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Bruce Randazzo exposes City of Chicago and Alderman Burke on Chicago Clout
The City of Chicago is killing Chicago City Workers that come into contact with air-borne mists. These airborne dusts include limestone, asbestos, dusts. They are a threat to the entire community which includes the Chicago 45th ward. Ten years ago, Patrick McDonough, the whistleblower of Hired Truck Scandal, warded the entire neighborhood of this hostile dust clouds. This dusts can cause, Sore throat, blueish skin, coughing, sore throat, fever, chest pain, loss of appetite, and tiredness. It can also cause death. Please wear a mask when you are around 4900 West Sunnyside in the Chicago Northwest side.
Archie High retired from City of Chicago Department of Water Management with lung problems
City of Chicago Department of Water Racism Steve Collier
Many years ago, Chicago Clout exposed what happened to pro football retiree Steve Collier. Steve Collier made a workers Compensation claim to Alderman Burke's Committee on Finance. Steve was sick from an unknown illness. It turned out Steve had Multiple Sclerosis. Steve went to the hospital after calling his bosses, presented his phone records, but was fired anyway. Steve complained about his treatment by Maureen Egan, a Department of Water Management Commissioner. Steve has a labor issue but, the Hoisting Engineers Union, Local 150 did not come to his rescue. Steve also complained of an illness related to airborne limestone dusts. Steve blames the racism and politics at the City of Chicago Department of Water Management. We at Chicago Clout want a Federal Investigation into the way black men are treated at the Department of Water Management.
Chicago Department of Water Management Workers contaminated by Limestone
Many City of Chicago Department of Water Management employees have been poisoned by Limestone Dust. A well-hidden killer lurks in the air every time the wind blows. Alderman Burke and the Committee on Finance have systemically denied essential care for lung, skin, and necessary medical care. According to an unnamed City employee, "We have reported this hazardous dust to the Illinois Department of Labor. City workers do not have OSHA". "We are dying". We have city workers die right after retirement for breathing issues. The North District open a fire-hydrant and when the State Safety Inspector is present, a couple of Laborers get out a little garden hose and put on a show. It is all a scam. Rahm Emmanuel does not care one single bit. We have reported claims for over ten years. The 45th Ward residents are subject to these deadly mists". How much are taxpayers really saving? The City of Chicago Wellness program does not address these concerns. They use the testing to get rid of blacks and overweight city workers. We need masks, we need safety. Paul just does not care.
Alderman Burke and Chicago Committee on Finance Horror Story
Edward M. BURKE and the City of Chicago, Defendants-Appellees.
17 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1389
Henry HUDSON, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
Seventh Circuit.
Argued Feb. 23, 1990.
Decided Sept. 18, 1990.
Aram A. Hartunian, James G. Bradtke, Hartunian, Futterman & Howard, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Arthur N. Christie, CC, Ruth M. Moscovitch, Kelly R. Welsh and Jean Dobrer, ACC, Office of Corp. Counsel, Appeals Div., Jerome H. Torshen, Mark K. Schoenfield, James K. Genden, Torshen, Schoenfield & Spreyer, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before BAUER, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and MANION, Circuit Judges.
MANION, Circuit Judge.
Appellants are former employees of the City of Chicago Finance Committee who lost their jobs when their alderman, Wilson Frost, was displaced as committee chairman. They sued the new committee chairman, Edward M. Burke, and the City for violating their constitutional rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. Prior to trial, the district court granted Chicago's motion for summary judgment, and granted Burke's motion for summary judgment on the issues of damages and qualified immunity. Hudson v. Burke, 617 F.Supp. 1501 (N.D.Ill.1985). The case proceeded to a bench trial in 1986 on appellants' request for injunctive relief against Alderman Burke for reinstatement.
There is no dispute that appellants were replaced for political reasons. The only question is whether their jobs were sufficiently political to justify Burke's consideration of political affiliation in firing them, thereby immunizing his decision from constitutional scrutiny under the Supreme Court's line of patronage cases beginning with Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976).1 After a bench trial the district court entered judgment for the defendants. The appellants challenge the district court's conclusion that their positions were not constitutionally protected, and that they would have been fired anyway for poor work performance. They also appeal the district court's 1986 decision to grant summary judgment for the City of Chicago. Burke renews his contention that the district court erred by failing to grant him legislative immunity. We affirm.
All six appellants were hired by the City of Chicago Finance Committee between 1975 and 1980. While their job duties varied, all were considered "investigators" or "legislative aides" (the terms were used interchangeably) for the committee. John Laschiava, Henry Hudson, Lafayette Blackmon and Ruby Thomas handled claims against the City, usually either small property damage claims, claims against the City by policemen and firemen for work-related injuries, or worker's compensation claims by City employees. Whitney Valentine also worked with claims, but her job was to assign investigators to gather information requested by department heads. Gwen Flowers was a clerical employee who reviewed files and assisted in processing claims.
The appellants were political hires; all were hired "by Frost, except for … Hudson who was hired based on Frost's letter of sponsorship to the prior chairman…. [M]ost of [the appellants] were precinct captains [and] also performed political work for Alderman Frost and his 34th Ward Organization." Hudson v. Burke, 617 F.Supp. at 1504.
The district court in Hudson v. Burke, id. summarized the highly charged political atmosphere surrounding the events that gave rise to this case:
On May 2, 1983, during a now legendary session of the City Council, Mayor Washington unsuccessfully attempted to adjourn the Council meeting to prevent the majority block of alderman (referred to in the media as the "Vrdolyak 29") from realigning committee chairmanships and altering Council rules. Alderman Frost and a minority faction of the Council walked out of the Council chambers after the Mayor's "adjournment"; however, a majority of the council members remained and continued to conduct Council business. During this post "adjournment" session, Alderman Burke was elected Chairman of the Council Finance….
The Illinois Appellate Court upheld the legality of the City Council meeting at which Alderman Burke was elected Finance Committee Chairman. Roti v. Washington and Rush v. Kozubowski, 114 Ill.App.3d 958, 71 Ill.Dec. 30, 450 N.E.2d 465 (1983). However, Alderman Frost refused to vacate the Finance Committee office or to allow Alderman Burke access for approximately two months…. Alderman Frost finally relinquished the Chairman's office after the Illinois Supreme Court refused to review the Appellate Court's decision….
Those were the controversial political circumstances under which Burke assumed control of the Finance Committee. After that council meeting, but before Frost vacated the chairman's offices, Frost instructed his staff, including the appellants, not to cooperate or turn committee documents over to Burke.
Rule 37 of the Rules of the City Council details the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee:
The Committee on Finance shall have jurisdiction over the City budget, tax levies, industrial revenue bonds and revenue bond programs, revenue and expenditure orders, ordinances and resolutions, the financing of municipal services and capital developments; and matters generally affecting the Budget office, the Department of Finance, and the solicitation of funds for charitable or other purposes on the streets and other public places. The Committee shall have jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the audit and review of expenditures of funds appropriated by the Council or under the custody of the City Treasury, and all claims under the Illinois Worker's Compensation Act.
The district court in Hudson v. Burke, 617 F.Supp. at 1504-05, described the changes Burke claimed to have made in the responsibilities of Finance Committee investigators, changes that allegedly enhanced the investigators' political roles:
After Alderman Burke was elected Chairman of the Finance Committee, he determined that the Committee should take a more aggressive and active role than before to monitor City government activities and financial affairs…. Burke therefore allegedly decided to change the duties of the Finance Committee investigators. In addition to investigations of workmen's compensation claims and injured-on-duty claims of police and firefighters, the investigators were to gather factual information concerning needs for and delivery of City services …
Burke assumed the office of Chairman of the Finance Committee in June 1983, thereby obtaining complete control over committee hiring and firing. He met with Edwin Bell, Chief Administrative Officer of the Finance Committee under Frost, and Dan Kubasiak, chosen by Burke as Bell's successor. Burke's discussions were about the nature of appellants' jobs, and also about the appellants' political sponsors. In mid-July 1983, Burke fired all the appellants but Flowers, who was fired in September 1983.
The district court denied Burke's motion for summary judgment because it concluded that genuine issues of material fact remained as to "(1) the nature of the investigator positions; and (2) whether [appellants'] political beliefs or affiliations were a 'substantial' or motivating factor in the decision to terminate their employment." 617 F.Supp. at 1508.
At trial Burke stipulated that political affiliation was a substantial and motivating factor in appellants' termination, but contended appellants would have been fired anyway because they were not qualified for the expanded work he had in mind for committee investigators, and because their previous work for the committee was not competent. Burke also argued that committee staff members were exempt from the constitutional restrictions on politically motivated employment decisions, relying on the conclusion in Shakman v. Democratic Organization of Cook County, 569 F.Supp. 177, 183 (N.D.Ill.1983), that "[e]mployees of the City Council" were exempt from an injunction against political hirings and firings.
For some unexplained reason the district court waited nearly three years to issue its memorandum opinion. The trial was held in late July of 1986, but the court did not issue its brief opinion until July 10, 1989. The district court, focusing on the "inherent powers" of the Finance Committee investigator positions, agreed that the investigators had input into politically sensitive areas of governmental decisionmaking on issues where there is room for principled disagreement. The court also held, in conclusory fashion, that the evidence supported Burke's contention that the appellants would have been terminated anyway due to poor work performance.
II. Analysis
Appellants as a threshold matter contend that the district court's findings, in light of the long delay between trial and judgment, were inadequate under Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a), which requires the court to "find the facts specially and state separately its conclusions of law thereon…." Although we do not understand or approve of the district court's delay in filing its order, the court's factual findings adequately support the ruling that the investigator positions were inherently political. The court described the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee, then outlined the inherent powers of committee investigators in light of Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit precedent. Further, appellants point to no authority that justifies ignoring the district court's valid findings of fact simply because the judge delayed their memorialization. The court's factual findings regarding the political nature of Finance Committee investigator jobs complied with Rule 52(a), and we will reverse those findings only if we are convinced they are clearly erroneous.2
The Supreme Court in Elrod v. Burns and Branti v. Finkel held that firing public employees due to political affiliation violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights unless political affiliation is in some sense necessary to their jobs. Elrod stressed that a "non-policy-making, nonconfidential" government employee cannot be discharged based solely upon his political beliefs. 427 U.S. at 375, 96 S.Ct. at 2690 (Stewart, J. concurring). Branti, while not rejecting the policymaking and confidential labels, moved toward a functional analysis of whether "party affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the office involved." 445 U.S. at 518, 100 S.Ct. at 1295. This court has opined that "the focus here is on the office or position rather than the individual officeholders." Meeks v. Grimes, 779 F.2d 417, 419 (7th Cir.1985). Further, "Elrod and Branti require examination of the powers inherent in a given office, as opposed to the functions performed by a particular occupant of that office." Tomczak v. City of Chicago, 765 F.2d 633, 640 (7th Cir.1985).
