC staffers who are the supposed conduits for Franklin's information have not even been interviewed by the FBI. It can further be assumed that no Israelis have been interviewed either, making one wonder how much substance is behind both the Franklin-AIPAC link and the assumption that the information went further. Finally, the story itself has been watered down in many quarters from handing over classified information to "mishandling documents."
We, of course, do not know whether Franklin did inappropriately release classified information. American authorities have every right to find out, and if he did, to punish him accordingly.
We do know that Israel and the United States, as two countries on the front line in the struggle against militant Islamism should, routinely and officially share intelligence of the most sensitive nature. We do know that the idea of painting routine exchanges of information between Israel and the United States as sinister, or tinged with espionage, is itself sinister.
Let us not, as the media, be naive. There are two parallel and bitter struggles raging in Washington, now reaching a crescendo. One is between Democrats and Republicans over control of the White House. A spy scandal at this time obviously harms the incumbent's chances of getting his message out in the main week set aside for doing so, the week of the Republican convention.
At the same time, there is an equally passionate and closely related struggle within the Bush Administration and outside over the president's post-9/11 foreign policy. Was ousting Saddam Hussein a critical centerpiece of the wider war or a festering mistake? Should Iran's nuclear weapons program be stopped and if so how? These debates have swirled around a handful of officials, all of whom are "pro-Israel" and some of whom are Jews.
It should not be surprising that the greatest overhaul in American foreign policy thinking since Harry Truman introduced containment after World War II would meet with resistance. There is ample room for debate over how aggressively and by what means the new doctrine of preemption and the new focus against state support for terrorism and for democratization should be implemented. But rather than fight these issues on the merits, the other side has at times stooped to conspiracy theories that are, let's face it – anti-Semitic.
There may be substance behind the current scandal. Yet even in the most incriminating scenario, it is hard to imagine that the information released about US policy was that far removed from what appears in a serious newspaper. The more likely scenario is, as Newsweek quotes knowledgeable officials, "the political damage to Bush and the Pentagon may prove to be more serious than the damage to national security."
Actually, this scandal does threaten US national security in a different way: by emboldening those who believe that the entire post-9/11 American paradigm is a Jewish conspiracy imposed on the president, and who relish the prospect of a chill in the US-Israeli relationship.
AIPAC ends its statement on the current controversy thus: "We will not let any innuendo or false allegation distract us from our central mission – supporting America's interests in the Middle East and advocating for a strong relationship with Israel."
Well said. Come what may, American and Israeli security demands that we not succumb to those who view our alliance as a conspiracy and our shared democratic cause as a threat.
5. QUOTES AND QUICK NOTES
"They went into the soft belly of Israel where the fence has not been erected. The ultimate truth for the necessity of the fence was given today: Wherever there's no fence, it's easy to penetrate into Israel."
--Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, commenting on the necessity of the security barrier.
6. HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES
Schools of Darkness So thanks to German and American foreign aid, Palestinian children learn that Beersheba is a town to be liberated by killing Israelis.


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Pacific Torpedo Ray: Tetronarce californica
Family: Torpedinidae
Pacific Torpedo Ray, California Torpedo Ray.
A very large torpedo ray with a broad sub-circular disc. Snout straight across or weakly convex. Pectoral fin apices broadly rounded. Eyes small; smaller than spiracles. Spiracles sub-oval without papillae or raised margins. Mouth strongly arched. Nostrils large and round.
Pelvic fins very wide, margins broadly rounded. Tail short and broad based. Dorsal fins tall with broadly rounded apices and posterior margins. First dorsal insertion level with pelvic fin insertion. Caudal fin sub-triangular and large, with tall dorsal and ventral lobes, apices narrowly rounded, posterior margin convex.
Dorsum and fins bluish grey to greyish brown, with scattered small black flecks. Ventrum white.
Maximum length 137cm. Size at birth unknown.
Temperate seas. Benthic on soft bottoms, and rocky reefs, sometimes within kelp forests, and on continental shelf. From 5-275m.
Eastern and northwestern Pacific. In the eastern Pacific from Baja California to Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. Possibly also off Japan.
The Pacific Electric Ray (Torpedo californica) is targeted for its electric organs by the biomedical industry in very low numbers, and is also bycatch in commercial fisheries. While the population trend for this particular species is unknown, landings data suggest that it is rarely encountered in commercial fisheries in north and central California, and recreational catch is limited. Little is known about this species biology and ecology, but it is estimated to have a generation time of 12.5 years. Given that landings of skates and rays are stable where data are available, and that this species appears to be relatively uncommon in reported landings, Pacific Torpedo is assessed as Least Concern throughout its range.
Neer, J.A., Freedman, R.M., Lowe, C.G & Jang, J.J. 2015. Tetronarce californica. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T39396A80672988. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T39396A80672988.en. Downloaded on 04 June 2021.
Aplacental viviparous. Litter size up to 17.
Diet consists exclusively of small fishes.
The Pacific torpedo ray immobilizes prey by stunning them while buried under sand. It also hunts fishes in open water.
Moves inshore during the summer months.
Easy to approach. Even when encountered while free swimming, the Pacific torpedo ray is quite nonchalant when in close proximity to divers and may even bump into them.
Although rarely encountered throughout much of its range, the Pacific torpedo ray is quite common around Catalina Island in Southern California. Animals are occasionally spotted at dive sites such as the shore dive at Casino Point right in Avalon, but the best spot to see this species is at Farnsworth Bank on the west side of the island. Unless you have your own boat, this is a difficult spot to reach because the weather has to be perfect to dive there so Catalina dive companies seldom go.
Pacific Torpedo Ray 001
Pacific Torpedo Ray, Tetronarce californica , Aka Pacific electric ray, Farnsworth Bank, Catalina Island, Eastern Pacific.
No other torpedo rays share the same range as the Pacific torpedo ray.


