Orange Confidential: Medical school in Middletown hiring its faculty

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Published: 2:00 AM - 11/03/13

Touro College has started to hire the professors who will teach at its medical school campus in Middletown when it opens next year.

Kenneth Steier, dean of the Middletown school, said they're looking to hire 28 full-time faculty and about 50 adjuncts or part-timers for the first year.

The number of faculty members will grow over the school's first few years, as the first year class becomes the second and new students come.

The Orange County Planning Department's Web page now has a portal allowing users to retrieve a wealth of information zoning maps, building codes, meeting schedules about land use in all 42 of the county's towns, villages and cities.

To access that information, go to the department's page on the Orange County website http://www.orangecountygov.com/planning and click on Planning, Zoning and Municipal Resources.

-- Chris McKenna

Steier also said the school is getting more student applications than last year, and that most of them have been checking off both Touro's Harlem and Middletown campuses as options.

They have interviewed about 120 applicants so far; he said he expects to end up interviewing 500 out of an expected 7,000 who apply.

The Middletown college will be in the former Horton Hospital, which is being renovated now. The school will teach 135 students in its first year.

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Orange Confidential: Medical school in Middletown hiring its faculty

New era in East Liberty housing

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The only reminder left of East Liberty's high-rise legacy -- a bare space at the neighborhood's western gateway -- is being reclaimed by the construction of a four-story complex of 52 new apartments and 11,000 square feet for retail.

The $14.2 million East Liberty Place South, at Penn Avenue and North Beatty Street, will complete the redevelopment of the former site of the East Mall high-rise, which was razed in 2005.

Work began more than a month ago, but the official groundbreaking ceremony is 10:30 this morning because the site, which once held a gas station and dry cleaner, had to be capped and sealed and old foundations stabilized, said Jim Eby, senior project manager for Community Builders.

The nonprofit also has redeveloped and is managing other former public housing high-rises in East Liberty. They include Pennley Commons, New Pennley Place, Penn Manor and East Liberty North.

They are all mixed-income communities. East Liberty North was completed two years ago directly across Penn Avenue from the current construction site.

"This has been a long time coming," Mr. Eby said.

East Liberty Place South, whose completion is expected by next October, is almost anti-climactic after the drama of East Liberty Place North's development. When North got underway in 2009, the parties involved remarked on the arduous effort it took, largely because financing was extracted at the height of the economic crisis.

"Probably only a thousand people had to work very hard to make this happen," Rob Stephany, who was then executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, said at the time.

In 2001, Community Builders bought three East Liberty high-rises -- East Mall, Liberty Park and Penn Circle Tower -- from a multipartnership group led by Federal American Properties in a foreclosure arrangement.

East Mall was 17 stories and had 160 units. Liberty Park was 20 stories with 158 units. Along with their demolition, another 174 distressed townhouses and apartments were razed. The 20-story Penn Circle Tower was sold for redevelopment as a Target store.

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New era in East Liberty housing

Tomasik Gets Libertarian Heading on Ballot

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VOL. 128 | NO. 215 | Monday, November 04, 2013

Attorneys for the state of Tennessee had argued in a Nashville federal court that third-party candidates in Tennessee should be able to be listed under a heading including the names of their parties. And they lost in their defense of a state law permitting the listing.

So when they returned to the same courtroom in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee last week, before the same judge, their argument against a similar ballot heading for Memphian Jim Tomasik was that their previous case is still on appeal.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes ordered that Tomasik be listed in the special general election for Tennessee House District 91 under a Libertarian Party heading.

His ruling came Thursday, Oct. 31, the day before the Nov. 1 opening of early voting in the race for the Memphis district seat at Shelby County Election Commission offices at 157 Poplar Ave.

Friday was also the first day of early voting in the citywide referendum on a half-percent sales tax hike.

Tomasik filed his qualifying petition for the state House seat as a Libertarian but was listed as an independent by the Shelby County Election Commission, which was acting on instructions from state election officials.

Tomasik is chairman of the Tennessee Libertarian Party and filed suit in Nashville federal court against the local election commission and state election officials, seeking an injunction that would list him on the ballot under a Libertarian Party heading.

Tomasik faces Democratic primary winner Raumesh Akbari in the general election. No Republican candidates filed for the seat.

