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Victor Canivell, speaker at our 2018 annual meeting
In the beginning of the year of our 30th anniversary, we have celebrated our annual 2018 meeting.
This time were honoured with the participation of Víctor Canivell, who, getting us closer to the latest technological trends, explained the current status, vision and perspectives of quantum computing.
After an interesting review of his professional career in the world of management of leading technology companies, such as Hewlett Packard or Silicon Graphics, Víctor Canivell has focused his priorities as Business Advisor, mainly on the support for start-up technology and quantum computing companies.
This new technology, yet in its initial stage of development, is expected to play a prominent role in the treatment of algorithms and solving mathematical problems that today cannot be addressed under digital computing.
Víctor Canivell highlighted the so-called “q-bit” as the basic concept on which quantum computing is based. Unlike the”bit” classic digital model, limited to only two possible states, quantum computing is envisioning the information unit “q-bit” with several overlapped status at the same time.
The meeting ended with the traditional dinner-cocktail, in which our professionals had the opportunity to share and discuss with Víctor aspects of the trending technology and the future impact on logical security, data transmission and information systems.
The 30th anniversary of Better Consultants has celebrated the central act, with concert of tenor Marc Sala, with a splendid repertoire of “Canzone Napulitane”.
We have introduced alveoCCM in the last edition of the Bdevelopers meet-up of Bantotal in Buenos Aires
Better Consultants has recently signed a collaboration agreement with DLYA for the integration of various modules in the banking core platform Bantotal.
Better Consultants participates at UB in a new edition of the “Fira d’Empreses”, this time is the XIV edition.
This new module is an ideal aid for large companies that have to manage complex contracts, with adhoc clauses under common standards.


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Evaluating the Fine Line of Legalization in America
Area of Honors:
Bachelor of Science
James Alan Miles, Thesis Supervisor James Alan Miles, Honors Advisor James Alan Miles, Thesis Supervisor Michelle Lowry, Faculty Reader Jeffery M Sharp, Faculty Reader
legalization fiscal correlation
This thesis investigates the fiscal correlation between our nation’s national deficit and the point when specific activities and products become legalized for consumption. The purpose of this research was to investigate specifically the effects of the deficit currently incurred by the state of California and its consequences on the economic state of the nation. This paper also investigates the historical data and fiscal points at which previously illicit acts became legal in America, particularly the repeal of Prohibition and modifications to laws governing gambling in our nation. The analysis weighs the pros and cons of such cases of legalization and seeks to demonstrate that our national government heavily considers the economic state of the country when modifying legislation, in addition to our ever-changing social culture.

domain: library


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UK Power Networks
We own and maintain electricity cables and lines across London, the South East and East of England and make sure power flows reliably, safely, and securely.
Our priorities are to tackle the climate crisis by connecting renewable energy, electric car chargers and low carbon heating, meet our customers evolving needs by improving our services, support our customers in vulnerable circumstances and go above and beyond for the communities we serve.
Your electricity supplier is the company you choose to buy your electricity from, and who you pay your bills to. If you look on your bill - part of what you pay is given to UK Power Networks for running and maintaining the power cables in your area.
Ranked No.6 - 2022/2023
Once again securing themselves in the top 10 for a third year running, UK Power Networks’ comprehensive package of D&I initiatives has secured them a place as the UK’s 6th most inclusive employer, 4 places up from 2021, demonstrating continued progress across the organisation.
UK Power Networks is the country’s biggest electricity distributor delivering power to 8.4 million homes and businesses across London, the South East and the East of England. They are responsible for keeping the lights on, safely and sustainably, for 19 million people, including those in the most vulnerable circumstances.
The Business Plan for 2023-2028 lists one of their seven key principles as being an Employer of Choice by attracting, developing and retaining a skilled and motivated team that reflects the diverse population that they serve. The company has transformative power to contribute to a more open, diverse and inclusive society by starting from within. Employees with diverse backgrounds bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences, helping them to become more resilient, innovative and effective as they support the transition to a Net Zero Economy.
UK Power Networks is again proud to be listed amongst the top 50 UK employers most dedicated to creating diverse and inclusive workplaces, for the fourth year running. We lead with our company values very much in mind, and listening to our customers, communities and employees provide us with the challenge we need to continuously improve, remain accountable and drive meaningful change. Being named as an Inclusive Top 50 Employer sends a clear signal of our responsibility to improve diversity and inclusion, working with the communities we serve, and our aim to be the kind of employer people want to work for; one that is trusted and respected both within and outside our industry.

domain: geography


UNIFY will continuously release news and information about the project while it is in progress, with updates on milestones and discoveries. We will also update you with information about conferences at which UNIFY's experts present their findings. Here are the latest updates, press releases, and announcements:
SP-DevOps Toolkit Release
Keynote at NETSOFT 2016
A keynote address on UNIFY topic was delivered at 2nd IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (IEEE NetSoft 2016) held in Seoul, Korea. The talk summarized the recent developments and lesson learnt in UNIFY based on the corresponding proof of concept prototype implementations. An abstract of the talk can be found here.
Demonstration in Hong Kong at BBF Q1 meeting
Broadband Forum newsletter reports UNIFY demonstaration at Q1 meeting as following
"UNIFY â€“ an EU-funded research program which has already done good work on how to migrate to a network based on SDN and NFV techniques â€“ was demonstrated to members during the Broadband Forum Q1 meeting. UNIFY is one approach relevant to the SD-365 Controller analysis being carried out in Joint Architecture and Migration and SDN-NFV sessions. It follows multi-company contributions at the 2015 Q3 and Q4 meetings"
UNIFY featured in official Ericsson Blog
Results from all technical Unify Work packages have recently been feature in the official blog of Ericsson Research. The first blog entry discusses the UNIFY control plane abstraction and control architecture to create a joint compute and networking virtualization and programming API. The second post discusses how UNIFY proposes to achieve flexibility and high performance with real-time composition of packet processing primitives. Finally, the latest blog entry introduces the UNIFY SP-DevOps concept and shows how it starts to get real with the recent first release of the SP-DevOps Toolkit.
SP-DevOps Toolkit v1 Released
The UNIFY project announced a first version of the SP-DevOps Toolkit at the Network Function Virtualization Research Group (NFVRG) meeting held at IETF94 in Yokohama. The SP-DevOps Toolkit is an assembly of tools and support functions developed in WP4 of UNIFY to support developers and operators to efficiently observe, verify and troubleshoot software-defined infrastructure. Its main purpose is to allow the community at large to experiment with solutions developed in the project to address challenges outlined in draft-unify-nfvrg-devops.
The SP-DevOps toolkit has the following components (links point directly to source code repositories):
- DoubleDecker, a support function that provides scalable communication services for virtual monitoring functions
- EPOXIDE, a troubleshooting framework that enables integrating different tools into a troubleshooting graph
- RateMon, a scalable distributed congestion detector for software-defined networks
- AutoTPG, a verification tool that actively probes the FlowMatch part of OpenFlow rules and is particularly useful in case of wildcarded flow descriptors
Demonstration at EWSDN 2015
Unify will showcase a demonstration in EWSDN 2015 on 01 October.
Demonstrations at SIGCOMM
UNIFY showcases three demonstrations at SIGCOMM 2015, London.
UNIFY at EUCNC 2015
UNIFY co-organizes a workshop on Network Function Virtualization and Programmable Networks at EUCNC 2015.
UNIFY leads the organization of a special issue on Software-Defined Operations. The Call for Papers (CfP) is now open and contributions to the special issue should be received by 31 August 2015.
UNIFY at IM'15
UNIFY presented first year results of the Service-Provider DevOps concept at the IFIP/IEEE Symposium on Integrated Network and Service Management, in Ottawa, Canada. A joint demonstration of UNIFY SP-DevOps Tools in an Automated, Dynamic Service Creation Architecture was showcased by Dr. Rebecca Steinert. She also presented a paper further detailing the SP-DevOps tool for Scalable in-network rate monitoring. Dr. Juhoon Kim presented a joint paper on Service Provider DevOps for Large Scale Modern Network Services, debating DevOps requirements for developing a modern service creation platform. Finally, Dr. Catalin Meirosu advocated UNIFY as invited panelist in an panel on Integrated Management of Software Defined Infrastructure.
UNIFY at SDNRG
Dr. Catalin Meirosu presented the recent UNIFY work on Scalable Software-Defined Monitoring at the Software Defined Networking Research Group (SDNRG) session during IETF 92.
UNIFY at NFVRG
Dr. Robert Szabo presented two draft contributions to the Network Functions Virtulaization Research Group (NFVRG) on the UNIFY NFV challanges and recursive-programming. In addition, Dr. Catalin Meirosu presented the UNIFY draft on DevOps. See all IETF contributions by UNIFY.
UNIFY and 5G
UNIFY is recognized for its contributions to the EU Research portfolio in the area of flexible programmable networks. Get the infographic
Network Service Virtualization
UNIFY has led the organization of the IEEE Communications Magazine Feature Topic on Network Service Virtualization. The first part of the series includes peer-reviewed articles stemming from carrier research labs and can serve as a concise entry point for researchers and practitioners alike to the problem area that UNIFY addresses.
UNIFY at SDNRG
Dr. Robert Szabo, Technical Coordinator of UNIFY, introduced the value proposition of the project at the Software Defined Networking Research Group (SDNRG) during IETF 91. Check out more IETF contributions by UNIFY
UNIFY at EWSDN 2014
01 September 2014
The UNIFY consortium, a group of fifteen leading European telecommunication operators, vendors, small and medium enterprises and research institutions, presents the first results of its research on bringing together cloud and networking services at the third European Workshop on Software Defined Networking (EWSDN). EWSDN is a premier event for the European SDN research community, which this year is held from 1st to the 3rd of September at Hotel Gellert in Budapest, Hungary. The UNIFY project, also as a technical co-sponsor to the event, unveils its innovative architecture in a technical talk accompanied by two proof-of-concept demonstrations.
There is a need for an increased flexibility in traditional telecom infrastructure for faster service creation. Further, services are impeded by the increased complexity of integrating vast networking assets and data centres of telecom providers. On-demand and flexible services supported by various networks and clouds currently require costly reconfiguration and programming of physical hardware.
The UNIFY consortium pursues an open innovation environment for telecommunication services leveraging on both networking and cloud resources, similar to mobile applications ecosystems. The UNIFY consortium creates means for the users or service providers to develop, build, deploy or even to operate their own rich and interconnected services through programmability interfaces and combined development and operations (DevOps) services. The UNIFY consortium brings performance optimized cloud execution environments into the network for improved quality of experience.
An open innovation environment allows development of software defined virtualized network functions (e.g., intrusion detection systems, firewalls, network caches, etc.) and their on-demand, flexible but automated deployment into service offerings. Such developments, however, need continuous deployment, integration, testing and monitoring support which are pursued in UNIFY as part of the service provider DevOps efforts.
Virtualized network functions must be hosted by execution environments with performance comparable to traditional hardware-based counterparts. To this end, the UNIFY consortium combines high-throughput packet processing on commodity hardware with flexibility of deployment and operations.
The UNIFY consortium develops a novel unified framework for enhanced software defined networking (SDN) in telecommunications services. UNIFY researches, develops and evaluates means to orchestrate, validate and verify end-to-end service delivery from home and enterprise through aggregation and core networks to data centres. UNIFY also develops and evaluates a universal network node based on commodity hardware for service execution. At the EWSDN â€™14 conference, we demonstrate how user-specific Network Service Functions can be added to an SDN-enabled Network Node and how Multi-layered Service Orchestration in a Multi-Domain Network Environment can be carried out.
Further information can be found here.
UNIFY at ITS 2014
During the International Telecommunications Symposium (ITS) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 17 to 20 August 2014, UNIFY was represented by Dr. Sandor Albrecht, Director, Ericsson Research who held his keynote speech on Unifying the Networked Society.
Network and Service Virtualization
Special issue in the IEEE Communication Magazine on Network and Service Virtualization
The introduction of software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) has altered in a wholesale manner the way to view, and plan for, network infrastructure evolution in the forthcoming decade. The first steps in network virtualization are already taking place today, although more often than not through a piecemeal approach in which hardware-based network elements are replaced by software-based alternatives. This may help to reduce operator costs in the mid-term but does not alter the full lifecycle of service creation and deployment. The real potential for network and service virtualization lies in upgrading the entire toolbox that network operators have at their disposal, as state of the art research and development efforts already indicate.
This feature topic will provide a concise reference for carrier-grade networking and service virtualization with emphasis on automating the entire networking and cloud infrastructure. Service Function Chaining (SFC), i.e. a carrier-grade process for continuous delivery of services based on network function associations, is of particular importance in this respect. Papers that address challenges in this research area and span topics such as service chaining description and programming with focus on dynamicity, high-velocity, service instance deployment, and continuous network service delivery are particularly welcome. In addition, given the increased level of activity in several standardization bodies which host activities related to NFV and SFC, such as ETSI, IETF, ITU-T, and TeleManagement Forum, papers that deal with standards and their evolution in this area are actively solicited.
1 â€“ 3 September 2014, Budapest
Following the success of the previous events, the 3rd European Workshop on Software Defined Networks will take place in Budapest from 1 to 3 September. One goal of the workshop is to bring together industry and academia on the topics of SDN; in particular the workshop will feature an â€śindustry forumâ€ť- a session with presentations by key industrial players.
UNIFY is the technical co-sponsor of this yearâ€™s EWSDN, together with the FP7 project ALIEN.
Currently, there is a call for papers open, with a deadline on 5 May 2014. Please visit the EWSDN website for further information.
Session on Open platforms and SDN
Future Internet Assembly in Athens
UNIFY is co-organizing a session on Open platforms and SDN during Future Internet Assembly in Athens, 17-18 March, 2014.
Details can be found here:
Open platforms and SDN-NFV_a paradigm shift to boost innovative Internet services and applications.
You can find the videotaped session here.
New UNIFY website launched
UNIFY communication platform
Background information, press releases and contacts â€“ UNIFYÂ´s website serves as the central communication platform. From now on, it will provide you with all the latest project news and research results.
The UNIFY team informs about attendances of conferences, the technical progress and a lot more. Public deliverables, presentations and general project material can be downloaded from our website. In addition, background information on UNIFYÂ´s impact on the industry will be provided.
Feel free to browse through the different sections to find out more about UNIFY.
FP7 project UNIFY has started
Funded by the European Commission, the UNIFY project aims to improve virtualized network operations by building a new architecture that optimizes data traffic flows. In November 2013, representatives of the UNIFY partners gathered at the kick-off meeting in Berlin, hosted by Deutsche Telekom Laboratories.
UNIFY is creating a new network architecture for the Future Internet, unifying the flow of information between devices, service providers and cloud data centres. UNIFY envisages a flexible network, decoupled from hardware limitations, with greater opportunities for innovation within the European technology industry.
A total of sixteen partners will be working on UNIFY, coordinated by Ericsson Hungary. Within a period of 30 months, the consortium will research, develop and evaluate means to orchestrate, verify and observe end-to-end service delivery from home and enterprise networks through aggregation and core networks to data centres until its final presentation in April 2016.


