African-businesses rises despite the challenges
Author: Ebrima Baldeh
By Ebrima Baldeh
Opening a business is increasingly becoming a challenge for African immigrants hoping to cash in on opportunities in the U.S markets. It is not all gloomy as some immigrants are trying to create their own niche markets.
Lasanna Tambajang in his early 50s took a $10,000 loan in the Gambia in the early 1990s to pursue a better life in the U.S. His experience in small and medium scale business back in Africa paved the way for him to open a fish and meat business in the Bronx.
Founded in 1998, the Fish and Meat market along Boston Road in the Bronx is largely run by his family. It now has two outlets in the Bronx and has three mobile trucks that distribute fish and meat to customers in Queens and Brooklyn. Overall, the business earns an estimated $3 million a year.
“When my father set up this business at first there were challenges, people were asking questions about the viability of the business here,” said Lamin Tambajang, who took over his father’s business after completing high school
“It is not easy for immigrants to set up business in the U.S, my father experienced several challenges in getting customers and making some profit, sometimes people hardly give you a chance if they don’t know you,” Lamin Tambajang pointed out.
The Fish and Meat market’s immigrant identity runs throughout. The family business has a dozen employees mainly immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa. “I was employed here because back in Mexico I have skills in processing fish and meat, I must say I enjoy working here because of the mixture of immigrants from different parts of the world,” said Jesus Mario Santos.
It’s selection of goods also cater to immigrant communities.
“I like buying stuff that I can identify myself with, when I visit this store I buy food stuff that I don’t usually see in well-established food stores in Manhattan,”’ said Musa Kane, a regular customer at the Fish and Meat market, who is also an immigrant from Mali in West Africa. Kane says he enjoys cooking smoked fish and snails during his quality time on weekends.
Momodou Jallow, another immigrant from Guinea in West Africa set up the Fouta African restaurant in Westchester Avenue in the Bronx with some immigrants from Spain and Mexico who are now American citizens.
“We realized in the past that so many immigrants were getting homesick because there were no restaurants selling typical African and Spanish food” said Momodou Jallow.
According to the U.S Black Chamber of Commerce, African-American businesses have grown at an exponential rate in the 21st century. It states that there are nearly 2.6 million African-American owned businesses in the U.S as of 2018.
The U.S Black Chamber of Commerce research revealed that the gap in average wealth between African-American and white adults decreases from a multiplier of 13 to 3 when one compares the wealth of business owners by race.
At Gun Hill Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, there are a number of African-American small and medium scale business that have sprung up recently. Some of the business are beauticians and grocery stores that specifically target the huge black community in the neighborhood. “My parents originally come from Nigeria in West Africa, they winded up their clothing business in Nigeria to look for better opportunities in the U.S.,” said Jimmy Asoayabo, a beautician who employs more than twenty-five people at his shop on Gun Hill Road.
Inspired by the American dream, African immigrants are leaving the continent in large numbers to the U.S in the hope of getting better opportunities to rebuild their lifestyles. African immigrants and immigrants from mainly Muslim nations are increasingly finding it difficult to come to the U.S due to what many call President Trump’s harsh immigration policies.
Lamin Tambajang said the company is trying to expand new source markets in other major U.S cities like Pennsylvania, Seattle and California but it has been difficult.
“You know it’s not easy nowadays with the heightened tensions on immigration, getting the right personnel to work is difficult to come by,” he said.
Marlboro Meets Juul: The Millennial Black Market for E-cigarettes


ARH’s CEO and President Joe Grossman to retire
Joe Grossman(none)
By AJ Cabbagestalk
HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) - Wednesday, Joe Grossman announced that he will retire on June 30.
Joe Grossman took over as President and CEO at ARH in 2013. Grossman has 35 years of experience in healthcare and wishes to spend more time with his family.
“On behalf of the ARH Board of Trustees, we are extremely grateful for Mr. Grossman’s excellent leadership and commitment to ARH’s longstanding mission as it pertains to bringing the most advanced care options to those living in even the most rural areas of eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia,” said Duanne Thompson, chairman of the ARH Board of trustees. “During his time as president and CEO, the ARH health system has seen amazing growth and progress that will continue to be felt in our service areas for years to come. He will be greatly missed.”
During Grossman’s tenure as President and CEO, ARH expanded to 13 hospitals, 80 clinic locations, and added retail pharmacies, home health agencies, and home durable medical equipment store locations. ARH currently provides healthcare to more than 400,000 people in Eastern Kentucky.
Grossman has led partnership efforts and served on boards of economic groups such as One East Kentucky, One Harlan, and the Hazard-Perry County Economic Development Alliance. Grossman is also on the board for Kentucky Hospital Association, the Kentucky Health Collaborative, Kentucky Retirement Systems, HEAL (Help End Addiction for Life), Harlan County EDA, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and the Coalfields Industrial Authority. Grossman was held a former board role for Treasurer of the Kentucky Commercial Utility Customers, Inc. and the East Kentucky Health Collaborative boards.
“I greatly appreciate the opportunity to be a part of ARH and the wonderful Appalachian communities and people it serves. Further, I appreciate all the continued support I have received from the Board of Trustees and the ARH employees over the past 18 years,” Grossman said. “Our organization is in a good place and I believe it is headed for an even better future. The ARH team members are very talented and dedicated to the ARH mission and will continue to grow and improve the lives of the people we serve.”
Copyright 2021 WYMT. All rights reserved.
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Haighton
Manors◬
Town Records◬
Voting Registers◬
HAIGHTON, a township in Preston parish, Lancashire; on the river Wyre, 4 miles NNE of Preston. It includes the hamlet of Cow Hill. Acres, 1,054. Real property, £1,554. Pop., 222. Houses, 40.
John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)
Local studies information is held at Preston library.
Our Lady of the Well Roman Catholic, Fernyhalgh
Details about the census records, and indexes for Haighton.
The Register Office covering the Haighton area is Preston and South Ribble
You can see pictures of Haighton which are provided by:
Ask for a calculation of the distance from Haighton to another place.
The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868
"HAIGHTON, a township in the parish of Preston, hundred of Amounderness, county Lancaster, 4 miles N.E. of Preston, situated on the river Wyre."
In 1835 Haighton was a township in the parish of Preston. Information about boundaries and administrative areas is available from A Vision of Britain through time.
You can see the administrative areas in which Haighton has been placed at times in the past. Select one to see a link to a map of that particular area.
View maps of Haighton and places within its boundaries.
View a map of the boundaries of this town/parish.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SD564347 (Lat/Lon: 53.806434, -2.663724), Haighton which are provided by:
For probate purposes prior to 1858, Haighton was in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, in the Diocese of Chester. The original Lancashire wills for the Archdeaconry of Richmond are held at the Lancashire Record Office.
Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society - Preston Branch
Lancashire Parish Register Society
You can also see Family History Societies covering the nearby area, plotted on a map. This facility is being developed, and is awaiting societies to enter information about the places they cover.
Last updated Sat, 27/06/2020 - 21:31 - maintained by Phil Stringer


Will Mamata Banerjee Invoke Bengali Cultural 'Asmita' to Push Back the BJP?
By successfully undertaking such a campaign, the TMC could project the BJP as a party of cultural outsiders.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee pays tribute to Vidyasagar, whose statue was vandalised during political violence in Kolkata. Credit: PTI
Monobina Gupta
That the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has no intention of lowering the heat on the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal is evident from the party’s latest decision to invite families of more than 50 BJP workers, allegedly killed in Bengal’s political violence, to the Narendra Modi government’s oath-taking ceremony. A day after Banerjee agreed to attend the ceremony on grounds of ‘constitutional propriety’, the prime minister, and BJP president Amit Shah, sent out invitations to the families, designating them as “special invitees”.
Reacting swiftly and predictably, Banerjee retracted her decision to attend the ceremony. “The ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party which uses it as an opportunity to score political points,” she tweeted. “There have been no political murders in Bengal. These deaths may have occurred due to personal enmity, family quarrel and other disputes; nothing related to politics. There is no such record with us,” she added. An assertion that, given the continued high levels of political violence in the state, will convince few within and outside the state.
In its decision to invite the families in question, the BJP sent out a clear and provocative message to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) that the party means serious political business in Bengal. And that Banerjee’s gesture of accepting the invitation would be met with a retaliatory political gesture.
Meanwhile, the situation in Bengal continues to be tense. Riding changing political tides in the state, the BJP seems to be closing in on the ruling TMC. As anticipated not just by the BJP but the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI(M)) as well, the TMC has begun to unravel. On Tuesday, three MLAs in the Bengal assembly – two from TMC and one from CPI(M) – joined the BJP at the party’s Delhi headquarters. More than 50 TMC councillors too switched to the BJP.
