Islands opens pasalubong centers

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THE Islands Group launched over the Sinulog weekend three Islands Pasalubong branches on Archbishop Reyes in front of Ayala Center Cebu, Raintree Mall on Gen. Maxilom Ave. and at their flagship store on Magallanes St. in front of the Sto. Nio Church and Magellans Cross.

The Islands Group president and chief executive officer Jonathan Jay Aldeguer said that for more than five years, they had a pasalubong section in some of their Islands Souvenirs stores. He said the section has always done well but customers told them they wanted a one-stop-shop that would carry all Cebu delicacies for pasalubong.

Most travelers dont have the luxury of time and they get frustrated having to go to at least three to four places to fulfill their pasalubong checklist. Thats the main reason why we decided to put up Islands Pasalubong, Aldeguer said in an email interview.

Since the stores soft opening last Saturday, Aldeguer said customer feedback has been extremely encouraging, which prompted them to extend store hours.

Completeness

He said sales over the Sinulog weekend was at its highest. They had to overstock their initial inventory just for the celebration, he said.

There are two main compliments that weve been getting. First is that, they like the completeness of the store. We have several hard-to-find products that customers dont see around anymore. The second is our prices. They noticed that our prices are standard and cheaper than most pasalubong centers, he said.

Aldeguer emphasized that they had to implement a strong and standard pricing policy in all of their establishments, including their hotels, because customers nowadays are very price conscious and value-driven.

The Islands Pasalubong sells Cebuano delicacies like dried mangoes, otap, rosquillos, among others. At least 40 percent of their merchandise mix carry other items from the smaller delicacy makers and placed them under the home-made section of the store.

We go as far as Argao, Danao and even Camotes to try to track down some of these famous delicacies but have not gone mainstream yet. You will see us introduce these products little by little, he said.

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Islands opens pasalubong centers

Butler University Selects Castlight Health to Deliver Health Care Transparency to its Workforce

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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Castlight Health, the leader in Health Care Transparency for employers, today announced that Butler University is implementing Castlights health care management suite. With Castlight, Butler will be able to offer its employees and their dependents better insight into the cost and quality of health care procedures and providers, allowing them to make more effective health care decisions.

Fostering a happy, healthy workforce is a key priority for Butler, and we realized that increased health care transparency was the next logical step in helping support that goal, said Bruce Arick, chief financial officer, Butler University. Not only will Castlight empower our employees with the information they need to better control their care and medical outcomes, but it will also allow us to ease the workload on our human resources department. We consider Castlight a game-changer in the space, and look forward to the university, our employees and their families reaping the benefits of increased transparency into health care.

Butler selected Castlight following a comprehensive review process that involved several different health care transparency solutions. Castlight was chosen for its market leadership and ability to present a combination of rich, independent data on both health care quality and cost. The ease of use and simple navigation of Castlights interface, as well as the companys innovative product roadmap, also set it above the competition.

Butler University is the latest customer in Indianas educational sector to implement Castlights health care management suite. Recently, Indiana University chose Castlight to reduce costs and improve quality of care for its 17,000 employees. The selection was part of a university-wide effort to increase education around navigating the complex world of health care delivery.

As a primary advocate for Health Care Transparency, we know first-hand how it can help organizations engage their employees and better manage their health care, said Randy Womack, Chief Operating Officer, Castlight Health. Forward thinking institutions, like Butler, see the value increased transparency can provide to the workforce, allowing employees to drive down costs while receiving higher quality care.

The university will also deploy Castlight Mobile, providing users easy access to key information on medical providers and procedures from their preferred mobile devices, anytime, anywhere.

About Castlight Health

Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of healthcare costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journals list of The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies for 2011 and one of Dow Jones 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the countrys self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco andbacked by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com or call (415) 829-1400.

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Butler University Selects Castlight Health to Deliver Health Care Transparency to its Workforce

Health care groups support Medicaid expansion

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TREASURE VALLEY Several Idaho health care organizations support optional Medicaid expansion in the state because they say it will save money, grow the economy and improve the health of state residents.

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Health care groups support Medicaid expansion

Fla. looks to Mass. for health care advice

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida lawmakers considering how to implement the federal health care overhaul sought information Tuesday from two economists on the Massachusetts initiative that served as the blueprint for the national plan.

Massachusetts pioneered an approach emulated in the federal Affordable Care Act with its 2006 health care initiative and is currently the only state that requires individuals to have health insurance.

