Daily Archives: June 17, 2017

Rogers teens earn first place at national history competition – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Posted: June 17, 2017 at 2:34 pm

ROGERS -- A team of three Rogers teens this week became the first from Northwest Arkansas to earn a first-place prize in the National History Day contest.

Venkata Panabakam, Denise Martinez and Sidra Nadeem arrived home Friday to a celebration in their honor outside New Technology High School, where all three will be juniors this fall.

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To view Standing with the Voiceless: The Life and Legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ase_lgCS_6c?

Source: Staff Report

They took first place for their documentary, Standing with the Voiceless: The Life and Legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero, at the national contest at the University of Maryland. They will share a $1,000 prize from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

State Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, was at New Tech on Friday to present the students citations from the House of Representatives and letters of commendation from Gov. Asa Hutchinson and state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers.

History Day is a competition for students in middle school and high school. There are five categories: documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances and websites. All categories have a junior and senior division. Each category, aside from papers, also has a group and an individual category.

The girls said they started working on the documentary in November. They put hundreds of hours of work into it.

"We've been meeting up almost every single day working on it and getting lots of people's feedback and contacting so many people outside Rogers to fact-check us," said Venkata, 15.

Romero stood up against the Salvadoran government's oppression of its people and called for an end to the violence against civilians during that country's civil war, which lasted 1980 to 1992. He was assassinated in 1980 while offering Mass.

Romero's life is a topic not as well known as it should be, which is why the Rogers students chose it for their documentary, they said.

"And plus, there are a lot of people from our community who are from El Salvador and they always tell the story, but they never finish it because they always end up crying," said Nadeem, 16.

It's the first time in almost a decade a person or group from Arkansas has placed first at the national event, according to Jami Forrester, a Northwest Arkansas Community College professor who has coordinated the regional History Day contest for six years.

"It's the Super Bowl of history competitions, so they just won the Super Bowl," said Forrester, who wept while watching the Rogers girls accept their first-place award Thursday.

"I've been involved in History Day since I was a junior in high school. I've never known anyone personally that has won at the national level. It's been a long journey," Forrester said.

National History Day, founded in 1974, has grown from a contest of a few hundred students to an international educational organization promoting the appreciation of history education.

The Rogers students were helped along the way by New Tech teachers Danny Burdess, Casey Bazyk and Todd Sisson.

"They did a really good job of taking feedback and implementing it in a way that made sense," Burdess said.

To reach the national competition, the girls had to get through the district and state levels. They finished second in their category at both of those first two levels.

All three girls vowed to compete in History Day again next year.

Twenty-nine students from Northwest Arkansas representing six schools competed at National History Day this week, the most Northwest Arkansas has sent. There was a total of about 3,000 student participants, Forrester said.

While the New Tech group had the most success, others from Northwest Arkansas did well, too. A group from Bentonville's Fulbright Junior High School placed eighth in the junior group exhibit category.

NW News on 06/17/2017

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Rogers teens earn first place at national history competition - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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History examines the hazy history of ‘America’s War on Drugs’ with exhaustive but engaging detail – Los Angeles Times

Posted: at 2:34 pm

In America's War on Drugs," beginning Sunday, History offers a four-part spin through the American government's complicated, often hypocritical, ultimately crazy relationship with narcotics over half a century its lofty motives, its ulterior motives. Fueled by the testimony of various scholars and journalists, reformed dealers, and former CIA and DEA officers whose agencies differently framed missions often put them into direct conflict, it's a thick, tortuous telling that runs some six hours with the commercials removed, exhausting but rarely dull.

The official declaration of the "War on Drugs" is seen as beginning with President Nixon's June 17, 1971, statement that "America's public enemy number one is drug abuse" a campaign that, we're told here, also served as legal cover for attacking the antiwar movement and black power movement. But the series runs back another decade to begin its story with the common cause made by the Mafia and the CIA in the early '60s attempt to rid Cuba of Castro, blurring lines that have stayed blurry since, and to the agencys accidental introduction of LSD into American society. (They had hoped to use it for mind control buying the worlds available supply from its manufacturer but it got out of their hands and something quite different happened.)

What's clear through this thicket of intersecting stories is that the American policy has often been made out of fear not necessarily manufactured, but often misplaced. Fear of communism, of terrorism, of crime in the streets.

Whether or not you believe that crack was a CIA plot to destroy the inner cities, "America's War on Drugs" indicates that the agency was not particularly concerned with the domestic upshot of deals it made with Latin American drug cartels deals that ultimately helped flood the United States with cocaine and transform it from a rich person's party drug to a poor person's quick high. The intelligence agency and the drug cartels might have had different, more and less noble goals patriotism on the one hand, money on the other but they share a certain amorality, a certain heartlessness.

Talos Films/History

Former drug trafficker "Freeway" Rick Ross is one of the commentators in History's new series "America's War on Drugs."

Former drug trafficker "Freeway" Rick Ross is one of the commentators in History's new series "America's War on Drugs." (Talos Films/History)

Many stops are made along the way Vietnam, Afghanistan, including the militarization of police (hello, Daryl Gates!), Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign, Bill Clinton saying, "But I didn't inhale. There's a colorful, if almost wholly unlikable, cast of shady characters, underworld legends, criminal visionaries, corrupt politicians, dirty cops, mad scientists and paranoid nut jobs on both sides of the law. There are political coups and drive-by shootings. Comparatively little time is spent on the Oxycontin and methamphetamine epidemics and for that matter marijuana, which as a subject does not enter the story nearly until the end, when legalization threatens the cartels' profits which have less of an international profile, and no CIA subplot.