Among the new converts were TMC legislators Subhrangshu Roy, son of BJP leader Mukul Roy, Tushar Kanti Bhattacharjee and Debendra Nath Roy of the CPI(M). The TMC recently suspended Subhrangshu for six years, charging him with anti-party activities. From all indications, more defections could be in the offing.
With 211 legislators in the 294-assembly at the moment, the TMC seems to have the numbers to ward off an imminent BJP threat. However, given the political volatility created by the BJP’s aggressive determination and the CPI(M)’s carefree fanning of the flames, Banerjee does indeed have reason to worry.
Fast-paced developments over the last week in Bengal suggest that rather than wait for the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP could work to a plan, pulling off a coup from within the TMC ranks. In case defections go on – BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya has gestured towards seven more rounds – Banerjee will need to find ways and means to stem the hemorrhage.
A weakened TMC at the time of the 2021 assembly elections would suit the BJP as well as the CPI(M). Credit: Reuters
No doubt, the current arithmetic in the assembly strongly favours her party. But the BJP’s strategy of chipping at the block, even at minor levels, could easily demoralise supporters and entice opportunists. A weakened TMC at the time of the 2021 assembly elections would suit the BJP as well as the CPI(M). Both parties have a shared interest in bleeding the party in power; though only one is likely to reap rewards from the oncoming chaos.
Ideally, the BJP would like the TMC to collapse before it runs its full tenure. On the ascendant, the party would like to build upon the grievances of disaffected TMC legislators with the aim of slowly weaning them away, preferably before 2021. Then there is the option of citing a “breakdown of law and order” situation and seeking the imposition of President’s rule in the state. Such a plea may even appear valid – despite its historic baggage of gross misuse by erstwhile Congress governments – in a perennially violence-wracked state like Bengal.
Interestingly, as an ally in the Vajpayee-led NDA government and in opposition to the Left Front government, Banerjee in the late 1990s, time and again urged the Central government to bring Bengal under President’s rule. Political violence under the CPI(M)-led government was then, as high as it is now under TMC rule. To some extent, then, the scenario playing out now is a continuation of that history.
Also read: With BJP’s Tacit Support, CPI(M) Takes Advantage of a Weakened TMC in Bengal
The challenges before Banerjee, at this moment, are huge. Given the popular mood in the state, the TMC leader would need to devise innovative strategies to combat the rising forces of the Hindu Right. One such strategy might be to fall back on cultural idioms that are unique to Bangla culture. By successfully undertaking such a campaign, the TMC could project the BJP as a party of cultural outsiders.
Battling a party essentially viewed as one of the Hindi heartland, Banerjee could perhaps go on to reinvent the TMC as a party committed to safeguarding Bangla asmita. Moreover, it is possible to suggest that the language articulating such a sentiment has already been crafted.
For instance, it’s worth noting in this context how the TMC recently turned the vandalisation of Vidyasagar’s statue during an Amit Shah rally on College Street, into a marker of Bengali resistance against the BJP. The day after the statue’s decapitation, thousands marched alongside Banerjee, taking the same route Shah had taken the previous evening.
Mamata Banerjee at a protest rally against the clashes that broke out during BJP president Amit Shah’s roadshow. Credit: PTI
Or take another strong marker of such cultural differentiation. Despite strong factual contradictions, the RSS – based on Rabindranath Tagore being the composer of the national anthem – continues to raise questions over his patriotism. Notwithstanding refutations by numerous reputed historians, the RSS maintains that Tagore wrote the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, in celebration of King George V. Such an interpretation, factually wrong as it is, is not likely to go down well with Bengalis. Tagore is as integral to Bangla culture and society as Golwalkar is to the RSS ideology. This is just one of the many cultural fault lines that could pose a problem for the BJP.
Also read: It’s Unreasonable to Blame Mamata Banerjee for BJP’s Gains in West Bengal
Banerjee, on the other hand, has expansively used Bengal’s homespun culture in her struggle against the CPI(M)-led Left Front government. She developed a language of opposition that was unique to taking on the Left Front. Unlike the Marxist language of class struggle and internationalism, Banerjee harped on home-spun Bengali culture and humanism.
In the run-up to the 2011 assembly elections that ended the Left Front government’s protracted rule, Banerjee reached out to her audience by invoking basic parables, digging into the works of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, using shlokas from the Gita and the Upanishads. In fact, much of the cultural language Banerjee used in the 2019 Lok Sabha election was a replay of her 2011 campaign against the Left Front.
Observers could already sense some of these developments during the election campaign in Bengal. Now, as the situation on the ground gets messier and the newly-reelected government digs in its heels at the Centre, it is worth restating how critical the next few months could be for Bengal’s future.


Camera IconThe piece of the Eiffel Tower's original spiral staircase from 1889 at the Artcurial auction house.
Eiffel staircase piece sold for $264000
A piece of the original spiral staircase from the Eiffel Tower, Paris's most famous attraction, was sold for 169,000 euros ($A264,265), three times the initial estimate.
The successful bidder, an unidentified collector from the Middle East, acquired a section of the 129-year-old iron landmark that measures 4.3 metres in height, weighs about 900 kilos and includes about 25 steps, a spokesman for auction house Artcurial said.
The piece, which came from a private collection in Canada, had connected the top two floors of the Eiffel Tower. It is one of 24 sections that were cut out in 1983 following the installation of a lift between the two floors.
Other sections of the staircase can be found in sites such as the Yoishii Foundation gardens in Japan, near the Statue of Liberty in New York and in Disneyland in Florida.
The piece sold on Tuesday had been on public display for 20 days in the courtyard of the auction house on the Champs-Elysees.
Tuesday's bidding was less frenetic than in 2016, when another portion of the Eiffel Tower went for 523,800 euros, exceeding its estimate tenfold.


AAPA Volunteers Give Back By Serving as Professional Liaisons
Kasel, Coll, Scherer and Garcia-Herrera Step Up for PAs
AAPA has a long history of collaboration with other professional societies including the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American College of Emergency Physicians, and National Hispanic Medical Association. Each year, AAPA asks for volunteers to serve as liaisons to these professional organizations. Here are the generous and talented PAs who are currently serving as liaisons to our important partner organizations.
John F. Kasel, DHA, MS, PA-C, DFAAPA
Liaison to the American Academy of Family Physicians
The AAPA Board of Directors appointed John F. (Jack) Kasel, DHA, MS, PA-C, DFAAPA, as liaison to AAFP. His term runs through June 30, 2021.
Kasel serves as Director of Advanced Practice Providers for the Central Texas Region of Baylor Scott and White Health (BSWH). He works closely with the system’s department of family medicine as a leader and a provider. He is involved in their transition from the patient-centered medical home model of primary care delivery to a patient-centered care model and is participating in efforts to identify optimal practice models for PAs and nurse practitioners in the system. Prior to his tenure with BSWH, Kasel worked in primary care in large health systems including Mayo Clinic, U.S. Veterans Administration Health System, and the U.S. Army.
“I believe that as PAs we are exceptionally suited to provide excellent quality care in the primary care setting. Striving to create and maintain a strong working relationship with our family medicine physician colleagues is key for us to demonstrate the optimal scope of practice,” Kasel said.
Jeffrey A. Katz, PA-C, served as AAPA’s liaison to AAFP from 2017-2019.
Liaison to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Daniel J. Coll, MBA, PA-C, DFAAPA
AAPA’s Board of Directors appointed Daniel Coll, MBA, PA-C, DFAAPA, to serve as liaison to AAOS. His appointment runs through June 30, 2021.
Coll is employed at Tahoe Forest Hospital District, a federally designated Critical Access Hospital in Truckee, California. Coll received his undergraduate degree at UC Davis, PA Certification at Western University of Health Sciences, and Master of Health Sciences at Pacific University. He recently completed his MBA in health administration at CU Denver. He is currently enrolled at Northeastern University in the AAPA Center for Healthcare Leadership and Management certificate program.
Coll says, “I have been an active member of my national academy and my state and specialty constituent organizations. My engagement has provided opportunities to experience the constituent organizations’ operations through committee work while also refining my communication skills in these varied settings.”
Clinically, Coll participates in the evaluation and admission of patients with orthopedic injuries who present to the emergency department, practices in the orthopedic clinic, is first call for all inpatients, and assists multiple orthopedic surgeons. He previously directed the hospital’s orthopedics and sports medicine service line.
Coll has published multiple papers in orthopaedic journals and serves as AAPA’s representative to the National Quality Forum Rural Health Workgroup. He is an active member of the AAPA, AAOS, PAOS, OTA, and the PA state academies in Nevada and California.
Aaron Hewitt, PA-C, who served as a speaker during recent AAOS conference sessions on team practice, most recently served as AAPA’s liaison to AAOS.