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Darius Milhaud: La Création du monde, op. 81a (1923)
"Out of all this has come one real masterpiece, one full-length, fully developed jazz work that had such character and originality that even today it sounds as fresh as it did when it was written in 1923. It is a ballet called The Creation of the World, by the brilliant French composer Darius Milhaud. I take the liberty of calling this work a masterpiece because it has the one real requisite of a masterpiece—durability. Among all those experiments with jazz that Europe flirted with in this period, only The Creation of the World emerges complete, not as a flirtation but as a real love affair with jazz." ~Leonard Bernstein
"Milhaud's Création du Monde was the first and remains the best jazz piece from a classical European composer." ~Dave Brubeck
By the time Milhaud wrote his music for the ballet La création du monde 1923, he was writing for a well-established popular taste. The ballet references African creation myths taken from Blaise Cendrar’s Anthologie negre. Leonard Bernstein summarized: “The Creation of the World emerges not as a flirtation but as a real love affair with jazz.” Milhaud explained, “This is a work making wholesale use of the jazz style to convey a purely classical feeling.”
The ballet has five parts …
1. Chaos before Creation: slow and mysterious, gradually growing in intensity. Listen for elements of polytonality and the soft closure.
2. Lifting darkness and creation of trees, plants, insects, birds and beasts: jazzy solos for flute, oboe, and horn. Life and the making of it is an exhilarating and delicate process.
3. Man and woman are created: increase of movement and excitement, exuberant.
4. The desire of man and woman: beautiful seduction music from clarinet.
5. The kiss: a beautiful conclusion, introduced quietly by oboe in the original, a bit of excitement, followed by softly fluttering flutes with a tender goodbye from the saxophone.
© Marianne Williams Tobias, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, 2015
Danny Seidenberg's arrangement of this work for string octet was done for a collaboration of the Ying String Quartet and the Turtle Island Quartet. The album, 4 + Four, won a Grammy in 2006 in the Best Classical Crossover Album category. Danny rearranged the piece for 8-part string orchestra this past year - this is the arrangement you are hearing today.
INTERMEZZO from the Little Suite for Strings by Carl Nielsen
When this work was premiered in 1888, the program notes that accompanied Carl Nielsen's Little Suite for Strings in A minor curiously identified the composer as "Mr. Carl Nielsen, whom nobody knows." While this was to be generally true of the musical world outside of Scandinavia for a half century, the designation would soon lose its accuracy in Denmark. While this work shows the fledgling composer paying homage to central European standards of form, Nielsen's own innovative musical language is already in evidence. In three movements (Prelude, Intermezzo, and Finale), the elegiac opening theme will actually fill a cyclic function, a device to which Nielsen would return to wholeheartedly a quarter century later in the Symphony No. 4. The second movement, the Intermezzo, gives a premonitory hint of the composer's love of triple time: it is an engaging waltz peppered with the occasional flat seventh grace notes that would later become so characteristic.
-- Wayne Reisig
A "Beethoven" year
2020 is considered a "Beethoven year" in that it is the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth - December 17, 1770. It is illuminating to speak to students about Beethoven's influence because for the past about 200 years the genius of his compositional style, advances to symphonic and keyboard repertoire, and, important to our performance today, his 16 string quartets written in his early, middle and late periods, are now part of a known canon. Ask any lay person to name a famous composer and "Beethoven" will be uttered. Can you imagine musical life before Beethoven? How does a musician delve deeply into a work of art to know composer intent, influence, and connection? We have challenged our students to get to know the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven.
String Quartet Op. 59, No. 3
IV. Allegro Molto
Ludwig van Beethoven, arr. Seidenberg
The sensational finale Op.59 No.3 is one of Beethoven’s true virtuosic masterpieces (and is as much fun to play as it is to listen to). In the face of his having to come to terms with his loss of hearing and the uncertainty of his professional and artistic future, Beethoven managed to leave us with this amazing movement that captures the joy of life like no other. Again, to quote Thayer: “It is said that on the page in his notebook where Beethoven was working out the fugal theme he wrote “Never again need you feel ashamed of your deafness, nor others wondering at it. Can anything in the world prevent you from expressing your soul in music?” Beethoven opens the movement with a fugue that he begins in the solo viola, passes to the second violin, to the cello, and then to the first violin. Once all four voices are in, Beethoven begins to skillfully dismantle the theme, dispersing the various components throughout the quartet of instruments giving each player a chance to shine. The pace of the movement is rigorous and unrelenting; Beethoven halts the music only twice, as if to give the players a chance to catch their collective breaths, before reigniting the music and sending it charging to the brilliant finish.
(notes by Kurt Baldwin)
Danny Seidenberg made this orchestral arrangement of the Allegro Molto for Waubonsie Valley Chamber Strings to play 5 years ago. He has deftly incorporated bass into the counterpoint and excitement of the whole movement.
At Waubonsie Valley High School, we have 6 orchestras that we, Daryl and Will, share as co-directors. Each of us conducts 3 orchestras, does technique for their Chamber-level orchestra and technique for the others' 2 orchestras. Partnership with one another is key to the success of our program. We are thrilled to work with one another day in and day out and count each other and our families as close friends.
Partnership with our high school orchestra colleagues in District 204 gives us strength and commonality. We learn from one another and continue to share musically and inter-personally. It is most comforting to work with the area high school directors with the utmost of respect and shared purpose - on the football field we might be rivals but in the realm of music we are compatriots!
Partnership with our amazing Waubonsie Music faculty, headed by department chair Mark Duker, makes everyday special, amazing, and completely worth it all! Whether we are collaborating on our whole department events or simply supporting one another over the course of the year, we are so thankful for the collegiality and friendship of our band and choir colleagues.
Partnership with our middle school "feeder" school directors - attending their concerts, inviting them up to concerts at the high school, coming to work with their orchestras before school and during the day, valuing their input on their students who are now with us, having them join us on international trips - helps us support their amazing efforts and to know more intimately the students that will be coming up to Waubonsie.
Partnership with our Waubonsie staff and administration makes for a vibrant, safe, and encouraging work atmosphere. Whether it is as Chess coach (Will) or Scholastic Bowl coach (Daryl) that we have the privilege of working with other Waubonsie faculty, or serving on committees within the school, or travelling overseas with with our students and an administrator, we are so thankful for the "Warrior Way", supporting Academics, Athletics, and Arts.
Partnership with our parents is vital to the success of our program. We ask our students frequently to email parents from class, updating them on "what's going on in the orchestra" so they not only know the successes of their child in class but also keep informed about upcoming concerts and events. Our Orchestra Parent Association gives us so much support, whether it occurs during a large, organized event like our District's Fine Arts Festival or winter Prism concert, or simply asking a few parents to come help with feeding students after a big concert - we absolutely could not do what we do without their help.
Partnership with our Waubonsie and local private teachers helps our program strengthen student by student. We have a few private teachers approved by the district that teach our students at after school and we know there is a cadre of other amazing private teachers that encourage our students, support our program, and make the work that we do go more smoothly. Additionally, we are so thankful for the support we get from Quinlan & Fabish, our district's preferred vendor, and our other local music shops for all that they do supporting the students' instrument needs.
Last but absolutely not least is partnership with our students. Our students are so academic, so athletic, so artistic, so accomplished in many realms - we are grateful each and every day that we have the opportunity to guide their musical journey with one another and with us. Recently nationally acclaimed electric violinist Tracy Silverman said something to the effect of "you should do academics for your brain, you should do athletics for your body, and you should do music for your soul." We know that it is is the personal and group goal setting and accomplishments, the physical connection of the instrument with the body, and the humanity-building elements of being a young musician that only increases these young adults potential for success as they become the nation's next generation of adults, humans. We are so thankful to work with each and everyone of these amazing souls.
We are honored to have our Waubonsie Valley High School Chamber Strings, Waubonsie Valley High School Wind Ensemble, Scullen Middle School Chamber Strings, and Scullen Middle School Honors Chorus participate at the 2020 IMEC Conference in Peoria.
To have a large number of our students and teachers participate in such an important event defines the caliber of musicianship that can be found in our district’s music program. The opportunity for our students and staff to engage with other musicians and clinicians from across the state aligns with our mission to inspire all students to achieve their greatest potential.
We are very proud of our students as well as our talented music educators, who will accompany the students at the conference. They include John William Burck, Daryl Silberman, Kevin Carroll, Chris Dandeles, and Mark Duker, of Waubonsie Valley High School, as well as Matthew White and Michael Ferguson of Scullen Middle School. With support from community leaders and the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation, our participating students and teachers represent a shared commitment to excellence and innovation to which we have received national acclaim over the years.
Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your conference.
Karen Sullivan, Ed.D
Indian Prairie School District 204
It is my privilege to recognize Waubonsie Valley High School’s Chamber Strings and Wind Ensemble as they participate at the IMEC Conference in Peoria.
As principal I challenge our freshman class each year to identify something they are good at and something they love to do. I challenge them to do this through taking rigorous courses and being involved. The recognition our orchestra and band program are receiving by being selected to perform in front of their peers shows this commitment. I have no doubt that the mastering of a musical instrument encourages such skills for future careers and builds passion towards the areas of the arts that furthers community enrichment.
To this call I highly praise John William Burck, Daryl Silberman, Kevin Carroll, Chris Dandeles and Mark Duker, musical instructors at Waubonsie Valley. They have fostered this direction and desire in our students, encouraging them to seek out this path of growth, which often comes in direct competition of a demanding world asking more of students to think of careers and future planning. They have directly connected this skill and passion of playing an instrument to the overall health and growth of a student experience; all of this while having our students excel at the highest level. I can think of no better compliment.
Thank you for allowing us to share their efforts and passions with their peers at IMEC. This is a distinction I know all of them think highly of.
Jason P. Stipp
Principal-Waubonsie Valley HS
Welcome to today’s performance by the Waubonsie Valley High School Chamber Strings. We are honored by the Illinois Music Education Association’s invitation to perform at this year’s Illinois Music Education Conference. Our district is proud to have the Waubonsie Valley High School Chamber Strings represent the 33 schools and over 27,000 students of Indian Prairie School District 204.
Our educational community takes great pride in our nationally recognized arts programs, and today’s performance is sure to be yet another example of music thriving in our schools. While we are fortunate to enjoy the strong support of our local community, we commend our music programs for reaching beyond their individual buildings. It’s not always easy to be active at the regional, state, national, and even international levels; however, our music faculty and students continually demonstrate the desire to share their artistry and professionalism to broad audiences.
We are very proud of the hard work and dedication shown by our music students and the exceptional music educators who leads them, John William Burck and Daryl Silberman. It is an honor to support them today, as they share their music with you.
Thank you to the Illinois Music Educators Association for the invitation, and I hope you enjoy today’s performance.
Director of Elective Curriculum and Coordinator of Fine Arts
Indian Prairie School District 204
Ms. Daryl Silberman is an orchestra director at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, IL, District 204. Ms. Silberman is also the co-director of the Kaneland Youth Symphony. “Ms. S” studied viola at the University of Colorado at Boulder, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and University of Southern California. She has been a private studio teacher, high school orchestra director, and freelance violist and violinist in Salem, Oregon, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area performing with regional orchestras, rock bands, movie studio orchestras, chamber groups, and baroque ensembles. Daryl plays with husband Danny Seidenberg in their baroque violin duo DuettoDS2
Ms. Silberman has served as a guest conductor and clinician for middle and high school orchestras all around the country and has presented at many educator conferences including IMEC multiple times. She was named as one of “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” in 2011 by School Band and Orchestra magazine. In her free time, she is an avid yogi, gluten free foodie and a busy mom of two young adults.
John William Burck has been a string educator for over 30 years at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Mr. Burck earned his Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa and Master of Music Education from the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Currently Mr. Burck directs Chamber Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra, Symphonic Strings, and co-directs Warrior Strings.
Summer music experiences have always been a rich and important part of Mr. Burck’s life. He attended his first summer music camp as a middle school student at the University of Iowa and it changed his life forever—leading him to study music at the U of I with violist, Bill Pruceil and into a career in music education. He has been on both staff and faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. He has served as conductor of the junior orchestra at the Cedar Arts Forum’s String Camp in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lakes, Michigan. Most recently, Mr. Burck served as the summer orchestra director of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska.
When not teaching, Will enjoys touring the countryside on his motorcycle with his wife Andrea!
Waubonsie Valley High School is a part of Indian Prairie School District 204, located in Aurora, lllinois. WVHS opened in 1975 and currently serves a student population of approximately 2550 students. Our school's mission is "to foster students' learning to its highest potential while providing diverse and challenging educational experiences that academically, socially, and emotionally shape our students into independent and productive members of society."
The Waubonsie Valley High School Music Department serves approximately 700 students in curricular classes including five bands, six orchestras, and eight choirs. Students are also actively involved outside of the school day in almost 20 co-curricular music ensembles spread across our department. We are fortunate to have been named a GRAMMY Signature School five times and a GRAMMY Gold Signature school twice. Our community is very supportive of the Fine Arts, having earned NAMM "Best Communities for Music Education" designation for eight years.

