text:
Tag: Andrea Yates, Belinda Hill, Breaking Point, Chuck Rosenthal, Vanessa Leggett
Andrea Yates, June 20, 2001.
Around 11 AM on June 26, 2001, six days and one hour after Andrea Yates summoned Houston police to her suburban, middle-class house and confessed that she'd drowned her children, St. Martin's Press contracted me to write a book about the case. Simultaneously, Judge Belinda Hill of the 230th District Court in Harris County, Texas, the presiding judge on the case, placed a gag order on all involved, including cops, investigators, attorneys and witnesses. Yates' husband, Russell Yates, was served the gag order at church that night while attending his dead children's visitation.
At the time, I thought the gag order and competing with the national media were my only obstacles to covering the crime. I was wrong. I had the wrath of Judge Hill with which to contend and the fallout from the jailing of freelance writer Vanessa Leggett. Leggett was a friend of mine, who I'd met two and a half years earlier at a book signing for my first true crime book, Wasted. She soon told me she was working on a true crime of her own, about a Houston murder, and that she'd done research for a Texas Monthly writer, taught classes to law enforcement officers, and done some private investigation work.
July 16, 2001, Vanessa and I shared lunch. The national media had hired private investigators and had teams of reporters on the Yates case. I needed Vanessa's investigative help. She told me the Houston chief of police had sent a memo to all HPD employees, threatening their jobs if they spoke to anyone about the case.
But Vanessa, pale and shaking, also told me that Federal investigators were after her for refusing to turn over her complete research files regarding accused murderer Robert Angleton, the subject of the book she was writing. She couldn't do that, she explained, because she'd promised many of her sources anonymity. If she turned over her files, her sources would be revealed. She could not compromise her word. And because of that, she wouldn't be surprised, she said, to be jailed by the end of the week.
Journalist Vanessa Leggett serving time for contempt of court.
July 20, 2001, Vanessa was locked in a Federal cell, held in contempt of court. Suddenly, she was the news, and suddenly, I was advised to give my two previously published books to prosecutors, defense attorneys, and any other potential source to assure them I "wasn't another Vanessa Leggett," that I was a "legitimate, published author," not the "wannabe" that prosecutors were accusing Vanessa of being. By then, attorneys for Andrea Yates and attorneys for the Houston Chronicle had filed briefs in the 14th Court of Appeals, attempting to fight Judge Hill's gag order.
Some days, it seemed that the Yates and Leggett cases were fighting for front-page space in the Chronicle. Every time Vanessa's story was printed in the Chronicle, then covered in the national, and even international, media, my job became harder. Rapidly, sources who had said they'd talk, wouldn't. At least one potential source, I was told, consulted his attorney about my interview request, before turning me down, on the attorney's advice. Others turned me down on the advice of colleagues.
In fact, I had more interviewees stand me up for meetings during the five months of reporting the Yates case, than in my previous 25-year career.
Other sources became jittery and agonized over their decisions to talk. When they did speak, they spoke only on condition of anonymity, which caused them to panic that I wouldn't be another Vanessa Leggett and that I wouldn't protect their identities. So, one minute I had to reassure them that I was another Vanessa Leggett and I would go to jail to protect them. And the next minute I had to reassure them I wasn't another Vanessa, i.e. allegedly unpublished.
All of this gag order-inspired need for anonymity eventually affected my ability to tell a more complete, full, and truthful story, in what I found to be an unexpected way. Despite the fact that I often had two to four sources confirming imperative facts, since all of those two to four sources were anonymous, St. Martin's attorney wouldn't allow me to use those rock solid facts. He understandably feared that no source would stand up in liable court to back me.
Thursday, August 4, 2001, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals denied the Houston Chronicle's request to throw out the gag order in the case against Andrea Yates. In their opinion, written by Justice Charles W. Seymore, the court referred to the crime as "an undeniably tragic episode" that resulted in a "maelstrom of media attention."
The court stated that Judge Hill "initially was not inclined to grant a gag order." Instead, she "admonished counsel for both sides that she intended to try the case in court and not n the press. However, the parties evidently did not need that warning…"
Seymore wrote that the Houston Chronicle had been present during the gag order hearing and had asked to be heard. "Judge Hill noted, however, that the Houston Chronicle was not a party to the criminal proceedings or to the gag order, and declined to entertain its objections at that particular time, stating she would revisit with counsel after the hearing."
The Court of Appeals ultimately decided that Hill's gag order did not infringe upon the media's First Amendment right of freedom on the press. Indeed, Seymore cited a Virginia case as proof: "The Court described that right, however, as only a right to sit, listen, watch and report. The press has no right to information about a trial superior to that of the general public." And, in citing a case against Warner Communications, Seymore additionally wrote, "In short, the media's right to gather information during a criminal trial is no more than a right to attend the trial and report on their observations."–BREAKING POINT
August 8, 2001, Andrea Yates walked into the 230th District Court for her arraignment. Her plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was quickly entered. Less quickly, prosecutors and defense attorneys carped about leaks to the press, as the defense desperately tried to slip in statements rebutting alleged prosecutorial leaks. Judge Hill silenced the attorneys, making it clear she wasn't going to tolerate any attempts to try the case in the press. The arraignment ended and a bailiff ordered the press out of the courtroom.
Judge Belinda Hill.
Indeed, the day before, Judge Belinda Hill had issued a gag order instructing all "spectators and media representatives" to "immediately leave courtroom 7-7 and all cameras shall be removed as soon as possible," after the proceedings were concluded. The judge's order also demanded that the pool video camera not record any sound–nothing the judge or attorneys said.
It further stated, "Media personnel outside the courtroom shall not create distractions and shall avoid restricting movement of persons passing through the halls and/or doors to the courtroom."
Any person who violated the order was subject to contempt and expulsion from the courtroom. And "all persons employed by a media organization" were "presumed to have notice" of the order, whether they had seen it or not.–BREAKING POINT
That afternoon, Judge Hill briefly loosened the gag order for the prosecution only as the Harris County District Attorney's Office announced it would seek the death penalty against Andrea Yates. The next day, District Attorney Rosenthal defended his decision to CNN.
Yates attorney George Parnham also asked the judge for a loosening of the gag so that Russell Yates could respond to the the DA's death action against Yates's wife, i.e. so he too could defend his position. The judge only allowed the defense team to announce the formation of the Andrea Pia Yates Defense Fund. At the press conference, the media asked Russell Yates what he thought about the DA's decision to seek the death penalty. Yates replied that he would love to answer that question but he couldn't because of the gag order.
Days later, Houston Chronicle reporter Mary Flood wrote, "Something terribly troublesome is happening in the Andrea Yates capital murder case." She explained that she was "talking about the erosion of constitutional rights…" and she pointed out that on June 22, 2001, Judge Hill had held a hearing "that was unconstitutional because the press and the public were physically excluded and couldn't hear what was said by the attorneys or Yates."
Then, said Flood, on the Monday prior to the arraignment, "another problematic hearing was held in the Yates case. Reporters who happened into the unannounced event couldn't hear the proceeding and several said the judge wouldn't clarify what happened afterward." The attorneys couldn't clarify the proceedings either, she wrote, because of the gag order, thus encouraging false reports to go uncorrected.
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal with Andrea Yates prosecutors Joe Owmby and Kaylynn Williford. (Photo credit: Houston Chronicle.)
August 16, 2002, I wrote letters to DA Rosenthal and prosecutors Joe Owmby and Kaylynn Williford informing them I was writing a book on the Yates case for St. Martin's Press. I asked for assistance after the gag order was lifted. And I stated, "Please know that anything I learn won't appear in tomorrow's media. It will be months down the line. Indeed, no publication date has been established."
I also requested that my name be included on any media contact lists for future news conferences and/or press releases.
Only Rosenthal answered: "I am sure that you are a very good author and will do a fine job in documenting the capital murder case. As a matter of course, I do not do press releases." He may not have done press releases, but both he and Russell Yates were talking to the Dallas Morning News.
Just before Labor Day weekend, defense attorneys filed more than 1000 pages of medical records with the court, presumably as a way to rebut previous prejudicial statements from the prosecution, and Court TV filed a motion asking to televise the Yates competency hearing scheduled for September 12. The Court TV motion was eventually denied. The judge did decree that a video camera could be in the courtroom, but nothing could be broadcast live, and no sound could be recorded.
Just after Labor Day, through the grapevine, I heard that a limited press pool would be allowed to cover the competency hearing. September 4, 2001, I emailed a request for press pool credentials to Court Administrator Jack Thompson, believing that the hearing did indeed begin on September 12. The following day, I also faxed a request on my business letterhead. Mr. Thompson emailed me back, "Come on down…..We all know Judge Fuller who was in your WASTED book……"
The original "Breaking Point" cover.
I emailed again asking if I needed to do anything in particular prior to "coming on down" or once I "come on down." He replied that I need to come to the administration office to pick up my pass. At some point, St. Martin's Press followed up my request with a request of their own, on my behalf. I also followed up with DA Rosenthal, sending him several "dummy" copies of my book's cover, giving him plenty to show off to his cronies, and letting him know the book was truly "in the works" for publication. It's title was Breaking Point.
September 11, 2001, I learned that New York and Washington were being attacked, just as I learned that jury selection was beginning for Andrea Yates's competency hearing. Despite my correspondence with the DA's office and the courts' administrative office, no one had ever indicated to me that jury selection began the day prior to the published competency hearing start date. I raced to downtown Houston on empty inbound lanes as I stared at cars parked in traffic desperately trying to get home to family and safety.
But that was moot; due to the terrorists' attacks, the Yates competency hearing was postponed a week. So, on September 18, I showed up at the courts' administrative office to get my press pass only to learn that my pass was the for the actual competency hearing only, not jury selection. Again, no one had informed me that there were different passes for different aspects of the hearing.
Casually and comfortably, Jack Thompson, and his co-worker Janet Warner, suggested that I go have a chat with Judge Fuller, the judge in my first true crime book. I did. Then I stood in the hallway and watched, taking notes on the courthouse atmosphere. Janet Warner came up, stood beside me, and she chit-chatted about Judge Hill, saying she was the "best judge" they had.
I asked if I could just peek through the courtroom window during jury selection to get a feeling of the courtroom for the book. Graciously, Warner got me a pass that had been reserved for CNN, taped over it with "St. Martin Press" (sic), and gave it to me. After all, CNN had abandoned Yates coverage for 9/11 coverage.
So had 60 Minutes, which had interviewed Russell Yates with a planned airdate of the Sunday after the competency hearing. Indeed, during the actual competency trial, Russell Yates had grinned in the courthouse corridor as he'd said he knew he wouldn't be thrown in jail for breaking the gag order because 60 Minutes had interviewed DA Rosenthal, too. And I frowned in the courthouse as I repeatedly talked about my Yates book deadline–just a month or two away.
Russell Yates awaiting the verdict at the 2001 Andrea Yates competency hearing.
Saturday, September 22, 2001, the jury came in with a verdict–Andrea Yates was competent to stand trial. Following the judge's orders–which were similar to those of the arraignment–the press raced downstairs, out the courthouse doors, and stood outside waiting for attorneys and jurors to exit. After all, courtroom and hallway interviews were prohibited, even on Saturdays.
And the press waited.
Finally, Judge Hill's bailiff walked outside and bellowed to the press that they couldn't interview the jurors.
"It's not legal," yelled Cynthia Hunt, who was a reporter for the Houston ABC affiliate. She argued that the judge had removed that from the media orders.
"It's not my problem," the bailiff replied and left. But he soon returned, with Judge Hill's media order in his hand and read them aloud to the press.
"Anybody gonna cross the line?" said one reporter.
"We'll watch," came the chorus.
"Do you want video for the big trial?" said a cameraman. He advised his counterparts to pick their battles, and this wasn't the time to pick a battle, he said.–BREAKING POINT
On October 2, attorneys for the Houston Chronicle filed a motion in Judge Hill's court, asking her to modify her September 18, 2001, order precluding the media from talking to the Yates competency hearing jurors. Her order, the attorneys argued, "unconstitutionally prohibits the Houston Chronicle and its reporters from engaging in constitutionally protected activity…" That constitutionally protected activity, the attorneys made clear, was news gathering."–BREAKING POINT
Two months later, Hill handed down her decision, upholding her order.
…But she omitted a section banning the media from publishing information about the jurors. She also claimed she previously told the jurors that they could contact the media, the media just could not contact them.
The media did not have the constitutional right and freedom to ask questions.–BREAKING POINT
December 3, 2001, Judge Belinda Hill began pre-trial motions on the Yates case. The day ended with Russell Yates's attorney, Edward Mallett, requesting that the judge release his client from the gag order. He claimed that Yates was under a witness subpoena "to keep him from speaking and attending his wife's court proceedings." And, indeed, Russell Yates had not been allowed in the courtroom during his wife's competency hearing. He was a witness who had never been called to testify.
Prosecutor Kaylynn Willifornd denounced the motion as an attempt to violate the gag order–its very contents violated it, she declared. She pleaded with the judge to seal the motion and prevent its publication, as reporters already had copies.
Judge Hill refused to bar the motion's contents from publication, apparently trying to ease media criticism–reporters had to go through her to even see the Yates file, which was public. But, appeasing the prosecution, Hill denied Mallett's motion in full and ordered it sealed. Rusty Yates was still under the gag order.–BREAKING POINT
Russell Yates on "60 Minutes."
The following Sunday night, Russell Yates and Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal were on 60 Minutes, in the segment that previously had been scheduled to air in September. Both men appeared to be in violation of Judge Hill's gag order.
The following morning, media covered the courthouse, believing Yates, but not Rosenthal, would be arrested for contempt of court. Neither man was arrested. Instead, Hill eventually appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the situation. Rumor circulated that "Mac" Secrest, the special prosecutor who–like Hill–was a former Harris County prosecutor, would dilly-dally with the investigation until after the Yates trial so that no one, particularly the DA, would have to be arrested.
January 3, 2002, I received a phone call from a reporter in Houston advising me that if I wanted press credentials for the Yates trial, I had to apply for them by January 4. I immediately emailed the request and drafted a "chit-chatty" letter, on my business letterhead, thanking Jack Thompson and Janet Warner for getting me into the competency hearing and requesting a press pass for the Yates jury selection and trial. I specifically stated, "I don't need to be there every day, just the days y'all deem open enough for another reporter." After all, our relationship had always seemed chatty and based on Texas politeness–the ole honey gets more than vinegar teaching. I faxed that letter to the courts' administrative offices.
The following day, Janet Warner phoned me, told me that I couldn't get in for jury selection, it was already full, she said, but that I had a seat "for every day" of the trial. We also discussed the possibility of me getting into jury selection after about two weeks, i.e. after the novelty had worn off. She told me to call her back in two weeks–it was a possibility. The conversation seemed all honey.
That same day, Vanessa Leggett was finally released from prison on her contempt of court charge–not because she had turned over her sources, but because the grand jury had been released … five and a half months after she'd been arrested.
Sunday night, January 20, 2002, Good Morning America asked me to be on their next morning's show. Time magazine's story on Andrea Yates was finally out, its reporter was going to be on Today, and GMA needed counter programming. I accepted the GMA offer–my book about Andrea Yates would be on the stands in the next week or two, more than five months after I had first notified the DA's office.
So on Monday, January 21, in the midst of the Yates jury selection, Time's Timothy Roche was on Today and I was on GMA, as well as ABC World News. That same week, Oprah's O magazine published a Yates story by Suzanne O'Malley and I heard that Janet Warner was unhappy with me for thanking and acknowledging her in my book. I was advised to phone Warner and apologize to her, which I did.
During that conversation, Warner told me that Judge Hill was "angry" with me, felt that I had "misled" her about the book's publication date, and that I was on a "list" of people that the judge was "checking in to." (I had never communicated with the judge, so I don't know how I "misled" her.) Time was also on that list, Warner said. And she strongly insinuated that I would not be receiving my press credentials. For the first time, our chit-chatty conversation had a sense of terseness to it. Still, polite honey very superficially coated the vinegar.