"I thought it would be helpful to examine the results so far in Massachusetts and consider implications of that experience for Florida. Not everyone agrees with the Massachusetts experiment and how it's turned out," said Republican Sen. Joe Negron, the chairman of a Senate committee studying the health overhaul.

Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who helped craft the state's law, hailed it as "a great success" that dropped the number of insured residents by two-thirds and lowered premiums by about 50 percent. He said the initiative did so without crowding out private insurers.

But Michael Cannon, director of Health Policy Studies for the Cato Institute, argued that the law depresses economic activity, eliminates jobs and increases health care costs along with burdening the federal government.

He reminded lawmakers that Florida led the country in challenging the constitutionality of the ACA and that it shouldn't respond to Supreme Court decisions that have given states leeway on whether to expand Medicaid "by shrugging and implementing that costly Medicaid expansion anyway."

Florida lawmakers are facing two major decisions regarding the federal health overhaul. They must choose whether to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 900,000 more low-income families and whether to have the state run its health exchange on its own or partner with the federal government. The federal government is offering to pick up the entire tab of the Medicaid expansion for the first three years about 90 percent after that.

Florida spends about $21 billion a year to cover nearly 3 million of the state's poorest residents, about half of whom are children.

Gruber said that if Florida does not expand Medicaid it will lead to higher premiums for those shopping for coverage in the state health exchange because hospitals will still have to cover uninsured patients in crisis.

Cannon, however, urged state senators to reject an expansion by saying there's little reliable evidence the taxpayer-funded program improves health outcomes and no evidence of cost savings. He said states can't afford it.

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Penn study sheds light on the complexity of gene therapy for congenital blindness

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Public release date: 21-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Katie Delach katie.delach@uphs.upenn.edu 215-349-5964 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

PHILADELPHIA - Independent clinical trials, including one conducted at the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine, have reported safety and efficacy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a congenital form of blindness caused by mutations in a gene (RPE65) required for recycling vitamin A in the retina. Inherited retinal degenerative diseases were previously considered untreatable and incurable. There were early improvements in vision observed in the trials, but a key question about the long-term efficacy of gene therapy for curing the retinal degeneration in LCA has remained unanswered. Now, new research from the Scheie Eye Institute, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that gene therapy for LCA shows enduring improvement in vision but also advancing degeneration of affected retinal cells, both in LCA patients and animal models of the same condition.

LCA disease from RPE65 mutations has two-components: a biochemical blockade leading to impaired vision, and a progressive loss of the light-sensing photoreceptor cells throughout life of the affected patient. The authors of the new study explain that until now gene therapy has been optimistically assumed, but not proven, to solve both disease components at the same time.

"We all hoped that the gene injections cured both components re-establishing the cycle of vision and also preventing further loss of cells to the second disease component" said Artur V. Cideciyan, PhD, lead author and co-investigator of an LCA clinical trial at Penn.

Yet, when the otherwise invisible cell layers of the retina were measured by optical imaging in clinical trial participants serially over many years, the rate of cell loss was the same in treated and untreated regions. "In other words, gene therapy improved vision but did not slow or halt the progression of cell loss," commented Cideciyan.

"These unexpected observations should help to advance the current treatment by making it better and longer lasting," commented co-author Samuel G. Jacobson, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the clinical trial. "Slowing cell loss in different retinal degenerations has been a major research direction long before the current gene therapy trials. Now, the two directions must converge to ensure the longevity of the beneficial visual effects in this form of LCA."

In a continuation of the longstanding collaboration between the Scheie investigators and the Section of Ophthalmology at Penn School of Veterinary Medicine headed by co-authors Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD, and William A. Beltran, DVM, PhD, studies were performed to test whether the clinical results were also present in the canine model of this LCA at disease stages equivalent to those in human patients. "Our gene treatment in this canine model provided the groundwork for the clinical trials of patients, and now we added data to confirm the fact that retinal degeneration does continue despite improved vision" said Aguirre. "The next step is to perform the relevant experiments to ask what intervention will stop the degeneration if added to the gene therapy."

"These new findings contribute to greater clarity in understanding the natural history and complexity of the RPE65 form of LCA and provide a firm foundation for future investigations," said Joan M. O'Brien MD, professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Scheie Eye Institute.

###

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Penn study sheds light on the complexity of gene therapy for congenital blindness

StemCells, Inc. to Present at Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum

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NEWARK, Calif., Jan. 23, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (STEM) announced today that Ann Tsukamoto, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development, will make a presentation on the Company's clinical development programs at the Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum to be held January 28-30, in Washington, DC. Dr. Tsukamoto is scheduled to speak at 12:25 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 30, as part of the session on "Clinical development updates from leading cell and gene therapy product candidates in the clinic for CNS indications."

The Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum is a preeminent industry-led meeting designed to help advance regulatory, manufacturing, R&D and commercial strategies and drive cell and gene therapy products forward. The Forum enables executives from global cell therapy, gene therapy and tissue engineering companies, representatives of big pharma and big biotech, regulators and regulatory experts, and public and private investors to meet and share information on the leading edge of the regenerative medicine sector.

About StemCells, Inc.

StemCells, Inc. is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of cell-based therapeutics and tools for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery. The Company's lead therapeutic product candidate, HuCNS-SC(R) cells (purified human neural stem cells), is currently in development as a potential treatment for a broad range of central nervous system disorders. In a Phase I clinical trial in Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder in children, the Company has shown preliminary evidence of progressive and durable donor-derived myelination in all four patients transplanted with HuCNS-SC cells. The Company is conducting a Phase I/II clinical trial in chronic spinal cord injury in Switzerland and recently reported positive interim data for the first patient cohort. The Company is also conducting a Phase I/II clinical trial in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and is pursuing preclinical studies in Alzheimer's disease. StemCells also markets stem cell research products, including media and reagents, under the SC Proven(R) brand. Further information about StemCells is available at http://www.stemcellsinc.com.

The StemCells, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7014

Apart from statements of historical fact, the text of this press release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws, and is subject to the safe harbors created therein. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the clinical development of its HuCNS-SC cells; the Company's ability to commercialize drug discovery and drug development tools; and the future business operations of the Company. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Such statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain assumptions that may or may not ultimately prove valid. The Company's actual results may vary materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties to which the Company is subject, including those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and in its subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K.

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StemCells, Inc. to Present at Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum

Research and Markets: Gene Therapy – Technologies, Markets and Companies – 2013 Report

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/rwzqrh/gene_therapy) has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Gene Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

Gene therapy can be broadly defined as the transfer of defined genetic material to specific target cells of a patient for the ultimate purpose of preventing or altering a particular disease state. Genes and DNA are now being introduced without the use of vectors and various techniques are being used to modify the function of genes in vivo without gene transfer. If one adds to this the cell therapy particularly with use of genetically modified cells, the scope of gene therapy becomes much broader. Gene therapy can now combined with antisense techniques such as RNA interference (RNAi), further increasing the therapeutic applications. This report takes broad overview of gene therapy and is the most up-to-date presentation from the author on this topic built-up from a series of gene therapy report written by him during the past decade including a textbook of gene therapy and a book on gene therapy companies. This report describes the setbacks of gene therapy and renewed interest in the topic

Gene therapy technologies are described in detail including viral vectors, nonviral vectors and cell therapy with genetically modified vectors. Gene therapy is an excellent method of drug delivery and various routes of administration as well as targeted gene therapy are described. There is an introduction to technologies for gene suppression as well as molecular diagnostics to detect and monitor gene expression.

Clinical applications of gene therapy are extensive and cover most systems and their disorders. Full chapters are devoted to genetic syndromes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders and viral infections with emphasis on AIDS. Applications of gene therapy in veterinary medicine, particularly for treating cats and dogs, are included.

The markets for gene therapy are difficult to estimate as there is only one approved gene therapy product and it is marketed in China since 2004. Gene therapy markets are estimated for the years 2012-2022. The estimates are based on epidemiology of diseases to be treated with gene therapy, the portion of those who will be eligible for these treatments, competing technologies and the technical developments anticipated in the next decades. In spite of some setbacks, the future for gene therapy is bright.The markets for DNA vaccines are calculated separately as only genetically modified vaccines and those using viral vectors are included in the gene therapy markets

The voluminous literature on gene therapy was reviewed and selected 710 references are appended in the bibliography.The references are constantly updated. The text is supplemented with 72 tables and 15 figures.

Profiles of 178 companies involved in developing gene therapy are presented along with 199 collaborations. There were only 44 companies involved in this area in 1995. In spite of some failures and mergers, the number of companies has increased more than 4-fold within a decade. These companies have been followed up since they were the topic of a book on gene therapy companies by the author of this report. John Wiley & Sons published the book in 2000 and from 2001 to 2003, updated versions of these companies (approximately 160 at mid-2003) were available on Wiley's web site. Since that free service was discontinued and the rights reverted to the author, this report remains the only authorized continuously updated version on gene therapy companies.

