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Ag land management seminar planned for Aug. 28 at Scottsbluff; register by Aug. 25 – Scottsbluff Star Herald

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Anyone who owns farmland may want to participate in a day-long seminar that will provide management strategies for this asset. The seminar is scheduled for Aug. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center. Lunch will be included.

Pre-registration is requested by Aug. 25. The registration fee of $20 per person or $30 per couple covers handouts, refreshments and lunch. Contact Extension Educator Jessica Groskopf, 308-632-1247.

I am contacted monthly from citizens who have had their parents pass away, and now they are managing a farm for the first time in their lives, said Allan Vyhnalek, Extension Educator and event speaker. They may have even grown up there, but havent been around for 30 or 40 years, and need to understand that farming practices and management concepts have changed, Vyhnalek continued.

The workshop is designed to provide primer education for those that havent been on the farm much, or on the farm much recently. It is also designed to be a refresher course for those that would like to have the latest information on land management and rental.

Participants can use this seminar to answer questions they might have: Am I keeping the farm, or selling it? How do I manage a farm? If leasing, what are key lease provisions? What legal considerations do I have with this decision? And, how do we manage family communications and expectations when other family is involved? What does a soil test tell me? I hear about organic or natural production, how does that vary from what my farmer is currently doing? If corn and dry beans arent making money why dont we raise other crops? What should I expect for communications between the landlord and tenant? What are key pasture leasing considerations?

The program is being provided by Vyhnalek, Gary Stone, and Jim Jansen, Extension Educators from Nebraska Extension.

For more information or assistance contact Extension Educator Jessica Groskopf, 308-632-1247, jgroskopf2@unl.edu.

Gardeners invited to share excess bounty with food pantry

Do you have zucchini coming out of your ears? More tomatoes than you know what to do with? At this time of year many gardeners face the wonderful problem of too much bounty from their gardensbut no one wants to see good produce go to waste.

Nebraska Extensions CHOW (Cultivating Health Our Way) program has a solution.

This summer, the CHOW program and the Ever Green House in Gering have partnered to supply the food pantry at the Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska (CAPWN) with fresh produce. Vegetables are grown in a donation garden at the Ever Green House with the help of volunteers, Extension Master Gardeners, and the SNAP-Ed program of Scotts Bluff and Morrill Counties, and then delivered to the food pantry.

Now, the partnership is inviting gardeners from all over the area to join in by dropping off quality produce that is simply more than they can use. The CHOW program will deliver the produce to the CAPWN food pantry.

Produce is an important source of vitamins but can be hard to come by at food pantries because of the shorter shelf life and difficulty of transporting it from major food banks, said Erin Kampbell, SNAP-Ed Assistant at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. By providing locally grown produce to food pantries, families in a tough spot can still include vegetables in their diet.

The opportunity to donate abundant produce is great for gardeners, too, Kampbell said. Dropping off extras at the Ever Green House is a way to make sure quality produce that might otherwise spoil or get thrown away is used and enjoyed.

Produce of good quality can be delivered to the Ever Green House at Overland Trail Road and D Street in Gering from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesdays through September.

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Call 308-632-9010 or email circ@starherald.com to get started.

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Ag land management seminar planned for Aug. 28 at Scottsbluff; register by Aug. 25 - Scottsbluff Star Herald

David Von Drehle: Steve Bannon made Trump who he is – Omaha World-Herald

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Stephen K. Bannon may be gone, but he wont soon be forgotten.

Firing the chief strategist from the White House will bolster the frayed hopes of Chief of Staff John F. Kelly that he might somehow corral the raging bull in the Oval Office. Plenty of china has been smashed since January, but a few dishes maybe even the prized platter of tax reform could yet be rescued. Maybe.

But Bannon played a role for President Donald Trump that no one else can fill, one that Trump will pine for like a junkie pines for smack. The impresario of apocalyptic politics gave Trump a grandiose image of himself at a time when the real estate mogul was building a movement but had no real ideas.

Until Bannon came along, Trump was a political smorgasbord. He had been a Democrat, an independent and a Republican. He had been pro-choice and anti-abortion. He did business in the Middle East and tweeted about a Muslim ban. As for deep policy debates, he really couldnt be bothered. He was a vibe, a zeitgeist not a platform.

Bannon convinced him that he was something more than a political neophyte with great instincts and perfect timing. Bannon painted a picture of Trump as a world-historical force, the revolutionary leader of a new political order, as the strategist told Time magazine earlier this year.

Under the influence of a pair of generational theorists, William Strauss and Neil Howe, Bannon conceives of American history as a repeating cycle of four phases. A generation struggles with an existential crisis: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II. The next generation builds institutions to prevent a future crisis. The next generation rebels against the institutions, leading to a Fourth Turning, in which the next crisis comes.

Believing that another crisis is upon us, Bannon framed a role in Trumps imagination for the former real estate mogul to remake the world. To the list of crisis presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt they would add the name of Trump.

With Bannon gone, the White House might become a place less in love with conflict and chaos. But it is hard to think that Trump will be happy without aides who can paint such a picture for him.

He will be looking for ways to keep in touch with his Svengali, because once youve been a Man of Destiny, its hard to go back to being a guy who got lucky.

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David Von Drehle: Steve Bannon made Trump who he is - Omaha World-Herald

Automation hits full stride at Belimo, highlighting need for retraining of workers – Danbury News Times

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media

James Furlong, left, president of Belimo Americas and John Forlenzo, a vice president/ customizing and logistics, give a tour of the Danbury facility, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

James Furlong, left, president of Belimo Americas and John Forlenzo, a vice president, give a tour of the Danbury facility, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

James Furlong, is the president of Belimo Americas . Photo Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Belimo Americas in Danbury operates with an automated storage and retrieval system, part of which is shown in this photograph, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

John Forlenzo is the vice president/ customizing and logistics for Belimo Americas. Photo Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Belimo Americas in Danbury operates with an automated storage and retrieval system, part of which is shown in this photograph, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Souk Novuang operates a man up turret truck to move and place stored items at Belimo Americas in Danbury, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Lenny Engleman of Danbury, unpacks and places items into an automated storage and retrieval system at Belimo Americas in Danbury, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Stephanie Perez processes an order at a B/C pick up station at Belimo Americas in Danbury Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Belimo Americas in Danbury operates with an automated storage and retrieval system, part of which is shown in this photograph, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Belimo Americas in Danbury, Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Automation hits full stride at Belimo, highlighting need for retraining of workers

With acronyms such as ASRS, AGV, ISO and WMS guiding the factory operations at Belimo Americas headquarters in Danbury, it is clear the next generation of manufacturing has come to Connecticut.

Belimo, which makes actuators, valves and sensors for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, built its state-of-the-art, 200,000-square-foot headquarters on the top of a hill in west Danbury in 2014. With its highly automated manufacturing systems, it is a prime example of the need for advanced manufacturing employees in the state.

How do we do what we do more efficiently? When automation is a means to get us there, we employ it, James Furlong, president of Belimo Americas, said. If automation can reduce our lead times and make our delivery time more predictable those are the driving factors. It would be a very complex manual system to try to do this.

Belimos automated storage and retrieval system, or ASRS, area features 41-foot ceilings with a combination of machines and employees seamlessly receiving and fulfilling orders in real time. Every assembler on the floor has a computer monitor at their work station.

Larger containers are stored by turret trucks that allow operators to be eye level with storage spaces 40 feet high. The wire-guided trucks fit into narrow aisles and operators use computer monitors in the sitting area to view their next task. The cranes know where every piece of inventory is and can store or retrieve an item in seconds from any of the 15,000 bays that are stacked vertically to the ceiling.

We did an analysis of man vs. ASRS, John Forlenzo, vice president of customizing and logistics at Belimo Americas, said. I wont even throw a number out there, but ASRS is significantly faster and uses much less space because it can take advantage of vertical space.

Belimos manufacturing will soon become even more high-tech as it introduces an automated guided vehicle, or AGV, to its floor. Using lasers and reflectors, an AGV is basically a driverless forklift. At Belimo, AGVs will move products around the perimeter of the ASRS floor for more efficient delivery to different areas of the manufacturing floor.

It is part of the lean manufacturing process used at Belimo, which aims for maximum efficiency and with as little waste of time and space as possible.

Machines move more parts from place to place and people focus on tasks that require thinking, Furlong said.

Need for skilled labor

The shift to advanced manufacturing has created a dearth of trained employees in the state. In a 2017 study, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, or CBIA, predicts that there will be more than 13,000 job openings in 14 manufacturing job categories by the end of 2018.