Tennessee Deputy Attorney General Janet M. Kleinfelter argued in the states response to the lawsuit that the law that would permit such a listing of candidates was declared unconstitutional in the same federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

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Tomasik Gets Libertarian Heading on Ballot

Libertarian Party files another lawsuit over new state election law

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The Libertarian Party of Colorado filed a lawsuit Friday challenging residency provisions in the state's new election law, but the case won't stop Tuesday's election.

"Residency issues are only the tip of the iceberg," state Libertarian Party Chairman Jeff Orrok said in a statement.

Among the complaints, the lawsuit states that while the new law allows people to register to vote all the way to and including Election Day in state races, residency requirements in various in elections involving municipal elections, local school districts, special districts and other local races range from 20 to 30 days.

By disregarding the residency requirements in some races, "several county clerks across the state are improperly disregarding or misinterpreting those requirements and allowing ineligible voters to register or change registration address and cast ballots in political subdivision elections with longer residency requirements," the lawsuit states.

If successful, the lawsuit could force some races to be voted on again if the affected ballots exceed the margins of victory in those races, the party stated.

Orrok said the conflicts could cause election law violations and "partially disenfranchised voters throughout the state." He said the new law also could create problems for ballot secrecy and voter privacy, arguments voiced by Republicans when the measure was before the Legislature in the spring.

The law was passed by Democrats at the urging of the Colorado County Clerks Association primarily to mail ballots to every voter in every election, which supporters said would make elections less costly, make voting more convenient and make registration deadlines less confusing.

In addition to the state Libertarian Party, plaintiffs include Republicans Lu Ann Busse of Larkspur and Victor Head, founder of Pueblo Freedom & Rights.

Former state Sen. Shawn Mitchell of Broomfield, a Republican, is the lawyer for the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit was filed in Denver District Court and names Secretary of State Scott Gessler and the election clerks in Pueblo, El Paso, Douglas and Arapahoe counties as defendants to represent all county clerks in Colorado.

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Libertarian Party files another lawsuit over new state election law

Islands to get IT-based healthcare

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City of Manila

Lungsd ng Maynila

Manila (English: /mnl/; Tagalog: Maynila, [majnila]) is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities (along with the smaller municipality of Pateros) that comprise Metro Manila.

Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north; Quezon City to the northeast; San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east; Makati to the southeast, and Pasay to the south.

Manila has a total population of more than 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census.[3] Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.[5]Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world with an estimated population of 16,300,000. The greater urban area is the fifth-most populous in the world and has an estimated metropolitan population of 20,654,307 people.[6]

The city is divided into six legislative districts and consists of sixteen geographical districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Bustling commerce and some of the most historically and culturally significant iconic landmarks in the country, as well as the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the government are to be found in the city; and it is also home to many scientific and educational institutions, numerous sport facilities, a variety of other culturally and historically significant venues. As a primary transportation hub and with the larger capital region bearing its name, there is very little of a general nature to be found in cities anywhere that Manila is lacking.

The earliest written account of the city is the 10th-century Laguna Copperplate Inscription which describes a context of a Indianised kingdom maintaining diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Medang. The city was invaded by Brunei's Sultan Bolkiah and was already Islamized by the 15th century when the Spanish first arrived. Manila eventually became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade route inking Latin America and Asia. This caused it to be called the "Pearl of the Orient". Several Chinese insurrections, local revolts, a British Occupation and a Sepoy mutiny also occurred thereafter. Later, it saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution which was followed by the arrival of the Americans who made contributions to the city's urban planning and development only to have most of those improvements lost in the devastation of World War II. Since then the city has been rebuilt.

Manila was first known as Gint (gold) or Suvarnadvipa by neighbouring settlements, and was officially the Kingdom of Maynila. The Kingdom flourished during the latter half of the Ming Dynasty as a result of direct trade relations with China. Ancient Tondo was maintained as the traditional capital of the empire, with its rulers as sovereign kings and not mere chieftains, and were addressed variously as panginuan or panginoon ("lords"); anak banwa ("son of heaven"); or lakandula ("lord of the palace"). In the 13th century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the shores of the Pasig river, on top of previous older towns. There is also early evidence of Manila being invaded by the Indianized empire of Majapahit, due to the epic eulogy poem Nagarakretagama which inscribed its conquest by Maharaja Hayam Wuruk.[7] Saludong or Selurong which is a historical name for the city of Manila is listed in Canto 14 alongside Sulot, which is now Sulu, and Kalka.[7]

During the reign of Sultan Bolkiah in 1485 to 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei decided to break the Dynasty of Tondo's monopoly in the China trade by attacking it and establishing the state of Selurong (now Manila) as a Bruneian satellite-state.[8] A new dynasty under the Islamized Rajah Salalila. was also established to challenge the House of Lakandula in Tondo. Islam was further strengthened by the arrival to the Philippines of traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia.[9] The multiple states that existed in the Philippines simplified Spanish colonization. Manila was temporarily threatened by the invasion of Chinese pirate-warlord Limahong before it became the seat of the colonial government of Spain.

