New-look Liberty still shining bright at local volleyball scrimmage – The Bakersfield Californian

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Liberty, which won the programs first Division I section title over Clovis West in a sweep last November, not only returns head coach Amy Parker, but the Patriots have four starters returning, led by Oregon commit Elise Ferreira. The Patriots also added Lanie Camarillo, a transfer from Frontier at outside hitter.

The addition of Camarillo helps ease the loss of Brooklynn Cheney, the 2016 BVarsity Player of the Year.

It helps a lot. Those are huge shoes to fill, Parker said.

Ferreira, who committed to Oregon in July, will move to her more natural position at setter after playing mainly outside hitter the last two years for Liberty.

I would do anything for my team. I hit for my team for two straight years, Ferreira said. No one has really got to see me set, and thats what Im going to college for. But I am very excited for everyone to see my role at my position. Thats my thing.

Ferreira does take a lot away from playing on the outside that has helped her setting game.

I got to see from their perspective on how to, as a setter, make my hitters better, Ferreira said. Seeing that role helped me as a setter. But now I am excited for everyone to see what I have worked so hard for on the court this year.

The Southwest Yosemite League will continue to be the power league in town in the sport.

Stockdale, coached by Maria Collatz, returns starters Maci Haddad, Natalie Coday and setter Sydney Richardson.

The three other SWYL teams in action on Monday all are talented teams with new coaches.

BHS, under Ashely Wires, returns Ava and Sophie Palm while Penny Roberts takes over at Centennial with returning starters Alexus McLeod, Mikaela Eknoian and Kendall Yanez.

Morgan Dake takes over at Frontier, a team led by senior Penelope Zepeda.

Tehachapi went 10-0 in the South Yosemite League and will return three starters for new coach Rachel Wulff.

The Warriors return SYL MVP Paige Parker, Mady Cotta and Lauren Nousch in a league that is wide open with Ridgeview, Independence and East.

I like that we are pretty equal, Ridgeview coach Deb Whitbey said. Its anyones league.

Highland, the Southeast Yosemite League champions last fall, graduated the teams top two hitters, including Rachel Toenjes, and setter Faith Mendedez, but return Sadie Armijo and Brendelyn Brannan.

BCHS, winners of four consecutive section titles, will have a new look and philosophy this fall now that the Eagles move up into D-II for the playoffs.

We are changing our focus and trying to create a better dynamic, BCHS coach Matt Touchstone said. Hopefully one that can help up build and continue to compete at a high level as we move up divisions.

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New-look Liberty still shining bright at local volleyball scrimmage - The Bakersfield Californian

Lt. Col. Allen West talks liberty, tyranny – Prescott Valley Tribune

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Photo by Jason Wheeler.

Lt. Col. Allen West with Gage Lee at his Guardian of the Republic event Saturday, Aug. 12, in Prescott Valley.

Liberty and tyranny. Those were the two words Lt. Col. Allen West said he wanted everyone to remember at Saturday nights Guardian of the Republic, an event presented by the Republican Women of Prescott.

The difference between liberty and tyranny is something that must be talked about in the United States, West said. Its not about Republican and Democrat, but what each person believes in as the principle of governance and the relationship between the individual and the federal, state and local government, he said.

That is the philosophical problem we have in the United States of America, but until the Republican Party starts to talk about what liberty and tyranny truly is, theyre going to continue to miss the boat, West said, stating that the difference between liberty and tyranny is the difference between believing the individual is able to do what they want with themselves and the fruits of their labor and believing someone else in a far off place is the one who makes that decision. Elected officials need to be pressured to make that delineation, he said.

Tell me which side of the line that youre on. Tell me when you go to Washington D.C., are you going to vote for and advocate for the policies that allow me to have my liberty, that allow me to have my freedom, that allow me to go out and take care of my family, that allow me to go out and choose whats the best form of education for my children, that allow me to go out and say I want to be able to provide health care for myself.

West, who retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of the Republican Party. He represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the House (2011-13).

People voted into office need to be able to see the difference between liberty and tyranny as its a strategic battle, West said. At the same time, children need to be taught civics and what it means to live in the republic that is the United States of America, he said, noting that there are some adults that dont understand it.

Further, the Republican Party doesnt know its history, West said, remarking it was established so everyone can enjoy freedoms, rights and liberties.

Its always been the champion of the individual irrespective of class because they believe that everyone has equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes, he said. Equality of opportunity means you have liberty. Equality of outcomes means you have a state of tyranny because someone is deciding where you can go, how far you can achieve.

West urged the audience to make sure theyre talking about what they believe in that makes the Prescott area such a great little piece of heaven. Here, Phoenix and Tucson are where the fight really is, he said.

Its all about the next generation and passing on a better place to them, West said, inviting a boy by the name of Gage Lee up to the stage with him. The question everyone needs to ask themselves is if theyre going to leave a legacy of liberty or tyranny for their grandchildren, he said.

Ask what I did to advance liberty for Gage and this generation. If youre not doing that, you really dont understand what it means to be an American. Our commitment has always been to pass on a constitutional republic, to pass on through our DNA that which is liberty, West said.

He added he doesnt care what people call him because he sees Lee and those more worried about being called a name than standing up for liberty and the next generation dont understand the essence of what it means to be an American. You need to leave out of here tonight with a commitment to Gage and all these other children and grandchildren up here in Prescott, in Yavapai, that it wont happen on your watch. That one day, Gage will be able to look and say they gave it all for me.

In the end, a persons grave will have a start date, end date and a dash in between that either says they fought for liberty or succumbed to tyranny, he said, mentioning that leadership is not about what a single person achieves or attains, but what they enable to others to achieve and attain.

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Lt. Col. Allen West talks liberty, tyranny - Prescott Valley Tribune

What the Libertarian Party supports – Idaho Press-Tribune

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You know its going to be a good day when you open your Idaho Press-Tribune and find a political opponent opining that Idaho Libertarians may not understand the partys philosophy! In her Aug. 8 column, Judy Ferro starts by chiding Libertarians for allegedly not knowing that our think tanks support abolishing public schools and roads.

Yet those are libertarian positions! Reports of widespread poor public school performance and poor public road maintenance are readily available. She did overlook reporting that our country had both effective schools and a functioning road network long before those functions were taken over by an ever-growing state. Returning to private, market-based solutions in these two areas is what she refers to as, destruction of infrastructure.

In most places, government insists that only it can design, build and control our roads with decidedly mixed results. In contrast, consider the modern automobile in all the market-driven styles and sizes, a marvel of engineering and of responding to the needs and desires of drivers, mostly in spite of state interference via regulations. And, sure, some government rules improve auto safety, but how much safer might they actually be, if safety were left to the consumers, their insurance companies and ratings organizations?

She then devotes most of the column to describing and then decrying the idea that circles around from time-to-time that our government should shut down most social programs and just send people a check each month. Make no mistake, guaranteeing your income is still socialism; its just repackaged as The Welfare State writ large. As our national debt approaches $20 trillion, its also not clear how funding might work. In this case she appears to oppose one version of socialism in favor of just tweaking todays socialist programs.

So theres less room for error, please note that the two older political parties are not tied in any way with the Libertarians, the third largest political party. Libertarians generally support: personal and economic freedom; non-interventionist foreign policy; robust national defense; tolerance of others peaceful choices; respect for others property rights; civil liberties; individual right to keep and bear arms; separation of church and state; giving generously to those in need; less strict immigration policy; and lower taxes. Libertarians generally oppose: government-regulated economy or morality; UN-led U.S. military action; regime change; using eminent domain for private gain; war on drugs; surveillance state; and taxpayer funding of government or private charities.