Community colleges and technical high schools have begun to expand their advanced manufacturing programs, but the need to fill such positions far outweighs the qualified candidate pool, CBIA officials said.

Theres a manufacturing renaissance going on in Connecticut, Pete Gioia, economist with CBIA, said.

Gioia pointed to last Thursdays job numbers released by the state Department of Labor that showed Connecticut lost 600 jobs in July and has recovered only 82.3 percent of the jobs lost from the recession that started in 2008. If we could fill those 13,000 jobs, that would be a home run, really, he said.

Naugatuck Valley Community College reported last week the job placement rate is 100 percent for graduates of its Advanced Manufacturing Training Certificate program. Forlenzo said Belimo uses students from Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury as apprentices and potential hires following graduation.

The last person we hired was from Abbott Tech, he said.

Gioia said automation could displace workers in the retail industry in the coming years, but automation in manufacturing creates as many jobs as it displaces. Workers, however, need to be trained or retrained.

The more robots we have, the more product we can push out, and the more product we can push out the greater the need is in fulfillment. Its a win-win, Gioia said. Machines are faster, cheaper, better. They dont take days off and theres no need for workers comp. But you still need people to build and service the robots.

We shouldnt decry the use of robots, he added. Its making the U.S. more competitive. What used to be done outside of the country is being done here.

Speaking at a meeting of her STEM advisory board earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty said: Automation is seen as an enemy. It just requires different skill sets and people need to be retrained.

According to CBIAs 2017 Survey of Connecticut Manufacturing Workforce Needs, there are more than 4,000 manufacturing firms in the state and 159,000 people working in the industry, representing nearly 10 percent of the states workforce. The survey showed that nearly all manufacturers plan to expand their workforce in the next three years.

Dont think for a minute we arent a manufacturing state, because we are, Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research at DataCore Partners, said at the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerces Economic Forecast Breakfast earlier this year.

Strong labor force

Furlong said Belimo has not had trouble finding skilled employees to fill its manufacturing positions. Belimo employs about 300 people in Danbury, 200 in production. While he described the labor pool as tight, he said Belimo has a strong reputation in the community and is known as a good place to work.

We dont have dozens of people knocking on our door every day looking for jobs, but we have been successful in attracting high-quality employees, Furlong said. Its a good labor force. Weve never had a reason to start disrupting our operation and look elsewhere for labor.

Like Danbury itself, Belimo prides itself on diversity. Furlong said 14 different languages are spoken by employees at the company. Belimo also employs 44 people from Ability Beyond, a Bethel-based nonprofit organization that, among other services, helps people with disabilities find employment.

Belimo was founded in Switzerland in 1975. It expanded to the U.S. in 1989 and expanded its Danbury operations in 1992, 1998 and 2014. The new facility, Furlong said, features the most sophisticated hydronics lab in the world.

The facility, despite being only three years old, will be a place of constant change, Furlong and Forlenzo said, as manufacturing evolves. Furlong said light assembly used to be the largest part of the companys manufacturing process; now it is the smallest.

The way we do things today is not the way it will be done in 2015, Forlenzo said. Theres continuous innovation. The bar is always moving.

cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338

Automation on the rise in Dubois County area manufacturing – Times-Mail (subscription)

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

With changing technologies, some Southern Indiana manufacturers say theres no doubt the amount of automation they use within their facilities will increase in years to come.

Its a game-changer, Kevin Ward, plant manager at Kimball Hospitality, said of automation. Kimball Hospitality is in the midst of a $4.4 million, two-year project the 16th Street Realignment Project which will install state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment in the plant, allowing the company to automate some of the labor performed by employees, such as moving products from station to station.

Automation is technology that automatically controls a process, such as tech involved with the manufacturing of a product. A recent study by Ball State Universitys Center for Business and Economic Research sought to find out how communities will be affected by automation. The study, How vulnerable are American communities to automation, trade & urbanization? suggests that about half of U.S. jobs are at risk because of automation. It puts about 59 percent of Dubois County jobs at risk.

As a workplace is automated, it is unlikely that all occupations will be eliminated, the study concludes. Rather, some jobs will be created, some will be destroyed, and others will be unaffected.

With Kimball Hospitalitys project, Ward doesnt expect the company to lose any employees.

The key before you automate is that you have to make sure your employees can accept that automation, he said, also saying that the company began cross-training employees about two years ago in anticipation of increased automation.

He said Kimball Hospitalitys most capable computer network-controlled machine is 19 years old and was the best technology for its time. It, as well as other machines, will soon be replaced with machines that are more automated, allowing for more flexibility.

For example, say a customer orders a hotel room of furniture. Ward said a new automated machine will be capable of automatically changing over to run each piece of different furniture one right after the other, a process called mixed-model. The older machine can do mixed-model, but Ward said that because the changeover is not automated, the process takes too long.

Its about synchronizing the plant to orders, he said of the companys increased automation efforts. We want to be flexible, so when a customer has a need, we can do it. We can now tailor the manufacturing process to a customers needs.

He said new technologies at the plant will allow the facility to produce more when demand increases. When that happens, he said, the plant will need to hire additional employees.

Our human resources are driven by customer demand, he said.

Jasper-based MasterBrand Cabinets has also integrated automation into its cabinet manufacturing. Much of the technology is used for the movement and handling of materials.

We also have some plants looking at pick-and-place robots, where an arm takes a piece and puts it in the machine and once finished, takes it out, said Scott Denhart, general manager of MasterBrands Ferdinand plant. The spraying of doors, theres robotics involved in that as well.

He said safety is one of the biggest drivers that led the company to automation.

Were always looking at reducing the opportunity for injury in the plant, Denhart said. A lot of injuries stem from the repetitive motion type of work.

He said automation can help with that. It also helps with quality control, keeping the product the same every time.

Theres also the old saying that a robot never takes a day off, he said. Theres reliability that that particular function is performed no matter what.

As automation evolves, Denhart said, a business typically grows. He remembers when MasterBrand was producing 2,000 to 4,000 units per day. Now daily business is at about 10,000 cabinets a day.

He believes the value of the employee has not been lost during MasterBrands move to automation. Theres a human element in the production process.

Theres a certain amount of fitting parts together that is challenging for robots, Denhart said. Everyone (employees) is also responsible for ugly to obvious defects and not letting them out of the plant. How does a machine do that?

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Automation on the rise in Dubois County area manufacturing - Times-Mail (subscription)

Automation the way forward, says Laois farmer – Agriland

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

A Co. Laois father and son who are dairy and beef farmers, and contractors, have availed of automation as they increased their herd size to boost efficiency.

Pierce and Michael Malone from Ballypickas, have automated their: milking; calf feeding; and yard cleaning systems to facilitate an increase in their dairy herd from 70 to 140 cows in the last three years.

The Malones who have 70ac of their own land, supplemented with rented ground, do a small amount of baled silage contracting in the Laois and Castlecomer areas.

They installed two Lely robots three years ago, with the plan of expanding the British Friesian herd that is being crossed with Holsteins.

It was a massive decision to install the robots, from an investment and efficiency point of view, said Michael Malone.

The Malones went to the first demonstration of the robots at the National Ploughing Championships where there was a plastic dummy cows udder, showing how the machine attached and functioned.

Shortly after that, my uncle installed robotic milking on his farm in south Kilkenny, Malone said.

Adapting to the robots in the first year was challenging, according to Malone. Training in the cows and getting everything set up took time.

They installed an underpass to allow cows access across the road to graze more of the farm.

Milking has now reduced to twice daily from three times daily, with the herd getting late into lactation.

The Malones previously ran an 8-unit milking parlour, where their electricity costs were 900 to 1,000 every two months. When the robots were installed in an existing building on the farm, with a small amount of building work required, that went up to 1,500 to 1,600, but when we changed supplier, it went down to 1,200.

With the robotic milking established and working well for the Malones, they installed an automated yard cleaning system, Lelys Discovery. Again, the increase in the volume of cows and increased calving spurred them on.

We have a lot of short passageways and it is able to tackle all of them. We previously used manual hand scrapers, and were up in the middle of the night, working them, while looking at the cows, during the calving season. The sheds were getting fuller.

This cleans the yard every couple of hours and can be programmed to go on different routes, said Malone.

Their newest piece of kit is an automated calf feeding system which assists in the rearing of calves on an out farm. The Lely automated calf feeder is another time saver.

Prior to its installation, we were trying to get warm milk one-and-a-half miles over to the out farm twice a day. Now the calves are getting milk powder whenever they want it, in exact amounts. You will always have a slow calf but its working very well. It has reared 90 calves this year.

It would be even more efficient if there was broadband on the out farm, Malone said.