So I contacted St. Martin's Press and asked them to fax another letter of request to the courts' administrative office, which St. Martin's did.
January 30, I received a phone message from Janet Warner:
"Hi, Suzy, this is Janet Warner with Harris County. I'm in receipt of a letter from Anderson Bailey, the editor of St. Martin's Press, requesting us helping you get a seat for the trial. I'm afraid we're not going to be able to honor this due to the fact that Breaking Point has already been published and is on the rack, so we don't think we're going to be able to give you a seat for the trial. If you have any questions…."
About the same time, a producer for 48 Hours phoned me and asked for my assistance on a program they were working on about Andrea Yates. It would not air until after the trial, I was told, but 48 Hours had, with Judge Hill's approval, behind the scenes access to the judge, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and more. In other words, it appeared to be a flagrant, judge-approved violation of the gag order.
And I wanted my press credentials.
I phoned someone who I knew had regular contact with Judge Hill and said I know what's going on with 48 Hours, I want my press credentials. I also knew that 48 Hours had been filming confidential conferences at one of the attorney's offices.
The person I phoned advised me to request a meeting with Judge Hill because, my source said, Hill had repeatedly mentioned a portion of my book where Russell Yates talked about his master PR plan to change the outcome of the trial–60 Minutes airing on a Sunday back in September.
Bam. He planned for that interview to be followed the very next day with a Time magazine story. Bam. In essence, it would be a one-two public relations punch. Rusty grinned. He'd thought it out, he'd planned it out, he'd timed it out, and that's the way it should be … just perfect for affecting the trial.–BREAKING POINT
I had put that in the book because I thought it ludicrous that Yates believed he could control the national media.
I was informed, though, that the judge had bought into it and believed it when, by coincidence and ABC's need for counter programming, Time magazine, GMA, World News, O, and my book all came out at the same time. My source also told me that if I had a meeting with the judge, I wouldn't even have to bring up the topic–the judge would, she was that obsessed with the subject.
I was later told by another source that Warner had a "bootleg" copy of my book in her Yates file. My source had seen it there and had heard Warner say, "We don't want to give that any publicity."
I phoned an attorney who advised me not to request the meeting with Judge Hill because, he suggested, the judge might ask me about my sources. Having learned from Vanessa Leggett, I wasn't about to reveal my sources.
On Sunday, February 3, 2002, Russell Yates phoned and asked me to call his attorney, who had just recently found out about the judge's "deal" with 48 Hours. I understood that Mallett wanted to encourage me to fight for the credentials, although Mallet and I never spoke. Instead, I had already turned to the Center for Individual Freedom, which was working with St. Martin's Press, to draft a new letter to the courts' administration, explaining why I still needed press credentials despite the book being out. The book would require a post-trial update.
I also got the Austin Chronicle, which was a 20-year-old weekly newspaper with more than a quarter of a million readers, to request press credentials on my behalf. I had freelanced for them for several years. The Chronicle faxed the request that week, and that week–once again through the grapevine–I heard about a meeting for the press covering the Yates trial. The meeting was scheduled for Thursday, January 7 with Janet Warner presiding.
The Center for Individual Freedom advised me to attend the meeting so that my lack of attendance could not be used as an excuse to boot me out of the trial.
During the meeting, ABC field producer Gina Treadgold asked Warner if anyone had been denied credentials for the trial. Initially, Warner said no, then added, well, no, no one who had complied. Jack Thompson broke in and said they'd had a few problems with freelancers. He didn't elaborate. Warner only said that "almost 50 people" and "right at 50 people" had been credentialed.
After the meeting, I went to Warner's office and asked if her comments meant that I still had my press credentials. She asked whether I was covering the trial for the Austin Chronicle or St. Martin's Press. I answered St. Martin's. She replied that the situation was still being evaluated, Judge Hill made the final decision, I would learn the decision the following day, and Time magazine had credentials. Then she said, well, no, she didn't know whether Time had even applied. Again, we were Texas polite with each other.
Doug Lee, an attorney for CFIF, phoned Warner that same day and asked her many of the same questions. Lee later wrote, "Ms. Warner admitted that she had revoked the credentials because the book had been published. She also noted that the book had been published at a 'sensitive time.' Ms. Warner then told Mr. Lee that a decision as to the reinstatement of the credentials had not yet been made but that things were 'looking better' in light of Ms. Spencer's statement that she would be representing St. Martin's. Ms. Warner explained that the duplicate requests for credentials from St. Martin's and the Austin Chronicle had caused some confusion in her office, primarily because she never had heard of the Chronicle and did not know whether the letter was 'legitimate.'"
She also told Lee that I would know the results the next day and there was nothing else I needed to do to get the credentials. "…A media representative had needed only to submit a request on the media company's letterhead." And she said that 50 media seats had been filled since January 4.
I phoned Warner the next day. She did not take nor return my call, despite the fact that I was told she would call me "right back." Someone who happened to be in Warner's office when I phoned told me that Warner had "made a face" at the mention of my name. So much for Texas politeness.
Doug Lee also phoned and did not get through to Warner or Jack Thompson.
Monday, February 11, 2002, Lee phoned again on my behalf and was referred to Debra Seldon, a Harris County attorney. As Lee wrote in a motion we were finally forced to file later in the week, "In this conversation, Ms. Seldon was not specific about whether Plaintiff's credentials had been reinstated. According to Ms. Seldon, credential requests had been denied to two or three persons who had not timely submitted the information requested by the Court and Plaintiff could be a part of that group. Ms. Seldon further stated that, if Plaintiff had been granted credentials, 'she would know that by now.' Ms. Seldon also said there was no right or opportunity to appeal the denial of media credentials."
By that same February 11, 2002, a story on Janet Warner and the Yates case had been published in the Houston Chronicle. The story reported that all 50 allotted seats for the media had been "snapped up" before January 4. "Since I've been involved in this, I have the utmost respect for school teachers," Warner was quoted as saying. "It's like keeping your little classroom together and watching to make sure everybody's behaving. I don't make many friends with the media when we come around to this."
Warner spoke in the article about being called "Grumpina" by the media during the trial for Yolanda Saldivar, the woman who killed Tejano singer Selena. "People would line up at 4 a.m. at the Family Law Center across the street with their rosaries, praying for a seat," the Chronicle quoted Warner.
February 13, 2002, Doug Lee, on my behalf, requested that Judge Hill reinstate my press credentials. The request was refused.
Valentine's Day 2002, the Center for Individual Freedom helped me sue Judge Hill and Janet Warner in federal court and move for a temporary restraining order, which would place me in the Yates trial press pool. Suddenly, a middle of the night fax was sent telling me that I could attend the trial as a spectator.
The following day, Warner and I appeared in federal court. An absent Judge Hill was represented by a man on speakerphone from the State's attorney general's office in Austin, Texas. The courtroom had a surreal "Charlie's Angels" feel to it. And the federal judge announced that she would not be hearing any evidence.
The defense then argued that my rejection was based solely on procedure and that I had not followed procedure because my letter was on my "personal" letterhead, not "the agency's." It was my business letterhead, not personal. And to an author, "agency" letterhead refers to a literary agent's letterhead, not a publisher's.
Additionally, on January 4 when Janet Warner and I had chit-chatted and she'd told me I had a seat for "every day" of the trial, she did not mention that I had failed to follow procedure. If she had, I would have had time to make corrections and follow procedure. Nor did she mention my alleged procedural error on the message she'd left on my answering machine on January 30. "I'm afraid we're not going to be able to honor this due to the fact that Breaking Point has already been published and is on the rack…" was her only complaint.
The defense entered as evidence, despite the fact that the judge had said she wasn't taking evidence, other requests for credentials that had been denied–Time magazine, Good Morning America, ABC World News, Oprah's O magazine on behalf of freelance writer Suzanne O'Malley, and Salon, also on behalf of O'Malley. They were all media organizations and writers that had published or aired Yates stories during the same week of jury selection–the week Warner had told me Hill was "angry" at me and I was on "a list."
The defense claimed that the credentials had been rejected because the requests were submitted after the January 4 deadline. O magazine's request was clearly dated January 2, prior to the deadline. It was rejected, said a note scribbled on the page, because it was signed by O'Malley, not an O staffer.
When the defense discussed the rules for submitting credential requests, there was no reference stating who had to sign the request. The judge did not pick up on that. She only mentioned her seemingly annoyed observation that my letter of request was chit-chatty, insinuating that because of that it was unprofessional and easily dismissed.
There was an extensive discussion about how the rules for submission had been disseminated to the applicants–AP news wire and the district courts' website, we were told. As a freelancer, I didn't have access to AP news wire. And in fact, I talked with staff reporters for Houston media and freelancers who didn't know about the courts' website. In fact, I received emails from other freelancers telling me they had missed the application deadline because they did not know about it. So much for AP news wire and the courts' website getting the message to the press.
The federal judge asked the defense about my chances of getting into the trial as a spectator. Janet Warner stated that in her many, many years of working for the court she had never seen a trial where spectators couldn't get in–despite the fact that she'd been quoted just days before in the Houston Chronicle that spectators had been "praying" to get in to the Selena trial.
The judge asked the defense how many spectators had attended the Yates competency hearing. Warner answered 20 to 30. No one mentioned that the hearing had been held the week after September 11, a week when most Americans were staying safely tucked in their homes. Certainly attendance that week could not have been a predictor of the following February.
However, that information would have been provided by the plaintiff–me. And I was not allowed to submit evidence.
The judge asked about irreparable damages to me and mentioned that I could get the trial transcript. I had tried to obtain the court transcript for the Yates competency hearing. But the court wanted approximately $5400 for that one week trial, payment upfront and delivery three weeks later. As a freelancer for St. Martin's, all expenses come out of my pocket, and I could not afford $5400 times four weeks, the expected length of the actual Yates trial. But I didn't get to say that.
Also, reading a court transcript is not the same as attending a trial–seeing the witnesses', attorneys', jurors', judge's and spectators' reactions; hearing their tones of voices; etc. I didn't get to say that either.
The judge asked what harm there would be if I had to get to court very early each day to get a seat. It would cost me book sales. I was already scheduled to do early morning TV and radio to promote Breaking Point. Getting to court early would force me to cancel much early morning PR, which may have been what the court wanted. After all, Janet Warner had said, "We don't want to give that any publicity." But I didn't get the opportunity to say any of that.
I would have loved to. I knew the defense would resort to the cliché that I had sued for the publicity. I wanted to submit my PR schedule to let the defense and press know that I didn't need this kind of PR to sell my book. Prior to filing the lawsuit, I already had more PR booked than I could handle and was turning down requests.
And, sure enough, as soon as the judge denied my request for a temporary restraining order and the defense hit the street, their attorney retaliated with the cliché that I had sued only for the PR.
The defense also claimed that neither Hill or Warner had read Breaking Point–despite Hill repeatedly referencing a portion of the book to others, Warner knowing that she was acknowledged in it, and Warner being seen with an illegal bootleg copy of the book in her Yates file.
That weekend, I heard rumor that spectators had to have "tickets" to get into the Yates trial–something that the defense certainly never mentioned to the federal judge.
The following Monday morning, the first day of the trial, I did get one of those "tickets" and did get in, on the back row. I could not hear. I could not see. Judge Hill used her microphone only when she was berating the press corps. Otherwise, she turned it off and pushed it away.
A day or two into the trial, a Harris County senior citizen sat down next to me and–not knowing who I was–said, "What's this judge trying to hide?" The woman explained that she was just a taxpayer, had no ax to grind, she just wanted to know what was going on with her tax dollars, but she couldn't hear what was being said in court. I never saw that taxpayer in court again.
Citizens and reporters complained time and again about the inability to hear. The judge never turned on her microphone.
And I stood in the back of the courtroom and counted press seats–45, not the promised 50. In other words, there was room for all five of us denied credentials but submitted as evidence in federal court: St. Martin's, Time, GMA, World News, and Suzanne O'Malley. Indeed, there had been room enough for extra reporters at the jury selection too, but Judge Hill had refused to allow in additional press.
The one good thing about not having a press credential, I soon learned, was that I was not subject to the media orders. Those orders prevented credentialed press from talking to witnesses. I could talk to Russell Yates, Andrea Yates's mother, Andrea's brothers, Russell's relatives, attorneys, witnesses, anyone I wanted to, and the judge could not throw me out of the courtroom.
Instead, she threw out an MSNBC producer, who was not credentialed, for slipping into an empty row reserved for press. The producer was only trying to better hear the proceedings. Friends of the judge, though, could come and go as they pleased. They sat on front rows; they took breaks when they wanted. We, the press, though, were the criminals in Judge Hill's jail, scared to shift in our seats, scared to sneeze when nature forced us. But spectators who were not media were eventually allowed to sit in some of those vacant media row seats.
One day, I was late for court and spectator passes were gone. Kindly, Janet Warner found me a pass and told me they held a few aside each day. Hmmm? The next day, many reporters who also weren't credentialed got there after all spectator passes had been distributed. Warner found them passes, too, but she rushed up to me first and asked if I had one. I did. I'd passed up early morning interviews to be there. I figured she offered me one first because she thought I'd get on TV screaming that I didn't get in.
Tuesday, March 12, 2002, Andrea Yates was found guilty of capital murder.
The following Monday, Judge Belinda Hill formally sentenced Yates to life in prison, and I had lunch with Vanessa Leggett. Leggett flopped in front of me a U.S. Department of Justice publication titled The Diversity of Homicide. I opened it and turned to the title page; there was Leggett's name as editor of the publication. I flipped to page 37 and found an article written by Leggett. She was a published editor and writer by the very entity that had imprisoned her and claimed she was a "wannabe" journalist. By the way, one of the FBI investigators against Vanessa was Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's wife.
April 4, 2002, approximately three weeks after the final gavel had slammed in the Yates trial, "Mac" Secrest, the special prosecutor appointed by Judge Hill to investigate the breaches of the gag order, issued his findings. Secrest stated that Judge Hill's order violated the First Amendment, i.e. it was unconstitutional. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal–and Russell Yates–would not be held in contempt of court, i.e. no one was going to prosecute the district attorney.
Rosenthal later told the press that when he did the 60 Minutes interview, he didn't know when the program would air. Hill refused comment.
This essay previously appeared—in a slightly different form—on the Center for Individual Freedom website.
The updated edition of "Breaking Point," which provides complete coverage of the Andrea Yates case, including the 2002 trial.
Breaking Point that included a brief summary of the 2002 Yates trial.
The following year, Andrea Yates was retried. On July 26, 2006, a Harris County jury found her not guilty be reason of insanity.
In 2008, Chuck Rosenthal resigned in disgrace.
His professional emails were found to be filled with racism, pornography, and proof of an extramarital affair with his secretary. And that was just the emails that remained. Thousands had been purposely deleted.–BREAKING POINT
In 2012, Judge Belinda Hill vacated her bench and joined the Harris County District Attorney's Office as first assistant district attorney.
In 2015, Diversion Books published a 20,000+ word, updated edition of Breaking Point, which includes my day-by-day coverage of Andrea Yates' first trial.
Suzy Spencer is a New York Times best-selling author and journalist.
David Battels August 3, 2016 at 8:25 AM Reply
Greetings, is there a way to contact Vanessa? Or have her contact me. I would like to explain with "proof" how Vanessa was fraudulently and unlawfully incarcerated by a nonjudicial territorial court pretending she is a federal business entity not as on of the People. Thanks! Keep up the good work.
Suzy August 3, 2016 at 8:32 AM Reply
I've forwarded your message, but I know she's swamped so I don't know if/when you'll hear from her.
Angela September 23, 2016 at 8:06 AM Reply
Justice is not only blind but apparently deaf to reason and mute in the face of resistance.