Each episode begins with an advisory "The following program contains intense drug imagery and violence," which you would do well to regard, and one that "In some instances events have been dramatized." "Many," or even "most," is closer to the mark. Such re-creations are common enough, but because the filmmakers have gone to some lengths to make them look technologically appropriate to period and "real" caught by surveillance cameras or home video they get mixed up with the actual documentary footage and photos (which flash by too quickly). They demean the record. They aren't history.

Scant attention is paid to drug use itself, interestingly, and to the extent that it is, the users arent judged. (Reporter: Are you going to tell what's bad about LSD? Ken Kesey: Not necessarily.") If anything, they are regarded as victims of both the problem and the supposed cure three-strike laws, sentencing minimums that has filled American jails and prisons past bursting and had a generations-long effect on the inner cities. Nor is there any moralizing about drug use itself, which most of the commentators regard as inevitable a feature of human existence, not a bug if potentially destructive. This lack of censure is refreshing, but the question of how society might better treat drug addiction is limited to a few observations at the series' very end.

It's undeniably the case that drug epidemics, even apart from the drug-taking, create crime. There is nothing inherently insincere either in Bill Clinton's vow to "take our streets back from crime and gangs and drugs" or George W. Bush's that "Illegal drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope ... and I intend to do something about it," however ineffective or incidentally calamitous the results. As "America's War on Drugs" asserts again and again, this is an unwinnable war, like the war on terror, defined by unintended consequences, backfiring schemes and collateral damage. The faces change, as do the trade routes and methods of delivery, but the drugs go on.

Americas War on Drugs

Where: History

When: 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday

Rating: TV-14-DLSV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14, with advisories for suggestive dialogue, coarse language, sex and violence)

robert.lloyd@latimes.com

Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd

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History examines the hazy history of 'America's War on Drugs' with exhaustive but engaging detail - Los Angeles Times

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America’s War on Drugs Was Designed to Fail. So Why Is It Being Revived Now? – History

Posted: at 2:34 pm

Activists and family members of loved ones who died in the opioid/heroin epidemic march in a "Fed Up!" rally on the National Mall on September 18, 2016. (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

While much of the media is focused on Trumps Russian skullduggery, America has quietly found itself enmeshed in the worst drug epidemic in our history. Drug overdoses, mostly from increasingly lethal opioids, now kill more people than guns and traffic accidents. A recent investigation by The New YorkTimes of local and state authorities across the country came to a staggering conclusionthat somewhere between 59,000 and 65,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2016, a nearly 20% spike in a single year, the paper estimates.

2017 is gearing up to be just as bad, or worse.

In the face of this crisis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has re-declared the War on Drugs, a five-decade old boondoggle that civil-rights organizations, economists and even some law-enforcement groups believe to be discredited by years of failure. While its unclear exactly what Sessions is planning, so far hes called for a crackdown on marijuana and longer mandatory sentences for drug dealers, seemingly intent on a return to policies that historically have ravaged entire communities, corrupted police forces and destroyed trust in authorityall in the name of fighting a war that opinion polls show the majority of the public doesnt want.

But what most Americans dont know is that our War on Drugs isnt just a failed war; its one that was never designed to be won. To understand the true story of the origins of the War on Drugs is to understand why Trumps return to some of its most controversial policies is doomed to fail.

President Nixon kickstarted Americas war on drugs in 1971 (he called it an offensive) and created the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) two years later. Ironically, or perhaps not, the war on drugs was conceived by criminals. Four of the main architects of Nixons drug policyAttorney General John Mitchell, White House aide John Erlichman (who later allegedly admitted the war on drugs was really a war on hippies and black people), Egil Bud Krogh (who famously arranged for a drug-addled Elvis Presley to receive an honorary DEA badge) as well as Watergate break-in conspirator G. Gordon Liddywere all imprisoned over Watergate.

But by the time Nixon declared a war on drugs, the real fighting had begun a decade earlier during Americas effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. In 1961, the CIA conspired with mobsters in Miami to assassinate Castro, whose revolution had put an end to the lucrative drug and vice networks operating on the island. Although the CIA-planned Bay of Pigs invasion failed, many of the agencys Cuban assets survived; and after making their way back to Miami, they turned Southern Florida into an early epicenter of drug smuggling and drug-related violence.

Meanwhile, the CIA had simultaneously helped introduce LSD to the American populace via clandestine programs that dosed countless citizensall part of a Cold War mind-control operation titled MK-Ultra. In Southeast Asia, the CIA teamed up with Laotian general Vang Pao to help make Laos the worlds top exporter of heroin. By the time Nixon began ratcheting down U.S. troop presence in Vietnam to focus on the war against drugs, more troops were dying of heroin overdoses than actual combat, an epidemic that quickly found its way to the streets of urban America.

A decade later, as a result of turning a blind eye to cocaine smugglers funding the CIAs illegal war against the communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the CIA unwittingly helped unleash a nationwide crack-cocaine epidemic. Most notably, cocaine kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross was able to take his South Central L.A.-based crack businesses nationwide thanks to his access to a cheap supply of coke from politically connected Nicaraguan suppliers.

Dark Alliance, Gary Webbs landmark 1996 newspaper series alleging CIA involvement in the crack-cocaine epidemic, created a firestorm of controversy that ultimately drove Webb out of journalism and into a spiral of depression that led him to take his own life. Although there were problems with Webbs reporting and the editing of his story that allowed it to be discredited by rival news organizations, it forced the CIA to reveal that for more than a decade it had protected its Nicaraguan allies from being prosecuted for smuggling cocaine into the U.S.

Veteran drug agents, including Phil Jordan, former director of the DEAs El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), say they were repeatedly called off cases involving CIA-tied drug rings.