The Leary Firefighters Foundation recently awarded equipment grants to six fire departments in Massachusetts and New York. The departments included Auburn, NY, and in Massachusetts the departments of Douglas, Eastham, Methuen, Springfield, and Worcester.
The grants ranged from equipment for rescue divers in Auburn, to an automated CPR machine in Douglas, an all-terrain vehicle in Eastham, voice annunciators for SCBA marks in Methuen, and thermal imaging cameras in both Springfield and Worcester. The Foundation was thrilled to be able to provide this much needed equipment to these departments.


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TGFBR3 Bos taurus
TGFBR3 Canis lupus familiaris
tgfbr3 Danio rerio
TGFBR3 Gallus gallus
TGFBR3 Homo sapiens
TGFBR3 Macaca mulatta
Tgfbr3 Mus musculus
TGFBR3 Pan troglodytes
tgfbr3 Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis
Disease relevance of Tgfbr3
High impact information on Tgfbr3
Biological context of Tgfbr3
Anatomical context of Tgfbr3
Associations of Tgfbr3 with chemical compounds
Other interactions of Tgfbr3
Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Tgfbr3
Tgfbr3 - transforming growth factor, beta receptor III
Synonyms: Betaglycan, TGF-beta receptor type 3, TGF-beta receptor type III, TGFR-3, Transforming growth factor beta receptor III, ...
Omori, Y. et al., Weiner, O.H. et al., Centrella, M. et al., MacConell, L.A. et al., Letamendía, A. et al., et al.
Sawaguchi, Majima, Iwasaki, Funakoshi, Shimode, Onodera, Minami,
During the transformation of fat-storing cells into myofibroblasts (the key process in the development of liver cirrhosis), the levels of mRNA for syndecan-1, -3, and -4 remain constant, whereas the amount of syndecan-2 mRNA increases and that for betaglycan decreases [1].
In contrast, BMP-2 rapidly reduces TGF-beta binding to betaglycan and type II receptors in osteoblast-enriched primary cell cultures and increases its relative binding to type I receptors in these cells and in ROS 17/2.8 cultures [2].
These findings suggest a role for endoglin in TGF-beta responses distinct from that of betaglycan [3].
It shares with betaglycan a limited amino acid sequence homology and being components of the membrane transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) receptor complex [3].
More importantly, introducing tryptophan next to three different Ser-Gly dipeptides in betaglycan and syndecan-1 chimeras stimulated assembly of heparan sulfate [4].
Furthermore, betaglycan mRNA was induced additively by estradiol, which was blocked by estrogen receptor antagonists [ICI 182780, (R, R)-cis-diethyltetrahydro-2,8-chrysenediol] [5].
In general, betaglycan immunoreactivity was present in the anterior pituitary at all estrous cycle time points, but was confined to the membrane of gonadotropes just before and after the primary and secondary FSH surges [6].
In ovarian regulatory function, the expression of betaglycan may involve the functional antagonism of inhibin A in activin signal transduction [5].
The increase of betaglycan mRNA was due to an increase in transcription and altered mRNA stability [5].
Betaglycan was reported by our laboratory to serve as an inhibin binding protein and to facilitate the antagonism of activin signaling [7].
Expression of betaglycan and type II receptors decline relative to type I receptor expression in parallel with an increase in osteoblast-like activity, predicting that the ratio among various TGF-beta binding sites could influence how its signals are perceived [2].
The present study was undertaken to identify the expression and the regulation of the betaglycan gene in cultured rat granulosa cells [5].
In the gonads, betaglycan mRNA was localized in cellular compartments, coinciding with its protein for the most part [7].
In the testes, betaglycan mRNA was observed in the Leydig and tubule-specific germ cells [7].
In the brain, betaglycan mRNA is localized in discrete regions of the forebrain and brain stem, including olfactory, septal, and hypothalamic nuclei [7].
Isolated lipocytes were maintained in a quiescent state by culturing the cells in suspension, where they displayed minimal specific binding for TGF-beta 1 and only a small amount of type III (betaglycan) receptor by affinity labeling [8].
Effect of follicle-stimulating hormone and estrogen on the expression of betaglycan messenger ribonucleic acid levels in cultured rat granulosa cells [5].
In summary, FSH and estradiol increased betaglycan mRNA expression, most possibly through the protein kinase A pathway and the estrogen receptor-beta [5].
To understand better the expression and distribution of cell-surface proteoglycans in the periodontal tissues, an immunohistochemical evaluation of the normal Lewis rat molar periodontium using panels of antibodies for syndecan-1, -2, -4, glypican and betaglycan was carried out [9].
This study investigated the regulation by the ECM of the expression of cell-surface proteoglycans (CD44, syndecan-1-4, betaglycan, glypican-1) [10].
Role of endoglin in cellular responses to transforming growth factor-beta. A comparative study with betaglycan [3].
TbetaRIII (or betaglycan) has been reported in serum, cell culture medium and extracellular matrix [11].
Northern blot analysis indicated betaglycan mRNA transcript of approximately 6.4 kbp [5].
