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My violent evil monster can help you learn astronomy

Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly

These color codes are printed in on resisters so you can used them to determine the value of the resister by looking at the color code.

That was long before the gay rainbow was invented. But the gay rainbow uses the same order of colors starting with red. I suspect the gay person that invented the gay rainbow was also involved in electronics.

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My violent evil monster can help you learn astronomy

Clay Thompson, The Republic | azcentral.com 1:19 p.m. MST August 26, 2014

Today's question:

When Pluto was a planet, students learned the order of the planets with the phrase, "My very eager mother just sat upon new paint,' using the first letter of each name of a planet. Now that Pluto has been designated as a dwarf star, is there a phrase used to help students remember?

First of all, what we are talking about here is a mnemonic, a word or phrase to help you remember stuff. It comes from the Greek word mnemonikos, which pretty much meant a word or phrase used to help you remember stuff.

In addition to the example cited in the question, there were "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" or "My Very Easy Method Just Shows Us Nine Planets" and others.

There was also one involving your fingers and dividing the solar system between the Sun, the terrestrial planets and gas giants and "trans-Neptunian objects," such as Pluto, but I figure if you were going to learn that one you might as well just memorize the names of the planets and have done with it.

That went by the wayside in 2006 when the International Astronomical Union decided poor Pluto wasn't a proper planet and should be called a dwarf planet along with Ceres and Eris.

The change led to several suggestions for new solar system mnemonics, including, "My Violent Evil Monster Just Scared Us Nuts" or "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos."

From those who thought Pluto deserved better came, among others, "Many Very Educated Men Just Screwed Up Nature."

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I suspect all of these weapons were stolen by members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's police officers who want cool toys to play with at home. Of course don't tell Sheriff Joe that. Like most cops he spouts the line of BS that's it's impossible for police thugs to commit crimes like stealing. Remembers, the gun grabbers and socialist tell us the only people that can be trusted with guns are the police and military. That's rubbish as you can see from this article. Last for the Second Amendment to work as the Founders intended it "The People" need to have the same high quality weapons our government masters have. This list of weapons includes at least 90 M-16 machine guns, something that is illegal for the public to purchase unless you jump thru a lot of hoops, and pay what I think is a $200 yearly tax on EACH machine gun. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/08/26/mcso-weapons-pentagon-suspension-1033/14659089/ MCSO missing nine weapons from Pentagon's 1033 program Megan Cassidy, The Republic | azcentral.com 7:44 a.m. MST August 27, 2014 Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio admitted Tuesday that his department is currently missing nine firearms issued to the agency through a federal program that hands out surplus military gear to local law-enforcement. Arpaio's is one of 184 state and local police agencies that has reportedly been suspended from the Pentagon's controversial 1033 program for losing weapons or failing to comply with other stipulations, a recent Fusion article reported. The report is one of the latest in an ongoing debate about the 1033 program and the merits of outfitting local police for a warzone. AZCENTRAL Police in combat gear stir criticism Arpaio said the agency picked up about 200 weapons from the surplus program shortly after he was elected in 1993, and 20 to 22 vanished over the years. Through internal audits, the office was able to recover about half of the firearms, typically from retired or current deputies who had brought them home. The current arsenal that the Sheriff's Office amassed from the 1033 program includes a Hummer, a tank, 90 M-16 rifles, 116 .45-caliber pistols, 34 M-14 rifles and three helicopters. It is short eight .45-caliber pistols and one M-16 rifle. The missing artillery triggered the 2012 suspension, Arpaio said, meaning the agency can keep the supplies they have but can't collect more. Lt. Brandon Jones, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, attributed the missing equipment to unsophisticated computers and tracking devices that existed when many of the weapons were issued two decades ago. Arpaio downplayed the blow: His agency can now afford their own firepower. The agency purchased 400 Smith and Wesson AR-15s using anti-racketeering funds last year. A 50-caliber machine gun was also purchased with confiscated drug money, he said. "I think we were [suspended] a couple of years ago, but we don't care," Arpaio said. "We got our own." Jones said the agency is actively looking for the missing firearms and has criminal reports out for all that are lost. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was the only Arizona agency named in the Fusion report. An Arizona Republic investigation highlighted potential violations of the program by the Pinal County but it was not immediately clear whether the agency was ever suspended. There are generally no restrictions on what type of weaponry state and local agencies can purchase. Hurdles typically come from the seller restraints and price tags, said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies. "Very few of them would have a tank if they had to pay for it themselves," he said. "That's why it's the federal subsidy programs that drive so much of this." The American Civil Liberties Union recently issued a scathing report about the excessive militarization of local law enforcement. While supporters say automatic weapons are issued to combat equally armed suspects, the ACLU and other critics say police endanger communities by carrying out basic police work armed with military weaponry. Alessandra Soler, executive director of ACLU of Arizona, said it wasn't surprising that some of these weapons would turn up missing. "There has been very little public oversight over the scope of federal funding, and very little is known about the program itself," she said. "The public should be concerned about how these weapons are used."

VOX Phoenicia - Phoenix CLUK

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I told the folks at VOX Phoenixia and Phoenix CLUK that I would create this web page for them on their Grapevine type newspaper.

Don't shoot me officer

Dont Shoot Me Officer

No Me Dispares Oficial

On my way to Mill Avenue two people stopped me and asked to have their photos taken with the sign. After I got to Mill Avenue another 3 people asked to have their photo take with the sign.

No me dispares oficial

Dont Shoot Me Officer

No Me Dispares Oficial

On my way to Mill Avenue two people stopped me and asked to have their photos taken with the sign. After I got to Mill Avenue another 3 people asked to have their photo take with the sign.

Ain't no marijuana in China!!! Honest, ask the government!!!!

Ain't no marijuana in China!!! Honest, ask the government!!!!

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China spots huge marijuana field — then makes it vanish By Simon Denyer August 26 at 11:44 AM Now you see it, now you don't. China's National Space Administration proudly announced this week that a high-definition satellite had spotted a huge marijuana field straddling two provinces in the north of the country. The news, however, seemed to embarrass the country's anti-narcotics police. The Ministry of Public Security's drug-enforcement division swiftly denied that such a field existed, Chinese media reported. The announcement on the space agency's Web site was also soon deleted, leaving citizens wondering if they hadn't imagined the whole episode. On social media, Netizens mocked the authorities, especially because of the emphasis under President Xi Jinping of the government speaking with "one voice." "Um, next time, remember to speak beforehand," suggested one microblogger. "Denied it only after everyone on earth knew about it." wrote another. A third jokingly suggested a more sinister reason for the confusion. "Reserved marijuana fields for internal special supply," the microblogger wrote. The field was apparently seen in Jilin Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Calls to the National Space Administration went unanswered Tuesday. Gu Jing contributed to this report.

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When youthful mistakes turn deadly "It is easy to understand how Brown and his peers might see the police not as public servants but as troops in an army of occupation" Hell, I am a White guy and I figured that out years ago!!!! "blacks and whites are equally likely to smoke marijuana; ... Yet African Americans — and Hispanics — are about four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than whites." http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-for-african-american-men-youthful-mistakes-can-turn-deadly/2014/08/25/e8b5a092-2c94-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html?hpid=z2 When youthful mistakes turn deadly By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer August 25 at 8:08 PM To be young, male and black in America means not being allowed to make mistakes. Forgetting this, as we’ve seen so many times, can be fatal. The case of Michael Brown, who was laid to rest Monday, is anomalous only in that it is so extreme: an unarmed black teenager riddled with bullets by a white police officer in a community plagued by racial tension. African Americans make up 67 percent of the population of Ferguson, Mo., but there are just three black officers on the 53-member police force — which responded to peaceful demonstrations by rolling out military-surplus armored vehicles and firing tear gas. It is easy to understand how Brown and his peers might see the police not as public servants but as troops in an army of occupation. And yes, Brown made mistakes. He was walking in the middle of the street rather than on the sidewalk, according to witnesses, and he was carrying a box of cigars that he apparently took from a convenience store. Neither is a capital offense. When Officer Darren Wilson stopped him, did Brown respond with puffed-up attitude? For a young black man, that is a transgression punishable by death. Fatal encounters such as the one between Brown and Wilson understandably draw the nation’s attention. But such tragedies are just the visible manifestation of a much larger reality. Most, if not all, young men go through a period between adolescence and adulthood when they are likely to engage in risky behavior of various kinds without fully grasping the consequences of their actions. If they are white — well, boys will be boys. But if they are black, they are treated as men and assumed to have malicious intent. What else explains the shameful disparities in the application of justice? As I have pointed out before, blacks and whites are equally likely to smoke marijuana; if anything, blacks are slightly less likely to toke up. Yet African Americans — and Hispanics — are about four times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than whites. To compound this inequality, studies also indicate that, among people who are arrested for using or selling marijuana, black defendants are much more likely than white defendants to serve prison time. For young white men, smoking a joint is no big deal. For young black men, it can ruin your life. Similarly, blacks and whites are equally likely to use cocaine. But a person convicted of selling crack cocaine will serve a far longer prison term than one convicted of selling the same quantity of powder cocaine, even though these are just two forms of the same drug. Crack is the way cocaine is usually sold in the inner cities, while powder is more popular in the suburbs — which is one big reason there are so many African American and Hispanic men filling our prisons. One arrest — even for a minor offense — can be enough to send a promising young life reeling in the wrong direction. Police officers understand this and exercise discretion. But evidence suggests they are much more willing to give young white men a break than young black or brown men. Why would this be? In Ferguson, I would argue, one obvious factor is the near-total lack of diversity among police officers. What year is this, anyway? But there is disparate treatment even in communities where the racial makeup of the police force more closely resembles that of the population. I believe the central problem is that a young black man who encounters a police officer is assumed to have done something wrong and to be capable of violence. These assumptions make the officer more prepared than he otherwise might be to use force — even deadly force. The real tragedy is that racist assumptions are self-perpetuating and self-reinforcing. If young black men are treated unfairly by the justice system, they are indeed more likely to have arrest records — and, perhaps, to harbor resentment against police authority. They may indeed feel they have nothing to lose by exhibiting defiance. In some circumstances — and these may include the streets of Ferguson — they may feel that standing up to the police is a matter of self-respect. Michael Brown had no police record. By all accounts, he had no history of violence. He had finished high school and was going to continue his education. All of this was hidden, apparently, by the color of his skin. Read more from Eugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.

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Gunshot Toll: Public Foots Bills, Uninsured Die If you ask me this is a biased anti-gun articles. If our government masters had not passed laws which give people free medical care, the public wouldn't be footing any of these bills. The solution to this problem is to repeal these laws which give free medical care to the public. Not repeal the 2nd Amendment as many gun grabbers would love to use this as an excuse to do. Again as usual, the government is the cause of the problem, not the solution to the problem. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/gunshot-toll-public-foots-bills-uninsured-die-more-n189206 Gunshot Toll: Public Foots Bills, Uninsured Die By Dan Mangan The public is paying hundreds of millions of dollars in hospital costs for gunshot victims who lack private insurance, according to a new study issued Tuesday. The study, which focused on six states, also found that uninsured gunshot victims are more likely to die from their wounds at the hospital than victims with insurance. According to the Urban Institute study, in 2010 the public footed at least 64.8 percent—and as much as 85 percent—of the hospital costs for treating firearms assault injuries in Arizona, California, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Protecting children from gun violence Nightly News In California, for example, the public picked up the tab for $56.6 million of the total hospital costs. Nationally, $487.8 million, or almost 73 percent of the total hospital costs, were paid for by the public, the study said. The public's share of those costs comes from government-run insurance programs, such as Medicaid, or the patient being unable to pay, causing their costs to either be passed along to the government for reimbursement or to consumers in the form of higher prices. "In a time of restricted public resources, these findings suggest that significant public resources could be saved or redirected if effective gun-violence prevention strategies could be identified," the authors wrote. An Urban Institute study last year found that gunshot victims who lack any kind of insurance are significantly more likely to be treated in the emergency room and then discharged, as opposed to victims with insurance, who are more likely to be admitted for inpatient treatment. This led the organization to examine whether uninsured gunshot victims were more likely to die from their wounds at the hospital. The new report found that in Maryland, for example, 21.1 percent of the victims of gunshots who were uninsured died at the hospital, compared with 12.2 percent of the victims who were on government-run insurance such as Medicaid. In California, uninsured gunshot victims had an 11.9 percent mortality rate at the hospital, compared with 7.6 percent for those on public health insurance. New Jersey and Arizona also saw similar disparities. Restaurant Encourages Patrons to Bring Guns Nightly News Even in North Carolina, where the overall gunshot mortality rate among victims brought to a hospital was quite low, 6 percent of the uninsured victims died, compared with 3.5 percent of those on government health insurance plans. Only in Wisconsin was the mortality rate for uninsured gunshot victims in line with that of those patients with insurance. "We're raising this issue because there could be a quality difference" in the care given the uninsured gunshot victims, said Embry Howell, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a co-author of the report. "It's something that should be investigated further." Howell also said that broadly speaking the study underscores the fact that "some populations are very disproportionately affected" by assaults related to firearms. In all the states studied, males ages 15 to 24 made up at least 38 percent of all gunshot victims admitted to a hospital. Men 25 to 34 years old made up at least 23.9 percent. African-Americans were, by far, much more likely to go to the hospital with a gunshot wound. The disparity between the races also held up among women, the institute found. In every state but Arizona, African-American women in the 15-to-34 age group went to the hospital with gunshot injuries at a higher rate than white males in the same age range. First published August 26th 2014, 7:23 am Dan Mangan Dan Mangan is a reporter covering health care for CNBC.com.

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Study: Parental incarceration may be worse than divorce Sadly most of these children's parents are in prison for victimless drug war crime. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons 51 percent of the people in Federal prisons are there for victimless drug war crimes. According to Reason Magazine two thirds or 66 percent of Americans in prisons are there for victimless drug war crimes. http://archive.battlecreekenquirer.com/usatoday/article/14457071 Study: Parental incarceration may be worse than divorce Aug. 25, 2014 USA Today by Hoai-Tran Bui, USATODAY Prison isn't just bad for the emotional and physical health of inmates. It's bad for their children, a University of California-Irvine study says. The study, presented at the 109th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association and to be published in the September Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that significant health problems and behavioral issues were associated with the children of incarcerated parents, and that parental incarceration may be more harmful to children's health than divorce or death of a parent. "These kids are saddled with disadvantages," said Kristin Turney, the author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at UC-Irvine. "They're not only dealing with parental incarceration, but also mental health issues. It might make finding a job more difficult, or they may be forced to grow up faster than peers." Compared to children of similar demographic, socioeconomic and familial characteristics, the study found that having a parent in prison was associated with children's behavioral problems and conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, speech or language problems and developmental delays. These conditions may be brought on by mental or economic stress from the parent being incarcerated, Turney said. No conclusions were drawn in the study, but Turney said it may be a focus of future research. Glen Elliott, a medical director and chief psychiatrist at the Children's Health Council, disagreed with the conclusions, stating that behavioral conditions and diseases such as ADHD are generally inherited rather than being caused by environmental factors. "You can't assume that these are causal relationships," Elliott said. "There may be more mediating factors." The study did note that minorities and low-income families tend to have higher levels of incarcerated parents. Among black children with fathers without a high school diploma, about 50% will experience parental incarceration by age 14, compared to 7% of white children, Turney said. The study accounted for these factors, Turney said, but they play a large role in the health of children in these groups. "The poor, really, are disproportionately exposed to poor childhood health," Turney said. The study used data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health, which is a population-based and representative sample of children between ages 0 and 17. Susan Brown, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University, noted that the study gave "compelling evidence as to (what happens with) a stressful life event. A lot of research has been done on how divorce and death affect children, but not much has been done on parental incarceration and children's health. "I think that it raises a number of important issues when we think about how children are faring and what the collateral consequences are of mass incarceration," Brown said.

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Poll: Whites and blacks question police accountability White folks are getting a little smarter and finally figuring out what most Black folks know - the police are corrupt to the core. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/25/usa-today-pew-poll-police-tactics-military-equipment/14561633/ Poll: Whites and blacks question police accountability Susan Page, USA TODAY 4:42 a.m. EDT August 26, 2014 As Michael Brown was laid to rest in Missouri, a USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll finds Americans by 2-to-1 say police departments nationwide don't do a good job in holding officers accountable for misconduct, treating racial groups equally and using the right amount of force. While most whites give police low marks on those measures, blacks are overwhelmingly negative in their assessment of police tactics. More than nine of 10 African Americans say the police do an "only fair" or poor job when it comes to equal treatment and appropriate force. The shooting of the unarmed black teenager by a white police officer two weeks ago in a St. Louis suburb has sparked protests across the country and spotlighted a federal program that sends military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. More than four in 10 of those surveyed say they have little confidence in police departments to use the military equipment and weapons appropriately. President Obama has ordered a review of the program that disperses the gear not only to big cities such as New York and Washington but also to small towns. USATODAY Michael Brown laid to rest today; controversy lives on Obama himself gets a lukewarm approval rating when it comes to handling race relations: 48% approve, 42% disapprove. Though that's higher than his overall job approval rating, it is significantly lower than predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton received on race relations during their tenure. African Americans approve of Obama's handling of race relations by 73%-22%; whites disapprove by 48%-42%. The poll of 1,501 adults, taken Wednesday through Sunday by landline and cellphone, has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points. The margin of error for the sample of 996 whites is +/-4 points. For the sample of 153 blacks, it is 9 points. Loretta Moore, 36, a former teacher from Lodi, Calif., says her views of police soured after a student in her class was killed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy who was driving while drunk. "They get the lesser charges; he got (to use) the side door to the courtroom, the whole nine yards," Moore, who was called in the poll, said in a follow-up interview. She was dismayed when the officer was sentenced to only six months' probation. Ferguson "This is an shooting of an 18-year boy who was supposed to start school today," said protestor Fiona Wilson of Ferguson , who shouts at the barricade of Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers in front of the Ferguson police station on, Aug. 11, 2014.(Photo: AP/Laurie Skrivan, St Louis Post-Dispatch) "They say he robbed somebody," she says of Michael Brown, "but I personally don't think he had to die over it." In the poll: • 65% overall say police departments nationwide do an "only fair" or a poor job in holding officers accountable when misconduct occurs, compared with 30% who say they do an excellent or good job. • By 65%-32%, respondents say police do a fair/poor job, not an excellent/good one, in treating racial and ethnic groups equally. • By 61%-35%, they say police do a fair/poor job, not an excellent/good one, in using the right amount of force in each situation. Americans split evenly when asked if police departments nationwide do a good job in protecting people from crime. USATODAY Do local police really need MRAPs? Our view Tom Brent, 58, of Houston, who was among those polled, has had a positive experience working with his local police department in his role as president of a civic association. "They do a lot of community outreach, the best they can with the resources they have," he says. But he's not sure if that's true of other law-enforcement departments across the country, and he expresses concern about the dramatic photos of police in Ferguson, Mo., using armored vehicles and automatic weapons during protests. Brown_gallery_1 A police officer watches demonstrators protesting the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 13 in Ferguson, Mo.(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images) "It seems to be a lot of firepower in the hands of a few people, and I don't know how well they're trained to utilize it," he says. "That's not the U.S. That's a Third World country." Still, Duff Watrous, 62, a real estate agent from Long Beach, Calif., calls the use of military gear "a tough question." He says, "I think the police department has to be equipped for most eventualities." In the poll, 18% had "a great deal" of confidence in police departments to use military equipment appropriately and 36% had "a fair amount." But 27% say they have "not too much" confidence and 17% had "none at all." However, when it comes to police in their own community, whites overwhelmingly have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in them not to use excessive force (74%), to treat blacks and whites equally (72%) and to gain the trust of local residents (77%). But most African Americans disagree: 62% have very "just some" or "very little" confidence in their community's police to treat blacks and whites equally; 59% lack confidence that they won't use excessive force. A 53% majority of blacks doubt the police do a good job in gaining the trust of local residents. When it comes to race relations generally, the disparity between whites and blacks is less stark than it is on assessing police tactics. Among whites, 75% say whites and blacks get along very well or pretty well; 64% of blacks agree.

