Famous Songs With Surprising Back Stories
Some of the biggest songs in history were written about unexpectedly deep subject matter. While many of history's best songs are straightforward, others aren't so cut and dry.
Whether it's the disturbing incident that inspired Van Halen's "Jump," the court case that inspired Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," or the love triangle behind the Eric Clapton-penned "Layla," there are some truly crazy backstories behind some of your favorite songs. Here are a few of the most surprising.
- 11,601 VOTESPhoto: Zoran Veselinovic / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
The tragic story of The Temptations' hit "I Wish It Would Rain" began and ended with lyricist Rodger Penzabene. Prior to the song's recording, Penzabene caught his wife having an affair, and became so distraught and depressed that he wrote a song about it.
The song was recorded and released in 1967, but Penzabene never got to witness its success. Two weeks after its release, Penzabene was so overcome with emotions over his wife's affair that he took his own life.
- 21,760 VOTESPhoto: Heinrich Klaffs / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Led Zeppelin's "All My Love" sounds like a simple love song but masks a devastating back story. The ballad was written about singer Robert Plant's son, Karac, who died suddenly at the age of five from a stomach virus.
"I think it was just paying tribute to the joy that (Karac) gave us as a family and, in a crazy way, still does occasionally," Plant later said of the song in an interview. "His mother (Maureen) and I, often, the memory… changes, the contrast and the focus changes as time goes on. It’s a long time ago that we lost him. 40 years ago."
Just two years later, Plant and then-wife Maureen gave birth to another son, Logan, who the singer says is so similar to his late child that the "two images are blurred."
- 32,170 VOTESPhoto: Zoran Veselinovic / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
"Billie Jean" might be one of Michael Jackson's most beloved songs, but the story behind it is terrifying. According to legend, Jackson had been receiving letters from a woman who claimed that he was the father of her child. The letter writer was relentless, constantly proclaiming her love for Jackson while trying to convince him to start a life with her. Jackson was so disturbed by the letters that he often had nightmares about them.
One day, Jackson received a package from the same woman that included a letter, a photo, and a gun. She wanted him to kill himself, and said that she'd kill herself and her baby so that they could be together in another life. The incident inspired Jackson to work through the horror he felt and write a song that addressed the woman indirectly.
- 41,717 VOTESPhoto: Marshall Segal / flickr / CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0
Paul McCartney's classic Beatles song "Let It Be" was inspired by a dream he had about his mother. McCartney claimed he was struggling personally at the time, delving deeper into drugs and alcohol. One night, he came home from a long night and fell asleep. When he woke up, he realized he'd dreamed of his mother who died whe he was just 14.
"My mother appeared, and there was her face, completely clear, particularly her eyes, and she said to me very gently, very reassuringly: 'Let it be,'" McCartney said. "It was lovely. I woke up with a great feeling. It was really like she had visited me at this very difficult point in my life and gave me this message: Be gentle, don’t fight things, just try and go with the flow and it will all work out."
McCartney woke up with inspiration, and proceeded to write about his "mother Mary" in one of the most legendary songs in music history.
- 51,510 VOTESPhoto: Julio Aprea / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Aerosmith were working on music when songwriter Desmond Child was brought in to help them write. The band wasn't particularly welcoming towards outside writers, except for singer Steven Tyler. Tyler showed Child a song he was writing called "Cruisin' For The Ladies," and Child told him he wasn't a fan of the title.
It was then that Tyler explained that the original title was "Dude Looks Like A Lady," and that it came from an experience he had while sitting at a bar. The singer looked over at what he thought was a girl with large blonde hair only to discover that it was actually Vince Neil from Motley Crue. The band started chanting, "that dude looks like a lady" to mock Neil, and a song was born.
Child said that Neil later found out about the song, and appreciated the humor in it.
"He had a good laugh. He knows that," Child said in an interview.
- 61,123 VOTESPhoto: Lindsey Turner / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Bonnie Raitt's heartbreaking "I Can't Make You Love Me" was written by songwriters Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin. In an oral history of the song, Shamblin recalled that the inspiration came from the story of a homeless man who'd just gone through a difficult divorce.
"There was a guy living under a bridge, somewhere close to downtown Nashville, and in the story, he said his wife came to pick him up, under the bridge, and took him down to the courthouse to get a divorce," Shamblin said. "And he said, 'We hugged, and we cried, and then we went through the divorce.” And he said, “You know, you just can’t make a woman love you.'"


Section: New Results
Sparse linear solvers
Participants : Jocelyne Erhel, David Imberti.
Sparse linear systems arise in computational science and engineering. The goal is to reduce the memory requirements and the computational cost, by means of high performance computing algorithms. We introduce a new variation on s-step GMRES in order to improve its stability, reduce the number of iterations necessary to ensure convergence, and thereby improve parallel performance. In doing so, we develop a new block variant that allows us to express the stability difficulties in s-step GMRES more fully.


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WOODENBRIDGE DISTRICT COMMUNITY ALERT
Woodenbridge district community alert will hold a meeting in St Patrick’s hall on Thursday, April 26 at 9pm. Guest speaker will be Jim O’Brien of Laois Partnership on changeover from analogue to digital tv. There will also be information on alarms etc.
BALLACOLLA CYCLING CLUB
Ballacolla cycling club will have their next outing on Sunday April 29 to take part on the Abbeyleix hospital rally - Ballacolla to Abbeyleix, all are welcome.
Clough ICA annual outing will take place from Tuesday June 26 to Thursday June 28 to Athlone, staying at the Hudson Bay hotel. Activities will include touring and boat trips over the 3 days. Names as soon as possible to Noreen Byrne, Maura McEvoy or Kathleen Walsh.
AGHABOE CARRAIGE DRIVING CLUB
Aghaboe Carraige Driving club are holding their annual charity drive on Sunday May 6 in aid of the Irish Kidney Association. Starting in Clough at 12.30pm, via Durrow, Ballinakill and Abbeyleix and back to Clough, followed by a barbeque in Mary’s bar at approximately 7.30pm. Music on the night, all welcome.
Clough/Ballacolla GAA club are holding a golf classic in Rathdowney golf club on Saturday May 5. Team of 4 (men/ladies/mixed) €160. Tee times 8.30am - 1.30pm. Telephone 0868638065 for time sheet. Your support would be appreciated.

domain: news


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View All Calendars is the default. Choose Select a Calendar to view a specific calendar. Subscribe to calendar notifications by clicking on the Notify Me button, and you will automatically be alerted about the latest events in our community.
May 14, 2021, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm @ Webinar
This month will full of fun trivia for the whole family to enjoy!
May 20, 2021, 3:30 pm - 4:15 pm @ Webinar
Join us to create a simple Mexican Folk Art painting of Lady Guadalupe, or another image of your choosing. We'll explore designs you might see in folk art.
May 21, 2021, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm @ Webinar
We are back for another family bingo night! Virtual bingo with other Menlo Park Community members is just a click away!

domain: artistic


Coastal Powder Coating
27 Activity Cres
Powder Coating Services Category
Established in 1985, Coastal Powder Coating has grown into the largest, most versatile and reliable powder coaters on the Gold Coast.
With the biggest facility on the Gold Coast and a dedicated team of 12 staff, 3 ovens including open door conveyor oven & 2 batch ovens,
aluminium pre-treatment facility and a sandblasting booth, we can meet the demands of any job with a fast turnaround.
We specialise in:
• Powder coating
• Aluminium alloy pre-treatment
Whether you’re in the construction, automotive, marine, medical, commercial or retail industry, Coastal Powder Coating have got you covered.
Call 07 5655 0583
Nearby Service areas are: Austinville, Bonogin, Mudgeeraba, Neranwood, Springbrook, Tallai, Worongary, Arundel, Ashmore, Ashmore City, Parkwood, Australia Fair, Chirn Park, Labrador