Gene expression of syndecans and betaglycan in isolated rat liver cells. Weiner, O.H., Zoremba, M., Gressner, A.M. Cell Tissue Res. (1996) [Pubmed]
Independent changes in type I and type II receptors for transforming growth factor beta induced by bone morphogenetic protein 2 parallel expression of the osteoblast phenotype. Centrella, M., Casinghino, S., Kim, J., Pham, T., Rosen, V., Wozney, J., McCarthy, T.L. Mol. Cell. Biol. (1995) [Pubmed]
Role of endoglin in cellular responses to transforming growth factor-beta. A comparative study with betaglycan. Letamendía, A., Lastres, P., Botella, L.M., Raab, U., Langa, C., Velasco, B., Attisano, L., Bernabeu, C. J. Biol. Chem. (1998) [Pubmed]
Amino acid determinants that drive heparan sulfate assembly in a proteoglycan. Zhang, L., Esko, J.D. J. Biol. Chem. (1994) [Pubmed]
Effect of follicle-stimulating hormone and estrogen on the expression of betaglycan messenger ribonucleic acid levels in cultured rat granulosa cells. Omori, Y., Nakamura, K., Yamashita, S., Matsuda, H., Mizutani, T., Miyamoto, K., Minegishi, T. Endocrinology (2005) [Pubmed]
Betaglycan localization in the female rat pituitary: implications for the regulation of follicle-stimulating hormone by inhibin. Chapman, S.C., Woodruff, T.K. Endocrinology (2003) [Pubmed]
The distribution of betaglycan protein and mRNA in rat brain, pituitary, and gonads: implications for a role for betaglycan in inhibin-mediated reproductive functions. MacConell, L.A., Leal, A.M., Vale, W.W. Endocrinology (2002) [Pubmed]
Modulation of transforming growth factor beta receptors of rat lipocytes during the hepatic wound healing response. Enhanced binding and reduced gene expression accompany cellular activation in culture and in vivo. Friedman, S.L., Yamasaki, G., Wong, L. J. Biol. Chem. (1994) [Pubmed]
Expression and distribution of cell-surface proteoglycans in the normal Lewis rat molar periodontium. Worapamorn, W., Li, H., Pujic, Z., Xiao, Y., Young, W.G., Bartold, P.M. J. Periodont. Res. (2000) [Pubmed]
Extracellular matrix modulates expression of cell-surface proteoglycan genes in fibroblasts. Sawaguchi, N., Majima, T., Iwasaki, N., Funakoshi, T., Shimode, K., Onodera, T., Minami, A. Connect. Tissue Res. (2006) [Pubmed]
Identification of soluble transforming growth factor-beta receptor III (sTbetaIII) in rat milk. Zhang, M., Zola, H., Read, L., Penttila, I. Immunol. Cell Biol. (2001) [Pubmed]


In 2015 Standard Pacific Homes submitted an application to the City for the residential development of Westridge Golf Course. The golf course property is privately owned and the ownership has a contract with a company to operate the facility. The golf course property is not publicly operated or controlled.
In 2016 Standard Pacific merged with Ryland Homes and became Cal-Atlantic. Under Cal-Atlantic, the preparation of the Draft Environmental document began. The Draft EIR is a product of the City and was prepared by an independent consultant hired by the City but funded by Cal-Atlantic. The DEIR is privately funded by the developer because they are proposing the project for consideration and not a City initiated process that would justify expending tax payer dollars.
In 2017 Lennar acquired Cal-Atlantic. The Draft EIR was released for public comment beginning on February 26, 2018 for 45 days. Based on feedback from the community the City Council extended the public comment period for an additional 30-days. The public comment period closed on May 11, 2018.
Currently the City is reviewing all of the public comments and over the next several months will be preparing response to comments.
The project site is the Westridge Golf Club, which is adjacent to Beach Boulevard and adjacent to the existing Westridge Plaza shopping center. The Westridge Golf Club was developed along with the Westridge residential community to the south pursuant to the adopted La Habra Hills Specific Plan. The currently proposed Rancho La Habra Specific Plan proposes to remove the 151-acre project site from the La Habra Hills Specific Plan and develop the existing golf course with 402 residential dwelling units, including 277 single-family homes and 125 multi-family residences, along with either 20,000 square feet of commercial development (e.g., specialty grocery, restaurant, or general retail uses) or an additional 46 multi-family dwelling units. Also proposed are open space areas that would include public parks and private recreational areas, a community center, small amphitheater, habitat conservation areas, passive recreational uses including trails, wildlife viewing, picnic areas and tot lots on the approximately 151-acre site.
• General Plan Amendment 18-01 • Change of Zone 18-01 • The Rancho La Habra Specific Plan • Amendment # 3 to the La Habra Hills Specific Plan • Vesting Tentative Tract Map 17845 • Development Agreement 18-01 with the City of La Habra • Design Review 18-01 thru 18-05 for Planning Areas 1-4 and 6. • Conditional Use Permits 18-01 thru 18-03 for Model Home Complexes within Planning Areas 1, 2, & 4 • Establishment of a Community Facilities District.
In addition, the applicant is requesting the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to release and relocate existing deed restrictions established on the project site. These deed restrictions were established as mitigation for impacts related to previous construction of the existing golf course and adjacent residential areas to the south pursuant to the La Habra Hills Specific Plan. Release and relocation of these deed restrictions would be required in order for development of the proposed project to proceed.
• Population and Housing Impact POP-1: Implementation of the proposed Rancho La Habra Specific Plan would generate population growth as the direct result of the housing proposed by the Specific Plan. While the proposed project would not necessarily increase the growth rate that the City has through 2040, it would substantially increase La Habra's inventory of land for the development of housing, and therefore result in substantial population growth at buildout of the City. Such population growth would exceed the growth projections used for preparation of the current regional Air Quality Management Plan, would therefore be inconsistent with the plan, and a significant impact would result. This increased population growth would also result in significant and unavoidable physical environmental effects in relation to aesthetics and visual resources, traffic and circulation, and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Aesthetics Impact AES-3: Implementation of the proposed Rancho La Habra Specific Plan would result in the loss of a major open space resource. While the proposed project would be well planned and designed, the substantial loss of open space that would result from the proposed development would degrade the existing visual character of the site.
• Traffic and Circulation TRA-1: With respect to the mitigation at intersections and along roadways under the jurisdiction of the cities of Fullerton, Buena Park, La Mirada, and Caltrans, under CEQA, a fair share monetary contribution is considered to be adequate mitigation only if the fee is tied to a reasonable plan that the relevant agency is committed to implementing. However, these cities and Caltrans do not have a mitigation fund program in place for improvements to which the proposed project would contribute sufficient traffic to constitute significant impacts. Therefore, because the City of La Habra has no authority to implement the recommended traffic improvements, impacts remain significant and unavoidable.