Lynn Scherer, MS, PA-C
Liaison to the American College of Emergency Physicians
PAs who practice emergency medicine have had a strong relationship with ACEP for more than 25 years. AAPA’s Board of Directors appointed Lynn Scherer, MS, PA-C, as liaison to ACEP through June 30, 2021.
Scherer is familiar to ACEP leaders due to her membership on ACEP’s Academic Affairs Committee and her participation in the ACEP Directors Academy. Scherer served on the Society of Emergency Medicine PAs board for many years, including as president in 2015-16. She currently serves as SEMPA liaison to the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORDEM).
In addition to leadership experience in professional associations, Scherer has 19 years of clinical and leadership experience at Albert Einstein Healthcare Network Department of Emergency Medicine in Philadelphia. An active member of Einstein’s leadership team, PA Scherer serves as associate director of Advanced Practice Provider Services, program director of the Emergency Medicine PA Residency Program, and co-chair of Einstein’s Advanced Practice Clinician Council, in addition to practicing clinically as a member of the emergency medicine faculty.
“As medical liaison, I will do my best to elevate the PA profession and the strategic relationships of AAPA with national physician and medical organizations to improve the PA practice environment and patient-centered care,” Scherer says.
Most recently, the ACEP liaison was Thomas Chambers, PA-C, MBA.
Liaison to the National Hispanic Medical Association
Ron Garcia-Herrera, PA
The AAPA caucus, PAs for Latino Health (PALH), for many years cultivated the relationship between NHMA and AAPA, and in 2011, the AAPA board appointed an official liaison to NHMA. The board has appointed Ron Garcia-Herrera through June 30, 2021.
Garcia-Herrera has spent most of his career in the Latino community, giving him an intimate understanding of their healthcare issues and needs. In addition, having cared for many migrant workers, he has seen first-hand the disparities they face. He has more than 20 years of experience practicing in occupational medicine, orthopedics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, family practice, and urgent care. Garcia-Herrera also has 30 years of military service as a PA in family practice, urgent care, and aeromedical evacuation. His clinical experience includes managing patients with complex medical and psychosocial problems and Workers Compensation patients in California, New Mexico, and Texas. He holds medical Spanish certification, is fluent in French, and has studied American Sign Language.
Now semi-retired, Garcia-Herrera lives in New Mexico and practices part-time in orthopedics and pain management in California. He volunteers at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque and has served on a community advisory committee to the New Mexico State Legislature for a Medicaid Buy-In pending legislative act that would cover those working uninsured who do not have insurance through employment and do not meet the usual Medicaid income eligibility criteria.
Most recently, the NHMA liaison position was held by PA Robert Smith of Lewisville, Texas, whose term ended in June.
To see a complete list of AAPA liaisons to national medical organizations click here https://www.aapa.org/about/aapa-governance-leadership/aapa-volunteers/aapa-medical-liaisons/


Standard mileage rates, depreciation amounts updated
On 4 June, 2018 By velisabookkeepingIn Bookkeeping, IRS issues, Small Business Payroll, Small Business Taxes
The IRS provided information to taxpayers about changes in the use of standard mileage rates and increased depreciation limits for passenger automobiles as a result of P.L. 115-97, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which made amendments to Secs. 67 and 217.
In Notice 2018-42, the IRS modified Notice 2018-03, which provided the optional 2018 standard mileage rates for taxpayers to use in computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving expense purposes.
Because the TCJA suspended the miscellaneous itemized deduction under Sec. 67 for unreimbursed employee business expenses from 2018 to 2025, the notice explains that the standard mileage rate will not apply to those expenses during that period.
However, an exception to that disallowance applies to members of a reserve component of the U.S. armed forces, state or local government officials paid on a fee basis, and certain performing artists. They are permitted to deduct mileage expenses on line 24 of Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, (an above-the-line deduction) and may continue to use the business standard mileage rate, which remains at 54.5 cents per mile for these eligible taxpayers.
The next change is to the rate for moving expenses. Notice 2018-03 announced that the rate for 2018 was 18 cents per mile. The TCJA repealed the moving expense deduction for individual taxpayers from 2018 to 2025, except for U.S. armed forces members on active duty who move pursuant to a military order and incident to a permanent change of station to whom Sec. 217(g) applies.
The final change is to the depreciation allowances permitted pre- and post-TCJA. Under pre-TCJA law, under a fixed-and-variable-rate (FAVR) plan, the maximum standard automobile cost was $27,300 for 2018 for automobiles (not including trucks and vans) and $31,000 for trucks and vans. (Under a FAVR plan, a standard amount is deemed substantiated for an employer’s reimbursement to employees for expenses they incur in driving their vehicle in performing services as an employee for the employer.)
Section 13202 of the TCJA increased the depreciation limits for passenger automobiles placed in service after Dec. 31, 2017. As a result, the maximum standard automobile cost is raised to $50,000 for passenger automobiles, (including trucks and vans) placed in service after Dec. 31, 2017. Unlike the other TCJA changes discussed here, this increase is permanent.
Charitable contribution procedures updated
Proving a Business Connection for Meals and Entertainment


fanatix | Football | Premier League | Arsenal FC | Arsenal target signs new contract with Swansea City
Arsenal target signs new contract with Swansea City
Glen Harrington
Ashley Williams has banished transfer speculation by signing a new contract…
Ashley Williams has ended transfer speculation linking him with a move to Arsenal, after signing a new long-term contract with Swansea City.
The Daily Mail reported that Sunderland had made an official bid for the Welsh defender, while Arsenal and QPR were amongst the long-term admirers of the 29-year-old, who has been with Swansea since 2008.
It’s a huge boost for Swans’ manager Gary Monk, who was desperate to keep hold of his club captain.
One man that could be on the way out of the Liberty Stadium is striker Michu, who is reportedly a £10m target for Italian side Napoli.
Michu enjoyed a stunning first season with the club, scoring 22 goals in his debut season. However, he struggled during the club’s last campaign, netting just six times in an injury-hit season.
The emergence of Wilfried Bony as the club’s first choice centre forward, and the signing of Lyon’s Bafetimbi Gomis is also likely to limit his first-team opportunities next season.
Williams has been a rock at the heart of the Swans defence since joining the club from Stockport County in a £400,000 deal in May 2008 following a successful loan spell.
He was part of the squad that lifted the League One title while he played a vital role in the club’s Championship Play-Off final victory at Wembley.
He would return to Wembley two years later as the Swans won the Capital One Cup, while he also captained the club to the last 32 of the Europa League and a 12th-placed finish in the top flight last season.
More Stories: Arsenal FC, Swansea City AFC


Crete • 2020 • episode "1/6" • The Greek Islands with Julia Bradbury
In the first episode, Julia visits the picturesque, rustic and rugged island of Crete, a favourite island with British holiday-goers, but Julia steps away from tourist trail and heads deep into the heart of the island to explore the Dikti Mountains and its striking plateau of windmills.
The Greek Islands with Julia Bradbury • 2020 • 6 episodes •
This week, Julia visits the lush Ionian island of Corfu, often called the least Greek of all the Greek islands. Her trip begins in the capital Corfu Town where she discovers a surprising, cosmopolitan city more like a little slice of Italy than Greece.
In this episode, Julia’s journey brings her to the impossibly glamorous island of Santorini in search of the perfect sunset. Her trip begins in one of Santorini's most exclusive hotels where she discovers how one of the Aegean’s poorest islands became a playground for the rich and famous. In search of the secret Santorini away from the bustling crowds, she heads inland for a walk on the wild side, hiking through a forager’s paradise to the hilltop village of Pyrgos
The Sporades
This week, Julia’s journey reaches the Sporades. Known as the ‘Paradise Islands’, their lush pine forests and breathtaking coastlines are recognisable to millions as the backdrop of the movie Mamma Mia. On Skiathos, Julia boards a fishing boat in search of a secret world of hidden coves and deserted beaches,
Rhodes and Symi
This week, Julia arrives in the Dodecanese, a far-flung group of islands at the gateway between Europe and the East. In the medieval capital of Rhodes she uncovers a treasure of trove of Byzantine Art Travelling inland to the mountain village of Apollona; Her trip ends with a visit to the neighbouring island of Symi, an architectural wonder like nowhere else in Greece.
3/4 • Africa with Ade Adepitan • 2019 • Travel
In this episode Martin travels to the Tiwi Islands, swims with a whale shark, and visits the Houtman Abrolhos, a string of over 100 little islands. Martin Clunes also samples life on Rottnest Island, which has long been a playground retreat for mainland visitors.
