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Last week I wrote about William Robison, a black pioneer who settled in Stockton in the mid-1800s and became a long-standing member of the community.
Last week I wrote about William Robison, a black pioneer who settled in Stockton in the mid-1800s and became a long-standing member of the community.
And I mentioned a bubbling dispute between a national black trade organization and Wells Fargo Bank.
Robison (pronounced row-beh-son) was an expressman who delivered packages, money, etc., while working for several companies, including Wells Fargo, for decades. Driving a stagecoach was among the documented duties Robison performed for Wells Fargo.
He was also a member of the San Joaquin Society of California Pioneers. To be a member of that organization, one had to be in California before Sept. 9, 1850, the date California achieved statehood. The S.J. Society of California Pioneers was apparently a multicultural organization as Roley Early (R.E.) Wilhoit, a prominent Stocktonian of that era, was also a member.
Wilhoit, great-great-grandfather of Douglass Wilhoit, CEO of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, also wrote, at least in part, Robison's obituary.
The comments made about Robison and the positive recognition he received at his services make it apparent that he was well-regarded during his day.
More than a century later, Willie Harris, president of the National Black Stuntmen's Association, wants that public recognition to be more prominently renewed.
Why a stuntmen's group? It seems that Harris, who is based in Las Vegas, came upon this issue while banking. His members support it and they have thrown their collective weight behind it. He wants Wells Fargo to feature Robison in a commercial.
Wells Fargo has repeatedly replied, "No."
"With our advertising, we do not take unsolicited ideas," Julie Campbell, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, said. Because of copyright and proprietary issues, the company uses only what its marketing team generates. She said the company did explain to Harris "that we do quite a bit to highlight the stagecoach driver."
The company does include information on Harris, George Monroe, also a black stagecoach driver, and other blacks on its website: wellsfargohistory.com.
Among the other things the company does to share these stories are:
� Beginning in the early 1990s, told Robison's story during Black History Month.
� Featured Robison in a San Francisco museum exhibit during the celebration of Wells Fargo's 150th anniversary.
� Included Robison in a corporate history book.
� Highlighted him in a permanent exhibit at a San Francisco museum on how Wells Fargo agents worked.
"It's not that we don't celebrate any key members from our past, but there are so many different things we have done to highlight this gentleman," Campbell said. "We just don't do it a lot in advertising."
I find this information interesting, and it would be nice if Wells Fargo did more to bring it to the public's attention. It would go a long way toward building goodwill, particularly in the minority community, given that it was just last year that Wells Fargo took a big hit, agreeing to a $175 million settlement with the Justice Department for discriminatory lending practices.
Some of Wells Fargo's independent brokers were alleged to have discriminated against black and Latino borrowers, charging them higher fees and rates than white borrowers with the same credit risk during the housing boom of 2004-05.
However, I do not think Wells Fargo has an obligation to do so. It is, after all, a business and can advertise as it elects. I would be more concerned about its hiring, employment and business practices.
But Harris does want the company to do more to highlight its history. If he is successful, then great.
"You have to search like hell to find these guys. Why do they want to shove this in a little corner and not tell the world what these two men did for Wells Fargo?" he said. Putting their story in a larger forum would reach more people.
So Harris intends to up the noise.
He has asked the National Action Network, a 22-year-old civil rights group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, to get involved. Harris said they have agreed. Someone at the organization's Las Vegas branch said they are familiar with the issue, but I could not get confirmation that they would take this up. Harris also plans a Facebook campaign and additional public outcry.
He certainly does not plan on giving up.
"They (Wells Fargo) are pretty firm in what they are going to do; we are pretty firm in what we are going to do," he said. "Me and my stunt group are not going to back down."
Contact Donald W. Blount at (209) 546-8251 or firstname.lastname@example.com. The Record senior editors' blog is available at recordnet.com/editorblog.


text: Thursday, August 23, 2012 CMS Assigns Providers to Phases for Manual Medical Review The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted a list on its website assigning providers to 1 of 3 phases for manual medical review when outpatient therapy services exceed $3,700. The list identifies phase I and phase II providers by their National Provider Identifier; those who do not appear on the list are included in phase III. The phases delineate the time frames during which the providers would be required to obtain advanced approval from their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) in order to receive coverage for outpatient therapy services beyond $3,700. Phase I providers: Subject to manual medical review October 1-December 31, 2012. Phase II providers: Subject to manual medical review November 1-December 31, 2012 Phase III providers: Subject to manual medical review December 1-December 31, 2012. Additional information regarding the therapy cap and the manual medical review process is available on APTA's website. CMS also provides a fact sheet and question-and-answer document regarding the process. MACs are expected to issue additional information about the process in the near future. Comments is there going to be an audio conference on this? Posted by Nancy Mullins on 8/23/2012 4:06 PM Will physical therapists be performing the manual medical records reviews? Posted by David W. Clifton,PT on 8/24/2012 7:56 PM APTA will record a call with reimbursement chairs on September 5 that will address the therapy cap. The recording will be posted on www.apta.org. News Now will provide a link to the recording, which will be free to members, when it is available. There is no requirement that therapists conduct the manual medical reviews for outpatient therapy services. Reviews could be conducted by nurses or other health care providers. Posted by News Now Staff on 8/27/2012 3:43 PM Questions: The provider assignment is specific to individual NPI only - correct? My personal NPI is assigned to Phase 2, but my clinic NPI is not listed... which could be interpreted as automatic assignment to Phase 3, or as simply N/A. Are all clinicians within a specific practice assigned to the same phase? And if not - what if two PTs share a patient but receive different phase assignments? Posted by Shannon Murphy, MPT on 8/31/2012 4:10 PM Is there a specific format to submit a request for an exception? Posted by Dr Peter J Vilasi MPT DPT on 9/4/2012 9:40 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Studio Cruz uses Rhinoceros, 3d studio max, and other 3D and 2D programs to create efficient, effective 3D animated digital models from electronic drawings, photos, or hand sketches. Visit our web site to get an idea of the range and quality of our work.
Christopher Yonge, Studio Cruz
831 458 2752


text:
Kuwait court dissolves parliament, orders new vote
Kuwait's constitutional court on Sunday ordered the dissolution of parliament and called for a new vote, but approved a controversial electoral law that sparked massive street protests last year.
Kuwait's opposition boycotted the December parliamentary elections over changes to the electoral law which it said benefits candidates allied with the ruling monarchs.
The court, whose rulings are final, called for a fresh election to replace the current loyalist-dominated parliament, in the verdict read out by presiding judge Yousef al-Mutawah.
Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, decreed the controversial amendment to the electoral law last October intensifying a bitter dispute which had engulfed the emirate since 2006, sparking street protests which were violently suppressed by riot police.
The electoral law passed in 2006 allows each eligible voter to choose a maximum of four candidates. The amendment reduced the number to just one.
Islamist, nationalist and liberal opposition groups had charged that the emir's decree was unconstitutional and that it had enabled the government to manipulate election results and subsequent legislation.
Opposition members had warned of serious consequences if the court upheld the decree, saying it would effectively undermine Kuwait's parliamentary system.
The emir had vowed to accept the court's verdict whatever it might be.
The 50-seat parliament elected in December's now scrapped vote was entirely composed of MPs loyal to the government, which is appointed by the emir, as a result of the opposition boycott.
Kuwaiti authorities in recent months have intensified a crackdown on dissidents and Internet users who criticize the ruling family.
In February, Human Rights Watch said prosecutors had charged nearly 25 people with offending the emir, sentencing at least six to jail terms, since October.