That would eliminate the need to go over and check twice a day you would get away with once daily.

All the pieces of equipment work together and provide the Malones with flexibility. With the robotic milking, if youre out on the baler at 6:00pm, you dont have to rush away to do the milking, you can leave it until 8:00pm and the cows wont be agitated.

The Malones also invested in a Zero Grazer. To put lane ways into our rented land would have cost us, so we bought a Zero Grazer which brings grass into the cows for six hours during the night. We knew that if we wanted to increase the numbers, the grass had to come from somewhere.

While Malone doesnt believe Ireland is quite ready for driverless tractors the fields arent big enough he contends that automation is the way forward.

You cant fight it. Its the way things are going to go, and you cant get labour. You go into the supermarket and theres automation. Fighting it isnt going to work.

Automation on the family farm has allowed the family to streamline the processes. I was able to go and do an AI course, said Malone.

You have more time to manage the cows and the grass, but you still cant go 100 miles away. With the amount of cows we have, less labour is involved now, but the two of us are still doing the same amount of work.

There are so many different jobs to be done from AI to organising grass, spreading manure and topping paddocks. You wont pay for automation if you put your feet up.

What about future plans? There would always be things going on in your head, but you have to see what happens. Theres no such thing as standing still in farming.

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Automation the way forward, says Laois farmer - Agriland

Reverence for robots: Japanese workers treasure automation – ABC … – ABC News

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Thousands upon thousands of cans are filled with beer, capped and washed, wrapped into six-packs, and boxed at dizzying speeds 1,500 a minute, to be exact on humming conveyor belts that zip and wind in a sprawling factory near Tokyo.

Nary a soul is in sight in this picture-perfect image of Japanese automation.

The machines do all the heavy lifting at this plant run by Asahi Breweries, Japan's top brewer. The human job is to make sure the machines do the work right, and to check on the quality the sensors are monitoring.

"Basically, nothing goes wrong. The lines are up and running 96 percent," said Shinichi Uno, a manager at the plant. "Although machines make things, human beings oversee the machines."

The debate over machines snatching jobs from people is muted in Japan, where birth rates have been sinking for decades, raising fears of a labor shortage. It would be hard to find a culture that celebrates robots more, evident in the popularity of companion robots for consumers, sold by the internet company SoftBank and Toyota Motor Corp, among others.

Japan, which forged a big push toward robotics starting in the 1990s, leads the world in robots per 10,000 workers in the automobile sector 1,562, compared with 1,091 in the U.S. and 1,133 in Germany, according to a White House report submitted to Congress last year. Japan was also ahead in sectors outside automobiles at 219 robots per 10,000 workers, compared with 76 for the U.S. and 147 for Germany.

One factor in Japan's different take on automation is the "lifetime employment" system. Major Japanese companies generally retain workers, even if their abilities become outdated, and retrain them for other tasks, said Koichi Iwamoto, a senior fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry.

That system is starting to fray as Japan globalizes, but it's still largely in use, Iwamoto said.

Although data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show digitalization reduces demand for mid-level routine tasks such as running assembly lines while boosting demand for low- and high-skilled jobs, that trend has been less pronounced in Japan than in the U.S.

The OECD data, which studied shifts from 2002 to 2014, showed employment trends remained almost unchanged for Japan.

That means companies in Japan weren't resorting as aggressively as those in the U.S. to robots to replace humans. Clerical workers, for instance, were keeping their jobs, although their jobs could be done better, in theory, by computers.

That kind of resistance to adopting digital technology for services also is reflected in how Japanese society has so far opted to keep taxis instead of shifting to online ride hailing and shuttle services.

Still, automation has progressed in Japan to the extent the nation has now entered what Iwamoto called a "reflective stage," in which "human harmony with machines" is being pursued, he said.

"Some tasks may be better performed by people, after all," said Iwamoto.

Kiyoshi Sakai, who has worked at Asahi for 29 years, recalls how, in the past, can caps had to be placed into machines by hand, a repetitive task that was hard not just on the body, but also the mind.

And so he is grateful for automation's helping hand. Machines at the plant have become more than 50 percent smaller over the years. They are faster and more precise than three decades ago.

Gone are the days things used to go wrong all the time and human intervention was needed to get machines running properly again. Every 10 to 15 minutes, people used to have to go check on the products; there were no sensors back then.

Glitches are so few these days there is barely any reason to work up a sweat, he added with a smile.

Like many workers in Japan, Sakai doesn't seem worried about his job disappearing. As the need for plant workers nose-dived with the advance of automation, he was promoted to the general affairs section, a common administrative department at Japanese companies.

"I remember the work being so hard. But when I think back, and it was all about delivering great beer to everyone, it makes me so proud," said Sakai, who drinks beer every day.

"I have no regrets. This is a stable job."

See other Future of Work stories at https://www.apnews.com/tag/FutureofWork . Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama. Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama

This is part of the first installment of Future of Work, an Associated Press series that will explore how workplaces across the U.S. and the world are being transformed by technology and global pressures. As more employers move, shrink or revamp their work sites, many employees are struggling to adapt. At the same time, workers with in-demand skills or knowledge are benefiting. Advanced training, education or know-how is becoming a required ticket to the 21st-century workplace.

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Reverence for robots: Japanese workers treasure automation - ABC ... - ABC News

INHUMAN TRADE: Labor trafficking hidden in Massachusetts communities – Wicked Local Hingham

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Gerry Tuoti Wicked Local Newsbank Editor

EDITORS NOTE: This is the third installment in a series of stories exploring human trafficking in Massachusetts. The series delves into the widespread commercial sex trade in our cities and suburbs, the online marketplaces where pimps and johns buy and sell sex, cases of modern-day slavery and victims tales of survival.

Three years ago, a couple from Brazil moved to Massachusetts with their young child and took jobs with a cleaning company in New Bedford.

Instead of building their piece of the American Dream, however, they soon found themselves in a nightmare, according to prosecutors. Their employer, according to a criminal indictment, forced them to work up to 100 hours a week, cleaning banks, car dealerships, stores and other businesses in Bridgewater, Fall River, Marshfield and Cape Cod.

DMS Cleaning Services owner Donny Sousa, prosecutors allege, had recruited the couple to move from Brazil, promising them $3,000 in monthly wages. Instead, they said, he failed to deliver the promised pay and intimidated them into working for the company, threatening them with a handgun when they asked for their wages. In the 15 months the couple worked for DMS before fleeing, prosecutors say they were paid just $3,600 and had only three days off.

A grand jury indicted Sousa last October on human trafficking, weapons, wage theft and forced labor charges. Sousa has pleaded not guilty and is due back in Bristol Superior Court for a Sept. 6 status hearing.

Its one of the few examples of labor exploitation cases being prosecuted under the states 2011 human trafficking law, which has been most frequently applied to cases of sex trafficking.

While most human trafficking cases in Massachusetts involve the illicit sex trade, labor trafficking and commercial exploitation remain a problem, especially in the immigrant community, said Julie Dahlstrom, a clinical associate professor of law at Boston University and director of the schools Immigrants Rights and Human Trafficking Program.

We dont have accurate statistics around this problem, Dahlstrom said. Anecdotally, what weve seen is largely non-citizens subject to labor trafficking, although it does sometimes impact citizens.

The Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization that runs a national human trafficking hotline, got calls about 88 human trafficking cases in Massachusetts last year, 15 of which involved labor trafficking. Those numbers likely represent just a small fraction of human trafficking incidents, experts say.

We have had cases involving domestic servitude, said Lt. Detective Donna Gavin, head of the Boston Police Departments Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Unit. Those are cases where families have been visiting from other countries and brought a domestic servant with them, and have held onto their passport and are not paying them.

Last May, a Cambridge couple paid a $3,000 settlement to resolve allegations that they failed to properly pay a live-in Filipina nanny they brought with them from their native Qatar. Mohammed and Adeela Alyafei, Attorney General Maura Healeys office alleged, failed to pay the nanny for several weeks. When she asked for her wages and said she wanted to return to her home in the Philippines, the couple demanded her passport, bought her a plane ticket to Qatar, and threatened to punish her upon her return, according to prosecutors.

Healey said there have been trafficking cases involving housekeepers, nannies and construction workers.

Exploiters often hold considerable leverage over their victims, especially if they are foreign nationals living in the country illegally.

I think if you look at the labor context they are especially vulnerable because they fear retaliation by their employers. They fear reprisal, Healey said. Weve had matters where employers have not paid wages, subjected them to horrible conditions, then said, By the way, if you complain about it, were going to call ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Certainly those who are undocumented have an additional layer of vulnerability.