2/3 • Islands of Australia • 2017 • Travel
Simon's adventure starts in the magnificent 'red centre' of the continent and onwards through South Australia, via the extraordinary Indian Pacific Railway until he reaches the west coast city of Perth. On the way, he joins an Aussie rancher in the parched outback and takes part in a spectacular camel round-up. This mad adventure, involving specially adapted off-road vehicles and a chopper, is part of an ongoing effort to stop the damaging spread of up to a million feral camels across the country. Finally in Perth, Simon discovers a full scale British invasion. Working in a mine or driving a lorry can bring a salary of a hundred thousand pounds a year, as evidenced when Simon meets a former bin man from hull who is now living the dream, with a beautiful house in the sun, private pool and his very own boat.
1/3 • Australia with Simon Reeve • 2013 • Travel
Famed for its painted churches, this is a region that's replete with ancient monuments.


Shelton closer to selling Chromium Process, a former brownfield site
Brian Gioiele
Feb. 16, 2020 Updated: Feb. 16, 2020 9 a.m.
Officials are one step closer to selling city property along Canal Street — four parcels formerly owned by the Chromium Process Co. — as part of the downtown’s continued revitalization. Lots 3 to 6, with a portion of 7 which is shaded, are up for sale.
Brian Gioiele / Hearst Connecticut Media
SHELTON — Officials are one step closer to selling four parcels formerly owned by the Chromium Process Co. along Canal Street and now belonging to the city as part of the downtown’s revitalization.
The Planning and Zoning Commission at its meeting Tuesday unanimously approved an application from the city for the sale. The P&Z is required make a recommendation for any project or major improvement proposed on city land.
The report now allows Mayor Mark Lauretti to negotiate the sale of the property — four lots totaling 1.63 acres along with a 40-foot strip of property, some 10,840 square feet — to a developer.
City Administrative Assistant Jack Bashar said that by selling the land, “the property will then be added back to the city’s tax rolls and will be a major part of the downtown redevelopment plan.”
The city acquired the Chromium Process property through foreclosure, and state and federal brownfields funding helped with the environmental cleanup.
The Chromium Process operation, part of an industrial area developed in the late 1880s, was once a thriving factory site in the heart of downtown Shelton. The plant building and adjacent garage were razed in the fall of 2016, replaced by a parking lot.
The Planning and Zoning Commission also approved two other requests by the city.
Zoners unanimously granted a request for the city’s plan to sell property adjacent to 35 Saginaw Trail. Bashar’s letter stated that the property is in the city’s Pine Rock Park area and is zoned R-3 Residential.
Bashar stated that one of the abutting property owners, Gerard Fowler, has expressed interest in purchasing the site.
“The city has no use of the property, and it is now a vacant piece of property,” said Bashar, adding that the sale puts the land back on the city’s tax rolls.
The second approved referral allows city officials to negotiate the purchase of a one-acre lot on Meadow Street owned by Arthur B. Maybeck and Lupe A. Maybeck. The property is abutted to the west by some 24 acres owned by the city.


Brighton Welcomes The UK’s First Cannabis-Infused Restaurant
Posted by Gary Rose
It had to be Brighton, didn’t it? It was inevitable really… that the UK’s first cannabis-infused organic, vegan restaurant would be rolled out in the nation’s most progressive city.
The Canna Kitchen throws open its doors to Duke Street’s punters on 1st December 2018. But don’t get the wrong idea… this is no “caner” kitchen. They won’t be slipping you space cakes through a hatch around the back. No, these guys are looking to shatter such outdated stereotypes (although, clearly we’re not).
Their menu promises fragrant, seasonal plant-based food, infused with the flavour and health properties associated with various legal, non-psychoactive cannabinoids: compounds that are widely regarded to modulate pain, aid digestion, help manage stress, and even improve memory function.
The restaurant’s director is the heroically named Sam Evolution — the kind of moniker Hollywood would give a utopia-founding, Elon Musk-inspired entrepreneur. Played by Joaquin Phoenix.
And we won’t argue with Sam’s comments on cannabis’s largely under-tapped potential. “It is one of the most versatile crops in nature,” he says “with potential applications in almost every area of modern life… If utilised properly [cannabis] could begin to remedy many of the ecological challenges of our time. It also happens to be the most nutritionally complete human food source on the planet.”
Example dishes include Zaa’tar Roast Cauliflower, Hemp Heart Tabbouleh, and Buckwheat and Beetroot Pancake. And diners will have the option of infusing their food with the cannabinoids CBD, CBG and CBN, which “can lead to a sense of relaxation, peace and well-being”.
As well as the restaurant, there’ll be a CBD café and dispensary upstairs, and a roof terrace for tea and smoking (of the legal kind). The basement, meanwhile, will house a “log cabin-style chillout lounge” serving organic, non-alcoholic cocktails.
Sound too good to be true? Or could Brighton be witnessing the birth of the next decade’s major food trend? We’ll let you know when we’ve checked it out in a couple of weeks’ time. We’ve got the munchies now.
Tickets are now on sale for the public launch on 1st December, where £25 will secure you three courses and a mocktail.
See www.thecannakitchen.co.uk for further details.
Gary Rose
A magazine journalist and former BBC minion, Gaz's words can be found in publications ranging from The Radio Times Guide To Films to 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, as well as on his blog The Wine Ninjas . He plays drums in a psych band, and once fell into a frozen lake in Transylvania.
The Prodigy Review
The Lewis Family Xmas, Tues 11th Dec
Brighton Welcomes The UK's First Cannabis-Infused Restaurant - Brighton Source


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HOME » NEWS » ARTICLES » Monitoring the Monitor? The Need for Further Guidance Governing Corporate Monitors Under Pre-Trial Diversion Agreements
Monitoring the Monitor? The Need for Further Guidance Governing Corporate Monitors Under Pre-Trial Diversion Agreements
David Matyas and Lynn Shapiro Snyder
July 15, 2009 — 1,366 views
This article first appeard in BNA's Health Bare Fraud Report 13 HFRA 288, 4/8/09
Over the last several years, there has been an increase in Federal prosecutors' use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements ("DPAs") or in some cases Non-Prosecution Agreements ("NPAs"). From 2002-2005, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") entered into twice as many of these agreements with defendant-companies as it had over the previous 10 years. Between 2005 and 2007, the number of these agreements increased even more with approximately 12 in 2005, 20 in 2006, and 30 in 2007.[1] In 2008, according to a recent study, the number of these agreements decreased to 16, a near 60 percent drop from 2007.[2] It is unclear whether the number of these agreements increase under the Obama Administration. Nevertheless, pre-trial diversion agreements remain a tool that U.S. Attorneys Offices may wield to fight corporate corruption without otherwise requiring a company to plead (or to be found) guilty of a criminal action. Yet, the use of pre-trial diversion agreements has been controversial in many aspects and raises a host of questions about procedural fairness and the criminal justice system.
DPAs and NPAs are two types of pre-trial diversion agreements that may be entered into by the government and a defendant-company. The main difference between a DPA and an NPA is that charges are not filed in the latter; however, the obligations imposed in both types of agreements are extensive.[3] Generally, DPAs/NPAs involve a filing of a criminal charge, admission of criminal wrongdoing and to the facts in the charging instrument, substantial monetary penalties, adoption of strict corporate governance and compliance programs, cooperation with the government's ongoing investigation, and an agreement to external oversight by a corporate monitor approved by the government. If the company abides by the terms of the DPA/NPA, then the company will avoid prosecution.
DPAs/NPAs are a method for federal prosecutors to impose penalties and internal reforms on companies without subjecting them to the dire consequences of a criminal conviction. A health system, for example, if convicted criminally, can be excluded from future participation in federal health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. This is devastating not only to the health system, itself, but also to the community of patients that rely on the health system for health care services.
A key and controversial element in many DPAs/NPAs is their reliance on a corporate monitor who is responsible for overseeing the company's compliance with the requirements memorialized in the agreement, itself, and generally, the company's compliance with law.[4] Usually, these pretrial diversion agreements require the company to retain the monitor at the company's expense. Although the number of DPAs/NPAs decreased by nearly 60 percent in 2008, the percent of agreements that contain monitor provisions has remained constant at 40 percent in 2007 and 2008.[5]
Despite the amount of ink that has been spilled over DPAs/NPAs, there exists little guidance that defines the role of corporate monitors. This is troublesome because monitor provisions often grant virtually unfettered authority, compensation, and discretion to the monitors. In 2008, the DOJ issued guidance to U.S. Attorneys Offices in this area.[6] However, that internal guidance – commonly referred to as the Morford Memo – left many questions still unaddressed. Examples of these questions include: how a person/entity becomes eligible to serve as a corporate monitor; should monitors be subject to any ethical rules or guidelines; who should be responsible for overseeing the monitor's actions; do monitors have too much authority over business and corporate governance decisions; are prosecutors ill-equipped to oversee the monitor's decisions; and to whom should the company address any potential grievances it has with the conduct of a monitor. Subsequent to the Morford Memo, the DOJ issued additional guidance concerning "extraordinary restitution" in DPAs/NPAs, and amended the Principles of Prosecution of Business Organizations to address attorney-client and work product privileges in connection with DPAs/NPAs.[7] The DOJ has not issued any further guidance since the Morford Memo that addresses corporate monitors.
