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McLeod Sports Medicine offers free Performance Clinic – WBTW – Myrtle Beach and Florence SC

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

FLORENCE, SC Whether older, younger, active, or not-so-active, everyone has unique movement imbalances and limitations that can lead to decreased performance and even injury. To provide useful tools for staying active while also decreasing risk of injury, McLeod Sports Medicine will host a Performance Clinic on Saturday, February 18, 2017 at the McLeod Health and Fitness Center located at 2437 Willwood Drive, Florence. The one day drop-in clinic, is from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

The Performance Clinic is designed to be very interactive and will be staffed by Certified Athletic Trainers, Physical Therapists, and Physical Therapy Assistants. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in 3D video gait analysis (Dartfish), Kineseotaping, Lower and Upper Extremity testing with corrective exercise strategies, strength training, injury screenings and injury prevention, and obtain dry needling information, nutrition advice, and tactics to personalize training while minimizing the risk of injury.

For more information on the McLeod Sports Medicine Performance Clinic, please call Dave Stoklosa at (843) 616-8235.

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McLeod Sports Medicine offers free Performance Clinic - WBTW - Myrtle Beach and Florence SC

Q&A with professor of medicine H. Gilbert Welch – The Dartmouth

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

by Sunpreet Singh | 2/9/17 2:00am

H. Gilbert Welch is an academic physician and cancer researcher at the College. He is a professor of medicine at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and an internist at the White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He focuses on studying issues in early detection efforts for cancer, including over-testing and the harmful effects of false positives, and is the author of three books on the subject. Welch also teaches an undergraduate course every spring called Public Policy 26, Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

What made you decide to study medicine?

HGW: I was an ambulance attendant, EMT, in college. I was very interested in emergency care and saving lives, stuff like that. I also liked science, and I thought it would be really fun to learn about the biology of the human body, the biology of yourself. Those were my motivations that drew me to medical school. I didnt know that I ultimately wanted to be a member of medical school faculty. My father was a faculty member at the University of Colorado. I didnt know I would be involved in research because I thought I would be involved in political research and medicine.

What made you come to Dartmouth?

HGW: I have been at Dartmouth since 1990. I came and started as an employee at the [Veteran Affairs division] in White River Junction, where I worked for 20 years. I was also involved in research at the forerunner of The Dartmouth Institute. I came here to work with TDI founder Jack Wennberg, who put Dartmouth on the map for medicine.

He started The Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare by doing analyses of the epidemiology of the practice of medical care, how it is practiced in different places and how it has evolved over time. Epidemiology is all about patterns in health that vary across geography and across time. He made observations that what was a homogeneous and white middle-class place [New Hampshire] had wildly different medical care across towns. I did my fellowship at the University of Washington, and my adviser told me they were looking for someone at Dartmouth, so I applied and have stayed since.

How have you seen Dartmouths role in medicine change over time?

HGW: Over the course of my 27 years here, the stature of the ideas coming from Dartmouth counter cultural ideas has gained a lot of traction. There are a lot of people elsewhere in the country that look to Dartmouth to help explicate some of the unusual features of medical care that we can create demand for. Dartmouth has offered counters to the whole idea that if you build more hospitals, more people will come, and more people will then be treated. The phenomenon is that if you build it, they will come, where you build more hospitals and more people are in the hospitals.

If you start looking for early forms of disease, you are going to find a lot, more than you would expect. These are somewhat revolutionary ideas in medicine because it wasnt all about patients needs. The current system has some very powerful influence over how much medical care people get. We have long been concerned about people not getting enough medical care, and in more recent years we realized we have to worry about the other side of the equation where people are getting too much medical care. Some people are not getting enough, but some people are getting too much, and it is not good for their health.

What is your research regarding medical testing about?

HGW: My role in research has been dealing with this assumption that sooner is always better. This is a very powerful assumption in healthcare, particularly for feared diseases like cancer, because we think that the best way to deal with it is to look for it early.

It seems to make so much sense on the face of it, but it is not right. At least, it is not always right. The truth is whenever we look for early forms of disease, we find a lot more than we would ever expect. Ironically, because of our interest in early cancer detection, where I have focused a lot of my energy, there is an incredible heterogeneity in what we call cancer.

That brings me to the barnyard pen of cancers, which is a way to think about the heterogeneity of cancer. The barnyard pen has three animals: the birds, the rabbits and the turtles the goal of early detection is to catch those animals early and fence them in. The bird cant be fenced. It has already flown away they represent the fastest growing and most aggressive cancers that have already spread. Screening wont help the bird; they are already missed and out of there. The rabbits are hopping around. You can catch them if you build the fence early. Detection has the potential to benefit slow growing cancers the turtles are the cancers that arent going anywhere anyway. You dont need any fences, but unfortunately our early detection efforts are really good at finding turtles. However, doctors cant separate turtles from rabbits, and they treat everybody, which creates harmful early detection results. Breast, prostate and thyroid are all glands that have cellular abnormality in them. If we look really hard, we start finding that abnormality.

What have been the effects of this early screening issue in specific cases and for the medical community in general?

HGW: The poster child for the problem is South Korea. 15 years ago, doctors started doing ultrasound screening for thyroid cancer. Then 15 years later, there was a 15-fold increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer. Some people say that is an epidemic of disease. But, the death rate from thyroid cancer is totally stable. It doesnt look like an epidemic of disease it looks to me like an epidemic of diagnosis. In fact, the thyroid gland is known to harbor lots of small cancers, and yet pathologists also recognized that thyroid cancer was also an extremely rare form of cancer. You have all this reservoir of abnormalities that could be called cancer, but most of them could never go on to cause death. The end result is if you start looking for thyroid cancer, you find a lot of thyroid cancer, you scare a lot of people, take out a lot of thyroids, people need lifelong thyroid replacement and you dont change their death rate. You are then treating them unnecessarily, which happened in South Korea.

