Daily Archives: July 4, 2011

Maria Shriver’s Spills All?

July 04, 2011   Jennifer Rentz   No comments

Since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s explosive infidelity scandal, wife, Maria Shriver seems to be going forth strong. She has been spotted out with her children and even made a surprising appearance on Oprah’s final show. While the scandal was explosive and top news, details of the split have yet to be fully revealed. This all could change in the future.

Book publishers are beginning to approach Shriver for a tell all book of this shocking infidelity. The reported amount offered to Maria Shriver is as large as 15 million. An agreement to the book would give the public an inside scoop on exactly how the alleged affair went about. While the public is awaiting Maria’s side of the story we have already gotten mistress, Mildred Baena. Who claimed that Shriver ask her point blank and bluntly about the affair.

A tell all from Shriver has potential to break the all-time advance record and be extremely successful. Despite the success of a successful book deal, Maria Shriver is still grieving the failure of her marriage and deserves the respect and privacy to move on from this difficult time in her life.

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Evergreen Recalls Sprouts Due to Salmonella

July 04, 2011   Anthony Stuart   No comments

On Friday Evergreen Fresh Sprouts announced a salmonella threat in multiple different states.  Evergreen Produce distributes many food products such as sprouts, pasta, fruits, and dairy items.  There have been 21 reported salmonella cases linked to the sprouts labeled as Evergreen Produce.  The cases were reported in multiple different locations such as Washington, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey, and North Dakota.  So far there have been no deaths, however three individuals have been hospitalized.  77% of individuals who were sick, were female.  Other than the large percentage of females becoming sick there were no other relationships between individuals who got sick from the sprouts.  Individuals ranged from 12 years old to 77.

All of the individuals who became sick ate the sprouts from Evergreen.  Tests are still pending whether or not the sprouts are causing the salmonella outbreak.  Though all clues point directly towards Evergreen Produce, no products have been tested positive.

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Bans on Fireworks Lifted in Hopes of Increased Revenue

July 04, 2011   Jackson Gibbon   11 Comments

Fireworks are a timeless Fourth of July tradition, and several cities and countries that have banned fireworks for years are lifting their restrictions in hopes of finding a new source of revenue. Due to the economic recession, cities are desperate for any extra sales they can make during the holidays.

Fireworks have been banned from consumer purchase for several reasons, the most prevalent of which is safety. In 1991 alone, there were 10,900 firework related injuries. However, since then fireworks have become much safer. In 2010, there were 8,600 fireworks related injuries, and the number of fireworks used has almost doubled since 1991.

Last year alone, firework sales generated $952 million in sales, and this year is expected to be even bigger. Most recently, a commissioner in Hawkins County, Tennessee convinced his associates that selling fireworks could bring in around $200,000 in sales tax revenue and permit fees for the county, so the decades old ban was lifted.

Restrictions on these sales have been lifted for another reason: due to budget cuts, many local governments have been eliminating large firework displays. Instead of completely eliminating them, some governments have also looked to community groups and donations to fund the cost of the annual firework spectacles.

Just ten years ago, fireworks were banned in nearly half of the fifty states. They began to lift bans after commissioners realized that consumers can just drive to the next city of state over to purchase fireworks.

While countless bans have been lifted in the past couple of years, there are still four states that ban all firework sales: Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York. Other states and counties have not banned fireworks sales but have imposed limitations on their use, such as Florida and Arizona where wildfires are a concern. Some states sell fireworks year round, while others only sell them during the weeks leading up to the fourth of July. States also put restrictions on the type of fireworks that consumers can purchase. For example, Pennsylvania residents can only buy sparklers and small fireworks.

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NEA Expels Secretary of Education’s Actions

July 04, 2011   Brianna Bucci   1 Comment

The National Education Association strongly disagrees with Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s views, and has recently come up with a resolution stating their bitterness towards Duncan’s Education Department. While the NEA disapproves of Duncan’s reform policy, they do not blame President Obama and in fact plan to endorse him in the 2012 presidential race.

The passing resolution states that the NEA’s president will “communicate aggressively, forcefully, and immediately” to President Obama, informing him that the teacher’s union is “appalled” by a number of things Duncan has done regarding education reform. The following is a list of Duncan’s actions and statements that the National Education Association disagrees with.

Here’s the resolution adopted today by the NEA’s legislative body:

ADOPTED AS AMENDED

The NEA Representative Assembly directs the NEA President to communicate aggressively, forcefully, and immediately to President Barack Obama and US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that NEA is appalled with Secretary Duncan’s practice of:

1. Weighing in on local hiring decisions of school and school district personnel.

2. Supporting local decisions to fire all school staff indiscriminately, such as his comments regarding the planned firings in Central Falls, RI.

3. Supporting inappropriate use of high-stakes standardized test scoresfor both student achievement and teacher evaluation, all while acknowledging that the currently available tests are not good.

4. Failing to recognize the shortcomings of offering to support struggling schools or states, but only in exchange for unsustainable state ‘reform’ policy.

5. Focusing too heavily on competitive grants that by design leave most students behind-particularly those in poor neighborhoods, rural areas, and struggling schools-instead of foundational formula funding designed to help all the students who need the most support.

6. Not adequately addressing the unrealistic Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements that brand thriving or improving schools as failures.

7. Forcing local school districts to choose from a pre-determined menu of school improvement models that are unproven and have been shown to be ineffective and bear little resemblance to the actual needs of the school that is struggling.