text:
Home / News / University of Plymouth helps lead the way for Cyber Security Degree Apprenticeships
University of Plymouth helps lead the way for Cyber Security Degree Apprenticeships
Students gain automatic membership of IISP professional body
University of Plymouth students who have successfully completed the Cyber Security Analyst Degree Apprenticeship pathway will now gain automatic Associate Membership of the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP), the not-for-profit body dedicated to raising the standard of professionalism in information security. Plymouth is the first university to be accredited under this new scheme.
The IISP has been working closely with the UK Tech Partnership and other industry and academic bodies for several years to define the criteria for Cyber Security Degree Apprenticeships, which are based on the IISP Skills Framework. The Skills Framework is widely accepted as the de-facto standard for measuring the knowledge, experience and competency of information security and assurance professionals. It is also used by the UK Government to underpin its Certified Professional Scheme and by organisations to develop and benchmark their own in-house information security capabilities.
Prof. Steven Furnell, IISP Fellow and Head of School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics at Plymouth said, "I am delighted that students from our Cyber Security Analyst Degree Apprenticeship pathway will be able to graduate with such a clear endorsement of how their qualifications and experience are aligned to the needs of the profession."
Dr Ismini Vasileiou, Programme Lead of DTS Cyber Security Analyst pathway and Equality and Diversity Faculty Chair, added, "It is exciting to be offering apprenticeships at the Higher Education level and working alongside the IISP will ensure that our graduates meet the future qualification and skills requirements to serve the profession. We are also committed to addressing the gender diversity challenges in the industry by attracting more females onto our courses."
"There are two significant challenges currently facing the cyber security profession: a recognised skills shortage and the fact that almost all current practitioners have come into the profession from other disciplines. We are not building the profession from strong foundations," said Peter Fischer, a Fellow of the IISP. "Cyber Security Degree Apprenticeships represent a major step towards addressing both challenges. The IISP is keen to support this career path into the industry and the University of Plymouth's accreditation recognises that on graduation, individuals exceed the rigorous requirements for IISP Associate Membership."
For more information on the University of Plymouth Degree Apprenticeships, go to: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/apprenticeships/digital-technology
About the IISP
The Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP) is a not-for-profit organisation, owned by its members, dedicated to raising the standard of professionalism in information security and the industry as a whole. The IISP does this through accrediting skills and competence, by sharing best practice and by providing a network of support and guidance on individual skill development. It speaks with an authoritative voice and its competency based memberships are widely recognised in the information security industry.
Working closely with the information security community, the IISP has a growing membership of over 2,800 individual members across private and government sectors, 45 Corporate Member Organisations and 20 Academic Partners.
At the heart of the Institute is the IISP Skills Framework ©2017 which is widely accepted as the de facto standard for measuring competency of information security professionals. The NCSC has taken this framework to underpin a range of certification schemes including the Certified Professional Scheme (CCP), for which the IISP is the leading certifying body and to develop syllabuses for Masters Degrees. The skills framework is used extensively by our corporate members to benchmark and develop capability of their employees. It also been adopted by e-Skills UK to develop a National Occupational Standard for Information Security. The IISP also accredits training courses offered by commercial training providers against the Institute's Skills Framework. This enables attendees to build knowledge in areas of the skills framework where they might have gaps and to gain hands-on experience.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