Experts say human labor and sex trafficking cases can be found in all corners of the country. The North Carolina-based World of Faith Fellowship church, for example, has engaged in a years-long human trafficking operation, importing a stream of church members from Brazil and forcing them to work in the United States for little or no pay, according to a recent Associated Press investigation.

President Donald Trumps immigration policies have added to a climate of fear in the immigrant community, making it even less likely that trafficked or exploited undocumented workers will seek help from the authorities, Dahlstrom said.

With the new administrations policy, theres so much uncertainty, she said. I think local law enforcement are trying to ensure the public feels safe reporting exploitation, but my fear is traffickers are unscrupulous and traffickers will use that uncertainty to hold workers or exploit them in poor conditions. The executive order indicated almost any non-citizen is an enforcement priority, so that means when they report to Homeland Security, theyre both a victim and an enforcement priority at the same time.

NEXT: In the fourth and final part of the series, experts and former victims of sex trafficking explore the internets role in the illicit sex trade in Massachusetts.

Ukrainian envoy says ties with UAE broadening – Khaleej Times

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Over 11,000 Ukrainians currently call the UAE home, attracted by the lifestyle, high living standards, infrastructure, security levels and the eternal summer

The UAE has become a 'key partner' for Ukraine with a relationship now spanning 25 years, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to the UAE Yuriy Polurez.

In an interview with Khaleej Times, ahead of the Ukrainian community's Independence Day celebrations on August 24, Ambassador Polurez noted that Ukraine "considers cooperation with the UAE one of its strategic priorities of its foreign and economic policy in the Middle East.

"There are 24 bilateral agreements and memoranda already concluded between our countries," he said. "Other 15 bilateral documents are currently under consideration."

The Ukraine Embassy in the UAE officially opened its doors in 1994, which was followed by a consulate in Dubai in 2012. The UAE, for its part, opened its embassy in Ukraine in 2013.

According to Polurez, the ties between the two countries were cemented in 2015, with the visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (Idex) in Abu Dhabi, in which Ukrainian companies signed military deals worth 'tens of millions' of dollars.

"During his meetings with the leaders of the UAE, the facilitation of the UAE investments in Ukraine and cooperation in all spheres was discussed, he noted. "The scope of cooperation between Ukraine and the UAE was significantly broadened. There was an important agreement on military and technical cooperation, and last year the treat and legal basis for Ukraine-UAE military cooperation was fully established."

Home to 11,000 people

Polurez noted that over 11,000 Ukrainians currently call the UAE home and that the number is expected to grow.

"They work in different spheres from hospitality and entertainment to IT and financial services," he said. "Luxury lifestyles, high living standards, excellent infrastructure, high security levels and the eternal summer attract a lot of Ukrainians."

"Until recently, the Ukrainian community was fragmented, fringe and not organised," he added. "But during the last three years, it became more united, cohesive and active. New bodies, structures and communication platforms have been created."

As an example, the ambassador noted that the UAE is now home to a Ukrainian Business Council, Ukrainian children's and book clubs, an even a Ukrainian school.

"The Embassy of Ukraine regularly assists the Ukrainian community in the UAE in organising social gatherings, picnics, safaris, sport activities, intellectual games and film shows," he added.

Single entry visa for Emiratis

Polurez noted that a "growing" number of visitors from the UAE are joining the millions of foreign tourists that go to Ukraine every year.

"This number has almost tripled in the last year compared with the previous year, and reached almost 1,000 Emiratis," he explained. "We expect the number of UAE nationals will continue to grow, especially if we sign the agreement between the governments of Ukraine and the UAE on the mutual abolition of visa requirements. The work on this agreement has started this year."

The UAE nationals, he said, can obtain a single entry tourism visa valid for 15 days on arrival in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, as well as at the international airport and commercial seaport in the coastal city of Odessa.

Time for next step

According to the ambassador, the Ukraine-UAE economic cooperation has recently shown sign of "intensification", with Ukrainian exports to the UAE increasing by almost 60 per cent during the first five months of 2017.

"We expect that by the end of the year, the volume of bilateral trade will surpass the level of 2016," he added. "This is the first we have an increase in trade since 2013, and there are all the prerequisites for a further upward trend.given all the steps our governments undertake in the economic field, this tendency will continue in the years ahead."

Polurez added that he believes "it is now time" to move towards fields of mutual interest to both countries, such as energy, infrastructure development, biotechnology, space exploration, and the IT sector, and noted that 250 companies have Ukrainian executives as stakeholders in Dubai alone.

Looking towards the future of the UAE-Ukraine relations, Polurez added that the "priority of bilateral relations at present time could be the implementation of joint projects in the spheres of energy, aviation, shipbuilding, metallurgy, industrial and agricultural machinery and chemical and mining industries."

"Other beneficial fields of cooperation could be science and technology, aerospace, transport infrastructure, agriculture, education and tourism," he added.

bernd@khaleejtimes.com

I-Day preparations in full swing

Independence Day is the main state holiday of Ukraine, and commemorates the country's declaration of independence that was enacted on August 24, 1991.

According to Yuriy Polurez, Ukrainian Ambassador to the UAE, Independence Day "is a big celebration that unites crowds of people", many of them waving Ukrainian flags and dressed in "vyshyvanka" - traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts.

The occasion is also marked by large-scale military parades, flag hoisting ceremonies, as well as concerts, outdoor exhibitions, circuses, public fairs, sporting events and fireworks.

"In conclusion, I would like to say "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the UAE! Glory to our heroes!" Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!" the ambassador said.

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Ukrainian envoy says ties with UAE broadening - Khaleej Times

A history of Georgetown (Camp Street) Prison – Stabroek News

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

By Estherine Adams, Clare Anderson, and Kristy Warren

In August 1956, the Director of the Prison Administration of England and Wales, R.D. Fairn, arrived in Guyana. The British secretary of state had directed him to report on the state of the jails, to review conditions, and to recommend action. At the time, Guyana was a British colony (British Guiana), though following the establishment of an interim government in 1953, it was firmly on the path to independence.

Fairn gave a damning critique of the state of affairs in the colonys jails. He noted that the prison regime as a whole was based on a system dating from 1892, and its rules from those devised in 1913. More than that, the rules originated in England, in which conditions were quite irrelevant to those of Guiana.What is worst of all,he wrote,is that the rules are so archaic and there are so many of them, that neither staff nor prisoners know what they are or indeed where they are!

Fairn called for revised and simplified rules, the abolition of penal servitude (work) and hard labour, and the end of the mark system, a kind of points-based system through which prisoners were not given sentences in time (e.g. of 12 months, or 20 years), but could earn release for good work and behaviour. Rather, he proposed, prisoners should receive remission of sentence in days forfeited by misdemeanour. Fairn noted the limited work opportunities open to inmates, the near non-existence of training, and the mixing of prisoners of all classes (youths, and first and hardened offenders). .

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A history of Georgetown (Camp Street) Prison - Stabroek News

Kenyan Girls Use Technology to Combat Genital Cutting – Voice of America

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.

Its still fresh in my mind, the scene of female genital mutilation, said Purity Achieng, a 17-year-old from Kenya.

Achieng was speaking on stage in the finals of the Technovation Challenge World Pitch Summit, a competition that invites girls from around the world to come up with tech solutions to local community problems. Since it began in 2009, 15,000 girls from more than 100 countries have participated in the competition.

Achieng and her team of four other Kenyan teen girls call themselves The Restorers. They are taking on Female Genital Mutilation or FGM. They have created an app, called i-Cut, which connects girls at risk of FGM with rescue agents and offers support for those who have already been cut. It also provides information for anyone seeking to learn more about the practice.

The pain of having your clitoris cut just because someone wants to have you go through a rite of passage, said Achieng, during her pitch at the competition. Its painful and no one wants to listen to you. You cry and there you are, almost dying but nobody is caring about that.

At least 200 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation or FGM in 30 countries, reports UNICEF.And 44 million are girls 14 and younger. The practice involves cutting out all or part of a womans clitoris, which is said to eliminate almost completely a womans sexual pleasure, in hopes of ensuring her virginity and keeping her faithful in marriage.

The Kenyan girls in this competition have not experienced FGM firsthand, as their tribe does not practice it, but they have friends who have. One of Achiengs best friends was forced to drop out of school and into an early marriage at 15 after FGM, which greatly affected Achieng.

I think for teenagers to be able to identify problems around them and provide a solution, that is really, really inspiring, said Dorcas Owinoh, the teams mentor, who works as a community manager at LakeHub, a technology innovation hub in Kisumu, Kenya. It was Owinoh who brought the idea of the Technovation Challenge to the team.