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What is a Pell Grant – Overview
Pell Grant is a kind of need-based federal financial aid. It is usually not required to be repaid by the beneficiary, which makes it extremely popular.
The U.S. Department of Education provides this grant to eligible, low-income students. This grant is used to pay expenses of college studies, including fees, tuition, room and board, along with other educational expenses.
The Pell Grant is the biggest financial grant program managed by the Department of Education for undergraduate students.
It was established in 1972 and had been awarding financial aid to thousands of deserving students every year.
Students can apply for this grant by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at the official website
Do You Need to Pay Back Your Pell Grant?
No, you do not need to pay back the Pell Grant amount. This is a significant source of financial aid and part of a bigger financial aid plan.
Other types of student aid may include student loans which need to be paid back. The federal work-study program is also offered so that students can work to receive an hourly wage while attending college.
The first step in receiving Pell Grant is to complete and submit the FAFSA. In this, you may be asked to fill in details of your family, such as the number of children studying in college, annual income, etc.
These factors are highly crucial to determine if an applicant is eligible to receive the Pell Grant.
How Much is the Pell Grant?
The Pell Grant amount for a student depends on their family’s expected family contribution (EFC), the number of academic years they plan to attend college, their enrollment status and their cost of attendance at the selected educational institute.
Each year, the Pell Grant amount is calculated after taking into consideration such factors.
Successful grant recipients will need to fill and submit the FAFSA each year to continue receiving the grant amount.
As the information entered into the FAFSA may change every year, this results in changes in the student’s EFC, which in turn determines the specific Pell Grant amount.
If the Pell Grant beneficiary is receiving other forms of financial student aid, then this does not affect their ability to receive the Pell Grant amount.
In addition, the specific Pell Grant amount also depends on the budget passed by Congress each year. In December 2020, Congress passed a law that increased the maximum Pell Grant amount by US$ 150.
The maximum amount granted under Pell Grants to an individual student in 2021-2022 is US$ 6,495 while the minimum amount is around US$ 650. An EFC of 5846 is sufficient for students to qualify for Pell Grants.
In case your family’s EFC changes, such as the loss of a job for a parent or incurring noticeable medical expenses, then you can submit a fresh appeal to the school for additional financial aid.
This may even result in the student receiving a larger amount through a Pell Grant.
Who is eligible for Pell Grant?
The Pell Grant is different from other types of student financial aid because the student’s eligibility criteria remain the same across different educational institutes as long as the institute is a participant in the federal student financial aid program.
Currently, more than 6,000 schools, colleges and universities across the United States are participants in the Pell Grant program for student aid, as per the US Department of Education reports.
The eligibility criteria for a Pell Grant include students being able to prove exceptional financial need on the FAFSA. The applicant should be a US citizen and eligible non-citizen and not yet received a bachelor’s, professional or graduate degree.
In case a student decides to withdraw from the educational course they are pursuing through Pell Grant aid, then they may lose their eligibility status. This is also applicable to students who fail to continue making good academic progress, such as the inability to fulfill a college’s GPA requirements.
Where to apply for Pell Grant?
To apply for a Pell Grant, first, you need to make sure that you fulfill all eligibility criteria. The next thing to do is to fill and submit the FAFSA form from the official website link provided in the article.
Once the monitoring committee deems you eligible for the grant, you will receive a positive acknowledgment within a few days.
If you are selected to receive the Pell Grant, then you can expect to get the amount directly at any time during the semester payment period.
The specific college or school determines the time and process by which students can receive their Pell Grant amount.
Here is the List of Pell Grants by State:
|Pell Grants in Alabama
|Pell Grants in California
|Pell Grants in Kentucky
|Pell Grants in Mississippi
|Pell Grants in Ohio
|Pell Grants in Texas
|Pell Grants in Alabama
|Pell Grants in Georgia

domain: finance


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As astonishing as this may now sound, industrial development far outran environmental regulation until surprisingly recently. However, by the early 1970s various issues—water pollution, air pollution, resource depletion, the alarming discovery that the main difference between polyester clothing and napalm is the absence of a spark—became so obvious that visionaries like Richard M. Nixon (later noted for innovations in hospitality services such as those offered by the Watergate Hotel) created agencies whose task it was to enforce environmental preservation laws. Presumably this was the end of the matter. Indeed, so confident am I that it was so that I will not even glance out the window to see if these efforts succeeded. No need to even smell the air.
Nevertheless, while nattering nabobs of negativism might have muttered about mass extinctions, anti-terraforming, and the potential self-extermination of the human species, one cannot deny that rising alarm about the changing environment inspired some classic SFF novels.
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham (1953)
This cozy catastrophe stands out because it’s a rare book in which humans are not to blame for deadly environmental changes. The novel begins quietly, as a meteor shower splashes down in Earth’s oceans. English Broadcasting Company reporters Mike and Phyllis Watson, who document the escalating crisis, see nothing alarming. Initially.
Unfortunately for the former rulers of Earth, the objects were spacecraft, delivering the planet’s new owners to Earth’s oceans. At first these enigmatic beings limit themselves to sampling the inhabitants of an occasional village to better understand their new home. Once they’ve settled in—and particularly once humans attempt to nuke the settlers—the aquatic aliens decide to conduct planetary improvements. Which is to say, they begin melting ice caps, providing themselves with more aquatic lebensraum. This also drowns the coastlines where atom bomb-wielding, land-dwelling pests tend to congregate.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin (1971)
As he is dying in the aftermath of a nuclear war, George Orr discovers that he can dream away the current world, replacing it with a better one. Unfortunately for George, “better than a world in which he is badly burned and waiting to die” is a low bar. The world that replaces the war-torn one is overheated, overpopulated, and marching towards the same mass suicide as George’s original world.
Enter Dr. William Haber. Assigned George as a patient, Haber accepts the reality of George’s dream power. With applied hypnotherapy, Haber sets out to use George as a tool with which to improve a sadly flawed world. What if unforeseen complications of Haber’s fixes present themselves? Well, Haber will simply try again, for as long as it takes to create a perfect world.
The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven (1978)
Years ago, the Warlock stumbled across the fact that doomed his magic-rich world. Every mage worth the name cheerfully used the world’s mana to work their spells. The Warlock was the first one to realize that mana was what another age called a non-renewable resource. Once the current reserves were depleted, that would be that for the age of magic. The sword-wielding barbarians would win.
Wizards can look for new lands with as-yet-untapped mana, but Niven’s mages are an implausibly unreasonable lot and they will quickly squander new but finite sources of mana. Very few sorcerers have the self-control to ration limited supplies of mana. It would be best to find some source of mana that even careless humans could not use up. Nowhere on Earth fits the bill. The age of magic appears to be doomed by human folly.
Earth is only one world. To find an unending frontier, one need only look up at the Moon and worlds beyond. What could go wrong?
A Greater Infinity by Michael McCollum (1982)
Unremarkable Arizona State University engineering student Duncan MacElroy set out to purchase beer. Thanks to his unfortunate choice in beer-run companions, Duncan ended up drafted into paratime war between worlds occupied by Homo sapiens sapiens and worlds occupied by Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Violent death in this setting was far more likely than it would have been had Duncan remained on Earth. But life was certainly more exciting.
While the Confederation, Duncan’s adopted civilization, accrues many benefits from an endless frontier of parallel worlds, there is a cost. Which is that, ruling so many worlds, there is no reason to value any particular world. Thus, industrialized worlds are polluted to a degree that would make a Victorian industrialist pale. Unlike Earth, where being constrained to a single world ensures environmentalism out of simple, logical self-interest, the abundant frontiers mean environmental regulations will always be a nonstarter in the Confederation.
The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner (1972)
Despite the best efforts of runaway consumerism, the world depicted in Brunner’s The Sheep Look Up is not a utopia. Indeed, it is the very opposite, faced with every possible consequence of short-sighted, ravenous pursuit of wealth. Oceans are poisoned, the air is thick with smog, entire species are vanishing, and the American president, from whom one surely would expect wisdom (…or at least prudence), can offer only snappy platitudes rather than clear-sighted public policy.
Simple logic dictates that an intelligent species presented with the certainty of self-inflicted catastrophe and mass extinction would embrace the necessary steps to sidestep doom. I regret to report Brunner’s humans do not qualify. Too few are motivated to take constructive actions. Indeed, some see environmental degradation as just another money-making opportunity. Small wonder that the novel ends on this gloomy note:
Mrs. Byrne sniffed. Smoke! And if she could smell it with her heavy head cold, it must be a tremendous fire!
“We ought to call the brigade!” she exclaimed. “Is it a hayrick?”
“The brigade would have a long way to go,” the doctor told her curtly. “It’s from America. The wind’s blowing that way.”
The conceit that the smoke from fires would be noticeable thousands of kilometers away is a bit silly, of course [Editor’s note: cough cough], but in Brunner’s hands the final image is quite effective.
As I said, there are a great many SFF books with environmental themes. Even though our laws must have forestalled crises of the sort we feared in the 1970s, authors have continued writing such works. Since this list is limited to five books, and many is probably larger than five, there must be quite a few worthy books I did not mention. Comments are below.
In the words of Wikipedia editor TexasAndroid, prolific book reviewer and perennial Darwin Award nominee James Davis Nicoll is of “questionable notability.” His work has appeared in Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times as well as on his own websites, James Nicoll Reviews and the Aurora finalist Young People Read Old SFF (where he is assisted by editor Karen Lofstrom and web person Adrienne L. Travis). He is a four-time finalist for the Best Fan Writer Hugo Award and is surprisingly flammable.