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"Do gooders" use the government to run people out of town they don't like. In this case they seem to want to use the government to run recovering alcoholics and drug addicts out of their neighborhood. These "do gooders" always seem to be the hypocrites who think they know how to run your life better then you do. And a good percent of the time these hate filled "do gooders" claim to be good Christians who love their neighbors. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2014/08/25/scottsdale-woman-seeks-regulations-sober-homes/14582129/ Scottsdale woman seeks regulations for sober homes Brittany Hargrave, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:47 p.m. MST August 25, 2014 After discovering a sober-living home operating in her Scottsdale community, one concerned neighbor decided to circulate a petition asking the City Council to seek regulation of such facilities in neighborhoods. Angela Ashley, a resident of the Buenavante subdivision near Hayden and Cactus roads, said she collected 299 signatures through her online petition and hard copies. She presented her petition to the council at its Aug. 18 meeting. The council voted unanimously to direct the city manager to study the issue and report back. "We don't have any rules and we need to make some, not to ban them entirely, but to make sure they don't become a blight on the neighborhood," Councilman Bob Littlefield said. Ashley discovered the sober-living home during a neighborhood meeting in April where complaints surfaced. Sober-living homes are transitional facilities for people recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, said Shannon Casazza, deputy director of the Arizona Recovery Housing Association (AzRHA). The homes act as a bridge between rehab-center or jail environments and offer independent living. They do not provide treatment. Well-operated houses typically have management on-site and requirements for residents to attend recovery meetings, Casazza said. Sober-living homes also charge residents rent and typically impose rules such as curfews and requirements to gain employment or attend school full-time. Residents often live in the homes between three and nine months. Scottsdale does not regulate such facilities in its zoning code, said Kelly Corsette, the city's spokesman. Federal law prohibits cities from creating policies that discriminate against people with disabilities and requires cities to make "reasonable accommodations" for them so they have "equal opportunity to use and enjoy housing," according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Fair Housing Act's 1988 amendment defines people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction as disabled. The act does not protect people currently using drugs or those who have been convicted of selling drugs. According to AzRHA's Casazza, most sober-living homes are started and operated by people in recovery who want to help others recover. Still, there are sober-living homes that operate "outside the scope of quality standards" and could potentially pose a problem, she said. An increase in the number of sober-living homes followed the downturn of the housing market, Casazza said. "People who were getting houses at reasonable prices, or who couldn't sell their home, opened sober-living-home facilities," she said. "A lot of these homes that have opened five-to-seven years ago were opened by individuals not in recovery, who don't have experience in the recovery field. Sometimes, that can be problematic, if they don't work to learn about operating these sober environments in the right way." Carla Vista Sober Homes has been operating the sober-living home in the Buenavante subdivision for the past seven months, said Gonzalo Ardavin, Carla Vista owner. Ardavin is in favor of city ordinances regulating sober-living homes, "as long as they are reasonable," he said. "I think regulations are the way you stop just anybody from opening a house, calling it a sober home, then stockpiling people in there and not managing it correctly," he said. Although Ashley doesn't have a problem with Carla Vista, she is worried that a mismanaged sober home could move into her neighborhood and cause problems with parking, traffic, noise or safety, she said. "This isn't a witch hunt," she said. "We don't want to throw these people out of our neighborhood. We just want the city to be proactive about this." [but these people are witches and we need to throw them out of our neighborhood, is probably what she is muttering under her breath] Ashley said she wants the council to consider an ordinance regulating the distance between sober-living homes, limiting the number of residents based on a home's square footage or number of bedrooms, creating a vehicle-parking plan and implementing a registration process. City officials were not able to say how many homes might be operating in Scottsdale. "Anecdotally, I have not heard of any problems with these types of transitional-living facilities," said Sgt. Mark Clark, spokesman for the Scottsdale Police Department. The city has not received a significant number of complaints regarding these facilities either, said Kelly Corsette, Scottsdale public-information officer. In March, Gilbert passed its Recovery Residence Ordinance. The ordinance defines sober-living homes as "recovery residences" and permits their use in single- and multifamily residential zones, with requirements. Ardavin sat in on conversations when the town considered that ordinance. Founded in Chandler in 2007, Carla Vista operates 24 homes, including 15 in Arizona. The company charges residents in its Scottsdale house $200 per month for rent and $15 per month for house supplies, Ardavin said. Background checks are run on all potential residents to ensure they do not have a previous sexual offense, "serious" criminal offenses or drug-trafficking conviction, Ardavin said. There are random drug tests every week. "There's an initial fear of sober houses coming next door or down the street, and there's that shock value," Ardavin said. "I just think it's a lack of education. I understand it, I just don't agree with it." Creating regulations so all sober-living homes would have to be managed as well as Carla Vista is the goal, Ashley said. "It's kind of a tap dance around this thing," she said. "No matter how many unsavory incidents occur because of sober-home residents, there is no way to prohibit their movement into residential neighborhoods, only to try to monitor them in some way that does not infringe upon their federal rights." Republic reporter Edward Gately contributed to this article. How Valley cities and towns regulate sober-living homes Phoenix: Sober-living homes with six or more residents would most likely be considered a group home. Group homes with six to 10 residents require a special permit to operate in a single-family residential zone, a use permit for restricted or limited multifamily residential zones, and no zoning process is required for general multifamily residential zones, commercial zones, light industrial zones and regional shopping center zones. — Sina Matthes, spokeswoman, Phoenix Mesa: Sober-living homes are regulated as "group homes for the handicapped." Mesa requires these homes to be registered with the city's planning staff, facilities must be separated by at least 1,200 feet and occupancy is capped at 10 residents, not including the on-site manager. — Gordon Sheffield, zoning administrator, Mesa Chandler: Chandler permits sober-living homes in all residential zones with a special permit, but facilities must be separated by 1,200 feet and have five residents or fewer (although a reasonable accommodation waiver for more residents can be requested). — David de la Torre, principal planner, Chandler Tempe: Tempe regulates sober-living homes under its 'Hospitals, Sanitariums, Nursing Homes, Institutions' classification, and they are allowed in agricultural and multifamily zoning districts with a use permit. They are not allowed in non-agricultural single-family residential zones. — Nikki Ripley, spokeswoman, Tempe Glendale: Glendale does not allow sober-living homes in its residential-zoning districts, but does allow them in its heavy commercial zoning district. — Jon Froke, planning director, Glendale Gilbert: Sober-living homes are defined as "recovery residences" and are permitted in single- and multifamily residential zones. The facilities are required to register with the town and must submit an "operation and management" plan. They must be separated by 1,200 feet and occupancy is capped at 11, including the house manager. — Catherine Lorbeer, principal planner and zoning administrator, Gilbert Scottsdale: Scottsdale does not regulate sober-living homes in its zoning ordinance. — Kelly Corsette, spokesman, Scottsdale How Valley cities and towns regulate sober-living homes Phoenix Sina Matthes, spokeswoman "Sober-living homes with six or more residents would most likely be considered a group home. Group homes with six to 10 residents require a special permit to operate in a single-family residential zone, a use permit for restricted or limited multifamily residential zones, and no zoning process is required for general multifamily residential zones, commercial zones, light industrial zones and regional shopping center zones." Mesa Gordon Sheffield, zoning administrator "Sober-living homes are regulated as "group homes for the handicapped." Mesa requires these homes to be registered with the city's planning staff, facilities must be separated by at least 1,200 feet and occupancy is capped at 10 residents, not including the on-site manager." Chandler David de la Torre, principal planner "Chandler permits sober-living homes in all residential zones with a special permit, but facilities must be separated by 1,200 feet and have five residents or fewer (although a reasonable accommodation waiver for more residents can be requested)." Tempe Nikki Ripley, spokeswoman "Tempe regulates sober-living homes under its 'Hospitals, Sanitariums, Nursing Homes, Institutions' classification, and they are allowed in agricultural and multifamily zoning districts with a use permit. They are not allowed in non-agricultural single-family residential zones." Glendale Jon Froke, planning director "Glendale does not allow sober-living homes in its residential-zoning districts, but does allow them in its heavy commercial zoning district." Gilbert Catherine Lorbeer, principal planner and zoning administrator "Sober-living homes are defined as "recovery residences" and are permitted in single- and multifamily residential zones. The facilities are required to register with the town and must submit an "operation and management" plan. They must be separated by 1,200 feet and occupancy is capped at 11, including the house manager." Scottsdale Kelly Corsette, spokesman "Scottsdale does not regulate sober-living homes in its zoning ordinance."

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Cops, prosecutors - honest, we can investigate police crimes fairly and unbiased!!!!! Yea, sure, f*ck you pigs!!!! What about when the Phoenix Police beat up a Mexican national who had hijacked a car and surrended. That police beating was video taped by a News 12 helicopter, but then Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said he wasn't pressing charges because it was impossible to convict the crooked, sadistic, racist cops - http://members.tripod.com/phoenix_copwatch/mud/police-news/cw1075.html http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/08/26/montgomery-police-union-defend-ability-investigate/14606531/ Montgomery, police union defend ability to investigate D.S. Woodfill, The Republic | azcentral.com 6:48 a.m. MST August 26, 2014 A day after Phoenix police officials struck a conciliatory tone in a meeting with community members critical of an officer's fatal shooting of a mentally ill woman, the county's top prosecutor and a police union representative took a swipe at those same critics. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery called a news conference Monday to defend his ­office against those who have accused it of rubber-stamping law enforcement's view of officer- ­involved shootings. "Over the history of this office ... we haven't hesitated to file charges where the use of force was not justified," Montgomery said. [What about that case where a News 12 helicopter videotaped several Phoenix police officer beating up a Mexican after he hijacked a car and surrender. Then Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said despite the News 12 video recording it would be impossible for a jury to convict the crooked, racists Phoenix police officers. See http://members.tripod.com/phoenix_copwatch/mud/police-news/cw1075.html ] The controversy centers on the fatal shooting of 50-year-old Michelle Cusseaux by a Phoenix police sergeant on Aug. 14. Authorities said she threatened officers with a hammer at her Maryvale apartment as they tried taking her to an inpatient psychiatric facility. Cusseaux was shot by the sergeant and died a short time later. On Saturday, Phoenix ­Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia acknowledged the criticism and agreed to turn over the standard-protocol homicide investigation to an outside agency, the Arizona Department of Public Safety. AZCENTRAL Mourners remember Phoenix woman killed in police shooting Garcia said he made the decision at the family's request, but he also factored in recent unrest over the fatal shooting by a police officer of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black man in Ferguson, Mo., and a growing mistrust of law ­enforcement. AZCENTRAL Did Michelle Cusseaux have to die? A police union representative on Monday blasted that move as politically motivated, saying it undermines confidence in the "competent, ­professional and dedicated group of detectives" in the ­department's homicide unit. "The decision of the chief to relinquish this investigation to DPS quite honestly has ­upset some officers," Joe Clure, president of the ­Phoenix Law Enforcement ­Association, said. "What is ­disappointing to them is the perceived lack of support and confidence from police leadership." But Garcia's change in course pleased Cusseax ­family representatives, who had demanded a parallel investigation, contending the department shouldn't be ­allowed to investigate the shooting by its own officer. Montgomery on Monday called Cusseaux's killing a tragic incident and said his ­office will conduct the same kind of independent review of the DPS investigation as it would have for Phoenix police. He cited several high- ­profile cases in which his ­office has brought charges against law enforcement, including the prosecution of Richard Chrisman, a Phoenix officer sentenced to seven years for assaulting and killing an unarmed man during a domestic-violence call in 2010. "When it comes to these sorts of situations, we're going to do the right thing, because I'm not afraid of the truth, whatever that might be," he said. "If an investigation reveals that a police officer has done something improper, they'll be charged." He said prosecutors do a walk-through after every ­officer-involved shooting so they know if evidence is not presented in the final investigation. Montgomery also had ­withering criticism for Cusseaux family representaive the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, a ­civil-rights activist and candidate running for Congress in the 7th District, who claimed Cusseaux's killing was the ­result of police brutality. "It's just very unfortunate where some folks, for their own personal aggrandizement, might try to take advantage of somebody else's tragedy, particularly during an election season, and try to ­create a narrative that they then get to be the hero in," Montgomery said. He said a situation like the one in Ferguson, Mo., where many in the community are pitted against police following the controversial shooting could not happen in Phoenix. "We're embedded in this community; we're not ­strangers," he said. "People of Maricopa County do not come across prosecutors just in the courtroom, and I think the same can be said for the police departments throughout the county, too." On Sunday, Phoenix Police Department leaders, Mayor Greg Stanton and community advocates held a town hall at a park building to discuss law-enforcement relations with the African-American community. Hundreds of people ­attended, asking mostly civil questions of officials. There, Garcia said he'd like to phase in body cameras for all his officers within three years, so that all interactions will be recorded. Previously, he vowed that every Phoenix officer will be required to take a two-hour class on mental-health awareness in coming weeks.

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Tempe apartment residents throw beer bottles at police If the Tempe Police and ASU police were hunting down real criminals instead of shaking down students for the victimless crime of drinking liquor or smoking marijuana this violence would not be happening. But sadly the police are more concerned about raising revenue by making easy arrests for victimless "drug war" and "liquor war" crimes, then they are hunting down real criminals who hurt people but are harder to catch. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2014/08/25/tempe-officers-pelted-beer-bottles-safe-and-sober/14593089/ Tempe apartment residents throw beer bottles at police “Safe and Sober” campaign patrol starts off with record number of arrests Jim Walsh, The Republic | azcentral.com 7:04 a.m. MST August 26, 2014 Police, security guards targeted during annual Safe and Sober crackdown on under-aged drinking and impaired driving. Residents of a high-rise apartment complex near Sun Devil Stadium again attempted to pelt police and security guards with beer bottles Saturday night, a dangerous act that highlighted the busy first weekend of Tempe police's annual Safe and Sober crackdown on under-aged drinking and impaired driving. Lt. Mike Pooley said no one was injured in the Saturday night incident, which occurred at the same location as a year ago. "It is extremely dangerous," Pooley said. The incident occurred as police officers and security officers walked toward the building as part of the special operation. But a broad coalition of police agencies were not deterred from their mission, making even more arrests than the first weekend of last year's popular campaign, Pooley said. Last year, officers made more than 1,700 arrests and drew accolades from residents tired of under-aged drinking incidents damaging their quality of life. Pooley said there were 392 arrests this past weekend, compared with 371 a year ago on the first week of the campaign. He said there were 146 driving under the influence arrests, compared with 91 a year ago. Police also cited 112 minors in comsumption of alcohol. With the Governor's Office of Highway Safety using grants to pay for overtime shifts, 17 police agencies are participating in the crackdown, compared with eight a year ago. The operation is scheduled to run for three consecutive weekends. The coalition includes all East Valley agencies, but also West Valley agencies such as the Glendale, Avondale and Buckeye police departments. Pooley said the operation is scheduled to conclude on Sept. 6 and the Labor Day weekend is also expected to be busy, with Arizona State University's Sun Devils playing their first football game. In this year's operation, Tempe police and other agencies are working much more closely with ASU. ASU police officers participated in a "welcome walk'' last week, during which police, ASU and Tempe officials warned students that under-aged drinking laws would be enforced and explained to residents how to report loud parties and other issues.

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The Bidwell family thinks they and their Super Bowl fans have a God given right to government welfare. They expect us tax payers to help pay the outrageous costs of the super wealthy that come to the Super Bowl to party. What hypocrites, at the same time the Super Bowl charges outrageous prices for admittance to it's events, for it's food concessions and for Super Bowl toys and gadgets they are crying like babies because the hotels are doing the same thing and charging outrageous prices for rooms during the Super Bowl. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2014/08/25/super-bowl-hosts-feud-parking-alleged-hotel-price-gouging/14601987/ Super Bowl hosts feud over parking, alleged hotel price gouging Peter Corbett, The Republic | azcentral.com 9:36 p.m. MST August 25, 2014 Imagine going to a huge party in which the hosts are publicly feuding. That's what is happening with Glendale and the Arizona Cardinals less than six months before the NFL's Super Bowl visits University of Phoenix Stadium in the West Valley city. Cardinals President Michael Bidwill ripped Glendale in a live 12News broadcast interview Sunday with azcentral sports columnist Dan Bickley. Bidwill charged that the city's hotels were price gouging and "the city hall people really have done nothing" to support Super Bowl XLIX. In an interview Monday with The Arizona Republic, he also took issue with Glendale's complaints about the costs of hosting the Super Bowl. "They got themselves in a financial dilemma with other sports facilities," Bidwill said. "They just didn't do a good job of planning these things." A year ago, the Cardinals and NFL expressed concerns with Glendale's readiness for Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1. That included issues relating to parking and commitments for a bloc of hotel rooms. AZCENTRAL The truth behind Bidwill's Glendale slam Since then the, NFL moved the NFL Experience fan event and the media headquarters to downtown Phoenix, leaving Glendale with little more than hosting the game itself. Glendale City Councilman Gary Sherwood took issue with Bidwill's comments, noting that city is ahead of schedule on all its commitments to the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee for public safety and transportation. "I don't think he's picking on us more than other folks," said Sherwood, nothing that the Cardinals president has a reputation for clashing with business partners, including past feuds with Arizona State University and the Fiesta Bowl. AZCENTRAL Will Katy, Rihanna or Coldplay pay to play Super Bowl? "We've moved on," the councilman said of Glendale administrators. "We would get crazy every time he'd go off like that." A study by Elliott D. Pollack & Co. showed that Glendale spent $3.4 million hosting the 2008 Super Bowl and the event generated $1.2 million in city tax revenue from direct visitor spending. The study also found that $11.3 million in tax revenue went to the other cities in Maricopa County. This spring, Glendale asked the Arizona Legislature for up to $2 million for its public safety costs for next year's Super Bowl, but the Senate rejected that request. Bidwill said Glendale will receive more tax revenue for the 2015 Super Bowl because its sales tax has increased from 2.2 to 2.9 percent. Glendale also gets tremendous value from an estimated $13 million in media exposure tied to the Super Bowl, he said. AZCENTRAL Glendale's lack of event parking proves costly Bidwill did not cite any specific examples of price gouging. The Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee wants Glendale to join with other Valley cities, including Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, to arrange a bloc of 20,000 hotel rooms for the event to prevent visitors from being overcharged, he said. The Valley could be at risk of losing other mega events if it gets a reputation for gouging guests, Bidwill said. Internet searches show that many Valley hotels already are sold out for the Super Bowl, while others have raised their rates considerably. A Days Hotel in nearby Peoria was advertising rates of $323 for Super Bowl weekend and $86 a week later. And a Hampton Inn at Scottsdale and Bell roads in Phoenix listed rates of $659 for Super Bowl weekend and $144 for the next weekend. Only two Glendale hotels have committed room blocs and others having been working on agreements with the the host committee, said Jean Moreno, Glendale's Super Bowl project manager. Glendale spokeswoman Julie Watters said the room blocs depend on private agreements between the host committee and hotels and the city can't force those to happen. Glendale is also working to meet its Super Bowl parking obligation. It will lease close to 1,700 spaces at a cost of $35,000 to $52,000. Glendale is required to provide 6,000 parking spaces to the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which operates University of Phoenix Stadium. But a parking garage to provide those spaces is not scheduled to open until 2018. Glendale Councilman Ian Hugh said the rift with the Cardinals is not good for anyone. "I certainly hope that city management can patch things up with the NFL, the Super Bowl committee and Michael Bidwill," Hugh said. "He carries a lot of weight in the NFL."

Police states that jail journalists - Syria, Iran, North Korea, USA, Ferguson, Missouri

Norman Rockwell and the Police 1958 - 2014

Systems that track where cellphone users go

Bottom line is if you want to keep a secret from the government, or for that matter anybody else, don't say it on a cell phone where everything you say is broadcast on the airwaves.