domain: artistic


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Get the Best Insurance Plan with Laporte Insurance
One company is usually different from another. Not only due to their products and services they offer but also their manner of operations. Some are poised to deal with the public while others deal with other businesses. With the various natures of operations that various business establishments engage themselves in, they’re faced with different levels of hazards. Some operate in potentially dangerous environments due to the kind of materials they handle in their day to day operations while others just operate in safe environments behind the desk. Due to the different circumstances businesses operate in, some may require more advanced insurance programs than what the standard liability insurance coverage provides.
It should be noted that the standard insurance coverage offers you and your business protection against certain kinds of losses but it might not be sufficient in case of litigation or when your company is confronted with huge claims. To avoid such frustrations, you need to consider Laporte Insurance in Overland Park. Its commercial umbrella insurance offers additional protection and cover to cater for the risks that are not covered under the typical liability insurance.
Sometimes, liability claims against your company may force you to pay some money out of your pocket to cater for the medical bills, legal fees, and other damages. In order to avoid this setback, it is advisable to consult well with the Laporte insurance advisor to add additional add-ons to your liability insurance plan to offer you protection in the event that damage claims exceed the set standard liability coverage limits.
Insurance – Getting Started & Next Steps
The Laporte insurance’s commercial umbrella coverage protects your business from claims out of: injuries caused out of slip and fall accidents within your commercial property, injuries and damage caused due to a business error, liabilities out of misrepresentation of information or negligence in the part of your business and expanded property and auto coverage beyond what is provided by the primary policy.
The Best Advice About Options I’ve Ever Written
Another important cover offered by Laporte insurance policy is the Overland Park Disability Insurance. If a worker is incapacitated in course of carrying their duties due to an injury and is not able to work for some extended time period, then the Laporte short term or long-term disability plan covers all or part of the income lost thus enabling the injured employee fulfill their everyday expenses. This kind of policy provides affordable and flexible plans with all tax deductible insurance premiums.
For those who want a life insurance plan, the solution lies with the KS Life Insurance. Laporte insurance offers a wide range of life insurance products for individuals and families that ensure that your future is well taken care of.