domain: literature


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Most parents may be unaware the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, is underway and one of biggest opportunities for video game console and game companies to roll out their latest consumer products. This includes the launch of numerous mature titles younger kids are itching to try, despite age restrictive warnings.
Today is Nintendo's big day to take center stage in a presentation that will be streamed online. Nintendo, known as one of the industry leaders in family-friendly game play, may fade away unless parents clap harder for companies that eschew shooter-themed games.
Because gaming can be a time vampire, and perhaps a bad influence as far as potential desensitization of violence is involved, some parents may be tempted to rejoice at the news that any gaming company is on the ropes.
But let's take a closer look at what would be lost if Nintendo loses the battle for survival in the video gaming world.
E3 began Monday, and the tidal wave of first and third-person shooter games, offering whats seems like an unceasing rain of blood and bullets in a world of increasing school shooting incidents, might be a good reason to pay attention to the woes of the company that brought us Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and other family-friendly titles.
For the most part, while other game companies include titles that are family-friendly sprinkled into catalogs that are anchored by mature titles (ie. Sony PlayStation PS3 can boast about “Lego” and “Minecraft” games, while XBox has “Skylanders” and “Harry Potter’ titles).
Nintendo and a handful of other game companies have made it their business to create games that only reach a violence level of alien blasting and swashbuckling, available on Nintendo devices in the games “Metroid” or “The Legend of Zelda” respectively.
While there are Nintendo-compatible versions of games I don’t allow my sons to play, including “Call of Duty” (made for the 3DS and WiiU devices), they are not produced by the Nintendo Corporation, but by other game developers who release the games for multiple platforms.
Nintendo has announced annual losses three years running, according to an ABC report. Yesterday Nikkei Asian Review announced that for the first time in eight years, Nintendo has been overtaken in console sales by rival Sony.
I decided to check in with my resident video game expert think tank – also known as my four uber-gamer sons.
My sons were delighted to learn that I was reporting on the annual E3 conference as part of an assignment.
“Good. Now save Nintendo,” said Ian, 19, who is a die-hard fan of the 3DS and its family-friendly titles such as Nintendo’s “Luigi’s Mansion” and “Monster Hunter.”
Because I didn’t know any video game industry giant needed the help of a mom, I asked what’s wrong with the company.
(Memo: Never ask a room full of Nintendo fans what’s wrong with their favorite gaming company unless you’re prepared for total geek overload.)
Ian, Avery, 15, and Quin, 10, as well as several other visiting teens in the room, filled me in on everything from the fact that the WiiU console fails to interface with other Nintendo devices such as the handheld 3DS, to the “annoying” WiiU controller.
“But basically Nintendo is just getting "pwned" [a gamer abbreviation of the words ‘perfectly owned,’ pronounced p-oh-nd] by all the other companies that make all the FPS [first-person shooter] and 3PS [third-person shooter] games like Call of Duty, Halo,” Quin shared.
He added, “Basically, everything you've ever banned."
Now I was interested in the cause my kids had set before me and knew I needed to research further.
I contacted the one absent member of the gamer think-tank, my son Zoltan, 20, who is away at college.
“Hardware and online gaming aside, the core issue is that Nintendo’s storylines are played-out and people get bored, so they go primal with mindless shooter games,” Zoltan explained.
“The exception of course would be the game ‘Zelda.’ If they continued that storyline and did an HD version and could make some platform cross-over from WiiU to 3DS they would be back in business.”
When I got off the phone, I thought about how attached my sons have always been to the characters and “stories” told by games played on Nintendo devices through the years.
At no time before this conversation had I thought of video game developers as storytellers.
In that light, it makes sense that Disney and other filmmakers have entered into the video gaming world and subsequently found success.
Just a few months ago, Quin had me making our own plush Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom characters for months because he wanted to have them in hand to continue the adventures that had become stale in the virtual video game world.
Avery, 15, is a “Metroid” and “Monster Hunter” guy to the core, who ran into the room last week and stopped the presses in a rare public display of emotion, shouting, “‘Monster Hunter 4’ is coming in 2015! I am happiness!”
Zoltan, 20, has played “Legend of Zelda” on every platform Nintendo offers and dressed as the game’s character Link last Halloween with some help from my mom who made the character’s signature hat for him.
Plus, all four of my sons have followed their favorite games, like Pokemon, from the handheld DS device to consoles that hook to a TV set and now, in some cases, to online versions that have become complex, highly social, multiplayer gaming environments, making friends in Japan, Hawaii, and Australia, among other locations.
Tuesday, Nintendo will take the stage at E3 to announce its newest offerings.
No matter what the outcome, I believe gaming companies would be wise to still serve the family gaming contingent, and focus on the storytelling inside the games over the kill count.
Parents have the chance to tune in to E3 online with their kids and gain a better understanding of what game titles are gaining popularity and what help steer kids to the best game choices that fit.
In a way, this relates to the old adage, “The family that plays together, stays together,” but is updated as we find new platforms and applications in the digital age that we all can share.

domain: entertainment


The BCIA National Conference 2013 will be a joint effort between the BCIA and B&ES, it was announced today.
The collaborative effort is intended to highlight the importance of integration for better building performance, said the statement.
The conference will be held at the St John’s Hotel, Solihull on 9 May.
It will examine how legislation and incentives such as the Green Deal, Part L and the Renewable Heat Incentive are encouraging contractors and building managers to ensure that buildings perform as they are designed.
BCIA president Ian Ellis said: “We are delighted to work with the B&ES on this event. The topic itself is very important to our membership, who are often responsible for ensuring that the hvac systems of a building operate in an integrated and energy-efficient way.”
The 2013 Conference will feature a range of industry speakers, including Jacqueline Balian, head of operations for the Renewable Heat Incentive at Ofgem; and Colin Braidwood, who is responsible for energy management and the sustainability agenda at Dixons retail stores and distribution network.
They will be joined by Wales & West Utilities director of business services Mark Oliver and B&ES BIM Group chair David Frise.
B&ES president Sue Sharp said: “There are far too many renewable and low carbon projects failing to meet the expectations of end users.
“Yet, it is more important than ever that we deliver on our energy efficiency promises to protect building users from soaring fuel costs and to cut carbon emissions.
“The only way to ensure that low carbon technologies work to their full potential is to make them part of properly integrated, whole-building solutions and this depends on contractors working hand-in-hand with the controls industry.
“This joint project with the BCIA is, therefore, a key strategic development for B&ES.”
Places cost £55.00, including lunch and a delegate pack and more information is available at www.bcia-conference.co.uk