More important broadly, there is a lot of interest right now in the biotechnology community in testing people. Whether its biomarkers, immunosignatures, liquid biopsies, nanositiology, they got all these various technologies to test people, to try to predict or find early forms of disease. And I think everyone needs to understand that that is a double edged sword, that we all harbor abnormalities and increasingly our tests are able to find those abnormalities. That does not tell us what to do and creates a cycle of increasing anxiety and intervention that can harm patients. This is a general thing we all need to inoculate ourselves on. Theres this idea that you can test yourself to help, and we need to recognize first that over-testing may distract us from things that are more important and can start a chain of events that we wished had never started.

What impact has your research had on medical practices and screening procedures and perceptions regarding early screening?

HGW: We are getting to be more balanced now. More and more physicians and an increasing portion of the public understand that this is not as simple as it seems, that it is not always the right thing to do, looking hard for things to be wrong. It can be a recipe for turning people into patients unnecessarily. This is kind of a new idea. It started with the best of intentions where we said, Wow, people have really bad diseases and bad things happen and the way to deal with it is to look for early forms of disease. We didnt anticipate that there are more forms than expected of those diseases. The first thing is that everybody needs to have a more healthy skepticism about the value of testing. For too long we think that we can decide later what we do after getting tested, but instead we need to decide upfront whether you want to do this testing. Once you have an abnormal test result, you are set back, which happens so much since we use so much testing.

A lot of people are beginning to recognize that abnormalities occur due to increased testing, and that may start affecting both patients and physicians feelings about how much to test people and how to be tested. I dont think a law about this is necessary, but I think that direct to consumer advertising of this stuff simply promotes its use and invariably over-promises and oversimplifies the full effects of what can happen. This is a very important point, that the use of these tests is typically associated with very misleading feedback.

Going back to South Korea the minute you look hard for thyroid cancer, there appears to be more out there, and you get a sense of epidemic. This feeds back to get people to test more and not look and see that theres more to cancer. Now the typical thyroid cancer patient does better, their survival rate is higher, and they are less likely to have metastatic disease. They think that is great, but it is only because you told everyone they have thyroid cancer. If you told everyone they had cancer, survival rates would go through the roof, but that doesnt mean youre helping anyone. That is misleading because it is hard for people to wrap their head around. The problem is the measure because it can be biased by the addition of cases that are never going to matter.

What is your class, Public Policy 26, Health Policy and Clinical Practice, all about?

HGW: My class is a 10, and it is offered in the spring, and I have been teaching it for 7 years to cross the boundaries between health care and public policy. It is open to everybody, and every year it is about a quarter freshmen, quarter sophomores, etc. Honestly, sometimes the freshmen do better than the seniors.

In the course we stress statistics and analyzing data because everyone needs to be able to understand numbers, i.e. what is big, what is small, what is being affected, what is this really measuring and what do I want to know. The course is really about critical thinking in the context of health care. The goals are to understand policy context and population perspective, develop skills such as management and quantitative analysis and to evaluate info and thinking about what the measures of something really are.

A big part of it is to question underlying assumptions, since you are willing to ask, Is that central belief, is that really right? and it requires a bit of healthy skepticism. Some students have told me that the first two weeks of the class is a boot camp, and it is really focused on interpreting graphs and then playing with numbers in a spreadsheet to do simple things with it. This is the groundwork that allows us to go forward in the rest of the class to analyze different models and assess clinical practices based on data using simple algebra.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

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Q&A with professor of medicine H. Gilbert Welch - The Dartmouth

UB adds bistro to medical school, but fare will be light – Buffalo News

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Students and faculty at the University at Buffalo's new medical school building will be able to eat in a sunlit bistro on the second floor overlooking Washington Street.

Itwon't be a full-course cafeteria, and UB wants it that way.

The hope is that theJacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences serves as a catalyst for private-sector development in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus area, and that faculty and students filter into the surrounding neighborhoods to eat.That's been the idea since the $375 million medical school building was conceived to be a gateway to the medical campus and a bridge to the nearby community.

But the university also recognized it needed more than the "grab 'n go" option that was first envisioned for the new building. The university now is planning what's described as a bistro cafe that could seat up to nearly 50 people in a roughly 250-square-foot area.

"This is a convenience cafe for people who are working in the building, students and faculty. We wanted something a bit more appealing than just a grab 'n go," said Suzanne G. Laychock, senior associate dean for facilities and faculty affairs. "It's also not intended to be a luxury environment."

The new UB Medical School on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus towers over Allen Street, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News)

It also will be located where the majority of teaching is taking place and where students will be spending a lot of time. A 200-person classroom and a 400-person classroom will be located nearby. Breakfast and lunch items will be available.

"We thought if we had a decent cafe it would be a good addition to the school," Laychock said."It is very central to where the students will be."

The cafe is not intended for the general public, she noted.

A full-scale cafeteria was never part of the plan especially since designers wanted students and staff to leave the building and walk to nearby restaurants.

"We are encouraging everyone to use the restaurants in the downtown area that will compete well with what's offered at the medical school," Laychock said. "We're not offering exotic fare."

But the university also is aware that students may not have a lot of down time to do that all the time, so the in-house bistro idea evolved.

Meanwhile, food service is being planned by Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. in its Conventus medical research and office building at Main and High streets, next to the UB medical school.

"We are exploring options, but nothing is finalized as yet," said Anne E. Duggan, company spokeswoman, on Wednesday.

The Medical School cafe is expected to offer soups and sandwiches, among other items, but not likely grilled items, such as burgers, since no exhaust system is planned, Laychock said.

UB officials have not yet chosen a vendor to run the cafe.

The cafe would open either in late fall or early next year. The building, now under construction at Main and Allen streets, is slated to be completed this fall, when faculty will begin moving in; students will begin classes there next January.