domain: finance


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TV actress Nia Sharma has raised the temperature with her recent bikini pictures that she posted on Instagram. Nia is seen flaunting her silhouette body in a pink Victoria Secret bikini.
Nia, who is popularly known for her role as Roshni in the show "Jamai Raja," looks hot and sizzling in the pictures. The actress has taken some time off and is having a great time in Dubai.
Being quite active on Instagram, Nia has been sharing a number of photos from her holiday in Dubai for her fans. Apart from the bikini pictures, the actress also shared some other photos and video in which she is seen doing scuba diving.
Earlier, Nia and her close friend from the TV industry Reyhna Malhotra had received some harsh and vulgar comments on social media after the latter had posted a picture in which the two were seen lip-locking each other. Check Nia's latest sizzling pictures from her vacation below:
While the photo had gone viral in no time, Reyhna later deleted the picture as she was not happy about the comments that the photo had received. Both the actors had bonded on the sets of "Jamai Raja."
"Why so much hype about it? When a girl can kiss on cheeks, why not on lips? Nia and I are very different kind of people. We like each other's positive attitude and fashion sense. We have become very good friends and we enjoy each other's company," Reyhna had told Tellychakkar.com earlier.

domain: celebrity


text:
Just had a lovely time working with Lee. She made me feel comfortable and was welcoming, she know what she was aiming for and was good at giving direction if needed, hope to work with Lee again in the near future :)
What a fantastic shoot :) I really enjoyed working with Lee....it was fun and we got some great shots. I can't wait to see the results and hopefully work with her agan
Had a lovely shoot with Lee.
Very friendly with a bubbly personality to match :)
Gave direction very well, turned up right on time ready to shoot. Made me feel completely at ease from start to finish.
I would highly recommend her! :)
Had a really fun shoot with Lee yesterday at the AF Photography studio. Everyone there was really nice and welcoming, and I'm looking forward to seeing the images that we captured. Great atmosphere and a thoroughly enjoyable shoot.


How Media Made the iFamily
Are the modern media damaging domestic life? Current studies demonstrate a more complicated picture of a modern family that changes modern media itself.
Families have a dynamic relationship with the media, so we must ask not only what effects media have on families, but also how the changes in modern family life are changing media itself. The quantity of media consumed by families in the last decade has grown vastly. About half of the average teenager’s waking hours are now spent consuming it in some form—a trend that is becoming true of the wider population. And this means the media have shifted from being an incidental part of our private and cultural lives to an increasingly indispensable infrastructure that dominates social relationships, daily timetables and leisure. How can these patterns of usage be indicators, as well as causes, of social change?
Giving our solar system a "slap in the face."
- A stream of galactic debris is hurtling at us, pulling dark matter along with it
- It's traveling so quickly it's been described as a hurricane of dark matter
- Scientists are excited to set their particle detectors at the onslffaught
The climate change we're witnessing is more dramatic than we might think.
A lazy buzz phrase – 'Is this the new normal?' – has been doing the rounds as extreme climate events have been piling up over the past year. To which the riposte should be: it's worse than that – we're on the road to even more frequent, more extreme events than we saw this year.
Once again, our circadian rhythm points the way.
- Seven individuals were locked inside a windowless, internetless room for 37 days.
- While at rest, they burned 130 more calories at 5 p.m. than at 5 a.m.
- Morning time again shown not to be the best time to eat.
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On May 10th, we had the pleasure of hosting Julie Bindeman, PsyD, for our first Tuesday Tea with Touchstone! As a reproductive psychology expert, Dr. Bindeman shared valuable insights into the impact of abortion access in the US on clients and practitioners, as well as resources for continuing education and support.
Here are some of the key takeaways from Dr. Bindeman's presentation:
Abortion access is not just a political issue, but a mental health issue.
The recent wave of restrictive abortion laws in the US can have a chilling effect and providers need to be aware of how this can impact clients as well as their own emotional well-being. Every client may be impacted differently, and it's crucial for practitioners to remain attuned to their specific needs and circumstances.
How do we regulate our emotions when discussing abortion with clients? It's important to have a clear sense of what you can say as a therapist, what level of risk you're comfortable with, and to have a supportive network of colleagues to turn to for guidance.
Reproductive health is a continuum.
Practitioners must be equipped to support clients throughout the full spectrum of reproductive experiences - not just occurrences during pregnancy and postpartum, but prior to conception as well; and this may include abortion care.

domain: medical


text:
State lawmakers are following up last year’s crackdown on human trafficking with plans to make Pennsylvania safer for child victims.
Many children involved in sex work are manipulated or forced into it, advocates say, and shouldn’t be treated like criminals. A Senate proposal would prevent prosecution of minors for human trafficking and related offenses.
“We have to concentrate on the victim and make sure that the victim is treated as a victim,” said Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, a sponsor of the measure.
Under the plan, which applies only to those under 18, victims would receive services such as medical care, long-term housing, and therapy. They could also be reimbursed for the costs of covering up any tattoos or physical marks used to identify them as part of a human trafficking operation.
Funding would be provided by the state as well as money from fines levied against convicted human traffickers.
Sen. Daylin Leach, the other prime sponsor on the bill, frames it as a moral obligation, even if implementation means child prostitutes who willingly engage in human trafficking get away with their crimes.
“Even if there are a few cases where someone’s doing it voluntarily, is it worth nailing those kids?” said Leach, D-Montgomery. “Is that so important that it’s more important than giving the overwhelming majority of children who are victims of crime the break that they need?”

domain: sociology


text:
After falling behind England and Spain, Serie A is ready to fight back with style and substance.
Italy ready to reclaim its crown
A combination of the match-fixing scandal, crowd violence and the lure of top players to Spain and England has seen Serie A lose its sparkle and standing as Europe's premier league. But there is a buzz once again with big names on board and the prospect of a title race that could be one of the most open and exciting in recent years.
Inter Milan have claimed the Scudetto for the past three years, one by default after Juventus were stripped of their 2006 success for their involvement in the game-rigging allegations that rocked Italian football. Jose Mourinho's swagger and style will undoubtedly add a fresh impetus to the Nerazzuri, but will their players still have the same quality and hunger to match Torino's feat of four successive trophies 60 years ago?
Some magic from Mancini, the Brazilian winger who signed from Roma, and the combative Sulley Muntari will combat worries over an ageing and injury-troubled midfield, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic's powerful presence in attack will give the "Special One" confidence he can match his title triumphs at Porto and Chelsea. "An exceptional group of players," is how Mourinho described his side, but the same could be said of rivals Milan.
All eyes will be on the San Siro to see if the fallen idols can end their five-year wait for the title. Once the darlings of world football, a force to be feared, the Milan faithful will be hoping Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko are not just there to relax, recuperate and repair their dented reputations and egos with cameo roles. Consistency is what Milan need after finishing fifth last season and missing out on the Champions League.
The duo of Mathieu Flamini and Philippe Senderos, and Gianluca Zambrotta will add some much-needed defensive stability to a side, rich in creativity and class. Mohamed Sissoko admits the arrival of Ronaldinho from Barcelona is particularly momentous and could help create a power shift in European football's pecking order. "Yes, this will help Serie A," said the Juventus midfielder, who has also tasted life in Spain with Valencia and then England with Liverpool.
"There are a lot of good players coming to Italy again like Ronaldinho and there are already many more here. I feel it is going back to being the best league in the world again. You play at a higher tempo in England than Italy, where it is much slower, but technically it is better in Italy. "Ronaldinho is a special player and it will be good to come up against him this season. Milan and Inter look strong, but we are confident we can do well at Juventus this season and have a chance. We want to win trophies and the league is one target."
Sissoko's side have the strikeforce to compete with the barnstorming Brazilian Amauri complementing David Trezeguet, Vicenzo Iaquinta and the wily old fox, Alessandro del Piero up front. @Email:firstname.lastname@example.org