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Rash of gun violence challenges Galesburg officials
GALESBURG — As one unusual year has shifted into the next, a wave of gun crimes has hit Galesburg. Just hours into the new year a shooting incident injured multiple people. Four more shooting incidents followed in the first seven days of 2021.
Two of these cases have been fatal. Rachel Likes, 26, died following a shooting Monday at about 5 p.m., according to authorities.
Marquesha S. Ramey, 26, was arrested for the crime, and charged for murder/intent to kill or injure along with other crimes.
A 17 year old from Peoria died Wednesday, following an attempted burglary at Galesburg Guns and Ammo, seemingly at the hands of the store’s armed owner. Two are now in custody, Jakobe Brown, 18, and Dominick Booker. Both were charged for burglary and felony murder, a charge that gives them responsibility for the death of the 17 year old.
Knox County State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin says that this spurt is unusual, but also lines up with greater national trends coming out of 2020 and into 2021.
“If you look at crime statistics for the country, 2020 showed a significant increase in violent crime and gun crime throughout the nation,” he said. “That’s not just in large cities where we’re seeing this, but also small cities,” Karlin said.
Increases have also occurred in domestic batteries and violence, he said. At the same time, he says property crime, like burglaries and damage to property, has gone down, possibly because the amount of people staying home.
Karlin says the pandemic offers some explanation for the larger trend. It has caused economic insecurity, and also constrained access to mental health treatment and resources.
At the same time, he says gun sales also had a record year in 2020, he says, and more of these guns are now ending up in the hands of criminals.
“There’s a greater prevalence of guns in all communities,” Karlin said.
Galesburg Police Chief Russ Idle says that shots fired have become a more and more common occurrence in Galesburg in recent years.
Whether this has been linked to more availability of guns, he is not sure. Still, he believes and hopes the recent spike in gun violence will be an anomaly.
So, too, does Galesburg mayor John Pritchard.
While Pritchard says this is likely the worst series of gun violence cases in such a short period of time that he has seen in the city, he believes it to be a case of bad timing.
“I don’t think there’s been any change in the world that would cause this to happen,” he said.
He also commended the police force’s ability to handle the cases, noting that arrests have already been made on multiple of these cases.
Idle says police are taking proactive measures behind the scenes at the moment to deal with suspects they know to be involved in violent crime, drugs and gun crime.
“Oftentimes, gun crime is tied directly into drugs, so the best we can do is try to take some action behind the scenes and see if we can get arrests made of people we believe are behind illicit activities.”
Increased patrols can be taken, and efforts will remain to recover guns that are stolen, something that Idle says is not an unusual occurrence.
“Any gun we get off the street is one that can’t be used in a gun crime,” he said.
One component of Karlin’s approach to gun crimes and gun possession by felons.
“I take a zero tolerance approach to these types of crimes,” Karlin said. “If you commit a gun crime in Knox County, and you’re convicted, you’re going to prison.”
He said gun crimes eat away at feelings of safety in the community. This impacts more than just victims of the crimes, but the feelings of the public and the perception of the community.
In an era where people are able to work from home and telecommute into jobs, cities like Galesburg have potential to grow, if they can make a case for themselves as a place to live. The prevalence of violent crime could be an obstacle to that growth.
“We are constantly trying to answer the question, “Why Galesburg?”, and one of the answers would have to be, we are a safe community to live in,” Karlin said.
Pritchard says people with ill intent have always been able to obtain guns. If anything has changed, he feels that gun violence has typically been more prevalent in the larger nearby communities like Peoria, the Quad Cities or even Burlington.
“For whatever reason, we’ve been a safer place,” he said.
What can be done locally? Pritchard says that will be something to look at over time, once this current batch of cases has been sorted out. He says that the city ultimately has a police force equipped to handle the job, and those who see improper activity should report it to the police.
“It’s understandable why some people may be very nervous about the situation, but I don’t think what’s going on now really merits people to be overly concerned,” he said. “Just be more cautious and careful.”
As for whether any action or discussion could be seen at the next city council meeting, Pritchard is not sure.
“I’m sure certain aldermen will have questions,” Pritchard said. “I’m sure the city manager will be prepared to update us.”
In the short term, Karlin says the best approach will be to take a strong approach toward gun crimes in courtrooms and in law enforcement. Efforts to put people in touch with addiction treatment and mental health counseling will make up his long-term approach.
Preliminary hearings have been scheduled in both the burglary and murder cases, while an investigation is still underway in the New Year's Day shootings.


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- What does sepsis look like on the skin?
- What are the 3 stages of sepsis?
- What are the 6 signs of sepsis?
- What is the most common cause of sepsis?
- What are red flags for sepsis?
- How long can you have sepsis before it kills you?
- How long can you live with untreated sepsis?
- Can you have sepsis and not know it?
- How long does sepsis take to develop?
What does sepsis look like on the skin?
People with sepsis often develop a hemorrhagic rash—a cluster of tiny blood spots that look like pinpricks in the skin.
If untreated, these gradually get bigger and begin to look like fresh bruises.
These bruises then join together to form larger areas of purple skin damage and discoloration..
What are the 3 stages of sepsis?
There are three stages of sepsis: sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to an infection. When your immune system goes into overdrive in response to an infection, sepsis may develop as a result.
What are the 6 signs of sepsis?
Sepsis SymptomsFever and chills.Very low body temperature.Peeing less than usual.Fast heartbeat.Nausea and vomiting.Diarrhea.Fatigue or weakness.Blotchy or discolored skin.More items…•
What is the most common cause of sepsis?
Bacterial infections are the most common cause of sepsis. Sepsis can also be caused by fungal, parasitic, or viral infections. The source of the infection can be any of a number of places throughout the body.
What are red flags for sepsis?
Clinical Presentation Signs or symptoms of infection (e.g. wound infection or cellulitis, pneumonia, bladder infection). Chills and/or rigors. Rapid rise in temperature >38.3℃. Raised respiratory rate > 20 breaths/minute / raised heart rate or bradycardia.
How long can you have sepsis before it kills you?
Warning as sepsis can kill in 12 hours. Sepsis is a bigger killer than heart attacks, lung cancer or breast cancer.
How long can you live with untreated sepsis?
Prescott and team then analyzed the late death rates and found that among the patients who survived for 30 days after their sepsis hospitalization, 40 percent died within the next two years.
Can you have sepsis and not know it?
It’s clear that sepsis doesn’t occur without an infection in your body, but it is possible that someone develops sepsis without realizing they had an infection in the first place. And sometimes, doctors never discover what the initial infection was.
How long does sepsis take to develop?
Sepsis can develop within 24 hours of birth, and in newborns, the issue is called neonatal sepsis. A baby is considered a neonate up to 90 days after delivery. There is a higher risk of neonatal sepsis if: The person had a group B streptococcal infection during pregnancy.

domain: medical


New York, NY -- Ted Lucas, CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records, South Florida’s #1 Independent label who has been at the forefront of the Miami music scene for over 14 years, has reached another level of success by having his artist Rick Ross debut at #1 album with his second album TRILLA with 198,000 copies sold! This is the second #1 album for the celebrated hip hop superstar. The #1 chart debut- and #1 Digital Album - was driven by Ross’ current single, “The Boss,” featuring T-Pain.
Says Ted Lucas, “Hard work pays off. Slip-N-Slide Records is not only a nationally recognized record label but now will be internationally acclaimed especially with the arrival of Rick Ross, Trina April 1st and Qwote this summer.”
“The Boss” was produced by Jonathan Rotem. The new single moves up to #14-bullet on both the R&R/BDS and Media base urban charts; and also breaks the Top 40 on both the R&R/BDS and Media base Rhythmic charts. The song’s Hot 100 Airplay audience continues to build, now over 28 million with 3,600-plus spins. Online, Rick’s personal “TrillaWorld” blog is in its second month of operation. His http://www.myspace.com/rickross website shows more than 14.3 million profile views, and over 366,000 friends, with an amazing 22.8 million total plays.
Since the inception of Slip-N-Slide Records in 1993 Slip-N-Slide has sold over 15 million records and counting. Slip-N-Slide Records is home to some of the most provocative and infamous top chart-topping superstars including Trina, Plies, Rick Ross and future crossover pop superstar Qwote who will be releasing his debut album this summer through Lucas’ joint venture deal with Jive Records. With a roster that has continually maintained the relevance and respect of today’s music Slip-N-Slide Records is not just another record label, but a way of life that America has embraced and soon the international global market will embrace as well.