In Nekolny v. Painter, 653 F.2d 1164, 1170 (7th Cir.1981), we set out a standard that focuses on the functions of the office:
The test is whether the position held by the individual authorizes, either directly or indirectly, meaningful input into government decisionmaking where there is room for principled disagreement on goals or their implementation.
Id. (emphasis added). We will now apply this functional test to the positions held by appellants, keeping in mind that " '[p]olicymaking' and 'confidential' do accurately describe the vast majority of offices that fall within the realm of legitimate patronage…." Meeks, 779 F.2d at 420.
There are two prongs to appellants' argument. First, they say their work was only ministerial and administrative. Hudson, Blackmon, Laschiava and Thomas worked outside the office, gathering information about claims by conducting interviews, taking photographs and obtaining copies of records for processing by the Finance Committee. Valentine worked inside the office, routing outside work to the others and conducting some interviews by telephone. Flowers worked inside the office, processing small property damages claims and sometimes routing requests for more information to Valentine. They contend they were investigators in name only, and had no input into policymaking for the Finance Committee. Second, they argue that Burke did not transform the duties of replacement "investigators" into jobs requiring political loyalty or otherwise meeting the Elrod-Branti test. They contend the district court erred by relying exclusively on the job title–"investigator"–to mistakenly conclude that appellants were involved in confidential or policymaking positions.
Appellants then attack the work performed by their replacements as investigators. Within a few months of firing appellants Burke hired the following persons as investigators: William Duggan, Horace Lindsey, Robert Hogan, David McKinney, Alex Obrzut, James Concannon, James Kelleher, Richard Chmelek and James Moore. Burke retained at least four of Frost's investigators–David Balter, LeRoy Keane, Phil Sheridan and Crawford Jacobson. Burke fired then rehired another investigator, Bernard DiMeo.
Appellants first demonstrate that all the new hires had some political connections to Burke or other influential politicians. (This only stands to reason–Burke does not dispute that he considered these positions political in nature.) Then appellants attempt to show that the replacements did the same claims processing work as appellants, so that Burke did not actually change the role of the investigators.
We have already pointed out, however, that we must not focus so much on what appellants or their replacements actually did as on what powers were inherent in the positions they held. See Tomczak, supra; Meeks, supra. Some investigators may have exercised all of those powers, others may have performed primarily administrative tasks. Given the intense political divisions affecting the City Council during that period, we hold that the district court was not clearly erroneous to find that "investigators" or "legislative aides" for the Finance Committee provided sufficient subjective input into policy decisions so that political affiliation was an appropriate consideration for hiring and firing.
Partisan politics enter into many decisions of the Finance Committee. That committee, control of which was the subject of so much political infighting, has jurisdiction over many of the City's most important political decisions, including forming the annual budget, proposing bond ordinances, and considering taxes. The committee processes claims against the City, and reviews City contracts and community development block grants. Appellants are correct that the political nature of the Finance Committee is not at issue; nevertheless, the work performed by appellants and their successors contributed to many of the committee's political decisions. As the district court put it:
These areas are some of the most politically sensitive areas of city government decisionmaking. Finance Committee investigators, consequently, have "inherent" in their position the power to investigate, report facts and have input into those areas of politically sensitive governmental decisionmaking.
Looking first, as appellants do, to the work performed by appellants, we notice immediately that their primary qualifications to work for the Finance Committee–or at least the qualifications all had in common–were their political connections to the former chairman, Alderman Frost. Political affiliation was a primary reason they were hired; all performed political work for Frost and his ward organization. Hudson v. Burke, 617 F.Supp. at 1504. The appellants were personally loyal to Frost; Burke testified that during the dispute over the committee chairmanship Frost instructed his staff, including appellants, "not to cooperate with me [or] turn over any documents or records…." As a starting point in considering whether positions are inherently political, the district court certainly was entitled to note that appellants were hired because of their political affiliation.
Appellants try to downplay the work they and their successors performed for the Finance Committee by emphasizing claims processing and dealing with small issues like potholes and street lights. But the Chicago City Council does not normally debate issues of national political consequence. Instead, seemingly inconsequential matters such as potholes and street lights and garbage collection and workmen's compensation claims can be important political issues for the City Council. As Burke testified,
[p]riorities of expenditures of the City's revenue are political in nature. A decision whether there should be more police or more firemen or more garbage carts or fewer garbage collections or condominium refuse rebates, as opposed to cart pickup programs in various wards–each member of the legislative body … has a certain agenda that he or she wishes to advance. Sometimes it's for parochial interests, sometimes it's for broader interests…. But to the extent they do advance those individual programs or ideas and ultimately gain approval, I think it's part of the political process….
Appellants provided "meaningful direct [and] indirect input into the decision making process" on these and other political issues where "there [was] room for principled disagreement in the decisions reached…." Meeks v. Grimes, 779 F.2d at 420. Appellants might have felt compelled to conduct their inquiries and process claims in a way they thought beneficial to their political benefactor, and harmful to Burke, especially in light of Frost's order that they not cooperate with Burke. The district court was not clearly erroneous in finding that this potential obstruction of the duties of the Finance Committee made political affiliation an appropriate consideration for appellants' jobs.
The appellants believe the district court wrongly relied on the job title of "investigator," while ignoring the actual job responsibilities of those who held investigator positions. But some of Alderman Burke's replacements demonstrate the powers inherent in the position of "investigator" or "legislative aide" for the Finance Committee. No matter what these positions were titled, the evidence showed they were susceptible to partisan political usage, and that Alderman Burke began using some investigators in that fashion after he took over the Finance Committee.
Burke testified that he envisioned an expanded role for committee investigators as the "eyes and ears" of the committee. This role required persons "experienced in gathering information," preferably "with experience in law enforcement, because … that is a tremendous training ground for persons who would work as investigators…." Burke's new hires as investigators had substantial experience as retired policemen or detectives, or city and county investigators and inspectors. Burke's assistant testified that 70 percent of his new investigators' time was spent on investigative fact-finding, and only 30 percent on the type of claims processing performed by appellants. Further, Burke sought "people who were dependable and who could be counted upon to respect confidentiality of matters that the Committee would deal with, and who would be loyal to the Office of the Chairman."
The evidence showed that several of Burke's investigators devoted substantial amounts of time to obtaining information used in ongoing Finance Committee and City Council budget battles. In particular, the district court heard evidence that investigators provided politically sensitive information to the Finance Committee that was used to contest positions taken by Burke's political opponents–the administration of Mayor Washington and his allies on the Council–on issues relating to a garbage cart proposal, the appropriate level of police and forestry department manpower, whether a City department abused overtime, the number of industrial inspectors, the need for more ambulances, and budgeting for removal of abandoned buildings, among other things. The investigators also delved into politically sensitive matters such as the abuse of City vehicles and chauffeurs, and inappropriate political channeling of community development block grants.
This investigative work certainly qualifies as "meaningful direct or indirect input into the decision making process" on issues where "there is room for principled disagreement in the decisions reached by the employee and his superiors." Tomczak, 765 F.2d at 641. In Tomczak, id., we noted the important political dimensions involved in the provision of city services:
[O]ne of the biggest, if not the biggest, turning points in the 1979 Chicago mayoral election involved the provision of snow-removal services. The primary function of any local governmental entity is the provision of services such as police and fire protection, public schools, hospitals, transportation, and libraries, as well as quasi-utility functions such as water, garbage and sewage services. Elections often turn on the success or failure of the incumbent to provide these services, and, as campaigns develop, the opposing sides put forth varying proposals about how best to provide services. While the ultimate goal of all sides might be the same, there is clearly room for principled disagreement in the development and implementation of plans to achieve that goal.
Appellants concede that two of Burke's investigators, Duggan and Lindsey, engaged in "politically sensitive" work, but argue that
Duggan and Lindsey were not replacements for any of the plaintiffs. Duggan and Lindsey did not process claims…. [and were] functionally separate from … the other investigators…. Duggan and Lindsey took their assignments directly from Alderman Burke and had confidential relationships with Alderman Burke…. [They] worked on investigations which were more complicated, and in some instances adverse to the political interests of Mayor Washington's administration…. But the positions held by Duggan and Lindsey have nothing to do with this case because there were other persons who replaced [appellants], and performed the same sort of functions that [appellants] did.
Here appellants state Burke's case. Duggan and Lindsey were two members of a group of persons hired as "investigators" to replace appellants. Burke argues that he changed the role of "investigator" to do more of what Duggan and Lindsey did, and less of what appellants did. It makes no sense for appellants to try to separate Duggan and Lindsey out, admit they performed politically sensitive tasks, and then say they were not replacements for appellants. The evidence showed that some investigators did more fact-finding than others; Duggan and Lindsey were the most experienced and therefore selected for the most politically sensitive and complex investigations, and also spent the most time on investigations as opposed to claims processing. No other members of the Finance Committee staff except "investigators" performed this type of fact-finding. Others on the staff did some claims processing and some fact-finding. But they were all hired as "investigators" to replace appellants. By conceding that some of those investigators performed politically sensitive fact-finding missions for the Committee, the appellants in effect concede that these investigator positions are inherently political. The district court's finding is amply supported by the evidence and is not clearly erroneous.
Appellants also challenge the district court's decision to grant summary judgment for the City of Chicago because the City could not be held responsible for the actions of Alderman Burke under a respondeat superior theory. The City's first argument is that appellants were appropriately fired on a political basis from their Finance Committee jobs. In light of our conclusion that Burke's political firing of appellants did not violate their constitutional rights, we need not reach the merits of this issue.