We had three or four cases where we arrested CIA contract workers with cocaine, and I get a phone call that the charges have been dismissed, Jordan recalls in a new HISTORY series, Americas War on Drugs. You know, we are risking our lives, making cases against significant drug traffickers, then on the other hand you got another government agency allowing the drugs to come in . . . And were not talking about 100 pounds, were talking about tons. That introduction of white powder was killing black people.

The CIAs collusion with anti-communist drug smugglers beginning in the 1960s played a direct role in the drug epidemic of the 1980s that was used to justify President Reagans 1986 crime bill. The law introduced harsh mandatory sentencing for non-violent drug offenders, the legacy of which we are still dealing with today.

President Bill Clinton expanded on Reagans drug war by militarizing the nations police forces and introducing mandatory minimum sentencing. Although President Obama tried to revise this policy shortly before leaving office, President Trump seems intent on doubling down on the war on drugs. When Trump recently invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to the White House, he congratulated him for sending police death squads into the streets to kill drug dealers and addicts. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that, Trump reportedly said.

National polls in recent years have consistently shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe the war on drugs cannot be won. Given the fact that more than half of the United States have legalized medical marijuana, with several others set to join Colorado, Washington and California in approving recreational marijuana use, there has never been a stronger mandate for drug reform than now.

As a nation, we are tired of the drug wars endless cycle of crime, political corruption, mass incarceration and mayhemparticularly in Mexico, much of which is a war zone, while north of the border, we are mired in a highly politicized hysteria over immigration and border security. The war on drugs has already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1 trillion and our nations jails, prisons and hospitals now overflow with the ranks of its combatants and victims. The stakes couldnt be higher, nor the timing better, for America to end this war, not expand it.

Nick Schou is author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIAs Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books, 2006) and also appears in the upcoming HISTORY limited series Americas War on Drugs, premiering June 18 at 9/8c.

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America's War on Drugs Was Designed to Fail. So Why Is It Being Revived Now? - History

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Butler County experts feel churches can help in war on drugs – Hamilton Journal News

Posted: at 2:34 pm

BUTLER COUNTY

As the opiate and heroin crisis continues to claim lives in Butler County, local experts are hoping to get some help from the pulpit to help deal with the issue.

Drug overdoses were the leading cause of deaths in 2016 in Butler County, according to Butler County Coroner Dr. Lisa Mannix.. She said that it is the third year in a row that drug overdoses claimed the top spot.

Kristina Latta-Landefeld, coalition coordinator for the Greater Hamilton Drug-Free Coalition, told the Journal-News that the effort to combat the issue is getting stronger, and churches can help in the fight.

It is really fascinating because we know that there is a system out there that works really well, she said. People in the field theologists, psychologists have tried to be able to link a system like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) that does have a religious component to it, in order to determine what are the positive outcomes and how can that approach be used by churches

Latta-Landefeld added that any type of faith in a higher being or something similar can be an answer for some but not all.

But getting the churches involved speaks to a cultural approach that is important. People in Butler County are very involved in their churches, she said. It is just a part of looking for a solution just like getting health care, schools and law enforcement involved. We have to have a multi-faceted approach to dealing with this.

Kristy Duritsch of the Coalition for a Healthy Middletown said churches can pool resources and expertise within their congregations and focus on the community in which they live in or even a mile radius around their church. She feels this can help address the problem.

I definitely think they can have an impact - but more so on the prevention end of things, Duritsch said. For those in need of help, they can provide resources and even pay for programs for folks addicted. For those recovering they can provide a safe, supportive environment

She added that the problems of the world are now overwhelming, so starting small with the intention and focus aimed at the people they know in the community can make an impact.

Reaching the kids and families to help create a community who cares the simplest things can make a big impact, Duritsch said. For example, Jeri Lewis of Kingswell Ministries has adopted Sherman park to provide daily lunches and activities for the kids that come there.

Developing relationships and being consistent is key in addressing violence and drugs, according to Duritsch.

When there is trust, you can teach them a better way to react to resolve conflict, cope with disappointments, stress and dream for a better future and thus they are less likely to turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to cope or escape, she said.

James E. Wynn III is the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church. He said pastors around the city have been meeting on regular basis, to discuss the drug issue and senseless violence.

We are trying to come up with a way to address these issues, Wynn said.

New Day Baptist Church Pastor Mike Pearl has already been keeping his congregation busy doing outreach that extends all-year. His church helps feed the hungry and doles out school supplies to the needy.

He figures the best approach is to stay consistent addressing the problem while not letting any of the youth fall through the cracks.

Pastor Dave Wess from New Life Community Church agrees that churches are ready and able to keep spreading Gods word, while also adding some tough love from the pulpit.

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Butler County experts feel churches can help in war on drugs - Hamilton Journal News

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Don Winslow Artfully Demolishes the War on Drugs – Daily Beast

Posted: at 2:34 pm

Do not let author Don Winslow get started on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Beauregard, Winslow practically sneers, referring to the AG by his very Confederate-sounding middle name, wants to take us back to the good old days, when we were throwing two million people into prison. He thinks the war on drugs was a good idea, and that we were winning. But drugs are more plentiful, powerful, and cheaper than ever before. If thats victory, I would hate to see defeat.

Winslow is, of course, referring to Sessions recent order that all federal prosecutors pursue the strictest possible sentences, including for non-violent drug offenders. Winslow sees this as a return to a failed policy of mass incarceration, and hes one writer who knows what hes talking about. The critically acclaimed authors most famous worksThe Power of the Dog, Savages, and The Cartelare centered on drugs and drug policy. His new novel, The Force, is also drug-centered, examining corruption in the New York Police Department and featuring a crooked cop named Denny Malone who, along with his partners, steals millions of dollars worth of heroin after a major bust. Think of it as a cross between a hard-core New York tale by Richard Price and the classic 1981 Sidney Lumet film Prince of the City.