A faculty lounge will be located near the cafe with seating for about 15 to 20, while a student lounge would be located on the south end of the building but still on the second floor.

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UB adds bistro to medical school, but fare will be light - Buffalo News

Critics accuse UT medical school of misspending local tax dollars – MyStatesman.com

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Updated: 8:04 p.m. Wednesday, February 08, 2017| Posted: 4:42 p.m. Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Former state Sen. Barrientos and two lawyers say health care funds are being used for administrative expenses.

UT, Central Health say spending is lawful and boosts health care for poor patients and the broader community.

The University of Texas Dell Medical School has spent millions of dollars on administrative and educational expenses using local tax dollars that are supposed to go only for indigent care, two activists and a former state senator charged Wednesday in remarks before UTs governing board.

The allegations echo previous complaints, but were delivered Wednesday with a stronger assertion of misspending and more detail. They were leveled by former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos of Austin and two local lawyers, Fred Lewis and Bob Ozer.

Regent Steve Hicks, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents Finance and Planning Committee, said he took exception to the allegations, noting that Travis County voters agreed in 2012 to raise property taxes so that Central Health, the countys health care district, can transfer $35 million a year to the Dell school.

Lewis, citing records he obtained from UT under the Texas Public Information Act, said nearly 84 percent of the medical schools personnel compensation and benefits have been paid for with funds from Central Health. Moreover, he said, about two-thirds of the spending on personnel has gone for dozens of administrative and operational employees as opposed to health care providers.

Accountants, fundraisers, and administrative assistants do not provide health care, Lewis said. He called on the UT board to commission a third-party investigation and to stop using Central Health tax dollars unless the money is spent only on care for poor people.

UT and Central Health officials have long defended the legality and benefits of their partnership. The officials say the medical school is permitted to spend Central Health tax dollars not only on direct health care services but also on a variety of operational and administrative expenses that guide and support efforts to advance health care for the community.

The school strives in everything it does and especially in its use of public money to provide a return on the investment of Travis County voters and meet Central Healths requirements to help mold a model healthy community, said Clay Johnston, the schools dean. The people of Travis County voted to fund a medical school. We are delivering that medical school on time and already with substantial community benefits, and were still in the earliest years.

At a public forum last month at the Carver Branch public library, medical school officials delivered a progress report noting that they have launched or made plans to start about two dozen programs to improve health in the area. Johnston cited the example of an orthopedic pilot program that he said has dramatically reduced waiting times for low-income and uninsured patients needing to see a specialist for such problems as knee and hip pain. For patients in severe pain, the wait to see a specialist has been cut from more than a year to less than a month.

By helping fund the medical school, were giving more people access to quality health care and transforming the way that care is delivered, said Christie Garbe, Central Healths vice president and chief strategy officer. Central Healths investment in the medical school is legal and appropriate. Travis County commissioners approve Central Healths annual budget, and last fall an attorney with the county told commissioners the funding arrangement between Central Health and the medical school complies with state law.

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Critics accuse UT medical school of misspending local tax dollars - MyStatesman.com

Another way USC can get its new medical school facilities – The State

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

The State

Another way USC can get its new medical school facilities
The State
So why not franchise USC's valuable asset the medical school to raise the capital it needs to replace the old, inadequate facilities at the VA and anchor a new job-generating health and biological science complex at the Bull Street development?

Another way USC can get its new medical school facilities - The State

The Week at Duke in 60 Seconds: New Medical School Dean and Faculty Books – Duke Today

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

The Week at Duke in 60 Seconds: New Medical School Dean and Faculty Books
Duke Today
The Duke School of Medicine has a new dean: Dr. Mary Klotman. Klotman has chaired Duke's Department of Medicine for seven years and she will succeed Nancy Andrews, the first female dean of a nationally acclaimed medical school. Duke Kunshan ...

and more »

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The Week at Duke in 60 Seconds: New Medical School Dean and Faculty Books - Duke Today

Greitens’ budget plan won’t fund MU Medical School – Columbia Daily Tribune

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Gov. Eric Greitens' budget proposal for the state's 2018 fiscal year won't fund the new expansions for the University of Missouri Medical School in Columbia and Springfield.

The information came on the heels of the governor's January announcement to withhold $4 million of the MU Cooperative Medicine Program's $10 million appropriation for the current fiscal year, the Columbia Missourian reported.

The Columbia facility and the new Springfield Clinical Campus, which opened in June, could face tight operating budgets and increased difficulty hiring faculty if state funding is halted, said Weldon Webb, the university's associate dean for Springfield Clinical Campus Implementation. Webb said the medical school's expansions will proceed as planned for now and that the funding loss won't affect construction of the university's Patient-Centered Care Learning Center. The $42.5 million facility is expected to be complete this summer and is expected to have classrooms, an anatomy lab, a simulation center, patient-based learning labs and educational services.

Springfield Chamber of Commerce President Matt Morrow said getting funding into the budget for the next fiscal year is priority. "What I hope that we as a community are able to do is have productive conversations with the governor and the legislature," he said.

He said giving students the opportunity to fill Missouri's physician shortage, especially in rural areas, will help grow the economy. The university is expected to admit 32 additional medical students each year because of the expansion, with the hopes that all 64 third- and fourth-year students will do clinical training in Springfield. Currently, the Springfield campus only has nine third-year students.

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Greitens' budget plan won't fund MU Medical School - Columbia Daily Tribune

Inside The Statue Of Liberty’s Radical Feminist, Pro-Refugee Roots … – GOOD Magazine

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Mostly, I remember stairs. A lot of stairs. And waiting. Both the endless steps and the wait were made longerseemingly insurmountableby my age. I was seven or eight, and it would soon bethe first time I saw the largest piece of street artin America: The Statue of Liberty.