• Air Quality Impact AQ-1: Although the proposed project would not result in an increase in the frequency or severity of existing air quality violations or cause or contribute to new violations, proposed housing and population growth would be inconsistent with the Air Quality Management Plan for the South Coast Air Basin.
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impact GHG-1: Implementation of the proposed Rancho La Habra Specific Plan would result in a net increase in GHG emissions of 6,037.55 MTCO2e per year, which would exceed the SCAQMD's screening threshold of 3,000 MTCO2e per year.
Q: Has the City approved the redevelopment on the Westridge golf course?
A: No. The City has received development applications from Lennar Homes (formerly CalAtlantic) for a proposal to redevelop the Westridge golf course property with 402 residential dwelling units, including 277 single-family homes and 125 multi-family residences, along with either 20,000 square feet of commercial development (e.g., specialty grocery, restaurant, or general retail uses) or an additional 46 multi-family dwelling units. Also proposed are open space areas that would include public parks and private recreational areas, a community center, small amphitheater, habitat conservation areas, passive recreational uses including trails, wildlife viewing, picnic areas and tot lots on the approximately 151-acre site.
A Draft Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIR) has been prepared for the project and the public comment period closed on May 11, 2018. The Planning Commission and City Council have not considered the project at a public hearing yet and thus, no decision has been made regarding the proposal.
Q. Who initiated the proposal to remove the golf course?
A: The proposed project was submitted to the City by homebuilder Standard Pacific. After the applications were submitted, Standard Pacific merged with another firm from the east coast and became CalAtlantic. CalAtlantic recently was acquired by Lennar Homes, is the current applicant.
Q: Did the City request Standard Pacific to submit a project proposal?
Q: When was the project proposal submitted to the City?
A: A conceptual "bubble plan" was first presented to the then-Director of Community Development, Michael Haack in early 2013. Formal project applications were first submitted in October of 2015.
Q: Who prepared the Draft EIR and its technical studies, and who paid for them?
A: The current Draft EIR was prepared by independent and experienced environmental consultants (Metis Environmental Group) chosen by the City. The technical studies have been prepared by various consultants, some chosen directly by the City and others hired by the project applicant whose work is then peer-reviewed by the City. The project applicant is required to pay for all costs for the preparation of the Draft EIR so that public funds are not spent on the preparation of the document.
Q: Does the Draft EIR make a recommendation on the project?
A: No. An EIR evaluates the environmental impacts of the project, discusses how the project might change the existing environment, how impacts might be avoided or mitigated, and presents alternatives to the project. An EIR is not a policy document and does not address whether the project is a good idea or a bad idea.
Q: Has the City staff made a recommendation on the proposed project?
A: No. The staff is still in the process of reviewing the plans, documents, and environment impacts.
Q: Is the City Council required to approve the Westridge project?
A: No. The proposed project approvals are at the discretion of the City Council.
Q: What happens to the Golf Course if the City Council does not approve the Westridge project?
A: The General Plan designation will remain Open Space. The Golf Course is privately owned property and the City does not control what happens to the ownership of the property.
Q: What are the next step in the process?
A: Since the public comment period on the Draft EIR ended on May 11, 2018, City staff and the City's environment consultant are reviewing the comments received on the Draft EIR and will prepare written responses to all the comments that were received. The Draft EIR, along with any revisions to the Draft EIR, the comments received, and the written responses to those comments, will form the Final EIR. Ultimately, the Final EIR will be presented to the Planning Commission at a Public Hearing. The Commission will review the documents, project plans, comments and public testimony and will formulate a recommendation to the City Council, which will also hold a Public Hearing.
Q: Who can I talk to if I want to give my opinions on the proposed development at Westridge?
A: You may submit comments you have regarding the project to the City's Director of Community Development Andrew Ho at andrewh@lahabraca.org.
On Thursday, March 22, 2018 a public CEQA Workshop was held at the La Habra Community Center, Grand Ball Room at 101 West La Habra Boulevard, La Habra, CA 90631.
The workshop was provided as an overview of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Rancho La Habra Specific Plan.
On February 26, 2018, the City released the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) (State Clearinghouse No. 2015111045) for the proposed Rancho La Habra Specific Plan project to replace the Westridge Golf Course. The EIR was completed in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines and reflects the independent judgement of the City.
The purpose of the workshop was to assist the public in understanding the layout and format of the EIR, to aid in the review of the document, and to explain how anyone can provide formal written comments on the Draft EIR.
The law provides for a 45-day public comment period. The review period runs from February 26, 2018 through April 11, 2018. Please note: the comment period ended on May 11, 2018.
Please Note: The workshop was held to encourage community participation in the planning process and was not a legally noticed public hearing pursuant to Section 54954 of the California Government Code. No public testimony either in favor or in opposition to the Rancho La Habra Specific Plan was taken into consideration and a decision was not made regarding the project or the EIR.


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About Rice University's Baker Institute
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Honorary Chair: James A. Baker, III
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The past several decades have been characterized by episodes affecting financial markets and energy markets that have resulted in dramatic change. These events have created challenges for energy companies as the investment climate evolves. The conference "Energy Market Globalization: Investment and Commodity Price Cycles and the Role of Geopolitics" is the capstone for a study on the interaction of the oil investment cycle and the general business cycle that includes consideration of how the global economy and capital investments are influenced by oil prices. We will be discussing recently completed research on geopolitical and structural drivers of oil price, relationships between commodity prices and macroeconomic indicators, and outlooks for oil supply and demand. The conference will feature top energy and financial industry leaders, policymakers and industry commentators.