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For sale: Systems that can secretly track where cellphone users go around the globe By Craig Timberg August 24 at 7:02 PM Makers of surveillance systems are offering governments across the world the ability to track the movements of almost anybody who carries a cellphone, whether they are blocks away or on another continent. The technology works by exploiting an essential fact of all cellular networks: They must keep detailed, up-to-the-minute records on the locations of their customers to deliver calls and other services to them. Surveillance systems are secretly collecting these records to map people’s travels over days, weeks or longer, according to company marketing documents and experts in surveillance technology. The world’s most powerful intelligence services, such as the National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ, long have used cellphone data to track targets around the globe. But experts say these new systems allow less technically advanced governments to track people in any nation — including the United States — with relative ease and precision. Users of such technology type a phone number into a computer portal, which then collects information from the location databases maintained by cellular carriers, company documents show. In this way, the surveillance system learns which cell tower a target is currently using, revealing his or her location to within a few blocks in an urban area or a few miles in a rural one. It is unclear which governments have acquired these tracking systems, but one industry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive trade information, said that dozens of countries have bought or leased such technology in recent years. This rapid spread underscores how the burgeoning, multibillion-dollar surveillance industry makes advanced spying technology available worldwide. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), is fighting against cellphone apps that track location data -- and can be used for stalking. But innovation experts worry shutting down apps that ask for your information might do more harm than good. (Theresa Poulson/The Washington Post) “Any tin-pot dictator with enough money to buy the system could spy on people anywhere in the world,” said Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International, a London-based activist group that warns about the abuse of surveillance technology. “This is a huge problem.” Security experts say hackers, sophisticated criminal gangs and nations under sanctions also could use this tracking technology, which operates in a legal gray area. It is illegal in many countries to track people without their consent or a court order, but there is no clear international legal standard for secretly tracking people in other countries, nor is there a global entity with the authority to police potential abuses. In response to questions from The Washington Post this month, the Federal Communications Commission said it would investigate possible misuse of tracking technology that collects location data from carrier databases. The United States restricts the export of some surveillance technology, but with multiple suppliers based overseas, there are few practical limits on the sale or use of these systems internationally. “If this is technically possible, why couldn’t anybody do this anywhere?” said Jon Peha, a former White House scientific adviser and chief technologist for the FCC who is now an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He was one of several telecommunications experts who reviewed the marketing documents at The Post’s request. “I’m worried about foreign governments, and I’m even more worried about non-governments,” Peha said. “Which is not to say I’d be happy about the NSA using this method to collect location data. But better them than the Iranians.” ‘Locate. Track. Manipulate.’ Location tracking is an increasingly common part of modern life. Apps that help you navigate through a city or find the nearest coffee shop need to know your location. Many people keep tabs on their teenage children — or their spouses — through tracking apps on smartphones. But these forms of tracking require consent; mobile devices typically allow these location features to be blocked if users desire. Tracking systems built for intelligence services or police, however, are inherently stealthy and difficult — if not impossible — to block. Private surveillance vendors offer government agencies several such technologies, including systems that collect cellular signals from nearby phones and others that use malicious software to trick phones into revealing their locations. Governments also have long had the ability to compel carriers to provide tracking data on their customers, especially within their own countries. The National Security Agency, meanwhile, taps into telecommunication-system cables to collect cellphone location data on a mass, global scale. But tracking systems that access carrier location databases are unusual in their ability to allow virtually any government to track people across borders, with any type of cellular phone, across a wide range of carriers — without the carriers even knowing. These systems also can be used in tandem with other technologies that, when the general location of a person is already known, can intercept calls and Internet traffic, activate microphones, and access contact lists, photos and other documents. Companies that make and sell surveillance technology seek to limit public information about their systems’ capabilities and client lists, typically marketing their technology directly to law enforcement and intelligence services through international conferences that are closed to journalists and other members of the public. Yet marketing documents obtained by The Washington Post show that companies are offering powerful systems that are designed to evade detection while plotting movements of surveillance targets on computerized maps. The documents claim system success rates of more than 70 percent. A 24-page marketing brochure for SkyLock, a cellular tracking system sold by Verint, a maker of analytics systems based in Melville, N.Y., carries the subtitle “Locate. Track. Manipulate.” The document, dated January 2013 and labeled “Commercially Confidential,” says the system offers government agencies “a cost- effective, new approach to obtaining global location information concerning known targets.” The brochure includes screen shots of maps depicting location tracking in what appears to be Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Congo, the United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe and several other countries. Verint says on its Web site that it is “a global leader in Actionable Intelligence solutions for customer engagement optimization, security intelligence, and fraud, risk and compliance,” with clients in “more than 10,000 organizations in over 180 countries.” (Privacy International has collected several marketing brochures on cellular surveillance systems, including one that refers briefly to SkyLock, and posted them on its Web site. The 24-page SkyLock brochure and other material was independently provided to The Post by people concerned that such systems are being abused.) Verint, which also has substantial operations in Israel, declined to comment for this story. It says in the marketing brochure that it does not use SkyLock against U.S. or Israeli phones, which could violate national laws. But several similar systems, marketed in recent years by companies based in Switzerland, Ukraine and elsewhere, likely are free of such limitations. At The Post’s request, telecommunications security researcher Tobias Engel used the techniques described by the marketing documents to determine the location of a Post employee who used an AT&T phone and consented to the tracking. Based only on her phone number, Engel found the Post employee’s location, in downtown Washington, to within a city block — a typical level of precision when such systems are used in urban areas. “You’re obviously trackable from all over the planet if you have a cellphone with you, as long as it’s turned on,” said Engel, who is based in Berlin. “It’s possible for almost anyone to track you as long as they are willing to spend some money on it.” AT&T declined to comment for this story. Exploiting the SS7 network The tracking technology takes advantage of the lax security of SS7, a global network that cellular carriers use to communicate with one another when directing calls, texts and Internet data. The system was built decades ago, when only a few large carriers controlled the bulk of global phone traffic. Now thousands of companies use SS7 to provide services to billions of phones and other mobile devices, security experts say. All of these companies have access to the network and can send queries to other companies on the SS7 system, making the entire network more vulnerable to exploitation. Any one of these companies could share its access with others, including makers of surveillance systems. The tracking systems use queries sent over the SS7 network to ask carriers what cell tower a customer has used most recently. Carriers configure their systems to transmit such information only to trusted companies that need it to direct calls or other telecommunications services to customers. But the protections against unintended access are weak and easily defeated, said Engel and other researchers. By repeatedly collecting this location data, the tracking systems can show whether a person is walking down a city street or driving down a highway, or whether the person has recently taken a flight to a new city or country. “We don’t have a monopoly on the use of this and probably can be sure that other governments are doing this to us in reverse,” said lawyer Albert Gidari Jr., a partner at Perkins Coie who specializes in privacy and technology. Carriers can attempt to block these SS7 queries but rarely do so successfully, experts say, amid the massive data exchanges coursing through global telecommunications networks. P1 Security, a research firm in Paris, has been testing one query commonly used for surveillance, called an “Any Time Interrogation” query, that prompts a carrier to report the location of an individual customer. Of the carriers tested so far, 75 percent responded to “Any Time Interrogation” queries by providing location data on their customers. (Testing on U.S. carriers has not been completed.) “People don’t understand how easy it is to spy on them,” said Philippe Langlois, chief executive of P1 Security. The GSMA, a London-based trade group that represents carriers and equipment manufacturers, said it was not aware of the existence of tracking systems that use SS7 queries, but it acknowledged serious security issues with the network, which is slated to be gradually replaced over the next decade because of a growing list of security and technical shortcomings. “SS7 is inherently insecure, and it was never designed to be secure,” said James Moran, security director for the GSMA. “It is possible, with access to SS7, to trigger a request for a record from a network.” The documents for Verint and several other companies say that the surveillance services are intended for governments and that customers must abide by laws regarding their use. Yet privacy advocates and other critics say the surveillance industry is inherently secretive, poorly regulated and indiscriminate in selecting its customers, sometimes putting profoundly intrusive tools into the hands of governments with little respect for human rights or tolerance of political dissent. Refining the techniques Engel, the German telecommunications security researcher, was the first to publicly disclose the ability to use carrier networks to surreptitiously gather user location information, at a 2008 conference sponsored by the Chaos Computer Club, a hacker activist group based in Germany. The techniques Engel used that day were far cruder than the ones used by today’s cellular tracking systems but still caused a stir in the security community. From the lectern, he asked for help from a volunteer from the audience. A man in an untucked plaid shirt ambled up with his cellphone in one hand and a beer in the other. Engel typed the number into his computer, and even though it was for a British phone, a screen at the front of the room soon displayed the current location — in Berlin. Two years later, a pair of American telecommunications researchers expanded on Engel’s discovery with a program they called “The Carmen Sandiego Project,” named after a popular educational video game and television series that taught geography by having users answer questions. Researchers Don Bailey and Nick DePetrillo found that the rough locations provided by Engel’s technique could be mixed with other publicly available data to better map the locations of users. They even accessed the video feeds of highway cameras along Interstate 70 in Denver to gain a clearer picture of targeted cellphone users. “We could tell that they were going a certain speed on I-70,” Bailey recalled. “Not only could you track a person, you could remotely identify a car and who was driving.” An official for AT&T, Patrick McCanna, was in the audience when DePetrillo and Bailey presented their findings at a conference in 2010. McCanna praised the researchers for their work, they later said, and recruited their help to make it harder to gather location data. Many of the world’s largest cellular networks made similar efforts, though significant loopholes remained. As some carriers tightened their defenses, surveillance industry researchers developed even more effective ways to collect data from SS7 networks. The advanced systems now being marketed offer more-precise location information on targets and are harder for carriers to detect or defeat. Telecommunications experts say networks have become so complex that implementing new security measures to defend against these surveillance systems could cost billions of dollars and hurt the functioning of basic services, such as routing calls, texts and Internet to customers. “These systems are massive. And they’re running close to capacity all the time, and to make changes to how they interact with hundreds or thousands of phones is really risky,” said Bart Stidham, a longtime telecommunications system architect based in Virginia. “You don’t know what happens.” Paired up with ‘catchers’ Companies that market SS7 tracking systems recommend using them in tandem with “IMSI catchers,” increasingly common surveillance devices that use cellular signals collected directly from the air to intercept calls and Internet traffic, send fake texts, install spyware on a phone, and determine precise locations. IMSI catchers — also known by one popular trade name, StingRay — can home in on somebody a mile or two away but are useless if a target’s general location is not known. SS7 tracking systems solve that problem by locating the general area of a target so that IMSI catchers can be deployed effectively. (The term “IMSI” refers to a unique identifying code on a cellular phone.) The FCC recently created an internal task force to study misuse of IMSI catchers by criminal gangs and foreign intelligence agencies, which reportedly have used the systems to spy on American citizens, businesses and diplomats. It is legal for law enforcement agencies in the United States to use IMSI catchers for authorized purposes. When asked by The Post about systems that use SS7 tracking, FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart said, “This type of system could fall into the category of technologies that we expect the FCC’s internal task force to examine.” The marketing brochure for Verint’s SkyLock system suggests using it in conjunction with Verint’s IMSI catcher, called the Engage GI2. Together, they allow government agencies “to accurately pinpoint their suspect for apprehension, making it virtually impossible for targets to escape, no matter where they reside in the world.” Verint can install SkyLock on the networks of cellular carriers if they are cooperative — something that telecommunications experts say is common in countries where carriers have close relationships with their national governments. Verint also has its own “worldwide SS7 hubs” that “are spread in various locations around the world,” says the brochure. It does not list prices for the services, though it says that Verint charges more for the ability to track targets in many far-flung countries, as opposed to only a few nearby ones. Among the most appealing features of the system, the brochure says, is its ability to sidestep the cellular operators that sometimes protect their users’ personal information by refusing government requests or insisting on formal court orders before releasing information. “In most cases mobile operators are not willing to cooperate with operational agencies in order to provide them the ability to gain control and manipulate the network services given to its subscribers,” the brochure says. “Verint’s SkyLock is a global geo-location solution which was designed and developed to address the limitations mentioned above, and meet operational agency requirements.” Another company, Defentek, markets a similar system called Infiltrator Global Real-Time Tracking System on its Web site, claiming to “locate and track any phone number in the world.” The site adds: “It is a strategic solution that infiltrates and is undetected and unknown by the network, carrier, or the target.” The company, which according to the Web site is registered in Panama City, declined to comment for this story. Follow The Post’s tech blog, The Switch, where technology and policy connect. Craig Timberg is a national technology reporter for The Post.

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Does this mean we are going to have a new "war on nicotine", which will certainly be a failure like the current "war on drugs"??? Yea, smoking nicotine is stupid, but putting people in prison for smoking nicotine is stupider. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/25/electronic-cigarette-statement/14450967/ Heart group calls on FDA to quickly regulate e-cigs Liz Szabo, USA TODAY 12:02 a.m. EDT August 25, 2014 AP Exchange Electronic Cigarettes Electronic cigarettes need to be strongly regulated – and quickly – to prevent another generation of young people from becoming addicted to nicotine, according to the American Heart Association's first policy statement on the products. In its statement, the heart association pointed to studies suggesting that e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine but no tobacco, could serve as a "gateway" drug to addict young people, who may go on to regular cigarettes or smokeless tobacco. The association pointed to flavors in e-cigarettes, such as bubble gum, arguing that these are intended to attract kids. "We are fiercely committed to preventing the tobacco industry from addicting another generation of smokers," said Nancy Brown, CEO of the heart association, in a statement. An April proposal from the Food and Drug Administration would require most e-cigarettes to undergo an agency review. The proposed rules would ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors and require warning labels. Though some health advocates hailed the announcement, others said the FDA didn't go far enough, because it failed to ban flavors. In its new statement, the heart association calls on the FDA to put the proposed rules – three years in the making – in place before the end of the year. "Any additional delay of these new regulations will have real, continuing public health consequences," Brown said. The e-cigarette has grown dramatically in the past decade. There are 466 brands and more than 7,700 flavors on the market, the policy report says. Use among teens nearly doubled from 2011 to 2012, and nearly 7% of teens have tried them. About 24 million young people have seen e-cigarette marketing, according to a recent paper in the journal Pediatrics. "Electronic cigarettes should be classified as tobacco products and subject to the same laws and regulations as other tobacco products," says Vince Willmore, spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Cynthia Cabrera, executive director of the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, which represents e-cigarette makers, distributors and retailers, says e-cigarettes can reduce the harm from tobacco by helping people quit or smoke less. Willmore says research doesn't clearly show whether e-cigarettes help people to quit or not. Cabrera argues that e-cigarettes are much safer than tobacco, which has been blamed for killing 20 million Americans in the past 50 years. Though they don't contain many of the harmful chemicals of conventional cigarettes, the FDA found trace amounts of toxic and carcinogenic ingredients in several samples in late 2008 when the e-cigarette market was beginning in the USA. The FDA's proposal has "the potential to completely obliterate this industry," Cabrera says. "In a couple of generations, we could have everybody off combustible cigarettes. But to do that, this industry has to survive." The heart association's statement urges communities and states to include e-cigarettes in their smoke-free laws, to avoid "renormalizing" smoking in public places. The policy report notes that celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy appear in e-cigarette ads, just as Hollywood stars once promoted tobacco. The heart association advises doctors to urge patients to quit smoking but to use nicotine-replacement products approved by the FDA, which have been tested for safety and effectiveness. Doctors shouldn't discourage former smokers from switching to e-cigarettes, if nothing else helps them avoid tobacco, the policy says.

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VA touts progress on suicides; data tell another story Sadly you can't trust the government any more then you can trust the Mafia. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2014/08/25/va-suicides-data-conflict/14551479/ VA touts progress on suicides; data tell another story Dennis Wagner, The Republic | azcentral.com 10:52 p.m. MST August 24, 2014 Seven years ago, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rejected allegations by media outlets and watchdog organizations that America faced a suicide epidemic among former military personnel. The VA claimed just 790 veterans under department care had taken their own lives that year. Yet, by reviewing available public records since 2005, CBS News uncovered 6,256 suicides. As VA officials publicly disputed the network's data, Dr. Ira Katz, the top mental-health officer, was sending internal e-mails titled "Not for the CBS Interview Request." "Shh!" Katz wrote in one message. "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities." When the e-mails were disclosed, confirming the CBS findings, some members of Congress called for Katz's resignation or termination. Today, Katz remains at VA headquarters as acting director of mental health operations. In a phone interview with The Arizona Republic, he and Caitlin Thompson, deputy director for suicide prevention, said veterans' mental-health care is a national success story that merits a B+ if graded on a curve against other programs. Katz said recent data indicate the suicide rate is increasing among men in the general U.S. population but is stable among VA patients. "We're doing relatively well by fighting this trend," he added. An official Veterans Affairs statement to The Republic supplemented that point: "Getting help from VA does make a positive difference, and treatment does work. VA's basic strategy for suicide prevention requires ready access to high quality mental health ... services supplemented by programs designed to help individuals and families engage in care." The positive evaluations come despite VA findings that the number of veteran suicides began rising in 2007. They also come amid confusion over just how many veterans are taking their own lives. A fact sheet published by the VA's Suicide Prevention Program in 2012 reported 18 veteran suicides daily, while a "Suicide Data Report" issued by the same program in the same year put the number at 22. In 2013, the VA and Defense Department published a clinical-practice guide saying 18 to 22 die daily. Even the higher number is suspect. Craig Northacker of Vets-Help.org said death records do not capture the real tally of veterans' suicides, which he estimates at 30 to 35 daily. Thompson acknowledged the data dilemma: "Numbers of suicides are just very, very difficult to get, period." But other evidence hints at the magnitude of the crisis. As of June 2012, the national VA Suicide Prevention Line was getting roughly 17,000 calls per month — up more than 17 percent from 2009. Four out of five were veterans seeking help, nearly one-third of them contemplating suicide. The B+ grade from Katz also seems to clash with criticism from Congress, watchdog organizations and whistle-blowers who say VA mental-health programs are beleaguered by delays in care, dishonest record-keeping and staffing shortages. Recent investigations by the VA offices of inspector general and special counsel exposed a nationwide patchwork of mismanagement and treatment breakdowns: • In Georgia last year, the inspector general said 16 veterans who were sidetracked in the appointment system had attempted suicide while awaiting mental-health care. • In St. Louis, Chief of Psychiatry Dr. Jose Mathews discovered that doctors on his staff were seeing just six veterans a day — spending only 3½ hours in patient contact per shift. Mathews testified in a House hearing that veterans became so frustrated with VA mental-health care they quit after one or two visits. When Mathews tried to enact reforms, he was investigated, bullied and removed from his job. • At the VA hospital in Brockton, Mass., an Office of Special Counsel report said one patient went eight years without a psychiatric evaluation and another went seven years without a single note in his chart. In 2012, according to an inspector general's report, seven of 10 VA mental-health workers said they were short-staffed. The problem: low pay, undesirable work conditions and a national shortage of mental-health professionals. At the same time, veterans report abysmal satisfaction rates. When the American Legion surveyed members recently, 59 percent said they felt "no improvement" or were "feeling worse" after going to the VA for treatment of traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Thirty percent terminated treatment early. A survey by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association released last month says more than half the respondents have a mental-health injury and 31 percent have considered taking their own lives. Nearly half said the VA is doing a "bad job" with mental-health services, and two-thirds indicated scheduling "challenges." Such findings seemingly conflict with the VA's own survey last year, which said mental-health patients "strongly agree" they receive timely, effective and respectful care. A March poll by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than half of post-9/11 vets know a service member or veteran who committed suicide or attempted to do so. Suicides also have been prominent in the nearly $200 million worth of wrongful-death settlements paid by the VA during the past decade. One case documented by the Center for Investigative Reporting involved a Marine veteran who hanged himself with a garden hose after being turned away from a VA psychiatric-care clinic. Another was filed by a widow whose veteran husband shot himself after a disability claim for PTSD was turned down. From 2005 to 2013, meanwhile, the number of veterans receiving mental-health care increased 63 percent. More than half of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have sought treatment. Still, it may be difficult to blame a lack of funding for shortcomings. In 2001, the Veterans Health Administration, the VA's medical branch, spent just over $2 billion on mental-health programs. As of this year, that amount had more than tripled to $7 billion. VA officials did not provide staffing ratios for mental-health care. But a 2014 department report says nearly 9 percent of the budgeted positions are vacant, and most hospitals would have to add even more positions to properly serve veterans. Under heat from veterans' advocates and Congress, the VA has pressed to improve service. The department created a suicide red-flag system, financed research, opened a national crisis line and developed education programs. In 2012, President Barack Obama launched a campaign to fill the shortage of psychiatrists and social workers at VA hospitals nationwide. Since then, 2,752 mental-health workers have been added, raising the total from 18,383 to 21,135. Amid a nationwide shortage of psychiatrists, the VA has increased pay and is offering recruitment and retention incentives. During a July hearing of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, noted that the VA's spending on mental health has doubled since 2007. "But it's not working," he added. "We have to figure out why." Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the committee chairman, said overall suicide rates among vets may be stable, but deaths among those veterans ages 18 to 24 skyrocketed 70 percent during the past three years. During the July hearing, Miller interrogated Maureen McCarthy, deputy chief of patient-care services for the Veterans Health Administration, about her agency's mental-health data. "Would you bet your life on any number that somebody (from VA) gives you is a truthful number? Because we just had a panel of witnesses who've lost their children. They lost their lives," Miller said. "Now I'm asking you, would you bet your life that the information that people are telling you is truthful?" McCarthy responded, "Sir, I would not. I would not bet my life." Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., anguished while addressing families of suicide victims at the hearing. "Your testimony is heartbreaking," she told them, "and I can barely hold back my tears." As a result of the controversy and criticism, Katz said, VA administrators are reviewing psychiatric-appointment protocols, patient ratios, productivity and private-care options. Even a B+ department can improve, Katz said, and he urged disenchanted veterans to reconsider VA mental-health services. "We hope they would give us another chance, and we hope we would rise to the occasion," he said. Suicide hotline Veterans, family members and friends facing a mental-health emergency or dealing with suicidal thoughts may contact the 24-hour VA Crisis Line for immediate, confidential help. Calls are routed to the nearest crisis center in a national network. This phone number, also known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, also serves the non-veteran population. VA Crisis Line: 800-273-8255 Texts: 838251 Online chat:veteranscrisisline.net (click on "Confidential Veterans Chat" box at top of page). These services provide counseling and referral assistance for veterans in crisis over suicidal thoughts, homelessness, relationship issues, chronic pain and other issues. • Additional details on VA crisis services may be found at veteranscrisisline.net. • More information on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at suicidepreventionlifeline.org. • A list of VA suicide-prevention coordinators and other veterans' services in Arizona is at veteranscrisisline.net/GetHelp/ResourceLocator.aspx.

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Commercial Metals Corporation wants the government to put their competitors out of business??? Another corporation asking the government to put their competitors out of business??? I suspect the real problem CMC or Commercial Metals Corporation has is that their competitors in Mexico and Turkey can make and sell rebar cheaper then they can, so they are asking the government to put their competitors out of business in the USA. http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2014/08/24/mesa-plant-hurt-rebar-dumped-us-mexico-turkey/14505655/ Mesa plant hurt by rebar 'dumped' in U.S. by Mexico, Turkey Alan Jackson , AZ I See It 7:38 p.m. MST August 24, 2014 When our company began planning in 2006 to build a new steel-making facility in the Valley, we didn't foresee the economic collapse the construction industry would face by the time we commissioned the plant in 2009. Now there's a new danger coming from beyond our borders that threatens the steel industry as a whole and the 220 steelmakers we employ here. I run a manufacturing plant for Commercial Metals Corporation that makes rebar — the steel reinforcement bars used in construction. Our plant is under threat from rebar that is being "dumped" unfairly by two American allies — Mexico and Turkey. We need the U.S. Commerce Department to take forceful action to end the practice and impose stiff penalties. Now is the time for our representatives in Washington to go to bat for us. When CMC opened our plant five years ago, we were pioneers in a new industrial corridor in Mesa. Despite the recession, we saw a promising future in bringing the steel backbone of the American economy to this area with a state-of-the-art facility. Although the economy has improved, it is getting tougher to stand strong in our commitment. Mexican and Turkish steelmakers are taking advantage of trade barriers and special subsidies that allow them to sell rebar here at ridiculously low prices — cheaper than what they sell it for at home, despite the extra cost of importing to the United States. This dumping has damaged the rebar industry in America. I know every employee in my plant, and I am worried about scaling back hours or shedding staff, as other rebar plants across the country have had to do. We cannot operate profitably while slashing prices to match cheap imports. That real impact is even worse because every steel job supports as many as seven other jobs in related services such as maintenance and transportation. The message is clear: When we hurt, others do, too. Together, Turkey and Mexico have tripled their share of the U.S. rebar market in the last three years and now control 20 percent of it. Unless Commerce acts, this will only get worse. The Turkish rebar industry is helped by government energy subsidies, export and tax credits and preferential loans that keep its rebar prices in the United States artificially low. The Mexican rebar market, where there is a 23-to-1 trade imbalance, is closed to U.S. imports. In response to these unfair practices, five major U.S. steel manufacturers have created the Rebar Trade Action Coalition. At the coalition's urging, the Commerce Department and U.S. International Trade Commission investigated the dumping, and in a preliminary ruling, they found in our favor. But they are under strong pressure to reverse their findings on Mexico, and they issued a hand-slap penalty to Turkey. In its final ruling next month, Commerce needs to stiffen the penalties against Turkey and not back down on Mexico. Our Mesa plant is one of the finest in the world, but giving foreign competitors an unfair advantage is threatening its future. Alan Jackson is director of operations at the Commercial Metals Company plant in Mesa.