Its that readable, and that bleak.

Ive always wanted to write a New York cop book, says Winslow, 63, who was born in the city and raised in Rhode Island but whose best known books are set in California (where he now lives) and Mexico. Back when I was living in New Yorkwhere he worked for a chain of movie theaters, and as a private investigatorI would see classic crime films like Serpico, Prince of the City, and The French Connection, and theyre part of the reason I became a crime writer. So after I finished The Cartel [set mostly in Mexico, and soon to be filmed by Ridley Scott], I wanted to get back to New York.

The Force is so awash in corruption, from the lowest beat cop to the mayors office, that it seems hyper-unreal. But Winslow insists what hes writing about is the real deal, that every 20 years or so there is a major corruption scandal in the NYPD. He points to a recent bribes-to-obtain-gun-licenses probe involving crooked cops and prosecutors, but adds that its not just the NYPD, its Chicago, the LAPD, Baltimore. One of the points I was trying to make in the book, we always talk about cops being corrupt, but what about lawyers, judges, the mayors office? Its not worse in New York, its just largereverything is larger in New York.

Winslow is no hard-core cop hater. In fact, researching and writing The Force, which took several years, helped him sympathize with the extremely tough job the police have to do, and the harsh conditions they have to deal with.

The thing that surprised me a little bit about cops, he says, is how deeply they feel what they do. You tend to think they get jaded, and they do, and they come across as stoic, but when you talk to them about cases and stories, the work has an impact on them. When you watch TV shows, you see them joking about victimsand that happensbut when they talk about certain victims and crimes they have more empathy than you would be led to believe. I talked to veteran cops who sat there with tears streaming down their faces talking about their cases.

In fact, the cops in The Force, no matter how corrupt, believe they are fighting the good fight, taking down drug dealers, gangbangers, and murderers by any means necessary. Malone, who considers himself the king of Manhattan North, heads an elite squad of detectives given unrestricted authority to rid their area of human scum. The parallels with the Daniel Ciello character (played by Treat Williams) in Prince of the City are unmistakable, including the ultimate fall from gracepressed by the Feds, both men wind up informing on their partners.

Winslow says that if nothing else, his book shows how complicated a cops life can be, how complicated issues of right and wrong can be. This guy Malone gets himself into a trap where he has no good choices. Who do you betray?

But back to Jeff Sessions and Winslows other bte noire, The Wall. Winslow has long argued that the only way to break the cartels is to legalize all drugs, and has even written about it for The Daily Beast. He has said the drug war is unwinnable, that there is no end in sight. And the Trump administrations attempts to build a barrier across our southern border, accompanied by a hardline prosecutorial stance, have not changed his mind.

Trump and these guys claim to be businessmen, he says, but they dont understand economics. Lets assume you could build a wall, and it could be a deterrent, but it does not affect demand. Anything you do to make the supply more difficult, raises the supplies and raises the profits. Thats just basic high school economics.

Winslow believes that whatever gets builtThere will be something and they will call it a wall, he saysis a fantasy. Certain parts of the terrain make wall building impractical; some of the wall would have to pass through privately owned lands, which invites endless lawsuits; and part of the wall would have to pass through territory owned on both sides of the border by the Tohono Oodham tribe, creating even more legal issues.

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Besides, says Winslow, any wall would actually have huge gates, and they are called San Diego, El Paso, and Laredo. Most of the drugs come in by trucks, and everyone knows this, but it would be impossible to minutely inspect every truck crossing the borderover 2 million annually in Laredo alone.

So whats the end game? You have to wait it out, says Winslow. Towards the end of the Obama administration, they started to get realistic about drug and prison policies. Now we are going back to the old days, but I think there are people who are rational on this topic. Its an issue where right and left meet, but its a generational thing also. I think its a matter of waiting for some people to become extinct. Because they never change.

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Don Winslow Artfully Demolishes the War on Drugs - Daily Beast

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Gambling on a younger clientele – NewsTimes – Danbury News Times

Posted: at 2:33 pm

Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media

Andy Uhl, left, of Granby, and Natarhj Gosavi, of Simsbury have lunch at Bobby V's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Windsor Locks, Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Patrons watch races and place bets in the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Rich Mastrangelo of Springfield, Mass., left, and Cliff Lane of East Windsor, follow the horse races at the Turf Club Restaurant At The Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Patrons watch races and place bets in the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Patrons of the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks, head to the teller window to place bets, Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Bobby V's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Windsor Locks has an age restriction in the betting area. Photo Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Wagering terminals are available to patrons of Bobby V's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Windsor Locks, Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Patrons sit at the bar at Bobby V's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Windsor Locks ,Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Patrons visit the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks, Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Rich Mastrangelo of Springfield, Mass., studies statistics on upcoming horse races at the Turf Club in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Patrons watch races and place bets in the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Rich Mastrangelo of Springfield, Mass., studies statistics on upcoming horse races at the Turf Club in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Patrons watch races and place bets in the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Bobby V's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Windsor Locks includes an OTB Teletheater. Photo Wed., June 14, 2017.

Bobby V's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Windsor Locks, Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Gambling on a younger clientele

WINDSOR LOCKS - In 1946, a baker told a young Nick Chaclas not to get too interested in the horses.

This week, Chaclas was in his favorite betting carrel at the OTB Teletheater near Bradley International Airport, cheering with a pumping fist as the horses at Belmont Park cleared the final turn.

Then the 91-year-old World War II Navy veteran let out an expletive and turned away from the monitor.

What happened?

Nothing happened, Chaclas said with a laugh about his losing bet. He just died.

Chaclas didnt heed the bakers advice.