The Sabah family has ruled Kuwait for over 250 years. The emir, crown prince, prime minister and key cabinet ministers all hail from the ruling family.
میں نےجو کیا وہ برا کیا،میں نے خود کو خود ہی تباہ کیا
جو تجھے پسند ہو میرے رب،مجھے اس ادا کی تلاش ہے


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The Leading Causes of Death in Hawaii
What's Killing Us? You've got to go somehow. Here are the things you should really worry about.
(page 1 of 4)
We all know we need to eat fruits and vegetables, get enough sleep and exercise and make appointments for yearly checkups—all of which are easier said than done. And despite our best efforts, we're all going to… well, let's face it, die. Last year in Hawaii, 9,627 people died, according to the state Department of Health's preliminary 2010 vital statistics. (On the upside, 18,933 babies were born.) So what are the leading causes of death in Hawaii? You might be surprised by some of them. We used data from the most recent Hawaii State Data Book—but we've also included contact information for the nonprofits that help us combat these leading causes of death, whether through support groups, education or fundraising for research.
No. 1 Schemic Heart Disease
Heart disease, specifically ischemic heart disease, is the No. 1 killer. (Ischemic refers to a reduced blood supply to the heart because of coronary artery disease.) In 2008, it claimed 1,275 lives in the Islands, and it's the leading cause of death for both men and women, not only here but across the country. Ischemic heart disease can cause congestive heart failure, such as a heart attack or arrhythmias.
Fighting Back against Heart Disease and Stroke
The American Heart Association of Hawaii deals with both of these leading causes of death. Honolulu office: 538-7021, americanheart.org/hawaii.
Next event: Black Tie & Blue Jeans at Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa. July 16, 6 p.m., 457-4971. Other events include the posh Honolulu Heart Ball in February, the Golf Classic at Mid-Pacific Country Club in April and fun runs throughout the year on multiple islands.
Hawaii's adult smoking rate in 2010, down from 15.4 percent in 2009.
Hawaii's Health Disparities
Native Hawaiians are at a higher risk than the rest of the population for the majority of the leading causes of death in Hawaii. Researchers and health organizations believe it's due both to genetics and socioeconomic factors, such as lack of education, lower income and decreased access to healthcare and insurance. Imi Hale, the Native Hawaiian Cancer Network, works to reduce the rate of cancer and the mortality rate from cancer among Native Hawaiians and other minority populations. The program provides educational materials on different types of cancer, such as breast, prostate, colon and skin cancer, and more. The pamphlets come in both hard copy and PDF formats. "These materials are made in Hawaii, with Hawaii faces, with Hawaii words," says research director Kathryn Braun.
No. 2 Stroke
The No. 2 killer in Hawaii is cerebrovascular disease, commonly known as a stroke. According to the most recent Hawaii State Data Book, 629 people died from strokes in 2008. Unlike the majority of the top medical killers on our list, more women than men die from strokes in the state. "It's because women live longer, when they get a stroke they are older [and less likely to survive them]. Men get strokes when they are younger," says Dr. Kore Liow, the medical director of neuroscience at Castle Medical Center and the director of the Hawaii Pacific Neuroscience Center. Liow started the neuroscience center in Kailua because "there's a huge elderly population on the Windward Side, including a lot of stroke and Alzheimer's disease patients," he says. Hawaii has the second-largest elderly population in the United States, per capita, after Florida. Liow works with stroke survivors as well as those with varying progressions of Alzheimer's disease. To better help stroke patients, he is also in the process of starting the Hawaii Memory Clinic at the center. "It's an interdisciplinary approach that brings together different specialties," he says.
What Is a Stroke?
A stroke, sometimes called a "brain attack," occurs when a clot blocks the blood supply to the brain (an ischemic stroke), or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts (a hemorrhagic stroke).
Every 40 Seconds
Someone in the U.S. has a stroke.
By the Numbers
Around 800,000 people in the U.S. have strokes each year. Around 185,000 people in the U.S. who survive strokes eventually have another. Today, more than 6 million people have survived strokes. Every three to four minutes, someone in the U.S. dies from a stroke.
Signs of a Stroke and What to Do
If someone is exhibiting possible symptoms of a stroke, such as a severe headache, sudden confusion, numbness on one side of the body or trouble walking, use the F.A.S.T. method: Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop? Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred? Time: If you observe these signs, call 911.


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CBI Standard Midi Cables are the Musicians Dream.
They are the ultimate in quality, construction,and hand made to last and stand up to the demands of hobbyists and professionals.
C.B.I. features unsurpassed delivery, flexibility, and quality for the Recording Studio, Live Audio/Video/Lighting, and Sound Installation Wiring markets. C.B.I. products include many top of the line components, such as Belden cable, Switchcraft, G&H, and Neutrik connectors. Our product lines encompass a wide range of professional wiring systems for musical instruments, sound reinforcement, sound installation, lighting/power, audio/video, recording & broadcast. These include: audio snakes, guitar cables, microphone cables, speaker cables, lighting cables, video cables, as well as bulk wires, connectors, adapters, and custom designs. In addition to being a well-established and respected force in the retail music industry with over 20 years of experience, C.B.I. has been a pioneer in the field of designer cables and is unparalleled in the custom cable market.CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 WARNING WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
What started as a simple string and pedal sales catalog has grown exponentially over the past thirty years. The early days were a time where catalogs didn't have much of a presence in the industry, but what began as a college dorm room operation grew rapidly. In 1986 we moved to a full product offering and 64-page catalog, which over the years has grown to 162 pages. Join the AMS family and get your free catalog now!
Copyright © 1996-2020 American Musical Supply, Inc. All rights reserved. American Musical Supply reserves the right to correct pricing and/or product specifications in the event of typographical errors found in our print catalog or on our website. If a product is listed at an incorrect price due to such errors or because of inaccurate information received from a supplier, American Musical Supply shall have the right to refuse or cancel any orders placed, whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit card charged. If your credit card has already been charged for the purchase and your order is canceled, American Musical Supply will issue a credit to your credit card account in the amount of the charge.


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De geallieerden troffen bij de bevrijding van de concentratiekampen in 1945, een verschrikkelijk tafereel. In deze kampen waren miljoenen mensen vermoord, misbruikt en gemarteld op een industriële methodische wijze.
National Archives and Records Administration – ARC 43452, LI 238.2 – NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS – DVD Copied by Ann Galloway. Series: Motion Picture Films Used as Exhibits and Evidence at World War II War Crimes Trials, compiled 1945 – 1947. COMPILATION FILM REPORT: On conditions found in Nazi concentration camps in Germany and Belgium by advancing Allied Armies during World War II. Consists primarily of dead and surviving prisoners and of facilities used to kill and tortue.
R.1: Army Lt. Col. George C. Stevens, Navy Lt. E. Ray Kellogg and U.S. Chief of Counsel Robert H. Jackson read exhibited affidavits which attest to authenticity of scenes in film. Map of Europe shows locations of concentration camps in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovokia, Danzing, Denmark, France, Germany, Isle of Jersey, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland and Yugoslavia. At Leipsig Concentration Camp, there are piles of dead bodies, and many living Russian, Czechoslovakian, Polish and French prisoners. At Penig Concentration Camp, Hungarian women and others display wounds. Doctors treat patients and U.S. Red Cross workers move them to German Air Force hospital where their former captors are forced to care for them.