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I am sure the teachers unions won't like this. After all the government schools aren't there to educated the children. Anybody who supports union workers knows that the government schools are there to provide cushy jobs for teachers and other union employees, like the union cops who have the politically correct name of school resource officers. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/25/later-teen-school-start-times/14559459/ Doctors recommend later school-start times for teens Associated Press 7:41 a.m. MST August 25, 2014 CHICAGO — Pediatricians have a new prescription for schools: later start times for teens. Delaying the start of the school day until at least 8:30 a.m. would help curb their lack of sleep, which has been linked with poor health, bad grades, car crashes and other problems, the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a new policy. The influential group says teens are especially at risk; for them, "chronic sleep loss has increasingly become the norm." Studies have found that most U.S. students in middle school and high school don't get the recommended amount of sleep — 8½ to 9½ hours on school nights; and that most high school seniors get an average of less than seven hours. More than 40 percent of the nation's public high schools start classes before 8 a.m., according to government data cited in the policy. And even when the buzzer rings at 8 a.m., school bus pickup times typically mean kids have to get up before dawn if they want that ride. "The issue is really cost," said Kristen Amundson, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education. School buses often make multiple runs each morning for older and younger students. Adding bus drivers and rerouting buses is one of the biggest financial obstacles to later start times, Amundson said. The roughly 80 school districts that have adopted later times tend to be smaller, she said. After-school sports are another often-cited obstacle because a later dismissal delays practices and games. The shift may also cut into time for homework and after-school jobs, Amundson said. The policy, aimed at middle schools and high schools, was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics. Evidence on potential dangers for teens who get too little sleep is "extremely compelling" and includes depression, suicidal thoughts, obesity, poor performance in school and on standardized tests and car accidents from drowsy driving, said Dr. Judith Owens, the policy's lead author and director of sleep medicine at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The policy cites studies showing that delaying start times can lead to more nighttime sleep and improve students' motivation in class and mood. Whether there are broader, long-term benefits requires more research, the policy says. Many administrators support the idea but haven't resolved the challenges, said Amundson. She said the pediatricians' new policy likely will have some influence. Parents seeking a change "will come now armed with this report," Amundson said. Amundson is a former Virginia legislator and teacher who also served on the school board of Virginia's Fairfax County, near Washington, D.C. Owens, the policy author, has been working with that board on a proposal to delay start times. A vote is due in October and she's optimistic about its chances. "This is a mechanism through which schools can really have a dramatic, positive impact for their students," Owens said. ___ Online: American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org ___ AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner . CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Don't worry folks, the DPS is as perfectly capable of covering up this crime as the Phoenix Police is. You don't have to be a psychic to predict that and investigation will be done and it will be determined that Michelle Cusseaux was a dangerous criminal who had to be killed to protect the lives of the officer and public. Of course the rest of us will know that is just a bunch of BS. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/08/23/phoenix-police-investigation-shooting-dps/14509087/ Phoenix police hand officer-shooting inquiry to DPS DPS will take over the investigation into the Phoenix Police shooting that killed 50-year-old Michelle Cusseaux D.S. Woodfill and Weldon B. Johnson, The Republic | azcentral.com 1:12 a.m. MST August 24, 2014 DPS will take over an investigation of a police-involved shooting last week that killed a woman with mental illness, Phoenix Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia said on Saturday. Garcia, who was flanked by Mayor Greg Stanton and City Manager Ed Zuercher, made the announcement hours after a public funeral for Michelle Cusseaux. Cusseaux, 50, was shot by Sgt. Percy Dupra on Aug. 14 after authorities said she threatened officers with a hammer at her Maryvale apartment as they tried taking her to an in-patient psychiatric facility. Cusseaux died a short time later. Garcia on Saturday repeated condolences to the family and said he had spoken with Cusseaux's mother, Frances Garrett, and would heed her call for an independent investigation. The impromptu press conference at the Phoenix Police Department represented a shift from the department's stance a few days earlier when the chief said he would have the Maricopa County Attorney's Office review the Phoenix Police Department's findings. "I wholeheartedly believe that this decision is in the best interest of my officers. It's in the best interest of the Phoenix Police Department. It's in the best interest of Michelle Cusseaux, and in the best interest of Frances Garrett," he said. He referenced the unrest in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., where riots have erupted over the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black 18-year-old . Garcia said anger and mistrust is focused on officers across the country due to the racial strife seen in Ferguson. "I am concerned about that," he said. "The decision I made to have an independent department do this investigation will benefit our city, but it is bigger than the city of Phoenix." Stanton expressed confidence that Phoenix police could have conducted a fair investigation,but he said the most important thing was to maintain the public's trust. "What matters most is that the public has complete trust," Stanton said. "And by showing our community that we welcome others to take a look at the circumstances around this case, we hope to continue to build on the trust we have with the people we serve." Bart Graves, a Department of Public Safety spokesman, said the department had no timeline placed on the completion of the investigation. "As with all investigations we're asked to do ... we take our time because we're thorough and we're good at what we do," he said. Graves was uncertain if DPS investigators would start the investigation anew or take over wherever Phoenix police left off. "My guess is we'll do a top-to-bottom review of the incident," he said. Graves said it's commonplace for a police department to hand over an officer-involved shooting investigation to another department, adding that Phoenix police recently investigated a shooting by a DPS officer. The Rev. Jarrett Maupin, a local activist and congressional candidate running for U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor's 7th District seat, said he was happy with the decision. Maupin, who has been speaking on behalf of Cusseaux's family, said he has full confidence in DPS to shed light on the circumstances of Cusseaux's death. "That's wonderful news," he said. "I definitely think that is the right thing to do."

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State Rep. Bob Robson cited for tampering with campaign signs More of the old "Do as I say, not as I do" from our religious leaders, government masters and police??? I remember when Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell and Arizona US Congressman Harry Mitchell got caught stealing his opponents campaign signs. I don't even think he was ever charged with a crime. I am not psychic, but I will make a prediction that State Rep. Bob Robson will receive at the most a slap on the wrist for this crime. Of course based on the track record of the courts in prosecuting government criminals it's not hard to make predictions like that. http://eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/politics/article_4b2c7736-27f0-11e4-80d4-001a4bcf887a.html Robson cited for alleged tampering with campaign signs Posted: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 3:47 pm | Updated: 1:58 pm, Fri Aug 22, 2014. Allison Hurtado, Ahwatukee Foothills News Republican State Rep. Bob Robson was cited Monday night for allegedly tampering with campaign signs after an incident that occurred near a Circle K store on Aug. 9. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department (MCSO) confirmed Tuesday that Robson was cited with the misdemeanor offense around 10 p.m. Monday night in Chandler. Robson is suspected of being involved in the unlawful removal of a campaign sign. A court date has been set in a Chandler Superior Court. Witnesses of the alleged crime say it happened on Saturday, Aug. 9 around 9:45 p.m. at a Circle K near Dobson and Warner roads. A man was seen picking up a sign, shredding it and throwing it into a garbage can before climbing into a truck with a license plate that reads “ROBSON.” The driver of the truck never left the vehicle. The man seen exiting and entering the vehicle has not been identified. The witness was able to capture some video of the man getting back into the truck and the truck leaving the parking lot but the driver and passenger are not identifiable and the crime was not captured on the video. The video itself has no time stamp. Mike Richardson, a precinct committeeman in Legislative District 18 and the man responsible for the sign that was destroyed, said he understands MCSO was able to get security footage from the Circle K that captured the crime. MCSO is not confirming at this time that video exists. Richardson and other volunteers have been placing “Arrow of truth” signs across the Valley for weeks, pointing out incumbent legislators who voted in favor of the Medicaid expansion in Arizona. The signs read “Voted for Obamacare.” (Robson has said several times he did not vote for the federal Affordable Care Act as he is not in a federal office). The signs started going missing around July 9, Richardson said. His group decided to put up several signs in one night and then watch them. “We staked out a few places and one of our guys stumbled on a place and sure enough they showed up and took some signs,” Richardson said. Other signs, like the ones from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club that claim Robson is pro-Obamacare, pro-union and pro-Common Core have also been destroyed in recent weeks. Jill Norgaard and Tom Morrissey’s campaigns say they’ve had several signs torn down as well. There is no evidence that ties Robson to any of those cases. Robson’s campaign has been putting up signs almost identical to Richardson’s signs that read “Endorsed by chamber of commerce.” Brian Murray of Summit Consulting Group said he has video of Richardson taking down or moving those signs. Police reports are being filed, he said. Robson has referred all media to his attorney. His attorney was not immediately available for comment. • Contact writer: (480) 898-7914 or ahurtado@ahwatukee.com.

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I suspect this is all talk and not action will be taken to stop police crimes in Phoenix. Hey, vote for me in the next election and every thing will be perfect. I will lower taxes while increasing free government benefits. Yea, that's the line of BS almost all of the politicians give us to get our votes. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/08/24/phoenix-police-discuss-issues-brutality-diversity-training/14548235/ Phoenix police discuss issues of brutality, diversity, training The Phoenix police chief and mayor joined a panel to discuss questions and concerns over race relations in the city. Yihyun Jeong, The Republic | azcentral.com 1:29 a.m. MST August 25, 2014 The dialogue at Sunday's town-hall meeting between the Phoenix Police Department, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and community leaders was wide-ranging and involved questions about racial profiling, diversity, mental illnesses and the plight of Black youths in the community. Frustrations were apparent at the Phoenix Bridging Gaps Between Community and Police Town Hall at Steele Indian Park's Civic Building near Central Avenue and Indian School Road. The topic of discussion, law-enforcement relations with the African-American community, was organized in the context of the events in Ferguson, Mo., and the Phoenix officer-involved shooting of Michelle Cusseaux. Phoenix Police Sgt. Percy Dupra shot Cusseaux, 50, on Aug. 14 after authorities said she threatened officers with a hammer at her Maryvale apartment as they tried taking her to an inpatient psychiatric facility. Cusseaux, whose family said she struggled with mental illnesses, died a short time later. The group of approximately 500 people lobbed questions rather than accusations toward the panel consisting of Phoenix Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia, Stanton, South Mountain Justice of Peace Cody Williams and minister Charles Muhammad. Garcia was unable to speak candidly about specifics regarding Cusseaux's case, which will be investigated independently by the Arizona Department of Public Safety it was announced Saturday. "They will take whatever time necessary to come to a good conclusion," he said, unable to give a specific timeline to one of the group's most pressing questions. "We strongly encourage that it moves more swiftly," attorney Charlene Tarver, the discussion's moderator, said in response when Garcia said past investigations have taken on average, six to eight months. The discussion focused on the department addressing alleged police brutality and increasing diversity in law enforcement. "I care very much that every officer gets home safely," Williams said. "But as a man who was Black yesterday, is Black today and will probably be Black tomorrow, I would hope that we would all get to go home alive." Garcia said he'd like to phase in body cameras for all his officers within the next three years, so that all first responders' interactions will be recorded. However, this would be costly to the department due to matters with data storage, he said. Currently the department has 55 cameras. "I believe this technology is the future for police departments. But if I had to choose between officers or cameras, I would definitely choose officers." The Phoenix Police Department is down 500 officers, Garcia said. However, in the first 14 hours of an online job posting, over 900 applications had been submitted, he said. Garcia urged the community audience to help encourage Black men and women to consider careers in criminal justice. When Stanton was asked what direct changes the city has been made since Cusseaux's death, he said Garcia has ordered a review of officer training when handling mental illness-related cases. Every Phoenix police officer will be required to take a two-hour class on mental-health awareness in the next two weeks. Currently 295 officers are training in crisis intervention, which Garcia said is a strong commitment to the mental-health issue. Stanton and Garcia both said they would like to hear about any complaints of unfair treatment of racial profiling and advice on increasing diversity in the department as well as other City bodies. Audrey Jenkins, the co-director of House of Miracles, a transitional facility for people who has struggled with drugs and alcohol, , organized the event and said she was pleased to hear the transparency from Garcia and Stanton She voiced her expectation, along with those of others in attendance, by saying that "with great words should come great actions."

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John Sperling a financier of the movement to legalize marijuana is dead John Sperling was the founder of the University of Phoenix http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/2014/08/24/john-sperling-dies-university-of-phoenix/14531983/ John Sperling, University of Phoenix founder, dead at 93 Ronald J. Hansen and Matthew Casey, The Republic | azcentral.com 7:13 a.m. MST August 25, 2014 John Sperling, a virtual illiterate as a teenager, learned to love learning as a young adult and went on to revolutionize the business of college education and access to it by creating the for-profit University of Phoenix. His death at 93 on Friday was announced Sunday on the website of Apollo Education Group, the University of Phoenix's parent company. A cause of death was not listed. Sperling, a billionaire with homes in the San Francisco Bay Area and Phoenix, was remembered for his vision and his tenacity in support of adult education and numerous other causes that engaged his passion. Although he kept a low profile in Arizona, his philanthropy supported a variety of causes, from solar research to anti-aging efforts to the decriminalization of marijuana. Sperling's son, Apollo Group Board Chairman Peter Sperling, and company CEO Greg Cappelli said in the statement that "Dr. Sperling's indomitable ideas and life's work served as a catalyst for innovations widely accepted as having made higher education more accessible to adult students." Sperling founded the chain of schools in the 1970s and retired as executive chairman from its parent company in 2012. On his watch, the school grew from a small California operation to a publicly traded Fortune 500 company with 12,000 workers in Arizona. It established itself as the national leader in adult education and online classes. Sperling's schools often catered to older students wanting classes at more flexible hours. By tapping a demographic niche that traditional schools missed or didn't want, Sperling elbowed the University of Phoenix into a lasting place in the often-staid world of higher education. But by the time he retired, the University of Phoenix had become a sometimes-controversial symbol of the rapid growth and excesses of for-profit universities. The financial success of the University of Phoenix allowed Sperling to bankroll his social initiatives, from advocating medical marijuana to seeking to clone his dog. "University of Phoenix is my proudest legacy," Sperling said in a 2011 interview with The Republic. "Knowing that over 1million staff, faculty and students have benefited in some way from the university is something I'm very proud of." "I think everyone will agree John Sperling really shook up the higher-education world," said William Tierney, a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California and co-author of the book "New Players, Different Game: Understanding the Rise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities." "Sperling realized a need that the market had not thought about and the public sector frankly didn't care about, and man, was he right," Tierney said in a 2013 interview. "He really tapped into education as a needed commodity in a way that nobody else had done." A singular vision Those who knew him well described Sperling as a man of generosity, curiosity, vision and grit. "His focus was on bettering people's lives," said Jorge Klor de Alva, a former University of Phoenix president and Apollo Group senior vice president who knew Sperling for more than 40 years. "This university was focused on trying to help people succeed." Klor de Alva said Sperling, essentially shy, never backed down from a fight. "He was always in pursuit of social-justice causes," Klor de Alva said. Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general and attorney who represented Apollo Education Group, said Sperling was ahead of his time with his views on many topics, including treatment for drug offenders, instead of incarceration, and the benefits of telemedicine. "Professionally I was impressed with how visionary he was," Woods said. "He was willing to be controversial, to fight the fights that most people wouldn't fight. He was never afraid to put his money and his prestige behind them." Sperling invested heavily into causes including plant genetics and seawater agriculture, anti-aging medicine and drug decriminalization as opposed to treatment. He participated in efforts with fellow billionaires George Soros and Peter Lewis to sponsor and pass citizen-backed initiatives in 17 states focusing on treatment and education, as opposed to jail time, for non-violent offenders, while decriminalizing marijuana, especially for medical purposes. U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Bay area resident, said in a statement: "John Sperling's passion for education changed America. By improving access to higher education for thousands of non-traditional students, he created a movement and empowered a generation of working adults with the tools needed to provide a better quality of life for their families. His life story inspires us to see — and seize — opportunities." Humble beginnings Sperling achieved his perch atop for-profit education after escaping a humble, sickly and unhappy childhood. In his autobiography, "Rebel With a Cause," Sperling wrote that he was the youngest of five children. He was born in a log cabin in Missouri and raised in a home that had a coal-burning stove and an outhouse. He said his mother was "possessively loving" and described his father as a "classic ne'er-do-well" who often beat him. "I learned nothing from my childhood except that it's a mean world out there, and you've got to bite and scratch to get by," he told Fast Company in a 2003 interview. Sperling joined the Merchant Marine in 1939, and one of his ship's engineers befriended him, teaching Sperling to read. Sperling was spellbound by classics such as "Notes from the Underground" and "The Great Gatsby," fueling a lifelong love of literature and poetry. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Sperling earned an undergraduate degree from Reed College on the G.I. Bill. He then attended the University of California-Berkeley, where he was awarded a fellowship to study at King's College at the University of Cambridge. He earned his doctorate in 18th-century English mercantile history in 1955. Starting in 1960, Sperling served for 12 years as a tenured professor of history at San Jose State University. There, Sperling made a name as a union activist. Popular program While still teaching in San Jose, in 1974 Sperling won a government contract to develop coursework for teachers and police officers who worked with at-risk children. According to New Yorker magazine, top administrators at San Jose State balked at the program. The University of San Francisco was more receptive, so he launched it there. The program proved so popular that Sperling, working with business partners, created an adult-education program for 2,500 students with classes available at Bay Area colleges. It became known as the Institute for Professional Development and offered bachelor's and master's degrees for its students. "He got this thing going, and it was making money. It was running a surplus," said David Breneman, a University of Virginia professor who teaches the economics of education. "The regional accrediting body in California came down on him like a ton of bricks. They didn't like anything he was doing." Sperling responded in 1976 by moving the IPD and renaming it after its new home: the University of Phoenix. Within three years, it gained grudging accreditation in Arizona. Sperling told The Republic that Arizona attracted him because the state "had never gotten around to writing any regulations." With his background in economics, Sperling draped his university in pragmatic cost-consciousness. Instructors were drawn from the working world. Accountants, for example, taught accounting rather than decorated academics. Students presumably benefited from the instructors' real-world experience; Sperling and the students gained from the lower faculty salaries that went with it. In 1981, Sperling formed the Apollo Group, the parent company of the university, and bought out one of his partners. Seven years later, Sperling bought out another partner to take full control of Apollo. As the university fell under his full control, it also began developing distance-learning classes, a forerunner to the online courses that would help remake adult education. For years, the University of Phoenix grew steadily, largely on the strength of an older student body looking to start new careers. At a time when traditional schools made students build schedules around faculty, Sperling built his no-frills school around the students. In December 1994, the Apollo Group joined the Nasdaq Stock Market as a publicly traded company. At the time, it had 28,000 students. In some ways, it was a final vindication of Sperling's unique approach to higher education. But some say it also put the school on a new path that inevitably led to a shift in priorities. "They got pushed by Wall Street," said Breneman, who co-edited the book "Earnings from Learning: The Rise of For-Profit Universities." "They got into this rat race of having to try to grow 10, 20, 30percent every year, so they started dipping down into younger students." By 2000, enrollment in the Apollo Group's holdings reached 100,000. Three years later, it was 200,000. By 2010, enrollment had mushroomed to 600,000. At that point, more than 80 percent of the university's revenue source was federally backed student loans. In 2008, for example, it collected more than $3billion in federal financial aid. That attracted scrutiny from Washington. On Capitol Hill, the university and its many for-profit competitors came under fire for bringing in too many students ill-prepared for college who, if they graduated at all, found themselves saddled with high debt and poor job prospects. The high dropout rates were fueled, some said, by recruiters whose pay was effectively tied to enrollment, which would violate federal law. In 2009, the Apollo Group settled a whistle-blower lawsuit against the university for nearly $80million to dispense with claims of recruiting commissions. A two-year Senate investigation pointed out in 2012 that an online degree from the University of Phoenix cost six times more than a comparable degree from the Maricopa Community College system and that Sperling was paid $8.6million in 2009, 13 times more than the president of the University of Arizona. "When the University of Phoenix was started in 1976, it pioneered an entirely new model of learning," the report concluded. "That model revolutionized thinking about how to provide opportunities for higher education to underserved and non-traditional students. Yet in the 2000s, Apollo appears to have made critical decisions that prioritized financial success over student success." During the probe, Washington tightened lending rules to hold schools accountable for the degrees their students pursued, and the university made its own adjustments, though Sperling, with characteristic bluntness, disagreed. "We don't agree with the new regulations. We think they are stupid," he told The Republic in 2011. Operating under tighter regulations, an uncertain economy and intense competition from other for-profit schools and public universities that had learned from Sperling's model, the University of Phoenix contracted. It has cut its payrolls by thousands, and degreed enrollment in May was 242,000. Sperling left as CEO of the Apollo Group in 2001 and retired as executive chairman of the company's board of directors in December 2012. Variety of causes In 1996, Sperling gained attention as a financial backer of medical marijuana in Arizona, something he favored during his recovery from prostate cancer in the late 1970s. In 2000, he funded a biotech company to help clone pets. His dog Missy died in 2002 without success in cloning her. Four years later, the company was shuttered. Between 1997 and 2013, Sperling made more than $700,000 in political contributions, according to federal records. Overwhelmingly, but not totally, he gave to Democrats. He wrote several books, some on education and one outlining his liberal views on political demographics. Although he was often at odds with the establishment, most say Sperling left a mark on higher education. "I think we need to give credit where credit is due," Tierney said. "There are a lot of others out there, and they didn't become the University of Phoenix. He had an American kind of can-do spirit." Sperling is survived by his longtime companion, Joan Hawthorne; his former wife, Virginia Sperling; his son, Peter; his daughter-in-law, Stephanie; and his two grandchildren, Max and Eve. Reporter Kathy Tulumello contributed to this article. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-24/john-sperling-university-of-phoenix-founder-dies-at-93.html John Sperling, University of Phoenix Founder, Dies at 93 By Laurence Arnold and Mary Childs 2014-08-25T14:27:08 John Sperling, founder and executive chairman of Apollo Education Group Inc., stands at... Read More John Sperling, who battled for accreditation and respect for the University of Phoenix, the upstart for-profit college that he founded in the 1970s to expand higher education to working adults, has died. He was 93. He died on Aug. 22 at a hospital in the San Francisco Bay area, according to a statement on Apollo Education Group Inc. (APOL)’s website. No cause was given. Through Apollo, the Phoenix-based publicly traded parent of University of Phoenix, Sperling became a billionaire. Forbes magazine estimated that his net worth peaked at $1.7 billion in 2005 before declining to $1.2 billion in 2012 and less than $1 billion in 2013, as his unorthodox, decentralized university faced renewed scrutiny of its finances and efficacy. “Sperling’s intensity, tireless work ethic and self-professed ‘joy in conflict’ found fertile ground in the often controversial for-profit higher education industry that he founded,” according to a memoriam posted by the company, where his son, Peter Sperling, is chairman. With more than 100 locations around the U.S. and an online-only study program, the University of Phoenix is among the biggest U.S. for-profit colleges, with a student population that peaked at 470,800 in 2010, according to its annual reports. Enrollment declined to 300,800 in early 2013. To reduce costs, the company in 2012 said it would close 115 University of Phoenix locations, including 25 campuses and 90 smaller centers. Revolutionary Approach Apollo Education Group, whose shares reached a closing high of $97.93 in New York trading in June 2004, rose 0.3 percent to $27.82 at 10:22 a.m. Sperling was the biggest shareholder in the company with 8.2 percent of the shares as of Aug. 11, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from securities filings. The company’s name changed from Apollo Group Inc. last year. Sperling’s revolutionary approach to education -- emphasizing group discussion of university-approved curriculum and credit for life experiences -- was belittled as “McEducation.” For-profit colleges continue to be scrutinized for their low graduation rates and the low repayment rate of loans by their students, compared with traditional colleges. Even so, some Sperling innovations, including online classes and schedules that cater to working adults, have been widely accepted and adapted. “John Sperling’s passion for education changed America,” U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement. “By improving access to higher education for thousands of non-traditional students, he created a movement and empowered a generation of working adults with the tools needed to provide a better quality of life for their families.” No Lecturing After rising from poverty to professorship, Sperling became convinced in the 1970s “that there was an untapped market in providing higher education for working adults,” he wrote in his memoir, “Rebel With a Cause” (2000). “To me,” he wrote, “the defenders of academic traditions were protecting undeserved middle-class entitlements, and, although I was part of the academy, I was not of it, had few emotional attachments to it and was indifferent to its disapproval.” Sperling wanted teachers to be “facilitators” of classroom discussions and was known to growl, “Anyone caught lecturing will be shot,” according to a 1995 profile in the magazine of Reed College, his alma mater. He served as Apollo Group’s chief executive officer until 2001 and chairman until 2004, then returned as executive chairman from 2006 to the end of 2012. A longtime donor to Democratic candidates, he personally lobbied in Washington against proposals by President Barack Obama’s administration to limit recruiting and access to federal financial aid. Cloning Pets His son, Peter, became chairman at the end of 2012. Together, father and son collected almost $840 million in stock sales from 2003 to 2010. In his book, John Sperling described periods of depression, existential crises, psychosomatic maladies and adulterous affairs. He applied his idiosyncratic thinking and wealth to longshot initiatives such as cultivating crops in salt water. Having survived both prostate cancer and the loss of function in one kidney, he took 30 pills a day on a regimen set by the now-defunct longevity clinic that he established, the Kronos Center. Unwilling to lose his beloved dog, Missy, he funded pet-cloning research by Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. A critic of U.S. law enforcement’s war on drugs, he helped fund state ballot initiatives to approve medicinal use of marijuana and to steer nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of prison. Merchant Marine John Glen Sperling was born on Jan. 9, 1921, in the Ozark Mountains town of Willow Springs, Missouri, the last of five children of Leon and Lena Sperling. (A sixth child died in infancy.) In his memoir, Sperling called his father a failed farmer and “a bum” and said his father’s death, when Sperling was 15, “was the happiest day of my life.” He began high school in Kansas City and finished in Portland, Oregon, joined the merchant marine and spent two years working on a freighter. Soon after resuming his education in 1941 at San Francisco City College, he entered military training with the U.S. Army Air Corps. He had learned to fly combat fighters when World War II ended and wasn’t called to duty. In completing his undergraduate education at Reed College in Portland in 1948, he began to think of himself as being “in an unfair competition with the privileged sons and daughters of the middle class -- often the upper-middle class.” Faculty Strike He received a master’s degree in English history from the University of California at Berkeley and, on a three-year fellowship, his doctorate in economic history from University of Cambridge in England. While teaching humanities at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, Sperling led a faculty strike in 1968. Its failure cost him the presidency of a union representing employees at California’s public universities. In 1972 Sperling embarked on a federally funded project to bring educational opportunities to police officers and teachers working with troubled youth. With two colleagues he created the Institute for Professional Development, operated in conjunction with the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. Sperling said he launched the effort with $26,000 left over from a land investment gone bad, and by converting his house into a rent-free office. Following a fight for accreditation from the Western Association of Schools & Colleges, Sperling in 1976 took his idea for a full-fledged for-profit university to Arizona, part of a different accrediting region. Online Campus More battles followed, as Arizona’s public universities objected to the University of Phoenix’s application for accreditation. Sperling prevailed and devoted a chapter in his book to what he called “The War in Arizona.” Once accredited, Sperling began expanding -- to California again, then New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada and Hawaii. Sperling started an online campus in 1989 and stuck with it through unprofitable years. The Apollo Group went public in 1994 on Nasdaq. Sperling’s two marriages ended in divorce. He had his son with his second wife, the former Virginia Vandegrift, who said in 2010 that raising a family had held little appeal for her ex-husband. “He was so driven,” she said in an interview for the 2010 article on Sperling and his company. “He always felt that a family would be a distraction. His theory is, you can’t be a genius and have a family.” Sperling had an on-and-off relationship for more than 45 years with Joan Hawthorne, a memoirist who uses the pen name Candida Lawrence. (An earlier version of this story corrected the name of the school in the 23rd paragraph to University of San Francisco.) To contact the reporters on this story: Laurence Arnold in Washington at larnold4@bloomberg.net; Mary Childs in New York at mchilds5@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Charles W. Stevens at cstevens@bloomberg.net Kevin Miller, Bruce Rule http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/25/john-sperling-dies-university-of-phoenix_n_5706739.html John Sperling Dies; Founder Of The University Of Phoenix AP | By BOB SEAVEY Posted: 08/25/2014 2:12 am EDT PHOENIX (AP) — John G. Sperling, who overcame learning problems early in life and went on to found the for-profit University of Phoenix, has died, company officials said Sunday. He was 93. Mark Brenner, chief of staff of the Apollo Education Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, said Sperling died Friday at a hospital near San Francisco. He did not provide a cause of death. Sperling started the chain in the 1970s and campuses were established around the country as it became a major company and leader in adult education and online classes. He stepped down two years ago as executive chairman of its parent company. Detail provided by Apollo said Sperling left high school a virtual illiterate but learned to read in the Merchant Marine. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he began an educational journey that led to his receiving a doctorate in 1955. "Dr. Sperling's indomitable ideas and life's work served as a catalyst for innovations widely accepted as having made higher education more accessible to adult students," his son, current Chairman Peter Sperling, and Chief Executive Officer Greg Cappelli said in a statement on the Apollo website. The company said that Sperling's school introduced the idea of local satellite campuses in more than 30 states, deliberately positioning them near freeways and major intersections to help adults pursuing their degrees after work. Apollo said in July that the U.S. Department of Education was reviewing the administration of federal student financial aid programs by the university for the past two years. The university has about 242,000 students. Enrollments at for-profit education companies boomed during the recession, but demand is sliding and government scrutiny of the industry has intensified. The Arizona Republic said Sperling's schools often catered to older students wanting classes at more flexible hours. By tapping a demographic niche that traditional schools missed or didn't want, Sperling elbowed the University of Phoenix into a lasting place in the world of higher education. "University of Phoenix is my proudest legacy," Sperling said in a 2011 interview with The Republic. "Knowing that over 1 million staff, faculty and students have benefited in some way from the university is something I'm very proud of." The paper called Sperling a billionaire whose philanthropy supported a variety of causes. He is survived by his long-time companion Joan Hawthorne, his former wife Virginia Sperling, and his son Peter, daughter-in-law Stephanie and two grandchildren.