She isnt usually thought of as street artor even, really, as art. Instead, Lady Liberty is regarded as an icon: The embodiment of the United States of America as a safe place for refugees. She belongs to all of usat the Womens March and demonstrations against Trumps immigration ban, she has been the image that most consistently appears, repurposed to suit each protesters messageon countless signs, T-shirts, and social media posts.

She didnt start out that way.

As befitting a massive piece of art, the Statue of Liberty was, from the very beginning, a collaboration. Conceived by Frenchman Edouard de Laboulaye as a gift to America to celebrate the Declaration of Independences centennial, the Statue of Liberty was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel), along with American architect Richard Morris Hunt, who designed the granite pedestal on which the statue stands. Except for the pedestal, construction took place in France.

Front-page crowdfunding requests ran in New York World.

Upon its completion, the statue was shipped to New York Harbor in 350 separate pieces. It took some time to make the ocean crossing, and another six months for the statue to be reassembled. In 1886a full ten years after the centennial was actually over President Grover Cleveland led the dedication.

The Statue of Liberty differs from some street art in that it was officially sanctioned.Land was specifically set aside for it. But it was art for the public, and the public paid for it, with fundraising on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, Joseph Pulitzer led what may have been the first crowdfunding effort, at one point publishing in his paper, New York World, the name of everyone who donated, no matter how small the amount. Reportedly, this included a dollar from some children who chose to donateto the statue rather than go to the circus.

The first avenue that greeted immigrants was one of water: New York Harbor, where boats of refugees sailed past the statue every day. Starting in 1892, upon the opening of the first Ellis Island immigration station, in the shadow of the giant statue, they stopped there. The first immigrant to pass through was a teenage girl.

For many, then, the initial glimpse of New York was artenormous artthe statues locked arm raising a torch like the lamp of a lighthouse. Indeed, the United States Lighthouse Board maintained the statue until 1901, when responsibility was transferred to the War Department (and later, to the National Parks Service).

Bartholdi had conceived of the statue as spreading freedom out, not welcoming in. But the statue became the standard banner of democracy for refugees, thanks to the immigration stationand in no small part, thanks to women.

Writer Constance Cary Harrison asked fellow writer Emma Lazarus to write a poem for a fundraiser for the statue. Harrison persuaded Lazarus by telling her friend, who volunteered with refugees, to think of the statue holding her torch out to those Russian refugees.

So Lazarus, who was Jewish, did.

But the art auction where The New Colossus, Lazaruss poem, was read did not generate much money. Lady Liberty was raisedwithout the poem. Emma Lazarus died in 1887, likely from Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was only 38.

Another woman, Georgina Schuyler, an art patron and social reformer, led a campaign to have the poem by Lazarus (who had been her friend)inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. It worked. In 1903, Lazaruspoem, naming the statue Mother of Exiles and ensuring the statues legacy as the greeter of the poor, the destitute, and the most needywas installed.

It is significant that the statue is a woman, that the first glimpse some immigrants had of the United States was a woman modeled on, as Public Radio International reported, an Arab womanspecifically, aMuslim peasant, asThe Daily Beast andSmithsonian.compoint outlater recast, at least in dress, as Greco-Roman, afellow immigrant.

But, as Lazarus observed, theStatue of Liberty is also a mother, and that means something. It means care. It means protection. In her poem, Lazarus calls her a mighty woman.

When I first saw her, it was surprisingly dark inside, and it was under construction, a renovation spearheaded by President Reagan and costing $87 million. I saw the statue in scaffolding, her famous, draped body hidden by bars and slats like a cage.

Inside the statue, I remember echoes. I remember meeting people in line. It didnt feel lonely inside the Statute of Liberty. My sister and I found other children, strangers, and we played together until our parents, respectively, told us to get in line.

I didnt think of the Statute of Liberty as art then, or as political commentary, but as history. It seemed distantbut it was my own.

My family emigrated from Europe in the late 1800s, seeking escape from religious persecution. Like many European immigrants, they moved to the rural Midwest. As a teenager, my great-grandmother fled again, running away from the strict Amish community where her parents had settled.

Because of her bravery, I was raised with religious freedom, I was able to get an education, and I was not married as a young girl. As an adult, I became a writer and visual artist, focusing on mural and street art. Art taught me freedom. Art taught me bravery. As someone who paints primarily on walls, often working to represent a towns history and hopes, I believe art should be for the people, by the people.

The Statue of Liberty is all of those things. Itis statement. It is history. And it is still art. So much of what it stands for is under attack, including the right of art to existincluding the right of some people to exist.

In the 2016 election,some inthe United States rejected a woman to lead the nation. But the Statue of Libertyis a womanwho still leads us, offering a constantreminder that our door must remain open.

Illustration by Emily Lin

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Inside The Statue Of Liberty's Radical Feminist, Pro-Refugee Roots ... - GOOD Magazine

Several Liberty University students complain of flu-like symptoms – WSLS

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

WSLS

Several Liberty University students complain of flu-like symptoms
WSLS
A university spokesperson says the school's clinic has been flooded with students complaining of flu-like symptoms. Stevens says he doesn't know exact numbers of those affected at this time but says an e-mail has been sent out to students and staff ...

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Several Liberty University students complain of flu-like symptoms - WSLS

Liberty claims long-awaited league title – Liberty Tribune

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

For the first time in nearly 15 years, the Blue Jays can call themselves league champs.

In the inaugural season under the direction of head coach Dustin Brewer, the Liberty wrestling team has captured the Suburban Red Conference title. It marks the programs first league crown since 2003 and only the second since way back in the 1980s.

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Liberty Sports Editor Chris Geinosky can be reached at 389-6654 or chris.geinosky@libertytribune.com.

Liberty Twp. bans sex clubs, restricts drug rehab centers – Hamilton Journal News

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

LIBERTY TWP.

Liberty Twp. trustees are grateful to their southern neighbors for falling into the pit first on zoning issues regarding sex clubs and drug rehab centers, now that they have passed their own regulations.