R.2: At Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, inspection team composed of Allied military leaders, members of U.S. Congress and local townspeople tours camp. Among them are Generals Dwight David Eisenhower, Supreme Headquaters Allied Expeditionary Forces commander; Omar Nelson Bradley; and George S. Patten. General Eisenhower speaks with Congressmen. They see bodies heaped on grill at crematorium and Polish, Czechoslovakian, Russian, Belgian, German Jews and German political prisoners. Col. Heyden Sears, Combat Command A, 4th Armored Division commander, forces local townspeople to tour camp. U.S. officers arrive at Hadamar Concentration Camp, where Polish, Russian and German political and religious dissidents were murdered. Maj. Herman Boelke of U.S. War Crimes Investigation Team (WCIT) examines survivors. Bodies are exhumed from mass graves for examination, identification and burial. Four-man panel interviews facility director Dr. Waldman and chief male nurse Karl Wille.
R.3:At Breendonck Concentration Camp, Belgium, methods of torture are demonstrated. At Harlan Concentration Camp near Hannover, U.S. Red Cross aides Polish survivors. Allied troops and able-bodied survivors bury dead. At Arnstadt Concentration Camp, German villagers are forced to exhume Polish and Russian bodies from mass graves.
R.4: At Nordhausen Concentration Camp, there are piles of bodies. Troops treat, feed and remove survivors who are mainly Polish, Russian and French. At Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Navy Lt. Jack H. Taylor stands with fellow survivors and describes his capture, imprisonment and conditions at Mauthausen. Volunteers bathe victims.
R.5: At Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Army trucks arrive with aid for survivors. Piles of dead, mutilated and emaciated bodies. Some survivors among dead. Huge ovens and piles of bone ash on floor of crematorium. Civilians from nearby Weimar are forced to tour camp. They see exhibits of lampshades made of human skin, and two shrunken heads.
R.6: British commander of Royal Artillery describes conditions at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. German Army Schutzstaffel (SS) troops are forced to bury dead and aid survivors. Woman doctor, former prisoner, describes conditions in female section of camp. Belson commander Kramer is taken into custody. German guards bury dead. Bulldozer pushes piles of bodies into mass graves.
This movie is part of the collection: FedFlix
Producer: National Archives and Records Administration Language: English Keywords: archives.gov; public.resource.org
Creative Commons license: CC0 1.0 Universal


text:
In Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus plugged his crew's ears with wax to tune out the Sirens' song. He left his own ears unplugged, but he lashed himself to the mast to avoid making any regrettable decisions.
These days, though, it seems that many individual investors use the opposite tactic. Judging by the hatemail deluge that can follow bearish comments about some investors' darling stocks from past and present -- a few examples being Panera Bread
That's a big mistake.
You're just short!
This mentality isn't new. That's made clear in Thornton O'glove's Quality of Earnings, which was published in the 1980s -- before the Internet made so much information easily available to investors.
Even beyond frequent conflicts of interest often found on Wall Street, O'glove notes investors' tendencies to be overly optimistic and dismissive -- or, worse, infuriated -- by bearish takes on their favorite stocks.
Today's retail investors aren't the only guilty ones -- Wall Street isn't exempt. O'glove tells a story about one lonely analyst who sounded an alarm on Mattel back in the day:
[Daniel] Meade recalled a time when the entire investment fraternity was bullish on Mattel, and he put out a sell recommendation. "Everyone dumped on me. They accused me of being short the stock and characterized my analysis as perverted."
The stock declined from $38 to $2, which certainly proved Meade's bearish premise at the time.
O'glove also writes about the tendency of newsletter writers to capitalize on this desire for upbeat news and the promise of eye-popping growth:
Letter writers know that their readers are always looking for inside information on special situations, those undiscovered growth stocks which will double overnight. They don't want to hear about an overblown issue that should be avoided or shorted. If they don't own it, they won't buy, and if they do, they have an emotional commitment and probably won't sell.
He also points out another thing to bear in mind -- as much as many of us find "shorts" distasteful, they're part of an efficient market. O'glove argues that without short interest, stock prices would only reflect optimism and not all the information at the crowd's disposal. It may be a bit uncomfortable to us, but it's not illogical, either.
Read, discuss, invest
Of course, I'm not glossing over the fact that The Motley Fool offers newsletter services. However, nobody in Fooldom gets shut down for an opinion, whether or not it agrees with the crowd. (As long as you're not cussin', of course.)
In our Motley Fool Stock Advisor service, for instance, we feature a monthly "Dueling Fools" feature, in which co-advisors David and Tom Gardner take turns as bears and bulls. Subscribers go much further than happy talk, as well -- this is a service, including committed communities and a focus on investor education and tools.
It's everybody's responsibility to weigh the investment theses and formulate opinions, judgments, and buy decisions. The more opinions, the better.
We can agree to disagree ...
While I appreciated the overall message of O'glove's book, I didn't agree with everything he wrote. I disagree with his contention that individual investors aren't really part-owners of companies. Also, I disagree with his view that a dividend often means that a company's a no-growth stinker with few prospects (or is unable to determine the prospects it does have). Some surprisingly growth-oriented companies, such as Costco
Nevertheless, I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants to develop a more critical investing eye. And that's more crucial now than ever before: When the book was written, individual investors like us had very little choice but to rely on Wall Street analysts. With the Internet, we now have unprecedented access to information and opinions, in a time when it's clear that the crowd can help us all make more informed decisions and be better investors. So listen up -- it's a great time to be an investor.
You can join Motley Fool Stock Advisor free for 30 days with a no-risk trial. The Stock Advisor recommendations are beating the S&P 500 by more than 41 percentage points since the newsletter's inception in 2002. In addition to new ideas, a trial gives you access to back issues, discussion boards, tips, and tools. Click here for all the details.
This article was first published Sept. 15, 2007. It has been updated.
Alyce Lomax owns shares of Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway and Starbucks. Costco, Starbucks, and Berkshire Hathaway are Motley Fool Stock Advisor picks. Panera Bread is a Hidden Gems Pay Dirt recommendation. Sears Holding, Berkshire Hathaway, and Starbucks are Motley Fool Inside Value picks. The Fool has a disclosure policy that never says, "La-la-la, I can't hear you!"


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Mail for Yahoo: The Joy of Local Email Without the Client
Sep 25, 2013 5:00 AM PT
Mail for Yahoo! by Halfbit is available at the Mac App Store for US$1.99.
Since Marissa Mayer took the helm of Yahoo, one of her top priorities has been to keep two of the company's major properties relevant to people's digital lifestyles. One of those properties is Flickr; the other, Yahoo Mail.
To keep Flickr relevant, its app for the iPhone recently received an overhaul. Smartphone photography is hot and with its iOS revamp, Yahoo is offering worthy competition to programs like Instagram and Twitter.
With Yahoo Mail, the company faces a different problem. Yahoo has always been on the bleeding edge when comes to webmail interfaces -- steadily bringing desktop features to its online offering. What it needs is something to attract eyeballs and subsequently, new accounts to the service.
One way to do that is to take the browser out of webmail, as developer Xiaomeng Lu has done with Mail for Yahoo!
Good Use of Tabs
You may ask, why should I pay $1.99 for something I can get for free -- namely, Yahoo Mail? The answer is convenience.
The app places a mail icon on the Apple toolbar. Click it, and you're inside your Yahoo Mail account ready for action.
Yahoo Mail has a clean interface that doesn't look barren. It achieves that by using an attractive sans-serif typeface and colored toolbars and tabs.
Yahoo Mail's use of tabs is excellent. The tabs for your contacts and calendar are always displayed so you can get to them quickly.
In addition, when you open a message, it's automatically tabbed, allowing you to do other things in the program and quickly return to the open message.
To the left of the contacts and calendar tabs is a dynamic tab. It changes as you move the selector in a navigation pane on the left side of the interface window.