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Index to the Farmer and Hale Mortuary Index located in Denver, Colorado from the years 1889 to 1909. The original registers are individually indexed. The name may be that of the deceased or the person responsible for payment of the funeral...
Funeral homes--Colorado--Denver--Records--Indexes.; Burial--Colorado--Denver--Indexes.; Registers of births, etc.--Colorado--Denver--Records--Indexes.
Index to burial records in the Horan Mortuary Records (WH842), a manuscript collection in the Western History Dept. Gives name, age, color/race, year of burial, page number. Additional information may be found in the records.
Comprehensive index created of the 1885 Arapahoe County, Colorado State Census created by The Colorado Genealogical Society. Geographically included in the index is: present Denver, Arapahoe and Adams counties. Information included in the index...
Colorado--Census--19th century.; Denver (Colo.)--Census--19th century.; Arapahoe County (Colo.)--Census--19th century.; Census records.
Yearbook for Douglas County High School, located in Castle Rock, Colorado, for the year 1973.
Douglas County High School (Castle Rock, Colo.)--Students--Yearbooks.; Douglas County History Research Center (Castle Rock, Colo.); School yearbooks--Colorado--Douglas County.; High schools--Colorado--Douglas County--Periodicals.

domain: history


Arslan ‘Ash’ Siddique, Pakistan’s Tekken prodigy, made history in the global gaming community by capturing his fourth EVO 2023 champion title in his sixth participation in Las Vegas.
The gaming community admired the 27-year-old winner for his exceptional powers and precision. He showed his superiority with a 3-0 triumph over Japan’s “AO” in the grand final.
Arslan powered his way through the brackets, securing a spot in the grand final by triumphing over notable players including Germany’s Arja “Sephiblack” Gamoori and South Korea’s Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon.
It is worth noting that Arslan is the only player in the world to have won the famous Tekken 7 event four times. He won the title in Japan and Las Vegas in 2019, and he extended his rule by repeating the feat this year.
Arslan’s contributions to Pakistan’s gaming art were obvious throughout the Gamers8 Tekken 7 Nations Cup, which was hosted in Saudi Arabia last month, prior to his individual triumphs.
Collaborating with Pakistan’s greatest Tekken 7 players – Khan Imran and Atif Butt – the trio stunned South Korea in a thrilling grand final, winning 3-2.
Arslan Ash’s trailblazing voyage in the world of Tekken is a source of inspiration for aspiring gamers all around the world. As he solidifies his position as a respected esports athlete, gamers eagerly await his future accomplishments, eager to see how his unique talents will continue to impact the competitive gaming industry.