III. Conclusion
Appellants were political hires whose sponsor lost power. They and their replacements were sources of information for a powerful committee during a time of antagonism and divisive political turmoil; these positions could have been and sometimes were used for political purposes. Political affiliation was an appropriate consideration when they were hired, and was equally appropriate when they were fired. The judgment of the district court is
Ald. Ed Burke's Workers' Compensation Program Under Increased Scrutiny
Paris Schutz | February 25, 2016 6:23 pm WTTW Chicago Tonight
Powerful Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) is facing more heat in his role as chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee, which operates Chicago's $100 million city workers' compensation program.
Whistle-blowers this week filed a complaint with the city's inspector general alleging the program, which pays disability to injured city workers, is fraught with patronage and political hiring. But can Inspector General Joe Ferguson actually investigate it?
Ferguson had no comment on whether they'd have that authority. A recent ordinance gives him the authority, starting next month, to expand his reach to investigate possible misconduct by aldermen – but stops short of being able to investigate committees they control – like Burke's Finance Committee.
Nonetheless, a complaint filed by former city workers, including one who is the son of the late, longtime Alderman Berny Stone, is asking the inspector general to look into the city's $100 million workers' compensation system run by Burke. It alleges that the whole system is fraught with political favoritism.
"It's an opportunity for Ed Burke to collect political favors," said Jay Stone. "There'll be other aldermen, committeemen, state reps, etc. going to Ed Burke saying, 'My precinct captain is on disability, please take care of him,' so now he has a political favor."
When asked if he had any evidence that that actually happened, Stone responded:
"My father was an alderman for 38 years. I know how the system works. That's how it works."
Burke is ultimately in charge: he makes the hires, he ultimately signs off on the claims. He's been very close to the vest on the program; no aldermen we spoke with even know exactly how it's run.
The director of the program is a legislative aide named Monica Somerville, but they've hired consulting companies like Coventry Health Care to administer a lot of the program – there are no records of contracts awarded to this company.
We spoke with one employee, a plumber in the city's water department, who has been injured since 2013 but says the Finance Committee cut off his disability pay last month without any process for appeal.
He says he believes the system is built to benefit city workers who are politically connected, and leave others who are not out in the dark.
"The process is, as soon as you get injured, you have to go to a city emergency care center. If you have clout you get to go to a doctor of choice," said Patrick McDonough, a former plumber in the city's water department. "If you're not clouted, you have to go to all the city doctors, all the city specialists, whatever it takes to get you back to work. If you're not perfect by the time you're done, the city does everything it can to get rid of you."
McDonough was also the worker who blew the whistle years ago on the city's hired truck scandal that sent numerous public officials to jail and stained the administration of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. McDonough says he sustained his injury in a forklift accident and says he believes Chairman Burke personally wants him out of a job. He says he was offered a settlement of a year's pay to leave.
We tried to contact Burke and various officials in the Finance Committee numerous times, to no avail.
Stone's contention that the inspector general has the authority to investigate the workers' compensation system is a long shot at best. He says the program violates the Shakman Decree which limits the amount of political hiring that can go on in the city. Attorney Michael Shakman himself told the Chicago Sun-Times that he believes workers' comp employees should be non-political hires, and that he made a mistake in exempting them in a deal he negotiated with the city to get out from federal hiring oversight.
He, along with the complainants and some aldermen, believe the program should be taken out of Burke's hands and the legislative branch altogether and be recast in a non-political role in the executive branch of government.
Ald. John Arena (45th Ward) filed an ordinance to have hearings to discuss such a move.
"If we have a closet that can't be looked into, that's a concern," Arena said. "We need to have oversight of that. But the Finance Committee's function is to manage the finance of the city, not to manage medical and workmans' comp issues. It's just not the place for that to happen."
Arena and others note that Chicago is the only major city that runs the workers comp system like this – others run it out of their law departments or human resources departments.
Burke fought very hard behind the scenes to pass an ordinance that would prevent Inspector General Ferguson from having the ability to audit programs like this. We're told by several aldermen there was horse trading offered until the last minute. He narrowly won by two votes.
Follow Paris Schutz on Twitter: @paschutz
Shakman: Workers' comp jobs should be 'non-political' hires
Written By Fran Spielman Posted: 02/24/2016, 12:50pm Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago's $100 million-a-year workers' compensation program is an "executive branch responsibility" with jobs that should be "filled under the city's non-political hiring plan," attorney Michael Shakman said Wednesday.
Shakman filed the complaint that culminated in the federal ban on political hiring and signed off on a 2014 agreement that persuaded a federal judge to release Chicago from the 42-year-old Shakman decree that bears his name.
He painstakingly negotiated a hiring plan that made all City Council employees exempt positions.
On Wednesday, Shakman acknowledged that he made a "mistake" by exempting worker's comp employees in the City Council's Finance Committee chaired by Ald. Edward Burke (14th).
"It sounds like something that belongs in the executive branch and, therefore, should be a job filled under the city's non-political hiring plan," Shakman said.
"With respect to City Council employees, we should have done more and I regret not having done more. We did have an effort to bring the City Council into the fold . . . It didn't go anywhere. The judge was not very sympathetic to the argument, and we didn't push it. That was focused on all aldermanic employees — not on worker's comp people. It was a mistake on our part."
Still, Shakman argued that Jay Stone, maverick son of former longtime Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), has other legal hurdles to clear if he hopes to make the case that Burke administers workers' comp in a way that violates the Shakman decree.
"Stone would still have to show, No. 1 that it's impermissible for the City Council to allocate an executive job to a legislative officer and No. 2 that . . . Burke is using those jobs as patronage jobs," Shakman said.
Still, Stone called Shakman's support for the complaint he filed against Burke with Inspector General Joe Ferguson the "highest honor possible that I could receive."
The late alderman's son said he has no doubt that he can make the case that Burke has filled those worker's comp jobs with "political hacks," as he put it.
"Growing up and living in politics, that's the way it works," Stone said.
In 2008, Stone won a $75,000 award from the $12 million fund created to compensate victims of City Hall's rigged hiring system.
A federal hiring monitor believed his claims that he lost his 2003 aldermanic election against Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) because Matlak had the support of the political army commanded by now-convicted former First Deputy Water Commissioner Donald Tomczak.
Stone said he decided to file the complaint against Burke after his friend, Pat McDonough, a city plumbing inspector who spoke out about abuses in the city's Hired Truck Program, got a letter from the Finance Committee last month cutting off his disability pay. (January 8, 2016)
"The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I could not understand why the Finance Committee was administering duty disability. And more importantly, my friend was denied due process. They just stopped his pay. The letter said he was non-cooperative. It didn't say how or who said so," Stone said.
"My friend is a three-time whistleblower. He reported corruption. They could use the giving or taking away of workers' comp to help those who are precinct captains and punish those who work against the machine."
Referring to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Council floor leader, Stone said, "If Ald. [Pat] O'Connor goes to Ed Burke and says, `One of my guys was injured on the job. Take care of him,' you can be sure Burke is going to take care of him. But if a political upstart who raises trouble gets duty disability, they're not going to get the same treatment. Workers' comp has got to be taken out of the political process."
Before empowering Ferguson to investigate aldermen and their employees, the City Council voted 25 to 23 to deny the inspector general the right to audit workers' comp and programs administered by aldermen.
Even so, Stone maintained that Ferguson has the power to investigate Burke after assuming the all-important power of policing city hiring in the post-Shakman era when federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan was dismissed.
"The federal decree trumps any ethics ordinance. It's a higher authority. They can't use an ethics ordinance to block or circumvent an agreement signed in federal court," he said.
No matter what Ferguson does, Stone urged Emanuel to move immediately to seize control over the workers' comp program.
"Mayor Emanuel has abdicated his workers' comp duties and responsibilities to Ald. Burke," Stone said.
"He has gone after the teachers. But he wouldn't dare go after Burke because of Burke's knowledge and control over the Finance Committee."
Ald. Burke accused of hiring 'political hacks' to run $100M-a-year workers' comp program
Written By Fran Spielman Posted: 02/23/2016, 08:00pm
Chicago's most powerful aldermen was accused Tuesday of violating the Shakman decree by allowing "political hacks" to administer a $100 million-a-year workers' compensation program that belongs in the executive branch.
Jay Stone, the maverick son of former longtime Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), filed a complaint with Inspector General Joe Ferguson, asking Ferguson to investigate Ald. Edward Burke (14th), chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee.
In the complaint, Stone accused Burke of turning the workers' comp program over to "his handpicked political appointees" in violation of the Shakman decree banning political hiring.
The 2014 agreement that persuaded a federal judge to release Chicago from the 42-year-old Shakman decree made City Council employees exempt positions. Stone's complaint attempts to get around that loophole by claiming that the workers' comp program "belongs in the executive branch of government."
"Burke's workers' compensation exempt jobs should have been classified as Shakman non-exempt jobs based on the type of work that the workers' compensation employees are doing," Stone wrote in the complaint, forwarded to the Chicago Sun-Times.
"Once Chicago's workers' compensation program moves from the legislative branch of government to the executive branch, then the designation of workers' compensation employees will change to the proper Shakman non-exempt classification, and the city will have to hire the most qualified and abled employees to run the program."
Stone notes that the executive branch administers workers' comp in "all other major U.S. cities." Chicago would be no different, if an "archaic" municipal code had not allowed the Finance Committee Chairman to "improperly run" the program.
Burke could not be reached for comment.
The late alderman's son likened Burke's alleged hiring violations to the Illinois Department of Transportation's decision to "wrongfully classify" hundreds of jobs as "staff assistants." That paved the way for the hiring of political appointees under two former governors, Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn.
"The Chicago municipal code has allowed Burke to do the same. [It] . . . has turned obvious Shakman non-exempt jobs into Shakman-exempt jobs," Stone wrote.
"The municipal code sanction of Burke's Finance Committee . . . is not about finding a successful loophole to avoid Shakman. Rather, it's about the municipal code and Burke's blatant and wanton violation of Shakman and separation of powers."
Before empowering Ferguson to investigate aldermen and their employees, the City Council voted 25-23 to limit Ferguson to investigating potential violations of the law by aldermen and their employees.