Easily Accessible Essentials
In the navigation pane are items for your in-box, drafts and sent messages, as well as spam. There's also a section for folders you can create for organizing messages, such as messages with photos or attachments in them, as well as a link to Yahoo Messenger and a notepad for creating notes on the fly.
All the common tools used for email are clearly located on a toolbar at the top of the mail window. There's a compose tool that lets you create communications in three ways: email, instant message or SMS text.
Then there are tools for replying, replying to all, forwarding messages, and moving emails to folders you've set up or to the spam or trash bin.
Since spam has always been a problem with all webmail systems, Yahoo conveniently includes a spam tool to report spam, phishing scams or a hacked Yahoo Mail account.
A number of other actions can be performed from the top toolbar through a dropdown action menu. You can mark a message read or unread, as well as star it for quick reference later. There are shortcut keys for those functions, too.
See What You Want
Within the action menu, you can set up filters for diverting messages to your folders and display the full header of a message.
Visual elements can be controlled from the action menu, too. For example, the width of the title line of a message can be made slim, wide (regular) or wider (relaxed).
In addition, you can choose where the preview pane appears -- right, bottom or not at all. The preview pane is where the content of messages are viewed.
Search, where Yahoo got its start, is also prominent on the interface. A search box for ferreting information from the Web or your email can be found above the tabs on the window.
All in all, Yahoo Mail provides you with all the email basics and Mail for Yahoo! gives you access to those basics very conveniently.
Webmail vs. Apple Mail
Of course, you have to realize, that Mail for Yahoo! is delivering a service to you that's designed to make money for Yahoo.
That means you're going to have ads constantly pushed at you. The ads appear in a small box below the navigation pane and in a pane on the right side of the interface.
Most of the ads are inoffensive -- like the ads for Chevy trucks -- but some are very cheesy, like the ones for singles in your home town commonly seen on Facebook.
Advertising isn't an issue with the alternatives to Yahoo Mail. They are local email clients. All Macs comes with one of those out of the box -- Apple Mail -- and it's a good program.
The problem with local mail clients is they can start to consume lots of disk space over time and, depending on what model and configuration of Mac you have, they can be a drag on performance.
Webmail can move a lot of that overhead to the Web, where it won't eat up your disk space or impact the performance of your Mac. So the trade-off may be worth it to some folks. For them, Mail for Yahoo! gives the added bonus of a webmail program that feels like a local email client without the drawbacks of a local email client.
Want to Suggest a Mac App for Review?
Is there a Mac app you'd like to suggest for review? Something you think other Mac users would love to know about? Something you find intriguing but are hesitant to buy?
Please send your ideas to me, and I'll consider them for a future Mac app review.
And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!


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FATCA Compliance — Preparing for the Challenges Ahead
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ("FATCA") is likely the most far-reaching statute to combat offshore tax evasion in recent history. FATCA generally mandates foreign financial institutions ("FFI") and non-financial foreign entities ("NFFE") to identify accounts owned by, or for the beneficial interest of, United States taxpayers to the Internal Revenue Service. The penalty for non-compliance is steep: a 30% withholding tax on certain payments.
This webcast provides an overview of FATCA and examines the legal and regulatory impacts on foreign financial institutions.
What You Will Learn:
--FATCA Overview
--The Law and IRS Guidance
--Practical Considerations
Who Should Attend:
Representatives from Compliance, Tax, Operations, Legal and Client Services from financial institutions. Also, in-house and outside counsel interested in or currently working on matters involving international tax, anti-money laundering or anti-corruption will benefit from this program.
Please join Richard Kando and Jeffrey Locke of Navigant Consulting, and Philip West, Esq., a partner at Steptoe and Johnson LLP, as they address these issues as well as your questions.
Jun 22 2011
70 mins
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Securities Litigation and Enforcement Channel
Navigating the Minefield of Dodd-Frank's Whistleblower Provisions (2019 Update)
Jan 13 2020
96 mins
F. Joseph Warin, John W.F. Chesley, Sean X. McKessy, Jim Barratt
The SEC's Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program continues to be a robust source of information driving the Commission's enforcement docket. In FY 2019, the Office of the Whistleblower received more than 5,000 whistleblower tips from 70 foreign nations and every U.S. state, handing out $60 million in cash awards in return. On top of that, Dodd-Frank-related litigation continues apace in the federal courts and legislative / regulatory responses to the Supreme Court's decision in Digital Realty Trust wind their way through the halls of Congress and the Commission. Together these trends provide the perfect storm for keeping in-house counsel and compliance professionals up at night.
Securities Docket is pleased to present its eighth annual webcast on Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions. This year's panelists once again include leading practitioners in all aspects of Dodd-Frank whistleblower litigation and investigations, including F. Joseph Warin and John W.F. Chesley of Gibson Dunn, former SEC Office of the Whistleblower Chief Sean X. McKessy of Phillips & Cohen, and Jim Barratt of Ankura Consulting.
This free 90-minute webcast will include a dynamic and participatory discussion on the statutory and regulatory framework of Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions, their interpretation by the SEC Office of the Whistleblower and federal courts, and provide participants with practical tips for navigating the minefield of whistleblower complaints.
Watch now
SEC Enforcement: Current Developments and What's Ahead for 2020
Dec 10 2019
68 mins
Bill McLucas, Doug Davison, Marty Wilczynski
In this annual webcast, our panel will discuss key SEC enforcement issues from 2019, now, and what to expect ahead. Among other items, the panel will address:
• enforcement priorities;
• current legal and policy issues arising from enforcement cases; and
• developments in ICO's; cyber-related matters; insider trading; FCPA; financial reporting; remedies and sanctions; and the Whistleblower Program.
Please join panelists Bill McLucas from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Doug Davison from Linklaters; and Marty Wilczynski from Ankura Consulting as they address these and other key developments in SEC enforcement.
Watch now
Leveraging Data Analytics to Minimize Risk in the Financial Services Industry
Mar 25 2019
59 mins
Joshua Dennis, Ellen Lafferty, Dan Ward, A.J. Bosco
The financial services industry generates and records massive amounts of transactional, operational, and other business data on a daily basis. Yet, the challenge financial institutions face is how best to leverage myriad data sources to effectively mitigate business and regulatory risk.
On March 25, Securities Docket presents a panel of industry and data analytics experts to help brokers, dealers, financial services leaders and their counsel turn data into valuable insights to spot and prevent fraud. Join Joshua Dennis, StoneTurn; Ellen Lafferty, HSBC; and Dan Ward, Ropes & Gray for this thought-provoking panel moderated by A.J. Bosco. Participants will gain an actionable understanding of how data analytics can be used to uncover useful information, suggest conclusions and support sound decision-making in the financial services industry.
Watch now
SEC Enforcement: Current Developments and What's Ahead for 2019
Mar 1 2019
63 mins
Bill McLucas, Doug Davison, Marty Wilczynski, Steve Richards
In this annual webcast, our panel will discuss key SEC enforcement issues from 2018, now, and what to expect ahead. Among other items, the panel will address:
• enforcement priorities;
• current legal and policy issues arising from enforcement cases; and
• developments in ICO's; cyber-related matters; financial reporting; remedies and sanctions; and the Whistleblower Program.
Please join panelists Bill McLucas from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Doug Davison from Linklaters; and Marty Wilczynski and Steve Richards from Ankura Consulting as they address these and other key developments in SEC enforcement.