"Between the Lines" by CYRCLE along 7th avenue corner Federacion drive.
What makes this city unique is its high volume of large, bare walls just begging to be painted.
Art Mural by Faileart of Brooklyn along 5th Avenue corner 26th street.
By recognizing the potential of the surroundings to transform into canvases, ArtBGC was born.
The city organized an artistic movement to bring life and to capture the creative spirit of Filipinos that live and work in the area.
If you take a stroll, you'll notice that practically anything can become a canvas.
You'll also notice how art and creativity is seamlessly integrated into the surroundings, cutting the monotony of the typical urban life.
One of the reasons why artists flock to BGC is because the area is a living gallery that cultivates curiosity and stimulates the creative.
Bunnie Reiss is a painter based in Los Angeles, whose work revolves around magic, fairytales, and folk themes unique to her Polish and Russian background.
One of the unique things about Bunnie's work is how she creatively mixes religious and ancestral folklore into an urban setting. In her family, the Hamsa amulet of protection is passed down to the women of every generation.
Since the Hamsa is such an integral part of the Reiss' upbringing, she began re-interpreting the symbol in her work after her grandmother's death.
Reiss worked on two murals for this year's festival.
The inspiration behind this was to introduce a mystical animal, such as the Owl, into an urban environment.
Trip63 is one of the local delegates in this year's festival. As a street artist, he aims to challenge the boundaries and conceptions of your typical "graffiti".
Did you know that his art has taken him to the United States, China, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong?
His piece depicts blooming eyeballs that sprawl along a metropolitan canvas.
The finished piece is impressive and artfully maximizes the canvas.
Kris Abrigo (in pink) is a local artist who was an assistant painter in the previous festival, but now he has his own wall!
Noted for his candy-colors and geometric shapes, Abrigo's works often question mainstream depictions of poverty and social order.
The mural is inspired by the Personal Protective Equipment chart used by the artist's target audience: construction workers.
While assisting CYRCLE in last year's festival, Abrigo was moved by a group of construction workers who would pass by the mural and watch them work before heading home. This scene gave birth to this piece that pays homage to the unsung heroes of the city.
Andrew Schoultz, an accomplished muralist based in San Franciso, California, is known for his intricate works depicting socio-cultural, political, and religious themes.
Since Andrew is not well versed in the socio-political atmosphere of the Philippines, he decided to make a mural with a more universal theme of nature and regeneration.
This was one of the most poignant works seen around the city for the technical skill and strength of concept.
Francisco's works typically feature colorful flora inspired by his current location and are symbolic, historical narratives of man's deep-rooted relationship with nature.
One of the things we noticed was that many of the artists this year went with a floral or nature-themed approach.
Since last year, ArtBGC has invited artists from all over the Philippines to join the festival through an Open Call procedure. This year's winner is KFK Collective, a group of 3 artists composed of Kate Quebrar, Fulgencio Bermejo, and Katrina Almalki.
Grab the opportunity to join next year's festival as an artist here.
Art initiatives facilitated by BGC bring together a collective appreciation of art and culture for everyone.
As an artist, seeing how poignantly passionate individuals are about creativity showed me how incredibly unique the art scene was in the Philippines and beyond.
Monica Llamas (Public Arts Manager of BAFI), Beau Basse (LeBasse Projects), Kayo Cosio (Honeycomb Communities).
Congratulations to Monica Lllams of BAFI, Beau Basse from LeBasse Projects (a design consultancy in California), Kayo Cosio of Honeycomb Communities, and all the individual artists and assistants that made ArtBGC 2016 a reality!
Disclosure: Our experience was courtesy of BAFI. I wrote this article with my biases, opinions, and insights.
P.S. Did you know that all the artists' works are pro bono?