LOUISE Redknapp was spotted still wearing her wedding ring despite reports she’s ready to divorce estranged husband Jamie.
The former Eternal singer, 42, flashed the familiar bling on her left hand as she spent time with pop star Will Young.
Dressed down, the mum of two wore a pair of leggings with an oversized red jumper while her hair was worn loose.
Appearing rather downcast, the star fiddled with her hair, covering her eyes with a large pair of shades as she chatted away to Will.
Will, who she grew close to during her time on Strictly, wore a pair of shorts and a jumper with a baker boy hat.
Her outing comes just days after it was revealed she was hoping to divorce footie pundit Jamie by Christmas.
The Sun previously revealed how the former girl band star, 42, split from Jamie in July and quit the marital home after the Strictly curse struck their relationship.
Now insiders close to Louise claim her "new-found independence" is driving her on to formalise the split with a divorce.
A source told The Sunday People: “Louise wants to put steps in place to end her marriage to Jamie by the end of year.
“They are no closer to getting back together since when they first split in July.
Most Read in Showbiz & TV
“Louise now wants to agree a timetable with Jamie to bring the marriage to an end.”
Jamie has also been seen still wearing his ring while out and about.
Meanwhile it’s been revealed that Louise is gearing up for her first live show in 15 years as she eyes up a chart return.
She will be playing at London’s Under The Bridge on December 22.
Speaking about her return, she said: “I went into the studio to rework some of my original tracks. I can’t wait to be back on stage performing all of the hits and my favourite covers.”
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Nine Days That Shook the Kremlin
But what's next for Russia's newly emboldened protest movement?
MOSCOW — At around midnight on Saturday, Dec. 10, while much of Moscow had long since fallen into a collective happy, drunken swoon after some 50,000 representatives of the urban middle class successfully came out to protest the results of Russia's Dec. 4 parliamentary elections, Ketchum, the American PR agency hired by the Kremlin, sent out a news release. It came from Dmitry Peskov, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's longtime press secretary.
MOSCOW — At around midnight on Saturday, Dec. 10, while much of Moscow had long since fallen into a collective happy, drunken swoon after some 50,000 representatives of the urban middle class successfully came out to protest the results of Russia’s Dec. 4 parliamentary elections, Ketchum, the American PR agency hired by the Kremlin, sent out a news release. It came from Dmitry Peskov, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s longtime press secretary.
"What we witnessed today was a democratic protest by a section of the population who are displeased with the official results of last week’s elections," Peskov said. "In the past few days we also witnessed demonstrations by other segments of the population who were supporting those results. We respect the point of view of the protesters, we are hearing what is being said, and we will continue to listen to them. The citizens of Russia have a right to express their point of view, in protest and in support, and those rights will continue to be secured as long as all sides do so in a lawful and peaceful manner."
Given the scale of the Moscow protest and the demonstrations by thousands more in dozens of cities all over Russia — the largest by far since Putin came to power nearly a dozen years ago — it was a strange and strangely muted response. It was not as strange, however, as what Putin said earlier that day, also through Peskov. "The government has not yet formulated a position," he said.
One person, however, had. On Sunday, President Dmitry Medvedev took to his page on Facebook — the nerve center of the protest’s organization — and said the following:
Under the Constitution, the citizens of Russia have freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. People have a right to express their position, which is what they did yesterday. It is good that all took place within the framework of the law. I do not agree with the slogans or the statements made at rallies. Nevertheless, I have given the order to check all instances from polling stations regarding compliance with the legislation on elections.
This was truly bizarre. What, after all, did the president of Russia — at least president until next year, when Putin proposes to swap jobs with him again — mean by it? And, odd too, not least because of the extraneous, redundant reminder that citizens have the right to freedom of speech and assembly, a right Russia’s rulers have not often been eager to proclaim. The equally strange worry — mostly on the side of the Kremlin — that Saturday’s protest, which had been permitted by the Moscow city government, would end in bloodshed seemed to imply that everyone, including Putin and Medvedev, needed this reminder. Then there was the constant marveling (including on state-owned Channel One, which on Saturday finally acknowledged that these protests exist) that the demonstrations had happened peacefully, in accordance with the law.
Perhaps the main issue was simply one of credibility: Medvedev, already about as lame a duck as a president can be ever since Putin announced in September his plans to return to the presidency in the 2012 elections, has personally, and grandiosely, ordered many investigations into scandalous things, and none has resulted in much. (Last fall, Medvedev promised to investigate the case of journalist Oleg Kashin, who was savagely beaten. He even promised to Kashin to "tear off the heads" those responsible. "Sitting here, smoking my pipe," Kashin joked on Facebook.) Perhaps this is why so very many of the nearly 13,000 comments on Medvedev’s Facebook post this weekend were negative. "This is called detachment from reality," one commenter said. "You need to go see a psychiatrist."
"The president’s response is ridiculous," Igor Yurgens, head of a Moscow think tank closely associated with Medvedev, told me. "’I don’t agree, but we’ll figure out.’ That’s not an answer." So far, none of the protesters’ demands, from registering new parties to freeing those arrested in protests earlier last week, Yurgens pointed out, have been taken seriously.
Indeed, the trickle of official statements since the Saturday protests implies that the Kremlin is either stalling or brushing these demands aside. One of the protesters’ demands was that Vladimir Churov, Putin’s childhood friend and head of the Central Election Commission, be fired. He has denied well-documented election fraud and said the reams of video evidence being put forward by activists since the elections were faked by being filmed in apartments made to look like polling stations. For his services to the state, Medvedev, to his everlasting Internet shame, called Churov "a magician" last week. Yet on Sunday, the Central Election Commission shot down a proposal to consider Churov’s dismissal.
Another demand was new elections. On Friday night, the eve of the big protest, the commission certified the results. On Monday, Peskov dismissed not only the possibility of new elections but the possibility of a recount. "If we take into account this so-called evidence, then they’ll account for about 0.5 percent of the overall number of votes," he said. "Even if, hypothetically, every single complaint is proved in court, they would still not affect the overall outcome of the vote." Russia’s prosecutor general voiced a similar view.
And speaking of the Russian Constitution, the ruling United Russia party had a rally in Moscow on Monday called "Glory to Russia!" to celebrate Constitution Day. The party promised a crowd of 30,000 people, perhaps to prove Putin right that there were just as many happy with the elections as there were who were outraged. According to the police, 25,000 people showed up. According to various reporters on the scene — and according to photographic evidence — there were at most 2,000. Many attendees had been bused in, a common tactic. "I don’t know why the fuck I’m here," one young man told a reporter. "It’s for television. These fucking KGB guys, they’re lying to people on television, promising everything and doing nothing. I don’t fucking need this. They canceled our classes for us to come here."
Given the money poured into loyalist youth groups — and the money spent on busing in young bodies — Monday’s rally was an epic flop. It is also a testament to the ineffectiveness of United Russia’s stubbornly sticking by its old and less-than-convincing tactics. The staged rallies are complemented by rhetorical gymnastics, parroted up and down the United Russia food chain, that smack of denial at best. Never mind that Saturday’s were the largest anti-government demonstrations since the fall of the Soviet Union, the line goes; they were nothing unusual. What’s 50,000 people, after all, in a city of 12 million?
Putin and Medvedev, meanwhile, are clearly trying to buy time, though in a less-than-organized fashion. "Putin is obviously stalling," said political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky, who until recently worked for Medvedev and helped Putin win his first presidential election, in 2000. "Medvedev rushed to say something negative, but Putin said he’s thinking about it. I think that’s the right way to go about it. They’re frightened, and this has been good for the state because it has forced them to start thinking about its actions instead of going with the usual knee-jerk reactions."
Pavlovsky, who has told me he is deeply disillusioned with an uncharacteristically mistake-prone Putin, also pointed to the lack of violence and chaos at Saturday’s rally. "This was maybe Putin’s first correct step this whole year," he said of the Kremlin’s decision not to crack down on protesters the way they did on Dec. 5 and 6, arresting nearly 1,000 people in two days. "The day of [Saturday’s] protest, everything was done right from the point of view of maintaining power. If the Kremlin tried to fight it, it would now be in a deep, deaf, and probably bloody siege. Will it continue to do the right thing? — that’s the question."
Certainly, the Kremlin has shifted its rhetoric, starting out after the first post-election rumblings with vague warnings of "provocations" and civil war, to the more recent claim that many who came out on Saturday were simply curious, one-off rubberneckers. Still, there’s a sense Russia’s rulers haven’t fully grasped the scope of the dissatisfaction they’re dealing with among a largely well-heeled, well-educated, white-collar crowd.
Some insiders clearly sense trouble. On the eve of Saturday’s protest, Vladislav Surkov, first deputy presidential chief of staff and the man who micromanages Russian politics and media, summoned a who’s who of the loyal intelligentsia to discuss unfolding events — a sign that he gets it. Yet those present at the meeting haven’t exactly been offering soothing words about compromise. Margarita Simonyan, the editor in chief of Russia Today, said dismissively that the next protest, planned for Dec. 24, will draw fewer people "because people have to go buy presents." Maxim Shevchenko, an anchor on state-owned Channel One, in a riposte titled "Answering Fools," said the best course is to let the opposition have its protests in order not to make martyrs of them. "They are no one and have to remain no one," he wrote.
Still, Monday brought some evidence of compromise. United Russia announced it is ready to cede some of the leadership posts in the Duma to the parliamentary opposition. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who was fired by an irate Medvedev in September, said in an interview with the Russian business daily Vedomosti that he was ready to head up a liberal political party, presumably one catering to the largely white-collar crowd — lawyers, doctors, consultants, finance workers, graphic designers, engineers, and the like — that came out on Saturday.
Then, in a surprise and very telling twist on Monday afternoon, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced his intention to run for president in March 4’s election. Over the summer, he tried to run exactly the kind of party Kudrin is now suggesting, but quit in frustration as the project quickly and loudly jumped the rails, for reasons that seemed to boil down to the Kremlin’s insistent desire to control it and Surkov’s rather intensive curation of the project. At the time, Prokhorov announced that he wasn’t planning on leaving "big politics," and his return suggests that the Kremlin has allowed him back in order to distract from Saturday’s events or to give people an option of a somewhat credible alternative. This would help defuse tension so that protests don’t further mar Putin’s one-man presidential race — which, let’s not forget, he will win — and which will allow him to campaign without further antagonizing the already antagonized white-collar crowd.
As for the white-collar crowd ("office plankton," as they’re known in Russia), many of these newcomers to political activism are now promising to come out again in two weeks, on Christmas Eve. Most likely there will be fewer people than there were on Saturday because it will be colder, because the Kremlin will throw them some scraps, because they will lose interest, or because there’s still no one on the Russian political field who represents them. As most of them take pains to point out, this is no Arab Spring, and they are no revolutionaries, just some people who have woken up and who want into the system. "Alas, it will be a protest vote," said one young office worker when I asked him about what new elections — should they happen — would look like. "And, unfortunately, there still won’t be anyone in the Duma who will represent my stance for the next five years. But it’s a step. It will happen in steps, and that’s OK."
That, despite its alarmist rhetoric, is exactly what the Kremlin is banking on now. As Pavlovsky put it to me, "This doesn’t smell of revolution."
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Cision PR Newswire
Alo Expands Avance Care Presence with Addition of Durham Family Medicine
News provided byALO
Nov 20, 2023, 12:57 PM ET
- Practice becomes third Avance Care location in Durham and 33rd in North Carolina
- Durham Family Medicine, serving the community since 2008, to change name to Avance Care Broad Street
- Practice founder Dr. Mohan Chilukuri and other staff continuing with Avance Care, as patient services expand
DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alo, the North Carolina-based healthcare company founded to support independent providers and help them maintain their independence, is continuing its growth by adding Durham Family Medicine to its lineup of primary care practices operating under the Avance Care banner. The addition marks the third Avance Care location in Durham and 33rd in North Carolina.
The integration of Durham Family Medicine into the Avance Care network is a strategic step forward in Avance Care's mission to expand access to patient-centered care and comprehensive healthcare services for more North Carolinians. As part of the arrangement, Durham Family Medicine, founded by Mohan Chilukuri, MD, is changing its name to Avance Care Broad Street. This collaboration will allow Avance Care Broad Street to leverage Avance Care's resources and expertise while upholding the compassionate care that Dr. Chilukuri and Durham Family Medicine have provided to the community for almost two decades.
"We are enthusiastic about the opportunities this partnership brings to our patients and the broader Durham community," said Dr. Chilukuri, a board-certified family physician with 30 years of experience in family medicine. "By joining Avance Care, we will be able to enhance our patient experience and provide even more comprehensive, patient-centered care."
"We are thrilled to welcome Durham Family Medicine into the Alo and Avance Care family," said Matt Eirich, CEO of Alo and Avance Care. "This collaboration exemplifies our commitment to enhance healthcare delivery to patients in Durham and aligns with our goal of fostering healthier communities through accessible, personalized care across the state."
With the addition of Avance Care Broad Street, patients will see an expanded range of services, including integrated behavioral health and nutrition services, chronic disease management, and access to a comprehensive network of experienced healthcare professionals.
Avance Care Broad Street will continue to operate at its current location at 2400 Broad St. with current providers and staff, helping ensure seamless continuity of care for existing patients.
The practice will host its grand opening celebration on Dec. 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Dr. Chilukuri will be joined by Alo and Avance Care leaders as well as elected officials and community and business leaders.
Alo, the parent company of Avance Care, is a physician enablement platform that provides solutions designed to support long-term practice sustainability. Founded by a team of industry veterans that understand how to change the playing field for independent practices, Alo helps physicians optimize their practices so that they and their patients can thrive. The company is headquartered in Durham, NC and currently supports more than 30 independent practice and provider groups delivering high-quality care to over 100,000 covered lives. alosolutions.com.
About Avance Care
Avance Care operates a network of primary care practices in the NC Triangle and Charlotte metropolitan areas. As an innovative primary care provider, Avance Care strives to reduce healthcare costs for patients, health plans and employer groups by leveraging a comprehensive primary care model. This model, which is patient-centered and focused on access, prevention and disease management, provides an exceptional experience and improved outcomes. With a dedication to providing unprecedented accessibility and convenience, Avance Care locations have on-site lab and x-ray services and are open weekends, with same-day and next-day appointments available. For more information, please visit AvanceCare.com.
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Police say a Wylie man died after he was severely beaten by a group of teenagers. It happened in the 300 block of South 3rd Street in Wylie late Saturday night.
Witnesses say the victim got into an argument with the occupants of a truck that had been driving recklessly through the neighborhood. The truck left but returned a short time later with five teenage boys. The teenagers beat up the victim and left in the truck.
Investigators say the man was found unresponsive and was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronouced deceased. The victim has been identified as Jonathan Bird, 28, of Wylie.
Witnesses were able to tell police the names of two of the suspects. Police located the truck at a house in Garland and took three of the suspects into custody. Police arrested the other two suspects at a house in Wylie.
Police have not released the names of four of the suspects because they are minors. The fifth suspect has been identified as Ethan Dorris, 17, of Wylie. All five suspects have been charged with murder and remain in police custody.