Watch now
The Securities Class Action Landscape:A Look Back at 2018 & What's Ahead in 2019
Feb 21 2019
49 mins
Jeff Lubitz, Stefan Boettrich
2018 was a watershed year in the securities litigation marketplace. In addition to the record number of newly-filed cases, there was significant growth in the dollar value of settlements, both in the U.S. and across the world. During calendar year 2018, 441 new cases were filed in U.S. federal courts, plus dozens more in state courts and in countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The value of settlements included significant sums in the U.S., including Petrobras ($3 billion) and Wells Fargo ($480 million), plus more than a dozen non-U.S. settlements led by Ageas (f/k/a Fortis - €1.3 billion).
As we enter the new year, 2019 will likely see similarly robust activity. Already, dozens of newly filed cases are in the court system and the amount of pending litigation is substantial, with a total of more than $1 trillion in Investor Losses (NERA's measure of case size). Additionally, a few noteworthy settlements were finalized in early 2019, including Wal-Mart ($160 million) and Cobalt International ($146 million).
This webinar will be valuable to all financial and legal professionals practicing in this area. Attendees will benefit from ISS and NERA's timely insights into the complex and rapidly-growing securities litigation environment.
Hosting the event will be ISS Securities Class Action Services and NERA Economic Consulting. Speakers will include Jeff Lubitz, Executive Director at ISS, and Stefan Boettrich, Senior Consultant at NERA. Attendees will gain additional insight as Mr. Lubitz will discuss ISS Securities Class Action Services' latest report, "The Top 100 U.S. Class Action Settlements of All-Time," while Mr. Boettrich will highlight data from NERA's "Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2018 Full-Year Review."
Watch now
Navigating the Minefield of Dodd-Frank's Whistleblower Provisions (2018 Update)
Jan 16 2019
97 mins
F. Joseph Warin, John W.F. Chesley, Sean X. McKessy, Jim Barratt
2018 was a record-breaking year for the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower. The Office announced the largest whistleblower award, received the highest number of whistleblower tips, and awarded more dollars in 2018 than in all prior years combined.
Meanwhile, in Digital Realty Trust v. Somers, the Supreme Court limited the definition of "whistleblower" under Dodd-Frank to a person who has reported a suspected securities violation to the SEC. In response, the SEC has proposed amendments to Rule 21F-2, along with other proposed changes to the claim review process and the award determination process. These trends and changes provide the perfect storm for keeping in-house counsel and compliance professionals up at night.
Securities Docket is pleased to present its seventh annual webcast on Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions. This year's panelists once again include leading practitioners in all aspects of Dodd-Frank whistleblower litigation and investigations, including F. Joseph Warin and John W.F. Chesley of Gibson Dunn, former SEC Office of the Whistleblower Chief Sean X. McKessy of Phillips & Cohen, and Jim Barratt of Ankura Consulting. This free 90-minute webcast will include a dynamic and participatory discussion on the statutory and regulatory framework of Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions, their interpretation by the SEC Office of the Whistleblower and federal courts, and provide participants with practical tips for navigating the minefield of whistleblower complaints.
Watch now
What Should Crypto Funds Expect From The SEC Going Forward?
Dec 3 2018
65 mins
Boris Richard (FTI Consulting), Jeff Bandman (Bandman Advisors), Ivana Rouse (Akin Gump), Peter Altman (Akin Gump)
This webinar will examine the regulatory and enforcement landscape facing crypto-asset investment managers amidst surging ICO and STO issuance and a sharply increased scrutiny by the SEC of crypto issuers and their token offerings, as well as broker-dealers and digital asset managers.
Our expert panel will address regulatory and compliance issues that crypto funds often encounter, including SEC registration, requirements for qualified custody, valuation of crypto assets for reporting purposes, and fiduciary due diligence best practices.
The panel will also provide guidance on recent SEC enforcement actions against crypto asset managers and discuss expectations of the future SEC stance with respect to crypto funds.
The Webinar will cover key issues including:
-- Does the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 apply to crypto funds, including SEC registration obligations and compliance with the Custody Rule?
-- What is the current state of digital asset custody and what are the future developments in the qualified institutional custody solutions for cryptocurrencies?
-- How should the manager of a crypto fund value its assets, including for the purposes of handling redemptions?
-- What are the current independent third party valuation advisor approaches for valuing digital tokens?
-- How can the manager of a crypto fund satisfy its fiduciary obligations with respect to diligence of digital assets and counterparties involved?
-- Based on the recent empirical evidence with regard to ICOs and the performance of exchange-traded digital tokens, what are the key due diligence parameters that a crypto fund manager should assess?
-- How is the SEC stance on cryptocurrencies in general and crypto asset managers in particular evolving? and
--What recent SEC enforcement actions with respect to crypto asset managers have we seen and what approach in the future is the SEC likely to take towards crypto funds in terms of examination and enforcement?
Watch now
Corporate Board Oversight of Cybersecurity: A Blueprint for Success
Oct 17 2018
67 mins
John Reed Stark, David R. Fontaine
The Gist:
What cyber-related actions should corporate boards be undertaking and more importantly, what should corporate secretaries, general counsels, outside lawyers and other corporate advisors be telling their corporate board clients regarding cyber? This webcast offers, for the first time, a realistic, concrete, pragmatic, detailed, sensible and effective vision for corporate board behavior, designed to tackle head-on the mounting and potentially devastating risks that flow from cyber-attacks and other data security incidents.
Some More Specifics:
With cyber-incidents capturing headlines around the world with increasing frequency, businesses and regulators have come to recognize that cyber-incidents are not a passing trend, but rather in our digitally connected economy, an embedded risk that is here to stay.
Our panel will address issues including how cybersecurity risk has clearly elevated itself to the top of corporate agendas; the implications of the SEC's 2018 Statement on Cybersecurity Interpretive Guidance as it relates to the duties and responsibilities of corporate boards and corporate officers; why corporate directors must now must consider themselves "on notice" when it comes to cybersecurity; and why corporate boards must now take tangible steps to translate their high-level concerns around cybersecurity risks into specific behaviors and precise actions that are identifiable, capable of being readily implemented and heavily documented.
Please join John Reed Stark, former Chief of the SEC's Office of Internet Enforcement, now President of John Reed Stark Consulting LLC and David R. Fontaine, former CEO of Kroll, now Senior Advisor to Duff and Phelps (following Kroll's acquisition by Duff and Phelps), for this timely and relevant webcast.
Watch now
Financial Statements 101: Emerging Trends and Accounting Principles for Lawyers
Jun 29 2018
96 mins
Jeff Litvak, Jason Tolmaire
This webcast will cover issues that lawyers often encounter in commercial litigation with reviewing and understanding financial statements. Our panel of accounting experts will cover fundamental accounting concepts and components that are the basis of the financial statement reporting- the statement of financial position (balance sheet), the statement of profit and loss (income statement) and the cash flow statement.
Our panel will also show how to derive meaningful conclusions about the performance of a business through financial ratio analysis and trend analysis.
In addition to understanding and analyzing financial statements, the webcast will highlight recent changes in generally accepted accounting principles that will affect the presentation of information contained in the financial statements.
Please join Jeff Litvak, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA and Jason Tolmaire, CPA/ABV, both of FTI Consulting's Forensic & Litigation segment, as they address these issues as well as your questions.
Watch now
The Bribery Act, Chapter 7: The Americanisation of UK Corporate Crime
Jun 28 2018
62 mins
Vivian Robinson QC, Barry Vitou, Richard Kovalevsky QC, Julian Glass
The Americanisation of the SFO!
7 years after the entry into force of the Bribery Act, this webcast will look at how far the UK has come. Our panel of expert UK attorneys and consultants will look back over the last 12 months and forecast where we see developments in the year to come.