As the 111th Congress begins its session and the Obama Administration takes charge of the Executive Branch, the time is ripe for the Executive Branch to develop further guidance to U.S. Attorneys Offices about the roles, responsibilities, and duties of corporate monitors.
I. Corporate MONITOR PROVISIONS IN PRE-TRIAL DIVERSION AGREEMENTS
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines require probation if a company fails to have a mandatory compliance and ethics program in place at the time of sentencing.[8] Probation requires companies, among other things, to submit to a reasonable number of examinations of their books and records by an officer appointed by the court.[9] Over the years, a series of DOJ memoranda applied the corporate probation model to the charging stage of a corporate prosecution. In particular, the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations – commonly referred to as the Thompson Memo – explicitly stated that "pretrial diversion may be considered in the course of the government's investigation."[10] This opened the door for modern day DPAs/NPAs.
Generally, about 40 percent of DPAs/NPAs include a corporate monitor requirement that enforce a method of oversight similar to corporate probation during the charging phase of a prosecution. For example, in a 2005 DPA, Bristol-Myers Squibb ("BMS") agreed that it would "retain an outside, independent individual or entity (the "Monitor"), selected by BMS and approved by the [U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey]" and that, among other things, the Monitor was to "[m]onitor BMS's compliance with [the DPA] Agreement, and have authority to require BMS to take any steps he believes are necessary to comply with the terms of [the] Agreement."[11]
The vast majority of monitors come from the ranks of former judges, prosecutors, or Securities lawyers. It is unclear, however, whether the monitor must be an attorney, or whether other qualified professionals – such as accountants, professors, or consultants – could serve as monitors as well. Concerning the selection process for monitors, both prosecutors and the company must mutually agree to the selection. Sometimes prosecutors suggest a list of particular monitors. At other times, the company may choose the monitor while prosecutors retain a veto power over its choice. Undeniably, though, despite the Morford Memo, prosecutors hold tremendous bargaining power in the selection of a monitor because of the consequences that could be triggered from a company's non-compliance.
What are the Roles, Responsibilities and Duties of the Monitor?
Generally, monitors are tasked in the agreement with collecting information and preparing reports to assist the prosecutor in determining whether the company has abided by the DPA/NPA. Monitors hold the power to review the company's compliance with its obligations under the agreement, and under laws generally, and to issue reports to the government and/or to the court. More specifically, monitors review and test the company's accounting, information management, and internal control functions.
Once a DPA/NPA is in place, a monitor begins by becoming familiar with the company. This entails meeting the company's board and employees. A monitor then develops a work plan which defines the scope, access, and power the monitor will have over the company. The monitor's work involves frequent visits to the company (including possible on-site accommodations) and broad access to company documents and meetings. The monitor should be knowledgeable about the regulatory aspects of the company's operations, but that is not necessarily a criterion for selection of the monitor. Indeed, a monitor can hire others to assist in his or her responsibilities at the company's expense. The monitor files periodic reports with the U.S. Attorney's Office and makes visits with that office as well as with the company. At the conclusion of a monitor's term – often 24-36 months – the monitor files a final report that details the activities accomplished and whether the company complied with all the terms of the agreement.
Many DPAs/NPAs grant wide-ranging, and in some circumstances ill-defined, responsibilities and powers to the monitor. For example, in 2005, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey entered into a DPA with Bristol-Myers Squibb in connection with allegations regarding securities fraud. The monitor, former Judge Frederick Lacey, was given the power to "take any steps he believes are necessary to comply with the terms of [the DPA]." In another example, again in 2005, KPMG entered into a DPA related to charges of tax fraud. Here, the monitor was tasked with the responsibility of reviewing, monitoring and making recommendations concerning: compliance with the DPA; KPMG's Compliance and Ethics Program; personnel decisions regarding individuals who engaged in the illegal conduct; and various limitations placed on KPMG and its continued tax practice. To this end, the DPA stated that it was the intent that the monitor's jurisdiction, powers and oversight authority and duties be broadly construed. This is reflected in Paragraph 18(a) which states that "KPMG shall adopt all recommendations submitted by the Monitor unless KPMG objects . . . and the [USAO] agrees . . ." The monitor also has the "authority to take . . . actions . . . necessary to effectuate . . . oversight and monitoring provisions." Furthermore, the terms of the KPMG DPA allow the monitor to recommend dismissal or other disciplinary action of any KPMG employee if that employee fails to cooperate.
The DPA entered into by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey ("UMDNJ") with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey contains one of the most extensive grants of power to a monitor in a health care fraud case. This three year DPA was entered into in 2005 and specifically authorized the corporate monitor to:
§ Conduct a nationwide search for a new General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer and provide options to the Board of Trustees;
§ Perform a comprehensive review of all policies, procedures and report findings and recommendations to the Board of Trustees on a variety of issues (e.g., corporate structure, effectiveness of legal, finance, audit, compliance and audit functions, third party cost reporting and billing, relationship with faculty practice plan, and conflicts of interest);
§ Review employment practices and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees on hiring and firings of senior management and legal, finance and compliance personnel; and
§ Review and give approval to the hiring and firing of all outside counsel.
The three DPAs discussed above granted each monitor vast amounts of authority over defendant-companies. Although not all DPAs give monitors such authority, these three agreements are examples that highlight the need for further guidance as to how corporate monitors should exercise this broad contractual authority.
II. PREVIOUS CALLS AND ATTEMPTS AT DEFINING THE CORPORATE MONITOR
Both the U.S. Congress and the DOJ have taken steps to implement reforms concerning monitors. On the Congressional side, in March 2008, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held hearings regarding the selection of corporate monitors and issues related to the terms that govern corporate monitors. In the Opening Statement to the hearing, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D – MI) stated that there are several reasons additional oversight is needed, including ensuring transparency and consistency, and perhaps most importantly, to eliminate any "politicization":
One such example of the potential for politicization has arisen in the agreement between Zimmer Holdings and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, in which U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie chose his former supervisor, namely former Attorney General John Ashcroft, as the corporate monitor. Pursuant to this agreement, Zimmer Holdings has agreed to pay Mr. Ashcroft's firm anywhere from $28 to $52 million. Prior to Mr. Ashcroft's appointment, however, there was neither public notice of the monitor position nor any public bidding for the assignment.[12]
During the 110th Congress, Congressman Pascrell (D – NJ), along with Congressmen Pallone (D – NJ), Sanchez (D – CA) and Conyers (D – MI), introduced H.R. 6492, entitled "Accountability in Deferred Prosecution Act of 2008", setting forth certain requirements regulating the process by which the DOJ allows U.S. Attorneys to engage in DPAs/NPAs with corporate offenders and award corporate monitoring contracts. The legislation was deferred in light of the DOJ's issuance of guidance. However, the House and Senate have tasked the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") to issue a report examining federal monitor provisions in pre-trial diversion agreements. At the time of this publication, this report has not yet been issued. According to the GAO, the Report may be released to the House Judiciary Committee in September 2009.
From the administrative/executive side, immediately preceding the Congressional hearing discussed above, the Morford Memo outlined various principles to be considered by the DOJ when negotiating and finalizing monitor provisions. The principles discussed in the memorandum are as follows:
Selection of Monitor
Before the monitor is selected, the corporation and Government are to "discuss the necessary qualifications for a monitor based on the facts and circumstances of the case."
The monitor must be selected based on merits and the selection process should be designed to "(1) select a highly qualified and respected person or entity based on suitability for the assignment and all of the circumstances; (2) avoid potential and actual conflicts of interests, and (3) otherwise instill public confidence . . . "
To avoid conflicts of interests, this principle sets out that: (1) Government attorneys participating in the selection of a monitor must be mindful of the government's conflict-of-interest guidelines; (2) there should be a committee in the Department component or office where the case originated to consider monitor candidates; (3) the Office of the Deputy Attorney General must approve the monitor; (4) the Government should decline to accept a monitor if he or she has "an interest in, or relationship with, the corporation or its employees, officers or directors that would cause a reasonable person to question the monitor's impartiality" and (5) the "Government should obtain a commitment from the corporation that it will not employ or be affiliated with the monitor for a period of not less than one year from the date the monitorship is terminated."
Scope of Duties
"A monitor [should be] an independent third-party, not an employee or agent of the corporation or of the Government."