Achieng said it was her friend dropping out of school after FGM that inspired the team to create the app.

Other teams in the international event came from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Cambodia, the U.S. and other countries. The Restorers were the only team who qualified from the African continent.

Its always better when the people who face the problems, come up with their own solutions because theyre the most organic, said Tara Chklovski, founder and CEO or Iridescent, the nonprofit behind Technovation.

Though the i-Cut app has the potential to save lives, it has not been embraced by all Kenyans.

One village elder drove six hours to their school to protest the app because, according to him, thats an African culture and the girls are being, according to him, Westernized, Owinoh said.

The man had learned of the app after local media reported of the girls acceptance into Technovation. Owinoh said school leaders and teachers remained calm, spoke with him, and then asked him to leave.

Technovation comes at a time when women in tech are facing blowback, not just in Kenya, but even at the Google headquarters where the competition was held.A Google employee was recently fired after writing a memo positing that women are biologically inferior to men in regards to working in technology.

I know the journey wont always be easy but to the girls who dream of being an engineer or an entrepreneur and who dream of creating amazing things, I want you to know that theres a place for you in this industry, theres a place for you at Googledont let anyone tell you otherwise, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the girls.

The Restorers did not win the Technovation Challenge, but they will continue their fight against FGM and hope to get i-Cut into the Google Play Store soon.

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Kenyan Girls Use Technology to Combat Genital Cutting - Voice of America

Living With Technology / Watching the Solar Eclipse on Monday Aug. 21 – Newcanaannewsonline

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Monday, Aug. 21, a total solar eclipse will occur. It will be visible across North America.

Living With Technology / Watching the Solar Eclipse on Monday Aug. 21

On Monday, Aug. 21, a total solar eclipse will occur. It will be visible across North America.

A solar eclipse is when the moon is between the Earth and the Sun and the moon obscures all or part of the sun. Total solar eclipses dont happen very often and for one to cover a large swath of North America is pretty exciting.

For the best viewing, one should be in the path of totality, which generally runs diagonally from Oregon to South Carolina. Two good sites for information about the eclipse are: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/ and http://www.eclipse2017.org.

During a total eclipse, which generally lasts about 7 minutes, as the moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, the skies get dark, animals can get restless and people generally have a lot of fun.

Here in Westport, the partial eclipse will start at 1:24 p.m., maximum eclipse (approximately 70 percent obscured) will be at 2:45 p.m. and the eclipse will end at 4 p.m.

For astronomers, its an opportunity to look at the area near the sun that is not normally visible because of the bright light of the sun. In fact, total eclipses have been used to confirm Einsteins theories about gravity (of which the sun has a LOT) and its ability to bend light.

If you cant get to the path of totality, you can still see it through many community organizers including astronomy clubs, libraries, museums, schools and more.

Viewing the eclipse is a different story. Whatever you do, DONT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE ECLIPSE! There are a number of different goggles and glasses that people are providing that claim to give you the ability to watch an eclipse directly. I do NOT recommend using ANY of them.

The sun gives off lots of light (visible and invisible) that is not good for eyes. Between the basic brightness of the sun, infrared, ultra violet and other light, its very difficult to filter it to a safe level.

To view an eclipse safely, I recommend that people use a telescope that can project an image onto a piece of paper or some other surface so that the eclipse can be viewed indirectly. If someone wants to point a video camera or other device at the sun and let you watch it on a screen, thats OK, too, although it may damage the cameras image sensor.

NASA provides a video for people to make their own safe eclipse viewer out of a cereal box. You can watch the video here: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/how-make-pinhole-projector-view-solar-eclipse

Find a location that has a good viewing support from professionals who are astronomers or other scientists. Be sure to have your family and friends experience one of the great astronomical phenomenon right here on Earth.

Mark Mathias is a 35+ year information technology executive and a resident of Westport, Connecticut. His columns can be read at blog.mathias.org. He can be contacted at livingwithtechnology@

mathias.org.

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Living With Technology / Watching the Solar Eclipse on Monday Aug. 21 - Newcanaannewsonline

Technology and the New Republic just never seemed to click – The Guardian

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Chris Hughes of Facebook: briefly publisher of New Republic magazine. Photograph: Jason Gardner/New Republic

Where might James Graham find another journalism drama to rival Ink, his triumphant Birth of the Bun saga this time maybe on Broadway? Easy. He could call Franklin Foer, whose emerging chronicle of his second, and last, stint as editor of the New Republic sums up the profound clash of attitudes to the news trade in wincingly human terms. A play for two characters.

The New Republic (founded 1914) is one of those great American magazines of liberal opinion that stagger perpetually between boom and bust. Five years ago, it was on the market again, bust fears back. Enter Chris Hughes, a 28-year-old from the Facebook engine room, Harvard roommate of Mark Zuckerberg, a young man high on ambition and altruism, his millions of dollars already banked.

When I first heard the New Republic was for sale, he says, I went to the New York Public Library and began to read. Issues of the magazine stretching back, writers like Rebecca West, Virginia Woolf, Edmund Wilson and James Wood: the fascination to own all this was overwhelming.

So Foer, a decade older and wiser, becomes editor once more. He aims for the stars while Hughes tutors him in the use of Upworthy (for virality) and Chartbeat (for maximising clicks). Theres a data guru installed in the newsroom soon enough, charged with maximising reach. This is a new/old Republic, except that the old propensity for losing money remains constant and eventually the young master of the universe insists something, something big, must be done. To save the magazine, we need to change the magazine, he tells Foer. Engineers and marketers are going to begin playing a central role in the editorial process.

They would give its journalism the cool, innovative features that would help it stand out in the marketplace, a vexed Foer writes. Of course, this required money, and that money would come from the budget that funded long-form journalism. We were now a technology company.

This from Foers account of his second editorship in the Atlantic magazine and a forthcoming book is a contested assertion: Hughes says he never made that precise technology divide. But nor can he be happy about what swiftly happened afterwards: the forced exit of Foer, the resignation in protest of many of the staff, the sale of the poor old Republic yet again.

You can feel twinges of sympathy for the protagonists. Both had good intentions, but hugely different preconceptions. Yet three conclusions from Foer stand clear of such complexity.

One significant because he felt it early on, before the rest of the media world began to catch up is stark, and now commonplace.

Foers second conclusion is equally bleak.

And then theres the big picture.

In some ways, these criticisms are merely the culmination of rising apprehension over the years. Journalists have been used to promoting good tales for themselves and for inserting stories they consider serious into the mix. Chartbeat, parse.ly and the rest seem poised to take that choice out of their hands. Upworthy tests dozens of headline pitches for them. Reporters want their copy to be read, to be sure. But they dont like to think of themselves as robots especially when, as we see, the clicks fail to deliver advertising riches.

And beyond that, peering into the mists from atop Trump Tower, theres a fundamental change of focus. Of course the Donald revolutionises ratings: observe what he has done for MSNBC or the New York Times. Hes a malign saviour. Every fresh outrage last week the Nazis and the banishing of Bannon is click heaven. But where is there any sense of balance in this particular mix?

There are stories with viral appeal. Take a bow, Cecil. But some continuing stories over years, never mind minutes produce only indifference. Polling, for instance, rates Northern Irelands border as a Brexit problem far inferior to others in national opinion; just as the twists and turns of the Troubles failed to sell papers long ago. Yet how are we supposed to live in a country that closes its mind to issues that viscerally engage its citizens?

Theres a real conflict here, a choice of democracy good or bad. James Grahams Ink sees Hugh Cudlipps earnestly educational Mirror pitched in battle against Rupert Murdochs determinedly entertaining Sun. Now see the same battle, with a walk-on part for Virginia Woolf, waged in tomorrows world. Not as a struggle between good and evil, but one where Silicon Valley seeks, with benign incomprehension, to write the programs and push the vital buttons that take control of our information and imagination.

Originally posted here:

Technology and the New Republic just never seemed to click - The Guardian

Sparta-based training leader Lion Technology marks 40 years – New Jersey Herald

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Posted: Aug. 20, 2017 12:01 am

SPARTA -- Environmental and safety training provider Lion Technology Inc. is celebrating 40 years in business.

Founded in 1977 by chemical industry specialist and entrepreneur William P. Taggart, Lion develops and delivers training programs that prepare professionals to maintain compliance with complex regulations for managing hazardous waste, shipping hazardous materials, OSHA workplace safety, and more.