Our panel will cover key issues including:
--What next with new Director Lisa Osofsky?
--DPA's, and what next?
--House of Lords review into the Bribery Act – what are they looking at and will anything change?
--Privilege: With the ENRC appeal about to be heard and a couple of new cases in the last 6 months, what is the position right now? Are witness notes protected, or not?
--And much more!
Please join Barry Vitou, Shareholder and Head of London White Collar Defence and Special Investigations, Greenberg Traurig; Julian Glass, Senior Managing Director, Forensic & Litigation Consulting, FTI Consulting; Vivian Robinson, Partner, McGuire Woods; and Richard Kovalevsky QC - 2 Bedford Row for this free webcast in which we'll address these issues and your questions.
Watch now
The Death Knell for ICOs and Crypto Exchanges?
May 30 2018
66 mins
John Reed Stark, David Fontaine
The crypto-financing landscape, still barely in its infancy, is caught up in the perfect storm. Initial coin offerings (ICOs), a term meant to describe the offer and sale of digital assets issued and distributed on a blockchain, as well as crypto-trading platforms, where ICO tokens and coins trade like common stock, are under greater scrutiny than ever before – and with good reason.
•Congress has held hearings about crypto-related frauds, expressing grave concerns and demanding regulatory and law enforcement action ASAP;
•The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is on a crypto-enforcement rampage filing new cases every week and remains poised to bring many, many more;
•The U.S. Department of Justice is arresting crypto-related lawbreakers, locking up crypto-promotors and affiliates for a variety of felonious conduct;
•Several U.S. States have initiated crypto-related round-ups and prosecutions, including the New York State Attorney General, who has issued a comprehensive and sweeping first round of inquiry to a broad range of crypto-trading platforms;
•The U.S. Treasury Department and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have begun a slew of regulatory and enforcement actions pertaining to the litany of anti-money laundering (AML) responsibilities and requirements of crypto-related businesses; and
•The Internal Revenue Service has announced its intention to make sure all crypto-associated taxable events are fully paid and properly recorded.
This webcast explores, in plain English, the various U.S. statutes, rules and regulations which apply to the crypto-marketplace – and how the application of both old and new laws should ultimately shut down all ICOs and crypto-trading platforms involving U.S. investors. Discussion during this one-hour session will focus primarily on the extensive catalogue of applicable SEC and AML regulations.
Watch now
Securities Regulation of Digital Assets
Apr 26 2018
57 mins
Alma Angotti, Gino Soave, Martine Beamon and Jai Massari
As a follow-up to our April 4th, 2018 webinar ("Anti-Money Laundering Regulation of Digital Assets"), Alma Angotti, Managing Director and Global Investigations & Compliance Practice Co-Leader and Gino Soave, Director at Navigant; and Martine Beamon and Jai Massari, Partners at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP will examine the impact of the federal securities laws on digital assets.
Topics to be covered include:
-- The SEC's jurisdiction over digital assets and activities involving digital assets
-- The recent focus on the role of intermediaries and gatekeepers in digital asset markets
-- The state of play of enforcement involving digital assets and how the SEC's approach can guide development of an effective compliance program
Watch now
The First 48 Hours: Incident Response Strategies Following a Cyber Incident
Apr 24 2018
53 mins
Luke Tenery, Ted Theisen, Christopher Todd Doss, Daron M. Hartvigsen
This webcast analyzes the first 48 hours following a cybersecurity incident, and lays out incident response strategies that facilitate critical decision making and enable victim companies to rapidly recover.
Having evolved significantly over the past several years, cyber incident response has moved beyond just quantifying the data exposure and hunting for end-point threats. New techniques such as user behaviour analytics and cloud identity management are two examples of game changers in modern incident response. Traditional hard drive forensics were historically the primary source of evidence during a cyber investigation and are now just one component of the effort where broader crisis management, threat pursuit, and information assurances take on prominent roles in the response.
Join Ankura's senior cybersecurity experts as they share their respective decades of experience in leading organizations through some of the most complex incident response engagements. Learn valuable insights into new approaches in IR that are imperative in today's initial response in the First 48 hours of a significant cybersecurity incident.
What you'll learn:
--What are the primary risks and efforts that the most elite incident responders are concerned about in the First 48 hours of a significant security incident?
--What are the key questions inside and outside counsel are asking cybersecurity experts in the First 48 hours of a significant security incident?
--What are some of the new and emergent approaches to cyber IR to better providing better assurances to the victim organization?
--Where are some organizations missing opportunities for greater assurances during the response in the First 48?
Watch now
The Fate of ALJs and Other Critical Issues Presented in Lucia v. SEC
Apr 10 2018
68 mins
Britt Whitesell Biles, Meryl D. Grenadier
This seminar will analyze Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, in which the Supreme Court will address the constitutionality of the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") Administrative Law Judges. Oral argument in this case is set for April 23, 2018. Among other items, this session will cover:
· An overview of the SEC administrative process, including the genesis of the constitutional challenges to the forum and the changes that the SEC made to its Rules of Practice in response to those constitutional challenges;
· A review of the key Appointments Clause jurisprudence leading up to Lucia;
· An analysis of the potential outcomes of Lucia; and
· A practical discussion of the potential impact of Lucia on SEC administrative proceedings, whether pending or already adjudicated.
Please join Britt Whitesell Biles and Meryl D. Grenadier from Stein Mitchell Cipollone Beato & Missner LLP as they discuss this important Supreme Court case and its potential impact on SEC administrative proceedings. Ms. Biles recently joined Stein Mitchell from the SEC, where she served as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the Division of Enforcement. At the SEC, Ms. Biles investigated and litigated securities enforcement actions, including administrative proceedings. In 2017, Ms. Biles received the SEC Chairman's Award for Excellence for leading the litigation in the SEC's groundbreaking law firm hacking case in which Chinese nationals were charged with securities fraud for trading on the basis of material nonpublic information that was stolen from law firms when their networks were hacked.
Watch now
Anti-Money Laundering Regulation of Digital Assets
Apr 4 2018
68 mins
Alma Angotti, Gino Soave, Claiborne (Clay) Porter, Jason Somensatto
Within recent months, U.S. and international regulators have been moving swiftly to regulate cryptocurrency in various ways. On February 13, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, reiterated its position that cryptocurrency exchanges are required to register as Money Service Businesses (MSB). The requirement to register as an MSB triggers the obligation to develop, document an anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions compliance program.
In a panel discussion, Alma Angotti, Managing Director and Global Investigations & Compliance Practice Co-Leader at Navigant; Gino Soave, a Director in Navigant's Global Investigations & Compliance Practice; Claiborne (Clay) Porter, Managing Director and Head of Investigations at Navigant; and Jason Somensatto, Of Counsel at Orrick discuss the practical effects of FinCEN's position and how companies in this industry can ensure that they don't run afoul of AML and sanctions regulation and enforcement.
Topics to be covered include:
-- Determining whether your organization should be registered as an MSB
-- Developing, implementing and maintaining an effective AML and sanctions compliance program
-- How to address AML and sanctions compliance in an ever changing regulatory environment
Watch now
Preparing for the New Revenue Recognition Rules & Other Corp. Accounting Updates
Mar 15 2018
62 mins
Cathy Connolly, Jonathan Shapiro
The first quarterly reporting deadline for public companies is quickly approaching, and that reporting for the first time will include significant disclosures related to the newly-implemented accounting standards. By January 2018, companies were expected to update revenue recognition rules for all revenue arising from contracts with customers, which requires not only a change to financial statements, but related disclosures, business processes and internal controls over financial reporting.