domain: law


Minutes' silence and a final clap for carers on NHS birthday weekend
The mark of respect on the evening of Saturday July 4, will be followed by “a moment of thanks and connection” the next day, when there will be one last country-wide clap for the NHS, care staff and all key workers, after which, people will be encouraged to stay out to raise a glass or have a cup of tea with their neighbours.
The “biggest thank you” has been established by both the NHS and the newly-founded /Together coalition, and aims to build a national moment where the public can thank everyone who has helped them during the last few months – and one that aims to reinforce the social connections we will need to get through the next stage of the crisis.
In a joint letter published today, dozens of individuals and groups have voiced their support for making Sunday July 5 as a day to bring people together to connect with neighbours and their communities, to say thank you to all those who are helping us through the Covid-19 crisis, including Leeds Imam Qari Asim, Leeds Makkah Mosque, and Kim Leadbeater, ambassador for the Jo Cox Foundation
In Yorkshire, there will be a double celebration at the Airedale Hospital in Skipton which shares its 50th birthday with the anniversary of the NHS.
NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens, said: “Over recent months our nurses, doctors, therapists, support staff, paramedics and countless other NHS colleagues have had to contend with the greatest challenge in the health service’s history. But we could never have done it alone, and we’ve been helped and sustained by fellow key workers and by carers and volunteers who together have looked out for others and kept the country running.
“So as we mark the NHS’s birthday we want to say a huge thank you on behalf of the whole NHS to all those who have played their part in tackling this horrible coronavirus pandemic. To the teachers, care staff, transport and shop workers, as well as the armed forces, volunteers and local authorities. And in particular, thanks to the public whose support has meant so much – from the children who put rainbows and NHS signs in their windows, to all those who saved lives by staying at home to slow the spread of this terrible virus.”
The weekend of thanks has been backed by Annemarie Plas, the founder of the Thursday night #ClapForOurCarers. She said she hoped July 5 would become a “which unites us in a countrywide ‘Thank You’”.
Now is the time, she said, to expand the gratitude shown to care staff to “everyone whom has and is still helping us through this crisis”.
She added: “Thursday nights were a moment to show our appreciation but also became a moment to check-in with our neighbours and have some human contact.
“Uniting, coming together and the acknowledgment that we all need each other is something we need now more than ever.”
Archbishop Justin Welby, chair of Together, said: “This crisis has in many ways made us more grateful for each other and more indebted to the workers who put themselves at risk to keep our country running and protect the vulnerable. It has shown people at their best – volunteering, helping neighbours, protecting those at greatest risk, pulling together as communities to support one another.
"My sincere hope is that this weekend will serve as a powerful moment of remembrance, thanks and connection, as we come together and commit to helping to create kinder, closer more connected communities.”
Imam Qari Asim, Leeds Makkah Mosque, said: “The NHS is one of the great unifying institutions that brings us all together. It’s there for all of us in times of need and it will be a magnificent moment on its anniversary if as many of us as possible can show that we are here in admiration and support for the NHS.”
The weekend will build on the annual Great Get Together, which is held in memory of the murdered Batley MP, Jo Cox, with events across Yorkshire on June 19-21. The Jo Cox Foundation is a founding member of /Together.


US President Barack Obama was on Thursday night scheduled to leave for Nairobi via Germany.
A White House spokesperson told the Nation on Thursday afternoon that Mr Obama’s departure schedule had not been altered.
“Air Force One will leave Joint Base Andrews en route Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany as previously scheduled,” said the official who did not wish to be named.
The White House told reporters on Wednesday that Obama’s itinerary for the trip to Kenya and Ethiopia would not be changed despite the reported disclosure of the president’s arrival and departure times in Nairobi.
Kenya Airways was reported to have made public classified information considered not for public disclosure for security reasons.
A notice through its public relations agency on Tuesday gave the 40- to 50-minute window for Air Force One’s landing in Nairobi on Friday and its departure on Sunday.
However, White House national security adviser Susan Rice said that the Secret Service, which is charged with protecting the president, was aware of the breach but added: “I don’t think it in any way is disturbing our plans.”
Obama is expected to arrive in Kenya on Friday, where he will attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi.


Public Administration (BA)
Public administration is the management of the business of the citizens of a nation which is conducted by or receives major regulation from government. This major consists of a combination of courses in political science, business, and English which provides an academic background that is desirable for entry into public service careers in American national, state and local government. It also is appropriate for students who plan to go on to graduate school in public or business administration, political science or law.
Liberal arts core requirements are as listed in the catalog. However, it is desirable that the social sciences portion includes six hours of United States history.
Students interested in majoring in public administration/public management should contact the public administration advisor in the Department of Social Sciences, who can provide guidance in the selection of courses and information about requirements.
Department of Social Sciences, Henderson State University
McBrien Hall, Room 201B
1100 Henderson Street, HSU Box 7793
Arkadelphia, AR 71999-0001


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A Mathematics teacher of the Sawla Senior High School (SHS) in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Savannah Region Ernest Ocloo has been summarily dismissed after he was caught raping a female student of the school in the Staff Common Room in November last year.
Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa in the sack letter copied the sector Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh said “Mr. Ernest Ocloo has been involved in sexual misconduct with several female students of Sawla Senior High School. He admitted to having sexual intercourse with a female student in the staff common room on the 11th of November, 2019 and claimed it was consensual”
It added “It is the expectation of Management that this will act as a deterrence to all staff of the Ghana Education Service (GES) that such conduct will not be countenanced,” the letter cautioned.
Snippets of information gathered by MyNewsGh.com indicate that the randy mathematics teacher late last year, subjected his student ‘fiancé’ to several bouts of sex using the table in the staff common room as a makeshift bed until the victim became unconscious.
He was said to have sought the assistance of a colleague to resuscitate the partially naked unconscious female student which leaked the information leading to the headmaster lodging an official complaint with the police and he was subsequently arrested.
Though the unnamed victim in her caution statement to the police insists she was not raped as claimed by the authorities of the school and that they had consensual sex but she passed out as a result of the excitement, security agencies would not take any of that in view of the evidence available.
Colleague Tutors at the Sawla Senior High School, however, suspect a frame-up by the authorities just to get the teacher out of the school over unknown reasons.

domain: sociology


text: Don't be fooled by the glowing jobs report today, says CNBC's Larry Kudlow. Yes, payrolls rose by 163K in July, but the devil's in the details. For one, the small-business household survey dropped 195,000. That’s what drove the unemployment rate up to 8.3%. Add the labor force shrinking by 150K, the participation rate slipping to 63.7% and the overall U-6 discouraged-workers unemployment rate increasing to 15%, and that pretty much cancels out any better-than-expected rise.