A monitor's primary responsibility should be to assess and monitor a corporation's compliance with the DPA and those provisions that are designed to address and reduce the risk of recurrence of the corporation's misconduct.
"[A] monitor will often need to understand the full scope of the corporation's misconduct covered by the agreement, but the monitor's responsibilities should be no broader than necessary to address and reduce the risk of recurrence of the corporation's misconduct."
"Communication among the Government, the corporation and the monitor is in the interest of all the parties . . . [and] it may be appropriate for the monitor to make periodic written reports to both the Government and the corporation."
If the corporation does not adopt recommendations made by the monitor within a reasonable time, either the monitor or the corporation, or both, should report that fact to the Government, along with the corporation's reasons. The Government may consider this conduct when evaluating whether the corporation has fulfilled its obligations under the agreement.
The DPA should "clearly identify any types of previously undisclosed or new misconduct that the monitor will be required to report directly to the Government" and that as to evidence of other such misconduct, "the monitor will have the discretion to report this misconduct to the Government or the corporation or both."
"The duration of the agreement should be tailored to the problems that have been found to exist and the types of remedial measures needed for the monitor to satisfy his or her mandate."
"In most cases, [the DPA] should provide for an extension of the monitor provision(s) at the discretion of the Government in the event that the corporation has not successfully satisfied its obligations under the agreement. Conversely, in most cases, an agreement should provide for early termination if the corporation can demonstrate to the Government that there exists a change in circumstances sufficient to eliminate the need for a monitor."
The Morford Memo provides that the following criteria should be considered when determining the agreement's duration: "(1) the nature and seriousness of the underlying misconduct; (2) the pervasiveness and duration of misconduct within the corporation . . .; (3) the corporation's history of similar misconduct; (4) the nature of the corporate culture; (5) the scale and complexity of any remedial measures contemplated by the agreement . . .; and (6) the stage of design and implementation of remedial measures when the monitorship commences."
Flexibility of Monitor's Term
The Morford Memo recommends flexibility in the monitor's term to allow, at the Government's discretion, both an extension of the monitor's term in the event that the company has not satisfied its obligations under the agreement, as well as early termination of the monitor if there exists a change in circumstances sufficient to eliminate the need for a monitor. We believe that this type of contractual flexibility may only work in favor for the Government. This is because the parties could agree to a reduced time period, then the agreement could then be amended – e.g., abandonment of the product line, etc. but there needs to be a firm and specific deadline for these agreements. Otherwise the government threat of prosecution has no end. If the government is not "satisfied" that the company has met its DPA/NPA obligations, the agreements provide for a breach and procedures related to that. Recognizing that a breach may require a higher standard of non-compliance, the U.S. Attorney has several opportunities throughout the term of the agreement to make it known that he or she may not be fully satisfied with the company's performance even in the absence of conduct that could constitute a breach.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AREAS REQUIRING FURTHER GUIDANCE
As a threshold issue, DPAs/NPAs raise a number of questions about procedural fairness and the criminal justice system. However, they remain a tool used by some U.S. Attorney's Offices. Consequently, DPAs/NPAs, if used, should be drafted carefully to reduce the need for interpretation. They should clearly define the roles of the parties, expectations regarding privilege, termination date of the agreement, and shareholder liability issues. Yet, a carefully drafted DPA/NPA may not eliminate the need for further guidance implemented either by Congress and/or by the DOJ. The guidance discussed below could ensure, as justice requires, the appropriate balance between serving the public interest and the need for the appropriate punishment, while respecting the rights of individuals and companies to appropriate due process.
One of the many guidelines that emerged from the Morford Memo was the requirement that a monitor be approved by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. This is an important step in defining the scope of a monitor's role and power because it provides an additional level of accountability within the DOJ. For purposes of due process protections, there may need to be a greater role for the judiciary in DPAs/NPAs in an attempt to separate the function of prosecutor and judge when it comes to compliance. For example, if a monitor's recommendation is declined, many current DPAs/NPAs, as well as the Morford Memo, set forth that the company can "appeal" this recommendation to the U.S. Attorneys Office. However, given that the U.S. Attorney is serving as both the "judge" as well as prosecutor, it seems inevitable that failure to follow a recommendation of the monitor could be construed by the U.S. Attorney as non-cooperation and potentially a breach of the DPA/NPA. Should the judiciary play a greater role to help as a check and balance in "monitoring the monitors"? Can the judiciary play such a role?.
For example, the Boeing DPA has a provision that requires a judge to settle questions regarding breach. Could or should this provision be negotiated or required by the DOJ through additional guidance or by legislation? In the absence of charges being brought, what would be the nexus with the judiciary? This key provision would allow the judge to use a monitor's advice and guidance in determining whether a breach has occurred, and would emphasize the unbiased role of the monitor in reforming the defendant-company. A possible guidance could be provisions that grant the judiciary greater monitoring responsibilities over monitors that have more power to manage the company (e.g., BMS DPA), while leaving the DOJ with greater oversight over monitors that are more comparable to advisors (e.g., Computer Associates DPA).
Although the Morford Memo references the issue of conflicts of interest that may arise in connection with the selection of a monitor and the monitor's relationship with the corporation, a number of conflicts of interest questions remain unanswered. For example, should an attorney, who is a monitor for one company, also defend another company before the same U.S. Attorney's Office during the monitoring period? If the answer to that question is no, then does this conflict apply not only to the individual person serving as the monitor, but also to the attorney's entire law firm? There should be a more detailed set of rules governing conflicts for corporate monitors similar to the development of conflict of interest rules related to attorneys in private practice, government attorneys, and judges.
A related issue involves providing guidelines to the monitors, themselves. Currently, for example, no guidance exists – expect in very broad terms – explaining the content that should be included in a monitor's final report. This lack of guidance could leave monitors defenseless if shareholders of the defendant-company hold them liable for misstatements made in their reports or in their actions as monitors.
Ensuring the Expertise and Consistency of Corporate Monitors
While there obviously is need for flexibility in determining who should serve as a monitor based upon the industry and the extent of the monitor's responsibilities, more detailed guidelines should be established about the minimum level of expertise a monitor must possess. Also, a central clearinghouse for monitor related activities might help as an informal exchange of information among monitors to take advantage of the knowledge of monitors, themselves, in developing consistency in approach and in encouraging best practices. It could serve as an informal way to achieve some type of standardization or consistency of treatment and activities across multiple monitors.
Regulating Fees
With respect to fees, while there may be variations in the agreements as to the resources required due to the responsibilities imposed on the monitors and the size of the organization, some standards should be established as to the reasonableness of fees and expenses imposed by monitors on the defendant-companies.
Coordinating Corporate Integrity Agreements & Deferred Prosecution Agreements
To the extent a company also will be subject to other corporate integrity obligations – such as a Corporate Integrity Agreement ("CIA") with the DHHS Office of the Inspector General – these multiple agreements should be considered in their totality in light of their respective terms and any potential redundancies. For example, both the Zimmer DPA and CIA were signed on September 27, 2007, although some of the CIA provisions, like independent reviews, do not begin until after the DPA monitor term is completed. If the monitor finds the company compliant for the initial periods, then perhaps the CIA obligations should be modified (e.g. time period shortened, IRO review reduced), especially since the monitor's involvement with the company is significantly more involved than under a CIA. Also, the procedures established to the satisfaction of the monitor should be sufficient for integrity obligations in the CIA covering the same or similar topics.
Pre-trial diversion agreements are a relatively new method for addressing corporate non-compliant conduct. Both the enforcement agencies and the corporate defense bar benefited from the DOJ guidance issued in 2008. However, important questions remain unanswered, and all would benefit from further guidance.
[1] Lawrence D. Finder & Ryan D. McConnell, Annual Corporate Pre-Trial Agreement Update – 2007, 22nd National Institute on White Collar Crime (March 2008), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1080263.
[2] Lawrence D. Finder & Ryan D. McConnell, Betting the Corporation: Compliance or Defiance? Compliance Programs in the Context of Deferred and Non-Prosecution Agreements – Corporate Pre-Trial Agreement Update – 2008, (forthcoming 2009 in the Corp. Counsel Rev. - Published by S. Tex. College of Law, Volume XXVIII, No.1) available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1332033.
[3] For ease of reference, the authors refer in this article to pre-trial diversion agreements collectively as "DPAs/NPAs" or in the singular as "DPA/NPA".
[4] DPAs/NPAs use a variety of terms to describe the role referred to in this article as "monitor" or "corporate monitor" (e.g., advisor, independent monitor, and examiner).