8. Focusing so heavily on charter schools that viable and proven innovative school models (such as magnet schools) have been overlooked, and simultaneously failing to highlight with the same enthusiasm the innovation in our non-charter public schools.

9. Failing to recognize both the danger inherent in overreliance on a single measurement and the need for multiple indicators when addressing and analyzing student achievement and educators’ evaluations.

10. Failing to recognize the need for systemic change that helps ALL students and relies on shared responsibility by all stakeholders, rather than competitive grant programs that spur bad, inappropriate, and short-sighted state policy.

11. Failing to recognize the complexities of school districts that do not have the resources to compete for funding, particularly in rural America, and failing to provide targeted and effective support for those schools and school districts.

12. Failing to respect and honor the professionalism of educators across this country, including but not limited to holding public education roundtables and meetings without inviting state and local representatives of the teachers, education support professionals, and faculty and staff; promoting programs that lower the standards for entry into the profession; focusing so singularly on teachers in the schools that the other critical staff members and higher education faculty and staff have been overlooked in the plans for improving student learning throughout their educational careers.

13. Perpetuating the myth that there are proven, top-down prescribed ‘silver bullet’ solutions and models that actually will address the real problems that face public education today, rather than recognizing that what schools need is a visionary Secretary of Education that sets broad goals and tasks states, local schools districts, schools, educators, and communities with meeting those goals.

Further, the NEA Representative Assembly directs the NEA Executive Committee to develop and implement an aggressive action plan in collaboration with state and local leaders that will address the issues above.

Starting November 2011, the NEA President will provide regular updates to the delegates on the progress of this plan throughout the year.

Cost Implications

Activities to fulfill the requirements of this NBI can be undertaken within the proposed Modified 2011-2012 Strategic Plan and Budget at no additional cost.

 

Article contains information from The Washington Post


 

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How Much Do You Know About the 4th of July?

July 04, 2011   Paul Martin   No comments

Fireworks above the Capitol and Washington MonumentEvery American knows that Independence Day is the day we celebrate breaking away from British rule. Fireworks, barbecues, and parades mark the occasion for most people, but did you know that this was exactly what John Adams had envisioned? Or that the document was initially adopted on July 2, 1776? I’d like to take the time to share some of the lesser-known facts about America’s largest holiday.

    • In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams predicted: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” What Adams didn’t know at the time was that after the Declaration was approved on July 2, it was revised and the document we know today was officially adopted 2 days later.

 

    • Most historians agree that the Declaration of Independence was actually signed on August 2, 1776– a full month after it was adopted.

 

    • Three presidents died on this day– Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, hours apart in 1826, and James Monroe in 1831.

 

    • The only president born on the day was Calvin Coolidge in 1872.

 

    • Other notable people born on this day are Malia Obama, daughter of President Barack Obama (1998); P.T. Barnum (1810); Ulysses S. Grant (1881); Rube Goldberg (1883); Pauline Phillips, aka Abigail Van Buren, or “Dear Abby” (1918); Advice columnist Ann Landers (1918); and Koko the signing gorilla (1971).

 

    • Our current flag was designed by Robert Heft, a 17-year old student, as a school project. He originally received a B- for his efforts.

 

  • Independence Day was not officially recognized as a legal holiday until 1941.
    Arguably the most well-known symbol of our independence, the Statue of Liberty was actually a gift from France in recognition of the friendship forged between our countries during the American Revolution. She was built in France by artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). She was dedicated on October 28, 1886, but wasn’t officially adopted as a national monument until 1924.

Happy 4th of July

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Feds Killing Medical Marijuana Buzz

July 04, 2011   Jacob Blanchard   No comments

Colorado’s medical marijuana industry has taken a beating this week. New laws regulating the state’s marijuana dispensaries took effect on Friday, effectively closing around 85 of the shops. But the more surprising part of the story is the Obama administration’s threats against state-mandated dispensaries.

The tumult especially hit home at places like the Hatch Wellness Center in Highlands Ranch, where a solemn Carmen Hatch met patients at the door to tell them the dispensary had closed. Because of a ban on medical-marijuana businesses in Douglas County, the dispensary was unable to comply with new Colorado licensing rules.

“I wanted to be here when the patients came in to explain why we’re not open,” Hatch said. “. . . This is about the patients. It’s about people.”

Despite some progress, the struggle to legalize medical marijuana in the U.S. is far from over.

Even worse for Colorado’s dispensaries is the memo that Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote the same week as the new regulations. He asserted that people “who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana and those who knowingly facilitate such activities” are in violation of federal law, regardless of any state laws.

Anyone following the Obama administration’s policies should be shocked. Cole’s memo is a 180 degree reversal from Obama’s early-term policy. In 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed at a press conference that his Office would no longer subject individuals who were complying with state medical marijuana laws to federal drug raids and prosecutions. Fortune magazine predicted that Obama’s policy would eventually lead to something like the 21st Amendment, which repealed the Prohibition’s ban on the sale of alcohol.

Steph Sharer, executive director for Americans for Safe Access, blasted the memo.

“At the same time the federal government is recognizing the rights of people living with cancer and other debilitating diseases to use medical marijuana, it is also denying them the means to obtain it legally,” Sherer said in a statement.

The Obama administration turning coat on medical marijuana could cost him the support of many of the enthusiastic voters who elected him in 2008. With high unemployment, a sluggish economy and a climbing national debt, Obama cannot afford to further alienate his support base by changing his mind on social issues like decriminalized marijuana.

Contains information from Denver Post and CNN.
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