Taggart's vision and passion led Lion from its origins as a one-man operation to being one of the nation's most trusted sources for effective compliance training. Today, Lion presents more than 250 training workshops in more than 60 U.S. cities. Lion also offers online training and live, instructor-led webinars. More than 100,000 environmental professionals in the manufacturing, chemical, aerospace, defense, and other industries have trusted Lion Technology provide effective, engaging training.

In 2016, Lion cut the ribbon on a new Environmental Training Center in Sparta, where training classes are already quickly selling out. For managers and personnel who perform hazardous substance cleanup work at New Jersey's many Superfund sites, Lion will present eight-hour OSHA HAZWOPER Refresher Workshops on Aug. 23 and Oct. 25. More information is available at Lion.com/HAZWOPER.

An active member of the northern New Jersey community, Lion Technology contributes and participates in charity events to benefit the Manna House, Family Promise, Sussex County Food Pantry, Father John's Animal House, Project Self-Sufficiency, Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice and many more local and national organizations.

More information about the company can be found at http://www.Lion.com. A full list of training available at the new Sparta Training Center is available at Lion.com/Sparta.

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Sparta-based training leader Lion Technology marks 40 years - New Jersey Herald

Tech takeover Is technology stealing our ability to think critically? – Komando

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

What if the internet isnt just a resource, but actually an extension of mind? A cognitive brain enhancement tool that is transforming the way humans think?

Some experts eagerly pursue that notion, while others believe that technology is dumbing us down, making us lazy and incapable of thinking for ourselves.

According to the Marist Poll,49 percent of Americans think technology makes people dumber, while 46 percent say it makes people smarter. So were about an even split on this topic.

We have immediate access to knowledge and to each other, making us more productive now than ever before. But are we getting any smarter as a result?

Experts disagree, and so do the intelligence test results. While non-verbal IQ tests results are rising, Verbal IQ, the Flynn Effect and others are decreasing.

There are varying opinions as to why this is happening. Some believe that humans have reached their genetic potential and are now on the decline. Others believe its because we let technology do the thinking for us. Still others say its just plain laziness.

To further complicate the issue, consider the many types of intelligence. Theres social intelligence, emotional intelligence, problem solving, spatial relations, language, musical, kinesthetic, existential, mathematical, logical and all of them contain both learned and unlearned aspects.

But theres another type of intelligence. When were not connected to a device, were more intellectually vulnerable. Without online access, even a connected 7-year-old could outsmart us.Thats one aspect of whats called Fluid Intelligence.

Lets be honest. When you need a good map, suggestions for hurricane survival, investment advice, cancer research results, what do you do? If youre like most people, youre tap-tap-tapping away on a device, looking for answers. Is it because the device itself is smarter? Of course not. But some say,yes it is.

Weve stopped memorizing, stopped calculating, and there is less concrete info stored in the noggin. Thats a form of Crystallized Intelligence."

So obviously, this a loaded question. There are a lot of moving parts, and I cant possibly tackle them in one article. But I can give you some food for thought.

At the heart of it, the real question is not whether technology is dumbing us down, but whether were allowing technology to think for us.

I dont mean research,I mean actually think. Make decisions. Think critically. Develop ideas. Define our imagination. Are we relying on tech to perform these things which used to define us as uniquely human?

In my podcast Is Technology Dumbing Us Down we unpack this question with four leading experts in the fields of Critical Thinking, Analytical Instrument Manufacturing, Strategic Studies, Psychology, Education, Mathematics, Theology, Engineering and more. You can listen to this podcast by pressing play below.

The opinions of these experts vary. Educators remark that in research, many college students allow technology to think for them, tailoring their conclusions to align with the professors political and social beliefs. They believe that dependence on technology changes the way people value intellectualism.

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov brought this to light when he said, "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

John Donvan, a four time Emmy Award winner, is a longtime moderator of the Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates and former White House correspondent for ABC News. He hasnt noticed a shift in critical thinking among debaters, whether due to technology or otherwise. People present good debates and bad debates. They use emotionalism, but in the end, truth and a well-presented argument always triumphs.

Journalist Charles Pierce, author ofIdiot America,explained: The rise of idiot America today represents--for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power--the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good. In the new media age, everybody is an expert.

Therein lies the danger. Online, everybody is an expert. How can you know whats true? Here on Komando.com, it has always been my mission to help you use technology safely and effectively. With that said, if you dont want to be dumbed down by technology - if you dont want to go soft in the brain or get lazy - its up to you to do the work. When youre researching something online, be sure to consider all sides with a mind willing to reason, analyze and above all, think critically.

Nearly all the tools you need to learn are on the web. Never before have we had access to so much information, and yet at the same time, scholastic test results are not impressive. So, obviously, this article is just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully it will spark some juicy discussions in your neck of the woods.

If you want to hear more, be sure to download the podcast. Listen to what the experts have to say. Its thought provoking and informative - a good use of your brain and your time!

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Tech takeover Is technology stealing our ability to think critically? - Komando

Ryan Madson isn’t seeing progress in his sprained finger – The … – Washington Post

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

SAN DIEGO When Ryan Madson played catch Saturday, he had no idea if he would feel the pain in his right index finger again. There was no way of knowing without throwing a baseball, which he hadnt done since Monday. He and the Nationals were hopeful the idle time would generate some healing.

But Madson immediately realized it didnt get any better. The pain in the top knuckle of his right index remained, and a frustrated Madson stopped throwing.

It wasnt good, Madson said.

Madson was placed on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday with what was termed a sprained right finger. He first felt the pain when he played catch last Sunday. He thought nothing of it until he began warming up during the second game of Washingtons doubleheader against the Giants. The pain was there again and he didnt know why. He tried throwing again Monday and nothing changed.

The plan was originally for Madson to throw again on Friday, but the club decided to give him an extra day. The additional 24 hours didnt matter. Madson insisted there isnt any structural damage in the finger, which makes the issue a bit perplexing to him. Now Madson said he expects to take a more proactive approach in the fingers recovery, using machines to hasten the process.

Madson, 36, has been one of baseballs dominant relievers since the Nationals acquired him and Sean Doolittle from the Athletics a month ago. Along with Doolittle and Brandon Kintzler, who was acquired from the Twins on July 31, Madson has helped fuel the Nationals bullpens turnaround as the clubs eighth-inning reliever. Since joining Washington, Madson has posted 13 strikeouts and one walk across nine scoreless innings.

On Friday, Madson guessed he would miss around two weeks, but that was without knowing how his finger would fare the next day.The Nationals, of course, can afford to take their time with Madsons injury and all the others theyre dealing with. A 14-game division lead in late August provides that. The goal is to have the roster ready for October. But Madsons absence is still unsettling.

Theres never a good time, Madson said.

This Redskins offense remains very much a work in progress – Washington Post

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

For an accomplished offense, it was an embarrassingly simple request: Just score against the backups. The Washington Redskins may have been one of only three NFL teams to average more than 400yards per game last season, but if you needed a reminder of how little that matters now, just watch them learning to crawl again this preseason.

On Saturday, for a second straight exhibition game, quarterback Kirk Cousins and the first-team offense floundered about, causing some level of concern over how long it will take this reconstructed unit to mesh. After the 21-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers, it may be premature to develop too many grand opinions about the offense, especially with tight end Jordan Reed out and several wide receivers recovering from injury or working to gain better chemistry with Cousins. But its safe to assume that this small sample size speaks to a transition going on within Washingtons best unit. There is considerable change, from Coach Jay Gruden taking over play-calling to Terrelle Pryor Sr. getting acclimated, and the team has just three weeks to develop cohesion before the regular season begins.

It raises the question: What if the offense struggles early?

Were a work in progress, Gruden admitted late Saturday night. No question about that.

In two seasons with Cousins as the starter, the trend has been that the offense starts a little slow and then takes off in the second half. But with Washington undergoing another defensive makeover, it would be helpful if the offense has a strong start to the season. If that doesnt happen, what will Washington rely on at the start?

After a poor showing in limited action against Baltimore, the first-team offense looked bad for a longer stretch against Green Bay at FedEx Field. In its first five possessions, Cousins and Co. managed just 76 yards and three points, which came after Niles Paul recovered a fumbled punt. On that scoring drive, the offense didnt gain a yard. It ran three frustrating plays and then watched Dustin Hopkins kick a 34-yard field goal.

[Starting offense again spins its wheels in 21-17 loss to the Packers]

Even after the Packers substituted most of their starters, Washington had little success. Finally, during the starting offenses sixth drive, against Green Bays backups, our curiosity was satisfied: What would it take for Washington to reach the end zone?

It took a 43-yard pass from Cousins to tight end Vernon Davis. And later, with 17 seconds left in an exasperating first half, Cousins hit Jamison Crowder for a four-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to stop the ridiculousness.