Benefits of this report

- Up-to-date on-stop information on gene therapy with 72 tables and 14 figures

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Research and Markets: Gene Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies - 2013 Report

Gary Barlow – Rule The World (Live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre 19/01/2013) – Video

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Gary Barlow - Rule The World (Live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre 19/01/2013)
Gary Barlow performing Rule The World live in concert on his "Gary Barlow: In Concert" solo tour. Filmed live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre on Saturday 19th January 2013.

By: Friesian Cow

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Gary Barlow - Rule The World (Live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre 19/01/2013) - Video

Gary Barlow – Never Forget (Live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre 19/01/2013) – Video

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Gary Barlow - Never Forget (Live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre 19/01/2013)
Gary Barlow performing Never Forget live in concert on his "Gary Barlow: In Concert" solo tour. Filmed live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre on Saturday 19th January 2013.

By: Friesian Cow

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Gary Barlow - Never Forget (Live at Scarborough Futurist Theatre 19/01/2013) - Video

Visual Futurist Syd Mead Discusses 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' and Video Games (Q&A)

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Syd Mead worked closely with James Cameron designing the USS Sulaco for the Aliens movie. When Sega and developer Gearbox Software signed a licensing deal with 20th Century Fox to create a virtual sequel to the film, Aliens: Colonial Marines, for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, they enlisted Mead to further explore the ship. The visual futurist has worked in games before, designing a new light cycle for the TRON 2.0 game after working on the original film and creating the aliens for the PC game Wing Commander: Prophecy. Mead talks about how video games are opening up new opportunities for Hollywood film franchises in this exclusive interview.

The Hollywood Reporter: What are your thoughts on Aliens migrating to video games?

Syd Mead:As in current movie productions, now they do a parallel production. The gamers expectations are so high, it practically drops into theatrical. Theres no surprise that they would take the franchise with Gearbox Software working with 20th Century Fox and come out with a game. They did sequels of the original movie in the first place, so why not? The game market is at least as big, or bigger, than the theatrical release part. So it makes sense for business reasons and stylistically. Who knows, if this goes well maybe theyll make another Aliens movie.

THR: How did you work with Gearbox Software on this game?

Mead:We were approached after they got the got the agreement with Fox. I got the assignment of doing the interior. Obviously, I designed the exterior of the Sulaco, and for the movie, some of the interior sets like the drop ship bay. They wanted to recreate the mechanical mood of the Sulaco, interiors that Id already done, which is one of the reasons why they contacted me.

THR: This Aliens: Colonial Marines game is very cinematic. What are your thoughts about how far gaming has progressed over the years?

Mead:A lot. My first video game was with the Don Bluth Studios in Toronto back in four-bit days. We only had seven VGA colors; the pale blue and pink. Then I worked with 989 Studios/Sony in San Diego on what was going to be the Jet Moto 4 for PlayStation 1. Then they changed all the coding for PlayStation 2. They got a phone call from Tokyo and said, Stop everything. Dump it. So they dumped it. We only got to Jet Moto 3. Working with games now, its not the limitation of the technique, its the limitation of the ideas, the demographic its aimed at, the quality of the gameplay, the scripting, runtime, and all that.

THR: Where do you draw inspiration from when it comes to creating things like what youve done with this game?

Mead:From the story. I dont write the story. I can do a good outline for my presentations, but Im not a narrative storyteller. I read the story, or the script in the case of a film, and that starts the creative process. I work one-to-one with a director. In this case, one-to-one with the guys at Gearbox and that starts the process.

THR: What was it like working on the original Aliens with Jim Cameron?

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Visual Futurist Syd Mead Discusses 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' and Video Games (Q&A)

Pre-tribulation Rapture – Futurism – A lie Created By Jesuits Of Rome – Video

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Pre-tribulation Rapture - Futurism - A lie Created By Jesuits Of Rome
Exposing the satanic jesuit papal roman empire #39;s covert global power structure the mystery babylon new world order agenda. Jesuits vs The Reformation - Futurism http://www.angelfire.com religion = re-legion. KJV is a book by the Holy Spirit. Video by Alan Lemont - Universe6807

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Pre-tribulation Rapture - Futurism - A lie Created By Jesuits Of Rome - Video

One Love Academy with LATONYA STYLE – freedom of expression ! – Video

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One Love Academy with LATONYA STYLE - freedom of expression !
We present you the last video from this amazing weekend full of great vibes and True Jamaican Dancehall !! thank you LATONYA STYLE for your passion and knowledge, our DJ IhaMan and everybody who were there supporting and enjoying! thanks to Micha #322; Friedrich for this beautiful video! http://www.michalfriedrich.pl One Love Dancesystem http://www.facebook.com nuff love! DISCLAIMER: No coryright infringement intended. We do not own any rights to the song. We use it only for inspirational purposes.