Most government activities opposed by libertarians are direct violations of existing constitutional limits on permitted government actions.

In the Treasure Valley, anyone interested in learning more about libertarian philosophy is welcome to join us for our monthly, no-host philosophical libertarian brunch the second Saturday of every month at the TNT Dynamite Bar & Grill, next to the Shiloh Inn at Exit 36 in Nampa. We gather starting at 10:30 a.m. and typically have a program from 11-noon. There are no exams, no fees and everyone is welcome.

Libertarians are keeping the light of liberty burning!

Rob Oates, Caldwell, is chairman of the Libertarian Party of Idaho. Email him at chair@lpid.org.

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What the Libertarian Party supports - Idaho Press-Tribune

Libertarian Party Chairman Savaged For Virtue Signaling In Brutal Twitter Beatdown – The Liberty Conservative

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Libertarian Party chairman Nicholas Sarwark has come under fire for his abrasive and ineffective leadership style, but he took it to a new extreme last night. After insulting Murray Mr. Libertarian Rothbard and then focusing his ire on libertarian heroes like Tom Woods and Bob Murphy, libertarians on Twitter decided to take the fledgling figurehead to task.

Dishonest LP chair implies Im white nationalist/Nazi. Sad. I only think hes a lying idiot, intellectual property expert Stephen Kinsella said in a Tweet.

So [Sarwark] takes unprovoked potshots at [Tom Woods] and then tries to act like he has moral high ground, Mises Institute social media director Tho Bishop said. What a sad sack.

Libertarian-turned-alt-right video blogger Stefan Molyneux even piled on by saying, The Chair of the Libertarian National Committee is virtue-signaling against [Tom Woods] and [the LP] wonders why they are irrelevant!

Molyneux followed up that zinger with a viciously accurate meme depicting the many recent public humiliations the LP has experienced under Sarwarks stewardship. From there, even run-of-the-mill libertarians couldnt resist the fun with many proclaiming that they were leaving or had left the LP due to the arrogant, tone-deaf attitudes of failures like Sarwark.

Wow, 2 million away from the libertarian dream of federal funding! [Sarwark] could then spend it on attacking even more real libertarians, user Andkon said in a Tweet.

The kind of pansy that pissed away the best opportunity the LP ever had by heading what became a joke party with a joke candidate, user Kip Hooker wrote in a Tweet referring to Sarwark. And I say that as someone that voted for Johnson.

Sarwark and his left-libertarian allies are demanding that libertarians sign a petition against fascism in the wake of this weekends Charlottesville disaster, as a way to exploit the crisis for cheap political purposes. While this is clearly Sarwarks latest scheme to enforce leftist orthodoxy upon the libertarian movement, people are no longer buying it.

After receiving the barrage of disdain from libertarians, Sarwarkin typical fashionbrushed off all the criticism. He is self-assured that thumbing libertarians in the eye and embracing leftist values are the way to go moving forward.

Pro tip: People who have won an argument dont need to tell everyone that theyve obliterated their opponent, Sarwark wrote in a Tweet following the smack down. Sarwark also accused his opponents of being alt-right and tacitly supporting fascism and Nazism.

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Libertarian Party Chairman Savaged For Virtue Signaling In Brutal Twitter Beatdown - The Liberty Conservative

Goat-blood drinking Orlando man had key billing for Charlottesville rally – Orlando Sentinel

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Augustus Invictus, a former Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Orlando most famous for saying he sacrificed a goat and drank its blood, had an important role in the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on Saturday.

Invictus, 34, was listed as a featured marcher for the Saturday event, which was roundly condemned after marchers carried Nazi flags, performed Hitler salutes and chanted white supremacist and anti-Semitic sayings while carrying torches. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

Invictus lost the 2016 Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate in Florida to Paul Stanton, but not before state Chairman Adrian Wyllie resigned in protest. The Libertarian Party of Seminole County also disbanded and its chair, Don Menzel, resigned in protest of his candidacy. Wyllie alleged at the time Invictus wanted to lead a civil war in the country, recruit neo-Nazis to the party and supported a eugenics program.

Invictus denied he had white supremacist sympathies at the time, but the Tampa Bay Times reported Monday white nationalist leader Richard Spencer credited Invictus with writing a first draft of the Charlottesville Statement.

The statement, according to the Times, has tenets including, Jews are an ethno-religious people distinct from Europeans ... whites alone defined America as a European society and political order .. [and] the so-called 'refugee crisis' is an invasion, a war without bullets, taking place on the fields of race, religion, sex and morality.

Spencer is hoping to speak at the University of Florida on Sept. 12, but nothing has been finalized, university officials said Monday. UF President Kent Fuchs wrote in an email the university has a First Amendment obligation to let him do so.

Invictus, a former attorney who voluntarily gave up his eligibility to practice law in March, has been active on the political scene in Central Florida this year. In May, he spoke before the Orlando City Council meeting in May against removing the Confederate Johnny Reb monument. The statue was ultimately moved to a cemetery.

In a YouTube video posted in July, Invictus revealed he was leaving the Libertarian party and registering as a Republican.

Countless millions of Americans are beginning to lament the leftward shift in their homeland, and the great awakening is upon us, he said in his video. Let us aim our rifles in the right direction, let us fight beside each other rather than against each other. Let us unite the right wing of American politics at long last, in order to secure our country and its civilization.

In Charlottesville, a counterprotester, Heather Heyer, was killed and others injured Saturday after a car ran into them following the rally. An Ohio man has been charged with second-degree murder and other charges.

President Donald Trump was criticized, including by members of the Republican Party, for not specifically condemning white supremacists and neo-Nazis by name. But on Monday, Trump specifically denounced those groups, saying, We condemn in the strongest possible terms, this display of hatred, bigotry, and violence."

In 2015, Invictus said he had walked from Central Florida to the Mojave Desert two years earlier and spent a week fasting and praying. In a pagan ritual to give thanks when he returned home, he said he killed a goat and drank its blood.

I did sacrifice a goat. I know that's probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans, he said at the time. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness ... Yes, I drank the goat's blood.

He also contended he had been investigated by the FBI and other law enforcement because of his political views. He renounced his citizenship in one of his posted writings, and in another he prophesied a great war, saying he would wander into the wilderness and return bearing revolution.

News Service of Florida and the Associated Press contributed to this report. slemongello@orlandosentinel.com, 407-418-5920 or @stevelemongello

White nationalist Richard Spencer scheduled to speak at UF next month

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Goat-blood drinking Orlando man had key billing for Charlottesville rally - Orlando Sentinel

Report: Migrants Trapped in Bad Conditions on Greek Islands | Time … – TIME

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E.U. Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos talks with migrants during his visit to the Moria migrant camp on March 16, 2017 on the island of Lesbos, almost a year after an EU-Turkey deal. STRINGERAFP/Getty Images

Thousands of asylum-seekers in Greece's Aegean islands are stranded in appalling circumstances, according to a new report by Refugees International.

Since a 2016 deal between the E.U. and Turkey, which aims to discourage migrants from crossing the sea to Greece, Turkey has agreed to take back migrants who arrived to Greek islands from its territory. But in reality very few have so far been relocated, according to Refugees International just 1,210 as of June 13.

The result, says a new report entitled Like a Prison: Asylum Seekers Confined to the Greek Islands , is thousands of asylum-seekers trapped in overcrowded and unsafe accommodation on the Greek islands. This "containment" has taken a psychological toll, says the advocacy group, based in Washington, D.C. The report describes how some migrants on the islands of Chios, Lesvos and Samos feel trapped and anxious about the lack of available services. " Greeces policy of containing people on its Aegean islands is having devastating effects on peoples physical and mental health," said Izza Leghtas, senior advocate for Europe at Refugees International, said in a statement.