Search for your match in the Hoosier State and find online personals in Indiana. Match.com's online dating sites and affiliated businesses span six continents and thousands of cities including Indiana. You do the choosing - so many ways to search and connect in Whiteland,Indiana. It's not easy being single in Whiteland - but it's a cinch meeting single men and single women on Match.com.


This printer allows contact you to print windows on both sides of a sheet sheet of paper. 2) Right click on any of selected pictures and choose Print. It is actually windows very easy if you know the trick : right contact click selected photos in windows explorer and select print. This document contact describes how to change the print settings for single print jobs contact how to change the default print settings, explains the print settings options available in sheet the Windows 10 Print Driver. It will help you to choose options for printing your pictures the way you want them. an exhibit of 16th- century German prints. The new machine prints 30 pages per minute. Select wanted pictures.
We printed 50 invitations before we ran windows out of ink. What is the print size of your book? You will find the wizard to be an informative contact tool with easy steps that will have your project completed quickly. Automated whitelist policy recommendation. Scroll down the right pane and click " Contact Sheet. Select your printer contact windows paper type , paper size quality from the drop- down menus. Print contact sheet in windows. Windows 10 Semi- Annual Channel ( SAC) is governed by the Modern Lifecycle Policy ( as of January 25, ). For more information see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy review the Modern Lifecycle FAQ. Key capabilities for Cisco Tetration cloud workload protection functionality. sheet a slogan printed on a bumper sticker sheet Your tickets are printing now. Using the Cisco Tetration platform contact you can automatically generate highly specific whitelist policies based on the application- communication behavior dependency ( Figure 2). On a Mac go to Print> Contact Sheet II in the Editor windows you can do the windows same thing in the Contact Sheet window with " use file name as caption".
Home Education, , Enterprise, Pro Pro for Workstation editions. I' d sheet thoroughly recommend this program - I' ve given up on Adobe Photoshop elements and just use Zoner. Ideal for novices CPAs, windows the Church Windows Accounting module is Fund Accounting designed for churches , , bookkeepers non- profit organizations. 3) windows Adjust settings in Print Dialog. Here is the dialog box for the sheet contact sheet tool. Print contact sheet in windows. contact sheet layout with the file names listed below the picture but I would like the picture to print a bit larger to allow perhaps 6 to 8 pictures per page. Specify whether you want to show hide rulers . There are many options.
Tips: Check the print preview to be sure that the pages will all fit on the sheet. Your tickets are being windows printed now. You can save the result as a PDF , JPG other file types. Cons Only major complaint is that it would crash on windows trying to exit the program ( in windows 7) or would not exit at all. Also you can use the Front/ Back Transparency slider, , if you are using Publisher, ( in contact the upper right corner of the preview pane) to be sure that the front back of the postcard line up correctly.
I chose to arrange the pictures in 5 rows of 4 columns with the filename printed below the picture and contact the title " My Pictures". You can set your application to print to an ascii file you can let Printfil automatically capture one , more serial , fax printers , , parallel port ( even from LPT1: to LPT9: , PDF writers, IP network printers, redirect your DOS print windows jobs to any Windows printer, GDI, from COM1: to COM9: simultaneously), , including USB even if a printer is physically connected to the captured port. They printed 10, 000 copies of the. The Microsoft Windows Photo Printing Wizard simplifies your projects sheet contact for a stress free experience from start to finish. On Windows you can create , , print a contact sheet by starting in windows the windows Organizer, the Editor using to Create menu in both locations. Click " File" and then " Print" to bring up the print options window.
Single Image/ Contact Sheet layout) In the Guides panel of the Print module select deselect Show Guides. And you are done! This is my preferred contact sheet maker for images. In Windows you print contact sheet sheets from the organizer after you select Contact Sheet as the type of print you can turn on Show Print Options the file name is one of those. I' m going to start here in the Organizer.
HoofGrid and StabiliGrid Online Resources - videos, brochures, instructions, prices, specifications, technical data sheets, CSI worksheets Master Format. Aug 25, · How well do you know your Windows key shortcuts in Windows 10? If you need a cheat sheet, Microsoft has just published one that you can download and print. Use the Two- Sided Printing Setup Wizard.
The Two- Sided Printing Setup Wizard is a six- step wizard that helps you to correctly print two- sided publications. The steps include identifying how your printer accepts paper and running a test to make sure that your publication is printed the way that you expect. Windows 7: Printing multiple photos in Win7 Contact Sheet.
There are numerous templates with all sorts of text options ( ISO, description, file name etc etc) that allow you to print 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. prints per sheet.


text:
VERSION = (2, 1, 0, 'beta3')
if VERSION[-1] != "final": # pragma: no cover
    __version__ = '.'.join(map(str, VERSION))
else: # pragma: no cover
    __version__ = '.'.join(map(str, VERSION[:-1]))

# patch settings
try:
    from django.conf import settings
    if 'cms' in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
        from conf import patch_settings
        patch_settings()
except ImportError: # pragma: no cover
    """
    This exception means that either the application is being built, or is
    otherwise installed improperly. Both make running patch_settings
    irrelevant.
    """
    pass

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Compressing files with WinRar command-line - files in use I am using this simple command to zip files into an archive with WinRar.
winrar a -afzip -ep1 "C:\ok.zip" "C:\ok"

But if something is running (for example a simple .exe) from that directory it gives me error:

"The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

Is there any switch that would compress even the files in use.
I am sticking with WinRar as my customer has recommended it.
But would like your recommendations too, but don't think customer is going to let me use anything else.

A: -DH, according to http://acritum.com/software/manuals/winrar/
I've not checked official manual, search for it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Roughly 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year, nearly equivalent to the weight of all humans on the planet.
Half of this is single-use plastic, meaning it is used once then throw away. Some of the most common products of single-use plastic includes drinking straws, cups, cutlery, packaging and shopping bags. This plastic usually goes into a landfill, where it is buried or gets into water and finds its way into the ocean.
The sheer volume of plastic produced makes it difficult to recycle, and many countries do not have adequate plastic recycling programs in place. Consequently, only 10 to 13% of plastic is recycled worldwide.
Most plastic is produced from petroleum, which makes it non-biodegradable; that is, it cannot be broken down by soil microorganisms. Although plastic will not biodegrade, it does photodegrade into into tiny particles after 450-1,000 years, creating micro-plastics. In the process of breaking down, plastics release toxic chemicals, which make their way into our food and water supply.
The World Economic Forum has said that unless we do something drastic, there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish by 2050. While this sounds like a hopeless situation, being more mindful of our consumption of single-use plastics can go a long way towards helping to solve this problem.
About 500 million plastic straws are thrown away every day. Just by using a stainless steel or glass straw, or not using a straw at all, you can help bring this number down.
While not all plastics can be recycled, 80% of glass can be. Glass jars also don't contain the chemicals in plastic that can leach into food, and glass can be safely washed at high temperatures and reused. So always choose glass over plastic if possible.
Bring reusable bags to the store to avoid produce and checkout bags (a single plastic bag can take 1000 years to degrade).
Give up gum. It's made of synthetic rubber, in other words, plastic, and is the 2nd most common form of litter behind cigarette butts.
Resell or donate gently used clothes and shoes or recycle worn items through textile recycling programs.
If you're moving or work in transport, protect your items with recycled paper or shredded cardboard instead of bubble wrap or packing peanuts.
Buy goods like washing powder in boxes instead of plastic as cardboard is easier to recycle.
Better yet, make your own cleaning products in bulk to eliminate the need for multiple plastic containers. It takes about 20 minutes to make an eco-friendly clothes washing solution with grated castile soap (7 ounces), hot water (2.5 gallons) and washing soda (3.4 fluid ounces).
Bring a reusable mug to coffee shops (which often means a discount) and a reusable water bottle to work, the gym, etc.
Ask your company's suppliers to cut down on unnecessary plastic packaging, which accounts for 40% of single-use plastic.
Bring your own container for restaurant leftovers. Many restaurants use Styrofoam for this purpose, which contains harmful polystyrene that leaches into food, especially when reheated, and is completely non-biodegradable.
Use matches or a refillable metal lighter instead of disposable lighters.
Rather than buying fruit juice in a plastic container, eat whole fruit. It's healthier for you and the environment.
Use a razor with disposable blades instead of plastic razors that you throw away completely.
Use bars of soap (not packaged in plastic), instead of liquid soap in a plastic container.
Opt for Q tips (cotton buds) with paper centers, rather than plastic.
Once you start thinking about what single-use plastics you use, you will probably come up with more ideas on where and how to cut down. Remember that every little bit helps!


text:
Q: How to sequentially show controllers in iOS (as a queue, not a stack)? Imagine an app that shows a list of questions, each question has a type associated with a particular UIViewController (so there are several UIViewController objects for each type of question that the app supports). Users cannot go back to previously answered questions. I would like to show each controller with the same effect given by the pushViewController method.
Here's the catch. There might be a very big number of questions presented by the app, so keeping all those UIViewController objects in memory is not a viable option. Because there is no option to go back to a previously answered question, the app only needs to keep track of the last two questions displayed (for animation purposes, when the current question is shown above the previous one).
Any suggestions of how I can implement this in Swift? (I am also fine with an ObjectiveC solution if I can later convert it into Swift).

A: Subclass a UINavigationController then set the delegate of the navigation controller to itself and then when a controller is shown, remove all other controllers from stacks except the one that is showing. That way, your navigation controller will have only one view controller at any time and you will not be able to pop but only push the view controllers.
Here is a small sample,
class MyNavigationController: UINavigationController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {

  // MARK: UINavigationControllerDelegate
  func navigationController(navigationController: UINavigationController, didShowViewController viewController: UIViewController, animated: Bool) {
      self.viewControllers = [viewController]
  }
}

Then, push all your viewcontrollers inside this view controller. And that should do it.