No, I didnt, did I? a smiling Chaclas said. I dont win too often, I can tell you, but I have been playing for 71 years and I havent got sick of it yet.

If Chaclas sounds like the quintessential off-track-betting patron, perhaps he is. But hes not the future of OTB.

Instead, the future of off-track betting in Connecticut is the new sports bar restaurant and OTB facility that opened Friday on Stamfords Atlantic Street - and a similar concept planned for downtown Danbury: a multi-generation place with upscale food, craft beers, scores of televised sports and off-track betting mixed in.

Not too many places have done what we have done to make OTB an entertainment destination, where you combine all these things in one property, says Ted Taylor, the president of Sportech Venues, which holds the exclusive OTB license in Connecticut.

Sportech, which has 16 OTB facilities statewide, believes it has found a growth formula in an industry that has been slow to engage the younger generation. The London-based company processes $13 billion in bets in 30 countries annually, and has recently invested $10 million to improve its facilities in Connecticut.

The wagering is just a piece of our overall DNA; we are evolving into food and beverage operator with wagering in our venues, said Paul Dionne, Sportechs director of marketing. We are not trying to hide it: If we are going to continue to do positive business in Connecticut, we need to be more than just horse-racing.

The state Legislature apparently agrees. Earlier this month, both houses passed legislation giving Sportech six more OTB licenses, for a total of 24.

The legislation, which is yet to be signed by the governor, is part of the changing gaming landscape in a state that is struggling with a $5 billion budget deficit over the next two years.

The state gets a 1.9 percent cut of every bet made at a Sportech OTB, or about $6 million annually. Local government gets its own 1.6 percent cut of every bet.

Stamford stands to get about $200,000 annually from the new Bobby Vs Restaurant & Sports Bar. In Danbury, where plans to open a similar venue have been set back by a lawsuit and a technical error during the approval process, the citys estimated annual share is $100,000.

The Danbury restaurant owner who has agreed to let Sportech spend $750,000 to transform his Ives Street eatery into a sports bar and wagering venue said the downtown entertainment district needs places that will attract crowds.

I had concerns initially about what type of concept this is, and how it is going to help the downtown, and what my average customer is going to look like coming in, said Tom Devine, owner of Two Steps Downtown Grille. I visited a couple of the Sportech facilities that are now high-end sports bars with gaming components, and the one in Stamford blew me away.

Stamford was built on the model developed in Windsor Locks - involving a partnership with former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine and his restaurant business.

The Stamford venue boasts 200 high-definition screens, a family-friendly Bobby Vs restaurant on the first floor, and a 21-and-older sports bar and wagering venue on the second floor.

Taylor would not say where Sportech is looking to locate six more OTB venues in Connecticut. His priority is bringing the Danbury venue online first, he said.

Taylor added that the company is likely to invest first in existing venues such as Norwalk, where the food and drinks selection is limited to vending machines.

Betting on the future

The gaming landscape is changing. Nowhere is that clearer than in Windsor Locks, at the 38,000-square-foot facility where Sportech spent $4.5 million to create a Bobby Vs Restaurant and Sports Bar.

The restaurant portion of the building is a modern sports bar with 80 televisions and two dozen craft beers on tap. The dcor is bright. Middle-aged couples talk casually over cheeseburgers and salads.

The Teletheater portion of the building has a much older feel. Shaped like an auditorium with stadium-style seating, this is the part of the building where most of the betting happens. It has a 125 betting carrels - cubicle-like stations with monitors where men spread their race sheets for the best bets.

The wall they face is filled with large monitors featuring horse races, greyhound races, and a few jai alai matches. In the back of the Teletheater are a handful of tellers who take bets, although plenty of men use the betting machines beneath the race screens.

I am a handicapper par excellence, says Cliff Lane, 82, a retired salesman from East Windsor.

Hes kidding. He used to be a good handicapper.

You cant handicap these horses anymore - its impossible, Lane says with smile. What you have to do is bet the jockeys and the trainers.

So how is he doing so far?

The races havent started, so we are doing great, Lane says. We are in the hole about $30 counting programs and lunch.

Lane and his friend are among the retirees who make up the base of the sport.

This is the OTB old guard.

We look at this and we realize this cant be the future of our business, Dionne said during a recent tour of Windsor Locks. We want to bring better things than just a venue only for wagering.

The Danbury wager

Sportechs plans in Danbury are modest compared to those for Windsor Locks and Stamford, but the proposal has been set back by opposition and a technical error in the application.

Plans call for the conversion of Devines first floor into a restaurant and sports bar, with a separate entrance and an elevator to the 21-and-over second floor, where there will be a second bar and an off-track betting section.

Up to 20 betting carrels are planned in an atrium on the second floor, along with betting machines, a counter with two tellers, and restaurant seating for at least 80 people.

Some people may say that from a religious point of view, they are against gambling, and you cant argue too much with that, said Devine, who would lease the betting venue to Sportech. But when people talk about safety and you look at the scope of this project and the players that are involved, it just doesnt make sense.

Devine received approval from the citys Zoning Commission for the Sportech partnership. That cleared the way for him to seek final approval from the City Council.

But a businesswoman who just opened a caf downtown sued to overturn the zoning decision, arguing in part that there were technical errors in the application.

Specifically, Devines request for a zoning variance was not filed with Danburys clerk in advance of the public hearing as required. That means Devine will have to reapply for approval, a process that he has already begun.