domain: sports


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United States District Court, S.D. Illinois
May 19, 2015
CORNELIUS E. SMITH, # 19480-075, Plaintiff,
JEFFERY S. WALTON, K. SANDERS, OFFICER EBERHART, BRET MILLER, R. PASS, M. WINKLEMEIER, M. BAGWELL, F. CASTILLO, NURSE RICHARDSON, K. WELLS, OFFICER FIELDS, E. EDMISTER, OFFICER PEARCE, J. BAGWELL, and P. TROVILLION, Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
MICHAEL J. REAGAN Chief Judge.
Plaintiff, an inmate in the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois (“Marion”), brings this action for alleged violations of his constitutional rights by persons acting under the color of federal authority. See Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). He also includes a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq.
Plaintiff asserts that several Defendants were deliberately indifferent to his need for treatment of a serious injury to his knee. This incident also forms the basis for Plaintiff’s FTCA claim. Additionally, he raises a claim that he was intentionally placed in an unsanitary cell following his knee surgery. Finally, some Defendants improperly denied him additional time in a halfway house placement, where he will spend the last six months of his sentence before being released from the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”).
According to Plaintiff’s affidavit (“Appendix C, ” Doc. 1-2, pp. 1-5) and exhibits which he has attached to the complaint, Plaintiff injured his knee on June 27, 2014, while playing basketball on the outside yard at Marion (Doc. 1-1, p. 16). Defendants Wells and Fields (correctional officers) arrived “almost immediately” to the spot where Plaintiff was lying on the ground, unable to move. They attempted to contact somebody from Marion’s Medical Unit to take Plaintiff back inside for medical care (Doc. 1-2, p. 2). However, according to Plaintiff, Defendant Wells seemed to take the incident as a joke, and did not convey any sense of urgency to the medical staff (Doc. 1, p. 6). Defendant Fields was “disoriented” and “confused” about what he needed to do to get immediate medical care, and the Medical Unit refused to answer his call. Id. After some time passed without any response from the Medical Unit, Defendant Wells had some other inmates carry Plaintiff back to the prison on a stretcher (Doc. 1-2, p. 2).
Defendant Richardson was the charge nurse on duty when Plaintiff arrived at the Medical Unit (Doc. 1, p. 5). He blames her for refusing to come to the yard to bring him inside for medical care, and states she refused to order an x-ray of the injured knee. She called somebody outside Marion for instructions on handling Plaintiff’s emergency care. After that call, Defendant Richardson gave Plaintiff Ibuprofen and sent him back to his housing unit with “a set of crutches, leg brace and a smile” (Doc. 1-2, p. 3). She did nothing else to assess or treat his injury, even though his kneecap was visibly displaced and had moved “up on [his] thigh” more than twelve inches above its normal location (Doc. 1-2, p. 3; Doc. 1, p. 4). For many days afterward, Plaintiff continued to complain that he needed medical care, but Defendant Richardson did nothing further for him (Doc. 1, p. 5).
Defendant Castillo (physician assistant) was an attending provider when Plaintiff injured his knee, and Plaintiff made requests to him for medical care during the time between his injury and the eventual surgery (Doc. 1, pp. 5, 16; Doc. 1-1, p. 16).
Defendant Warden Walton “was notified” of Plaintiff’s need for medical care, but he “abdicated his responsibility” to ensure Plaintiff’s health and safety, and neglected to instruct his subordinates to fulfill their duty to provide Plaintiff with immediate care for his injury (Doc. 1, pp. 1, 13).
It was later determined that Plaintiff had ruptured his patellar tendon (Doc. 1-1, pp. 4-6). Defendant M. Bagwell was the Assistant Health Administrator at the time of Plaintiff’s injury. She refused to authorize the surgery that Plaintiff needed to repair the ruptured tendon, despite his many requests for treatment and constant complaints about his pain, until 30 days had passed (Doc. 1, pp. 4, 16). Plaintiff also attributes the delay in authorizing surgery to Defendant Winklemeier, who was the Health Administrator at the time (Doc. 1, p. 4).
On August 1, 2014, Defendant Miller (an outside orthopedic surgeon on contract with the prison) performed surgery to repair Plaintiff’s ruptured tendon (Doc. 1, p. 3; Doc. 1-1, p. 6). He told Plaintiff that because of the delay in scheduling the surgery, he would do his best, but Plaintiff “should not expect any great results.” (Doc. 1, p. 3) Defendant Miller recommended that Plaintiff have rehabilitative treatment. However, no such treatment has been given to Plaintiff, and he has not been taken back to see Defendant Miller for follow-up visits.
According to Plaintiff, Defendant Pass (Marion Physician/Clinical Director) has refused to adhere to the post-operative treatment plan devised by Defendant Miller (Doc. 1, pp. 3, 15). Defendant M. Bagwell (who took over as Health Administrator after the departure of Defendant Winklemeier) has likewise failed to give him any rehabilitative care or treatment for his extreme knee and hip pain (Doc. 1, p. 4, 16). Defendant PA Castillo has not provided rehabilitative treatment or pain relief, and has failed to have Plaintiff taken to his outside medical appointments (Doc. 1, p. 5). Defendant Pearce (transportation officer) took Plaintiff from the prison to an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon and back, but failed to bring back any paperwork to document the medical visit or any procedures that were performed (Doc. 1, p. 7). Defendant Nurse Trovillion “received and reviewed” a medical procedure performed by Defendant Miller,  but had no medical paperwork on the procedure, medicine, or rehabilitative care that Plaintiff was to receive (Doc. 1, p. 8).
Soon after Plaintiff returned to Marion following his knee surgery, Defendant Eberhart assigned him to a “suicide cell” in the Special Housing Unit (“SHU”), in which the toilet had overflowed (Doc. 1, pp. 2, 14). Plaintiff had a cast on his right leg that went all the way over his thigh. He was not issued any shoes, and was not allowed to have a shower. Defendant Eberhart gave Plaintiff a mop and bucket and told him to clean up the feces and other human waste that had overflowed into the cell. Even when Plaintiff explained that he had just undergone an operation on his leg, Defendant Eberhart refused to allow the orderlies to clean up the waste, commenting that cleaning the cell should keep Plaintiff from hurting himself (Doc. 1, p. 14). He further refused to assist Plaintiff with obtaining a shower, appropriate socks, shoes, clothing, soap, or other items he needed (Doc. 1, pp. 2, 8). Defendant Trovillion gave Plaintiff some Tylenol the next day while he remained in this cell (Doc. 1, p. 8). Defendant Counselor Edmister “was complicit” in the other staff members’ failure to protect him, and “was reluctant” to assist Plaintiff (Doc. 1, p. 7).
Plaintiff couches some of his allegations in terms of a “conspiracy” among certain Defendants to continue to deny him his constitutional rights. In this vein, he asserts that Defendant J. Bagwell (computer services manager), at some unspecified date, came to the Medical Unit with Plaintiff’s identification card (Doc. 1, p. 8). He told Plaintiff that he had the ID card and was “doing a ‘little-investigation’ – so it would be good for [Plaintiff] to watch [his] step.” Id. Plaintiff took this as a threat, and evidence of this ongoing conspiracy against him.
Other than a brief mention in his prayer for relief, Plaintiff does not elaborate on his Federal Tort Claim arising from his knee injury (Doc. 1, p. 12). His exhibits include a March 27, 2015, letter in reference to this claim from the Tort Claim Coordinator of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Doc. 1-2, p. 30). The letter notes that Plaintiff’s claim was received on March 2, 2015, and instructs Plaintiff to resubmit his claim to provide further information (Doc. 1-2, pp. 30-33). A copy of Plaintiff’s tort claim form is also attached (Doc. 1-2, pp. 32-33). On May 15, 2015, Plaintiff submitted another letter from the BOP’s regional counsel, acknowledging receipt of Plaintiff’s administrative FTCA claim, which he apparently resubmitted (Doc. 13, p. 2). The letter informs him that the agency’s response is not due until October 8, 2015.
Finally, Plaintiff claims that Defendant Sanders (case manager) failed to fulfill her duties to Plaintiff with reference to his quest for additional time in the halfway house under the Second Chance Act (Doc. 1, pp. 2, 14). Defendant Walton refused to instruct his Staff Case Manager (presumably Defendant Sanders) to follow the federal statutes and administrative rules governing Plaintiff’s application for halfway house placement (Doc. 1, pp. 1, 13; see also Doc. 1-1, pp. 23, 25-38). According to Defendant Walton’s response to Plaintiff’s request for administrative remedy on this matter (Doc. 1-1, p. 32), a case manager had initially recommended Plaintiff for a ten-month halfway house placement (see Doc. 1-1, p. 33). However, a problem came to light regarding Plaintiff’s concurrent state sentence on a parole violation, and this caused the halfway house recommendation to be reduced to six months. Plaintiff later documented that he had been released from the state sentence, but officials determined that a six-month placement was sufficient in Plaintiff’s case. Plaintiff’s anticipated date to be transferred to a halfway house is May 25, 2015 (Doc. 1-1, p. 36).
Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief to require the Defendants to stop denying him medical and rehabilitative care. He wants them to pay for his treatment, and seeks money damages pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (Doc. 1, p. 12).
Merits Review Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A
Under § 1915A, the Court is required to conduct a prompt threshold review of the complaint, and to dismiss any claims that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim on which relief may be granted, or seek monetary relief from an immune defendant.
An action or claim is frivolous if “it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact.” Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). Frivolousness is an objective standard that refers to a claim that “no reasonable person could suppose to have any merit.” Lee v. Clinton, 209 F.3d 1025, 1026-27 (7th Cir. 2000). An action fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted if it does not plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). The claim of entitlement to relief must cross “the line between possibility and plausibility.” Id. at 557. Conversely, a complaint is plausible on its face “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). Although the Court is obligated to accept factual allegations as true, see Smith v. Peters, 631 F.3d 418, 419 (7th Cir. 2011), some factual allegations may be so sketchy or implausible that they fail to provide sufficient notice of a plaintiff’s claim. Brooks v. Ross, 578 F.3d 574, 581 (7th Cir. 2009). Additionally, Courts “should not accept as adequate abstract recitations of the elements of a cause of action or conclusory legal statements.” Id. At the same time, however, the factual allegations of a pro se complaint are to be liberally construed. See Rodriguez v. Plymouth Ambulance Serv., 577 F.3d 816, 821 (7th Cir. 2009).
Based on the allegations of the complaint, the Court finds it convenient to divide the pro se action into the following counts. The parties and the Court will use these designations in all future pleadings and orders, unless otherwise directed by a judicial officer of this Court.
The designation of these counts does not constitute an opinion as to their merit.
Count 1: Eighth Amendment claim against Defendants Walton, Miller, Winklemeier, M. Bagwell, Castillo, Richardson, Wells, and Fields, for deliberate indifference to Plaintiff’s serious knee injury, in that they refused to provide necessary medical care and surgery for over 30 days following the injury;