More than 12,000 migrants have crossed from Turkey to Greece this year, according to the IOM, a considerable drop in numbers compared to some 161,000 arrivals during the same period a year before. " Because far fewer people are arriving along this route than in 2015, the EU and Greece are presenting the EU-Turkey agreement as a success"Leghtas said. "The reality is that thousands of people, many of them traumatized from war or persecution, are trapped and unable to get the help they need."

TIME has written about the mental strains placed on migrants languishing in Greece in "Finding Home," a multimedia project which has been following three Syrian refugees since Sept. 2016 as they prepared to give birth and raise a child in foreign countries. Read more here .

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Report: Migrants Trapped in Bad Conditions on Greek Islands | Time ... - TIME

Falling tree kills 13 on Portuguese island of Madeira – BBC News

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BBC News
Falling tree kills 13 on Portuguese island of Madeira
BBC News
A falling tree has killed at least 13 people and injured 49 at a religious ceremony on the Portuguese island of Madeira. A video shows the tree crashing down on a crowded square in a suburb of the main town, Funchal, spreading panic among people ...

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Falling tree kills 13 on Portuguese island of Madeira - BBC News

Like a prison Asylum-seekers confined to the Greek Islands – ReliefWeb

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Refugees International Field Report

By Izza Leghtas

SUMMARY

This report examines aspects of an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Government of Turkey, laid out in an EU-Turkey statement of March 18, 2016, that was designed to reduce the number of asylum-seekers and migrants arriving in Europe by sea. In 2015, that number had reached more than one million people, of whom 80 percent travelled by sea from Turkey to Greeces Aegean islands. Under the arrangement, Turkey agreed to accept the return from Greece of migrants and asylum-seekers who arrived on the Greek islands from Turkey after March 2016. In general, the substantive claims to asylum by asylum-seekers who fall under this procedure are not to be examined by Greek authorities; rather the asylum-seekers go through an admissibility procedure that assesses whether Turkey can be considered a safe country to which they can be returned. This raises at least two concerns. First, Turkey maintains a geographic restriction to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, documents that provide critical protections for asylum-seekers, and is only prepared to recognize as refugees people fleeing persecution in Europe. Second, Turkey is already overwhelmed by over three million refugees, many of whom already face significant obstacles in accessing employment, housing, and education.

Though the EU-Turkey statement does not explicitly require it, Greece has put in place a containment policy on its Aegean islands. As a general matter, asylum-seekers and migrants arriving on these islands are not allowed to leave for the Greek mainland, and thousands of people are thus confined on these small islands. In July 2017, Refugees International witnessed appalling living conditions for many asylum-seekers in overcrowded and unsafe accommodations, and many are deprived of care and support that is only available on the mainland. And though EU leaders claim their goal is to break the business model of smugglers, the containment policy is actually pushing some people to travel off the islands by paying smugglers.

The containment policy has had some exemptions, including asylum-seekers with certain vulnerabilities (such as pregnant women or people with disabilities). Those individuals have been allowed to leave the islands for the mainland and have their asylum claims considered in substance. Exemptions from the containment policy have also been granted to those who might be eligible for unification with family members who are seeking or have been granted asylum in another EU country where the asylum claims of all family members would be processed. But the EU and Greek authorities have agreed on a joint action plan, issued in December 2016, that envisions limiting those exemptions. If this occurs, it will result in a worsening of the situation on the islands and will put more people at risk of being returned to Turkey.

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Like a prison Asylum-seekers confined to the Greek Islands - ReliefWeb

Fitch Lowers US Virgin Islands All the Way to Triple-C – Barron’s

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Barron's
Fitch Lowers US Virgin Islands All the Way to Triple-C
Barron's
Seeing few options for improvment to the territory's finances, Fitch Ratings took its credit rating on the U.S. Virgin Islands down all the way to triple-C from B. That's a steep three-notch downgrade, bringing it to a level that indicates significant ...

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Fitch Lowers US Virgin Islands All the Way to Triple-C - Barron's

Another loss on Virgin Islands exhibition tour – Nashville Post (subscription) (blog)

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Vanderbilt Basketball Aug 15, 2017 Share

Vanderbilt falls in back and forth contest against Canadian national championship team

authors David Boclair

Vanderbilts mens basketball team lost for the second time in as many days on its tour of the Virgin Islands when it fell 61-56 to Carleton University of Canada on Monday.

The Commodores managed just five assists on 16 field goals and shot 28.1 percent from the floor and 15 percent on 3-pointers. A turnover in the closing seconds cost the Commodores an opportunity to tie.

Matthew Fisher-Davis (pictured) finished with 17 points and was Vanderbilts leading scorer for the second straight game. Larry Austin Jr. scored 14 for the second time in as many contests. All 12 players on the trip saw action.

The contest, played at University of the Virgin Islands, included eight ties and 12 lead changes. The Commodores led by four early in the fourth quarter. They fell behind when they surrendered an 8-0 run and couldnt recover.

Carleton, located in Ottawa, Ontario, has won 13 of the last 15 Canadian Collegiate National Championships.

The teams will meet again Thursday in the last of Vanderbilts four games on the trip. The tour began with an 81-78 loss to the U.S. Virgin Islands National Team on Sunday.

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Another loss on Virgin Islands exhibition tour - Nashville Post (subscription) (blog)

Paon Eatery in Bay Harbor Islands Is Simply Great – Miami New Times

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In 2014, as Argentina plunged into economic chaos, Federico Cassino's life's work crumbled. Regular customers at his minuscule restaurant where the now-32-year-old chef would prepare a different five-course meal every night, could no longer afford to dine out.

"What we paid for gas went from 50 pesos to 1,000 pesos a month," Cassino says. "We had to raise prices while our customers had less money to spend. It was like to be a business owner, you also had to be an economist."

So after years of visiting Miami, Cassino and his wife Sofia decided to move north to start over. The result is their new restaurant, Paon Eatery, which opened in late May on the otherwise sleepy Kane Concourse in Bay Harbor Islands.

The narrow, quaint 40-seater is bordered on one side by a concrete wall decorated with pencil drawings of moose and Argentine landscapes. On the opposite side, a wall-size mirror is obscured by a tall gray leather banquette. Leafy vines, along with amorphous, overturned baskets that double as light fixtures, drop from the ceiling.

The menu offers Mediterranean and Latin American plates pared down to their simplest form and split into sections such as salads, sandwiches (during lunch), entres, and a dozen-and-a-half tapas.

Here, on the oblong islands where people rarely glance left and right as they make their way to or from the beach, Cassino has assembled a menu of hearty bistro fare offered at far more reasonable prices than what can be found at the nearby Bal Harbour Shops.

Cassino was born in Buenos Aires and studied marketing, taking on a professional career while nurturing a lifelong enthusiasm for cooking that began with his Italian grandmother, a pasta whiz, and his mother, who cooked more refined French and Spanish cuisine for the family.

In 2008, he decided he'd had enough of corporate life and enrolled in cooking classes in Buenos Aires. Two years later, he landed a gig at Barcelona's Hisop, a Michelin-starred seafood restaurant situated just off the city's Avinguda Diagonal. He quickly moved from menial tasks like cutting vegetables to manning the restaurant's grill and roasting Mediterranean squid, sardines, and the langoustine-like cephalopods called bogovantes.