This block has seen 55 places come and go in the time we have been here, Devine said. We need more draws to the downtown. A sports bar would do that.

rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342

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Gambling on a younger clientele - NewsTimes - Danbury News Times

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NFL reaches settlement with charity over gambling policy – USA TODAY

Posted: at 2:33 pm

A nonprofit whose charity event was forced to relocate by the NFL recently asked a judge to demand league commissioner Roger Goodell explain the league's gambling policy.(Photo: Paul Beaty, AP)

The NFL has reached a settlement with a youth charity that sued the league for fraud over how the league enforced its gambling policy at a casino near Las Vegas in 2015.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. But the agreement to closethe federal court case comesabout a week after the charity asked a federal judge to compel NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify under oath about the leagues gambling policy.

It also comes just a few days after USA TODAY Sports reported on the prospect of Goodells testimony as the league finds itself in an increasingly conflicted position about casinos and gambling.

All I am at liberty to say is that the case has settled, Julie Pettit, an attorney for the charity, told USA TODAY Sports Friday.

The Sept. 25 trial date for the case was terminated on Friday as a result. The NFL declined comment.

The charity, Strikes for Kids, sued the league last year, saying it was misled by the league and lost revenue after being forced to relocate a bowling event for kids in 2015. More than 100 boys and girls were invited to the event at a bowling alley that was to feature more than 25 NFL players as the star attraction.

The problem was the location, according to the NFL. The event originally was to take place at a 72-lane bowling alley inside the Sunset Station hotel and casino. Before the event took place, an NFL lawyer notified the charity that this would violate the leagues gambling policy, which forbids players and personnel from making promotional appearances at casinos.

In response, the charity moved to the Brooklyn Bowl, a bowling alley with only 16 lanes available but physically not located inside a casino building. The NFL said this location was OK even though it was still part of the LINQ casino promenade near the Las Vegas strip.

To push its case, the charity wanted to question Goodell about why one casino-related bowling alley was OK but the other was not. It said it lost money and sponsors because it was forced to move to a smaller venue.

There's only one person that can tell us what's the difference between the non-approved venue and the approved venue (Goodell), Pettit told a federal magistrate judge last month. And he's this Oz behind the curtain, this person that the NFL will not allow us to talk to. And everyone points their finger at him, saying he's the only one that can make that determination.

The magistrate judge denied the charitys request to force Goodell to testify, but the charity filed objections to that decision last week and tried again with a different judge a decision that was pending until the settlement.

It was the latest legal entanglement the NFL found itself in over its gambling policy. Even after the league recently approved the relocation of the Oakland Raiders to the casino capital of Las Vegas, the policy shows the league is still invested in the notion that casinos are forbidden places for its players and personnel.

In 2015, Pettits firm also sued the league on behalf of a fantasy football company affiliated with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. In that case, the company was set to a stage a fantasy football event at a convention facility that was not inside a casino but was near one, the Venetian, and owned by a casino company, the Las Vegas Sands.

Citing its gambling policy, the NFL essentially forbid Romo and others from appearing at this event, forcing its cancellation.

The NFL said it had the right to do so under its collective bargaining agreement with players. A judge in Texas agreed last year and threw the case out. But the company appealed, and that case is still pending.

In another case, outside of court, the league recently confirmed it was still reviewing a decision about what to do about players appearing at an arm-wrestling event at a Las Vegas casino in April.

While the leagues gambling policy prohibits players and personnel from making promotional appearances at casinos, teams are allowed to accept limited advertising from certain casinos. The Arizona Cardinals also recently has had discussions with a casino company, Gila River Gaming Enterprises, about the possibility of the company buying naming rights to the teams stadium.

Stop Gambling On A 7.66% Yield When The 7.51% Offers Less Risk – Seeking Alpha

Posted: at 2:33 pm

Subscribers to the Mortgage REIT Forum received early access to this report.

Capstead Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:CMO) is overvalued. While I believe the preferred shares are a great bargain, the same cannot be said about the common stock. CMO trades extremely close to the lowest dividend yield on record and at a much higher-than-normal price-to-book ratio. While management is excellent, the team is facing macroeconomic problems. There is very little management can do to combat these problems. It isn't a matter of skill; it is a matter of the yield curve. As CMO faces these challenges, despite all the problems, the stock rallies back toward the highest levels seen in years. This is a case of high risk and limited reward.

The Dividend Yield

This might seem incredibly simplistic compared to much of my analysis, but sometimes the truth is staring us in the face. We need only to recognize it and accept it. The following chart shows the price and dividend yield over the last few years:

I had a buy rating on the common shares and established a position at the point identified by the green line. The rating was shared with subscribers first, but I brought out the public strong buy rating on October 24th, 2016. At the time, my analysis was focused heavily on the discount to book value. CMO was severely out of favor with analysts and investors. The premise for their bearishness was the collapsing net interest spreads. Ironically, that is precisely the argument I am making today.

The price is back to where it was about two years ago, when it started a fierce decline. The dividend yield on the other hand is only 8.33%, much lower than it was before. When we see the same price with a lower dividend yield, it reflects a lower dividend rate. CMO has been forced to cut its dividend due to the impact of both expected prepayments and actual prepayments.

Yields, Spreads, and Amortization

In the future, I want to put together a little series diving through the fundamentals of how CMO works. I think many investors today don't fully understand the mREIT. In the following slide, from its Q1 2017 presentation, I'm highlighting the yield on assets, the financing spreads, and the amortization. Don't worry; I'll explain each of those. For investors who want to access older presentations, use the index of presentations.

Here we go:

The most recent data is on the left and the oldest data is on the right. In the green, you can see the yield on all interest-earning assets was 1.67%. This is the highest level reported since Q1 2016. If it were a mere 3 basis points higher, it would be higher than any seen in the last two years.

On the third line down, you can see the finance spread. That is the yield on assets minus the cost of borrowing. That is trending higher because the Federal Reserve is raising the rate on short-term borrowings by offering to pay banks more interest on excess reserves. Those are payments made to banks to compensate them for not doing their job (lending money). When the Federal Reserve raises the short-term rate, the mortgage REITs must pay a higher rate to remain competitive.