Count 2: Eighth Amendment claim against Defendants Miller, Pass, M. Bagwell, Castillo, Edmister, Pearce, and Trovillion, for deliberate indifference to Plaintiff’s serious knee injury, in that they refused to provide necessary follow-up medical care after Plaintiff’s knee surgery;
Count 3: Eighth Amendment claim against Defendants Eberhart, Edmister, and Trovillion, for deliberate indifference to Plaintiff’s health and his serious medical condition, in that they placed Plaintiff in a cell contaminated with human waste, posing a particular danger to Plaintiff’s recovery from knee surgery;
Count 4: Claim against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act;
Count 5: Claim against Defendants Walton and Sanders, for limiting his halfway house placement time to six months, when he sought a longer placement.
Counts 1, 2, and 3 shall proceed for further review against some of the Defendants, but other Defendants shall be dismissed from these counts. Count 4 under the FTCA shall be dismissed without prejudice, as it has been brought prematurely. Plaintiff may re-file his FTCA claim after he receives the response to his administrative claim, should it be denied. Count 5 shall be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
Counts 1 and 2 – Deliberate Indifference to Serious Medical Needs
In order to state a claim for deliberate indifference to a serious medical need, an inmate must show that he (1) suffered from an objectively serious medical condition; and (2) that the defendant was deliberately indifferent to a risk of serious harm from that condition. A medical need is “serious” where it has either “been diagnosed by a physician as mandating treatment” or where the condition is “so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor’s attention.” Gutierrez v. Peters, 111 F.3d 1364, 1373 (7th Cir. 1997).
“Deliberate indifference is proven by demonstrating that a prison official knows of a substantial risk of harm to an inmate and either acts or fails to act in disregard of that risk. Delaying treatment may constitute deliberate indifference if such delay exacerbated the injury or unnecessarily prolonged an inmate’s pain.” Gomez v. Randle, 680 F.3d 859, 865 (7th Cir. 2012) (internal citations and quotations omitted). See also Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 842 (1994). The Eighth Amendment does not give prisoners entitlement to “demand specific care” or “the best care possible, ” but only requires “reasonable measures to meet a substantial risk of serious harm.” Forbes v. Edgar, 112 F.3d 262, 267 (7th Cir. 1997). Further, a defendant’s negligence, inadvertent error, or even ordinary medical malpractice is insufficient to rise to the level of an Eighth Amendment constitutional violation. See Duckworth v. Ahmad, 532 F.3d 675, 679 (7th Cir. 2008).
Here, Plaintiff describes an obvious and painful injury that displaced his kneecap, and which clearly required medical attention. The complaint thus satisfies the objective component of an Eighth Amendment claim. The remaining question is whether the Defendants acted or failed to act with deliberate indifference to a known risk of serious harm from his medical condition.
A. Denial and Delay of Initial Medical Care (Count 1)
With reference to Count 1, Plaintiff’s allegations suggest deliberate indifference on the part of Defendant Richardson, who he says did not initially respond to the call for help on Plaintiff’s behalf, failed to obtain an x-ray of his obvious injury, discharged him with perfunctory treatment, and did nothing in response to his continued requests for medical attention. Likewise, Plaintiff claims that Defendant Castillo offered no treatment or assistance despite repeated requests for care of his injured knee. Defendants Winklemeier and M. Bagwell delayed necessary tendon repair surgery by 30 days, which may have exacerbated the injury and prolonged Plaintiff’s suffering. Based on these statements of fact, Plaintiff may proceed with his deliberate indifference claim in Count 1 against Defendants Winklemeier, M. Bagwell, Castillo, and Richardson.
However, Count 1 shall be dismissed without prejudice as against Defendants Walton, Miller, Wells, and Fields. According to Plaintiff’s account, Defendants Wells and Fields responded “almost immediately” when they learned Plaintiff was hurt. They tried to obtain medical assistance for Plaintiff, and ultimately made sure he was taken to the Medical Unit when no response was forthcoming. Despite Plaintiff’s characterization that their efforts could have been more urgent and coordinated, the complaint indicates that Defendants Wells and Fields took reasonable steps to get help for Plaintiff, which is all that is required to satisfy Eighth Amendment concerns.
Defendant Miller, the surgeon, repaired Plaintiff’s tendon after prison officials authorized the operation. Nothing in the complaint indicates that he performed the surgery improperly, let alone caused any delay or otherwise showed deliberate indifference to Plaintiff’s condition.
As to Defendant Walton, the facts described by Plaintiff fail to suggest that he was personally involved in any decisions regarding Plaintiff’s medical treatment, or lack thereof. Civil rights claims under Bivens and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are based on personal liability and predicated upon fault; thus, “to be liable under § 1983, the individual defendant must have caused or participated in a constitutional deprivation.” Pepper v. Village of Oak Park, 430 F.3d 805, 810 (7th Cir. 2005) (internal quotations and citations omitted). A Bivens action is the federal equivalent of a § 1983 civil rights action, thus the same rule applies in the case at bar. See Glaus v. Anderson, 408 F.3d 382, 386 (7th Cir. 2005); Clemente v. Allen, 120 F.3d 703, 705 (7th Cir. 1997) (collecting cases).
In order to state a claim against a Defendant, a plaintiff must describe what each named Defendant did (or failed to do), that violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights. Plaintiff fails to explain how or when Defendant Walton “was notified” of Plaintiff’s medical needs. This conclusory statement does not demonstrate deliberate indifference on the part of Defendant Walton. If a prisoner is under the care of prison medical professionals, a non-medical prison official such as the warden “will generally be justified in believing that the prisoner is in capable hands.” Arnett v. Webster, 658 F.3d 742, 755 (7th Cir. 2011) (quoting Spruill v. Gillis, 372 F.3d 218, 236 (3d Cir. 2004)). Plaintiff is attempting to pin liability on Defendant Walton based on his general supervisory responsibilities to train his subordinates and to ensure that inmates’ health and safety are protected. But this does not suffice to state an Eighth Amendment claim. The doctrine of respondeat superior is not applicable in a civil rights action. Sanville v. McCaughtry, 266 F.3d 724, 740 (7th Cir. 2001). Accordingly, Defendant Walton shall be dismissed from Count 1.
To summarize, Count 1 shall proceed only against Defendants Winklemeier, M. Bagwell, Castillo, and Richardson. Defendants Walton, Miller, Wells, and Fields are dismissed from Count 1 without prejudice.
B. Denial of Post-Surgical Medical Care/Rehabilitation (Count 2)
Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Pass, M. Bagwell, and Castillo all refused to provide him with rehabilitation care following his surgery, and have failed to treat his ongoing knee and hip pain. Defendant Castillo failed to send Plaintiff for follow-up appointment(s) with the orthopedic surgeon. At this stage of the litigation, Plaintiff may proceed with his deliberate indifference claims in Count 2 against these Defendants.
However, the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted against Defendants Miller, Edmister, Pearce, or Trovillion with reference to Plaintiff’s need for follow-up medical care. Defendant Miller, the surgeon, recommended particular rehabilitative treatment, which other Defendants failed to provide. This does not demonstrate deliberate indifference on his part, but suggests just the opposite. The only allegation against Defendant Pearce is that he failed to bring back paperwork regarding Plaintiff’s medical appointment(s); even if this is true, it does not come close to the knowing disregard of a significant risk to Plaintiff’s health that is required to state a deliberate indifference claim. Similarly, the allegation against Defendant Trovillion is that she performed some review of a medical procedure but lacked the necessary paperwork on the procedure or follow-up care. This situation does not indicate any deliberate indifference on the part of Defendant Trovillion. Lastly, the allegations against Defendant Edmister are too vague and conclusory to support a deliberate indifference claim. Plaintiff’s statements do not indicate that Defendant Edmister was personally involved in determining what medical care would be provided to him; Plaintiff merely says that this Defendant was “complicit” with other staff members and was “reluctant” to assist him or make calls on his behalf.
Count 2 shall proceed only against Defendants Pass, M. Bagwell, and Castillo. Defendants Miller, Edmister, Pearce, and Trovillion are dismissed from Count 2 without prejudice.
Count 3 – Unsanitary Cell Conditions – Deliberate Indifference
As with the medical treatment claims above, a claim involving conditions of confinement in a prison has two required elements to establish a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishments clause. First, an objective element requires a showing that the conditions deny the inmate “the minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities, ” creating an excessive risk to the inmate’s health or safety. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1994). The second requirement is a subjective element – establishing a defendant’s culpable state of mind, which is deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm to the inmate from those conditions. Farmer, 511 U.S. at 837, 842.
Unsanitary conditions, in particular those involving exposure to human waste, are recognized as creating a serious health risk. See, e.g., Vinning-El v. Long, 482 F.3d 923, 924 (7th Cir. 2007) (prisoner held in cell for three to six days with no working sink or toilet, floor covered with water, and walls smeared with blood and feces). Further, the denial of access to “adequate sanitation and personal hygiene items” may demonstrate a deprivation of “the minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities.” Budd v. Motley, 711 F.3d 840, 842 (7th Cir. 2013) (citing Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834); Rice ex rel. Rice v. Corr. Med. Servs., 675 F.3d 650, 664 (7th Cir. 2012); Gillis v. Litscher, 468 F.3d 488 (7th Cir. 2006); Vinning-El, 482 F.3d at 924). Plaintiff does not say how long he was required to remain in the cell contaminated with overflowing sewage, without appropriate clothing, shoes, soap, and other items. However, his allegation that Defendant Eberhart knowingly housed him in those conditions, and left him there without assistance even after Plaintiff informed him of his recent operation, sufficiently states a deliberate indifference claim against Defendant Eberhart.
Plaintiff appears to also mention Defendants Trovillion and Edmister in connection with the unsanitary cell claim. However, he does not say that either of them was aware of the unhealthy conditions or had any personal involvement in keeping Plaintiff in that cell or refusing to assist him with mitigating the conditions. Accordingly, Count 3 shall proceed only against Defendant Eberhart. Defendants Trovillion and Edmister shall be dismissed from Count 3 without prejudice.
Dismissal of Count 4 – Federal Tort Claim
Federal Prisoners may bring suit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) for injuries they sustain while incarcerated. See Palay v. United States, 349 F.3d 418, 425 (7th Cir. 2003). However, the prisoner must first present the claim to the federal agency responsible for the injury. Id. Under the act,
An action shall not be instituted upon a claim against the United States for money damages for injury or loss of property or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, unless the claimant shall have first presented the claim to the appropriate Federal agency and his claim shall have been finally denied by the agency in writing and sent by certified or registered mail. The failure of an agency to make final disposition of a claim within six months after it is filed shall, at the option of the claimant any time thereafter, be deemed a final denial of the claim for purposes of this section.