If you have misplaced all your Kia vehicle's keys and are unsure about the possibility of getting a replacement, get in touch with us at Best Locksmith Brisbane, your go-to experts for spare or replacement Kia keys.
In addition to our technical know-how, our vans are fully equipped with the essential gear and equipment required to produce a spare or replacement key to your Kia vehicle. We will also provide you with a remote key or remote that will make it possible for you to unlock and lock your Kia vehicle remotely.
To schedule an appointment with us, contact our friendly customer service agents at Best Locksmith Brisbane. If you like, you may fill in the enquiry form provided. Make sure you provide us with your vehicle details such as the VIN, Model, Year, and Fuel Type, and we will respond to you with an immediate quote.


text:
Дегтярка — деревня в Петровском районе Тамбовской области России. Входит в состав Кочетовского сельсовета.

География
Деревня находится в западной части Тамбовской области, в лесостепной зоне, в пределах Окско-Донской низменной равнины, на левом берегу реки Большой Самовец, к северу от автодороги , на расстоянии примерно 8 километров (по прямой) к юго-западу от села Петровского, административного центра района. Абсолютная высота — 143 метра над уровнем моря.

Климат
Климат умеренно континентальный, относительно сухой, с холодной продолжительной зимой и тёплым летом. Средняя температура воздуха самого холодного месяца (января) — −11,5 — −10,5 °C (абсолютный минимум — −39 °C); самого тёплого месяца (июля) — 19,5 — 20,5 °C (абсолютный максимум — 40 °С). Период с положительной температурой выше 10 °C длится 141—154 дня. Среднегодовое количество атмосферных осадков варьирует в пределах от 400 до 650 мм. Продолжительность залегания снежного покрова составляет в среднем 135 дней.

Часовой пояс

История
Впервые упоминается в 1911 году как деревня Дегтярка, относящаяся к церковному приходу села Песковатка Больше-Избердеевской волости Липецкого уезда Тамбовской губернии. В ней было 16 дворов, проживало 144 человека (83 мужчины и 61 женщина).

По переписи 1926 года в деревне Дегтярка (Песковаточка) Грязинской волости Липецкого уезда было 52 хозяйства русских и 253 жителя (116 мужчин, 137 женщин). По спискам сельскохозяйственного налога на 1928/1929 годы в деревне Дегтярка, вошедшей в состав Кочетовского сельсовета Грязинского района Козловского округа ЦЧО, было 55 хозяйств и 283 жителя.

До войны в деревне Песковаточка, вошедшей в состав Избердеевского района Тамбовской области, насчитывалось 30 дворов.

Население

По переписи 2002 года население села составляло 21 житель, русские (100 %).
В 2010 году — 19 жителей (6 мужчин, 13 женщин).

Примечания

Населённые пункты Петровского района (Тамбовская область)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Read what my previous clients have to say about me below, plus you can find more on Google.
Debra makes getting married that much easier! As the Mother of the Bride, assisting Wedding Planner and the Officiant of my daughter's wedding, I felt an immense relief when we brought Debra on board in the final weeks. She immediately gave us all a sense of security….we could now focus on the important things and we left all the details to her. Her professionalism, knowledge, clarity and gentle nature were all a blessing and exactly what we needed. The management at our venue, along with other vendors, were all impressed with her hardworking, never stop, will do anything attitude…..and her pleasant nature all the way through. I would highly recommend dt's details and Debra to anyone planning a wedding.
Hiring Debra was one of the best investments we made for our wedding! She was extremely easy to contact, made it a point to be available for questions and concerns at every point in the planning process, and provided excellent coordination the day of. Her thoughtful suggestions and input from her previous experiences were extremely helpful in the planning process, and her quick thinking and detail orientation was exactly what we needed on our wedding day. Debra worked so well with both of our families and all of our vendors, and made it so we didn't have to worry about anything besides enjoying our day. I would highly recommend Debra as a coordinator, I don't think we could have hired anyone better. Thank you Debra for all your hard work, you truly helped make it our perfect day!
We couldn't have been happier with the job Debra did with helping make our wedding day special. We weren't completely decided on whether or not we would need a day of coordinator, but Debra came highly recommended from our photographers. Since our ceremony and reception were at venues that weren't accustomed to hosting weddings, the main thing we were looking for from a day of coordinator was for someone to take charge and juggle all of the moving parts on the day of the wedding. And Debra exceeded all of our expectations. A few of the highlights include: Debra met with us numerous times before our wedding day to go over details and day of logistics, offering advice based on her experience. She was also always available via email or phone before the wedding. We had an outdoor ceremony and when we experienced a bit of rain she sprang into action and handled everything perfectly (i.e. shuffling guests from inside to out, wiping down chairs, coordinating with vendors, etc.). Debra handled all communication and coordination with the vendors on the wedding day, which included the florist, shuttle driver, limo driver, photographers, dj, catering and reception venue. We had our dessert delivered from an outside vendor, and Debra did a wonderful job of making sure it arrived on time and personally set-up the dessert table. Multiple vendors commented afterwards on how happy they were to work with Debra. Since we didn't have our wedding or reception at venues that are use to hosting such a large event, there were some concerns around take-down and securing our valuables. Debra not only coordinated and personally (i.e. single-handedly) ensured that the post ceremony clean-up went smoothly, she also transported all of our gifts/cards back to the brides parents house during the reception. Debra also worked with the reception venue to ensure that all of the decorations were secure following the reception (the venue opened to the public after the reception, so securing valuables was a big concern). Debra was really willing to do anything we asked and took charge on our wedding day. We would highly recommend her services.
Deb is so fantastic! We hired her to do day-of coordination and bridal assistance for our wedding day. I met with Deb several times before the big day to go over timelines and layouts and she was so helpful in giving me feedback and helping me to focus my ideas. It was great to have someone (besides my mom and sister, who sometimes got a little emotional) to talk though my plans with. We had our wedding at Badger Farms and most everything was taken care of for one flat price. We also made sure to hire vendors that had worked at Badger Farms in the past so that everything would go as smoothly as possible. For me, Deb was a huge help in that she took over my to-do list for all of the "behind the scenes" items that needed someone appointed to them. She was awesome! She got everything on the list done, and more! It was such a HUGE relief to be able to sit back and enjoy my wedding day and know that if any issues came up, she would be right there to handle them. She did everything from checking us into the hotel and taking our bags there (very sneaky so no one knew where we were staying! thank goodness!) to bringing home our valuable toasting flutes, antique cake stand and gifts at the end of the night. I didn't have a worry in the world! I highly recommend hiring Deb to be your right-hand-man. She is a get-it-done kind of person with a positive attitude and she always brings a smile. She's worth every penny and so much more!
Read more recommendations and more feedback!


Google penalty recovery, link audits and more.
Hit by Google penalty? Or just sudden drop in traffic?
Don't waste your time wondering what's going on with your website. My google penalty recovery service will save your website or business and you'll be back on track! Don't hesitate to contact me to get a free quote!
If a manual penalty is applied, in Google Search Console in the "Manual actions" section, a message will appear. In most cases, the notice says that "unnatural links to your site" have been detected. But there might be also other notices, e.g. "Pure spam", or "Thin content with little or no added value ". Usually, the penalty is given to overoptimized keywords (and mainly big numbers). Those which got a top 10 ranking are suddenly plummeting without a clear cause (some or, most of key phrases). If we have our account in Google Search Console, the notice about that fact is sent automatically by the search engine. In other cases, it is better to check if our site has been given a penalty we do not know about.
If you see nothing in Manual Actions in Google Search Console, probably you don't need google penalty recovery service. Probably, because algorithmic penalties are coming without any notice from Google Staff. See explanations below.
An algorithmic penalty is characterised by a sudden drop in seo visibility on Google search results. It is noticeable in Google Analytics (source named "google organic") and also in the chart "Impressions"/"Clicks" in Google Search Console (a sudden drop in traffic). It is caused by a decrease in rankings for keywords chosen to be optimised and seoed. The drop is usually dramatic, e.g. from the 5th place to a 70+ position in a short period of time (e.g. 2-3 days). This decrease may concern a big amount of keywords (even all of them). As said above, for algorithmic penalties there're no messages in Google Search Tools. The only symptoms are these drops in rankings and traffic overall. For sure type this command to Google searchbox: site:domain.com. If you see nothing, then probably your website is banned.
If you have those symptoms, google penalty recovery service is needed if you want to get out of this penalty.
In those cases, my google penalty service isn't needed. Check your website, server, files, Google Search Console account and fix those errors. You may need a full page by page seo audit.
What I need to remove google penalty from your website?
To provide best possible google penalty recovery service I need data/accesses above. Full list of requirements is on every page dedicated to Google penalties.


text:
Home / Fiction / Valhalla: A Story of Love and Duty
Valhalla: A Story of Love and Duty
Following the death of Prince Eddy, his intended wife Mary of Teck becomes instead the consort of his brother Georgie, who was later to be known as King George V. Born into the lower ranks of royalty, and with neither beauty or fortune, Mary of Teck never expected to find herself admitted to its highest echelon. Forced to be totally subservient to her husband, Mary lets her true self freeze over, sacrificing the person she might have become to do her duty.
Valhalla: A Story of Love and Duty quantity
SKU: 9781912054169 Category: Fiction Tag: Biography: royalty
May of Teck, only daughter of a noble family fallen from grace, has been selected to marry the troublesome Prince Eddy, heir to the British throne. Submitting to the wishes of Queen Victoria and under pressure from her family, young May agrees. But just as a spark of love and devotion arises between the young couple, Prince Eddy dies of influenza. To her horror, May discovers she is to be married to the brother, Georgie, instead, a cold and domineering man. But what can she do? From the author of' The Prince of Mirrors comes this gripping account of the life of Queen Mary, one of the most formidable queens of Britain.
21.6 × 14 × 3.7 cm
Clark, Alan Robert
Fairlight Books
Hardback original
Be the first to review "Valhalla: A Story of Love and Duty" Cancel reply
A Thousand Ships
An Experiment in Leisure
Vendetta Road
Paris By Starlight


See the tables below for Grapefruit, raw, pink and red and white, all areas nutrition facts and calories in Grapefruit, raw, pink and red and white, all areas. For a new serving size, enter the value in the box below and press 'rescale' for a different amount of Grapefruit, raw, pink and red and white, all areas.
This serving of Grapefruit, raw, pink and red and white, all areas is a good source of Vitamin C.
There are no significant negative factors associated with this serving of Grapefruit, raw, pink and red and white, all areas.