8:30 am Registration and Coffee
9:00 am Welcome and Study Design
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Baker Institute
9:15 am Keynote Address -- "Crisis and Reconstruction in a World of Diffused Economic Power"
Edgard H. Habib, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Chevron Corporation
10:00 am "Emerging Relationships Between Commodities and Currencies"
Daniel P. Ahn, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar, International Monetary Fund
10:45 am Coffee Break
11:15 am "A Structural Approach to Understanding Oil Prices"
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Baker Institute Noon Lunch
1:00 pm "Geopolitical Developments in the Middle East"
Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, Founding Director, Baker Institute
1:45 pm "Supply, Demand and Oil Price Cycles: The Medium-term View"
Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Statistics, and Chair of Islamic Economics, Finance and Management, Rice University
2:30 pm Coffee Break
3:00 pm Discussion: Geopolitical Interactions and Market Impacts
Moderator: Michael Levi, Ph.D., David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director, Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations
"The Oil Price Cycle and Geopolitics: Dire Implications for OPEC?"
Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director for Energy and Sustainability, University of California, Davis
"U.S. Energy Policy and the Impacts on Energy Markets"
Charles D. McConnell, Former Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
"Asia Energy Security and Post-Peak Oil Geopolitics"
Greg Priddy, Director, Global Energy and Natural Resources, Eurasia Group
4:30 pm Closing Remarks
To view the entire conference, please click below:
Video 1: Emerging Relationships Between Commodities and Currencies
Video 2: A Structural Approach to Understanding Oil Prices
Video 3: Geopolitical Developments in the Middle East
Video 4: Supply, Demand and Oil Price Cycles: The Medium-term View
Video 5: Discussion: Geopolitical Interactions and Market Impacts
Speaker Kenneth B. Medlock III
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Rice University's Baker Institute and the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies, as well as an adjunct professor and lecturer in the Department of Economics …
Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Rice University's Baker Institute and the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies, as well as an adjunct professor and lecturer in the Department of Economics at Rice University. He is a principal in the development of the Rice World Natural Gas Trade Model, aimed at assessing the future of international natural gas trade. He has published numerous scholarly articles in his primary areas of interest: natural gas markets, energy commodity price relationships, gasoline markets, transportation, national oil company behavior, economic development and energy demand, and energy use and the environment. He also teaches courses in energy economics and supervises Ph.D. students in the energy economics field.
Medlock is currently the vice president for academic affairs for the United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE). In 2001, he won (joint with Ron Soligo) the International Association for Energy Economics Award for Best Paper of the Year in the Energy Journal. In 2011, he was given the USAEE's Senior Fellow Award. He is also an active member of the American Economic Association and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and is an academic member of the National Petroleum Council (NPC). Medlock has served as an adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission in their respective energy modeling efforts. He was the lead modeler of the Modeling Subgroup of the 2003 NPC study of long-term natural gas markets in North America, and was a contributing author to the recent NPC study "North American Resource Development."
Medlock received his Ph.D. in economics from Rice in 2000, and held the MD Anderson Fellowship at the Baker Institute from 2000 to 2001.
Kenneth B. Medlock III
Ahn_Oil-Dollar_Comovements_and_Financialization_20130601.pdf
Medlock_-_Speculation_and_Oil_June_12_2013_.pdf
JaffesJuneBIPPfinal_June12.pdf
Priddy_June2013.pdf
El-Gamal-MedtermPrice-talk.pdf
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Sarah Ewer and Abi Roberts have been friends and worked together for many years.
Sarah has been a florist for over 25 years, coming from a design background. She completed formal training at Berkshire College of Horticulture but has always worked on big events and weddings. Starting work in Oxford, she then had a shop in West Kirby for 7 years, but quickly realised that working with flowers rather than on the accounts was much more fun. She closed her shop to concentrate on private events and weddings and her then young family. She now works closely with marquee companies transforming blank canvasses into floral fantasies. She has worked with many corporate clients including: Martell Cognac for the Grand National, Road Range and Mercedez Benz, Boodle and Dunthorne, International Cotton Association and Andrew Collinge to name a few.
Abi trained at Reasheath College in Nantwich Cheshire and decided to utilize her technical ability and knowledge of flowers and plants, to create outstanding original floral art. Beginning her career in Northwest England, Abi has worked in the industry both freelance and commercial for seventeen years, the last ten years in Oxfordshire. She has been successful in producing many large projects, examples of these are Salon Privee at Blenheim Palace, the Oxford Colleges and Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.
Sharing the same work ethic, style and passion for flowers they are reunited again!!


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There are dozens of valuable stones that are known in the world and among them are the gemstones. In astrology, there are many beliefs that are associated with the use of the gemstones. Currently, there are nine astrological gemstones and blue sapphire is one of them. The strongest of the nine astrological gemstones is the blue sapphire gem. More to that, it is known to be the fast-acting gemstone. The use of the blue sapphire gemstone may many people is necessitated by various reasons. The need to become wealth or get to solve the problems at hand are some of the reasons as to why many people use the blue sapphire gemstones. The use of the blue sapphire gem is also associated with numerous benefits. This article gives a brief discussion on some of the benefits attached to the use of blue sapphire gems.
As it was earlier mentioned, the blue sapphire gem is known to have fast acting abilities. By using or wearing the blue sapphire gemstone, you feel the impact instantly. One of the impact you may get from the blue sapphire is wealth. When you wear or use the blue sapphire gem in this case, you will blessed with instant affluence. Another instant impact by the blue sapphire is good luck. Luck in this case may be associated with you getting more opportunities that before. Through luck, you may also get a promotion. To feel the impact of the blue sapphire gem, you may wait for a day. However, there are individuals who will have to wait up to a month so that they can feel the impact.
Another benefit of using the blue sapphire gems is that you will increase the levels of your affluence. Your finances are in this case boosted. This gem blesses you with a variety of financial sources. It is, however, a requirement that you work hard to get such sources. Another benefit of using these gems is that you have a chance of gaining the capabilities necessary to carry out various spiritual practices. Such a spiritual practice may, for instance, include the austere spiritual practice. Using the blue sapphire gem will give you a chance of increasing the clarity of your mind. You also get a chance of clearing any kind of confusion that may prevail by using this gem. In this case, you will get the abilities to make correct decision.