In 1571 Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the Manila in what today is Intramuros. Manila was made the capital of the Philippine Islands, which Spain would control for over three centuries, from 1565 to 1898. The city was occupied by Great Britain for two years from 1762 to 1764 as part of the Seven Years' War.[10] The city remained the capital of the Philippines under the government of the provisional British governor, acting through the Mexican-born Archbishop of Manila, Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra and the captive Real Audiencia.[11] However, armed resistance to the British persisted, centered in Pampanga, and was led by Oidor Don Simn de Anda y Salazar.[11]

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Romney Accuses Obama of ‘Fundamental Dishonesty’ on Health Care

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Former Republican presidential nominee says the President lied to Americans when he told them they could keep their existing health-insurance plans

Days after President Barack Obama visited Massachusetts to trump his signature health care law, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the architect of the Massachusetts health care law that served as a model for the national bill, accused the President of lying when he told Americans that they could keep their existing health-insurance plans.

I think that fundamental dishonesty has put in peril the entire basis for his second term, Romney said Sunday on NBCsMeet the Press.Insurers are canceling plans that dont meet the Affordable Care Acts standards, forcing those on the individual market with those plans to search for a new plan that meets the laws criteria.

In the interview with David Gregory, Romney pushed back on some of the revelations in a new book on last years presidential campaign, Double Down: Game Change 2012.No one could have worked harder than myself and my family did for the campaign, Romney said, responding to claims he didnt want to win the White House. We were all in 100%.

(MORE: Obama Says Romneys Example Shows Health Care Reform Will Work)

Romney also defended New Jersey Governor Chris Christie from revelations in the book that he did not fully cooperate with the candidates team of lawyers who were vetting the outspoken governor as a potential vice-presidential pick.Theres nothing they found that wasnt part of the record, Romney said. Theres nothing new there.

They dont come better than Chris Christie, he added.Thats the kind of popularity and track record the GOP needs if were going to take back the White House.

Asked about the 2016 crop of Republican contenders, Romney said the front-runners for the GOP nod areChristie, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and former vice-presidential nominee Representative Paul Ryan. Romney said the party will bevery anxious to choose someone in 2016 who has the best prospect of actually winning. When asked specifically about Tea Party favorite Senator Ted Cruz, Romney said he didnt wish to disqualify anyone, but already made his prediction.

MORE: The Hunt for Pufferfish

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Romney Accuses Obama of ‘Fundamental Dishonesty’ on Health Care

Health care costs for inmates on rise in W.Va.

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CHARLESTON West Virginias spending on prisoner health care shot up 38 percent between 2001 and 2008, but the state still ranks 36th out of 44 states included in a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports West Virginias health care costs rose from $15.7 million to $21.7 million during the period.

But many other states reported much sharper increases. New Hampshire, for example, saw a 379 percent increase, from $5.4 million to $25.8 million. Californias costs doubled to about $1.98 billion.

Researchers identified three main reasons for the nationwide increase in prison health care costs: growing prison populations, aging prisoners and the overall rise in health care costs. The number of prisoners 55 or older nationwide increased 94 percent from 2001 to 2008.

Like older Americans outside prison, older inmates are more likely to have physical and mental illnesses, said Maria Schiff, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts project. Thats forcing some states to increase training requirements for staff, increase medical services or even build special housing units.

West Virginia Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein said about 12 percent of West Virginias 6,800 prisoners are 55 or older up from 7 percent a decade ago.

But he says West Virginias rising costs are mainly attributable to the growing volume of inmates. Overcrowding of the states prisons and jails has long been a problem for the West Virginia legislators and corrections officials.

In 2001, state prisons held 4,106 inmates. By 2008, they held 6,097.

With the opening of a new 388-bed facility in Salem, a converted juvenile detention center, Rubenstein said hell likely have to ask lawmakers for more medical services funding next year.

But even as overall costs rose during 2001-2008, Rubenstein said per-inmate expenses dropped slightly, by about $200 per inmate, because of collaboration with prison health care contractor Wexford Health Services.

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Health care costs for inmates on rise in W.Va.