[5] Lawrence D. Finder & Ryan D. McConnell, Betting the Corporation: Compliance or Defiance? Compliance Programs in the Context of Deferred and Non-Prosecution Agreements – Corporate Pre-Trial Agreement Update – 2008, (forthcoming 2009 in the Corp. Counsel Rev. - Published by S. Tex. College of Law, Volume XXVIII, No.1) available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1332033 at 11.
[6] Available at http://www.usdoj.gov/dag/morford-useofmonitorsmemo-03072008.pdf
[7] Memorandum from Mark Filip, Deputy Attorney General, to Holders of the U.S. Attorneys Manual (May 14, 2008); Remarks as Delivered by Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip at American Bar Association Securities Fraud Conference (Oct. 2, 2008) available at http://www.justice.gov/archive/dag/speeches/2008/dag-speech-0810022.html.
[8] U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 8D1.1(a)(3).
[9] Id. at § 8D1.4(c)(4).
[10] Memorandum from Larry D. Thompson, Deputy Attorney General, to the Heads of Dep't Components, U.S. Attorneys, Section VI (B) (Jan. 20, 2003).
[11] See http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/librarysite/garrett_bycompany.htm (follow Bristol-Myers link). This library collection contains scanned links to pre-trial diversion agreements. Created by Professors Brandon Garrett and Jon Ashley of the University of Virginia Law School, the library is an excellent resource for research about DPAs/NPAs. It provides links to every agreement referenced in this article.
[12] See http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/0311082opening.pdf
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Lolo Jones back in bobsledding, seeks elusive Olympic medal
by: TIM REYNOLDS, Associated Press
FILE – In this Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, file photo, breakman Lolo Jones, of the United States, prepares for a training session with her teammate Jazmine Fenlator for the women’s bobsleigh at the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Jones hasn’t returned to China since 2008, since one bad step in what was then the biggest race of her life cost her an Olympic gold medal. Her stance might change in 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
Lolo Jones hasn’t returned to China since 2008, since one bad step in what was then the biggest race of her life cost her an Olympic gold medal.
She’s never wanted to go back.
Her stance might change in 2022.
Jones — the longtime U.S. hurdles star who decided to add sliding to her resume a few years ago — is back with USA Bobsled, making this season’s 10-woman national team as a push athlete. That puts her squarely in the mix for the next Olympics, which just happen to be in Beijing, the city where that misstep in the 100-meter hurdle final happened 12 years ago.
How perfect.
“I would love to have the biggest failure of my life turned into the biggest success, and I would love for people to be encouraged by that persistence, determination, all these cliche things that Olympians say,” Jones told The Associated Press.
“And so, can I make it happen? I don’t know, but we are in the home stretch. We’re in the last part of this long, long race and I’m going to do my hardest to return to Beijing, the place that has hurt my career the most and turn it around.”
It’s not a farfetched plan. In her most recent four World Cup appearances — in fairness, the last of those was nearly three years ago — she helped the U.S. win a medal, two of them gold.
Jones went to the Olympics for track in 2008 and again at London in 2012, then made the bobsled Olympic team for the Sochi Games in 2014. She withdrew from the 2016 U.S. Olympic track trials while recovering from hip surgery and wasn’t picked for the 2018 Olympic bobsled team. She was training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which have been delayed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
So, she’s back in bobsled. And at 38, she knows that Olympic window is closing.
“I would say she really has a real chance,” USA Bobsled and Skeleton CEO Aron McGuire said. “She knows what it takes for her specifically but she knows what it takes generally to be at a point where she is one of the top athletes in the world in whatever she is doing, whether it’s hurdling or pushing a bobsled. And she has that drive. She has that commitment to it and that passion that will certainly put her in a position to be one of the top athletes push athletes if that’s what she puts her mind to.”
McGuire was in the stands that day in Beijing in 2008. He was working for USA Track and Field at the time and saw her run clear from the rest of the field before hitting the next-to-last hurdle in the gold-medal race. She stumbled, lost all her momentum and crossed the line in seventh.
“The ironic thing is that she was covering more distance between hurdles than she normally does because her velocity was so high,” McGuire said. “It’s a crazy thing. She was closer to the hurdles than normal because of that velocity. Had she been going just a little slower, she would have won that race.”
There is no such thing as too much velocity in bobsled. Her job: be in perfect harmony with the driver for about 45 yards of a dead sprint at the start, pushing the sled down the top of the chute as quickly and forcefully as possible, then hop aboard and let the driver do the rest.
Jones thought she was done with bobsledding after not making the 2018 Olympic team. Then Kaillie Humphries — the two-time Olympic champion, three-time Olympic medalist and reigning world champion — sent her a direct message on social media about returning to the U.S. team.
“Slid into my DMs,” Jones said.
Before long, Jones was sliding again.
Jones was just in Lake Placid, New York — USA Bobsled’s training base — for about a month to prepare for team trials and selection races. That came after she completed filming for a reality show for MTV, and she wasn’t anywhere near as heavy as she would prefer to be for bobsledding. Her ideal weight for track is around 135 pounds; for bobsledding, it can reach 165. But she made the team anyway, opening the door for possibly a fourth Olympic berth.
That, of course, would mean a return to Beijing. It won’t be easy. There’s races to get through, other hopefuls to beat out and a selection committee to impress, but she’s got a chance and sees the obvious symmetry.
Beijing is where it all went wrong. It could now be where she finally gets that long-awaited medal.
“How can it be a coincidence?” Jones said. “But what’s more important for me, and it’s always been very important, is facing my fears. And in 2008, I was winning that race, and I hit a hurdle and it costs me Olympic gold. Nothing would mean more to me than to face my fears of 12 years of being ridiculed for not getting an Olympic medal, to going back to the same place where everybody said I blew it, everybody called me a failure all these years, and being successful.”


The Rian Johnson News
It’s crazy the difference five years makes.
On October 30th 2012, the news that Disney had purchased Star Wars and intended to produce a new trilogy dominated news cycles. Now, just two films later, the news that Rian Johnson has free rein to helm a trilogy of his own barely gets a look in (although, to be fair, Western democracy has steadily collapsed in the meantime).
But it’s still big news for Star Wars fans all the same.
Back in 2012 when the Sequel Trilogy was announced I was one of a few voices calling for a new story removed from the Skywalkers. It was a point-of-view sadly vindicated by the way JJ Abrams so badly mishandled the legacy characters in The Force Awakens.
It’s the lack of foundation that makes the idea of Rian Johnson’s trilogy so appealing – the idea of seeing something creative and new against the backdrop we know and love so much. It’s the reason why Rogue One worked so well, and something I’m keen to see more of – so Johnson has that on his side from the start.
But do we have any idea what he’s going to do yet? The answer is, unfortunately, a resounding no. It’s hard to imagine a Star Wars film set around the Empire with absolutely no reference to the Skywalkers – but then, by referring to the films as taking place in their own corner of the universe, we could be dealing with a story set anywhere from the unknown regions to a different time period altogether.
It is potentially interesting that in his own statement Johnson expressed excitement for continuing the work he’s started. Whether that means continuing to develop the mythos of the Jedi Order or simply continuing to work on the Star Wars franchise, we’ll have to wait to find out.
Speaking of which – it’s now just over a month until The Last Jedi, Johnson’s first Star Wars film hits release, and last week Lucasfilm dropped the first TV spot…
I don’t know about you, but seeing Luke back in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon sure stirred up some emotions.
The timing of this week’s announcement couldn’t be more perfect as the hype starts to build for The Last Jedi. Lest we forget the cruel lesson of two years ago, before Johnson gets a whole trilogy right he still needs to show his skills with a single film.
The wait goes on!
TagsRian Johnson The Last Jedi


Stop-and-frisk Failed in NY, But Trump Wants to Use It In Chicago
Protesters demonstrate against the NYPD’s “Stop And Frisk” policy. (Thomas Good)
President Donald Trump is a racist and he’s ignorant. And since he also has the powers of the United States government at his fingertips, that makes him a very dangerous individual. And this leads me to his latest bone-headed suggestion. Trump sees stop-and-frisk, a New York City policy that allowed police to detain and search individuals at random, as the solution to Chicago’s gun violence problem.
Like many Trump policies, this is a decision based on gut instinct. He thinks it’s going to succeed, but there is no basis for this. During a 2016 presidential debate, Trump said, “Rudy Giuliani did a great job as mayor and they really straightened things out with stop-and-frisk, and it was used further by the next mayor, Bloomberg, and now they, you know, recently — not so recently but fairly recently — they stopped it. But stop-and-frisk worked.”
There are two major lies in that statement. Firstly, Giuliani didn’t do a great job as mayor. His police force was known for committing human rights abuses against ethnic minorities. It got so bad that Human Rights Watch produced several damning reports against the NYPD. Giuliani’s reign was only saved by 9/11, which made him look heroic. According to a Washington Post article, although Giuliani claimed that his tactics led to a drop in crime, statistics show that crime rates fell nationally during the same period.