After six months, he returned to Buenos Aires, and two years later he and Sofia launched their place, which they called Moment, in a nearly century-old house. Soon, though, the economy began tanking, so they left. They chose Bay Harbor Islands because the short strip of road sees a reasonable amount of foot traffic.

The bulk of Paon's menu is tapas, most of which cost less than $10. Many suffice as entres. The short rib ($15) is far and away the best bet. Cassino vacuum-packs the hulk of bone-in meat with olive oil and thyme, then simmers it for 18 hours. That's just long enough to turn fat-laced beef tender, but not so long that it makes the meat disintegrate after a slight touch. Just before it's served, it's crisped and given some sheen with a salty, sour soy glaze, then plated with a cold salad of hard-boiled eggs, crunchy romaine hearts, and green onion. The salad lightens each hefty bite of rib meat, making it easy to polish off.

Shrimp with the starchy, crisp, supple Swiss potato pancake called rsti ($9) is another steal. Six of the pink crustaceans boast an impressive crust with just a dash of char, while their interiors remain sweet and creamy. The rsti is like the love child of hash browns and potato pancakes. The outside is roasted to a crisp golden crust dusted with salt, and just underneath waits a creamy layer of softened potato slivers glossed with quality olive oil.

Potatoes appear to be one of Cassino's strong suits. His "triple cooked potato fries" ($5) seem to be neither potato nor fry but instead are ethereal nuggets of starchy goodness encased in a crackly, greaseless shell. He accomplishes this feat by first chopping the potatoes into bite-size cubes and giving them a long soak in ice water to leech out the starch. Next, they're boiled, chilled, blanched in hot oil, and chilled again before a final fry turns them into ruffled auburn cubes. Order them naked or crowned with a runny poached egg and squiggles of a garlicky aioli and a smoky harissa tomato sauce.

The grilled octopus ($17) presents a tentacle in peak form, tender inside and aggressively crusted outside, perched atop smashed and roasted fingerling potatoes with skins roasted into crisp shells. A few splotches of a velvety eggplant pure ($6) add an herbaceous richness. A similarly clever touch is deployed in a silky, sweet summer corn soup ($7) gussied up with a few dots of sesame oil. The nutty oil is like a catalyst for the corn's sweetness, intensifying it while also adding layers of complexity.

The eggplant pure acts like a dressing, coating and seasoning each bite of crisp green beans, cilantro, green onion, and peppery arugula.

The crispy skin red snapper ($19) is a standout on the shortlist of entres thanks to the grilled hearts of romaine on which it perches. The usually watery, tasteless green takes on a new life after being charred on the grill. Its woody flavor mingles seamlessly with the juicy fish.

A simple plate of pappardelle ($17) fails to meet the rest of the menu's standards. Though Cassino uses a nice, eggy dried pasta and cooks it well, the cream sauce in which it sits is thin, bland, and lukewarm. Porcini and shiitake mushrooms help a bit, but without a thicker, better-seasoned sauce, the dish fails to reach its potential.

Those mushrooms get a second chance packed into the steamed, Chinese-style clamshell buns ($10) Cassino makes. Though these buns have become ubiquitous on menus in recent years, few cooks undertake the laborious process of making them from scratch. The results, however, aren't stiff, dense buns that harden as they cool. They have the fluffiness and stretchability of the interior of a fresh croissant and only get better once filled with meaty, umami-rich slivers of mushrooms.

Despite Cassino's time in an ambitious, Michelin-starred restaurant, his latest place proves that food need not be overly fussy to be enjoyable. Such was his mission when he made the more than 4,400-mile schlep from Buenos Aires to Miami.

"We're casual in our approach, but that doesn't mean the food has to suffer," he says.

Paon is a happy respite from the carelessness of the food that can be found just south in Miami Beach. All you have to do is stroll down the road.

Paon Eatery. 1076 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands; 786-348-0672; paoneatery.com. Monday through Saturday noon to 4 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m.

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Paon Eatery in Bay Harbor Islands Is Simply Great - Miami New Times

Midland to host community conference for genetic conditions – Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

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On Saturday, Sept. 16, Baylor College of Medicine will bring a community conference and resource fair to the Midland area to provide an educational seminar and support materials for children with special needs, as well as their parents.

Provided jointly by Baylor and Texas Childrens Hospital, in collaboration with SHARE West Texas, the conference will address the role genetic evaluations play in patients with autism spectrum disorders.

Dr. Daryl Scott, associate professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor, will walk parents through the steps of a genetic evaluation and discuss what the findings mean, citing relevant case studies. The emphasis will be placed on common causes of autism, including Fragile X syndrome, chromosomal abnormalities and mutations affecting genes linked to autism.

Conference attendees will learn how new genetic tests have made it possible to determine why some children are affected by autism spectrum disorders. When a specific case is identified, it allows physicians to provide accurate counseling and improved medical care for all family members, Scott said.

The resource fair will offer current information on care, education and research as they relate to autism spectrum disorders and encourages networking within the community by connecting patients and their families with others in similar situations.

Our goal in introducing this program to the Midland community is to broaden the awareness of these disorders while also providing parents and families with the knowledge and resources they need to cope with the behavioral and developmental disabilities that often accompany them, said Susan Fernbach, director of genetic outreach at Baylor and Texas Childrens.

The program is free and open to the public, but registration is required. The seminar will be held at Midland Shared Spaces, at 3500 North A St. To register, email Traci Hopper at thopper@sharewtx.org, or call 432-818-1259. The resource fair begins at 9 am, and the conference will follow at 10 am. Lunch will be provided.

This conference is supported by the Texas Center for Disability Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Department of State Health Services.

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Midland to host community conference for genetic conditions - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

The Search for the Missing AD Heritability Turns Up New Rare Variants – Alzforum

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15 Aug 2017

Genetic forces drive a sizable portion of Alzheimers disease, yet only a fraction of cases thus far are explained by known mutations. A handful of recent papers used genomic sequencing to fish out new variants that, while exceedingly rare, pack a wallop in those who carry them. In the July 24 JAMA Neurology, researchers led by Margaret Pericak-Vance at the University of Miami in Florida reported that mutations in four endolysosomal transport genes boosted risk of early onset AD (EOAD). A few weeks earlier, a large collaboration of French researchers reported rare new TREM2, ABCA7, and SORL1 variants in Neurobiology of Aging, while scientists led by Henne Holstege at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam characterized the pathogenicity of SORL1 variants and even proposed classifying this endosomal sorting protein as the fourth autosomal-dominant AD gene. A team led by Dominique Campion at University of Rouen, France, dug deep into the well-trodden territory of the three autosomal-dominant genesAPP, PS1, and PS2and uncovered de novo pathogenic variants that cropped up in people with no family history of AD. Last but not least, Anne Rovelet-Lecrux, also at Rouen, linked a duplication in the tau gene to people with an AD diagnosis who lacked Aplaques.

Together, the studies move the field a step closer to filling in the missing genetic influence on AD, and could provide new targets for therapeutic strategies, commented Liana Apostolova at the University of Indiana in Bloomington. There are more genetic risk factors in hiding that have yet to be discovered, and these studies suggest were on the right track, she toldAlzforum.

In the JAMA Neurology study, first author Brian Kunkle and colleagues report on their search for rare variants with large effects on AD risk. Reasoning that people with EOAD are likely carriers of damaging genetic mutations, they conducted whole-exome sequencing in 51 non-Hispanic white EOAD patients, plus 53 people from 19 Caribbean Hispanic families with EOAD; all had tested negative for known causal mutations in APP, PS1, and PS2. The scientists combed the exomes for variants predicted to have damaging effects, then attempted to validate each variants association with AD using exome genotyping data from a separate cohort of 1,500 EOAD patients, 7,000 LOAD patients, and 7,000 controls. Developed by the Alzheimers Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC), the exome chip used to genotype this separate cohort contains more than 200,000 variants, most of which are functional, rare, single nucleotidemutations.