This week the trustees approved zoning text amendments that ban live sex act businesses and regulate institutional care facilities, including drug rehabs, that essentially mirror West Chester Twp.s actions last year.

They found gaps (in their zoning), Liberty Trustee Steve Schramm said about West Chester Twp. Thats the joy we have as trustees, that we can look to one another, to see who falls into the pit first. They set the agenda for everyone else so we thank them profusely for at least letting us get ahead of it.

Liberty Twp. issued a moratorium in December 2015 after the Champagne Club swingers club attempted to open in West Chester Twp. The club was set to open on Harwood Court, near a Fairfield day care center, which sparked concern in the community. The township ended up settling a lawsuit over the issue.

The West Chester trustees also initially issued a temporary ban but made it permanent late last year with text amendments.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared that sexually oriented businesses are afforded certain free speech rights under the First Amendment, but governments are still able to impose some restrictions.

Sex businesses that involve contact do not have the same constitutional protections.

The owners of the Champagne Club sued West Chester after their permits were pulled but the case eventually settled for $90,000 and a promise from the club owners they wouldnt try to locate anywhere else in the township. West Chester was also sued over a drug rehab center Dr. Mohamed Aziz wanted to locate in a residential neighborhood. They settled that case too, setting certain conditions the doctor must meet to address safety and other concerns.

The zoning text amendments for Liberty add a new definition for institutional care facilities and establish where in the township they can be located. Trustee Board President Christine Matacic said she understands there is a great need for rehab facilities, in the midst of the crushing opiate epidemic, but they need to protect their residents as well.

There is a sensitivity we have to have for those individuals as well as for the neighbors, she said. We wanted to make sure we had the proper definition in there and establish where in the community they would be appropriate. Were not outlawing them or anything like that.

Schramm said unlike West Chester they have not had any inquiries from businesses like these yet. Trustee Tom Farrell said the amendments are a preemptive strike.

When you find a situation where your zoning has a hole, you have to make sure you fix that, Farrell said. What happened in West Chester made us realize that we needed to be more specific on the code, so we made a change.

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Liberty Twp. bans sex clubs, restricts drug rehab centers - Hamilton Journal News

Liberty Public Schools to offer Spanish heritage speaker course – KSHB

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

LIBERTY, Mo. - As its Hispanic population increases, Liberty Public Schools is adapting to its changing enrollment.

Over the last 10 years, the district's Hispanic population has increased 300 percent. Many of its students are from Mexico, Central and South America.

Next year the district's high schools will offer a Spanish heritage speaker course.

"Theres a definite need for being able to offer a course that is challenging for them, said Tina Phillips, who teachers Spanish at Liberty North High School.

Right now, Liberty high schools only offer traditional Spanish courses, for students who know very little or no Spanish at all. There are no classes designed for students who speak Spanish as a first language.

Phillips is helping create the curriculum for the Spanish heritage speaker course. The goal will be to provide native Spanish-speaking students with a specific course to strengthen their reading and writing abilities.

"We want them to be challenged and we want to meet their needs, she said. "We will be talking about the immigration issue, we will be talking about anything in the news. So we will be able to cover a much broader area and really prepare them for college or life.

The new class was approved by the Board of Education during its Jan. 17 meeting.

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Liberty Public Schools to offer Spanish heritage speaker course - KSHB

Former Michael Schumacher manager questions F1 Liberty Media buyout – Autoweek

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Autoweek

Former Michael Schumacher manager questions F1 Liberty Media buyout
Autoweek
So far, since the U.S. media group took over from controversial former owner CVC, most have said Liberty's modern savvy should help F1 step up a gear. But Willi Weber, who famously guided F1 legend Schumacher into the sport in the '90s, is not so sure ...

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Former Michael Schumacher manager questions F1 Liberty Media buyout - Autoweek

German magazine falsely portrays Trump, Statue of Liberty – UConn Daily Campus

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

The cover of German magazine Der Spiegels, most recent issue has sparked a controversy in its depiction of the Statue of Liberty and United States President Donald Trump. The cover displayed a cartoon figure of President Trump holding a bloody knife in one hand and the Statue of Libertys head dripping blood in the other. The magazine claims that its cover is a response to the recent threats against democracy and freedom, but the shocking depiction carries more extreme connotations and greater claims than that goal.

The Statue of Liberty is the American symbol of freedom, hope, enlightenment and international friendship. Depicting this symbol decapitated and bloody not only serves as a message about Trump, but it implies that all of these great aspects of America are dead. It is appropriate to criticize Trumps recent actions and incite discussion regarding his racism, his actions against immigration and his criticism of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but the United States is more than our president and his actions. This country is about the actions of its people and the impenetrable freedoms that we will fight to protect. As long as these aspects of our country remain, the Statue of Liberty should be depicted as alive and respected.

Instead of presenting this image of Trump mutilating such an iconic symbol of the United States, this picture should represent the artists solidarity with those protesting Trump. The artist, Edel Rodriguez, is an American artist. He has previously drawn Trump without eyes, angry, with a gaping mouth, which act as fantastic political commentaries. However, once he includes the Statue of Liberty, his commentary includes the rest of the country. He must see the constant protests against the president and his actions in office thus far. As an immigrant, he must feel connected to the poignant messages to stop Trumps actions. Yet, he depicts a symbol of our freedom as decapitated and bloodied. Much of America has stood together against the actions of Trump and that, to me, is a much more powerful picture.

One of the articles in this edition of Der Spiegel is called Trump as Nero: Europe Must Defend Itself Against A Dangerous President. In this article, writer Klaus Brinkbumer says not to abandon America, but to plan defenses against our president. Given that many citizens here are doing the same, it would be more positive to stand with those Americans trying to address the actions of Trump rather than to attack all Americans through the mutilation of an iconic symbol of our freedom.