Program audits that Ferguson routinely conducts to determine whether taxpayers' money is being wasted will be off-limits when it comes to the City Council. The workers' comp program will be safe from Ferguson's scrutiny. So will the $66 million-a-year aldermanic menu program.
The question now is whether the watered-down ordinance prevents Ferguson from investigating Stone's claim that Burke is violating the Shakman decree.
Michael Shakman, who filed the landmark complaint, could not be reached for comment on Stone's claim that city employees who administer the workers' comp program should be non-exempt.
Two years ago, Ferguson assumed the all-important power of policing city hiring in the post-Shakman era after U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier released Chicago from the Shakman decree and dismissed federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan.
Ferguson refused to comment on Stone's complaint. The ordinance empowering him to investigate aldermen and City Council employees does not take effect until March 16.
At the same City Council meeting where aldermen walled off the worker's comp program from Ferguson's watchful eye, Ald. John Arena (45th) introduced a resolution urging the City Council to explore transferring control over the program from the Finance Committee to the city's Law Department.
It's not the first time that Jay Stone has ruffled feathers at City Hall.
Brennan believed his claims that he was a sure loser in his 2003 aldermanic election against Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) because Matlak had the support of the political army commanded by now-convicted former First Deputy Water Commissioner Donald Tomczak.
"I'm in shock. I'm in awe," Jay Stone said at the time.
"The message is we should hold fair and competitive elections in Chicago. I never stood a chance because I was up against a seasoned political army that was being paid for by the taxpayers of Chicago," he said then.
Veteran aldermen branded the award "outrageous," calling it evidence that Brennan "doesn't have a clue."
"We've got potholes to fix. We spend $20 million on snow removal, and the federal monitor decides in her infinite wisdom to give somebody $75,000 because they lost an election? Can I sign up for that program?" said then-Ald. Tom Allen (38th) who is now a Circuit Court judge.
"Somebody lost an election and, somehow, that's an injury the city is liable for? It's an outrage. This is crazy. What about all the people who lost elections against the union machine? This monitor has no clue," said Ald. George Cardenas (12th), who was elected and re-elected with support from the now-defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization at the center of the city hiring scandal.
At the time, Brennan attributed the barrage of criticism to the fact that "aldermen and the mayor don't have access to the same information that I do" about the impact of Tomczak's army on Jay Stone's campaign.
In 2012, Burke clashed with Ferguson over access to workers' compensation claims administered by the Finance Committee.
At the time, Burke denied the inspector general access to databases related to the workers' comp program for civilian employees on grounds that "duty disability" is governed by state law, not city ordinance; that Ferguson's investigative powers are limited to misconduct, and Finance Committee staffers fell under the jurisdiction of the now-departed Legislative Inspector General.
Ferguson countered then that he routinely conducts audits to review city programs, identify waste and inefficiency, and recommend ways to prevent it. He referred to Chicago Sun-Times stories that identified waste, abuse and mismanagement in the $45 million-a-year disability program for police officers and firefighters.
"Blocking (my office's) access is especially egregious in this case, as recent press reports have detailed anecdotal evidence of a city program very much in need of outside review, hopefully leading to improvements and savings to taxpayers," Ferguson wrote. "The best way to determine whether there is waste, fraud or abuse in this city-funded program administered by the city for the benefit of city workers . . . is to subject the program to a thorough review."
A 1930s Law Enables Workers' Compensation Czar Alderman Ed Burke to Circumvent and Violate the Shakman Decree
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Political Hacks Run Chicago's $100 Million a Year Workers' Compensation Program
Instead of professional employees managing Chicago workers' compensation, only Alderman Ed Burke's handpicked political appointees administer the program. Burke has served as Chairman of the City Council Finance Committee for 31 of his 47 years as alderman. According to Burke's own bio, he is the man who, "holds the city's purse strings and is responsible for all legislative matters pertaining to the city's finances, including municipal bonds, taxes and revenue matters." The problem with Burke's aforementioned statement is that Burke is using more than city council legislation to oversee workers' compensation. Burke's patronage workers administer the entire workers' comp program. Furthermore, given Chicago's dire financial problems, if I were Burke I would not brag about controlling the city's purse strings for 31 years!
Municipal Code Section 2-152-430 states, "The bureau of workmen's compensation shall be composed of such persons as may be designated or appointed by the chairman of the committee on finance." Finance Chairman Burke let's his website readers know that the Chicago municipal code gives him sole authority to administer the workers' compensation program, but Burke doesn't tell his readers that an antiquated law wrongfully entitles him to become the workers' compensation czar. Currently Burke is the only person allowed to approve or disapprove disability pay and medical expense payments for city employees.
There is a zero chance of Burke hiring professional workers' compensation employees to optimally manage Chicago's $100 million a year workers' compensation program. Burke's handpick employees are mainly political insiders, or they have close ties to political insiders. Burke is an old school, "We Don't Want Nobody, Nobody Sent" politician. Burke selects employees for his staff on the basis of their political clout or political bloodlines, not on their professional qualifications.
Burke hiring and firing his staff for political reasons is all seemingly legit because the salaries of workers' compensation employees are funneled through Burke's finance committee. There is no debate here. Aldermanic and city council committee staff are Shakman exempt employees. However, there are legal questions about the municipal code that need answers: Does Chicago municipal code 2-152-430 that provides Burke with the authority to hire workers' compensation employees circumvent and violate the Shakman Decrees that the City of Chicago and plaintiff Michael Shakman agreed to in federal court? Do the municipal codes 2-152-430 , 2-152-440, and 2-152-450 violate the venerated separation of powers principle for which all local, state, and federal follow?
This is where Burke and the city run into trouble. Burke's finance committee has no business running workers' compensation. Burke is a legislator whose main job is to write, amend and repeal city ordinances. The workers' compensation program belongs in the executive branch of government since the executive branch is charged with managing city employees and programs. In all other major U.S. cities, the executive branch oversees workers' compensation (see table below). As a legislator Burke should only be allowed to check and balance workers' compensation through the budgeting process, committee hearings, and city ordinances. Chicago would be no different than other cities if Chicago's 80 year municipal code had not allowed finance chairman Burke to improperly conduct business for the executive branch.
This won't be the first time public officials were caught for improper Shakman exempt job classification for government positions. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) wrongfully classified hundreds of jobs as "staff assistants" so that politicians could fill staff assistant jobs with political appointees. The improperly classified staff assistants did little or no work related to their staff assistant's job title and job description. Because of IDOT's wrongful job classifications, both Governor Rod Blagojevich and Governor Pat Quinn hired politically connected job seekers for IDOT staff assistants regardless of the job seekers' qualifications or abilities. The Chicago municipal code has allowed Burke to do the same. Chicago municipal code has turned obvious Shakman non-exempt jobs into Shakman exempt jobs by improperly budgeting workers' compensation for a legislative committee instead of the city's executive branch of government. Other than policy making positions, the type or nature of workers' compensation employees work is that of Shakman non-exempt duties. And Burke's workers' compensation employees have little or nothing to do with financial legislation that Burke's committee handles. Since the code requires the city council finance chairman to select the workers' compensation staff, Burke assumed he was free to hire employees as his handpick political hacks. The archaic municipal code stopped the city's Human Resources Department from hiring the most qualified and abled employees from managing Chicago's workers' comp. Chicago's municipal code permitting Burke's finance committee to circumvent Shakman is not about finding a successful loophole to avoid Shakman, rather it's about the municipal code and Burke's blatant and wanton violation of Shakman and separation of powers.
To view the department that each city uses to manage its workers' compensation, click on the department listed in column two on the right hand side of the table. All major U.S. cities' executive branch of government administers its workers' compensation program except Chicago which Burke's legislative committee supervises.
San Diego and Dallas each have separate risk management departments. Risk management is part of Philadelphia's Finance Department. San Antonio's risk management is in under both its Finance and Office of Management and Budget departments. Chicago's Risk Management is currently in the Finance Department. Chicago's Finance Department is different than Burke's city council finance committee. Ideally Chicago's workers' compensation would move from Burke's legislative committee to the city's Human Resources or Risk Management department which are in Chicago's executive branch of government.
Once Chicago's workers' compensation program moves from the legislative branch of government to the executive branch of government, then the designation of workers' compensation employees will change to the proper classification of Shakman non-exempt, and the city will have to hire the most qualified and abled employees to run the program. A few policy making jobs at the top of the workers' compensation organizational chart may remain classified as Shakman exempt.
Alderman Ed Burke's has appointed numerous employees to run Chicago's workers' compensation program. Burke's hiring of workers' compensation employees are Shakman violations. Chicago Municipal Code Section 2-152-430 is 80 years old, predates the Shakman settlements, and authorizes the City Council finance chairman to hire all workers' compensation employees. However, Chicago's Municipal Code Section 2-152-430 does not have the power or authority to supersede the Shakman Decrees. Burke's workers' compensation hirings violate Shakman because Burke's workers' compensation exempt jobs should have been classified as Shakman non-exempt jobs based on the type of work that the workers' compensation employees are doing (see attached).
Alderman Burke is a legislator whose job is to write, amend and repeal city ordinances. The workers' compensation program belongs in the executive branch of government as it is with every major city except Chicago. As a legislator, Burke is not entitled to run a City of Chicago bureau, department, or division as he is doing. Because Alderman Burke is fulfilling the executive branch's duties and responsibilities, he is violating the separation of powers principle that all city, state and federal governments follow. As a legislator Alderman Burke should only be allowed to check and balance workers' compensation through the budgeting process, committee hearings, and city ordinances.
IVI/IPO
Reform for Illinois
The Trib
Fran Spielman exposes more timesheet fraud at Chicago Water Department
State Plumbing Inspector and Chicago City Inspectors demand justice and water for seniors. Thanks to CBS 2 News.
Special Thanks to State and Chicago Inspector offering free water service to needy.
Eddie Johnson gets the ax, Conner gets the ointment
Lucio Bitoy Department of Water Management Fired for alleged Violence in the Workplace Violations
chicagoclout on Commissioner Randy "Alfonzo" Conner II COVER-UP
Duane Shaft on Commissioner Randy "Alfonzo" Conner II COVER-UP
Michael Donegan on Commissioner Randy "Alfonzo" Conner II COVER-UP
Seldon D on Commissioner Randy "Alfonzo" Conner II COVER-UP
Ann Jones on Commissioner Randy "Alfonzo" Conner II COVER-UP