By: OneLoveDancesystem

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One Love Academy with LATONYA STYLE - freedom of expression ! - Video

Bishop of Guildford: Religious freedom is eroding

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We are seeing an increasing erosion of religious freedom, writes the Bishop of Guildford, ahead of his debate in the House of Lords.

I am to ask Her Majestys Government a question in relation to the promotion of freedom of religion and conscience internationally, as a fundamental human right and a source of stability, for several reasons.

First, sadly there is a greater erosion of freedom of religion at this time than for many years before. However, I shall open the debate by stressing that it is about conscience as well as religion. In other words, I am not only concerned about the freedom for the various faith communities but also all conscientious persons.

One of the things I shall be stressing is the importance of finding a way of articulating our concern for freedom of religion without being partisan and indulging in tit for tat debates to the effect that we are more persecuted than you. It is very proper that there are individuals and organisations campaigning on behalf of the various faith groups. That is perfectly reasonable. But we also need a holistic approach and that is where the government the European Union and the United Nations all have their part to play.

In my speech I shall be acknowledging that the Church has not always been a champion of freedom that is to be deeply regretted - but then secular governments too have also been guilty of terrible persecutions (for example in the 20th century, as witnessed by the extreme regimes of east and west (Nazi/Stalinist/Maoist).

I touch on the balance of the recent European Court of Human Rights decision and pick up a number of practical points that I am aware that the government, through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are engaged in, and I encourage further development.

I shall be ending with a quotation from the Chief Rabbi and Dostoyevsky who in The Brothers Karamazof gives us a parable about the freedom that true religion should bring though sometimes monolithic institutions, including the Church, have opposed this.

The Lord Bishop of Guildford will ask Her Majestys Government what their strategy is for promoting freedom of religion and conscience internationally as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries.

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Bishop of Guildford: Religious freedom is eroding

Freedom Mortgage Partners with Food Bank of South Jersey for a Brighter Tomorrow

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Partnering with the Food Bank of South Jersey, Freedom Mortgage successfully collected and donated over 850 pounds of food to help support the local charitable food distribution centers as well as people in need- including the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

(PRWEB) January 22, 2013

Through a collective effort at its Mount Laurel offices, Freedom Mortgage was able to obtain enough donations to feed dozens of local families as well as provide much needed baby and pet care items.

Freedom Mortgage has helped us provide relief and support to many local families in need, said Food Bank of South Jersey representative Dennis Brake. We are sincerely grateful for the generosity of Freedom Mortgage and the support they provide us. Together we hope to bring a brighter tomorrow to the hungry in our community and all those in need.

In the coming years, Freedom Mortgage hopes to use the strength and presence of the organization nationally to help support families in need wherever possible.

About Freedom Mortgage:

Freedom Mortgage Corporation is an established, approved lending institution maintaining an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Fully licensed and privately held, Freedom Mortgage provides a wide range of loan choices at competitive rates to new and existing customers.

Freedom Mortgage has been serving residential homeowners throughout the Nation since 1990, is an Equal Housing Lender and an Equal Opportunity Employer with its corporate headquarters located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

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Freedom Mortgage Partners with Food Bank of South Jersey for a Brighter Tomorrow

Underground Railroad brought freedom in Ontario

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There may not have been an actual "railroad" associated with the Underground Railroad, but its passengers were as precious as any train ever carried.

The term Underground Railroad refers to the passage of freedom seekers in the mid 1800s -- thousands of slaves and refugees who journeyed north from southern parts of the United States to freedom in Canada.

Their perilous and painstaking journeys -- from about 1830 to 1870 -- are commemorated during February, known widely as Black History Month. And few can tell their stories better than Lezlie Harper Wells.

Harper Wells is a direct descendent of a freedom seeker who arrived in Canada's Niagara Region in 1850. Her great, great grandfather, Jack Black, fled slavery in Kentucky with his brother and nine-year-old sister. They hiked thousands of kilometres alone by night, slogged through swamps and swam across rivers. They eventually crossed the Niagara River near Buffalo and settled along the northern shore at Ontario's Fort Erie.