At least the first-team offense left the game with the memory of doing something positive.

Then again, it was against a bunch of special teams players.

In that final drive, the offense gained 78 yards on 10 plays. In Washingtons first 24 plays, it managed just 76 yards. Cousins wound up 14 for 23 for 144 yards and one touchdown, but at one point, he was just 8 for 16 for 67yards.

It took a little while, Gruden said. We stuttered and sputtered and missed a few throws.

Cousins and Pryor, his new big target, are still searching for a rhythm. Pryor caught one pass for 11 yards, and he let another go through his hands. Cousins also missed him on what could have been a touchdown, throwing an inaccurate pass to Crowder underneath instead.

Its no shock that Cousins and his receivers arent sharp. Washington is trying to replace two 1,000-yard receivers, DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon. While the offense still has plenty of talent and Grudens system has been productive over the years, there was bound to be an adjustment. The problem seems even greater because Reed isnt available. If anything, thats the biggest lesson of the preseason thus far: Reeds importance to this offense is at an all-time high. When hes not available, it wont be as easy to turn to the next man up. Washington will suffer more than it ever has without him.

[Redskins-Packers analysis: Team starts slow again but finally finds end zone]

But the passing games early struggles are understandable. It was more discouraging to watch the running game provide nothing. When Cousins was directing the offense, the running backs gained just 10yards on 11 carries. Washington couldnt run on first down, and Reed wasnt on the field to catch those short passes to ignite drives. As a result, the offense had nothing it could bank on during early downs.

Gruden has an interesting task. Eventually, talent will take over, and Washington will move the ball. But the coach may have to be even more clever than usual to put these particular players in the best positions to succeed. Cousins is going to have to develop greater trust in some of his receivers over the next three weeks. And while Grudens system is still very sound, the system alone cant replace the production of Garcon and Jackson. They will be missed. Garcons tough catches and possession-receiving gifts gave the passing game stability. Jacksons speed and threat to score a touchdown at any time created space for everyone in a way that cant be replicated, not even by Pryor.

We all believe weve got a lot of work to do, Cousins said.

So Gruden isnt merely fitting prototypes into his way of doing things. These arent just new pieces for the same puzzle. The skeleton of a good offense remains. But how long will it take for this unit to reach its potential?

That question is growing more urgent every time you catch a glimpse of this Washington football team.

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This Redskins offense remains very much a work in progress - Washington Post

Marvin Jones’ progress pays off in touchdown catch – The Detroit News

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

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Lions' Marvin Jones Jr. pulls in a touchdown reception from Matthew Stafford over Jets' Morris Claiborne in the second quarter.(Photo: Daniel Mears / Detroit News)

Detroit The fade route in the red zone its a play the Detroit Lions practice all the time, and one receiver Marvin Jones executes as well as anyone on the roster.

In Saturdays 16-6 victory over the Jets, quarterback Matthew Stafford delivered a well-placed ball from the 5-yard line into the back corner of the end zone. From there, Jones did what he does best get the necessary separation to make the grab.

He does a nice job with body control, man, Stafford said. His body control is pretty outrageous. By the sidelines, hes always got a knack for finding a way to get that last, little foot in or whatever it is. He did it again tonight with the fade.

The 5-yard score, early in the second quarter, capped an 11-play, 78-yard scoring drive on which Stafford connected with Jones four times. But things didnt start as smoothly as they finished.

More:Lions' stock watch: Spence shines, Rudock gets scrambled

For the second consecutive week, Stafford looked to Jones on a quick slant, but both throws were slightly off target, with each bouncing off the receivers hands. Last week, in the preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts, the deflection was intercepted. Against the Jets, it fell harmlessly to the ground, giving the tandem a second chance to get on the same page.

The chemistry is still developing in the pairs second year together. Stafford said Jones is doing a better job communicating with his body language this year and coach Jim Caldwell praised the receivers ever-improving technique.

I think that one of the things that youll notice about him is hes, to me when I look at him and watch him practice, hes better than he was a year ago, Caldwell said. Hes coming out of cuts better. Hes running better routes.

Jones signed a five-year deal with the Lions as a free agent last year and came out of the gate firing with his new team. After four games, he was leading the NFL in receiving yardage and big plays. But he badly faded down the stretch, hampered by multiple minor leg injuries. He didnt top 100 yards in a game the final 12 weeks of the season. Even worse, he was held under 50 yards seven times.

Everyone is hoping for a little more consistency the second time around.

The red-zone fade could be a key to that success. A tremendously difficult play to execute, Stafford and Jones appear to have it down pat.

You know, down there, youre a little bit limited in where you can go and what you can do, Stafford said. The idea is to get really good at a few things and thats one that everyone in the league wants to be really good at. We are no different. We do everything we can to try and complete those at a high rate and obviously was a good one tonight.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

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Marvin Jones' progress pays off in touchdown catch - The Detroit News

Beach Drive rehab progress: Nearly 2 miles of roadway rebuilt, 4.6 miles to go – Washington Post

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

When a newly reconstructed portion of Beach Drive reopens at the end of the month, the road will be so shiny and smooth, drivers might almost forget about the painful year-long closure.

But the work isnt over. More detours and closures are on the way.

The reopening of the two-mile segment, on or about Aug. 28, will mark completion of a third of a three-year project to rehabilitate the 6.5-mile Beach Drive, a busy commuter thoroughfare that runs through Rock Creek Park in Northwest Washington. In the past year, 1.82 miles in the southernmost portion of the route was rebuilt. There are still two years and 4.6 miles to go.

Construction will move to the middle section of the roadway this month, marking the beginning of another year of detours for drivers around another closure from Tilden Street to Joyce Road, adjacent to Military Road.

Its time for people to start preparing, said Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, which is in charge of the project. There will be an adjustment period just like last fall.

[Beach Drive rehab gives us a taste of a painful full roadway shutdown]

The thousands of vehicle that use that portion of the road as many as 15,000 daily will need to divert to other already-clogged arteries such as Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street NW. For example, drivers coming from Maryland on southbound Beach Drive will need to exit onto Military Road, turn left on Nebraska Avenue, take a left on Connecticut Avenue and another left on Tilden to continue their trip on Beach Drive.

Pedestrians and bicyclists will also have to adjust. Over the next year they wont be able to enjoy this section of Beach Drive, which closes to vehicular traffic on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays so bikers, hikers and joggers can use it.

The road will be an active construction zone and will be closed to everyone, Anzelmo-Sarles said. So it is a great time to explore other trails in the park.

Finding alternate routes ahead of the closures is a good bet for commuters. The D.C. Department of Transportation plans to adjust the timing of traffic signals at dozens of intersections to ensure better flow. But drivers should anticipate heavier traffic on nearby corridors, officials say, and be patient the first few weeks as the new traffic patterns settle in.

Jim Stockmal, a Dupont Circle resident who uses Beach Drive daily to get his children to school at St. Johns College High School on Military Road, adjusted his route in the past year to go around the first closure near the National Zoo. Now that the work is moving north and closer to the school, he is once again testing alternatives. No route is ideal, he said.

I am going to have to leave earlier, he said. Not a very popular option with his two boys.

[The misery of life in a construction disaster zone]

The reopening of the first completed section which officials say will happen during the last week of August however, brings relief for commuters who use one of the busiest corridors in the city. Before the shutdown, 26,000 cars traveled that section daily, and many had to divert to already congested Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street.

At 1 p.m. Sunday, the National Park Service will welcome neighbors and other road users for a car-free party at the National Zoo entrance on Beach Drive.

They will notice new pedestrian infrastructure, including a new stairway and crosswalk leading into the zoo at Harvard Street, with a flashing signal for drivers and a pedestrian push-to-walk button.

Drivers will notice the beautiful, smooth new road surface, Anzelmo-Sarles said. During the road reconstruction, crews dug about a foot-and-a-half down to build a new surface and installed a drainage system that will help prevent erosion and keep the road drier.

Drivers can say goodbye to potholes and puddles, she said.

The nearby trail used by thousands of bicyclists and joggers also got a makeover. Portions that were six feet wide are now eight feet, and the narrow sidewalk inside the tunnel close to the National Zoo expanded from two feet to five feet. A guardrail adds an extra level of protection for pedestrians in that stretch.

Katie Harris, trail coordinator for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, said the trail improvement is a major milestone and makes the Rock Creek Park Trail a safer, more enjoyable, and more feasible route for those who walk and bike.

The three-year reconstruction project is on track to be completed in fall 2019, the National Park Service says.