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History > Regional & national history > Americas
History > Historical periods > Postwar 20th century history: 1945 to 2000
Politics, Society & Education > Society & culture > Popular beliefs & controversial knowledge > Conspiracy theories
A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination (Paperback)
Philip Shenon (author)
The questions have haunted our nation for half a century: Was the President killed by a single gunman? Was Lee Harvey Oswald part of a conspiracy? Did the Warren Commission discover the whole truth of what happened on November 22, 1963?
Philip Shenon, a veteran investigative journalist who spent most of his career at The New York Times, finally provides many of the answers. Though A CRUEL AND SHOCKING ACT began as Shenon's attempt to write the first insider's history of the Warren Commission, it quickly became something much larger and more important when he discovered startling information that was withheld from the Warren Commission by the CIA, FBI and others in power in Washington. Shenon shows how the commission's ten-month investigation was doomed to fail because the man leading it - Chief Justice Earl Warren - was more committed to protecting the Kennedy family than getting to the full truth about what happened on that tragic day. A taut, page-turning narrative, Shenon's book features some of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century-Bobby Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Chief Justice Warren, CIA spymasters Allen Dulles and Richard Helms, as well as the CIA's treacherous 'molehunter,' James Jesus Angleton.
Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to the surviving commission staffers and many other key players, Philip Shenon's authoritative, scrupulously researched book will forever change the way we think about the Kennedy assassination and about the deeply flawed investigation that followed.
With meticulous rigour and the sure-handed storytelling of a gifted thriller writer . . . Shenon's careful delineation of the limits of the facts is more necessary than ever * Metro *
A masterful piece of modern history * Independent *
Compelling * Sunday Times *
The Passage of Power
Robert A. Caro
Empire's Crossroads
Carrie Gibson
The Conquest of New Spain
Bernal Diaz del Castillo
The Penguin History of the United States of America
Hugh Brogan
Empire of the Summer Moon
S.C. Gwynne
Team of Rivals
One Minute To Midnight
Michael Dobbs
Where I Was From
America, Empire of Liberty
DR David Reynolds
American History: A Very Short Introduction
Paul S. Boyer
Jon Lee Anderson
Hugh Thomas
Ron Chernow
H G Bissinger
The American Civil War
The Story of Che Guevara
Lucia Alvarez de Toledo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This event has passed, but click on the 'Events' tab above for our upcoming schedule!
Old Town Pour House will offer a prix fixe menu throughout the month of September as part of Chicago Gourmet's "Dine Around." Chef Paul has created a three course dinner menu that is sure to satisfy! This menu will be gone after September, so be sure to stop in and taste it!