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If you smoke a little weed to relieve your tensions and get caught our government masters will send you to prison. However when our government masters want to shut the kiddies up in the foster homes they run they don't think twice about giving the little kiddies drugs to shut them up and make them behave. More of the old "Do as I say, not as I do" from our religious leaders, government masters and police??? Part 1 http://webspecial.mercurynews.com/druggedkids/ BAY AREA NEWS GROUP INVESTIGATION Drugging Our Kids Children in California’s foster care system are prescribed unproven, risky medications at alarming rates Story by KAREN DE SÁ They are wrenched from abusive homes, uprooted again and again, often with their life’s belongings stuffed into a trash bag. Abandoned and alone, they are among California’s most powerless children. But instead of providing a stable home and caring family, the state’s foster care system gives them a pill. With alarming frequency, foster and health care providers are turning to a risky but convenient remedy to control the behavior of thousands of troubled kids: numbing them with psychiatric drugs that are untested on and often not approved for children. An investigation by this newspaper found that nearly 1 out of every 4 adolescents in California’s foster care system is receiving these drugs — 3 times the rate for all adolescents nationwide. Over the last decade, almost 15 percent of the state’s foster children of all ages were prescribed the medications, known as psychotropics, part of a national treatment trend that is only beginning to receive broad scrutiny. “We’re experimenting on our children,” said Los Angeles County Judge Michael Nash, who presides over the nation’s largest juvenile court. A year of interviews with foster youth, caregivers, doctors, researchers and legal advocates uncovered how the largest foster care system in the U.S. has grown dependent on quick-fix, taxpayer-funded, big-profit pharmaceuticals — and how the state has done little to stop it. “To be prescribing these medications so extensively and so, I think, thoughtlessly, with so little evidence supporting their use, it’s just malpractice,” said George Stewart, a Berkeley child psychiatrist who has treated the neediest foster children in the Bay Area for the past four decades. “It really is drugging them.” The state official who oversees foster care, Department of Social Services Director Will Lightbourne, concedes drugs are overused, but insists his department is wrapping its arms around the problem: “There’s a lot of work to be done here to make sure we do things right.” No one doubts that foster children generally have greater mental health needs because of the trauma they have suffered, and the temptation for caregivers to fulfill those needs with drugs can be strong. In the short term, psychotropics can calm volatile moods and make aggressive children more docile. But there is substantial evidence of many of the drugs’ dramatic side effects: rapid-onset obesity, diabetes and a lethargy so profound that foster kids describe dozing through school and much of their young lives. Long-term effects, particularly on children, have received little study, but for some psychotropics there is evidence of persistent tics, increased risk of suicide, even brain shrinkage. Sade Daniels, of Hayward, became so overweight in her teens, that at age 26 her bathroom mirror still taunts and embarrasses her. Mark Estrada, a 21-year-old from Anaheim, said he felt too “zoned out” to focus on high school and so groggy he was cut from his varsity basketball team. And Rochelle Trochtenberg, now 31 and living in Eureka, still struggles to bring a glass to her lips because her hands are so shaky from the years she spent on a shifting mix of lithium, Depakote, Zyprexa, Haldol and Prozac, among others. When people ask, she tries to cover it up with remarks about a possible hereditary condition. The truth is too painful to explain, she said. “I don’t want to tell people I have a tremor because I was drugged for my whole adolescence.” Questionable prescribing revealed Despite the concerns, state officials have been slow to even reveal foster care prescribing patterns in California. This newspaper and its lawyers spent nine months negotiating with the Department of Health Care Services for data that is public under state and federal law, as long as individuals cannot be identified. The 10 years of data begins in 2004 and — even though the state continues to resist many of this newspaper’s requests — provides the most comprehensive look yet at psychotropic medication use on California’s foster kids. The newspaper also interviewed more than 175 people, including more than 30 current and former foster youth throughout the state. The findings, which will be examined here and in future stories, include: Growing use of antipsychotics to treat bad behavior: Of the tens of thousands of foster children placed on psychotropic drugs over the past 10 years, nearly 60 percent were prescribed an antipsychotic, the class of psychotropic medications with the highest risks. That figure stunned experts in the field and alarmed officials who oversee the state’s foster care system. The Food and Drug Administration authorizes antipsychotics for children only in cases of severe mental illness, but evidence suggests doctors often prescribe them to California foster children for behavior problems — a legal but controversial practice that critics say should be limited. Multiple psych meds common but dangerous: In many cases, doctors piled on prescriptions: 12.2 percent of California foster children who received a psych drug in 2013 were prescribed two, three, four or more psychotropic medications at a time — up from 10.1 percent in 2004. These drug combinations often fall in uncharted medical territory, with no scientific evidence that young brains aren’t being harmed. Psych meds the norm in group homes for troubled kids: More than half of the foster kids who live in California’s residential group homes — and as many as 100 percent in some counties with very small numbers in group homes — are authorized by juvenile courts to receive psychotropic drugs. These homes shelter some of the most troubled foster kids, about 3,800 annually, many of whom the system has been unable to place with families. Health care professionals say children are being medicated to sleep to keep them manageable. In these group homes, foster children who refuse medications are often punished, losing basic privileges such as visiting siblings or simply going outdoors. Very young kids also medicated: Hundreds of foster children 5 and younger have been prescribed psychotropics, although federal health officials say the drugs are not safe for the very young and other states actively discourage the practice. In California in the last 10 years, an average of at least 275 of these very young children each year have been prescribed psych medications. High cost to kids, and taxpayers: California spends more on psych drugs for foster children than on any other kind of medication. This newspaper analyzed Medi-Cal spending on the 10 most costly groups of drugs for foster kids over the last decade. The state shelled out more than $226 million on psych meds for foster children — an astounding 72 percent of the total. Illegal marketing drives sales: Company documents show how drug manufacturers misrepresented scientific evidence to maximize the national market for the antipsychotics that are the top five such drugs prescribed to California foster children. The companies eventually agreed to $4.6 billion in settlements with federal prosecutors. Lawsuits revealed that some of the companies’ sales reps pitched doctors to broaden the use of their drugs among children while downplaying side effects, such as massive weight gain and breast growth in boys. Eli Lilly, for example, advised its sales force: “The competition wins if we are distracted into talking about diabetes.” State is slow to act: California has done little to address psychotropic drug use among foster children. Three years ago, the federal government called on states to develop plans to monitor the use of psychotropic medications prescribed to foster youth. Many states, including Illinois, Texas and New York, have formal plans. Yet California, with more than 60,000 foster children, has a target date for its policy of no sooner than 2016. State says it’s hard at work Officials with the Department of Social Services say they are working hard on improvements. Two years ago, they assembled statewide experts to act on the federal mandate, and they say that group is making good progress. Lightbourne said the real story behind the numbers is more positive: As the state’s foster care population plunged in the past 10 years — part of a national trend to keep families intact — so has the total number of foster youth prescribed psych medications, dropping by thousands of kids. Will Lightbourne, director of the California Department of Social Services, concedes that psychotropic medications are overused, but he says his agency is trying to wrap its arms around the problem: “There’s a lot of work to be done here to make sure we do things right.” In a sharp defense of his department’s oversight, Lightbourne insisted those numbers represent progress, even though the percentage of foster children on psych meds has remained roughly the same — ranging from 14 to 16 percent annually — for the past decade. “Clearly there are some situations in which psychotropic prescriptions may be appropriate,” Lightbourne said. “We have to know that something is being done because it’s absolutely necessary, not because it’s convenient — that it’s not simply behavior management. “There are things that are much better handled through therapies,” he said. “Psychotropics should be the end, not the start.” Many on the front lines, however, defend the prescribing, saying the risks are weighed against the benefits and that there are often no alternatives to treating kids with such deep emotional scars. Foster parents and group home directors tend to cast out kids with the most anti-social behaviors, and no one wants them to end up in juvenile halls, psych wards or treatment facilities. “The goal is to deinstitutionalize the child so he can live safely in the community,” said therapist Randall Ramirez, director of behavioral health for San Jose-based residential treatment provider Unity Care Group. “If one of the drawbacks is they have to be medicated because we don’t want to raise kids in orphanages, that’s the trade-off.” To be sure, California is not alone in its questionably high prescribing rates. Growing evidence has revealed alarming rates of psychotropic medication use on foster youth across the country, and particularly antipsychotics. The numbers are difficult to compare from state to state because of differences in methodology, but one recent survey found that in 2009, some states, including Texas, Colorado and Missouri, prescribed antipsychotics at an even higher rate than California. Overuse concerns date back decades The state has known about the overuse of psychotropic medication on foster children for years. Legislators first tried in 1999 to address the concerns, passing a law that made California the only state requiring juvenile courts to approve all psych med prescriptions, with reviews every 180 days. But this newspaper’s analysis of a decade of prescribing data shows the court oversight has done nothing on a statewide level to lower prescribing rates. A UCLA study in 1998, cited in the legislation, found that 13 percent of school-age foster children in Los Angeles were receiving psychotropic medications. While the state failed to provide data that would allow an updated look at Los Angeles school kids, this newspaper’s study revealed high prescribing rates have persisted statewide for all foster kids and all age groups. “I don’t think there’s one substantive thing that we can point to that has ensured that foster children in California today are only receiving psychotropic medications appropriately,” said Bill Grimm, an attorney with the Oakland-based National Center for Youth Law. Grimm’s organization is a central part of the state effort — along with public health nurses, state pharmacists and child welfare directors — to comply with the federal mandate to better monitor psychotropic medications. But he is frustrated that the group has been meeting for two years without producing any reports or policy recommendations, and said it has been hamstrung in part by the state’s refusal to provide good data on prescribing patterns. Former foster youth Sade Daniels, 26, keeps the number 255 on the bathroom mirror in her Hayward apartment as a daily reminder of the weight problems she has battled since the time she was prescribed psychotropic medications as a teen in foster care. Doctors’ orders rarely questioned A foster child’s path to psych medication can begin innocently enough — for example, when a child can’t sit still in class and receives an attention-deficit diagnosis and a prescription for stimulants. But like so many other painful experiences in these children’s lives, the drugs are often ramped up during a crisis. Sometimes, kids end up in the hospital after harming themselves or threatening suicide. Often, though, the prescriptions for stronger drugs come after a child lashes out. In dozens of interviews with this newspaper, foster youth freely recounted their rash behavior, which they attributed to anger and frustration: They broke furniture, punched people or trashed their rooms. Sade Daniels, the Hayward resident, said she threw a chair at a teacher who had deeply humiliated her — and betrayed her confidence — by telling the class she was in foster care. Mark Estrada, the former Orange County foster youth, depressed and defiant in his late teens after being separated from his siblings, said he had his behavior subdued by the antipsychotic Seroquel, which is approved only for manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. “They’d make me take it anytime I’d have a tantrum or felt rebellious,” Estrada said. “I felt like I was being controlled. They gave it to me in the morning, and I’d fall asleep all day.” A juvenile court authorizes each prescription, but the forms the courts use often lack critical details and a doctor’s expertise is rarely questioned. Nash, the Los Angeles judge, acknowledges the resulting challenges — even in Los Angeles, where mental health experts now review all applications for prescriptions and in 2013 officials created protocols to curb prescribing of multiple psych meds. “The last time I looked around, there aren’t too many psychiatrists or psychologists on the bench,” the judge said. “So how in the heck are we able to make good decisions about these meds?” How overprescribing happens The progression from medication to overmedication is also surprisingly routine, said child psychiatrist Tony Stanton. At first, psych medications can stabilize moods and dangerous behaviors. Yet once the immediate crisis is over, foster children often remain on a high-dose pharmaceutical course that future doctors are reluctant to reverse. The drugs “might stun them for a while,” said Stanton, who treated Bay Area foster children for 24 years. “But after two or three weeks they’d stop working.” Then, if the child seems depressed, they add an antidepressant. “And when that got worse, they’d change the diagnosis — they’d say it’s actually bipolar,” Stanton said. “Then, if they said they heard a voice telling them they were bad or something, then they’d say: ‘Oh, they’re psychotic.’ Then an antipsychotic would be added.” Aggressive behavior? A second antipsychotic may get added to the mix. “Usually in my report I’d say, if in fact any of this had been successful, the child should not be in our care,” said Stanton, whose San Leandro group home typically received the most difficult-to-place foster children. “So I think we can safely say this does not work.” Stanton’s reports in recently published articles summing up his work with 450 children ages 5 through 13 are startling: Most children arrived at residential homes run by the Seneca Center for Children and Families on at least four or five — and as many as eight or nine — different psychotropic medications. One 9-year-old shuffled into a Seneca home on a medication dose that was 10 times the amount recommended for a psychotic adult. “It’s a story I’ve gotten used to,” said Robin Randall, medical director of San Francisco’s Edgewood Center for Children and Families, which also offers residential treatment programs for troubled foster youth. “I used to say when I saw kids walk in on eight or nine different medications that I was shocked and appalled — now I’m just appalled.” Randall said children “stay on the meds for reasons that are not necessarily heinous. It’s not that doctors want to get kids on a ton of meds. They’re putting out fires, and not allowed the time. The system is set up in a way that everyone is adding, adding, adding, and doesn’t allow for a space to safely take them off.” “They’d make me take it anytime I’d have a tantrum or felt rebellious,” said Estrada. “I felt like I was being controlled. They gave it to me in the morning and I’d fall asleep all day.” A juvenile court authorizes each prescription, but the forms the courts use often lack critical details and a doctor’s expertise is rarely questioned. Nash, the Los Angeles judge, acknowledges the limitations — even in Los Angeles, where mental health experts now review all applications for prescriptions and in 2013 officials created protocols to better monitor psych meds. “The last time I looked around there aren’t too many psychiatrists or psychologists on the bench,” the judge said. “So how in the heck are we able to make good decisions about these meds?” “When I was on the medication I just didn’t act like Joy,” Hayward resident Joymara Coleman, 24, says. The drugs left her exhausted and “spaced out.” She says she also added 35 pounds to her 4-foot-8 frame. ‘I wanted to take the pill’ When a psychiatrist told Joymara Coleman that medication could help her enjoy life more, “it sounded like magic to me at first, honestly.” She had been searching for some peace after a decade in and out of foster care in Alameda County. “It was pretty clear that I was depressed because of all the things that I went through,” said Coleman, now 24 and a senior studying sociology at Cal State East Bay. “I was in the foster care system with folks who weren’t very loving. I had a lot of things I needed to heal from — from losing my mom, losing my siblings, from witnessing my mom smoking crack. I was depressed because my father was incarcerated.” Coleman had seen her roommate in a home for troubled teens wet the bed while on the medications, and she surely didn’t want that. “But after experiencing so much tragedy and so much confusion and chaos in my life, when the psychiatrist told me that it would make me happy, I wanted to take the pill.” She was 17 when a doctor prescribed the antidepressant Prozac for depression and panic attacks, but the list of medications grew to a series of overlapping trials of psych meds, according to court records she shared with a reporter: There were antipsychotics Risperdal and Abilify and mood stabilizers such as Depakote and lithium. Court files show that when Coleman was 18, she “was put on 300 mg of lithium to help her control her anger; however, it was stopped after client felt dizzy and nauseous.” Psychiatrists who reviewed that diagnosis for this newspaper called it disturbing that lithium, a powerful treatment for bipolar disorder, would be prescribed for anger management. The cocktail of drugs left her exhausted and “spaced out,” dulling her spunky personality. “When I was on the medication I just didn’t act like Joy,” she said. She said her nurse practitioner seemed to really care about her. But when the self-conscious teen complained about weight gain — she added 35 pounds to her 4-foot-8-inch frame — the nurse simply encouraged her to avoid sugary drinks. “They were really adamant,” Coleman said of her case workers’ insistence that she take medications. “Initially I bought into it, that I needed this because these are professionals — these are all white professionals, with degrees and they’re older and they’re telling me that something’s wrong with me, and they just know this.” ‘It’s the behaviors they want treated’ From all quarters, the pressure in favor of the drugs can be intense. Estrada recalls the consequences at his group home when he refused to take his Seroquel: He couldn’t go on field trips, play video games, watch TV or go outside. But the pressure starts elsewhere, said longtime public health nurse Carol Brown, with the caregivers struggling to control troubled kids. Many of those caregivers are loving and committed, genuinely trying to do the right thing; others are simply overwhelmed. “Very often, there’s pressure on the doctors from the foster parents and the group homes to provide medication to deal with the behaviors that the foster youth are exhibiting,” Brown said. “The foster parents won’t take the kids with the behaviors, and it’s the behaviors they want treated.” Child psychiatrist Edgardo Tolentino, a doctor with Pathways to Wellness, a medication clinic that serves foster children in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, conceded he has felt that same pressure from caregivers. “The expectation is that they’ll be given some type of medication,” he said. “If they are already on medications, the only thing I can do is continue them.” Jakeel, then 17, plays with a tablet July 2 at his home in Oakland. Jakeel and his younger brother, Smith, take one antipsychotic medication daily to treat symptoms of severe autism and to keep them safe, mom Marjorie says. Psych meds indispensable for some kids Pressure or no, many who are part of the system — while insisting they avoid overmedicating kids — say some use of drugs is essential. “I wouldn’t want people to think as caregivers we are medicating them so they are comatose, or putting them to sleep so we don’t have to deal with them,” said Barbara Leiner, who fostered more than 300 children in Los Angeles County over 24 years and runs online training forums for foster parents. On the contrary, she said, in her experience medications benefited a significant number of her children. “They’re better in control of their behaviors. When they’re not on psychotropic drugs, they have a tough time in school, the other kids don’t like them, they’re out of control.” Psychiatrists concerned about overprescribing acknowledge there are legitimate reasons for some children to take psychotropic medications, and even the riskiest drugs can be lifesaving for the small sliver of kids with psychoses that are clearly diagnosed. Studies show that’s no more than 1 to 2 percent of children, depending on the illness. Marjorie, an Oakland special-education teacher who uses only her first name, adopted two of her students from the foster care system and said antipsychotics have been indispensable in their care. The two boys, Jakeel, 18, and Smith, 11, take one antipsychotic medication daily to treat symptoms of severe autism. Off the meds, Jakeel tried to leap out of a moving car because he didn’t get a toy he wanted. Smith killed a family pet and once tried to climb out a third-story window. “He talks about the ants in his head without the Abilify,” said Marjorie, who approaches her mothering with a cheerful practicality. “So I say, ‘OK, we don’t want ants in your head!’ ” Still, when her sons first came to live with her, Marjorie quickly discovered they were on more medications while they were in foster care than she felt were necessary. So she lowered the dosages and limited the multiple antipsychotics to just one. That kind of attention can be lacking in the foster care system, and that adds another layer of concern for often-displaced kids on such powerful drugs. More than 60 percent of the children who have been in foster care at least two years have moved two or more times in the system. So even their prescribers — who may be private practitioners or work at public clinics — often know little about them or their family histories when they meet during office visits. Nash recently reviewed 150 requests for medication in the Los Angeles juvenile court and said he found cases in which doctors prescribed with no medical records or drug history. The dangers are real. For example, some antidepressants carry a “black box label” proclaiming a high suicide risk for young patients. The FDA advises that children be closely monitored for worsening depression and sleeplessness. Yet for foster kids without parents, the medications are often prescribed even when a watchful eye is absent, said attorney Jennifer Rodriguez, a former foster youth who is now executive director of the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center. “As a parent, when your child goes on something that’s dangerous, the most dangerous drugs that are out there,” she said, “your doctor is relying on you — someone who knows that child, who watches over time.” ‘Treatment for a broken heart’ Many of the foster youth interviewed for this story shared another theme: There was no need for medication when they got the emotional support they needed all along. Often it was an adult who vowed to stick by them no matter what — a long-lost relative, a teacher, a volunteer advocate, an exceptionally devoted nurse, or the foster parent who seemed to see through the raucous behaviors to the kid inside. Those key relationships — not medications — are what most helped them eventually calm down and start to feel better, the youth said. “I cannot count the number of times I have seen children on multiple medications who are really suffering from a broken heart,” said Menlo Park child psychiatrist David Arredondo, who has worked with foster youth for 30 years. “And the treatment for a broken heart is not another medication.” Today, Rochelle Trochtenberg doesn’t take a single psychotropic medication. She works with troubled youth in Humboldt County and is working on a master’s degree in social work. But in foster care in Los Angeles, she was diagnosed with a host of mental illnesses, including bipolar, schizoaffective and post-traumatic stress disorders, major depression, bulimia and generalized anxiety. “They attach all these labels to you in foster care,” she said, “but the bottom line is I come from a home where physical and sexual abuse were my daily norm, where I lived in fear every day, where I felt responsible to protect my younger sister from the abuse.” Trochtenberg spends time in the backyard of her Eureka home. After aging out of the foster care system, she lived on the streets until a friend’s family took her in. After just one session, therapist Nicoli Tucker said she was able to see that Trochtenberg had been horribly misdiagnosed and didn't need psychotropic drugs as a teen. Trochtenberg knew she needed help with depression at age 13, when she was removed from her family home in Los Angeles. After suffering years of physical and sexual abuse that drove her to attempt suicide in the seventh grade, she was grateful when social workers rescued her. Yet while the state freed her from one type of abuse, it delivered her into a life of so many temporary homes and psych meds that she lost count. When she aged out of foster care with a list of 10 medications and nowhere to stay, she lived on the streets until a friend’s family took her in. Then she met Nicoli Tucker, a therapist who helped her see beyond her medicated self to a girl who had simply been failed by her family and by the foster care system. Tucker treated the troubled teen for six years. It took a year to build up trust, she said, but only a single counseling session to see that Trochtenberg had been horribly misdiagnosed. “My professional answer is I think that was overboard,” Tucker said of Trochtenberg’s drug regimen. “My personal answer is: Big Pharma and Wall Street. There’s big money in keeping these kids drugged, and I think it’s a travesty.” Daniels also looks back on her medication history as a terrible miscalculation. In a six-week span when she was 14, social workers moved her to three different group homes in Alameda County, where she spent much of the time worrying about her stuff being stolen. The antidepressants and antipsychotics used to subdue her during that time didn’t work for what was really hurting, she said. “When I look back as an adult at who I was when I was initially diagnosed and given the medication — I needed love,” Daniels said. “Nobody really sees that hurt girl, or the one who truly just wants her mom to get her act together and to get off drugs, or who wants a family, something stable. “The system relies heavily on medication to do a job that parents are supposed to do.” # # # Doctors' dilemma: 'Do benefits outweigh the risks?' When federal regulators determine that a medication is safe and effective, they assure the public with the FDA stamp of approval on the pill bottle’s label. But doctors who treat troubled foster children often turn to a legal but worrisome practice: prescribing powerful antipsychotic medications for conditions and age groups no regulator has blessed. Drug companies are prohibited from promoting their medications for so-called “off-label” uses, but the law allows doctors to prescribe them for conditions that aren’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration. When the patients are children, however, the risks of such prescribing are magnified: Their brains are still developing, and debilitating side effects can have lifelong consequences. “Whenever you prescribe medication, you have to ask yourself: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?” said George Fouras, a San Francisco child psychiatrist who specializes in foster care. “That always has to weigh heavy on our minds. Do you want to expose somebody to very serious side effects if there are other alternatives?” Off-label prescribing can be life-saving in some cases, and it is widely used to treat cancer and rare diseases. Fouras said doctors base their decisions to write such prescriptions on their own patients’ outcomes and published reports of case studies. But one doctor’s comfort level is another’s concern. Menlo Park child psychiatrist David Arredondo said many doctors are too comfortable prescribing antipsychotics to children. Unless a child has “a major, major psychiatric illness, I don’t think we have any business doing that to a developing child’s brain,” he said. “It’s too risky.” For children, the FDA has approved antipsychotics only to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe autism — serious mental health conditions found in just 1 to 2 percent of the child population. But University of Maryland professor of pharmacy and psychiatry Julie Zito has found that the drugs often are prescribed off-label to control children’s behavior. In a rare look at diagnoses of children covered by Medi-Cal, California’s public health system, Zito found that almost one-half of the antipsychotics used were off-label and about a third were for behavior problems such as ADHD, “conduct disorder” or “oppositional defiant disorder.” Her yet-to-be-published study found that in 2009 there was an 18-fold greater use of antipsychotics on foster children than on non-foster kids receiving Medi-Cal because of their families’ income levels. These findings were presented to the FDA in April. There is no research on the effects of psychotropic medication on children’s brains, but there is cause for alarm in the research on adults. In a widely cited study published last year, University of Iowa neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen examined MRI images of 211 schizophrenic adults and determined that chronic use of antipsychotics, not the illness, caused “smaller brain tissue volumes.” Other side effects of the drugs, such as rapid weight gain and diabetes risk, are well-documented. In a 2009 study published in JAMA Psychiatry, children on antipsychotics added up to 15 percent of their body weight in less than two weeks. Every one of the study’s 257 participants gained weight. The studies only verify what doctors such as longtime child psychiatrist Glen Elliott already know. He routinely sees it in his exam room at the Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto. To the doctor’s shock, a new patient, a 5-year-old boy, came to him after ballooning — in six months — from normal weight to morbidly obese. Elliott said he and other doctors have been stunned to learn how often antipsychotic use in children results in obesity. In his young patient’s case, “the saddest thing was, his behavior was no worse off the medicine than it was on the medicine.” How we acquired and analyzed a decade of state data Alarm over psychotropic drug use on foster children has been growing across the country for years, but understanding the scope of the problem in California required months of negotiations with the state just to take a closer look. The result is an unprecedented review of a decade of prescribing data from the state’s foster care system that begins an ongoing investigation called “Drugging Our Kids.” How we analyzed the problem Foster care prescribing patterns are best tracked by reviewing what the state calls “pharmacy benefit claims” billed to Medi-Cal, the state’s publicly funded health system, which pays drug costs for California foster children. While an individual’s health records are private, much of the information in the pharmacy claims is public under state and federal law. In October, staff writer Karen de Sá filed a California Public Records Act request for 10 years of those claims, stripped of any information that would identify individuals. What we requested This newspaper sought raw data that would allow it to analyze the number of foster children receiving psychotropic drugs, with breakdowns on age, gender, ethnicity, geography and type of residence. The request also asked for data to provide a window into what experts consider a disturbing trend: the number of children who received multiple psych meds, and the number who received the potent class of drugs known as antipsychotics. The state’s response The state Department of Health Care Services, insisting even “de-identified” data could be used to identify individuals, refused the newspaper’s request for raw data and then twice provided aggregate data that was either incomplete or inaccurate. By late July, after nine months of negotiations, the state delivered aggregate data covering the fiscal years 2004-05 through 2013-14 that allowed for limited analysis. The newspaper’s news research director, Leigh Poitinger, conducted that analysis. The newspaper and its lawyers continue to fight for parts of the original request. Other groups that have sought prescribing data from the state have encountered similar resistance. Members of a state task force considering new safeguards for foster children say their work has been hampered because they can’t get data to understand the specific problems. California’s tracking problem The state was able to provide accurate prescription data only for foster children whose health care was through traditional Medi-Cal. But over the last decade, many counties have begun shifting their foster children to managed health care plans. By 2014, about 38 percent of foster children were covered by managed care plans. Those children are not reflected in the numbers the state provided to the newspaper because the state could not vouch for the accuracy of that data. In reality, there are certainly more foster children receiving psych meds than are reflected in the analysis, so the newspaper used percentages — instead of overall numbers of children — to describe the trends. Why it’s hard to compare studies Other studies on foster youth are limited to children who are in foster care a minimum of six months. The state used that methodology in a 2010-11 report to the federal government that showed as many as 19.2 percent of California foster children in that year received psychotropic medications. By comparison, the data the state provided to the newspaper for the same fiscal year showed 14.7 percent of foster children on psych meds. That’s because that data looked at every foster child covered by Medi-Cal (but not in managed care) over the 10-year period — even ones who were only briefly in foster care. While the newspaper’s analysis provides a comprehensive view of the state’s prescribing patterns over time, experts say data using this methodology — which was suggested by the state — likely reflects a lower rate of prescribing than is actually occurring. David Grant is an expert in population health surveys who directs the California Health Interview Survey for the UCLA Center on Health Policy Research. “You may have a lot of people showing up in there,” Grant said, “that never even have a chance to obtain a prescription during their time in foster care.”