By default, the WordPress custom thumbnail size functionality hard-crops large source images into smaller ones perfectly well. However, you will run into size issues when the source image is smaller than the custom thumbnail size.
It can be fixed by adding this code to your theme's functions.php file. It upscales images to fit all thumbnail sizes and crops them correctly.
The slight downside (not much to worry about with the server space we have today) is that if you for example upload a 16×16 favicon to your media library, it will be cropped and upscaled to all larger thumbnail sizes available. So, some more images will be created.
I am using this for a while! This is great resolve problem not upscaling image.
for me it works fine with some image sizes defined in my theme's functions.php. But it breaks square image sizes that worked fine before.
Looking for this since long time.
How would I get this to work for only 1 type of thumbnail size?
I'm looking to do the same. Did you find a solution?
Wow, nice. I was looking for it a week!
You are boss! Now school website will have truly responsive featured images with max width 1200px when old images are mainly 800px width. Respect.
I've been trying to solve this for the past day. Thank you very much!
It still doesn't work with the WordPress native crop position? No solution for that?
Can't get it to work, it still ignores crop option and also messes up soft crop thumbnails.
If you add the following code right before the line 15 return, it will take into account the crop positions.
thumbnails when I share it in facebook is not correct. please help.
Use the Facebook Thumb Fixer plugin.
It was okay weeks ago. I wonder why it isn't working right now.
You need to set featured images.
This is a good tip. To circumvent the slight downside you mention, you could check the $orig_w or $orig_h and if it's smaller then a certain size, you could return early.


text:
we are at the four week mark of the season, which this is really interesting.
Recent history shows a majority of the playoff teams are likely set.
Take a look at last year standings.
Four weeks in 13 of the 16 teams in playoff positioning ended up, in fact, making the postseason.
In fact, nine of the last 10 seasons.
Either six or seven teams from each conference that were in the playoffs at the four week mark stayed in the top eight.
So as we start with the East, standings today were the last to East champs.
The Heat.
The Raptors air within a game of the Knicks, Cavs and Hawks.
Richard, who is the one team most at risk in the East of falling out of the playoffs because I know it's early, but history shows only one of these teams is likely to fall out.
Oh, that's tough.
I'm gonna have to say, Oh, God, it's gonna hurt.
But the calves calves in the Hawks are the two teams.
I think both of them are not gonna.
I don't think both of them, both of them, won't make it like, Wow, I just look, that's because the heat.
How are we going to say the heat aren't gonna make?
Well, that's what's so.
They got so much talent.
The point is that if you put the heat or raptors traditional powerhouses of the past few years in and the reason why I say that the reason why I say this is because of this.
When you look at last year's team, the sun started off super, super hot, and then they slowly trickled down.
Timber will have started off super super hot and then trickled down.
So even though that month chart had them in there, where they were two weeks before was even higher and they just kept going down.
So that's why it's like I look at those teams and those teams started off well, and now they're slowly trickling down.
You would say both the Cavs.
Yeah, I'm sorry, Cavs fans, I love you guys to death, but no, I think that's all about the Hawks.
I'm going with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I just think, you know, you don't think the Knicks are staying in.
I think Coach Thibodeau is gonna do wonders for that ball club.
He's changed the culture.
They're playing defense now.
Eso I believe that the Knicks will make it, but Atlanta and Cleveland They're two of the worst defensive teams in the league, and that's not a recipe force making the playoffs on.
I think Miami Heat, who will be one of the better defensive teams, are gonna get in well and again.
Look at the Cavs, even the makeup of their team.
Like I love their young.
Their young talent love their backcourt.
You know, They got Jared Allen, they got Drum and they got JaVale McGee.
So it's like even then, they kind of have, Ah, a little bit less of a traditional team.
And you're gonna depend on a very young backcourt, not having Porter Jr.
You know, playing for personal reasons and dealing with stuff.
If he was playing and giving them their 15 16 tonight, then you're like, Okay, you got guard, you got wings.
You got veteran bigs, but it's just like it's just not quite clicking in.
To say those young players are gonna lead them through this stretch is gonna be tough next year.
I think the cat's make the postseason.
I wanna move over to the West.
A half a game separates teams four through eight and two of last season's playoff teams, the Nuggets and the Maverick really a game out of eighth.
So, Paul, which team in the West is currently most at risk to miss the playoffs?
Memphis will not make it this year, you know well, so I think it's gonna fall out.
I think the Portland Trailblazers on that has, I mean, because they're dealing with injuries betting against Dame Lillard.
Well, it's not name, literally.
It's a squad.
I mean, he's losing markets, lost C J.
McCollum that, you know these guys gonna be going by from 4 to 6 weeks and 72 games.
And then not not to mention they're going to go at some point, go through some protocol issues where they're missing players, and so I can see them easily falling out in Denver.
What are we doing playing again?
They're doing a play.
They are.
I will say this and that.
That's where the Blazers may be able to do exactly what they did last year, which was make a push right there at the end.
If they are whole healthwise toward the end of the season again.
The teams that are in the nine and 10 spot will have a chance to at least be in the mix for a plane.
Look, look, can we talk about the Nuggets, though?
For a second you get just having an M.
V P season, right?
He is first team all NBA considerations.
M v p.
Thanks, Rachel.
I'm just kidding.
He's having that type of season.
And they were M v P right now.
Well, okay, look to your point.
Yeah, like you said.
But like, the fact that they are where they are at, Like, I understand that you wanna push.
But guys, they had gone further and further and further every single year got better every single year.
And now you're not even in the postseason a month in.
There's some things there that need to be addressed and need to be changed and need to be tweaked because you shouldn't be here at this point in time.
Not with that roster, right?
If you were hovering at the 67 or if you're hovering at the four or five, but to go conference finals toe out the postseason are out of the postseason currently with a month in something, right?
Well, you know that team you played on that team where you sat and watched other people a lot of watching on that team.
And this was a team.
We expected to have at least a degree of continuity.
I know the Jeremy Grant situation, but they have young stars.
They've been developing.
What do you think is there not that young anymore?
When you're I'm just saying, when you're in your second contract and you're a year and two into your contract and you have all MBA guys first teamers like Yokich you, I still think is the best big in the league is better.
I think he's better than indeed.
And so when you have all of that, there is no excuse for that.
Their defense isn't great.
Um, you know, I think you have young players trying to make jumps.
Still think Jamal Murray.
I think Porter is trying to make jumps, and so, you know, there's a lot of, you know, bowl, bowl, like once.
You know, they're just a lot of stuff going on, but they should not be where they are right now.
I really think Kevin Not having Porter Jr is really hurting this.
Yeah, Michael Porter Jr Hey gives him athleticism and size a stretch for, uh, the guy who's slowly turning into a star in this league that we saw in the playoffs, and I really think it's hurt them early.
Uh, thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content.
Subscribe Thio, ESPN, plus.
A2 postseason porter heat young playoff knicks
Which current playoff teams will miss out? | The Jump


Like many other street snacks of Kolkata 'Chingrir Chop' aka 'Prawn Croquette' is one of my favorite. It's not very easy to find good quality Chingrir Chop though. Many street vendors tend to fill the croquette with less prawn and more potato. So your experience may not be very peaceful, if you are thinking to try Chingrir Chop from any road side shop in Bengal or Kolkata. I was lucky to experience Chingrir Chop many times with a bowl of puffed rice (muri/murmura) along with a cup of hot tea in my old Kolkata days. There was a road side shop at my maternal uncle's locality, whose owner Robi da used to make very nice croquettes, Chingrir Chop was most popular among all. Those croquettes were crispy on outside, and made with a mouth watering filling, that filling was so well balanced in term of spices, prawns along with other ingredients that anyone who ever tried Chingrir Chop from that shop, couldn't stop at one.
In a bowl mash the boiled potatoes and keep aside.
Wash and rub salt and 1 tsp of turmeric powder on freshly washed prawns. Keep aside. Heat mustard oil in a deep frying pan. Add the prawns, fry them on medium flame until golden in color. Remove and keep aside.
Prawns mixed with turmeric powder and salt. Then fried in hot oil.
Let it be cooled little bit, now remove the head and tail part using your fingers, keep the prawn flesh only for making croquettes. Tear the prawn flesh roughly into pieces. If you are using small prawns, then you can keep them as it is, no need to tear them in that case.
Now in the remaining oil (4-5 tbsp oil should be there, if not add some more). Add onion and fry on medium high flame until lightly brown in color. Add ginger-garlic paste, green chilies, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder and salt. Mix and fry it on medium heat till the masala starts leaving oil (1-2 minute max). Add prawn pieces. Mix well, cook on low flame for 10-12 minutes. Keep stirring in between. Add mashed potato, mix well. Adjust salt, if required. Add sugar, cook for 2-3 minutes more. Add garam masala, mix and remove from heat. Keep aside. Let it be cooled.
Make round or cylinder shaped chops/croquettes from this mixture, like this.
In a bowl mix besan, water and salt. Mix to form a lump free batter. Dip each chop in this besan batter and then roll into ground cornflakes or breadcrumbs whatever you are using.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Add 1 cup oil at a time. Fry the chops on medium flame until golden brown. Your Kolkata style chops are ready!
Serve immediately with kasundi (Bengali mustard sauce)/tomato ketchup and some sliced onions.
Why I fried these prawns with head and tail part on? Well, the head and tail parts add more flavor and taste into the oil, and that oil use to cook further for the croquette mixture.
To make the croquettes eggless I used besan mixture as coating. And there was no difference in taste. But if you want to use eggs, just mix 2 eggs with little salt. Dip the chops and then roll into breadcrumbs.
These croquettes can be made ahead, after coating store them in an airtight container, and keep in the fridge. They stay well for a day or two. Just take them out from fridge, fry and serve.