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De DN59B (Drum Național 59B of Nationale weg 59B) is een weg in Roemenië. Hij loopt van Deta naar Cărpiniș. De weg is 75 kilometer lang.

59B

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


War of the Rebellion: Serial 024 Page 0581 Chapter XXIX. FORREST'S EXPEDITION INTO W. TENN.
siderably farther to the east, and the skirmishing party was withdrawn to the regiment at Williams' house.
Determined to ascertain if possible the force and disposition of the enemy, two pieces of artillery were ordered forward to the edge of the wood, supported by four companies of the Fiftieth Indiana, under Major Attkisson. From these guns a fire was opened upon the enemy along the ridge. He replied with at least a full battery, and the fire for a little while was intense on both sides. Seeing that the enemy had put a heavy force in line along and just over the crest of the ridge, and having accomplished all I desired at that place and time. I ordered our fire to cease and the forces there to be withdrawn to the main column at the cross-roads. Two or three of the horses of one gun having been disabled it was gallantly taken out by a detachment of the Fiftieth under a heavy fire of grape and shell.
The whole command was then moved south, down the Lexington road half a mile, to the Red Mound, and placed in line of battle along and behind the crest of the ridge, which ran back from the road at an angle of forty-five degrees about half the length of the line, where it turns still more eastward; the left rested upon the road; the right upon a thick wood and ravine; the artillery was placed at the turn in the ridge. This position covered a field to the west, a considerable part of the road running south from the cross-roads, and also, by our guns, a portion of the road from the west to the cross-roads. The wagon train was placed in a hollow to the rear, with two companies (one of the Thirty-ninth and one of the One hundred and twenty-second Illinois beyond) to protect it. These dispositions were scarcely made, indeed the artillery had not got fully into position, before the enemy in heavy columns was seen moving from the wood on to the road, near Williams' house, and along it toward the cross-roads. Being out of range of our musketry the artillery was ordered to open fire upon the advancing column, which it did; but from some cause seemingly with but little effect. Lieutenant-Colonel Wells was also directed to send two companies of his regiment (the Fiftieth Indiana) toward the cross-roads to watch and check his advance. Company G, Captain Carothers, immediately moved up the road at double-quick, deployed in the lane,, opened a galling fire, and held his position until forced back by overwhelming numbers. Company B, Lieutenant Davies, also moved forward at the same step and deployed along the edge of the woods, upon which I afterward changed my line, and did valuable service.


Kyle Becker was untouchable on Monday, throwing a no-hitter in Campbell County Camels Varsity's 23-0 victory over Calvary Christian .
No Calvary Christian batter was able to locate Kyle Becker's pitches during the game. Kyle Becker threw a no-hitter, striking out nine batters and walking none while recording his momentous feat. He got Liming to strike out for the final out of the game.
Seventeen runs in the first three innings helped Campbell County Camels Varsity blow out Calvary Christian . An error, an RBI single by Robert Metz, a groundout by Nick Sheanshang, an RBI triple by Erik "Willy" Cox, an RBI double by Blake Losey, an RBI single by Gabe Kremer, and an RBI single by Dawson Hogan during the first inning and a passed ball, an RBI single by Josh Reynolds, an RBI single by Blake, and an RBI double by Avery Wood in the second inning fueled Campbell County Camels Varsity's offense early.
Blake racked up three RBIs on three hits for Campbell County Camels Varsity.
Campbell County Camels Varsity easily handled Calvary Christian pitching as nine hitters combined for 17 hits, 15 RBIs and 16 runs scored.
Landers was the game's losing pitcher. He allowed 12 runs in two innings, walked one and struck out none.


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This is a story about an extended morning with Nora; a Norwegian beauty with whom I had the luck to live together. Nora is the master of a steady stream of black coffee, canned sardines and occasional midnight aquavit shots accompanied with charming small talk. But she reached the top of her Scandinavian hospitality once when she returned home with a luggage full of delicatessen from Oslo and set us up a huge breakfast table. That was my introduction to the Norway style of spending the Sunday mornings while watching the ocean from large windows, as I like to imagine.
When Nora opened her luggage, I felt like a child on a Christmas Eve with unknown presents awaiting. She brought numerous types of cheese which didn't taste like cheese at all, gluten-free wraps and crackers, several kinds of smoked salmon, tubed caviar spread (definitely tasting better than the Ikea version) and game meat salamis.
Norwegian breakfast / brunch is high on protein, caffeine and omega 3. In general, Scandinavians are great supporters, and perhaps even the inventors of salmon & dill combination and they do not shy away from this combo even in the morning. Perfect creamy scrambled eggs with dill are served with freshly pulled smoked salmon. Black coffee is a must for the morning-kick effect but it's supplemented with a fresh orange juice for an additional vitamin boast.
Nora started with potato based gluten-free wrappers, rolled with cheese and Valerian salad inside and cut into pieces. We placed them on plates decorated with more Valerian green.
We had two types of very specific cheese: Brunost is a whey-based product in the form of a brown block; one needs to use a cheese slicer to cut it into paper-thin slices. It's sweet & salty with an intense caramel taste and so delicious that I got the impression that it's a must-have in every fridge for good. I imagine sneaking in and stealing one more slice, just to close my eyes and enjoy the creamy sharp taste. This is a pure comfort food but it's nothing like your ordinary cheese, I wouldn't even know what to pair it with.
The second brown cheese is a different story. It's called Gamalost, is a distinctive Norwegian cheese with a spongy texture made from skimmed cow's milk, almost falling into pieces when cut. Yet, it's definitely not for vanilla people, the taste is very sharp and stinky. I like to think that it's a Viking invention, created to judge how tough you are. This could be a part of a Viking coming-of-age ceremony: If you can eat a whole block without shedding a tear, you deserve your title. The cheese stank all over the flat so much that it was competing with all those salmon and fish spreads lying around. But the taste, again, was so intense; it brings tears to one's eyes if caught off-guard.
Then Nora prepared perfect soft and creamy scrambled eggs based on her mother's recipe. For the best result, eggs should be cooked in butter on a non-stick pan with low fire. You only need fresh eggs, butter, dill and salt. Here is the method: Crack the eggs on a pot; lightly mix them with chopped dill and salt. Then add them on a pan with butter, swirl and sweep with spatula until they're creamy on low fire. Just remember that it'll continue cooking even after removing from fire, just be careful not to overcook the eggs. We want creamy, not dry. And it goes without saying; serve them with freshly pulled smoked salmon.
The table is nearly ready when we placed the black coffee and fresh orange juice to wash everything down.
This was one of the most pleasant mornings. We spent several hours preparing, chattering about differences in customs, sharing childhood breakfast stories and enjoying the precious view from our large windows, despite having no ocean in front of us. I have to confess that eating fish in the morning is an unusual idea for me, but I think I can live with that. I was as awake as I could ever be after all this healthy protein boast; ready to deal with whatever the rest of the Sunday was about to bring my way.
Little quiches are juicy, crispy and absolutely addictive. After eating them the whole day, I still returned home with 8 of them, which were eaten during the next day! Beware of too much unexpected butter in the metabolism. Be nice to yourself; eat only a couple of them in a day and with lots of green salad aside!


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Q: ASP.Net Binding to Gridview Strips some space (whitespace characters) I am retrieving data from an Oracle database and binding the same to a gridview control.
I noticed that there are instances when the column contains a single quote or double quote, the spaces or whitespace characters get stripped off.
Sample of some data in fields in Oracle:
To Be Phased Out ASAP '  ",
When retrieved, it becomes...
To Be Phased Out ASAP ' ",
And another one...
IT''S TEST RECORD" DDD "  FFF
which becomes
IT''S TEST RECORD" DDD " FFF
I don't have any clue why this is happening...
any ideas?
I think even here the spaces are getting trimmed.  In my example in the first field which is:
To Be Phased Out ASAP '  "
there are actually two spaces after the single quote but it is displaying just a single space here.. Odd...
single quote space space double quote --> '  "
I think the extra space after a quote or single quote is being removed by asp.net??
I also found out that when I am editing my gridview, the extra white spaces are retained but when I go back to the original view, the whitespaces are gone.
To rephrase this question..
How Do I Preserve the WhiteSpace in the gridview when displaying the data?