The format of this picture calls upon horrific photographs of ISIS beheadings, which Rodriguez has confirmed to be purposeful. His reasoning for utilizing this imagery is to make a comparison between the two extremists. While Trump does represent extremist views, his actions as president cannot compare to the devastation caused by the Islamic State. According to the New York Times, over 1,200 people outside of Syria and Iraq have died in attacks coordinated or inspired by the Islamic State. The devastation within these countries is incomparable as well. ISIS has committed genocide in Syria and Iraq against the Yazidi religious group. Dozens of mass graves have been uncovered in areas recaptured from ISIS. Comparing Donald Trump to these monsters and insinuating that our government would allow such horrific actions to occur in our country is either disrespecting the United States or being nave about the true horrors of the Islamic State. In 2016, Germany was the target of multiple terrorist attacks from the Islamic State, including the recent attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 and injured over 50 others. After experiencing the trauma of these attacks, it is surprising that Der Spiegel would allow such a comparison to represent their most recent issue.

President Trump is a racist, a bigot and must be criticized by the media. However, the cover that portrays a decapitated Statue of Liberty in Trumps hands, comparing him to the Islamic State, not only insults the people of the United States, but also attempts to diminish the horrors committed by ISIS.

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German magazine falsely portrays Trump, Statue of Liberty - UConn Daily Campus

Does The United States Lack Innocence? – Being Libertarian

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

During President Trumps recent appearance on Fox News The OReilly Factor, Bill OReilly was startled by the Presidents respect for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

OReilly remarked to Trump that Putin was a killer, and Trump replied by saying, There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent?

Trumps response to OReilly was unprecedented. For a US President to acknowledge the complicity and unscrupulousness of the United States, and compare the blood on the hands of the United States to Russia, is surprising indeed.

On the other hand, history corroborates that the United States is not angelic, either domestically or internationally, as it relates to the treatment of its own citizens or foreign citizens, who fortuitously resided in the wrong country at the wrong time in history!

A possible example of the United States lack of innocence is the multi-year war in Iraq. The United States militarily intervened in Iraq under the so-called justification of Iraqs former dictator possessing weapons of mass destruction. In reality, this propaganda was a weapon of mass deception, which cost US taxpayers $1.7 trillion, much of which was allocated towards the assassination of 170,410-189,973 Iraqis, and over 4,500 Americans!

I am sure that a significant amount of the casualties in Iraq are just typical people that are seeking survival. They dont possess weapons of mass destruction, arent conspiring to attack the United States, nor do they have the military or technological capabilities to do so.

Additionally, over 31,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan since 2001. The evident reason for the US intervention in Afghanistan was to locate Osama bin Laden, destabilize the Taliban, and defeat the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are apolitical laymen who are not aware of the fact that Osama bin Laden, and the Bin Laden family, were allies of the United States government during the Cold War era; specifically, during the proxy war in Afghanistan, which was an effort to defeat communism.

The Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan, gained power in 1978 after the Saur Revolution which overthrew the government of Mohammed Daoud. Consequently, during the Christmas season of 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan; this led to the United States funding, and training, various Islamic factions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and throughout the Arab World.

The unified collective of these groups was designated as the Mujahadeen and its major leaders were people that are now classified as terrorists: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; and the murdered terrorist, and former U.S. ally you guessed it Osama Bin Laden! Hekmatyar alone received $600 million in US aid, and has a notorious reputation for his concentrated military bombardments that killed at least 1000 civilians in 1993.

Another example of Americas lack of innocence internationally is Operation Odyssey Dawn: the NATO bombardment of Libya in 2011, where there was an innumerable amount of deaths from unintended casualties.In addition to Libya, there are the innocent civilian casualties of drone strikes in Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan!

In 2016, the United States dropped an incredible 26,171 bombs which, when calculated, comes to 3 bombs per hour!

In closing, there are a plethora of examples of the United States lack of innocence, but the few that are mentioned here should be enough to substantiate the abdication of the moral high ground, by the power structure of the country.

All unjustifiable assassinations are implicitly and unequivocally unjust, whether its from the United States or Russia.

This post was written by Baruti Libre.

The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.

Baruti Kafele, who is affectionately known as Baruti Libre, is an intellectual entrepreneur, social scientist, proud libertarian, and real estate broker who ensures quality and superiority from his enterprises to his scholarship. Baruti Libre is the chief executive of the successful fashion and multimedia firm called LiBRE BRAND-Freedom of Flyness which is a globally-recognized and viable brand based on the ideals of liberty and freedom. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @BarutiLibre and visit his websites for literature and apparel.

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Does The United States Lack Innocence? - Being Libertarian

Bainbridge Island | Seattle Travel

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Seattle Island Paradise, A Ferry Ride Away

Bainbridge Island Ferry Dock.

Contributing Editor: Lynn Marshall, Seattle Washington

A great way to get on the water in Seattle is to take a 35 minute ferry trip across Elliott Bay to Bainbridge Island. The view of the city skyline from the ferry deck is well worth the price of your trip and the island itself has a lot to offer.

Bainbridge is unquestionably a bedroom community for Seattle, but it has worked hard to curb development and retain its rural character. The island covers almost 28 square miles, and has a population of just over 20,000. If you have the patience to bring a car over on the ferry you can explore the islands back roads and more remote nooks and crannies. If you walk on, there is little need to plan ahead, and you will still find plenty to see in the town of Winslow, just up the hill from the ferry dock. The best compromise is to bring a bike, or rent one in Winslow as long as you dont mind some hills, Bainbridge is a great place to explore by bike and you get to work off some vacation calories.

Location:

Catch the ferry at Pier 52, on Alaskan Way. For summer 2008, a car and one driver will pay ~$15, in both directions, while a walk on adult passenger will pay ~$7 island bound only with an additional dollar surcharge for a bicycle. Check out the official ferry schedule and prices here. Note that if you are planning to drive on, especially on a weekend, go early and be patient; you may have to sit through a boat or two to get aboard. Also, be sure to approach Pier 52 from the south if you approach from the north you will not be able to make a right turn into the terminal and will have to go a frustrating distance just to get into the ferry lane. On foot, you simply enter the terminal, go upstairs, buy your tickets and wait for the boat.