Secondly, stop-and-frisk did not work. The only thing it succeeded in doing is harassing black and Latino men. According to an extensive study of stop-and-frisk data by the New York ACLU, the program largely failed to discover crime.
In 2002, police stopped New Yorkers 7,296 times. However, 82 percent were innocent. The ACLU study also showed that stop-and-frisk did target black and Latino people. 2003 data showed that 54 percent of the people stopped were black and 31 percent were Latino.
Now people like Trump and FOX News alt-right poster boy Tucker Carlson would argue that’s because blacks and Latinos commit more crimes, but that’s a simplistic view. If you’re going to arrest Pookie for selling drugs, what about the people who buy his product? Aren’t they criminals too? Pookie sells drugs because there is a demand for the product. And if Pookie is carrying a gun, what about the supply chain that provided him the gun? This is one of the main problems in Chicago because while the city has strict anti-gun laws, the surrounding states don’t. Combine that with poverty, high unemployment and family breakdown and you have a recipe for disaster.
Another problem with the stop-and-frisk policy is that it lets many criminals go. Since it targeted blacks and Latinos, white criminals were largely ignored, even though they were more likely to be carrying drugs and guns. According to a 2013 report released by New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, white people who were stopped were more likely to be carrying illegal items.
The report stated, “The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded a weapon was half that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered a weapon in one out of every 49 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 71 stops of Latinos and 93 stops of African Americans to find a weapon.”
If the New York police really wanted to accurately target crime, they’d stop more white people, but we all know that’s not going to happen. Also, if you really wanted to crack down on drug use, police would set up checkpoints at colleges and start shaking down white coeds. But if that happened, I’m sure police commanders would get angry phone calls from college presidents and parents.
Normally, I would say Trump’s suggestion of restarting stop-and-frisk would generate eye rolls from his aides. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he wants to reactivate the disastrous War on Drugs.
“The War on Drugs has been an abject failure,” said former CIA officer John Kiriakou. “It specifically targets minority communities”
As President Barack Obama said, “Elections have consequences.”
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Ellis Island National Immigration Museum
Ellis Island, New York City, United States of America
Ellis Island is open every day except December 25. To enjoy both Ellis and Liberty Islands with ample time, plan to be on a Statue Cruises Ferry that departs from Battery Park or Liberty State Park before 1:00 P.M.
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How far would you travel to find a better life? What if the journey took weeks under difficult conditions? If you answered "Whatever it takes," you echo the feelings of the 12 million immigrants who passed through these now quiet halls from 1892 to 1954. Ellis Island afforded them the opportunity to attain the American dream for themselves and their descendants. Come hear their stories.
From 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island was the United State's largest and most active immigration station, where 12 million immigrants were processed. On average, the inspection process took approximately 3-7 hours. For the vast majority of immigrants, Ellis Island truly was an "Island of Hope" - the first stop on their way to new opportunities and experiences in the United States. For the rest, it became the "Island of Tears" - a place where families were separated and individuals were denied entry into this country.
Meet some of the "PEOPLE" who helped to make up the story of Ellis Island such as the workers who kept Ellis Island running, and helped immigrants make their way into America.
The "PLACES" in Ellis Island's timeline show us how people have utilized this speck of land in New York Harbor for hundreds of years.
The "STORIES" of Ellis Island's 'unsung' immigrants speak to all of us. Read some of these stories here.
Our extensive "COLLECTIONS" help us learn about the histories of both Ellis and Liberty Islands through tangible objects.
There is no entrance fee. However, this national park is located on two islands which are accessible by ferry only via Statue Cruises. Buy your tickets in advance.
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By Talksuicide 23rd September 2020 No Comments
A Scunthorpe manufacturer is encouraging other businesses in the town to offer suicide prevention training to staff, as part of a region-wide campaign led by local NHS and council organisations.
The #TalkSuicide campaign encourages people to complete a FREE 20-minute suicide prevention training programme, which is available at www.talksuicide.co.uk.
The campaign is led by the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership – whose member organisations include North Lincolnshire Council, North Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust.
Steel door and security solution provider Bradbury Group, which employs more than 200 people at its production facility in Scunthorpe, became ambassadors for the #TalkSuicide campaign last year when they encouraged their staff to complete the suicide prevention training.
Employees were encouraged to use computers at work to complete the training during their breaks or once they had finished work, while the training was also promoted to colleagues during meetings. A short video has been created to capture Bradbury Group employees’ experiences of completing the training.
Patsy Payling, Operations Director, said: “We have a lot of men that work for us so we wanted them to know it’s okay to feel this way, we wanted to make them aware of what they can do to help a colleague if they see something wrong in the workplace because men don’t always talk about how they are feeling.
“Everyone who completed the training got some form of benefit, without a doubt. I took the training as I wanted to lead by example. I found the training to be really informative, with scenarios you could understand and relate to.”
Katie Harrison, Senior Marketing Executive, said: “The training taught me the importance of making sure that the people you work with and your friends and family are okay and to regularly check in with them. Whether they are showing signs or not, you don’t know what people are going through and it’s important to be there and always be open to having a conversation with someone.
“I definitely think other companies should roll it out to their staff. I think it’s important for everyone to learn about mental health and how people can deal with this issue. So many people go through mental health problems now and we don’t want to get to the point where it’s becoming more and more common but people still don’t understand what they can do to help.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 5,691 suicides registered in England and Wales in 2019 – which amounts to around one death by suicide every 90 minutes. A survey carried out by mental health charity Mind indicates that one in six employees has experienced depression, anxiety or unmanageable stress in the workplace.
Jo Kent, Suicide Prevention Lead for the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, said: “I want to thank every member of staff at Bradbury Group who took 20 minutes out of their day to complete the suicide prevention training. In Humber, Coast and Vale we are working collaboratively with a number of organisations, including local businesses, to prevent suicides from happening in our communities.
Are you an employer wanting to offer suicide prevention training to your staff? Request your FREE training pack at www.talksuicide.co.uk/employers
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Home » Headlines » Measles cases in the US rise, FDA statement on MMR vaccine
Measles cases in the US rise, FDA statement on MMR vaccine
Through April 19 this year, 626 measles cases have been confirmed in 22 states, an increase of 71 cases in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC notes, this is the second-greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since measles was eliminated in 2000, second only to the 667 cases reported during all of 2014. In the coming weeks, 2019 confirmed case numbers will likely surpass 2014 levels.
In a statement from Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research today, it states:
The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has been approved in the United States for nearly 50 years to prevent measles, mumps and rubella (also known as German Measles). As a result of its use, measles and rubella were completely eradicated in the United States, and mumps cases decreased by 99%.
Large well-designed studies have confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine and have demonstrated that administration of the vaccine is not associated with the development of autism. However we’re seeing an increasing number of outbreaks of measles in communities across the country, including those in New York, New Jersey, Washington, California, and Michigan.
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We cannot state strongly enough – the overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vaccines are among the most effective and safest interventions to both prevent individual illness and protect public health.
Vaccinating against measles, mumps and rubella not only protects us and our children, it protects people who can’t be vaccinated, including children with compromised immune systems due to illness and its treatment, such as cancer.
We do not take lightly our responsibility to ensure the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and work diligently to assess safety and effectiveness of all licensed vaccines for their intended uses. The MMR vaccine is very effective at protecting people against measles, mumps, and rubella. It also prevents complications caused by these diseases. And we have nearly 50 years of experience and evidence supporting that fact. In fact, according to the CDC, two doses of the MMR vaccine beginning at 12 months of age (the recommended dosing schedule) are 97% effective against measles, 88% effective against mumps, and 97% effective for rubella.
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Home/Others/Products Reviews/“New York City” Is The Most Populous City In The United States
“New York City” Is The Most Populous City In The United States
New York city or the city of New York only to distinguish it from New York state. New York city locates in the Southeastern of New York state at the mouth of Hudson river. It consists of five boroughs (Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, Manhattan and The Bronx), each one of these is a country in the New York state. It is the most populous major city in the United States. Its weather, it is humid subtropical climate as hot humid summers, unpredictable spring and autumn conditions with cold damp winters.
There are many remarkable landmarks in New York city such as : The Statue Of Liberty, Central Park and The Times Square. Manhattan is considered to be the home of the tallest buildings in the world including The Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. Many universities and colleges are located in New York such as Rockefeller University, Colombia University and New York University. The financial district in Lower Manhattan in New York City, has been called the leading financial center of the world and the home to New York stock exchange. It has been listed as the world’s largest stock exchange by total market capitalization.
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New York is the cultural capital of the world as it has been described, it has a major impact upon many trends as fashion, media, entertainment and art throughout the world.
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