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More of the old "Do as I say, not as I do" from our religious leaders, government masters and police??? http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-ben-hueso-arrested-suspicion-drunk-driving-20140822-story.html California Sen. Ben Hueso arrested on suspicion of drunk driving By Patrick McGreevy contact the reporter California Sen. Ben Hueso arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol State Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) was arrested early Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the California Highway Patrol. Hueso, 44, was stopped at 2:24 a.m. by CHP officers who spotted him driving the wrong way on a one-way street, 15th Street near the state Capitol, CHP Officer Julie Powell said. Hueso was driving a state car, a white Ford Fusion at the time, she said. “The officers observed objective signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication,” Powell said, adding that a subsequent field investigation determined that Hueso was under the influence of alcohol and “unable to safely operate the vehicle.” Hueso was taken into custody by the officers and booked into Sacramento County Jail at 3:27 a.m., county records indicate. He faces two possible misdemeanor charges, including driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or more. Bail was set at $1,482. Earlier in the evening, he had attended a reception by the Latino Legislative Caucus for members who are leaving office this year. A photo from the event at Il Fornaio restaurant showed what appeared to be wine on the table. Another photo, time-stamped at 11:19 p.m., was posted on Twitter by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and shows Hueso with other senators at the Capitol, his shirt untucked and a glass in his hand as they all appeared to be singing. "Yes, Loving My Latino Caucus Boys," is the caption on the photo. Sen. Hueso issued a statement apologizing for his behavior. “I am truly and profoundly sorry for the unacceptably poor personal judgment which I demonstrated last night,” Hueso said. “As someone who cares deeply about the public safety, I sincerely apologize to my family, my constituents and my colleagues in the Senate for breaching the trust they’ve all placed in me.” Hueso said he accepts personal responsibility for his actions and any punishments that occur. “I will also engage in immediate, corrective actions to ensure this kind of personal conduct is never repeated,” Hueso said. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) was dismayed by his colleague’s arrest and said he would probably take away Hueso’s privilege to use a state car. He did not know if other discipline would be sought by the Senate. “Obviously my reaction to the events of the prior evening is extreme disappointment,” Steinberg said. “It’s a lapse of personal judgment and I’m only glad that no one was hurt.” Steinberg said the Senate would not allow its members to use a balcony for drinking alcohol and he raised his eyebrows over the drinking at the Assembly speaker’s balcony. “The picture speaks for itself,” Steinberg said. “The whole situation, I’m not happy about.” Hueso's arrest could complicate Democratic efforts to push through key legislation given that another senator, Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), has been on home leave because of a broken leg and three other Democratic senators were suspended in March because of criminal charges. Hueso was elected to the Senate in March 2013 and represents a district in San Diego County. He formerly served in the Assembly. He chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Select Committee on California’s Energy Independence. Before his election to state office, Hueso served on the San Diego City Council and the California Coastal Commission. He has a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.

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Sarah Palin: I hate that Tina Fey made me look like an idiot http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/08/20/sarah-palin-i-hate-that-tina-fey-made-me-look-like-an-idiot/ Sure I love making fun of Sarah Palin and calling her a bimbo like most other people. In fact I have a web page that makes fun of her. Its: http://sarah-palin-2012.tripod.com But in reality I don't think she is another dumb stupid politician. I suspect she is another smart crook that got into politics because that's where the moneys at. Really dumb crooks rob banks and get a few thousand dollars at the most with each robbery. And they usually get caught and spend a few years time in prison. Really smart crooks get elected to a government office and steal hundreds of thousands of dollars of our tax dollars at at time. And they rarely get caught. And when they do they usually get a slap on the wrist at most. While Sarah Palin may no know where the Soviet Union is on a map, she certainly knows there is a lot money in politics. And she laughs all the way to the bank as she uses her job to screw the rest of us. http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/08/20/sarah-palin-i-hate-that-tina-fey-made-me-look-like-an-idiot/ Sarah Palin: I hate that Tina Fey made me look like an idiot August 20, 2014, 9:16 PM ET Sarah Palin still seems a bit resentful toward Saturday Night Live when it comes to its backwater beauty queen depiction of her during the lead-up to the 2008 election. In an excerpt from the new edition of SNL tell-all “Live From New York,”printed in the Hollywood Reporter, Palin had this to say about her decision to be a guest on the show: “I know that they portrayed me as an idiot, and I hated that, and I wanted to come on the show and counter some of that.” This isn’t the first time she’s voiced displeasure with Tina Fey and her epic impression. Back in 2009, Sarah Palin said it was “perplexing” that the comedian was named entertainer of the year, and that “it also says a great deal about our society.” Of course, she was a bit on the defensive, considering the lampooning she had endured. Five years later, Palin hasn’t forgotten. If given the chance, she’d tell Fey: “You need to at least pay for my kids’ braces or something from all the money that you made off of pretending that you’re me! My goodness, you capitalized on that! Can’t you contribute a little bit? Jeez!” Palin also blew off what the show did to her career trajectory. “SNL is egotistical if they believe that it was truly an effect on maybe the public debate about who should lead the country in the next four years,” she said. On the other hand, Horatio Sanz, a cast member at the time, had no doubt of its impact, or the impact of Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush. “As funny as Will’s impression was, the audience, the whole country, would probably see that as, ‘Oh, I like Bush. Because he’s Will,’ he said. “You know, if Will hadn’t done that impression, or at least made him likable, it may have tipped it the other way. I honestly think so. We made up for it. I think Tina’s impression basically killed Sarah Palin.” A stretch? Well, at least one study at the time supported Sanz. Just how much Palin’s doppleganger hurt the candidate’s chances in the political arena is debatable, especially considering the missteps she had of her own doing. What isn’t up for debate is that Fey absolutely nailed it with “And I can see Russia from my house” and global warming is “just God hugging us a little bit closer.” http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2014/08/20/sarah-palin-tina-fey-saturday-night-live/ Sarah Palin speaks about Tina Fey and being depicted as an 'idiot' By: Catalina Camia August 20, 2014 12:50 pm ET Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton from “Saturday Night Live.” (Dana Edelson, NBC, via AP) Sarah Palin decided to appear on Saturday Night Live to beat back the impression that she’s a dim bulb. That’s what the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee — spoofed on the comedy show by the actress who bears a striking resemblance to her — says in an update to Live from New York, the oral history book about SNL. The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday published an excerpt of the book, which comes out Sept. 9. “I know that they portrayed me as an idiot, and I hated that, and I wanted to come on the show and counter some of that,” Palin is quoted as saying. The excerpt is chock-full of nuggets about Saturday Night Live‘s take on politics, including the reaction to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s decision to cancel on the show in 2008, the challenge of impersonating President Obama and how Tina Fey came to play Palin. The show in which Palin appeared — with Fey as the Alaska governor conducting a news conference — drew 14 million viewers. Palin, a former Alaska governor, says in the book that Fey owes her. Here’s why: If I ran into Tina Fey again today, I would say: ‘You need to at least pay for my kids’ braces or something from all the money that you made off of pretending that you’re me! My goodness, you capitalized on that! Can’t you contribute a little bit? Jeez!’