In a panel discussion, Cathy Connolly of StoneTurn and Jonathan Shapiro of Baker Botts will focus on the changes brought about by the new rules, and address the questions they raise.
Topics to be covered include:
-- What types of issues may be brought to light? From what sources (internal, SEC, other)?
-- How does a company and its counsel respond?
-- What is the board's response?
-- How can the key problems be quickly identified, and an effective response, including a remediation plan, be implemented?
Watch now
One Year Later: French Anti-Corruption Law (Sapin II) Update
Feb 27 2018
63 mins
Xavier Oustalniol, Daniel Kadar, Dominique Laymand
Sapin II, the new French anti-corruption law, has been in effect for nearly a year now. The new law required companies with operations in France to implement compliance programs, created a new French anti-bribery agency, and created a judicial agreement similar in structure to the U.S. deferred prosecution agreement ("DPA").
In a panel discussion, Xavier Oustalniol of StoneTurn, Daniel Kadar of Reed Smith and Dominique Laymand of Ipsen will provide an update on how these changes in French law are impacting companies and whistleblowers.
Topics to be covered include:
-- A Look at the Anti-Corruption Landscape
-- How are Affected Companies Handling the New Compliance Rules?
-- Quantifying the Anticipated Impact of the Law in Years to Come
Watch now
A Review of SEC Enforcement in 2017 and What's Ahead for 2018
Jan 18 2018
63 mins
Bill McLucas, Doug Davison, Marty Wilczynski, Steve Richards
In this annual webcast, our panel will analyze key SEC enforcement developments from 2017, and will discuss what to expect in 2018. Among other items, the panel will address:
• new SEC leadership and its new priorities;
• current legal and policy issues arising from cases involving the FCPA, financial fraud, insider trading, and investment management; and
• developments in the Whistleblower Program, the new Cyber Unit and Retail Strategy Task Force, and other ongoing initiatives.
Please join panelists Bill McLucas from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Doug Davison from Linklaters; and Marty Wilczynski and Steve Richards from Ankura Consulting as they address these and other developments in SEC enforcement.
Watch now
Navigating Dodd-Frank's Whistleblower Provisions and the FCPA (2017 Update)
Dec 7 2017
97 mins
F. Joseph Warin, John W.F. Chesley, Greta B. Williams, Sean X. McKessy, Jim Barratt
In the midst of reported declines in securities enforcement, 2017 was yet another record year for reports to the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower. In the six-year history of Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions, the SEC has turned tens of thousands of tips into nearly a billion dollars in enforcement actions, returning over $160 million of the pockets of whistleblowers. In 2017, the SEC continued to financially reward those who come forward with information concerning potential securities violations as well as take aggressive enforcement actions against those alleged to have discouraged whistleblowing through retaliation or restrictive severance agreements. On top of all this, the federal courts continue to teem with civil anti-retaliation claims and the Supreme Court has agreed to decide the foundational question of whether Dodd-Frank's anti-retaliation provisions apply to those who have not reported to the SEC.
These trends, coupled with dynamic developments in FCPA enforcement, provide the perfect storm for keeping in-house counsel and compliance professionals up at night.
Securities Docket is pleased to present its sixth annual webcast on the intersection of Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions and the FCPA. This free 90-minute webcast will include a dynamic and participatory discussion on the statutory and regulatory framework of Dodd-Frank's whistleblower provisions, discuss their interpretation by the SEC Office of the Whistleblower and federal courts, analyze their intersection with the FCPA, and provide participants with practical tips for navigating the minefield of whistleblower complaints.
Watch now
The Growing Impact of Corporate Investigations:Trends in SEC and DOJ Enforcement
Nov 9 2017
69 mins
Rex Homme, Catherine Moreno
Internal investigations have become a much higher-stakes issue for companies of all sizes. The SEC filed a record high number of enforcement actions in 2016. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has expanded its interest in internal investigations from the "what" and "why" to also include an emphasis on "how" companies conduct them. Now, the two agencies are more actively coordinating on investigations involving accounting fraud and FCPA issues.
In a panel discussion, Rex Homme of StoneTurn and Catherine Moreno of Wilson Sonsini will focus on the impact of heightened scrutiny on corporate compliance programs, best practices for responding to government inquiries and how to avoid enforcement actions.
Topics to be covered include:
-- Data Analytics and Fraud Detection
-- Recognizing "New" Types of Fraud
* Vendor, supplier and procurement fraud
* CEO fraud and other cyber scams
-- Developing a Response Plan
Watch now
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Title: FATCA Compliance — Preparing for the Challenges Ahead
Live at:
Jun 22 2011 4:00 pm
Presented by: Richard Kando, Jeffrey Locke, Philip West, Esq.,
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FATCA Compliance — Preparing for the Challenges Ahead
Richard Kando, Jeffrey Locke, Philip West, Esq.,
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70 mins


text:
Tumbleweed Houses necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 187 diseños de 56 diseñadores freelance.
Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is the leader in building and designing Tiny Houses. Founded by Jay Shafer, the guru of the small house movement.
Prize money: $150 paid to top prize of our choice. $100 paid to 2nd prize of our choice and $50 paid to 3rd prize of our choice. (2nd and 3rd prizes to be paid via paypal).
We will use google website optimizer to test the 3 top designs on our website. The design with the highest click through rate will also receive the plans to build a Tumbleweed Tiny House of their choice (a value worth up to $859). For full contest rules regarding the free set of plans, visit http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/eve…o-contest/
You can visit http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com to get a sense of what we do. Our audience is everyone who visits our site.
The logo must be horizontal or square. No vertical shape logos.
Must include the text
"Tumbleweed Tiny House Company" or "Tumbleweed Houses"
Top 3 designs must be submitted on a black background and on a white background. The design itself can be in color.
File format for winning designs to be in PSD or EPS.
You can use any photos from our website.
High quality pics are available at http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/pre…-pictures/
Create a logo using one of our 3 favorite designs: the Gothic window, the Valley Ford Rush Minute, or the Sunset & House.
Or create a long horizontal logo showing a scene of tiny houses. I've put up a really bad sample of what that might look like.
I've attached several files. The header.jpg and logo.jpg are our former logos. The pictures are some of our best photos. as well as the ones at the link listed above.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
NEWS | September 6, 2013
MAVEN Paces Through Prelaunch Prep
A U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft delivered MAVEN to NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 2, kicking off prelaunch preparations. Shortly after the spacecraft arrived in Kennedy's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, its parabolic high gain antenna and science instrumentation were installed.
On Aug. 13, MAVEN was powered on for the first time since reaching the Florida spaceport.
With launch only 11 weeks away, the pace of prelaunch activities has intensified. The MAVEN spacecraft and its two sets of power-producing solar arrays have been going through a series of checkouts and tests. Each solar cell was examined, cleaned and repaired if necessary, and testing of the arrays continues, leading up to reintegration with the spacecraft later this month.
Once in space, MAVEN must be able to orient itself, aim its instruments in the right direction, carry out steering maneuvers to communicate with Earth and stay on its Mars-bound course. Before sending the spacecraft on its way, the processing team must verify critical systems to ensure the spacecraft will be able to perform these tasks during its journey. MAVEN's steering thrusters and star-tracker guidance system have been tested and the final flight software is installed.
While MAVEN continues through its prelaunch paces, its ride to space is undergoing its own preparations for liftoff. The first and second stages of the Atlas V rocket arrived at Florida's Port Canaveral on Aug. 26 aboard United Launch Alliance's barge, the Delta Mariner.
Both stages were trucked from the port to a hangar at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center, or ASOC, on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In late September, the stages will be moved to nearby Space Launch Complex 41 for stacking, and the protective payload fairing will arrive from its manufacturing location in Harlingen, Texas.