Lenovo had secured their position as one of the players in the smartwatch market with their Watch 9 and Watch X. With other companies already making a mark in this segment such as Motorola, Huawei and Apple. Lenovo has already been making fitness trackers for a while now, but with their latest announcement of the Watch S and Watch C they are trying to target a different class of smartwatch.
The Watch S sits between the Watch 9 and Watch X and costs around ¥238. It will be available in Red and Black dial and straps. The watch features a new dial design along with sapphire glass, and a calfskin leather band. Unfortunately there is a lot that is missing from the Watch S [...]
Huawei has launched a series of wearables at the launch of the Honor Mate 20 Series. The new products launched by the company include the Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 X, Mate 20 Pro, Watch GT, and the Band 3 Pro.
The Watch GT is a revision to the smartwatch 1 & 2 and the Huawei Band 3 Pro is an update for the Huawei Band.Huawei Watch GT
The Huawei Watch GT is a Lite OS based smartwatch which features sleep tracking, fitness tracking, and GPS capabilities. The Watch GT is waterproof for up to 50 meters, measures 46.5 x 46.5 x 10.6 mm and weighs in at 46 grams without the strap. The device has a circular 1.39 inch AMOLED display with a 454 x 454 px resolution 326 [...]
The Apple Watch has been a favourite for scientists across the US. Apple has constantly added new health and fitness features to the Apple Watch over the few years of it’s existence. The watch finds its use in the research of everything from symptoms of Parkinson’s disease to postpartum depression. Researchers now wish to find out if the watch can help with the detection of eating disorders. The Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders conducts the research named Binge Eating Genetics Initiative (BEGIN). BEGIN aims to better understand the genetic factors that may be associated with binge-eating disorder and bulimia nervosa. The study wishes to develop better treatments [...]
Apple released the Apple Watch Series 4 on 12 September in the USA. It is available in 40mm and 44mm sizes, with edge-to-edge display which is a 2mm bump for both variants from last generation. The new watch has 50% louder speakers, an S4 chip with a 64-bit dual core processor and a digital crown with haptic feedback. Additionally, the Series 4 has new health capabilities which can detect hard falls with the help of the new accelerometer and the gyroscope sensor.
Click here to pre-order the Apple Watch 4
The Apple Watch 4 is now available for pre-order in India on Flipkart and authorised Apple resellers starting at a price of Rs 40,900. The watch is available in [...]
Sony has launched their new WH-1000XM3 around-ear headphones in the Indian market. The headphone is the latest addition to Sony’s 1000X family of headphones. This is an upgrade from their previous WH-1000XM2 headphones. With the new headphones, Sony has added many new improvements from the outgoing generation. The new headphones have better Noise Cancelling performance, among other features.
Also read: Top Xiaomi Products With Discounts During Amazon & Flipkart SaleFeatures
The Sony WH-1000XM3 is a pair of Bluetooth headphones that have built-in active noise cancellation. With this feature, the headphones can neutralize the unwanted background noise [...]
The Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale is starting today and its got some great deals lined up. For the lovers of sound and music, we bring to you the top deals in headphones and earphones. The sale starts at 12 Noon today for prime customers and tomorrow for others.boAt Rockers 430 Bluetooth Headphones
This pair of bluetooth headphones will ensure that you don’t get into the hassle of wires again. The headphones have a built-in microphone and a good design to suit your needs.
The device is available in The Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale for a price of Rs 1,799 compared to its original price of Rs 3,490.Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 [...]
Xiaomi’s new Mi Band 3 is the latest in the series of fitness bands offered by the smartphone giant. The Mi Band and Mi Band 2 were popular as they were offered at a very attractive price. The Mi Band 3, has also been launched at a lucrative price, but that is not all. Xiaomi has also ensured that the price is not the only thing which makes the Mi Band 3 attractive. Loaded with features such as an improved heart rate sensor, a pedometer, a bigger display and much more, we try to find out if the Mi Band 3 is worth it.Build Quality & Design
The Mi Band 3 looks pretty much the same when compared to the previous generation, but features a bigger OLED screen [...]
LG is reportedly set to launch the LG Watch W7 running Google’s latest Wear OS. The launch will be held along with that of the LG V40 ThinQ. The smartwatch had been revealed back in April, but more details and confirmations have surfaced only now.
Also Read: Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Launched in India At Rs 1,999
The device is set to launch on 3rd October and is pitted to compete against the Apple Watch 4. This is due to the fact that is has the lated Wear OS and Qualcomm’s flagship processor for smartwatches, The Snapdragon wear 3100.The Snapdragon wear 3100 is designed exclusively for smartwatches and uses the ultra low-power system architecture. This results in [...]
After the huge launch event held by Xiaomi yesterday, two of the devices go on sale today at 12 PM. The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 and the Air Purifier 2S will go on sale today and the devices sure are something you would want to get your hands on. The Mi Band 3 Costs Rs 1,999 and the Air Purifier 2S costs RS 8,999. The Mi Band 3 will be available on Amazon and Mi.com while the Air Purifier 2S will be available on Amazon, Flipkart and Mi.com.Mi Band 3:
The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is the successor to the popular Mi Band 2. The device had been launched globally and got its India launch yesterday. It is a handy fitness tracker with a bunch of other features too. The device has a [...]
The much awaited Xiaomi Mi Band 3 has been launched today. The fitness tracker is the successor to the immensely successful Mi Band 2. The new Mi Band 3 has a bigger display, more features and a lot of reasons for Xiaomi fans to be happy. The device is priced at Rs 1,999.Design:
The Mi Band 3 sports a 1.9 cm (0.78 inch) OLED touchscreen. This is a huge jump in display size as compared to the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, 85% to be exact. The Mi Band is essentially a capsule, which is mounted on a wearable band, allowing you to use it. The removable feature also lets you swap between bands of different colours easily. The Mi Band 2 used to fall out of its band very easily. However, Xiaomi [...]
Apple launched a trio of iPhones and a brand new Apple Watch Series 4 with WatchOS 5 at their September event. Now, weeks after the launch, the Apple Watch Series 4 is finally up for the sale. But, one of its most speculated feature, that is the ECG (electrocardiogram), has not rolled out yet. Although Apple has managed to receive FDA (Food and Drug Administration) clearance for the ECG feature in the nick of time, but it’s just for the U.S., and that too will be available after a software update.
Apple is in talks with other governments to start rolling out the feature soon in other countries as well. For now, Apple is working with Health Canada to bring the Apple Watch [...]
Withings, a French consumer electronics company, made its comeback today with the launch of its new smartwatch. This will be the first new product of Withings as an independent company after reacquiring itself from Nokia. The French smartwatch firm was acquired by Nokia in 2016. However, the company failed to thrive despite the takeover. Therefore, Withings co founder decided to take back the reigns to revive the brand. With fitness wearables like Fitbit and Apple’s newly launched Apple Watch 4, the company will have to take gradual steps to establish itself.
The smartwatch is called the Steel HR Sport. It sports a 40 mm stainless steel case and a [...]


text:
A subsidiary of a Canadian cannabis company has received the first license to develop hemp operations from Mexican health authorities, but a legal framework that would underpin the industry has yet to be put in place.
Mexico’s Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (COFEPRIS) issued the first-ever authorization for the cultivation, processing, and commercialization of hemp to Xebra Mexico (Desart MX, S.A. de C.V.), a part of Xebra Brands Ltd., Vancouver, after a long legal battle.
Xebra Mexico applied for a license in 2018 after hemp became legal in 2017 under an amendment to the country’s General Health Law, but COFEPRIS at the time turned back the application because the legislation allowed only the “commercialization,” import and export of hemp but not cultivation and processing.
High court ruling
The company took the health agency to the Mexican Supreme Court over the licensing and received a positive outcome when the court ruled last summer that prohibiting the cultivation and processing of cannabis containing less than 1% THC for industrial uses violates the constitutional right of freedom to work.
The court said Xebra’s testimony showed that hemp is safe for human consumption, and therefore should be treated as any other agricultural commodity, and ruled that since the commercialization, import and export of hemp are expressly allowed under Mexican law, all other activities in the hemp production chain must also be allowed.
While COFEPRIS objected to the high court ruling because the agency does not yet have a regulatory framework in place for the entire production chain, a separate federal court later ratified the high court’s ruling and ordered COFEPRIS to issue the license to Xebra Mexico.
Xebra Brands, which is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (OTC), is headed by Mexican businessman Rodrigo Gallardo, President and CEO.
Legal but unregulated
While the court battles have now led to binding caselaw that legalizes all hemp production operations in Mexico, observers say it will be more than a year before legislation to regulate marijuana and hemp is enacted. Such a law has been floating around in the Mexican legislature for several years after the Mexican high court nearly five years ago ordered the end of prohibition on the personal possession and cultivation of cannabis.
Lawmakers have proposed but not yet created the Mexican Institute for Cannabis Control, a decentralized body under the Ministry of Health that would be responsible for issuing licenses, overseeing the country’s hemp and marijuana programs, and promoting cannabis-themed public education campaigns.
In addition to establishing licensing for all players in the industry, proposed provisions yet to be enacted would create social justice programs for small growers and communities affected by cannabis prohibition. Under one draft provision, 40% of licenses granted in the first five years would go to indigenous communities and others who have suffered under criminal drug laws.

domain: politics


text:
EDDY COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – More information has been released in relation to two buses that crashed in Chaves County earlier this week. State police say an old school bus was towing the other early Tuesday morning when they hit an icy stretch of Highway 285 and slid off the road.
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Investigators said the buses were not associated with any schools and they did not have license plates or other markings. The driver fled the scene. State police are still investigating who owns the buses.