So why hasn't the cost risen faster? Simple. CMO hedges out a material portion of its exposure.

So that leaves investors wondering: If CMO hedged part of its exposure to rising rates, why is there a problem?

The problem is that spread of .68 (from line 3) is not sustainable. The strength of the spread actually comes from the red box. That is the impact of premium amortization on the spreads. CMO is buying adjustable rate mortgages and paying more than par value for them. That is perfectly normal. Because it pays more than par value, say $102.50 for a mortgage with a balance of $100.00, it has to recognize the cost of that extra $2.50 over the life of the loan. If CMO didn't have to recognize that expense, the yield on assets would be 2.60%. That is shown one line above the red box. In the first quarter, CMO reported the lowest value of the last four quarters for this expense. It was reducing asset yields from 2.60% to 1.67%. This is referred to as 93 basis points. In the prior three quarters this ran 105, 106, and 96 basis points respectively.

I am convinced this expense will increase materially for Q2, Q3, and probably Q4 of 2017 compared to the values reported for Q1 2017.

Why Will Amortization Charges Increase?

The problem comes down to how quickly prepayments are coming in. We are entering a period where prepayments should be elevated. You're probably aware that short-term rates are increasing, right? How many homeowners do you recall talking to who are completely clueless about short-term rates increasing? At this point, I think it is fairly common knowledge.

That makes it less appealing to have an adjustable-rate mortgage. Homeowners who currently have those loans outstanding have an incentive to refinance into a fixed-rate mortgage. When that happens, the owner of the adjustable rate (such as CMO) is forced to eat the loss on paying more than $100 for the loan and then getting the $100 from the homeowner.

The yield curve is exceptionally flat right now. The rates on new fixed-rate mortgages are heavily correlated to the medium duration Treasury securities such as the 10-year Treasury. Consequently, homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages should be receiving calls from their banks or credit unions offering to help them refinance into a new loan. It is in the banks' best interest to do that, because after they make the new loan, they can spin around and sell it off for somewhere around $102 to $105 per $100 on the loan. The buyer of the loan has to amortize that premium over time, but for the bank, it is immediate profits.

Therefore, I expect prepayments to increase. When the prepayments increase, I expect amortization charges to increase. Even though the gross asset yield, last seen at 2.6% should continue to climb, I expect the higher amortization charges to offset a material part of that growth. Consequently, I don't believe the "yield on all interest-earning assets" will increase much beyond 1.67% on average (remember, this is the green box at the top of the chart).

Because the higher amortization expenses should keep a lid on the yield on all interest-earning assets, even a slow growth in the cost of financing should be enough to eat into the net interest spread. Over the last year, the cost of financing increased 12 basis points. I think that is a reasonable projection for the next 12 months as well. Without the hedges, this could easily be 25 to 50 basis points.

If we see asset yields running roughly flat at 1.67% due to higher amortization charges offsetting growth in the gross yields, a 12 basis point increase in the cost of financing would chop their spread from .68 to .56. That would be a 17% decline in the net interest spread income, assuming the leverage remains steady.

What happens when that spread gets compressed? Dividends get chopped:

Rating on CMO's Common Stock = Sell

I see the potential pressure on the net interest spread as a major consideration for investors going into CMO. I was able to find value despite the issues when the yield curve was steeper and the company traded around $9.30 rather than $10.98. Now we are looking at a scenario where amortization expenses are more likely to go higher and net interest spreads are more likely to be compressed. Despite these challenges, the stock rallied significantly. This is a great time for investors to be harvesting gains. I know the ex-dividend date is almost here and some investors may feel inclined to hold on. Perhaps the market will ignore these problems for months longer, but I wouldn't want to play that game. There is far too much downside risk. I view CMO as a clear sell at this point.

Alternative

My concerns about CMO extend to other mortgage REITs in the same space. The adjustable-rate mortgages can be a great investment strategy, but they suffer when the yield curve flattens out and prepayments rise due to homeowners refinancing. As an alternative, I suggest (and own) shares of CMO-E. CMO-E is an excellent yield investment. Unlike CMO, there are no dividend reductions on CMO-E. When the yield curve flattens and net interest spreads decline, it doesn't impact CMO-E. The dividend yield on CMO-E is running about 7.6%, which is right around where it normally trades. Note: CMO-E traded up since I published this for subscribers. The stripped yield is now 7.5%.

An investor going from CMO to CMO-E would usually have to give up at least a couple hundred basis points in dividend yield. With CMO only yielding 7.65% and very little chance of an increase, the spread between the two is much smaller. If we use "current yield", which ignores dividend accrual, the yields would be 7.65% on the common and 7.36% (rather than 7.5%) on the preferred shares. This is a spread of only 29 basis points. It is easily the smallest spread I've seen between the common and preferred shares for CMO at any point.

Investors deciding between the two should consider the price volatility as one measure of risk. The following Google chart demonstrates it quite clearly:

Conclusion

Is the extra volatility in price worth it for an extra 29 basis points of yield? Is it worth the risk that dividends could still get pressured by amortization expenses while the Federal Reserve drives up the cost of borrowing on short-term loans? Picking winners on a consistent basis relies on finding less volatile opportunities where prices are steady and yields are high. At this point, the yield spread is exceptionally small and the price risk built into CMO is exceptionally high.

Want SMS alerts when I find an actionable opportunity? They are a free service for subscribers to The Mortgage REIT Forum. This is your opportunity to lock in prices at $330 per year before the next price increase on July 1st, 2017. These preferred shares are offering high yields and dramatically lower volatility than investing in the common shares.