Your also clear negativity when you use the blue sapphire. Through the blue sapphire, you eliminate any energy that may appear negative. This assist in releasing the brain from the emotional burden. It is also important to note the you can also release unknown fears anytime you wear or use the blue sapphire gems. However, not every horoscope will benefit from this. Another benefit of a blue sapphire gemstone is that it has abilities to protect.
Essential Attributes To Examine When Booking The Right House Cleaning Firm.
For professional house cleaning service, it's always good to invest in a reliable residential cleaning firm. Before you choose the best house cleaning firm, remember to shortlist the best five firms for comparison purposes.
Find out if the house cleaning firm is licensed and certified by the regional government for offering their activities. The benefit with certified house cleaning firms is they are genuine and will shield you against any form of exploitation.
Legitimate house cleaning firms should be booked also since they can be reached quickly and efficiently. For ease of contacting the best residential cleaning company, ask them to give you their phone numbers, email address and fax details.
Ask the residential cleaning firm for a list of workers that have booked their services so you can contact them and know if they are invaluable. A reputable and well-preserved house cleaning firm must be considered since they will do all the best to remain on top of others. Its always peculiar to know that the approved house cleaning firms will leave an indelible mark on their clients operations.
They should be trained fully on how to clean their client's house thoroughly. Ethical and highly valued house cleaning firms should be considered since they leave a perfect results. You also need to know the number of workers that will be in your house cleaning operations and if they will be professionally supervised.
Before you hire the house cleaning agency, always look for those with perfect timelines they follow for them to be fast and timely. Its immaculate to invest on a 24/7 working house cleaning agencies. Check if the house cleaning firm offers after service operations where they will accept to redo the task if one isn't content with the offered service.
Check also if they will offer proper apologies to their customers in cases of delays or anything that disrupts their normal operations. A transparent house cleaning firm will ensure all the agreements with their customers are well written down. Always deal with a highly invested house cleaning firm for they have all the best essential tools and utilities.
Before you deal with any house cleaning entity, it's good to know how they will charge you for their distinctive operations. Affordable house cleaning firms should rhyme well with ones budget.
Look for a long time serving house cleaning firm for they boast of the best exposure in service. They will use their insight and skills to make the operation timely and magnificent.
If you want to conduct trade in this present generation, one of the most essential is that you need to ensure that you focus on is having a perfect website, and this is the main reason why many people, having website. Of the main reasons why, websites are always known to be very important is because they can provide somebody with an opportunity to conduct trade online. For you to be able to keep up with competition in the business sector, you will realize that having a perfect website is very important. Majority of organizations that have invested in a good website design are known to be enjoying numerous benefits. Website gives you an opportunity or even a platform to interact with your clients and therefore, you will be able to know what they like about your products and how to improve your products. Involving yourself in digital marketing requires that you have a good website design. This is the main reason why you should always consider hiring the services of a professional web designing company to help you design a perfect website. This article is going to make you understand some of the major considerations that you should always make before you hire a good web designing company.
The only way you can be guaranteed that you will be able to get quality web designing services is when you consider determining the competence level of the specific web designing company you are planning to hire. This simply means that you have to ensure that you conduct a good background check on the specific web designing company to know whether they are indeed good at what they do. You need to ensure that you ask for samples from the specific web designing company in order for you to check on the quality of services the web designing company has done previously. Chances are that you may be looking forward to getting quality services and therefore, your confidence should be boosted by good services and by the web designing company in the past.
You cannot ignore the fact that some of the people who are close to you might have hired a good web designing company in the past and therefore, you need to ensure that you ask them for recommendations and referrals. There is a high likelihood that you will have to part with money when looking for the best web designing company your place of residence and therefore, you need to ensure that you focus on. Determining how much it will cost you to get the best. When you consider the factors, we have outlined in this article above, you can easily get a good web designing company.
The use of marijuana for the treatment of chronic pain is gaining a lot of familiarity in the current today. It is essential to be sure that you're getting the right medical attention when you seek medical marijuana treatment. Find out some of the essential elements to establish when choosing the best medical marijuana doctor in this article.
It is essential to establish the legality of the medical services that you're going to obtain from a particular doctor. You should only get medical services that are legal and certified. It is necessary that the medical doctor who you select is certified by the Society of Cannabis Clinicians which is in charge of ensuring that all the doctors who practice medical marijuana have what it takes to provide the required services. When you're sure of this, you can trust that the services you receive from the particular medical marijuana doctor are in accordance to what is in place regarding the provision of treatment based on cannabis products and you can expect to receive treatment without adverse effects.
You need to consider the level of experience that a particular medical marijuana doctor has in providing marijuana treatment services. It may be helpful to find out how long the particular doctor has operated as a medical marijuana doctor and how effective their services have been in dealing with people's challenges. When you find a doctor who has been adequately dealing with offering marijuana treatment solutions, you're likely also to get effective services as well. An experienced medical marijuana doctor will have all the information that is required to ensure that the offer solutions that are knowledge-based and effective at their work. The necessary equipment needed to deliver care for patients will also be present in a facility that has been in existence for quite a while.
It is vital for you to establish the level of customer service that you get when you choose the services of a specific medical marijuana doctor. You need to feel that you get compassionate and proper care when you visit a medical marijuana facility for treatment. The care will also entail the provision of customized medical services to ensure that your needs are met in the best way possible. You can also benefit from the provision of additional services such as information on different marijuana and CBD products that are available for your use. Such high levels of customer support will see to it that you are adequately satisfied with the services you receive from the facility.
In the field of radiology, new trends and technologies are popping up and it is essentials for you to consider garnering more and more knowledge through training. Therefore, you need to consider getting enrolled for the scrubs continuing educations programs that will enable you garner more and more knowledge about radiology or X-rays. Today, there number of people who are juggling on making the right decisions when it comes to these X-ray continuing education courses is on the rise but they tend to find the process of making the right decisions overwhelming. This article pinpoints some fundamental things to note about these radiology continuing education courses and as a result, you will manage to make the right and sober decisions.