28 U.S.C. § 2675(a). Plaintiffs bringing claims under the FTCA generally show exhaustion by filing with their complaint a copy of the “final denial of claim” letter indicating that agency review has been completed and the individual may seek relief in court.
The documents submitted by Plaintiff in connection with his FTCA claim clearly demonstrate that review of his claim by the Bureau of Prisons has not been completed. His claim was initially filed only on March 2, 2015, and he was directed on March 27, 2015, to resubmit the claim with complete information. Plaintiff filed this lawsuit on April 23. Then on April 28, 2015, the BOP issued its notice that Plaintiff’s resubmitted claim was received on April 9, and the agency’s response would be due within six months, by October 8, 2015. As such, the time for the BOP to rule on Plaintiff’s claim has not yet elapsed, and Plaintiff cannot demonstrate that he has exhausted that administrative review process. Plaintiff’s FTCA claim has thus been filed prematurely in this action. Accordingly, Count 4 shall be dismissed, without prejudice to the claim being re-filed once exhaustion has been accomplished.
Plaintiff has named several prison officials as Defendants in this case. However, in an action under the FTCA, the United States of America is the only proper Defendant. See 28 U.S.C. § 2679(b); FDIC v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471 (1994). Therefore, Plaintiff is ADVISED that if he re-files this FTCA claim in court following the agency review, he should name the United States as the sole Defendant.
Dismissal of Count 5 – Halfway House Placement
Petitioner asserts that Defendants Walton and Sanders violated federal statutes at 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) & (c), and 42 U.S.C. § 17541(a), and that Defendant Sanders violated his constitutional rights, when they determined that he would be placed in a halfway house for only six months, rather than the ten months that had been recommended by another case manager (Doc. 1, pp. 1-2, 13-14). He claims that he was lied to regarding the U.S. Probation Department’s statements about his application for halfway house placement.
The “Second Chance Act” referenced by Plaintiff took effect in 2008. It expanded the maximum time a federal inmate could spend in a halfway house from six months to twelve months. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(1). There are five statutory factors that prison staff are to consider in each case, in order to determine the appropriate length of halfway house time for the inmate. However, the BOP is vested with discretion to decide on the duration of an inmate’s placement in a halfway house. 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) (“The Bureau may designate any available penal or correctional facility that meets minimum standards of health and habitability established by the Bureau . . .”). The other statute cited by Plaintiff, 42 U.S.C. § 17541(a), directs the Attorney General and the BOP to develop programs and procedures to assist inmates nearing the end of their sentences to successfully re-integrate back into the community.
The Court cannot discern, nor does Plaintiff articulate, any violation of the above statutes by Defendants Walton or Sanders. While placement in a halfway house for up to twelve months is authorized, it is not mandated. Prison officials have discretion to allow any amount of halfway house time that they deem appropriate, so long as it does not exceed the twelve-month limit. Plaintiff’s six-month assignment is well within the authorized time frame.
It appears that Plaintiff’s dissatisfaction stems from the fact that he expected to be given ten months in the halfway house based on the initial recommendation of a case manager, but ultimately got a shorter placement when the final decision was made. Plaintiff may be attempting to assert a constitutional due process claim based on the “deprivation” of the extra four months that he did not receive. However, in order for a due process claim to exist, Plaintiff must have had a protected liberty interest in the additional halfway house placement. Not every action that carries with it negative consequences creates a liberty interest for inmates. Moody v. Daggett, 429 U.S. 78, 86-88 (1976). As a rule, “prisoners possess neither liberty nor property in their classifications and prison assignments. States may move their charges to any prison in the system.” DeTomaso v. McGinnis, 970 F.2d 211, 212 (7th Cir. 1992) (citing Montanye v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 236 (1976)); see also Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S 215, 223-24 (1976) (the Constitution does not guarantee placement in a particular prison). While a halfway house is a less restrictive environment than a prison, an inmate remains in the custody of the BOP during his halfway house placement, and is still serving his sentence while there.
The Court concludes that no protected liberty interest is at stake here. First, the statute makes no guarantee of any halfway house placement at all, but leaves that decision up to the discretion of prison officials. Secondly, according to Plaintiff’s documentation, the contemplated ten-month placement was a recommendation only, not a final decision as to the length of his halfway house time. It cannot be said that he acquired a liberty interest in the full ten months merely because a case manager made that recommendation or request on his behalf. Based on these facts, Plaintiff was not deprived of any liberty interest, and no due process concerns are implicated. The claim in Count 5 shall therefore be dismissed with prejudice.
Dismissal of Defendant J. Bagwell
Plaintiff does not connect Defendant J. Bagwell (computer services manager) to any of the claims enumerated above. He merely mentions Defendant J. Bagwell’s comment regarding an investigation, which he took as a threat and indication of an “on-going conspiracy to continue to deny” Plaintiff his constitutional rights (Doc. 1, p. 8). Plaintiff’s only other mention of this alleged “conspiracy” is that Defendant Fields (who was on the scene when Plaintiff was injured) “actively enrolled/engaged in a veiled conspiracy to deny Plaintiff Smith his U.S. Constitutional Rights of 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, & 14th Amendments” (Doc. 1, p. 6), and that Defendant Pearce (the transportation officer) “entered into the forming veiled conspiracy to continue to deny [Plaintiff] medical care” (Doc. 1, p. 7).
As discussed above, Plaintiff failed to state a deliberate indifference claim against either Defendant Fields or Defendant Pearce. Conspiracy is not an independent basis of liability in a civil rights action. See Smith v. Gomez, 550 F.3d 613, 617 (7th Cir. 2008); Cefalu v. Vill. of Elk Grove, 211 F.3d 416, 423 (7th Cir. 2000). “There is no constitutional violation in conspiring to cover-up an action which does not itself violate the Constitution.” Hill v. Shobe, 93 F.3d 418, 422 (7th Cir. 1996). Plaintiff’s allegations do not state a claim for conspiracy, and the verbal comments by Defendant J. Bagwell did not violate any constitutional right. DeWalt v. Carter 224 F.3d 607, 612 (7th Cir. 2000) (“Standing alone, simple verbal harassment does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, deprive a prisoner of a protected liberty interest or deny a prisoner equal protection of the laws.”). Defendant J. Bagwell shall thus be dismissed from the action with prejudice. Any conspiracy claim against Defendants Fields and Pearce shall also be considered dismissed.
Plaintiff’s motion for recruitment of counsel (Doc. 3) shall be referred to the United States Magistrate Judge for further consideration.
The motion for service of process at government expense (Doc. 4) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. Service shall be ordered below on those Defendants who remain in the action. No service shall be made on the dismissed Defendants.
COUNT 4 is DISMISSED without prejudice as prematurely filed. COUNT 5 is DISMISSED with prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Defendants WALTON, MILLER, WELLS, FIELDS, EDMISTER, PEARCE, and TROVILLION are DISMISSED from this action without prejudice. Defendants SANDERS and J. BAGWELL are DISMISSED from this action with prejudice.
The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to complete, on Plaintiff’s behalf, a summons and form USM-285 for service of process on Defendants EBERHART, PASS, WINKLEMEIER, M. BAGWELL, CASTILLO, and RICHARDSON; the Clerk shall issue the completed summons. The United States Marshal SHALL serve Defendants EBERHART, PASS, WINKLEMEIER, M. BAGWELL, CASTILLO, and RICHARDSON pursuant to Rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. All costs of service shall be advanced by the United States, and the Clerk shall provide all necessary materials and copies to the United States Marshals Service.
In addition, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i), the Clerk shall (1) personally deliver to or send by registered or certified mail addressed to the civil-process clerk at the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois a copy of the summons, the complaint, and this Memorandum and Order; and (2) send by registered or certified mail to the Attorney General of the United States at Washington, D.C., a copy of the summons, the complaint, and this Memorandum and Order.
Plaintiff shall serve upon Defendants (or upon defense counsel once an appearance is entered), a copy of every pleading or other document submitted for consideration by the Court. Plaintiff shall include with the original paper to be filed a certificate stating the date on which a true and correct copy of the document was served on Defendants or counsel. Any paper received by a district judge or magistrate judge that has not been filed with the Clerk or that fails to include a certificate of service will be disregarded by the Court.
Defendants are ORDERED to timely file an appropriate responsive pleading to the complaint and shall not waive filing a reply pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(g).
Pursuant to Local Rule 72.1(a)(2), this action is REFERRED to United States Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Williams for further pre-trial proceedings, which shall include a determination on the pending motion for recruitment of counsel (Doc. 3).
Further, this entire matter shall be REFERRED to United States Magistrate Judge Williams for disposition, pursuant to Local Rule 72.2(b)(2) and 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), if all parties consent to such a referral.
If judgment is rendered against Plaintiff, and the judgment includes the payment of costs under § 1915, Plaintiff will be required to pay the full amount of the costs, notwithstanding that his application to proceed in forma pauperis has been granted. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(f)(2)(A).
Plaintiff is ADVISED that at the time application was made under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 for leave to commence this civil action without being required to prepay fees and costs or give security for the same, the applicant and his or her attorney were deemed to have entered into a stipulation that the recovery, if any, secured in the action shall be paid to the Clerk of the Court, who shall pay therefrom all unpaid costs taxed against Plaintiff and remit the balance to Plaintiff. Local Rule 3.1(c)(1).
Finally, Plaintiff is ADVISED that he is under a continuing obligation to keep the Clerk of Court and each opposing party informed of any change in his address; the Court will not independently investigate his whereabouts. This shall be done in writing and not later than 7 days after a transfer or other change in address occurs. Failure to comply with this order will cause a delay in the transmission of court documents and may result in dismissal of this action for want of prosecution. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b).
IT IS SO ORDERED.