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Using the government to put your business competitors out of business??? One of the easiest ways to put you business competitors out of business it to get the government to shut them down. It these articles that what it looks like growers of New Mexico Hatch Chile peppers want to do. This is what it seems like Andrew Myers and his Arizona Dispensary Associations seems to want to do in Arizona. From the way Andrew Myers wrote Prop 203 and from what he has said about proposed laws he is alleged to be writting to legal marijuana in Arizona it looks like Andrew Myers wants to give his group of medical marijuana dispensaries a government monopoly on growing marijuana in Arizona. http://associationsnow.com/2014/08/association-rises-aid-new-mexicos-chile-pepper/ Association Rises To The Aid of New Mexico’s Chile Pepper By Katie Bascuas / Aug 22, 2014 The New Mexico chile pepper industry is attempting to protect the integrity of one of the state’s valuable cash crops via a new certification program. The New Mexico Chile Association is bringing the heat to protect the state’s official vegetable, the chile pepper. Chile is a way of life in our state, ingrained in our culture and our economy. This week, NMCA announced a new trademark that will distinguish and preserve the reputation of the cash crop, as trademarks have done for other well-known agricultural products such as Vidalia Onions and Idaho Potatoes. Like other association-backed trademark campaigns, NMCA’s New Mexico Certified Chile program aims to help cut down on the number of pepper imposters that are falsely labeled as “NM Grown,” even though they are produced outside the state. “Some people are asking why this is necessary,” NMCA’s Executive Director Jaye Hawkins told The Packer. “One reason is competition from other regions has been a big issue for our growers because some people have been mislabeling their products and using ‘New Mexico’ when the [peppers] were not grown here.” NMCA also hopes the program will bolster the state’s chile industry, which has seen a steep decline over the last couple of decades. The average number of acres of harvested chiles in the state dropped by almost 26,000 between 1992 and 2013, and 82 percent of the chile peppers consumed in the United States is imported from other countries, according to the association. Since NMCA launched the trademark, more than 150 restaurants, growers, groceries, and processors have become certified to use the official brand stamp. There is a $500 annual fee as well as a 0.002 cent per-pound fee to obtain a license for the trademark, which is available to NMCA members only. “Chile is a way of life in our state, ingrained in our culture and our economy,” said New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez in the trademark announcement. “It supports more than 4,000 jobs and contributes more than $400 million every year to New Mexico’s economy. … This program further cements the status of New Mexico chile on par with other nationally renowned state and regional products.” http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_26360610/nm-chile-police-green-alert-harvest-ramps-up NM chile police on 'green' alert as harvest ramps up By Diana Alba Soular dalba@lcsun-news.com @AlbaSoular on Twitter Posted: 08/18/2014 06:13:26 PM MDT LAS CRUCES - As roasting machines fire up across the state, New Mexico's chile police are on "green" alert. Eleven inspectors with the Las Cruces-based New Mexico Department of Agriculture are tasked with making sure green chile billed as New Mexican was indeed grown in New Mexico. They scrutinize advertising mailers, signs in grocery stores and product labels on boxes and bags of green chile — looking for any claim that the chile product in question hails from within the borders of the Land of Enchantment or one of its notable growing areas or municipalities. Proponents of a 3-year-old state law that kick-started inspections, the New Mexico Chile Advertising Act, said their hope is to bolster the health of New Mexico's pepper industry, which has struggled the past two decades. Steve MacIntyre — For the Sun-News New Mexico Department of Agriculture inspector Juan Rodriguez inspects bags of chile Monday to confirm the chile Separately, on Monday, the New Mexico Chile Association announced a new trademark program as another attempt to boost in-state-grown chile's market niche. Turning up the heat If the chile labeling or advertisement suggests it's New Mexico-grown, the seller — usually grocery stores, where inspectors do most of their work — must show proof. "We'll say, 'OK, produce the form for us,'" said Raymond E. Johnson, assistant division director with the NMDA's Standards and Consumer Services Division. That evidence comes as paperwork that's supposed to accompany each pepper shipment from in-state fields all the way through to the grocery store, Johnson said. Some retailers might not have the form on hand but will tell an inspector they bought the chile from a local farmer. In that case, Johnson said, the inspector will wait for the store to get the document from the supplier. If the store can't get the papers, it has to change its in-store chile signs or advertising, removing references to New Mexico. Some New Mexico farmers kicked off their harvest in late July. Monday, 23 percent of the state's green chile crop had been harvested — up from 5 percent the week before, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. The harvesting progress is slightly ahead of last year's at this point in the season, but trailing a five-year average. Growers said the harvest is heading into its yearly, mid-August full throttle. Chile fraud targeted The state Legislature in 2011 passed the New Mexico Chile Advertising Act, aimed at curbing the sale of pretender chile within the state's borders. The proposal, backed by some members of the pepper industry, targeted chile imported from other states or Mexico and marketed, falsely, as New Mexican. Since the law took effect, the NMDA has issued 24 "stop-sale" notices during roughly 200 retailer inspections, according to NMDA numbers. Those notices, treated essentially like warnings that must be corrected, have mainly been issued for improper labels on processed and dried chile products, Johnson said. The inspectors look for violations during regular checks of grocery stores. They're also are tasked with enforcing metrics-related laws, such as checking whether a gallon of milk is actually a gallon. In addition to regular inspections, they follow up on consumer complaints about suspected mislabeled chile. Mike Melendrez, produce manager at Lowe's Fiesta Foods on North Main Street in Las Cruces, said the chile law hasn't posed a problem at that store. "I think everybody has caught on that if you say it's New Mexico chile, you better have that certificate," he said. Stores like us, we ask for that certificate, any time we get a delivery." Melendrez said he prefers giving customers even more information than is required, such as telling them whether chile originated from Hatch or Las Cruces. "I'm pretty straight-forward," he said. "I don't want to tell anybody anything that it's not." New trademark In addition to the state law, processors and farmers with the New Mexico Chile Association said Monday they're launching a new trademark effort, called the "New Mexico Certified Chile" program. The group said it will build upon the state law. Retailers, restaurants, processors and others involved in the chile industry can apply for the mark, a sign their chile in genuinely New Mexico-grown, according to the news release. "We are confident that we can continue to expand markets for the New Mexico chile industry as more consumers understand there is no imitation of the original," said Dino Cervantes, a chile grower in the Mesilla Valley and president of the New Mexico Chile Association. Registered entities will be listed at www.getnmchile.com, according to the group. Demand growing? The Legislature revised the chile advertising statute in 2013, expanding the scope not only to ban false claims about New Mexico chile but also false references "using the name of any city, town, county, village, pueblo, mountain, river or other geographic feature or features located in New Mexico," according to the law. Hatch farmer Jerry Franzoy, who supported the law's passage, said New Mexico's chile industry has strengthened as a result of the measure. That's reflected in higher prices paid to farmers for the crop. And that should gradually boost the amount of chile acreage in New Mexico, helping to reverse a decline in acreage planted. "We're seeing more demand in here because they're not bringing in chile from other places and putting the Hatch name on it," he said. "It's really helped us a lot." Plus, Franzoy said, awareness among consumers has increased since the law took effect. "The processing plants are starting to see that people buying chile are wanting New Mexico chile," he said. Last year's statute change also added an exception for companies whose brand name or trademark used "New Mexico" or related terms in their products, but whose chile wasn't actually from in-state. Those companies can still sell the products in-state, but must add a "prominent" disclaimer stating: "NOT GROWN IN NEW MEXICO," according to the law. Johnson said there's no problem with selling out-of-state-grown chile; sellers just can't make a false claim that it was from in-state. Acreage low After three relatively steady years, chile acreage in New Mexico dropped to about a four-decade low in 2013, according to federal numbers. The harvested acres dropped to 8,600 statewide in 2013 — 1,000 acres fewer than a year earlier and 100 acres fewer than a previous low point in 2010. The last time acreage harvested was lower was in 1973, when 7,880 acres were picked. The crop's peak was in 1992, when 34,500 acres were plucked from in-state fields. The Chile Advertising Act isn't the only step that will be needed to reverse the pattern of declining acreage, said Jaye Hawkins, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association. Other needed measures include the creation of a "de-stemmer" to mechanize a chile stem removal, a job done by laborers in the field, and research into boosting disease-resistance for the crop. "I just think it takes some time," she said. "I'd expect to see a cumulative effect." The value of the New Mexico chile crop in 2013 was about $49.8 million, according to federal numbers. Industry members say the value, once processing and related economic value are factored in, is more. Year-round checks Though the fresh chile harvest is one focus of NMDA inspectors, Johnson said they carry out inspections year-round because the law applies to processed products, too. Companies that make chile items such as powders and salsas must go through a registration process with the NMDA, according to Johnson. They attest that the chile in an item is at least 95 percent New Mexico-grown and send in a copy of the product label. When inspectors are in the grocery stores, they check different chile-containing items against a master list of the registered products. If an item isn't on the list, an inspector issues a "stop-sale" notice, which gives 30 days for the problem to be corrected by the food processing company that made it, according to Johnson. If the chile really is from New Mexico, the company simply has to register the product with the NMDA. If it's not from New Mexico, the company will have to change its label, or, in the case of companies that qualify for the exemption, add the disclaimer. If a chile product maker outright refuses to comply, Johnson said, items could be pulled from store shelves across New Mexico. The law doesn't apply in other states. "Ninety-nine percent of the time, folks are willing to correct it," he said. Las Cruces processor Chris Biad, whose business mainly focuses upon red chile, said the law doesn't have as much impact on his operation as it does for other branches of the industry. That's because he's involved in extracting color from red chile. And, unlike with green chile, there's not as much emphasis from customers for it to be New Mexico-grown. Still, Biad said he supports accurate labeling of chile products. "As long as they're policing it properly, it's a good deal for the customer because at least they know what they're getting," he said. Franzoy said the law, while not perfect, helps boost the branding of New Mexico chile. He said chile in particular from the Hatch area has a distinctive taste, possibly because of weather and other growing conditions that are tough to pinpoint. "It's like grapes grown in the Napa Valley," he said. "Buyers want that." Johnson said anyone wanting to report suspected false advertising involving chile sold in New Mexico can report it to his office: 575-646-1616. Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443. http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2014/08/18/new-mexico-chile-will-now-be-certified.html Aug 18, 2014, 1:27pm MDT Updated: Aug 20, 2014, 6:11pm MDT New Mexico chile will now be certified Randy Siner | Albuquerque Business First ​A new program started by the New Mexico Chile Association is hoping to cut down on imposters. In a news release, the organization said it’s unveiling a new “New Mexico Certified Chile” label to go on chile grown in the state in order to prove its authenticity. The program launches tomorrow at The Range in Bernalillo at a special ceremony with Governor Susana Martinez. A new program started by the New Mexico Chile Association is hoping to cut down on imposters. In a news release, the organization said it’s unveiling a new “New Mexico Certified Chile” label to go on chile grown in the state in order to prove its authenticity. The program launches tomorrow at The Range in Bernalillo at a special ceremony with Governor Susana Martinez. “Red or green is a question New Mexicans answer every day at breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Martinez said in the news release. “Chile is a way of life in our state, ingrained in our culture and our economy. It supports more than 4,000 jobs and contributes more than $400 million every year to New Mexico’s economy. The one question no one should ever have to ask is, ‘ Is this chile really New Mexican?’ This program further cements the status of New Mexico Chile on par with other nationally-renowned state and regional products.” The NMCA said it hopes the certified chile label will help make New Mexico chile more recognizable nationwide and put it in a class with Vidalia onions and Idaho potatoes, both of which already have similar certification programs. It is already illegal in the state to advertise chile as being grown in New Mexico if it is not. But the new label will allow consumers to identify New Mexico-grown chile. The NMCA also established a website, getnmchile.com, to help people find certified growers, retailers, products and restaurants. The first certified food company is Bueno Foods, the first certified grower is Penn Farms and the first certified grocer is John Brooks Supermart. “We are confident that we can continue to expand markets for the New Mexico chile industry as more consumers understand there is no imitation of the original,” said NMCA President Dino Cervantes. Want Albuquerque news in your inbox? Click here to sign up for our email newsletters.

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Where do candidates for governor stand on gay marriage? Sadly most of the people running for Governor in Arizona are homophobic jerks who seem to think gay folks are second class citizens who shouldn't be allowed to marry. The only good guys who support gay marriage are Fred DuVal, Barry Hess and John Lewis Mealer. While Christine Jones and Doug Ducey seem to be against gay marriage they both seem to realized that the state shouldn't be telling us who can and can't get married. Andrew Thomas and Frank Riggs seem to be homophobic jerks who are against gay marriage. Mesa Mayor Scott Smith wasn't in the survey. Personally I don't like Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, because he has illegally given 3 religious colleges millions of dollars in corporate welfare to create branches of their colleges in Mesa. That is illegal per the Arizona Constitution which says the state is not allowed to spend money on religious stuff. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/asked-answered/2014/08/22/asked-answered-arizona-governor-candidates-gay-marriage/14461133/ Asked: Where do candidates for governor stand on gay marriage? Andrea Hiland, Special for The Republic | azcentral.com 3:30 p.m. MST August 22, 2014 Question from Lindsey: Hi Andrea, How can we find out which candidates for governor support gay marriage, or where they stand on the issue at all? Thank you! Answer: State politics reporter for the Arizona Republic, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, has been covering this race very closely. She posed Lindsey's question to all of the candidates and requested a prompt response. Here is the question that was sent, and the responses that were received: Do you support gay marriage? Why or why not? Frank Riggs: "I do not support gay marriage. I believe in the sacrament of marriage between one man as husband and one woman as wife. I also believe this institution is the foundation of the family and the basic building block of society and should therefore be protected in law as the only form of marriage that is sanctioned and recognized by government policy. As a U.S. Congressman, I voted to defend traditional marriage - and for the Defense of Marriage Act - in 1996. I stand by my vote and will not support the legalization of same-sex unions in Arizona." Christine Jones: "I'm personally in favor of traditional marriage. I've been in a traditional marriage for 27 years—I highly recommend it. Importantly, the Constitution prohibits the state from enacting any law that interferes with the free expression of religion. Marriage is fundamentally a religious act and the state, therefore, is prohibited from directing the church in that regard." Doug Ducey: "The voters have spoken on this, and I respect their views both now and in the future. I believe in traditional marriage, as it is defined in our state's constitution. I realize reasonable people can disagree on this and neither side should be maligned for their beliefs. As governor, my administration will treat everyone with kindness, decency and respect." Fred DuVal: "I support marriage equality because everyone deserves the freedom to marry who they love. All of us know friends and family members who have been in decades-long committed relationships, but right now, they're denied the right to marry. That's wrong and it's unacceptable. As governor, I'll do everything in my power to make marriage equality a reality in Arizona." Barry Hess: "I support every individual's absolute right to associate with whomever they want, in any manner they choose, whatever they want to call it. What I do not support, is government (State or Federal) recognizing, or making any special provision for any Citizen as anything other than an individual; regardless of their personal contracts, or relationships. The moment we allow our servant government to see us as anything other than equal individuals, is the moment we all lose our individual rights, and that's why I support getting government completely out of the marriage business, period." John Lewis Mealer: "I am a strict Constitutionalist and as such I agree with the limits and mandates of the Constitution. The first ten words of the Bill of Rights are quite clear, "Congress shall make no law regarding an establishment of religion...." This being said, Congress (i.e. lawmakers) cannot make a decision one way or another on what any particular church does. There is no legal definition of marriage regardless of what people want. Bill of rights makes that quite clear. While a church may marry whomever they choose and the state must recognize that union of two consenting adults, any church may also choose not to marry any couple they deem unfit for their version of marriage. I agree that all people have the right to pursue happiness as long as it does not harm someone else." Andrew Thomas: Not only do I oppose same-sex marriage, which undermines the institution of marriage, I am the only candidate for Governor who supported SB 1062. Likewise, I am the only candidate who has run TV and radio ads across Arizona defending marriage and moral values against these attacks.

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Make sure you vote to boot Mary Rose Wilcox out of office. Mary Rose Wilcox is a gun grabber as noted in this articles. Mary Rose Wilcox also supports the insane "War on Drugs" and wants to continue sending people to prison for the victimless crime of smoking marijuana. Mary Rose Wilcox also voted to steal a little over $1 billion of our tax dollars and give it to Jerry Colengelo to build that silly Bank One Baseball Stadium. That's why Larry Naman attempted to assassinate her in 1997. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/08/23/wilcox-campaign-congress-bitter/14506029/ Wilcox stays on attack in bitter campaign for Congress Rebekah L. Sanders, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:01 a.m. MST August 24, 2014 On the same day last week that monsoon rains swept through neighborhoods in a Phoenix congressional district, the campaigns of two Democrats locked in a fierce race for the seat were spending their time differently. Supporters of Mary Rose Wilcox, a survivor of gun violence who has spent 31 years in office, held a news conference in front of her opponent's headquarters decrying his votes for looser gun laws, though Wilcox did not attend. Ruben Gallego, a two-term state lawmaker who was wearing combat boots from tours in Iraq, was helping fill sandbags for neighbors whose homes were in danger of flooding. Though it was but a snapshot in a long campaign, the juxtaposition of the activities on Tuesday reflected the tenor of the race since it began in earnest six months ago. Wilcox went on attack against her rival early, while Gallego, at least publicly, has stayed largely positive. His campaign has pushed aggressively some attacks in recent weeks and Wilcox supporters argue he has waged a negative whisper campaign throughout. A number of rumors have been difficult to pinpoint. The Arizona Republic looked at the public record, collecting 18 mailers and advertisements produced by Wilcox, Gallego and outside groups supportive of Gallego. Some were positive about the candidate, others were negative about the opponent, while others were "contrast" pieces, which are positive about the candidate but negative about the opponent. Wilcox sent two mailers that were positive and six that were negative or contrasting. The inverse was true for Gallego and the outside groups that support him. They paid for eight mailers and advertisements that were positive and two that were negative or contrasting. The groups have spent more than $200,000 for Gallego, while none has backed Wilcox. The Democrats are in a four-way primary in the 7th District to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz. Their lesser-known competitors are the Rev. Jarrett Maupin and Randy Camacho. The election is Tuesday. Wilcox's constant attack has been on Gallego's gun record. She and her campaign staffers mention the line of criticism in virtually every debate, news conference, visit to a voter's home and statement to the media. She hammers it in mailers crowded with pictures of bullets. Wilcox notes that Gallego was given a B+ rating from the National Rifle Association, voted in favor of some looser gun laws as a state lawmaker and at one time carried a gun to work. In 1997, Wilcox was shot in the hip outside a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting. The gunman later said he shot Wilcox because she supported a sales tax that funded the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium. Gallego calls the charges an exaggeration. He voted against other gun-rights measures and lobbied Congress with gun-control activists to tighten background checks. When Wilcox, in debates or contrast mailers, speaks positively, she touts her elected experience, battles on the Maricopa County Board against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and helping the community, like hosting a basketball league for teens. She promises to take on the gun lobby. And she promotes endorsements from Pastor, former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and other local leaders. Of the two Gallego mailers that attack Wilcox, he argues she is a politician out for herself. Gallego accuses his opponent of voting for higher taxes while she failed to pay her own and of buying land from Arizona Public Service Co. for less than market value while voting on issues affecting the utility company. The campaign has pushed the criticisms in the media in recent weeks. Wilcox's campaign says she got behind on taxes because her business was damaged by Arpaio's retaliation and the recession. She is on a payment plan with the Internal Revenue Service. Her campaign says she bought the utility's vacant lot at the price it was offered because it was a junk-filled eyesore. She has turned it into a place for concerts, barbecues and other community events. The majority of Gal-lego's mailers and public speaking, however, tout his life story and his Arizona and national supporters. He notes he grew up poor, went to Harvard and served in the Marine Corps. He advocates liberal policies on guns, women's health and worker pay. He champions backing from unions, environmental groups, Planned Parenthood and officials such as former Congressman Harry Mitchell. The Wilcox campaign argues she has taken the high road, while Gallego has papered over his political soft spots. Gallego called the attacks "falsehoods" at one debate, though they were accurate.

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More on how Independents are Arizona's largest group of registered voters. When I became a Libertarian in 1994, about 10 percent of the registered voters were Independents. Twenty years later in 2014 Independents are now about 35 percent of the registered voters in Arizona. That trend is also true at the national level with people dumping the Democratic and Republican parties and instead choosing not to join any political party. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/08/24/independents-primary-participation-surges/14523493/ Independents' primary participation surges Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, The Republic | azcentral.com 11:55 p.m. MST August 23, 2014 Felipe Zubia [is that Larry's brother Phil??] severed his ties to the ­Democratic Party in 2010 and re-registered as an independent voter. He had tired of the extreme rhetoric from those in his party, as well as Republicans. He can't pinpoint a specific race, issue or ­instance of partisan bickering that pushed him past the breaking point, but he does ­recall being turned off by the tone of the congressional races that year. This year, for the first time, he voted as an independent in a primary election, ­joining tens of thousands of independents who now make up the largest bloc of Arizona voters and are on track to turn out in record numbers this primary ­election. As of Friday, 83,448 independents in Maricopa County had requested early ballots by mail for the Tuesday primary. That's greater than the 43,500 independents who voted in the 2012 election. In 2010, just 20,000 independents sought to participate in the primary. Find all of the candidate information you need! Need help getting started? Register to vote here. Of those more than 83,000 voters, 60 percent requested Republican ballots, 25 percent Democratic ballots and the rest sought either a municipal-only ballot or requested a ­ballot from a minor party. The rise of independents shows voters are increasingly abandoning established parties and could be poised to ­redefine Arizona politics, which lean Republican, in coming years. What is fueling this surge in independents' involvement in partisan primaries? Experts attribute it to intriguing statewide races, election officials and voter-education groups encouraging independents' participation in primaries, and candidates' vigorous ­efforts to court them. For the first time in a dozen years, the governor's race is wide open. Plus, two embattled GOP incumbents, Attorney General Tom Horne and schools superintendent John Huppenthal, are up for re-election. Add to that nasty ­politics in the state treasurer's and secretary of state's races, all among GOP candidates. Zubia, a small-business owner from Scottsdale, was motivated to vote because he's tired of Arizona being a laughingstock on late-night TV, which he worries could cost the state businesses and tourism. He said he saw several good Republicans in the state races — primarily for governor — and decided to vote in the primary instead of sitting it out, like he did in 2012. "I felt I needed to stand up and vote for who I thought was best," said Zubia, 44. "Scott Smith seemed to be lined up with that conservative-yet-moderate vote that can ... push him over the finish line. He had some national experience and presence and he worked with the city of Mesa. I went with him." Political experts and elections officials have long noted independents' growth but have doubted they would quickly or drastically reshape the state's political landscape. In February, independents inched past Republicans to form the largest share of registered voters in Arizona, at nearly 35 percent. Two years earlier, voters not affiliated with an organized party ­surpassed Democrats. As of mid-August, there were 1,152,444 registered independents, 1,122,723 Republicans and 944,665 Democrats. But the registration growth over the years didn't translate into political power at the ­primary ballot boxes, where many races are decided. (This year, for example, the treasurer's race will be decided in the GOP primary.) Independents' turnout rate in primaries has consistently hit about 10 percent, state elections officials have said. This year's uptick means only 11 percent of the registered independents in the state's largest county will vote in the primaries. That appears set to change. Reacting to the growth of independents, this year, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the Maricopa County Elections Department and the Arizona Secretary of State's Office launched efforts to combat the misperception that independents can't vote in primaries and to educate them on when and how to return early ballots. Tom Collins, director of the commission, expects it to spend $400,000 to educate ­independents this election cycle, mostly through TV, movie-theater and radio ads. County Recorder Helen Purcell expects her agency to spend $155,000, mostly on videos and mailers reminding people to vote and telling them how and when to request ballots. "The commission's efforts, working along with the counties, are having an impact," Collins said. "You also live in a world where campaigns are more sophisticated than ever with respect to chasing ­independent ballots." Independents courted Arizona voters in 1998 opened partisan primaries to independent voters, approving the ballot measure with 60 percent of the vote. But ­independents were slow to take advantage, for varying reasons. Some political experts note that independents, by definition, aren't interested in partisan politics, so primaries hold little allure. For many newcomers to the state, registering as an ­independent is a safe harbor while they acquaint themselves with the political landscape. Their rising numbers have candidates courting them this election season. Campaigns are hesitant to reveal their strategies, but generally, they rely on mining data — information about magazine subscriptions, neighborhood values and ­other public records — to identify and then appeal to ­independents. Republican gubernatorial hopeful Doug Ducey is using data from the state party on whether independents requested a GOP or Democratic ballot, and whether the ballot has been returned. Also, his campaign is banking on ­endorsements from public ­figures — such as former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, Maricopa ­County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Suns boss Jerry ­Colangelo — appealing to ­independents. GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Smith, meanwhile, has faith that his "authentic messaging" about bringing people together, regardless of politics, to solve problems as Mesa's mayor will resonate with independents. "A lot of people are independents because they want solutions to problems, not the red-meat rhetoric," Smith campaign manager Max Fose said. Tactically, Smith has tried to reach independents with online banner ads, while also using software that tracks independents who open his campaign's e-mails. The campaign also hopes endorsements by Gov. Jan Brewer and the ­Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona will play well with ­independentvoters. Former GoDaddy executive Christine Jones hopes that the fact she is not a professional politician beholden to the establishment resonates with independents who are turned off by party infighting. Democrat Fred DuVal, who will face the Republican gubernatorial nominee in the general election, has built women- and veterans-based constituency groups dedicated to mobilizing independent voters. The campaign has also secured endorsements by ­independents such as Barry Goldwater's granddaughter, CC Goldwater, which could resonate with independents. "What we're seeing is the lessons of previous campaigns," said John J. "Jack" Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna ­College in California. "Campaigns are very aggressively getting information about ­(independent) voters, neighborhoods ... they're data mining. The surge of (independent voters) may reflect the efforts of these campaigns to identify potentially friendly voters among the ranks of ­registered independents." Experts also credit community groups with helping amp up the number of independents who vote in the primary. Lattie Coor, chairman and CEO of the Center for the Future of Arizona, which is also reaching out to independents, said competitive races have brought "more than the normal attention" to candidates and issues, driving independents' interest. Another group, the Open Nonpartisan Elections committee, recently launched a mobile app that links to an ­online voter-registration form and interacts with users about polling places and voting ­instructions, to appeal to ­independents to vote in the primary. About 4,000 of about 800,000 independents have requested early ballots through the app; the group has communicated with about 14,000 people through other devices and many of them have requested early ballots, said Paul Johnson, chairman of the group. The app also sends users push alerts about prosecutor Horne, who has been dogged by investigations and allegations, and schools chief Huppenthal, who is trying to put a scandal about his anonymous blogging behind him. Those types of high-profile scandals, combined with the millions of dollars of negative advertising that's being pumped into the statewide races, are also motivating independents, said Democratic consultant Bob Grossfeld. Widespread dissatisfaction over the state's education system combined with a schools superintendent outing himself about his belief system, Grossfeld said, and "you have one leg of the stool as to why independents are voting." "Couple that with the Horne insanity, now you've got two. Secretary of state's race? It's not like there's anything particularly wrong, other than the fact they're clobbering each other and you've got so much money being poured into it." Grossfeld continued, "Then there's the governor's race on top of all of it, where there's more money than ever before. And you have these slugfests on the Republican side ... and now, all the sudden, you've got all the ingredients to raise awareness, raise ­concerns and raise interest." Primary party crashers Not everyone is pleased by independents' increased participation in Arizona primaries. Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman A.J. ­LaFaro is among those in the GOP who want to prevent ­independents from voting in the Republican primary if they're not loyal partisans. LaFaro and others are ­researching how to close the Republican Party primary to independents in 2016. "Why should they be allowed to vote in it?" he asked. LaFaro suggested the rise of independents could also be attributed to liberalism within the state Republican Party. "It could be the Republican Party isn't conservative enough," LaFaro said. "I know a lot of people that have re-registered (as) independent that left the Republican Party because it doesn't represent their conservative values." The Arizona Republican Party hasn't decided whether it supports an effort to block independents from voting in GOP primaries. Tim Sifert, party spokesman, said Friday that the party's position will "depend on doing a full analysis" after the November general election. "The question is, was it (independents' turnout) strong enough that we need to react, or is it what it has been historically — pretty minimal?" Democrats say they welcome independents and say more investments should be made to ensure they vote. Any proposal by Republicans to shut out the voting bloc "is ­unacceptable," Arizona Democratic Party Executive ­Director DJ Quinlan said. "Many independents and reasonable Republicans have been dismayed by how extreme the Arizona Republican Party has become," he said. "They have passed bills like SB 1062, continue to massively underfund our schools, and years after the Fiesta Bowl scandal they continue to avoid passing any meaningful ethics reform. "We are focused on making sure these Democratic, ­independent and reasonable Republican voters turn out for the general election," Quinlan said. Mary Ellen Joseph, an ­independent, says she'll be one of them. Ideologically driven politics drove her away from registering as a Democrat years ago. Her politics are not ­"extreme in either way," she said. And a nudge, in the form of a notice from elections officials about requesting her early ballot, reinforced her desire to vote. "I'm the kind of person where I don't believe the signs — in fact, the bigger the signs, the less I believe them," the 58-year-old said. "I'll do my reading and hope that I'll get a good reading from (the candidates)." Republic reporter Mary Jo Pitzl contributed to this article.