The trip is wonderful; the ferry has great views, both inside and outside on the upper decks. The 35 minute trip passes very quickly.

Once you arrive in Winslow, by car, follow everyone else up the road, and into the center of town. Find a parking place and get your bearings. You can rent a bike right off of the ferry dock from Classic Cycles Bike Barn (206) 842-3434. Bicycle rentals (Summer 2008) are $25 for 2 hours or $35 for the full day from the helpful folks at Classic Cycles Bike Barn. Bainbridge Island Taxi at 206 482 1041, can arrange car transportation to more outlying spots via taxi cab.

Docking at Bainbridge Island near Seattle.

History:

Bainbridge was named by an 1841 Navy survey team for Commodore William Bainbridge, a frigate captain in the war of 1812. The island had several towns in the early years (all of Bainbridge is incorporated together today), and a thriving economy based on the timber industry. By 1900, the island had a shipyard and a large wood preservative plant. Most people traveled by boat, and few roads actually crossed the island. Bainbridge was home to many Japanese farmers by the start of World War II, and the island was the first place to be effected by the interment order of 1942. Snow Falling on Cedars, by Bainbridge based writer David Gutterson, brings this time vividly to life. A effort is underway to create a memorial on the Winslow waterfront honoring the 227 island residents who were forced from their homes and into the interment camps.

In the 90s the islands city government worked hard to develop a plan that would allow for growth, but focus development in the area of Winslow, leaving the rest of the island as rural in character as possible. You see the results of this plan today. There are big houses along the shorelines, but the condos and other dense development is found only in town. A new village green, city hall, performance center, and waterfront park have given the island a commercial and social center that help attract people to the art galleries, coffee shops, and restaurants. These days, traffic is heavy on route 305, the main drag crossing the island, but turn down any side road and you recapture the spirit of Bainbridge.

Seattle Views from Bainbridge Island Ferries

Highlights:

As always, the best advise is to explore. There are many galleries, shops, and restaurants to catch your eye. The village green is a great spot for people watching, and for food it is hard to go wrong at the Bainbridge Bakery, Nola cafe, or the Pleasant Beach Bistro just to name a few eateries. If you want to tour Bloedel Reserve, remember to call them (see below) and make reservations a day or two in advance.

In Winslow:

Eagle Harbor Books 157 Winslow Way East

This bookstore is a wonderful literary oasis. Serving the Island since 1970, Eagle Harbor Books always has something that wont have seen anywhere else and a knowledgeable staff who will be glad to help you find the perfect book, or tell you about their favorite spots on the island.

Pegasus Coffee House and Art Gallery 131 Parfitt Way SW

Pegasus is a little bit out of the way from downtown Winslow, but worth the extra effort. Pegasus is housed in a brick building, covered with ivy, said to be one of the oldest building on Winslows waterfront. If you walk up Winslow Way from the ferry, turn left on Madison Ave and follow it to the end, you will find Pegasus, and see why it has been a Bainbridge institution since opening in 1979.

Waterfront Park Across from the Bainbridge Commons, on Brien Drive

This 5.5 acre park along the Eagle Harbor waterfront makes a great place for a picnic. It has a kids play area, and public restrooms; it is almost always a quiet and relaxing spot.

Bloedel Reserve 7571 NE Dolphin Dr. (206) 843-7631

The Bloedel Reserve is one of the most beautiful gardens open for public touring in the greater Seattle area. The cost of admission for adults is $13 with discounts forseniors, military, and students. Children under 13 are free.Bloedels 150 acres are tranquil and orderly, even though a little more than half of the property is undeveloped forest land. The hard working gardeners who cherish the reserve work very hard to keep the gardens tranquil and lush. The self-guided walking tour takes about two hours, and includes the family house, a Japanese guest house, (set in a Zen garden), a waterfall overlook, a reflecting pool, and much more. Bloedel is a must stop for gardeners, and a joy for others as well.

Bainbridge Island Winery 8989 E. Day Road

After 26 years in a blue building close to the ferry dock, the Bainbridge Winery has moved onto the vineyard. All the grapes and fruits that go into the wine are grown on the island, and while not world-class, the wine is certainly respectable, and the staff friendly. The strawberry wine is reputed to be fantastic, but has been unavailable for the past few years do to a limited strawberry crop on the island. Though the new facility is not quite finished, the tasting room is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 am 5 pm.

Fay Bainbridge State Park 15446 Sunrise Drive NE

Fay Bainbridge is a 17 acre park, on the beach with picnic areas and a childrens play area. The outstanding thing about this park are the views. On a clear day you can see Mt. Rainer, Mt. Baker, and the Seattle skyline. This is a great picnic destination for bike riders.

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Bainbridge Island | Seattle Travel

China upgrades military infrastructure on South China Sea islands, report claims – DefenseNews.com

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

MELBOURNE, AustraliaChina is continuing to expand its construction activities in a second group of disputed South China Sea islands, according to a Washington-based think tank on Wednesday.

The report, released Wednesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, says Beijing has undertaken substantial upgrades to its military infrastructure in the Paracel Islands, with the construction of harbors, helipads and a full-fledged helicopter base on several islands in the chain.

Also claimed by Vietnam, the Paracels already play a key role in Chinas goal of establishing surveillance and power projection capabilities throughout the South China Sea. Their location, less than 200 miles from the southern Chinese island of Hainan, means that bases and facilities on the Paracels can serve to bridge the distance between Hainan and outposts farther south.

CSIS-AMTI suggests the Duncan Island heliport could play an important role in Chinese anti-submarine warfare efforts in the region, although it is also possible that helicopters based there could be used to service the less well-equipped outposts in the Paracels.