domain: law


text:
I’d like to begin this post by apologising to any pescetarians, vegetarians or vegans who might be reading this blog and disagree with the killing of animals. The content of this post is trying to understand my feelings around exactly that issue – the killing of animals – and whether I am comfortable with the process of getting meat from field to fork. …come and read more!
“I just assumed you’re one of those people who are naturally slim.”
Somebody, to me, last week. Feeling mildly offended by the comment, I calmly explained that I’m naturally tall, however I was previously fat, with my BMI sitting firmly in the upper half of the ‘overweight’ section of the BMI scale. The person has only known me a short time, so they can be forgiven for having little knowledge of my previous corpulence, because it was 10 years ago, exactly.
…come and read more!
10 days ago my interest was piqued by a tweet from Jay Rayner, proclaiming that people who think “ALL PROCESSED FOODS BAD” should read an article by food historian Rachel Laudan about ‘Culinary Luddism’. In this beautifully educational piece about the culinary history of local foods, Laudan explains at great length why processing, locality and freshness are not inherently good things, especially when viewed through a historic window … …come and read more!
Congratulations, you’ve made it through January 2017. We can now turn our backs on that inaugural month and all the short lived health crazes that accompanied it. Veganuary and dry january both featured prominently on social media this year, the last vestiges of many new leafs which abounded just a few weeks ago have fallen into the annals of history for yet another year. We’ve already reached peak gym membership 2017. In this time I’ve been ruminating about diet, health and ‘clean eating’ after it received another bashing in the the wake of the BBC Horizon programme ‘Clean Eating – The Dirty Truth’. In this programme, Dr Giles Yeo explores the world of clean eating from a scientific perspective, to find out what foundations lay, if any, …come and read more!
Last week I wrote about my moral dilemma around eating meat. I’ve decided it’s morally incongruous to eat meat if I’m not prepared to kill, butcher and cook some animals with my own hands. As a city dweller, I’ve never experienced the killing and preparation of meat, or going fishing for my dinner, because they’ve been far removed from my daily lifestyle. The only way for me to resolve this dilemma is to go out and kill some animals, then prepare and cook them, before reflecting on how I feel about the process. My recent holiday in Goa, on the west cost of India, should have provided abundant opportunities to head out to sea and catch some fish to begin exploring this dilemma. Whilst there I decided …come and read more!
I’m having an existential crisis, the foundations of my culinary world are being rocked to their core. I’ve started to ask myself the question “should I eat meat?” Background. The best way to describe my diet is flexitarian. I eat everything, however almost every meal I prepare at home is vegetarian, I rarely ever cook meat and buy fish once a week. If I try new recipes from cookbooks or blogs, they are almost exclusively vegetarian and the new recipes I create are almost exclusively vegetarian (hence this blog being 99% vegetarian). Despite this largely vegetarian lifestyle, there’s no underlying urge to become a full-blown vegetarian, because some of my favourite dishes involve meat. I’m an absolute sucker for raw meat and fish, …come and read more!

domain: food


Hana Bilodeau of Sig Sauer demonstrated the P365 pistol and a few accessories at the Arizona Game and Fish Expo.
The P365 is Sig’s new micro 9mm pistol that they launched earlier this year at SHOT Show. It comes with two 10-round magazines, one with an extended floorplate and one that has a flush mounting floorplate. Also available now is an extended 12-round magazine that can be currently purchased for $55.
Available in a few months is a laser grip module called LIMA. There will be red laser model and a green laser model. They are expected to have an eight-hour runtime on a 1/3N battery. The laser will be activated by gripping the gun. The user will also be able to turn on and off the laser with a button on the leading edge of the grip. MSRP on the red LIMA unit will be $179, and green will be $239.
Bilodeau then demonstrated the P365 with the various magazines. With her small hands, she could just get her hand on the gun’s grip with the flush mount 10-round magazine. But with the extended grip 10-round and 12-round magazines, she was able to get her whole hand comfortably on the gun.


As reported earlier, while the media squashed a druggy video of Heath Ledger "out of respect for the family," a clip of Amy Winehouse smoking crack was widely distributed. And according to the New York Times, when Owen Wilson was hospitalized in August, he appeared on the cover of Us Weekly once; Britney Spears went to the psychiatric ward and has been on the cover six times in the same amount of time. "Without a doubt, women get rougher treatment, less sensitive treatment, more outrageous treatment," says publicist Ken Sunshine, who reps celebs like Ben Affleck and Barbra Streisand. "It's absolutely harder for the women I represent." Janice Min, editor in chief of Us Weekly, says she covers women incessantly because her magazine is read by women. "Almost no female magazines will put a solo male on the cover," she claims. "You just don't. It's cover death." So it's cool to rip a woman's image to shreds as long as you sell issues?
Ms. Min explains: "Women don't want to read about men unless it's through another woman: a marriage, a baby, a breakup." She's just giving the people what they want! Though some say that the stars who court attention get it; whereas celebs who demand privacy are granted discretion, the fact remains that as a woman in Hollywood, your life is ripe for plundering by gossip blogs and tabloids. As anyone who reads Midweek Madness knows, the tabloid covers are revolving doors of predominantly female faces. And sometimes the only "news" is that (gasp!) some women have cellulite. Meanwhile, if you're a man in Tinseltown, you're having a great year, thanks to films like No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood, reports Telegraph. Though past Oscar seasons have brought us The Queen, Erin Brockovich, Chicago, Monster and The Hours, women are mostly sidelined this year. Why do we mock women for their trainwreck lives and laud men for their talent while shrugging off their indiscretions?
Boys Will Be Boys, Girls Will Be Hounded by the Media [New York Times]
Why Is Hollywood Going For Bloke? [Telegraph]
Earlier: Are Women With "Issues" Treated As Sensitively As Men?


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6 Legit Ways to Make Money on WhatsApp without any Investment
Have you ever imagined that you can exactly make money on WhatsApp? If the answer is yes keep reading this post.
Even though WhatsApp itself doesn’t support advertisement at the moment, still there are lots of ways to on how to make money on WhatsApp.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Twitter Instagram and Linkedin have evolved to be a way of life in recent times. One can’t think of one’s day-to-day living without the occupancy of these social media platforms.
Read also: 1230+ Active WhatsApp groups to join in Tanzania.
Although the social media giant doesn’t support placing ads, buy still you can make money on Whatsapp without any investment or capital. It’s total free to earn some passive income on WhatsApp. Therefore in this article we are going to explore 6 best ways to make money on WhatsApp without without any investment or capital.
Read also: 17+ Legit ways to make money online as a college or University student
Best legit ways to make money on WhatsApp without any investment.
1. Selling your product
If you have any product and you’re looking for customers you can take opportunity of having WhatsApp installed in your phone. Now the question is, how you’re going to sell your product in WhatsApp? Let’s assume you sell clothes, cosmetics, furniture, phone accessories, shoes or glasses, so what you need to do is just posting your project either in your WhatsApp status. If that will not work try to create WhatsApp group.
Below is the screenshot of WhatsApp status of my friends who make money on WhatsApp through selling his clothes on WhatsApp Meta platform.
2. Selling your service through WhatsApp.
Do you have any service or skills to offer, and you don’t have audience? If you have any service to offer don’t hesitate to join on WhatsApp because WhatsApp will help you sell your service and earn some passive income. I have 2 of my friends who make money on WhatsApp by just selling their service hereinafter teaching through WhatsApp groups on how to become successful. Others offer movie selling service, some are professional teacher and they are looking to get students for tution and they really make money from it.
3. Be affiliate marketer
Affiliate Marketing remains one of the best ways to make money online today. It requires you to promote products through links called “affiliate links”. You get paid each time someone purchases a product through your referral link.
Having a strategic and quality WhatsApp contact can help you become a successful Affiliate Marketer. There are different kinds of affiliates programs, and a few of them include; ShareASale, Commission Junction, Clickbank etc. In my case I’m using deriv and they offer me $15 upon sign up
All you really have to do, to make money through this affiliate earnings is just to copy the link to the products you want and simply paste it on your WhatsApp groups, Status or create a broadcast list.
4. Share short links
Link Shorting is the most popular way to make money from WhatsApp. Short Links are the links which is a short form of long links. People create these type of links to share resources. When a person clicks on it, first it shows ads & then redirects you to the main page.
You can also make money on WhatsApp through by creating short link and share those short links to earn some passive income online. If someone click on it, you get paid. This will generate a passive income for you & I think it is the easiest way to make money from WhatsApp. So the best are to share your short links is WhatsApp particularly WhatsApp groups or WhatsApp status. From my personal experience I make more than $500 within a month by just share adsterra and adfly affiliate links. If you don’t have Adsterra account sign up here
• Sign up here to create adfly account
If you are lucky enough, your message can go viral over the WhatsApp. And you make a good revenue out of it.
5. Pay per download
This is one of the ways to make money on WhatsApp. If this is new to you, you must be wondering what it is all about. This is where you upload files such as pictures, videos, music, games and lots more to these websites and then you get paid for every upload.
Unbelievable, isn’t it?. If you must know before the person gets to download, he or she will probably be shown surveys or ads. It’s only after completing the surveys or viewing the ads, that they can actually download. This is how money is made to pay you.
So if you’re interested in using this method to make money on WhatsApp. All you’ll have to do is to join groups or make contacts with people that have similar interests as yours.
6. Bring traffic to your website/ or app
So if you have website or an application you can post your blog post links in your WhatsApp groups as sharing link in WhatsApp status. So this will increase traffic and earnings in your website or application.
This is not financial advice also this is not get quick money or ponzi scheme. If you think this post can be helpful to somebody else, please share it on Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Email or any social media to your friends or colleagues.

domain: economics