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Sounds like this was a protest by Drew Sullivan's Phoenix Anarchist group. While they call themselves "anarchists", I think a better word for their group would be Phoenix Socialists. The think I don't like about Phoenix Anarchist protests is they often resort to vandalism in their protests. Also they seem to hate rich people. Despite the fact that Drew Sullivan seems to the the owner of Ash Avenue Comics in Tempe, and many people would classify him as "rich". Other then that I agree with them in their protest. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/08/24/protest-police-downtown-phoenix/14523477/ Police-brutality protesters gather in downtown Phoenix Weldon B. Johnson, The Republic | azcentral.com 11:59 p.m. MST August 23, 2014 A group of between 50 and 100 protesters took to the streets of downtown Phoenix on Saturday night. The protest, organized through social media, was in response to what the group described as incidences of police brutality in Phoenix and throughout the country. The protest, which lasted for about 90 minutes, was disruptive as it blocked traffic at times, but it was not violent. Phoenix police maintained a presence throughout the march but only directed traffic. They did not engage with the protesters. The group marched throughout the downtown area chanting "hands up, don't shoot" and "no justice, no peace, no racist police." At times the protesters directed other chants at the police that contained profanity. "This is about Ferguson (Missouri) and police brutality," said one protester who would not give her name. "There was also a woman shot by the police here last week so it's very relevant for Phoenix too." Phoenix Police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said they learned of the protest through many of the same social- media outlets that the protesters used to organize. Thompson said they had officers on hand as the protesters gathered. Thompson said they escorted the group for both the safety of the protesters and the public, and also to make sure "they don't get out of line." He said some of the protesters mentioned the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Most of the protesters wore masks and some carried signs, including signs reading "Justice for Michelle" in reference to the shooting of Phoenix resident Michelle Cusseaux, who died on Aug. 14 after being shot by a Phoenix police officer. Authorities said Cusseaux threatened police officers who were called to transport her to an inpatient psychiatric facility with a hammer. The protest ended at Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix with calls to watch social-media sites for the time and location of future events.

How long will you test postive after using marijuana?

THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and the chemical responsible for the high. However, urine tests detect a different chemical called THC-COOH.

THC-COOH is a metabolite of THC. It is produced when the liver breaks down THC and stays in the body for much longer.

The most common cutoff level for THC-COOH used by drug screening companies is 50 ng/mL. Less common cutoff levels are 20 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL.

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How Long Does THC Stay In Your System?

Health Tech - Apr 22, 2014

The amount of time that your body retains traces of marijuana depends on a number of factors, including how often you smoke and your metabolism rate.

Urine testing, or urinalysis, is the most common way of screening for marijuana use. In the United States, current and future employers will often ask you to undergo a urine test.

But how long will marijuana show up in your urine after you stop smoking? Unfortunately, the only accurate answer is: It depends. THC vs. THC-COOH

THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and the chemical responsible for the high. However, urine tests detect a different chemical called THC-COOH.

THC-COOH is a metabolite of THC. It is produced when the liver breaks down THC and stays in the body for much longer.

The most common cutoff level for THC-COOH used by drug screening companies is 50 ng/mL. Less common cutoff levels are 20 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL. Length of Detection Period

No one can really say how long you will test positive for marijuana, since the rate of THC metabolism varies per individual. The amount of marijuana consumed can also alter the window of time that your body retains traces of THC.

Even still, studies provide some insight into how long the average individual will test positive for marijuana.

Someone who smokes occasionally - or for the first time - will likely test positive for 1-3 days afterward, according to a review by the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI).

But by the end of 4 days, infrequent cannabis users should be safely below the 50 ng/mL threshold.

"For occasional marijuana use (or single event usage), at the 50 ng/mL cutoff level, it would be unusual for the detection of cannabinoids in urine to extend beyond 3-4 days following the smoking episode."

Frequent Users

Studies suggest someone who smokes often can expect to test positive for around a week following last use. According to the NDCI, after 10 days, most frequent users should pass a urine test at the 50 ng/mL threshold.

"Based upon recent scientific evidence, at the 50 ng/mL cutoff concentration for the detection of cannabinoids in urine, it would be unlikely for a chronic user to produce a positive urine drug test result for longer than 10 days after the last smoking episode."

However, there's no guarantee that a heavy cannabis smoker will be free of THC metabolites after 10 days. Studies show it's possible for some users to test positive for up to a month after last use.

In one extreme case, a person who reported using cannabis heavily for over 10 years managed to test positive (above 20 ng/mL limit) for up to 67 days after last use. How To Pass A Urine Test

While there are a number of products being marketed as urine cleansers, there is probably good reason to be skeptical of their claims.

Drinking an excessive amount of liquid may be the most scientific solution, since it would naturally dilute anything found in your urine.

But drinking too much water could spoil the sample. Urine that is too diluted may be identified and rejected by the testing lab as possibly being tampered with. Still, this could buy some time for a retest, depending on the circumstances.

How Long Does marijuana Stay In Your System?

THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and the chemical responsible for the high. However, urine tests detect a different chemical called THC-COOH.

THC-COOH is a metabolite of THC. It is produced when the liver breaks down THC and stays in the body for much longer.

The most common cutoff level for THC-COOH used by drug screening companies is 50 ng/mL. Less common cutoff levels are 20 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL.

Source

How Long Does THC Stay In Your System?

Health Tech - Apr 22, 2014

The amount of time that your body retains traces of marijuana depends on a number of factors, including how often you smoke and your metabolism rate.

Urine testing, or urinalysis, is the most common way of screening for marijuana use. In the United States, current and future employers will often ask you to undergo a urine test.

But how long will marijuana show up in your urine after you stop smoking? Unfortunately, the only accurate answer is: It depends. THC vs. THC-COOH

THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and the chemical responsible for the high. However, urine tests detect a different chemical called THC-COOH.

THC-COOH is a metabolite of THC. It is produced when the liver breaks down THC and stays in the body for much longer.

The most common cutoff level for THC-COOH used by drug screening companies is 50 ng/mL. Less common cutoff levels are 20 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL. Length of Detection Period

No one can really say how long you will test positive for marijuana, since the rate of THC metabolism varies per individual. The amount of marijuana consumed can also alter the window of time that your body retains traces of THC.

Even still, studies provide some insight into how long the average individual will test positive for marijuana.

Someone who smokes occasionally - or for the first time - will likely test positive for 1-3 days afterward, according to a review by the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI).

But by the end of 4 days, infrequent cannabis users should be safely below the 50 ng/mL threshold.

"For occasional marijuana use (or single event usage), at the 50 ng/mL cutoff level, it would be unusual for the detection of cannabinoids in urine to extend beyond 3-4 days following the smoking episode."

Frequent Users

Studies suggest someone who smokes often can expect to test positive for around a week following last use. According to the NDCI, after 10 days, most frequent users should pass a urine test at the 50 ng/mL threshold.

"Based upon recent scientific evidence, at the 50 ng/mL cutoff concentration for the detection of cannabinoids in urine, it would be unlikely for a chronic user to produce a positive urine drug test result for longer than 10 days after the last smoking episode."

However, there's no guarantee that a heavy cannabis smoker will be free of THC metabolites after 10 days. Studies show it's possible for some users to test positive for up to a month after last use.

In one extreme case, a person who reported using cannabis heavily for over 10 years managed to test positive (above 20 ng/mL limit) for up to 67 days after last use. How To Pass A Urine Test

While there are a number of products being marketed as urine cleansers, there is probably good reason to be skeptical of their claims.

Drinking an excessive amount of liquid may be the most scientific solution, since it would naturally dilute anything found in your urine.

But drinking too much water could spoil the sample. Urine that is too diluted may be identified and rejected by the testing lab as possibly being tampered with. Still, this could buy some time for a retest, depending on the circumstances.

How Long Does THC Stay In Your System?

THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and the chemical responsible for the high. However, urine tests detect a different chemical called THC-COOH.

THC-COOH is a metabolite of THC. It is produced when the liver breaks down THC and stays in the body for much longer.

The most common cutoff level for THC-COOH used by drug screening companies is 50 ng/mL. Less common cutoff levels are 20 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL.

Source

How Long Does THC Stay In Your System?

Health Tech - Apr 22, 2014

The amount of time that your body retains traces of marijuana depends on a number of factors, including how often you smoke and your metabolism rate.

Urine testing, or urinalysis, is the most common way of screening for marijuana use. In the United States, current and future employers will often ask you to undergo a urine test.

But how long will marijuana show up in your urine after you stop smoking? Unfortunately, the only accurate answer is: It depends. THC vs. THC-COOH

THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and the chemical responsible for the high. However, urine tests detect a different chemical called THC-COOH.

THC-COOH is a metabolite of THC. It is produced when the liver breaks down THC and stays in the body for much longer.

The most common cutoff level for THC-COOH used by drug screening companies is 50 ng/mL. Less common cutoff levels are 20 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL. Length of Detection Period

No one can really say how long you will test positive for marijuana, since the rate of THC metabolism varies per individual. The amount of marijuana consumed can also alter the window of time that your body retains traces of THC.

Even still, studies provide some insight into how long the average individual will test positive for marijuana.

Someone who smokes occasionally - or for the first time - will likely test positive for 1-3 days afterward, according to a review by the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI).

But by the end of 4 days, infrequent cannabis users should be safely below the 50 ng/mL threshold.

"For occasional marijuana use (or single event usage), at the 50 ng/mL cutoff level, it would be unusual for the detection of cannabinoids in urine to extend beyond 3-4 days following the smoking episode."

Frequent Users

Studies suggest someone who smokes often can expect to test positive for around a week following last use. According to the NDCI, after 10 days, most frequent users should pass a urine test at the 50 ng/mL threshold.

"Based upon recent scientific evidence, at the 50 ng/mL cutoff concentration for the detection of cannabinoids in urine, it would be unlikely for a chronic user to produce a positive urine drug test result for longer than 10 days after the last smoking episode."

However, there's no guarantee that a heavy cannabis smoker will be free of THC metabolites after 10 days. Studies show it's possible for some users to test positive for up to a month after last use.

In one extreme case, a person who reported using cannabis heavily for over 10 years managed to test positive (above 20 ng/mL limit) for up to 67 days after last use. How To Pass A Urine Test

While there are a number of products being marketed as urine cleansers, there is probably good reason to be skeptical of their claims.

Drinking an excessive amount of liquid may be the most scientific solution, since it would naturally dilute anything found in your urine.

But drinking too much water could spoil the sample. Urine that is too diluted may be identified and rejected by the testing lab as possibly being tampered with. Still, this could buy some time for a retest, depending on the circumstances.

West Valley Cities P*ss Away Our Tax Dollars On Art

The government "invests" in public art??? I think a better word for it would be the government "pisses" away our tax dollars expensive art.<<

• Avondale - 'Elephant Walk' - $63,000.
• Avondale - 'Family at Play' - $63,750.
• Avondale - 'Hands On' - $20,000.
• Glendale - 'A Tribute to Firefighters'- $67,250
• Glendale - 'Old Friends' - $35,000
• Goodyear - 'The Ziz' - $450,000.
• Surprise - 'The Past, Present & Future' - $3,500

Source

West Valley cities invest in public art

David Madrid, The Republic | azcentral.com 8:27 a.m. MST August 23, 2014

West Valley cities have spent millions on public-art projects, and art experts say the spending helps create an identity for the cities and enhances quality of life by giving residents something beautiful where they live.

The art comes in various forms, from paintings to mosaics to sculptures to murals.

Glendale devotes 1 percent of the cost of public projects for public art. Since the city's program began in 1983, leaders have spent nearly $2.7 million on public art.

Glendale public-arts manager Mojgan Vahabzadeh said people identify with certain monuments in the city.

A sculpture called "Old Friends," by George Lundeen, features an old man feeding pigeons. The $35,000 sculpture frequently draws the attention of children at Murphy Park and the Velma Teague Library. [Wow!!! $35 grand for a stinking sculpture of some old fart feeding birds - yea, I would have spend my hard earned money on that too - honest!!!]

Vahabzadeh said the latest project came about when Sahuaro Ranch Park was renovated. One percent of the construction costs were reinvested back into the park to design and build artistic metal entryways.

Cities also seek outside help in creating art.

Bernadette Mills, executive director of the Surprise-based West Valley Arts Council, works with cities to create and place art. [translation - they bribe, oops, I mean give city council members campaign contributions, in exchange for the city council members buying their outrageously over priced art!!!]

"It helps create an identity for a city," Mills said of public art. "More than anything, it's a way to ... create an environment. We've got all these cities popping up new buildings everywhere, and it's just a great way to identify certain areas and beautify certain areas that might just be filled with block stores and things like that. Public art is for different purposes really." [translation - we love trading bribes, oops I mean campaign contributions for art - it makes us rich!!!!]

The West Valley Arts Council has a program called Gallery 37 that uses area teenagers to create art. The program has placed public-art pieces in almost every West Valley city, Mills said.

Gallery 37 is a youth arts-employment program that places teenagers in apprenticeships with professional artists to design and install public art in the West Valley. The budding artists get a stipend, experience and college credits at Estrella Mountain Community College.

Gallery 37's biggest project is a series of seven sculptures for Tolleson's newly rebuilt downtown. The sculptures will be installed over the next few months and will tell the history of the city. They cost $80,000 and are part of the $9.2 million downtown revival project. [wow $80,000 - wonder how many bribes, oops, I mean campaign contributions they had to give the Tolleson city council members to get them to buy that???]

Mills said every West Valley city, even during the struggles of the Great Recession, maintained its public-art endeavors.

"They might have had to modify it a bit or cut back on their budgets, but they all still believe that public art is an important piece, and they are still incorporating it, and I think it a pretty good program for every city to invest in," she said. [Translation - city council members accept bribes, oops, I mean campaign contributions during recessions!!!!]

Family at Play: James Moore, Dedicated Dec. 10, 2007. The theme for this stainless steel project is family, friendship, companionship. After a tour of the Civic Center Campus, Moore was inspired by the families with young children coming and going. His composition brings to mind the many first steps of an individual, a family and a community. Residents of Avondale affectionately refer to the work as "The Blockheads," Cost: $63,750 City Hall, 11465 W. Civic Center Drive. [translation - when they say "Blockheads" they are referring to the city council members that spent almost $64,000 of their hard earned money on this silly project]

Avondale created a public-art master plan this year that updates the old plan to make it compatible with the city's zoning and to guide the creation and placement of public art.

The city also carves out a percentage of the costs of commercial construction for public art using a formula tied to the square footage of projects. Developers either can donate the fee to the city or build their own artwith approval from the city. The bigger the project, the more money that goes into the art fund.

Art is important to Avondale, said Pier Simeri, the city's Public Art Committee manager.

"It is something that beautifies the community," she said. "It adds to the aesthetics. What we found is it doesn't have to cost a lot, because public art can be one of those things as functional as a utility-box wrap or a bus shelter."

Avondale resident and artist Petra Adams has created several pieces of art for the city, including tabletop mosaics called "The Classics in Pieces," which features literary themes such as "Moby Dick," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Rapunzel" and "The Frog Prince." Three tables that cost nearly $2,000 sit outside the Avondale Civic Center Library.

Adams is now working on a mosaic of five panels that feature images of actual Avondale police officers and a police dog. She is working with Agua Fria High School students to make the panels, which will be installed at the Old Town Substation on Western Avenue.

"I think it's a gift to everybody," Adams said of public art. "Everybody should have access to it, because a lot of people aren't able to afford art. Everybody should have the opportunity to experience art. It's an important part of the public."

Public art also can be used to prevent crime. [translation - our elected officials will use any line of rubbish they can to justify trading bribes, oops, I mean campaign contributions for this over priced art]

A Tribute to Firefighters: Jay Tschetter's carved brick "A Tribute to Firefighters" was inspired by the Oklahoma City federal building tragedy and features images of Glendale's first fire station and fire truck.(Photo: David Madrid)

In Surprise, police went to the City Council in 2011 and asked for funding to have a mural painted on a bathroom at Bicentennial Park in the Original Town Site. [Don't the cops have any criminals to hunt down??? Why are these overpaid government parasites asking the city council to buy art???]

The police justified the request for the art with an example of Avondale hiring a graffiti artist to design a mural for a wall near a school in that city, and children who had been caught tagging were chosen to paint the mural. In the two years since, there had been no vandalism in the area. [so art prevents crime??? what rubbish!!!]

The council approved the project, and the WHAM Art Association designed and painted the mural called "The Past, Present & Future" with the help of Dysart Unified School District students. The mural cost $3,500.

The bathroom now has a mural on every wall, and there has been no graffiti.

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8 West Valley public art pieces

West Valley cities have spent millions on public-art projects, and art experts say the spending helps create an identity for the cities and enhances quality of life by giving residents something beautiful where they live. Here's a look at eight of them all over the West Valley.

Avondale

'Elephant Walk'

Artist: Fredrick Prescott, dedicated Nov.17, 2007.

Description: Momma Ruby and little Rusty. Ruby was named in honor of the painting elephant at the Phoenix Zoo. The theme of the art is family, friendship and companionship. The elephants epitomize the bond between mother and child, the importance of family and companionship, and the joy of simply being around those you love.

Cost: $63,000.

Location: Friendship Park, 12325 W.McDowell Road, Avondale.

Avondale

'Family at Play'

Artist: James Moore, dedicated Dec.10, 2007.

Description: The theme for this stainless-steel project is family, friendship and companionship. After a tour of the Civic Center campus, Moore was inspired by the families with young children coming and going. His composition brings to mind the many first steps of an individual, a family and a community. Residents of Avondale affectionately refer to the work as "the Blockheads."

Cost: $63,750.

Location: City Hall, 11465 W.Civic Center Drive, Avondale.

Avondale

'Hands On'

Artist: Kevin Caron, sculpture erected May 2009.

Description: The concept behind the tree is the hands at the base are holding on to the past. The hands at the top of the trunk are reaching for the future. The hands in the tree - the leaves - are the residents of Avondale now. The theme is that the roots of Avondale are deep, and for the future the sky is the limit as long as residents work together now.

Cost: $20,000.

Location: Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library, 495 E.Western Ave., Avondale.

Glendale

'A Tribute to Firefighters'

Artist: Jay Tschetter.

Description: Carved brick "A Tribute to Firefighters" was inspired by the Oklahoma City federal-building attack and features images of Glendale's first fire station and firetruck.

Cost: $67,250.

Location: Fire Station 157, 9658 N.59th Ave., Glendale.

Glendale

'Old Friends'

Artist: George Lundeen, Glendale Arts Commission, October 1986.

Description: Old Friends greets visitors to Murphy Park and Velma Teague Library.

Cost: $35,000

Location: Murphy Park and Velma Teague Library, 58th and Glendale avenues, Glendale.

Goodyear

'The Ziz'

Artist: Donald Lipski, 2009.

Description: Fiberglass. Goodyear Public Art Project. Created for Goodyear Ballpark and named for the giant water bird of Hebrew mythology that rules over and protects smaller birds. The height of "The Ziz" plus the pedestal is 60 feet, 6 inches, which is the exact distance between home plate and the pitcher's mound.

Cost: $450,000.

Location: Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way, Glendale.

Litchfield Park

Litchfield Park underpass

Artist: N/A.

Description: Elements of public art that celebrate the community of Litchfield Park are also incorporated into the design of the new pedestrian underpass.

Cost: $2.6 million pedestrian underpass.

Location: Litchfield Road at Wigwam Boulevard in Litchfield Park.

Surprise

'The Past, Present & Future'

Artist: WHAM Art Association members and Dysart Unified School District high-school students.

Description: In an effort to curb graffiti, the Surprise Police Department asked the WHAM Art Association to design and paint a mural on a restroom at Bicentennial Park in the Original Town Site.

Cost: $3,500

Location: 15705 N. Nash St., Surprise.