A: This is not an ASP.Net thing, it is an HTML parsing thing. If you were to create a plain Jane HTML page with a div tag in it, and then put 100 spaces between the opening and closing tag it would all be condensed into a single space.
This is a classic web issue. If you really want to have everything come out correctly, then you will need to HTML encode any spaces before displaying them on the page.
Try replacing all your spaces with
Here is an article that explains this a little more in-depth: http://webdesign.about.com/od/beginningtutorials/f/blfaqwhitespace.htm
To answer the question in the comment:
If you need to have a lot of control over exactly what is going out to your grid even when it is DataBound, you can simply handle the RowDataBound event that fires after each row is bound.
Suppose you have a GridView that looks like this:
<asp:GridView ID="gbGridWithSpaces" AutoGenerateColumns="false" runat="server"
    onrowdatabound="gbGridWithSpaces_RowDataBound">
    <Columns>
        <asp:BoundField DataField="ItemWithSpaces" HeaderText="Item With Spaces" />
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>

In your code behind, you can handle the event to re-format the outgoing text however you please. For example:
protected void gbGridWithSpaces_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    foreach (TableCell cell in e.Row.Cells)
    {
        cell.Text = cell.Text.Replace(" ", " ");
    }
}

That would effectively replace all spaces with   and preserve them even when rendered to the browser. Just remember your data will come back this way as well, so you will need to handle this on the server if you plan to pass this information back into persistent storage.

A: If the spaces are important, you could try wrapping in preformatted text elements

 tags.

To Be Phased Out ASAP '  "

becomes
To Be Phased Out ASAP '  "

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Production line monitoring is a key focus for the manufacturing industry. This video shows a machine error in progress. ProCapture motion capture systems recording at up to 1000 frames per second can pinpoint minute errors that cause complex problems in this high-speed environment. ProAnalyst motion analysis software included with every ProCapture system allows you to further analyze, troubleshoot, and eliminate production line errors.


Congratulations to Orlando Jacinto Garcia on his work Auschwitz (nunca se olviadarán) receiving a Latin Grammy nomination. Orlando has also received a prestigious research award at the Florida International University today.
The Miami International GuitART Festival official Facebook Page is published today!
Welcome to the MIGF News Blog!
Welcome to our news blog. You will find a series of posts here informing you about news related to our festival, artists, concerts, and all other events leading to and after the festival in February 2016.
© 2019 2016 | Miami International GuitART Festival.


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OWN's Vision
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Celebrate the Spark of Students. Support Their Dreams
Your gift now supports their future.
Thank you for being someone who understands the spark of global caring and citizenship, who sees its bright value. Join with others to pass that gift onward to the next generation of leaders, with a contribution to the work of OneWorld Now. You are needed.
Please meet OneWorld Now alum Aminah Adams.
Aminah is a deeply thoughtful young woman from Seattle's Rainier Valley who speaks powerfully about the issues that spark her passion. As a 14 year-old, she heard about OneWorld Now's summer camp introduction to Arabic and signed up. "I love Rachid!" she quips, about our legendary Arabic instructor. "So then I was like, let's do the academic year." Aminah went on to take Arabic 1-3 and two years of leadership workshops with OneWorld Now. She also came back to volunteer.
Leadership was the best extracurricular activity that I did in my high school years. It really shaped my leadership skills: group work, talking about real issues going on within America, social issues across the globe. The main and most important thing is it shaped who I am to interact with people internationally, to stand up for good causes. Being a leader basically.
Aminah says those three years of programs set the stage for the events that changed her life.
When I was 17 years old, I went to Amman, Jordan. OneWorld Now is what helped me get into the program. I got the travel bug when I entered Jordan but when I got the spark is when we went to the Palestinian orphanage and I was volunteering to help, to plant flowers for the kids. That's when I got the spark, when I knew that I don't want to stay in the U.S. I want to pursue my medical career in another country, outside the U.S., and I want to take the skills that I have – the lingual skills, the Arabic skills – and volunteer within the medical field in a country like Jordan. That's the real spark: to experience a whole new culture, a whole new education system, everything.
Alhamdulilah, I got in and here I am! In nursing school in Turkey! The OneWorld Now staff helped so much with applications and recommendations. OWN played a big role in my aspirations to go to college internationally. I love OWN and I know future students will too.
Support Our Students Here!
Students Seek their Spark through OneWorld Now
Our vision is a world where all young people have access to transformative international education. It speaks powerfully into this moment of the world, as well as to today's students. A surprise of the pandemic has been the record number of students who have enrolled for our language and leadership programs. Enrollment literally doubled, going from 110 students to 220 students. Our plan for the year is to meet their hunger to become global citizens in four ways:
More Students with More Access: In-person classes are happening again, but we heard overwhelmingly from students that they also wanted online classes. Online studies remove barriers that prevented some students from accessing the program in the past. We anticipated a decline in enrollment this year, as other in-person extracurricular activities started up again, but instead, last year's record enrollment stayed steady. And as always, no student is ever turned away for lack of funds.
More Partnerships: While we have had a relationship with Seattle Public Schools for years, we now have a contract with them, adding school-day classes to our after-school programs. And we have a new partnership agreement with Highline Public Schools, south of Seattle.
Deeper Commitment to Equity. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to reflect on organizational culture at OneWorld Now. Two concrete outcomes of this reflection have been the hiring of an alum, Nasreen Hassan, as our new Community Engagement Coordinator, which increases our accountability to the communities we serve. Board transitions will further center two alums in organizational leadership. We are thrilled that Nancy Harris will assume the role of Board Chair in January, and that Rania Mussa is our new Treasurer.
Return of Study Abroad: We are optimistic about running some programs in 2022, although the pandemic is obviously still creating a lot of uncertainty. At minimum we will continue to support our students who want to study abroad with other programs. We plan to raise and give away $60,000 in study abroad scholarship support.
Celebrate the Spark of Students. Support Their Dreams.
Most of our students would not be able to participate in our programs if they had to pay the true cost. And we know that it is our duty to pay our staff a living wage for the transformational work they do with our students. So how do we fill this gap? Many of the extra costs of the past 20 months were met through one-time grants, such as COVID relief funds. Those special grants won't be here next year. But you will be. Individuals like you fill a special place: funds that flow directly to student needs without restrictions. The goal by the end of the year is to raise $30,000 from people like you. A group of friends have already donated $17,000 toward that goal. Please add your spark to theirs!
Make a tax-deductible gift online or by mailing a check to 610 Maynard Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104
Consider a monthly pledge. They add up over time!
Our friends at ChiaChia's Queendom want to entice your generosity! Through December 31, when you purchase one of their delicious cooking products, they will make a 100% matching donation to OWN. Handcrafted, small batch, and bursting with flavor, these oils bring international cuisine to your table. Just enter the promocode OWN2021 at checkout.
Questions or other ideas? Reach out to Beth Amsbary, Development Manager at beth@oneworldnow.org or 206-285-8830.
Thank you, on behalf of Aminah and every OneWorld Now student seeking their spark.
610 Maynard Avenue S
info@oneworldnow.org
Copyright 2019 OneWorld Now!


This is an exclusive business profile of Shiva Computers located in , Vidisha. From this Page, you can directly contact Shiva Computers from the enquiry form provided on the right. On the left you can get the Verified Mobile Number of Shiva Computers – feel free to call us to know more about our products & services. We will soon update our Catalog which you can download to get latest information about all our products & services and latest deals & offers by Shiva Computers. Do check out our Job Openings section to know about all the vacancies in Shiva Computers. You can also check out our Photo Gallery section to see latest photos of Shiva Computers. Before leaving, do not forget to give us your review and rating if you have been a customer of Shiva Computers in the past.
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Pool and Patio Restoration Case Study - Executive Landscaping, Inc.
The original construction of the pool years prior did not allow enough drainage to prevent periodic flooding into adjacent rooms of the house, so the Sunnenberg's needed an effective solution that would also enhance their residential design and incorporate patio hardscape ideas that would elevate their existing residential landscape. In addition to the poor design of the pool was the fact that the pool deck was damaged, and an addition had been made with unattractive wooden decking that had since begun to deteriorate. The addition was also inconsistent to the original deck's elevation, creating trip hazards and an erratic appearance for the entire hardscape design. Employing our expertise in patio hardscape ideas for residential design, the team at Executive Landscaping, Inc., worked with the clients to assess the issue and provide effective solutions that would also improve the backyard further with the addition of an outdoor kitchen and cabana to freshen up the look of the pool area.
Any patio hardscape ideas we presented the client first needed to eliminate the step down from the porch onto the pool deck and resolve the drainage issues that were causing flooding. Because of the poor design and deterioration of the existing deck, the task of improving it and adding a cabana was very simple.
Our first action was to remove the old wooden deck and then remove the pool deck so that rainwater could be redirected away from the house and pool and into the drainage system to prevent flooding. An existing elevation fall from the pool deck area to the street provided natural drainage, so we utilized that fall to work in our favor by installing catch basins and downspouts from the gutters and then tied them into a six-inch line that ran downhill to the street.
Once the base had been re-built with four inches of compacted crushed aggregate to encourage drainage further, we installed pavers to create a new porch and pool deck and added additional walkways to a separate patio in another area of the backyard where a koi pond was incorporated into the patio hardscape ideas to provide further visual appeal. To complete the project, landscape material was added, and a cabana and kitchen were constructed.
Need the expert touch to bring your patio hardscape ideas to life? Call the team at Executive Landscaping, Inc., for a custom estimate today!