There is need for you to first ensure to have knowledge about the course or the education programs available. There are so many facilities offering the training and it deems fit that you examine the one that you will enroll through soberly. As a matter of facts, you will benefit more where you settle for the right online program and the right trainers. Therefore, identify professionals who have enrolled through the education program before and have them avail their recommendations. As a result, it will be possible and easy for you to consolidate a list of courses and programs to get enrolled through with a lot of ease. The program that you settle for should always be high quality and cost effective.
Through the above search, you will manage to compile a list of multiple programs. Therefore, ensure to act diligently and scrutinize all the programs so as to choose the one that is best for you. Different programs have their different costs and you need to settle for the one that's is low cost. There is therefore need for you to examine your finances. The quality of the courses and the education program must be examined as well.
It is overly beneficial for you to settle for the best and the most indisputable radiology continuing education program. The training is prone to avail a lot of information and this information will help you sharpen your radiology knowledge and skills by all means possible. The versatility of these programs are beneficial as they allows you get to focus on other things as you study. This is a chance for you to even get enrolled and study from home.
There are requirements defined for a program to meet and this leads to approvals and there is need to examine whether the program you eye on settling for meets the threshold. The course should be approved by the ASRT. At the same time, it must meet all the requirements set by the ARRT CE. A program that meets the threshold will always avail the right certification.
Many people often tend to stick to one hair stylist for all their hair needs. There are many reasons that may prompt the need to find a new hair stylist. Moving to a new location or being dissatisfied by your current hair stylists are some of the reasons. Finding a new hair stylist may be a bit overwhelming. Finding the right one, however, will result in a long relationship. Finding the right hair stylist can't be stressed enough. With the right stylist, you will get your money's worth from the hairdo you get done. Your hairdo plays a vital role in your appearance. When you are finding a hair stylist there a few factors you should put into consideration. With these factors, you can rest assured that you are leaving your hair in the hands of professionals. Here are a few tips for choosing a hair stylist.
The internet has made it easier to find the services you may need. However, as much as the internet offers convenience when it comes to finding such services, there are still many options to choose from. This is where online reviews come in. Reviews help one filter through the many search results. Yow will be able to know the quality of services to anticipate for with online reviews. You will also find information about the work ethic of the hair stylist through reviews. A reputable hair stylist should have a social media page. You can visit their social media pages to see the kind of work they do.
It is important to put the location into consideration when choosing a hair stylist. The hair stylist you choose should be located close to your workplace or home. This is important especially if you are planning to have a long relationship with your stylist. The last thing you want is to have additional transport cost on top of the charge for the service. Making an appointment with a hair stylist located far away. You will achieve convenience by choosing a hair stylist that is located near you. When choosing a hair stylist, the frequency of your planned visits should be considered. If you are planning to visit only once there is not much to be considered.
You should consider the cost of the services. Before deciding on a hair stylist, you should know their pricing system. Ensure that you hire a hair stylist that is within your budget. The quality of products a hair stylist uses is not spoken much of if their cost is low. It is important to not be inconsistent when it comes to choosing a hair stylist. You can expect great results with every visit as your hair stylist will learn more about your hair.
As an owner of any building, you will always wish to make it the best in terms of the primary duties which you perform in it. You should understand that the outlook of your building should carry much weight in your considerations since this will make it look attractive. You should understand that going to the painting firms will be the best option which you have. Besides helping in the beauty of your place, you should know that the paint will assist in offering extra protection to the surfaces. There are painting service providers who major in providing services to the residential homes while others will go for the commercial buildings.
When looking for any painting service, it will be imperative to know that the success which you will have in one way or the other depends on the strategy which you will use when making a selection. By reading this article, you will come to see that the search for the perfect painting companies will be easy as there will be well-elaborated strategies which you can follow. Begin by going for the painting services which will be affordable for you. Make a point of doing an evaluation on the different painting firms which are present before you decide on which one to go for.
The main benefit of the contrast and comparison between the different firms is that you will find it effortless to identify the service which will suit you in the best way possible. It will be better for you as a person to ensure that you will give emphasis to the cost but still not underestimate the aspect of quality. The other thing which you ought to look at is whether the painting service providers who you are targeting have the accreditation from the government bodies. Make your confirmation on the accreditation of a painting agency simple by ensuring that you will verify the documents which they have.
Aim at going for the painting service providers who are having a good public name. Understand that the public will only speak highly of a company which has the ability to give them satisfaction. It will be a good thing for you to read the testimonials which past clients give after receiving a particular service since this will act as a lead to the perfect service.
Lastly, choose the painting service providers who are experienced. You should take time to conduct research work on the firm which you are about to receive the painting services from as this will help you learn of the extent of the length of service.
Even in the past Roman times, it's a fact that oak barrels were used to transport whiskey. It's also a fact that oak was used in the process of making whiskey. Also, it's already been proven that using oak is something that's certain to enhance the taste and texture of the whiskey. If you're to make a comparison, oak is like food seasoning for whiskey. However, you should know that there are also rules when it comes to using oak for whiskey.
You might be wondering why it has to be oak. This is because certain types of wood, when made into barrels, tend to have high amounts of resin residue. Porous types of wood, like pine, are also considered to be a no-no. Since those attributes can lower the quality of whiskey, oak barrels are used to ensure that such a thing happens. Another thing that makes oak barrels ideal is the fact that the wood type itself can be bent easily without breaking. Placing whiskey in oak barrels also ensures that the whiskey gets certain aromatic qualities. If you're wondering what kind of aroma the whiskey gets, that would be coconut, vanilla, or toast. With these aromas, the whiskey gains a creamy and sweet nuance. Adding to that, the tannin content of oak and some mild aroma from it tends to harmonize with the whiskey itself. Due to such reasons, more than ninety-nine percent of whiskey barrels are from the oak.