What the project entails

The details: Beach Drive is getting a complete makeover. Crews will excavate the area and put in a new gravel base before laying asphalt. Bridges will be rehabilitated and parking areas rebuilt. New traffic safety features such as guardrails and centerline rumble strips to keep drivers from drifting into oncoming traffic will be added. Storm drainage is also being improved.

Timing: The first segment of the project took about year, a few months more than anticipated. The second closure, from Tilden Street to Joyce Road, is set to begin at the end of the month. That work is split into two segments. The first, between Tilden Street and Broad Branch Road, is expected to take three to six months. Work between Broad Branch and Joyce roads will continue for an additional six months.

After this closure, the construction will move to the final section, between Joyce Road and the Maryland border.

Non-vehicular access: Cyclists and pedestrians will not be allowed on Beach Drive during the rehabilitation of the second phase. This will be a major change from a Park Service tradition to close the road from Broad Branch Road to Military Road to vehicles on weekends and holidays to give pedestrians access to the park.

Driving across Rock Creek Park: Traffic on Tilden Street will be able to get across Rock Creek Park, but there may be more delays in that area. If you plan to drive on the part of Beach Drive that will remain open, detours will send you to Tilden Street after the closures begin. Similar delays could take place on Military Road, where southbound Beach Drive drivers will find detour signs to get around the closure.

Traffic-mitigation efforts: Besides encouraging commuters to find alternative routes and ways to get around, city transportation officials are taking measures to improve traffic flow in corridors including Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street NW. Officials said they are making minor adjustments to signal timing at 30 intersections to assist with traffic detours in the adjacent network and modifying signal sequencing at three intersections: Connecticut Avenue and Tilden Street, 16th Street and Arkansas Avenue, and Beach Drive and Tilden Street. DDOT will deploy traffic-control officers at key intersections near the project.

For more information: The Park Service will have construction updates on the projects website (go.nps.gov/beachdrive). Commuters are also urged to sign up for updates through Nixle, a free tool that allows information to be sent via text, email, social media and the Nixle mobile app.

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Beach Drive rehab progress: Nearly 2 miles of roadway rebuilt, 4.6 miles to go - Washington Post

Kicking game makes progress in 2nd scrimmage for Tide – Dothan Eagle

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

TUSCALOOSA Alabamas beleaguered kicking game apparently made significant progress in the last week.

After sounding downright anxious following a less-than-encouraging performance in the teams first scrimmage last Saturday when he said the Crimson Tide really need to work hard on (placekicking) head coach Nick Saban seemed encouraged by what he saw in Saturdays second and final scrimmage.

Senior punter J.K. Scott, who has been getting in occasional placekicking work this offseason, hit a 51-yard field goal during the scrimmage, while freshman Joseph Bulovas and redshirt senior Andy Pappanastos were a combined 4-for-5 on field goals, according to Saban. A few of the field goals came during a 30-minute mid-afternoon downpour that swept through Tuscaloosa.

Your guide to the start of the 2017 high school football season.

"We were much better, Saban said Saturday. JK made a 51-yard field goal. Joseph (Bulovas) kicked two field goals made one, missed one. Andy (Pappanastos) was 3-of-3. We kicked a couple of them when it was pouring down rain. It was really a good sort of situation for us to have to play in.

The rainstorm was a welcomed reprieve on a hot and sweltering August day inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, while also providing Tide players the rare opportunity to work through some in-game adversity.

We've had some good wet ball practices in the fall because we've had quite a few rainy days, but it certainly paid off, Saban said. There may be a certain situation like we had today Missouri, a few years ago, (when we) sat in the locker room for 45 minutes or an hour, came back out and played a game. None of these experiences are bad. They're all good for players to learn how to respond to.

Bulovas, a three-star summer enrollee from Louisiana, arrived as the presumptive favorite to win the starting job as the teams only scholarship kicker, but some early struggles with consistency have made Alabamas kicking situation a little murky.

This offseason, Scott has actually been the Tides most reliable field goal option, including connecting on 3-of-4 in Aprils A-Day spring game.

>> RB Scarbrough pretty sick, misses second straight practice: Junior running back Bo Scarbrough is expected to be a mainstay in the Alabama backfield this season, and is even receiving some early Heisman Trophy buzz.

But that only comes if hes on the field, something he hasnt been able to do of late.

Scarbrough was held out of Saturdays preseason scrimmage and has missed two straight days of practice with an illness thats required considerable bed rest, Saban said Saturday.

Bo has been ill for two days, pretty sick I'm talking about ill enough to be in bed, Saban said. We don't think this is a serious illness or anything like that, but we didn't think it would be good for him to not be in a position where he could be resting.

Meanwhile, sophomore tailback Josh Jacobs also missed Saturdays scrimmage, his second straight, with a hamstring injury thats forcing him to sit out the last week and a half of practice.

I don't know he's still day-to-day when he'll be able to come back and keep working, Saban said of Jacobs.

In more serious news, senior walk-on receiver Donnie Lee Jr. reportedly suffered a torn ACL during Saturdays scrimmage, according to BamaOnline.com.

Donnie Lee (Jr.), who has been a very productive, good team player for us, got a knee injury, Saban said of Lee Jr., a native of nearby Northport. We'll have to confirm the seriousness of that for us with an MRI, (but) that's about it for us from an injury standpoint.

>> Saban not concerned with solar eclipse: An important part of Nick Sabans daily ritual includes eating a Little Debbie oatmeal crme pie, drinking a cup of coffee and watching 10-15 minutes of the Weather Channel during a quick breakfast.

Its because of that routine that Alabamas 65-year-old head coach is already had his fill of the solar eclipse, which is expected to take place on Monday over Tuscaloosa around 1:30 p.m. and end shortly before 3.

I watch the Weather Channel every day, they're already saying what it's going to be like in every city in America, Saban said Saturday. So what's going to be significant? You can watch the Weather Channel, you can see what it's going to be like in Portland, Ore. Clayton, Ga., is the No. 1 place in the country. I'm going to watch it on TV.

Despite his ho-hum attitude toward Mondays solar eclipse, Saban joked hell probably allow players to view it from the team facility prior to Mondays mid-afternoon practice, which will get started about 2:30 p.m.

"We'll set it up so if the players want to go out there and get some sunglasses and look at it, I guess they can, Saban said. That's not something that I'm really that focused on right now. Maybe we'll have a team meeting about how we're going to do this. I haven't thought of that yet."

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Kicking game makes progress in 2nd scrimmage for Tide - Dothan Eagle

Jaylon Smith’s first game shows progress, ways to go – The San Diego Union-Tribune

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Danzig

Jaylon Smith is to be congratulated. No matter what happens, the Dallas Cowboys linebacker has overcome incredible odds to play in a NFL game.

The odds are stacked against a player when he essentially dislocates his knee and injures the peroneal nerve. Most players (such as Marcus Lattimore) who dislocate a knee never return to play football, even when the nerve is spared.

Smith is second on the Cowboys depth chart, behind Sean Lee, and got the chance to start in Saturday nights preseason game. He played three series with the first team as Lee was resting a hamstring injury.

This is just preseason, so lets not get too excited or too critical. Smith hasnt played in a game in almost 600 days. This was his first NFL action. His accomplishments should be celebrated. He performed admirably and garnered one nice tackle.

The shame is without this injury, he probably would be the generational linebacker that some were projecting. Even with his suiting up to play, the prognosis regarding Smith has not changed from what was expressed here earlier this year.

There should be optimism that as Smith gets re-acclimated to game action, he will be able to make up for some of the deficits of his drop foot. He is still wearing the fancy active-assist ankle foot orthosis. (AFO). Although he will likely never regain his full nerve function, he could incrementally improve and compensate.

Remember, he is jumping a level of competition from college and even healthy players sometimes struggle during transition. In addition, he is learning a new position of middle linebacker. In college, he was an edge player.

Other than the learning curve, the move inside will help him. While the foot drop issue makes it hard to get around the corner as an edge player, he will be able to use his linear speed and strength in the middle. The concern is not plugging the A gap. The worry is changing directions and in space.

If you watch the plays he was involved in Saturday closely, there appear to be clear indications of what he cannot yet do.

The one tackle he made in three series Saturday was a powerful play where he closed in linear fashion to the right flat. That will be his strength. Start-stop acceleration and direction change will be the challenge.

Note that he does not play special teams like most back up linebackers. It would be extremely hard to run full speed and adjust his angle of attack.

His comeback is remarkable. We should all be rooting for him and look at Saturday as a good start and glass half-full, even with visible deficiencies.

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Jaylon Smith's first game shows progress, ways to go - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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