In their original sequencing cohort, the researchers identified mutations in known or suspected EOAD genes, including SORL1, PS1, PS2, TREM2, and MAPT. Some were known; others were new variants in genes previously tied to LOAD, including HLA-DRB1, ABCA7, and RIN3. Suspicious mutations also cropped up in genes without an AD record. A missense mutation in TCIRG1, present in a non-Hispanic white person with EOAD and segregating with EOAD in three Hispanic families, was twice as frequent in EOAD than in controls in the validation cohort. Deleterious mutations in PSD2 appeared in multiple unrelated cases in the sequencing cohort, and associated with EOAD in the validation cohort, at least when considered in the aggregate. Mutations in RIN3 and RUFY1 appeared in the discovery cohort, but their EOAD association in the validation group was nominal. Importantly, all four genes function in different parts of the endolysosomal transport pathway, which is essential for clearing cellular debris and unwanted proteins, includingA.

The researchers found additional rare mutations in EOAD patients, but these were not on the exome chip used for the validation cohort. For example, of 151 potentially damaging variants that appeared in the original exome sequencing cohort, only 43 were included on the exomechip.

While this filtering process allows researchers to test whether a variant is truly linked to disease, it also precludes consideration of totally new, potentially damaging mutations, said Holstege. The mutations that are most damaging are also the most rare, Holstege told Alzforum. If you filter them out in this way, you quench yoursignal.

Holstege took a different tack to find and classify rare SORL1 variants. Rather than filtering out undocumented variants, Holstege and colleagues made them their bread and butter. In the May 24 European Journal of Human Genetics, they reported 115 SORL1 variants from the exomes of a Dutch cohort of 640 AD cases and 1,268 controls. Fifteen of these variants were common, and not associated with AD. The other 100 were rare, occurring in less than 0.01 percent of the population. Of those, 19 were predicted to be strongly damaging, based on high scores on CADD, an algorithm that considers more than 100 variant characteristics to predict how likely a given mutation is to alter protein function orexpression.

Strikingly, 16 of these suspicious variants only appeared in a single person within the entire cohort, and 14 of those had AD. None of the variants were included in prior exome genotyping studies, so the researchers could not draw upon past data to validate whether they truly associated with the disease. Instead, the researchers developed a pathogenicity scale. Weaving in data from more than 3,000 exomes sequenced separately, the researchers classified a total 181 SORL1 variants based on their combined CADD scores and rarity. They categorized those that had high CADD scores and were very rare as pathogenic. Estimated pathogenicity decreased from likely pathogenic to uncertain to likely benign to benign as variants became less damaging and morecommon.

The scientists found that a combination of high CADD scores and extremely low allele frequency selected out those SORL1 variants that occurred much more often in cases than in controls. The 13 variants with the highest pathogenicity resulted in truncations of SORL1, and occurred only in AD cases. The researchers predicted they would cause dominantly inherited AD, though none have yet been traced in familypedigrees.

Holstege and colleagues proposed that SORL1 take a spot alongside PS1, PS2, and APP as an autosomal-dominant AD gene. Pathogenic SORL1 mutations occurred in 2 percent of the AD cases in this study, placing them at a higher frequency than other ADAD genes. Like PS1, PS2, and APP, SORL1 protein strongly influences A, as it protects APP from amyloidogenic processing and ushers A to lysosomes for disposal (see Sep 2007 news; Feb 2014 news).

Classifying SORL1 as an ADAD gene would raise new questions. How to provide genetic counseling to affected families? Should mutation carriers be eligible to join the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimers Network (DIAN)? Clinical-grade genetic tests for SORL1 variants would be needed, a challenge developers may postpone until further data has confirmed the mutations are pathogenic, commented Apostolova. She added that while Holsteges pathogenicity scale is an exciting tool that should be used in future studies, validation of each mutation in other cohorts, as well as functional evidence in animal and cell culture studies, should be required to elevate SORL1 to ADAD status. Rovelet-Lecrux agreed that designating SORL1 an ADAD gene will have to await discovery of multigenerational families in which SORL1 segregates with disease in an autosomal-dominant pattern. Until we accumulate more genetic evidence, we cannot tell SORL1 mutation carriers how likely they are to develop disease, shesaid.

A new study led by Rouens Campion and co-authored by Rovelet-Lecrux further supports pathogenicity of SORL1 variants, even if it does not provide evidence of multigenerational segregation. As reported July 13 in the Neurobiology of Aging, the researchers detected SORL1 missense and protein-truncating variants that associated strongly with early onset disease by doing whole-exome and genome sequencing of a French cohort of 852 EOAD, 927 LOAD, and 1,273 control cases. All but one of 13 protein-truncating variants occurred only in EOAD cases, and eight of 10 cases with available family information had a history of the disease. Besides SORL1, TREM2 and ABCA7 also harbored potentially damaging EOAD-associated variants in this sample. The researchers estimated that variants in these three genes accounted for 1.42, 1.17, and 1.33 percent of EOAD heritability, respectively. By comparison, ApoE4 accounted for 9.12percent.

New Finds in Old Genes While many pathogenic mutations in PS1, PS2, and APP have been traced in family pedigrees, additional rare variants in these established ADAD genes may yet be discovered. In search of them, researchers led by Rouens Campion sequenced these genes in 129 sporadic cases of early onset AD, as well as in 53 affected families. Published March 28 in PLOS Medicine, the findings included data from participants who joined the ongoing French study after 2012, when the researchers had published a similar analysis (Wallon et al., 2012).In all, first author Hlne-Marie Lanoisele and colleagues identified 44 PS1, two PS2, and 20 APP mutations, as well as five APP duplications; 12 of the PS1 and one PS2 mutation had not been reportedpreviously.

The most striking finding was the existence of de novo mutations in PS1. Indeed, seven of 12 new mutations occurred in sporadic cases of EOAD. In three of these mutations, the researchers were able to confirm that the carriers parents did not carry the new mutation. Rovelet-Lecrux, a co-author on the paper, said that the prevalence of de novo mutations in ADAD genes is likely underestimated, because routine genetic screening for these mutations is done only in familial AD cases. The de novo find underscores the importance of checking for pathogenic mutations even in patients without a family history of AD, especially people with an early age at onset, Holstege commented. Similar to the situation with rare SORL1 variants, researchers will need to decide how to categorize carriers of new and de novo mutations in established ADAD genes, shesaid.

Finally, results from a slightly older study led by Rovelet-Lecrux pose a different kind of classification conundrum. The authors deployed whole-exome sequencing to hunt specifically for copy number variations (CNVs) such as duplications and deletions in 335 genes predicted to influence A processing, clearance, or aggregation. The researchers found CNVs in 30 out of 522 people with EOAD, but only 18 out of 584 controls. Most of these CNVs occurred in a single person in the cohort, and they included novel deletions in the PS1, ABCA7, and SLC30A3 genes previously tied toAD.

A surprising finding reared its head in four AD cases, who all had a duplicationin a region of chromosome 17 including MAPT, the gene encoding none other than tau. The duplication appeared in two sporadic cases of EOAD and two with a family history. DNA available from one of those families confirmed that the duplication segregated with EOAD. Even though these four carriers had symptoms consistent with AD, the three who underwent amyloid-PET imaging had negative scans, to Rovelet-Lecruxs surprise. All four duplication carriers had abnormal levels of CSF p-tau and tau, and three of them also had abnormal concentrations of A42. The researchers also found nearly double the amount of tau mRNA in the blood of carriers than incontrols.