Includes not only rolling-bearing arrangements, but bearing-related components, such as shafts and housings. Lubricant is a very important part of bearing arrangement because lubricants prevent wear and corrosion, so that the bearings can fully play its role. In addition, the seal is also a very important part, sealing performance of lubricant cleanliness is essential. Keep clean and has a far-reaching effect on bearing service life, which is why lubricants and seals have become the operational part of the NSK cause.
– Installation and removal methods.
Each individual decisions will influence on bearing configuration for performance, reliability, and affordability.
Bearing matching of workload required depends on the availability of similar experiences. Case of lack of experience, with special requirements, or the need for bearing arrangement costs and any other subsequent appearance to give special consideration, more work needs to be done, such as more accurate calculation and/or testing.
Integrated technical introduction section bearing arrangement design staff will see the order in accordance with the General requirements and provide the necessary basic information. Obviously, impossible for every conceivable bearing application all the information you need is included. For this reason, we will in many references to NSK application of comprehensive engineering services, which include the right choice bearings as well as how to perform a full calculation of bearing arrangements and other technical support. Technical requirements for bearing arrangements the higher the bearings used in the application, in particular more limited experience, the more you should take advantage of this service.


Cyanide in Water and Soil: Chemistry, Risk, ... in remediation of former manufactured gas plant sites and ... Cyanide in Water and Soil: Chemistry, Risk, and Management.
BiologyMad A-Level Biology. If respiratory inhibitors such as cyanide are applied to , as well as measuring the rate of , The plant is then frozen in liquid nitrogen to kill .
Understanding Cyanide Poisoning. A number of common plants may accumulate large quantities of cyanogenic compounds. Sorghums and related species readily accumulate these compounds.
Jan 21, 2015· Compounds that release cyanide are naturally present in plants. ... (FDA) are some federal agencies that develop regulations for toxic substances.
Cyanide analysis methods attempt to measure groups of compounds with similar chemical characteristics and report them as a single value.
In the Basic configuration the unit monitors the free cyanide concentration in a Gold plant. ... The TAC 1000 is a cost effective solution to measure cyanide on-line.
Measure Copper Content of Cyanide Leach Solution - … To assay for copper contained in a cyanide solution, the first essential step of the method is to completely decompose all the cyanogen compounds.
In plants, cyanides are usually ... The cyanide radical (called cyanogen) is used to measure the temperature of interstellar gas clouds. Pyrolysis and combustion product.
Jan 02, 2018· Cyanide toxicity is generally ... The failure of this measure was probably attributable to ... Ingestion of cyanide-containing supplements or plants.
This term is usually defined as "the alkaline hydrates and half the monocarbonates" whose action is to protect the cyanide from decomposition, by acids developed in the ore and by atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• Wastewater Treatment Plants • Semiconductor Manufacturing If you burn organics cyanide is there! Demand for Cyanide Methods . Who is measuring cyanide?


We offer a range of interior design services to take the hassle out of decorating and make your vision a reality.
Installing new drapery rods? Leave it to our seasoned carpenter to help you with your installation needs.
Our skilled seamstress will sew your dream décor or tailor items to the specifications you need.
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Home » Three buggy teams running Radar Tires at Imperial Valley 250
Three buggy teams running Radar Tires at Imperial Valley 250
Radar Tires continues its growth in long-course, off road racing. For this weekend's SCORE International Imperial Valley 250, the Singapore-based tire brand will be represented by three Class 10 Buggy teams.
Set in Plaster City, Calif., on 41,000 acres, the three-lap, 82-mile race course includes a combination of rugged desert terrain with a purpose-built eight-mile section, specialty-built jumps, turns and a table-top area in a one square-mile of private land in the center of the race course. Unlike the other Baja desert events, the Imperial Valley includes an infield area that includes the start/finish line, main pits, series operation compound, spectator viewing areas and the winners circle.
Bronson Motorsports, Richards Performance Muffler and Robinson/Romo Racing will use special non-DOT size 33X10.50R15 Radar Renegade R5 race tires for this weekend's Imperial Valley 250.
"We've done our homework for this weekend's Imperial Valley 250, and we're ready to build on our success from the Baja 250 win in March," said Gary Blalock, Radar Tires Motorsports Manager. "The teams will spend the better part of this week getting familiar with the course and fine-tuning their vehicles for the course. The course is reported to be quite rough but we're confident that we have the right tire and compound that will work well in Plaster City. It is especially exciting to have three Class 10 teams competing on Radar Tires!"
The 2013 Baja 500 Class 10 winner Mike Johnson in the No. 1031 Radar Tires Buggy likes the challenge ahead of him at the Imperial Valley 250. Johnson and co-driver Mike Majesky drew the 15th starting position in a field of 16 Class 10 entrants. The Bronson Motorsports drivers suffered from engine issues during the season-opening Baja 250. The team has spent the last several weeks preparing the race buggy to withstand this weekend's 250-mile event.
"Now that the Baja 250 is behind us, we've had some time to inspect and modify our buggy to ensure that we don't have any more performance issues," said Johnson, co-driver and owner of Bronson Motorsports. "We haven't finished a race since winning the Baja 500 last year, and we're bound and determined to finish and win the Imperial Valley 250 this weekend. I love starting from the back and we're just about the last buggy in Class 10. We'll fight with the dust and dirt from the other buggies, but that's the way we like it."
Richards Performance Muffler team joins Radar Tires for the Imperial Valley 250. Co-drivers Richard Glaszczak and Patrick Dailey will start the race from the 10th position in the No. 1073 RPM Buggy.
"We are excited and ready for the Imperial Valley 250 race in our own backyard," team owner Glaszczak said. "Patrick and I both live about two hours from Plaster City and this feels like a home race for us. Our buggy has made some test runs on the Radar Renegade R5 tires. The tests went well and we're pleased with the performance and durability of the tires. We're thrilled to be part of the team, especially since Radar Tires is coming off that Baja 250 win. We want to get them a second win this season and we plan to make it happen this weekend."
Carrying momentum from their 2014 SCORE Baja 250 Class 10 win are Cody Robinson and Roberto Romo, co-drivers of the No. 1016 Robinson Farms/Romo Race Prep Buggy. The Baja 250 was the first time Robinson and Romo competed in SCORE Class 10 and with Radar Tires. Robinson and Romo will start from the first position of the Class 10 group based on SCORE International's random qualifying draw earlier this month.
"I am excited to be back in Plaster City and to be able to attack this terrain with the Radar Renegade R5s," said lead driver Robinson. "Starting first in my mind is great. We will be out front and ahead of the competitors and all the dust a field of this size can kick up; that should work to our advantage. I believe this will be a sprint race, so fast is key, but we also need to be smart and take care of the buggy out in the rough terrain of Plaster City. Hopefully we will be able to build on our win at San Felipe and finish on the box out at the IV250."
The approximate race start for Class 10 is 2 p.m. (PT) on Saturday, April 26. For live timing and webcast of the SCORE International Imperial Valley 250, visit
www.score-international.com and www.dirtlive.com.
Exclusive Imperial Valley 250 event information is available at www.IVSCORE250.com.
Radar Tires is competing in two events this weekend. In addition to competing in the long-course, off road racing in SCORE International this weekend, Radar Tires will be on-track for TORC: The Off Road Championship's Husqvarna Showdown in Charlotte on April 25-26.


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Home > Project Donation > "Love and Care" Special Fund
Owing to the increasing social and family problems in Hong Kong, "Love and Care" Special Fund has been set up to respond to the social needs that require immediate attention, and to support vulnerable groups stricken by poverty, diseases, accidents and family breakdown, in addition to the promotion of the loving and caring spirit.
The fund was launched in 2001, with the programme "Video Letters - V-mail Sealed with Love" co-organised with RTHK. Thanks to the participants and the Hong Kong Housing Society, over 110 thousand dollars was raised and injected into the "Love and Care" Special Fund to help the underprivileged. In 2002, the Association further organised a charity walk to raise money for the Fund.
To convey love and caring messages, to concern the disadvantaged social groups and to build a harmonious society.
How can the Special Fund help the needy?
By filling the service gap and giving out cash promptly
HKYWCA's members and service users can seek help from our social workers and apply for the "Love and Care" Special Fund if there is an emergency and they lack support from the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme or other available funds. Cash aid will be ready in three days. Applicants may receive, on successful application, a maximum of HK$5,000, to settle the expenses for funerals, moving house, and other daily expenditure, etc.
Your support is crucial in helping people in desperate situations
With HK$10,000, you can help two families who need immediate cash aid.
Everyone experiences ups and downs. Timely support is very important when one falls on hard times. Give the needy a helping hand, and fill their future with hope!
Download donation form (pdf)
Enquiry: 3476-1311