Disclosure: I am/we are long CMO-E.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: No financial advice.

City Council to loosen Casper gambling restrictions to aid pet shelter – Casper Star-Tribune Online

Posted: at 2:33 pm

A small Casper pet shelter prevailed this week in its quest to loosen restrictions on the gambling it uses to fund its operations, sparking a debate at Tuesdays City Council meeting on whether local government should be in the business of regulating morals.

For several years, the Pet Ring Foundation has raised money from a handful of gambling machines at a storefront along East Second Street.

But when executive director Preston Pilant tried to switch machine vendors, he learned that city zoning barred gambling at his shop because it was within 300 feet of a church.

Pilant said he had consulted with the police and City Attorneys Office before starting the gambling operation but hadnt thought to check with the zoning office.

We completely shut down, Pilant told Council.

That was a problem because the shelter was largely funded by the gaming revenue.

So Pilant approached Council earlier this year to ask that the city change the zoning rule barring gambling near churches. City staff began working on a solution, and on Tuesday, City Planner Craig Collins presented Council with five options:

reduce the current 300-foot distance restriction;

measure from building to building rather than from property lines;

eliminate the distance-based restriction on gambling in the C-2 zoning district, which Pilants operation is located in;

or remove the distance restriction on gambling in every zoning district.

Council members were largely sympathetic to Pilants plight.

Its a stupid law, said Councilman Shawn Johnson.

Councilwoman Amanda Huckabay defended Pilants work and said his shelter provided an essential service to Casperites.

Preston is a little bit psycho about animals, but he has helped out so many low-income and homeless people in this community, she said. If they have no place to keep their animal, Preston will take them in.

Collins also spoke against the current regulation, which bars gambling within 300 feet of both churches and schools, as measured from property line to property line.

He said the purpose of zoning was to ensure the buildings and activities in different neighborhoods were compatible.

Its not to make sure people are doing moral things on their property, Collins said. Im always hesitant to regulate moral issues because not everybodys morals are the same.

Councilman Dallas Laird said the fact that the Pet Rings gambling operation was active for years before the zoning issue shut them down was evidence that it posed no harm to the community.

This is probably going on all over and it doesnt matter, Laird said.

Lairds main concern was that Pilant had an old school bus, painted black, parked next to the shop. Pilant said it was intended to serve as a mobile spay-and-neuter clinic but that funds never emerged. He said the bus would be removed soon and offered it to Laird for free. Laird declined.

Pilant was unable to be reached for comment regarding what kind of gambling machines he would be using and when the operation most recently shut down.

Council agreed to eliminate the distance restriction in the C-2 zoning district and allow gambling in those areas without a special permit. Members will still need to vote on that decision at a future meeting.

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City Council to loosen Casper gambling restrictions to aid pet shelter - Casper Star-Tribune Online

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Belgium tightens the reigns on gambling advertising – World Casino Directory

Posted: at 2:33 pm

Measures which would tighten restrictions on gambling advertising in Belgium are being called for by the countrys Justice Minister, Koen Geens.

The Belgium Gaming Commission (BGC) fully supports the proposed measures which would effectively ban gambling ads on TV before 8pm and completely block them during live sporting events in the country in Western Europe, according to Belgian news website nieuwsblad.be.

Going one step further, gambling advertisements that are permitted, but have been deemed to promote excessive gambling activity, will also be removed say BGC officials. However, what exactly defines excessive has yet to be decided.

Spokeswoman for the BGC, Marjolein De Paepe, reportedly told the Belgian news website, We already have the authority for it, but as long as there are no clear rules about what may or may not, we can hardly exert it.

Under the new proposals, banners that appear on screen during televised games and during half-time commercials would be banned. Also included would be the mandatory implementation of problem gambling warnings in marketing materials of operators as well as fines levied against operators found to be in breach of the new regulations.

Online gambling is now legal in over 20 countries and has been legal in Belgium since 2002. The regulation of the countrys online gambling market launched about six years ago. Under the 2009 Gambling Act, a company wishing to provide an online gambling service in Belgium must also possess a license for a land-based, brick-and-motor operation. And last year, legislation that makes online gambling services taxable under value added tax (VAT) laws was launched by Belgiums finance ministry.

According to the Gambling Insider report, figures recently published by the Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) indicate that internationally licensed gambling sites are only utilized by 15 percent of Belgians. A number BAGO believes will increase by 35 percent if the newly proposed restrictions are imposed on Belgian licensed operators.

The new proposals were reportedly welcomed by Belgian Member of Parliament, Peter De Decker, who said, For tobacco advertising there are already strict rules and there are ethical standards around alcohol. So something had to happen around gambling. We must not be blind to the fact that more is being cast or for the misery that causes it to people who are hard at all.

Belgium tightens the reigns on gambling advertising was last modified: June 17th, 2017 by K Morrison

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Belgium tightens the reigns on gambling advertising - World Casino Directory

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Daily Archives: June 17, 2017

Rogers teens earn first place at national history competition – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

History examines the hazy history of ‘America’s War on Drugs’ with exhaustive but engaging detail – Los Angeles Times

America’s War on Drugs Was Designed to Fail. So Why Is It Being Revived Now? – History

Butler County experts feel churches can help in war on drugs – Hamilton Journal News

Don Winslow Artfully Demolishes the War on Drugs – Daily Beast

Gambling on a younger clientele – NewsTimes – Danbury News Times

NFL reaches settlement with charity over gambling policy – USA TODAY

Stop Gambling On A 7.66% Yield When The 7.51% Offers Less Risk – Seeking Alpha

City Council to loosen Casper gambling restrictions to aid pet shelter – Casper Star-Tribune Online

Belgium tightens the reigns on gambling advertising – World Casino Directory

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