Together, the findings suggest that despite the lack of A plaques visible on PET, carriers of a tau duplication have a clinical disorder markedly similar to AD. The abnormality of CSF A42 in three of the duplication carriers suggests that they could have accumulated A just below the level of PET detection, a sub-threshold aggregation the researchers speculated could even be somehow caused by elevatedtau.

Do these tau duplication carriers have AD? Not if you consider A accumulation as a defining feature of the disease, said Apostolova. Indeed, in the paper, the researchers defined their disease as a tau-related dementia, proposing that it could account for a significant proportion of early onset dementia cases with no genetic explanation. While some researchers view A as a mere forerunner to the more destructive tau pathology, which they consider the main event in AD, Rovelet-Lecrux shied away from separating A from AD, saying that AD is ultimately diagnosed via its neuropathological hallmarks of A plaques and tau tangles. She believes it will be important to screen EOAD patients without A plaques for tau pathology, especially in the future once both A- or tau-targeted therapies exist.JessicaShugart

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The Search for the Missing AD Heritability Turns Up New Rare Variants - Alzforum

Health Care Backlash With a Side of Charlottesville Outrage at GOP Town Halls – Roll Call

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Coloradans pressed Sen. Cory Gardner on health care during the Republicans first solo, in-person town hall in more than a year.

Gardner wasnt the only Republican senator who faced angry constituents this week, as Sen. Johnny Isakson held a contentious town hall in Georgia on Monday. The two Republicans heard a similar tune from their respective crowds, as people voiced concerns over healthcare.

While each attendee at Gardners Tuesday morning event had a green Agree sign and a red Disagree sign to wave, the preferred choice of dissent quickly became loud boos that muffled Gardners answers.

A moderator askedthe crowd to quiet down several times to allow the senator to speak.

When an emergency room nurse told Gardner the U.S. should shift to a single payer health care system, the crowd erupted in cheers. The nurse pointed to the Veterans Administration health system as a model to move toward.

I oppose socialized medicine, Gardner said before boos broke out in the crowd.

Veterans do have a government-run health care system, he said. Thats why we had to pass the Veterans Choice Act because they werent getting the care and service they were promised by the federal government.

Gardner also pointed to the ballot measure that Coloradans rejected in 2016 that would have provided medical coverage to all state residents through a payroll tax. About 80 percent of the state voted against it.

The conversation soon shifted to the environment when a woman with 350 Colorado, a grassroots movement dedicated to addressing climate change, asked the senator about a plan to expand coal mining in the state. She said she opposed the plan, which would allow coal to be mined in Gunnison National Forest.

Pointing to a child standing with her, the woman said, This is why Im here for them, because I want them to have clean air and water.

There was little opposition to Gardners initial response.

I want nothing more for them than to have a brighter, better future, clean air, and clean environment, the senator said.

As he continued, Gardner lost the crowds approval.

I do believe that we have to have an all of the above energy policy, Gardner said as boos started. I do believe that we have to have coal.

Taking place at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, the town hall was the first in a series of three events Tuesday for Gardner.

Toward the event of the event, the father of a man killed in the Aurora movie theater shooting rose to speak. Tom Sullivan asked Gardner to push President Donald J. Trump to fire advisers such as chief strategist Steve Bannon. The question prompted a standing ovation.

Im not going to ask the president to fire somebody, Gardner responded. Instead, the senator said he would continue to stand up to the president when he disagreed with him.

One woman thanked Gardner for his response to the Charlottesville violence. The senator responded to Trumps tweet on Saturday, calling on the president to call evil by its name.

The woman said she saw a different Cory Gardner and I loved it.

Gardners rhetoric on the Charlottesville violence was stronger by his second town hall in Greeley.

Why we have a 20 year old neo-Nazi in this country today, I do not know, Gardner said. We have to stand up and fight that ideology and never let it happen again.

But when asked what specifically he could do, he added he didnt know that a particular bill will wipe out that hate.

Meanwhile, Isakson faced 600 constituents Monday at a town hall meeting on Kennesaw State Universitys campus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The event focused on similar issues to Gardners, including health care, which prompted boos from the crowd over the Georgia Republicans support of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

I dont have to do this. Im not up for election, Isakson said at one point during the event. But I do it because its your government, not mine.

Like Gardner, Isakson received a question asking him to push Trump to fire Bannon and other aides from the White House. Isakson tried to answer with No, but before the audience started yelling.

All you have to do is check the record and see how many times Ive risked my career for standing up the right thing, the senator said.

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Baptist Healthcare agrees to acquire a Kentucky hospital system – Louisville Business First

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Baptist Healthcare agrees to acquire a Kentucky hospital system
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Under the agreement, Baptist Healthcare would acquire all assets of Harden Memorial Health. In return, the Louisville-based organization would reinvest "significant capital" into the health care system and make an additional monetary commitment to ...

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Baptist Healthcare agrees to acquire a Kentucky hospital system - Louisville Business First

Xavier University debuts center to advance AI use in healthcare – Healthcare IT News

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Xavier University has launched the Xavier Center for Artificial Intelligence, an effort to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare.

Were bringing together the major global players in artificial intelligence to focus on technology that could transform the healthcare industry, said Marla Phillips, director of Xavier Health, which runs the Center for AI. We believe the implementation of AI in the healthcare field is needed now more than ever.

[Also:Big wave of artificial intelligence and machine learning coming to healthcare, University Hospitals of Cleveland CEO says]

Xavier Health, formed in 2008, is a center in the College of Professional Sciences charged with making a difference in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries by building bridges between the industries and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Center for AI is a collaborative effort involving all three of Xaviers colleges Arts & Sciences, Professional Sciences and the Williams College of Business presenting new academic opportunities for students across the campus, the center said.

AI could be used to improve patient safety, reduce drug costs, and avoid product and drug recalls, in addition to the advances being made in healthcare diagnostics, including the early detection of conditions such as dementia and depression, the center said.

[Also:Artificial intelligence is giving healthcare cybersecurity programs a boost]

The centers first major initiative will be the AI Summit August 24-25 on Xaviers campus in Cincinnati. Xavier said it will lead representatives from the medical device and pharmaceutical industries and the FDA to further develop artificial intelligence to promote and protect patient health.

Summit attendees will form working teams tasked with developing plans that apply AI to solve their quality, regulatory and supply chain challenges. They will continue to meet in the months after the summit and present their solutions at the 2018 AI Summit. Solutions from the summit will be available for free for any company or organization to implement.

Representatives from the FDA, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly & Co., Abbott, Dell and IBM Watson Health will be among the speakers at the summit.

Some people think that artificial intelligence is still just a concept, that its practical application is still years away, Phillips said. But its been used for years in many applications and has tremendous potential to make a difference in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

Twitter:@SiwickiHealthIT Email the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com

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Cloud computing decision guide: Breaking down 7 top solutions for healthcare – Healthcare IT News

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To help with your planning, this Healthcare IT News Cloud Computing Buyers guide looks at the top four IaaS providers, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM. A report from Synergy Research Group found that these platforms have over 60 percent of the public cloud market. (Amazon has the lions share with 33 percent share; the other three divide 27 percent of the market.) The market is far from stable, however; Microsoft and Google each achieved an annualized growth rate of 80 percent in the first quarter of 2017.