text:
Q: How to make a bottom tab bar in android? I am using this code to put bottom tab bar in android but it does not appear in my layout pages in the app. also I made the maintab.xml and other tab required files in the drawable. but still it does not work. Can you please tell me what is wrong ?
  public class TabbottonActivity extends TabActivity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.maintab);
        setTabs() ;
    }
    private void setTabs()
    {
        addTab("Home", R.drawable.tab_home, MenuActivity.class);
        addTab("Search", R.drawable.tab_search, DestinationActivity.class);

        addTab("Home", R.drawable.tab_home, MenuActivity.class);
        addTab("Search", R.drawable.tab_search, DestinationActivity.class);
    }

    private void addTab(String labelId, int drawableId, Class<?> c)
    {
        TabHost tabHost = getTabHost();
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, c);
        TabHost.TabSpec spec = tabHost.newTabSpec("tab" + labelId);

        View tabIndicator = LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.tab_indicator, getTabWidget(), false);
        TextView title = (TextView) tabIndicator.findViewById(R.id.title);
        title.setText(labelId);
        ImageView icon = (ImageView) tabIndicator.findViewById(R.id.icon);
        icon.setImageResource(drawableId);

        spec.setIndicator(tabIndicator);
        spec.setContent(intent);
        tabHost.addTab(spec);
    }
}

A: Don't use bottom tab bars

Don't use bottom tab bars
  Tther platforms use the bottom tab bar to switch between the app's views. Per platform convention, Android's tabs for view control are shown in action bars at the top of the screen instead. In addition, Android apps may use a bottom bar to display actions on a split action bar.
You should follow this guideline to create a consistent experience
  with other apps on the Android platform and to avoid confusion between
  actions and view switching on Android.

From: http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/pure-android.html
Edit:
How you should create tabs
http://developer.android.com/training/implementing-navigation/lateral.html


text:
Home Lists
HBO's take on Naughty Dog's brilliant The Last of Us is nearly upon us, with many hailing it as the end of the curse of the video game adaptation.
While we're sure that The Last of Us is going to blow our socks off, however, the truth is that there have already been multiple TV shows adapted from videogames that have done the source material justice while also being thoroughly entertaining for both fans and newcomers.
With that in mind, we've put together a short list of six TV shows based on videogames that you should consider watching. Many of them are available via streaming services, too, so you might be able to watch them without spending any more money than you already are doing. Result.
1. The Witcher
Okay, so we're cheating a little with this one, as Netflix's The Witcher TV series is primarily based on the books of Andrzej Sapkowski. But without the success of the games and how they've drawn attention to the books, it's doubtful whether the series would have been made.
In any case, fans of the games are sure to find lots to like about the series, which has now also received multiple spin-offs. It's set to continue, too, although Geralt will be played by Liam Hemsworth rather than Henry Cavill after the upcoming third season.
2. Gangs of London
If you're into gritty crime dramas with plenty of action and bloody violence, you might want to check out Gangs of London. Available via Sky in the UK and AMC in America, many will be unaware that it's loosely based on a videogame by the same name.
Gangs of London, developed by Sony's London Studio, was released on PlayStation Portable in 2006. With gameplay centered around multiple gangs vying for control of London, it's unsurprising that the TV series has the same premise.
3. Castlevania
While The Witcher and Gangs of London are both live-action adaptations, Castlevania is the first entry on this list that employs animation to tell its tale. Based on the popular action game series created by Konami, Netflix's Castlevania adapts multiple of the series' story beats and characters to create a show that's engrossing whether you're familiar with the games are not.
There are multiple seasons to get stuck into, and more to come, too. So, if you're keen on stylish vampire-tinged action, be sure to give it a go.
4. Devil May Cry
Another animated adaptation, Devil May Cry further delves into the life of Dante, star of Capcom's premier demon-killing action game series. While it's available to Stream via Crunchyroll, it can also be bought on DVD and Blu-ray.
Whatever you do, featuring beautiful animation, a rocking soundtrack and plenty of high-octane action, it's easy to get absorbed in the story that unfolds. Plus, Dante's as cool as ever.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
It's no secret that Cyberpunk 2077 had somewhat of a rocky launch. While we very much enjoyed it on PC, despite numerous bugs, its console counterparts were well below par. In the time that has passed since, however, much work ha been done to improve the core experience, and next-gen console versions have been launched which fulfil the game's potential.
The truth is though, is that you don't need to have played the game to enjoy Cyberpunk Edgerunners, an animated series by Netflix that's set in the game's world. All you need is the desire to enjoy some thrilling cyberpunk action.
Microsoft's Halo videogame series is huge, and so it's perhaps no surprise that the live action adaptation is one of the biggest attractions to streaming service Paramount+.
Following the exploits of Master Chief, a super soldier who fights against an alien race called The Covenant to save mankind, the Halo TV series takes place in its own timeline, separate to the games, in order to make the most of the format. It takes some liberties with the source material, then, but if you're after an enjoyable sci-fi story, it's definitely worth a watch.
Dead Cells' Return to Castlevania DLC is Kind of Embarrassing
The Best Vampire Games You Can Play Right Now
The Best Online Multiplayer Games on Xbox Game Pass
Castlevania Tribute Album Encuentro de Sangre Makes Vampire Hunting Even More Metal
Soulstice Review
8 Great Video Game Books to Read This National Read a Book Day


text:
Ohio senators push for Piketon uranium project
Dec 17, 2015 at 6:37 AM Dec 17, 2015 at 11:05 AM
WASHINGTON " The $1.1 trillion spending bill that Congress will vote on this week includes a stocking full of goodies for Ohio, but whether one of those goodies will turn into a lump of coal is to be seen.
Ohio lawmakers included $100 million for uranium enrichment and say they are confident that money will go toward the continued operations of the proposed American Centrifuge Plant near Piketon, in southern Ohio.
But the language doesn't indicate the money should go specifically to Piketon. The Department of Energy could use that money to pay to enrich uranium at a site in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz in September signaled his intention to use technology developed in Piketon in Tennessee. 'We'll continue to work with the delegation to make sure the DOE honors its commitment to (the Piketon plant),' Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said. 'People shouldn't be alarmed. This is going to stay.'
Separately, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has placed a hold on Obama administration nominee Victoria Wassmer until he receives assurances from Moniz that the money will be spent in Piketon.
The southern Ohio town " nestled in the midst of some of the counties with the highest unemployment in the state " faced a double blow late this summer, when the Department of Energy signaled its intention to stop the uranium-enrichment project just one month after the federal government ran out of money to clean up a nearby abandoned Department of Energy site.
On the latter, lawmakers have more certainty: The fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill includes $225 million to pay for continued cleanup work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon. The plant, which began operating in 1954, stopped operating in 2001.
The delegation has been united in fighting for both the cleanup and the new uranium enrichment site.
'These projects are critically important not only to the southern Ohio economy, but also our national security,' Portman said.
The spending bill also included $38 million for Central Ohio Transit Authority's CMAX Bus Rapid Transit line project. The transit line will link the northeast suburbs with downtown Columbus. The money is hoped to provide economic development along the corridor and help link 211,000 residents with major employment centers, medical facilities and educational institutions. Brown requested the money, calling COTA 'one of the best transit systems in the state.'
And it includes $50 million for security funding for the Republican National Convention, scheduled for next July in Cleveland as well as money aimed at protecting Lake Erie from harmful algae blooms in the Great Lakes.
The bill also included:
� $10 million above the president's request for Wright-Patterson's Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Applied Research program. The project conducts research intended to be used for systems that operate with minimal ongoing human direction.
� $10 million above the president's request for the Air Force Research Laboratory's Manufacturing Technology Program. The lab, Youngstown State University and the University of Dayton Research Institute are working on ways to increase the use of 3-D printing in the military.
� $6.6 million for a new satellite pharmacy at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
� $4.1 million above the president's request for technology transfer activities. The money will help to commercialize technology developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
� $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a project aimed at protecting Lake Erie from toxic algae blooms.
� $9.4 million in funding for an upgrade to the indoor firing range facility at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
� $371 million for the research, development and purchase of 81 Stryker vehicles with an upgraded weapon system. Some of the work on the vehicles is being done at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio.
� $2 billion for the Hardest Hit Fund, a program that has distributed $570 million to Ohio since 2010 to help communities hit hard by blight. Brown secured the funding.
jwehrman@dispatch.com
@jessicawehrman


The Oregonian Newspaper reports that DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. has settled claims with the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) involving their metal-on-metal artificial hips over allegations that the manufacturer knowingly marketed the hips that were prone to failure.
The devices were designed to accommodate younger hip replacement patients by providing more flexibility and range of motion than existing hip replacement devices, but the devices have been known to deteriorate, leaving behind metal debris and causing increased failure rates, metallosis, infection, dislocation, and immobility. These problems have required patients to receive follow-up surgeries in certain instances.
The settlement involved only Oregon and it was the first government lawsuit over the hips. By the terms of the settlement, DePuy admits to no wrongdoing, but also agrees "to not engage in deceptive marketing again." The Oregon DOJ obtained an average of $10,000 per hip sold in Oregon. The number of metal-on-metal hips sold in Oregon totaled approximately 432. Other state governments are starting to investigate the matter, along with the U.S. Department of Justice.