"It was absolutely amazing," Harper Wells says, "to look at Fort Erie's 1851 census and there was (my great, great grandfather's) name."

Through her company Niagara Bound Tours, Harper Wells organizes customized, family friendly tours of Niagara's Freedom Trail, relating the stories of these courageous people.

Niagara Bound's tours take in historical spots near St. Catharines, Welland, Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake, including points where freedom seekers crossed the Niagara River, homes considered "safe houses," the Salem Chapel in St. Catharines, where freedom seekers would congregate, and the landing point of Josiah Henson, believed to be the inspiration for a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Along the tour, Harper Wells tells a lot of fascinating stories. She explains the struggles and horrors people faced while enslaved, the conditions in which they lived, and the challenges they overcame to escape. Her tours are also full of hope and joy, shedding light on Ontario's involvement in the Underground Railroad, a network of people who hid and guided slaves north to freedom.

With no money or means of transportation, many freedom seekers travelled in darkness, simply following the light of the North Star and searching for signposts -- trees bearing crude charcoal or mud markings that pointed the way to freedom. The Underground Railroad system included a number of code words and terms used to keep operations covert: "Stockholders" referred to abolitionists who believed in freedom for all; "human merchandise" meant runaway slaves and refugees; a "depot" was a safe stopping point (safe house) along the way; and "the other side" referred to the north side of the Niagara River in Canada, where slavery was prohibited.

Lezlie Harper Wells of Niagara Bound Tours stands beside an Underground Railroad landing spot along the Niagara River. LORI KNOWLES/Special to QMI Agency

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Underground Railroad brought freedom in Ontario

Talented Freedom High girls chase hoops title

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By BEN HENDERSON | Special correspondent Published: January 23, 2013 Updated: January 23, 2013 - 12:00 AM

It has been quite the season for the Freedom girls basketball team. After going 18-11 last season, the Patriots are 19-3 with two games left in the regular season before the district tournament next week.

Head coach Laurie Pacholke, in her fourth season as head coach, has a senior laden squad, with six seniors led by Georgetown University commit Faith Woodard. Pacholke says she has girls on her JV who could probably play varsity for other teams not that she is complaining.

"This is the most talent we have ever had," she said. "We have a super competitive practice. We go 5-on-5 and it gets pretty cutthroat."

Freedom had outscored their up opponents this year by an average of 28 points. It can be difficult to keep focus when winning by a wide margin, but Pacholke knows her team can not become complacent if they are to reach the final four in Lakeland.

"Our goal is to be better today than we were yesterday," she said. "We need to do a better job defensively, making sure we are precise."

One thing that has helped Freedom is the rigorous conditioning program that took part in over the off-season.

"We had 15 to 20 kids out for conditioning," Pacholke said. "The commitment level is top notch. We have 13 kids who play basketball year round."

Senior guard Neena Pacholke, coach Pacholke's daughter, says the workouts they did are part of what help the Patriots beat other teams in transition.

"We did the insanity workout and then ran on the track," she said.

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Talented Freedom High girls chase hoops title

Freedom rider tells Stetson students of historic protests

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For the past four years, Stetson Law School professor Robert Bickel, left, and Ernest "Rip" Patton have traveled with Stetson law and history students on Stetson's 2,000-mile Civil Rights Movement and the Law Tour through the Deep South.

DELAND In May 1961, Ernest "Rip" Patton Jr. was a young music major at Tennessee State University about to get on a bus and become part of history.

Tuesday night, a 72-year-old Patton stood before an overflow crowd of several hundred at Stetson University to tell of his work as a freedom rider.

The freedom riders were activists who defied segregation laws by riding in racially mixed groups in buses across the South and using the segregated facilities in depots. Though court decisions already had outlawed racial segregation in interstate transportation, Jim Crow laws stayed stubbornly often violently in force.

When Patton got ready for his trip, a bus had already been firebombed and riders had been beaten by mobs. Many thought the freedom rides had run their course.

"I knew about the beatings. I knew about the burning of the bus," he said.

Patton, lanky and slightly stooped, with the low, melodic voice of a man who loves to sing, told the students there was no question about joining the ride.

"That didn't stop us. We were on a mission. We were on a mission to make a difference. Not only for our generation for your generation as well."

Although his group escaped the threatened mob violence, Patton was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge in Jackson, Miss., at the lunch counter of a bus station.

Patton was sentenced to prison at Mississippi's Parchman State Prison Farm where he and other protesters were put in the maximum security section.

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Freedom rider tells Stetson students of historic protests