Latest Trend:Stronger security and disaster planning fuel healthcare's migration to the cloud

We also look at services from three companies who specialize in supporting healthcare providers with managed services: ClearData, CDW and VMware.

Shop carefully. Read the fine print and really make sure you ask a lot of questions, Snedaker says. Dont take a sales reps word for anything. Not to disparage sales reps, but if its not in the contract, it really doesnt matter what the salesperson said.

She also advises stress testing. Get your team to think up all the very worst case scenarios they can think of and bounce them against the contract. Does it still hold up?

Cloud computing has a clear advantage on the cost side. But healthcare IT managers know that cost is not the only priority. They have a special responsibility to deliver data reliably. And while cloud computing offers many advantages, its a big step and adequate planning is essential to ensure success.

As Snedaker says, Take your time in understanding the solution before you drop your data off at someone elses house.

Amazon was the pioneer in Infrastructure-as-a-Service, with the first public cloud offering in 2006 and it has built on that headstart. One reason it keeps that lead is pricing. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is very aggressive in pricing: it has already made two reductions just since the start of the year for storage and the Amazon Elastic Computer Cloud (EC2) which offers virtual computers for rent.

AWS also innovates at a fast pace. Many cloud platforms go weeks or months between service updates. AWS posts several service updates on its Whats New page almost every day.

To support healthcare providers, AWS recently removed the dedicated instance requirement from its HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA), and added 13 new services to the BAA since January 2017. The HIPAA eligible services that have been added this year include Amazon WorkSpaces, AWS Microsoft AD, and Amazon Cloud Directory.

It also created a new feature to simplify management of BA addendums. Using the AWS self-service Business Associate Addendum, a cloud account admin can instantly designate an AWS account as a HIPAA Account for use with PHI. Users can then sign in to AWS Artifact to confirm that the account is designated as a HIPAA Account, and review the terms of the BAA for that account.

One of AWSs new directions is the AWS Healthcare Competency Partners program for vendors who are offering services through AWS. PracticeFusion, Infor and Phillips are among the partners.

Learn more about AWS

The same company that provides IT departments with a deep inventory of hardware, software and specialized medical equipment also offers cloud management services. This option will be especially appealing to HIT departments that find themselves stretched. CDWs services include migration planning, project scoping and ongoing support. CDWs managed IT services include proactive maintenance, monitoring, notifications and reporting.

CDW has six data centers hosting cloud infrastucture and it can provide more IaaS support through partnerships with AWS, Microsoft and others. The offering helps clients find the right mix of services to map against their clients requirements. And CDW is not necessarily biased in favor of a cloud solution. It also operates and provides managed support for data center solutions.

Learn more about CDW Cloud Solutions

ClearDATA has only one focus: cloud computing for healthcare. It says that it employs a team that is trained in health IT operations and capable of supporting interoperability, patient engagement, data analytics and other health IT priorities. The environment is a HITRUST certified managed cloud infrastructure that adheres to HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules and the HITECH Act.

The companys solutions include backup, disaster recovery, data privacy, business continuity services and security risk assessment and remediation services. They also offer support for BYOD security; secure email; collaboration tools; security Risk Assessment and Remediation Services; desktop-as-a-service and archive-as-a-service.

End-to-end deployment services are available, reducing the workload on a providers IT staff during migration and deployment, and speeding up the process of moving into the cloud.

Learn more about ClearData

Since the last time we wrote about its cloud platform, Google added more support for healthcare applications. At HIMSS17 in February, Google announced support for the HL7 FHIR Foundation to help advance development of data interoperability standards.

Googles public network takes advantage of more than 100 global points of presence to reduce latency. To provide enterprise-grade connections with higher availability and lower latency than existing Internet connections, the company offers Google Cloud Interconnect and supports direct network peering for customers that can meet Google at one of many peering locations. To enhance security, Google developed its own hardware, Titan, to authenticate legitimate access at the hardware level. Titan uses a hardware random number generator, performs cryptographic operations in the isolated memory, and has a dedicated on-chip secure process.

For application security, Google provides a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API to find and redact sensitive data stored in your cloud environment. The API makes it possible to inject data-sensing intelligence into legacy applications or build predefined detectors into your new apps.

To reinforce support for HIPAA standards, Google is providing a guide to HIPAA Compliance on GCP which offers best practices for healthcare security on Google cloud. Google will enter into Business Associate Agreements with its customers and notes that it has a 700-person security engineering team and regular independent third-party audits to provide external verification. Among the standards for which it has been audited are SSAE16 / ISAE 3402 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017 Cloud Security, ISO 27019 Cloud Privacy, FedRAMP ATO for the Google App Engine and PCDI DSS v 3.1.

Learn more about Google Cloud Platform

IBM Cloud provides a full range of infrastructure-as-a-service options starting with basic block storage, public virtual servers and bare metal servers that compete with the cloud-only vendors. Big Blue also provides a range of more advanced platforms that directly support application development in a number of areas including big health data, analytics, and cognitive capabilities.

Its Bluemix platform is based on an implementation of the Cloud Foundry, an open-source application development platform that supports Java, Python, Ruby, custom frameworks and a range of applications including MySQL, PostgreSQL and more. The IBM Cloud is integrated with the Watson Platform for Health, which provides solutions for collecting, normalizing, and analyzing data from diverse sources. Watson IoT Platform Connect supports device management and the new Blockchain-as-a-Service platform enables the creation of a dynamic distributed network that functions according to logic embedded to define assets and manage transactions.

Security includes end-to-end encryption, role-based access, event monitoring and alerting. The HIPAA-enabled cloud foundation is supported by IBM SoftLayer. Data governance tools are available for managing patient consent and identity masking.

Learn more about IBM Cloud

Microsoft Azure has supported healthcare through its cloud infrastructure platform since 2011. Today it has 40 data centers and the company says it now has over 25,000 health organizations on its cloud services in the U.S.

One of Microsofts selling points is flexibility. It claims that its architecture simplifies the process of moving resources out of data centers and onto Azure to meet peak demands, and that it maintains more data centers in more regions than any other cloud provider. It also has the benefit of supporting Microsoft Office applications through its Office 365 cloud platform, which is provided in a Software-as-a-Service offering.

Microsoft claims more security certifications than its competitors with ISO/IEC, CSA, CCM, ITAR, HITRUST, HIPAA/HITECH and CIS certifications. And more BAA-covered services with agreements available for Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365, Power BI, Azure, Intune and Microsoft Visual Studio Team Services. And it offers a site recovery program.

It also claims an advantage with a $1 billion annual budget for security research and development. The companys cyber threat intelligence is based on over 450 billion authentications processed per month and 400 billion emails scanned. The company says this results in quick detection of emerging threats and delivery of responses.

Learn more about Microsoft Azure

VMware is in a transition with its support for cloud infrastructure. It recently sold its VCloud Air service to OVH, one of the largest hosting providers in Europe. VMware, part of Dell Technologies, is now focused on providing Cross-Cloud Services to work through any cloud platform. The strategy is designed to provide a simplified operational management structure for IT managers who can use the same set of VMware tools theyve used at their data centers in managing their cloud platforms.

VMwares partners, who include AWS and Microsoft Azure, will run the VMware software stack in their cloud to provide a platform that supports a VCloud network.

VMware will manage the operational layer, including security, so customers can concentrate on managing their own application layer. The strategy will allow healthcare IT teams to extend into public cloud providers using the same tools and operational processes they use on premises in their data center.