In addition, large harbors have also been expanded or dredged at Palm and Duncan islands as well as Tree Island. Smaller harbors also exist on several smallerParacelislands, with some having been built only in the last few years. Dredging and construction on several other islands on the Paracels have been observed on the satellite imagery obtained by CSIS-AMTI, suggesting that China intends to carry out more work to add to the facilities in the Paracels.

Defense News believes that the former are climate-controlled to better protect aircraft from the humid, salty environment. The two sheltered harbors on the island have also received substantial upgrades, while HQ-9 and anti-ship cruise missiles have also been deployed on site.

The Philippines’ Calamian Islands May Compete as ‘Most Beautiful’ – Cond Nast Traveler

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

12 Photos

Our readers have loved Palawan and Borocay of late, but from a local's perspective, we're missing out on the Calamian Islands just north of Palawan. Hidden for decades behind the shadow of more popular Philippine destinations, the Calamian Islands (or Calamianes) are finally getting their turn in the spotlight. This cluster of islands hugging the South China Sea is a vast playground of stunning waterborne landscapes and dive sites. It wasn't all that long ago that it would take an eight hour ferry ride to get there from the capital, Manila. These days, improved transport and tourism infrastructure (daily flights and luxury hotels) makes the area more traveler-friendly. It's far from crowded, thoughwith more than a hundred islands scattered over 680-square-miles of crystalline sea, its still shockingly easy to find your very own stretch of sand.

Most of the Calamianes, a group of islands north of Palawan, host karst limestone formations, a landscape feature that (in the Philippines) is distinct to the region.

A pair of giraffes get a closer look at their human visitors at a wildlife sanctuary on Calauit Island. Established in 1976 in response to a Kenyan plea to help preserve its wildlife, the Calauit Wildlife Park hosts eight African species and over a hundred varieties endemic to the Philippines.

A handmade, paddle-powered banca sits beside a considerably larger motorized version. These traditional outrigger boats are a common sight throughout the Philippines.

A local fisherman produces daing na pusitdried salted squidin his backyard on the island village of Panlaitan. Cottage industries like these have benefited greatly from tourism. This is simple food for us fisherfolk, says one of the residents, we were surprised that people from other countries would travel all the way here just to try it.

La Estancia Busuanga is one of dozens of private resorts that have sprung up on the main island of Busuanga. Filipinos have visited the Calamianes for decades, but only in recent years has its reputation grown among foreign tourists.

With over a hundred islands spread out over 680 square miles of sea, the Calamian archipelago is a dream destination for kayakers and paddle-boarders.

The classic islanders meal: grilled fish, eggplant salad, and chicken, served on a boat over clear, blue waters.

Pristine beaches are a common sight throughout the Calamianes. Shown here is Black Island, home to just a small handful of residents.

Seashells hang from the window of a local hut in Coron, the Calamian archipelagos third-largest island at 266-square-miles. With its 11 inland lakes, mangrove forests and karst limestone formations, this island is the areas most popular destination.

The waters surrounding the Calamianes teem with marine life. The area is also host to a number of World War II-era shipwrecks.

A village elder sings a traditional love song called tablay. The Tagbanua people have inhabited the Calamian archipelago for centuries, and today many of these islands are officially recognized as Tagbanua ancestral domains.

Karst limestone cliff meets sun, sand, and sea at Isla Bulungan, one of the many islands that make up the archipelago.

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The Philippines' Calamian Islands May Compete as 'Most Beautiful' - Cond Nast Traveler

Watch Obama kitesurf with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands – CBS News

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

President Obama kitesurfs with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands as part of his post-White House vacation.

Jack Brockway/Virgin.com

Golf was not the only activity President Obama partook in during his post-White House vacation, but he also spent his free time kitesurfing and foilboarding in the British Virgin Islands with billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.

Virgin, the company Branson founded, released images and a video of Obama kitesurfing with him on Tuesday.

President Obama kitesurfs with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands as part of his post-White House vacation.

Jack Brockway/Virgin.com

One of the first stories Barack told me when he and Michelle arrived on Moskito Island was how, just before he became President, he had been surfing on a dangerous break in Hawaii, Branson wrote in a blog post on Virgins website. When he came in from an exhilarating session, the new head of his security team turned to him and said: This will be the last time you surf for eight years. For the next eight years he didnt have the chance to surf, enjoy watersports or do many of the things he loved.

President Obama kitesurfs with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands as part of his post-White House vacation.

Jack Brockway/Virgin.com

So it was tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf. The sport has really taken off in the past decade and we have the perfect conditions and team to help anyone learn, Branson said. I have also wanted to learn foilboard surfing. So we decided to set up a friendly challenge: could Barack learn to kitesurf before I learned to foilboard? We agreed to have a final day battle to see who could stay up the longest.

Spoiler alert: Obama won.

Branson said the former president learned the basics of kitesurfing for two days before trying it out in the water.

Finally, he put the board at his feet and gave it a go. Being the former president of America, there was lots of security around, but Barack was able to really relax and get into it, Branson said.

President Obama kitesurfs with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands as part of his post-White House vacation.

Jack Brockway/Virgin.com

The former first family also spent part of their vacation following President Trumps inauguration in Palm Springs, California. They are expected to live in Washington, D.C. until at least Sasha graduates from high school.

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Watch Obama kitesurf with Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands - CBS News

Genetics of both virus and patient work together to influence the course of HIV infection – Science Daily

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

International Business Times UK

Genetics of both virus and patient work together to influence the course of HIV infection
Science Daily
Viral and human genetics together account for about one third of the differences in disease progression rates seen among people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to new research published in PLOS Computational Biology.
Patients and virus genetics account for a third of HIV viral loadInternational Business Times UK

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Genetics of both virus and patient work together to influence the course of HIV infection - Science Daily

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