Using oak barrels also does not provide the air-tight environment condition for the whiskey in it. This leads to the whiskey receiving microscopic amounts of oxygen which eventually softens the whiskey. The flavor of the whiskey also becomes concentrated since the alcohol and water can evaporate through the oak barrel. This kind of maturation process is necessary for red whiskeys that were made from intense grapes such as Shiraz. Also, enhancing white whiskey flavor has proven to be more effective with the use of oak barrels.
Also, there are various reasons why vintners tend to use oak barrels for whiskey aging. For aging, it's important to remember that the size of the barrel is an important factor. Small oak barrels are ideal if you want the whiskey to be able to extract the aromatic values from the oak. If you're making whiskey barrels from oak, then you should know that the age of the wood is also an important factor. This is necessary if you don't want the oak barrel to have too much influence in the whiskey's aroma. Also, you should be aware that there are different types of oaks that can be used for whiskey barrels for different objectives. In any case, oak barrels have proven ideal when it comes to making the best whiskeys.
The people that work in a company are the people that determine how a business proceeds. For these reasons the human resource department should ensure that they recruit workers that are competent in their work. Since recruiting an incompetent team can be the start of collapse of a business. There are a number of factors that managers should check to get only but the best workers. This articles have detailed steps that guide in getting the best candidate to fill a job opening.
Knowing the ethics that are necessary for the success of a business are among the essential things that are relevant in recruiting staffs. These ethics ensure only, but the best candidate is hired. These values include, aggressive, integrity, commitments and many more. It is essential to be straightforward on the post that is available. It is essential to specific and list down the responsibilities that the recruit is supposed to perform in a business. This ensures that people get into the job understanding all their responsibilities. The other essential tip is having to have a criteria for recruiting. There are various ways of sending out adverts for a job vacancy, it can either be done through internet marketing or use of printed media. It is essential to advertise the job vacancies that has a broad audience since it will ensure that there are many candidates to select from. The job advert should stand out from all the other job adverts. The reason for this is to only attract a wide range of job applicants.
A many people consequently apply well-advertised job position. The challenge now comes to finding the best candidate among the many that applied. The best way to getting the best candidate is by understanding how to read the cover letter and the curriculum vitae. It is essential to hire candidates that have clear written cover letters that do not have common mistakes in English. The prior experience of a person are essential when checking at ones CV. After analyzing the resumes and it is a bit confusing to choose the best from the list. Oral interview is crucial in assessing the confidence of the candidates. It is essential to ask question that requires one to think critically during the interview. A person that can think critically is able to make decisions that can impact a business in a positive way. They are capable of sorting out challenges in the workplace. The people that one hires should have a previous history of issues like criminology. It is essential to do a criminal investigation on the candidates before they are hired.
Because of the modern technology of today, you can now print things in 3D! But the truth is that 3D printing is not as easy as you probably think it is. But the great news is that there are actually 3D printing services that you can hire. If you hire a 3D printing service, then you will avail of the many benefits that they can provide. This article is for the people that are curious to know about the benefits to hiring 3D printing services. This article is going to take you through the greatest benefits that you will receive from 3D printing services. So without further ado, let us get to the best benefits.
With 3D printing services, you can be sure that they will use the best quality of 3D printer; this is one benefit. If you decide on a 3D project, then you will want to make sure that you use the best 3D printer for that. However, it can be hard to know for sure which 3D printers are good and which are bad without trial and error. But when you go to 3D printing services, you can be sure that they already have the best 3D printers to print out your 3D projects. So this is the first great benefit that 3D printing services can provide for you.
With 3D printing services, you can be sure that they will offer you convenience of it all. Because 3D printing is a long process, you might have to go through inconvenience after inconvenience. You will face even greater inconveniences if you are always on a tight schedule. You can be sure that 3D printing services will be the ones to do everything for you, from start to finish, so that you will really experience great convenience. So this is benefit number two that you will receive from 3D printing services.
The third and final benefit that 3D printing services will provide for you is a quick process. If you try doing your own 3D printing, then you will soon realize that it is not as quick a task as you probably thought. One of the biggest delays is trying to figure out how to begin using 3D printers to get your project done. But the experience that 3D printing services have is the main reason why they can make the 3D printing process very quick. So the fact that your 3D printing projects will be made very quickly is yet another of the greatest benefits that 3D printing services can offer you.


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US artist unveils first in series of link paintings at Royal Dornoch
By Catherine J. Thomas on April 25, 2022 Original oil paintings
NASHVILLE-based artist Aimee Smith has unveiled the first in a series of oil paintings capturing the natural beauty of the famous links at Royal Dornoch Golf Club.
Aimee Smith's first Royal Dornoch landscape features 'Foxy' – the 14th hole of the championship course.
She settled on the legendary 14th hole of the championship course – known as "Foxy" – for the first of her landscapes, which will go on sale as an original and in a limited edition.
Besides a painting of the iconic 18th in St Andrews, this is Aimee's first venture beyond the United States, where her portfolio includes Pebble Beach and Spanish Bay.
"Everyone I've met who knows Royal Dornoch or has had the chance to play there is thrilled with it," said Aimee, whose husband Steve is from Edinburgh.
"They go back to their memories and you see their eyes light up. It is a very special place.
"From an artist's point of view, history, landscape, water, light and shadows all come into play.
"Like so many people, we are looking forward to returning to Scotland this summer after the troubles of the past two years.
"I hope the trip will coincide with the full bloom of the Royal Dornoch gorse."
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Rob Hayles joins Onix in development role; and releases a signature model.
Rob 'Killer' Hayles has joined British company Onix Bikes as chief development and test rider.
Hayles inked a deal with Onix after a being asked to test the 2012 range of machines by the firm's founder Craig Middleton.
The result was slightly more than the head of Onix had bargained for!
The Onix Black RH Pro and the more sporting Onix Black RH are the Rob Hayles signature models.
"Putting your name to a bike is a big undertaking," said Hayles. "Riding any new bike is always fun but when I tested the 2012 Onix for Craig I was genuinely amazed at how good it was."
The RH models will be available in the late spring.