Learn more about VMware Cross Cloud Architecture

Cloud solutions arent a one-size-fits all product. In fact, there some key technical and pricing details to consider. Below is a primer on the key elements of cloud architecture:

Block Level Storage: Raw disk space formatted to support a required file system, typically deployed in a SAN (storage area network) environment. Useful to support a specific application.

File Level Storage: Generally less expensive to maintain than Block Level Storage, files are stored in a hierarchical structure (ie, folders) such as Unixs Network File Storage (NFS) or Windows Server Message Block (SMB).

Desktop as a Service: A virtualization service in which a cloud service provider supports desktop applications remotely.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service: A cloud platform that provides a hosted environment that can be used to deploy applications or data transfer. Examples are AWS, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

Hybrid cloud: A platform providing infrastucture-as-a-service that combines cloud services hosted at the clients data center and remotely at the vendors data center. Hyper-scalars: A cloud platform that can dynamically provide more computing resources as demand increases.

Latency: The delay between the time a data request is made and the data is delivered. Platform-as-a-Service: A cloud environment that provides services to run specific applications, development kits, database tools, and application management tools. Examples are IBM BlueMix, Oracle Cloud Platform-as-a-Service and SalesForce ApplCloud.

Public cloud: Hosted remotely at a vendors data center, a public cloud provides service to all of the vendors clients. Your applications and data will be hosted on servers shared by other enterprises.

Private cloud: Your enterprise is provided with a dedicated space providing cloud infrastructure that can be used for running your applications and data transferred. Your space is dedicated to your enterprise and is not shared with others.

Software-as-a-Service: Applications are provided remotely in a cloud environment that is maintained by the vendor. Examples are athenaClinicals, Salesforce Health Cloud, and PracticeFusion.

Throughput: The amount of data that a system can support in a specified time period.

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Cloud computing decision guide: Breaking down 7 top solutions for healthcare - Healthcare IT News

Congresswoman Robin Kelly Hosts Solutions Only Forum To Move Healthcare Reform Forward – CBS Chicago

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August 15, 2017 12:35 PM

CHICAGO (CBS) Congresswoman Robin Kelly said a downtown Chicago forum produced a number of bi-partisan ideas for moving the debate over healthcare reform forward.

Congresswoman Robin Kelly hosted Monday a Solutions Only Congressional Field Inquiry on health care at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago. WBBMs Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.

Democrat Robin Kelly said the rules of the forum were no finger-pointing and solutions only. Experts and the audience discussed things like Medicare for all and promoting tele-medicine.

Also conversation that mental health had to be included in whatever we came up with; and also, fight the whole opioid issue.

Congresswoman Kelly believes there are enough people interested in solutions to get things done.

The goal of todays inquiry is to move beyond the partisan rhetoric and get to solutions that will make health care affordable and accessible for all Illinois families, Kelly said. Families are tired of the name-calling and finger pointing; they want solutions and its our obligation to find them.

A panel of six experts, representing a range of providers and advocates, provided evidence and answered questions from policymakers and attendees. The next step? Take the ideas to Capitol Hill.

Congresswoman Robin Kelly tweeted the following ideas during her Congressional Field Hearing on Health Care at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago.

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Congresswoman Robin Kelly Hosts Solutions Only Forum To Move Healthcare Reform Forward - CBS Chicago

Bernie Sanders Talks Health Care, Cows During Franklin County Visit – Seven Days

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) seemed comfortable Monday during a swing through Franklin County to meet with core constituents, includinghealth care professionals, senior citizens and dairy farmers. At all three stops, Vermont's junior senator discussed his Medicare-for-all proposal but he refused to address questions about how hard hell push Democrats to back the plan.

In the morning, Sanders toured the Northern Tier Center for Health clinic in Richford, where he peppered staff with questions about the opiate epidemic and access to dental care.

From there, he traveled to the Franklin County Senior Center in St. Albans and pitched his proposed legislation that would allow anyone to receive Medicare, the federal health insurance program currently available only to people over 65.

Were taking on the whole world to make this happen, he told a crowd of more than 50.

Residents dined on strawberry shortcake and listened intently as Sanders decried the outrageous cost of prescription drugs. He compared the U.S. health care system unfavorably to Canada's, which provides universal coverage.

So when Linda Davignon, of Clarenceville, Qubec, announced her hometown, Sanders asked her how much she pays for a doctor's visit. Nothing, she said as she shaped her fingers into a zero.

Sanders answered questions from the audience, including one about how to galvanize the Democratic Party.

I think the Democrats are making some improvements, Sanders said before going on to criticize party members for being hesitant to take on powerful interests such as pharmaceutical companies.

Outside in the parking lot, Sanders dismissed a reporters question about whether he would back primary challengers to Democrats running in 2018 who dont embrace his health care proposal a concern among some in the party.

Uh, thats political gossip which Im not particularly interested in, Sanders said, ignoring reporters' attempts at follow-up questions.

He was equally unobliging when a reporter tried to return to the subject later.

The Democratic Party the reporter began to ask.

Sanders interrupted: I understand the media fascination for the month of August is divisions within the Democratic Party Thats a lot of media creation.

"When you have a president who doesnt have the guts to say what the vast majority of the people understand to be true ... the message he is sending out to racists and neo-Nazis all over the country is, 'it's OK' ..." Sanders said. "Do I think the president bears some responsibility for that? Absolutely, yes."

Sanders final stop of the day was to Paul and Linda Stanleys hillside dairy farm in East Fairfield. A camera crew from VICE News, dressed in black, filmed as Linda introduced Sanders to a day-old calf named Pinky.

Holy moly! a delighted Sanders exclaimed as it ran wobbly legged by him.

After meeting the cow, the senator snacked on fresh cucumbers and cherry tomatoes at a picnic table and discussed the plight of the state's dairy farms, which are struggling with low milk prices and environmental regulations.

The conversation, though, never strayed far from the topic du jour. During a lull in the discussion about the farmers concerns, Sanders asked, What about health care?

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Bernie Sanders Talks Health Care, Cows During Franklin County Visit - Seven Days

Sports medicine doctor on how to combat knee arthritis symptoms – CBS News

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A new study found osteoarthritis of the knee is more than twice as common as it was just a few generations ago. It's estimated that the lifetime risk of developing this condition is 46 percent.

However, it is possible to protect your knees and even reverse some of the symptoms. Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery, joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss what might be causing the increase and what you can do to reduce arthritic symptoms.

Asked what people are doing wrong when it comes to arthritis, Metzl said, "They're not recognizing the symptoms of arthritis."

The first thing to do if you are having symptoms, Metzl said, is to get an X-ray, which will show if there is a "narrowing between the bones."

Metzl also credits the inactivity of modern life. "If you were alive 100 years ago, you walked more, you were much more active," Metzl said.

"As this study shows us, the incidence of arthritis, the prevalence has more than doubled in the past hundred years and there are some different reasons for why that may be including people living longer and having higher weights but also related to activity," Metzl said.

X-rays of what a healthy knee versus an arthritic knee looks like.

CBS News

To reduce symptoms, he says the best thing to do is strengthen your muscles with exercises like squats and lunges instead of saying off of the knee and, in effect, becoming more inactive.

"We want them to be very active. When they get arthritis I get them started on exercise, strengthening," Metzl said.

While he says the wrong shoes can play a part in making symptoms worse, they don't necessarily cause arthritis.

"I think the shoes may be part of making the symptoms worse. I don't think it really has a lot to do with the reasons people get arthritis which are probably genetic, longevity, body index and then maybe inactivity but once you have arthritis we do a lot to control your symptoms," Metzl said.

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Sports medicine doctor on how to combat knee arthritis symptoms - CBS News