When the MAVEN spacecraft is fully tested and ready for flight, it will be tucked into the payload fairing, transported to the launch complex and placed atop the Atlas V to await the start of NASA's next mission to Mars.
By Anna Heiney
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center


text:
Gynecomastia(redirected from Adolescent gynecomastia)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical.
Abnormal enlargement of the mammary glands in the male.
excessive unilateral or bilateral enlargement of the mammary glands in males, so that they sometimes resemble female glands. Temporary, mild gynecomastia often occurs in adolescent males. Pronounced gynecomastia is one of the symptoms of primary diseases of the endocrine glands, especially the gonads. Patients develop secondary female sex characteristics (feminine pelvis, hips, and voice), lose facial hair, and suffer sexual disturbances. Gynecomastia can also develop in cases of liver diseases (cirrhosis), because of disturbances in estrogen metabolism. Treatment involves elimination of the main disease and sometimes surgery.


text:
Here is a post for the philosophers of religion amongst you. Can we rule out an evil god on the grounds that the world is not nearly evil enough? Of course we can. But then why can't we similarly rule out a good god on the grounds that the world isn't nearly good enough?
Back in 2011 I debated philosopher and Christian apologist William Lane Craig on the existence of God (link). I presented the evidential problem of evil as my main argument against the existence of God. In particular, I pointed out that, for almost the entire two hundred thousand year sweep of human history, one third to a half of each generation died, usually horribly, before reaching their fifth birthday. This caused immense suffering to both all those kids and also their parents who had to watch helpless as their children were killed on an industrial scale.
That evil is certainly 'inscrutable' in the sense that we can see no good reason why God would allow it. This and much of the other evil we see around us strikes many of us as 'gratuitous': we suppose there is no good God-justifying reason for it. And God, if he exists, won't allow gratuitous evils. So it seems to me we can reasonably rule out an all-powerful all-good God on the grounds that the world just ain't good enough.


text:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks advanced modestly on Monday in light trading in one of the year's quietest sessions on the day before the presidential election.
Whatever the outcome of the race between incumbent President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, the election's resolution will finally end the uncertainty that has kept the market stagnant for the past few weeks.
"No one's going to make big bets today," said Perry Piazza, director of investment strategy at Contango Capital Advisors in San Francisco.
Just 5.16 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT on Monday, below this year's average daily volume of 6.5 billion.
"<The market> has been directionless over the last few weeks because of what fiscal and tax policy looks like next year. You could argue that just having the uncertainty behind us could lead to a bit of a relief rally," Piazza said.
The Nasdaq was the strongest of the three major U.S. stock indexes, helped by a rally in Apple Inc (AAPL.O), the most valuable publicly traded U.S. company. Apple's stock rose 1.4 percent to close at $584.62. The stock has fallen 17 percent from its closing high of $705.07 on September 21.
Once the election is over, the market will turn to the "fiscal cliff," the $600 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts that could hit the economy hard in 2013 unless Congress comes to an agreement that will soften the blow.
"I guess, academically, you could convince yourself a president doesn't generally doesn't have that much influence over the economy near-term, but the fact remains, they could impact the market," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
A budget crisis in the United States could hamper growth around the world. On Sunday, economic leaders pressed the United States to avert the fiscal cliff in the interest of avoiding a large-scale economic slowdown.
Another drag on trading volume was the residual impact of Hurricane Sandy, which has left about 30,000 to 40,000 Americans homeless. The superstorm wreaked havoc on infrastructure and housing in the Northeast.
"I think Sandy is still affecting volume a little bit," Piazza said. "Folks we deal with in New York seem to be back at work now, but they were out most of the week last week, and still have other things on their minds."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI advanced 19.28 points, or 0.15 percent, to end at 13,112.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 3.06 points, or 0.22 percent, to 1,417.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gained 17.53 points, or 0.59 percent, to close at 2,999.66.
The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, Wall Street's favorite barometer of investor anxiety, rose 4.72 percent - a relatively big move compared with the S&P 500 - to end Monday's session at 18.42.
"It's just a few people taking positions ahead of the election, to protect themselves against a pullback," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. "I think this will go on tomorrow as well," adding that he believes the market will be flat while the VIX is likely to show "a bigger move, as it's just the nature of hedging ahead of big news like the election."
The PHLX semiconductor index .SOX rose 1.6 percent and bolstered the Nasdaq.
An index of housing-related shares .HGX gained 1.8 percent.
In the energy sector, the S&P energy index .GSPE gained 0.7 percent following a gain in crude oil futures prices and third-quarter earnings from two major energy companies.
Transocean Ltd (RIG.N) RIGN.VX, which operates the world's largest offshore oil drilling fleet, gained 5.6 percent to $48.64, a day after the company reported a higher-than-expected adjusted profit for the third quarter. <ID:L1E8M50DD>
Shares of Southern Co (SO.N), the second-largest U.S. power company, fell 2.5 percent to $44.62 after Southern posted third-quarter earnings.
The S&P utilities index .GSPU, down 1.66 percent, was the worst performing of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors a week after superstorm Sandy hit New York City and surrounding areas.
Shares of Time Warner Cable TWC.N, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, lost 6.4 percent to $91.93 after the company reported a quarterly profit that missed estimates as it lost more video subscribers than expected.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc (BMRN.O) surged 31.2 percent to $49.07 after the company said a late-stage trial of its experimental drug for a rare genetic disorder could improve patients' walking ability when the medicine is administered weekly. The rally in BioMarin's stock helped drive the Nasdaq biotech index .NBI up 1.7 percent.
Despite the light volume on Monday, the market's breadth was positive. Advancers slightly outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of 15 to 14. On the Nasdaq, about three stocks rose for every two that fell.
Reporting by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Angela Moon; Editing by Jan Paschal


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Music writer Chad Berndtson picks the good, the better and the best of 2008.
My favorite albums of 2008 and a recap of the music year with a few superlatives:
BEST NOBLE FAILURE: Kanye West's ``808s & Heartbreak'' is a bold overreach – an attempted (and yes, failed) marriage of confessional, arty hip-hop that contains only minimal rapping and, well, is still impressive in its ambition.
BEST COOL IT WITH THE PUNCTUATION, PLEASE: Los Campesinos! and Portugal. The Man. Great on the ears, hell on copy editors.
BEST REUNION NEWS: I'd like to go all hipster on you and say Boss Hog or something, and I'd be betraying my fellow Jamband Nation ambassadors if I didn't admit the upcoming Phish reunion was completely titillating news. But the Faces tour? With the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea potentially on bass? Just put up the dates already, guys. I'll be there.
BEST OUT OF MOTHBALLS: For anyone who's always loved the country-rock side of Tom Petty, a mini-revival of his long lost band Mudcrutch – complete with album – was manna from heaven. All we need's an East Coast follow-up to those few West Coast dates you did, Tom. Ahem.
BEST SECOND ACT: Joan Osborne was big in the last decade, telling us God was one of us and such. She faded into obscurity, battled back to niche appeal with gigs with the Funk Brothers, the Holmes Brothers, the reconstituted (Grateful) Dead and others, and this year released the excellent ``Little Wild One.'' Welcome back, Joan.
BEST COVER: Cat Power's reworking of the cheatin' hearts standard ``Dark End of the Street'' is great, and My Morning Jacket in concert made stunningly soulful work of, of all things, Erykah Badu's ``Tyrone.'' But when you hear Woodstock icon Richie Havens tackle Jackson Browne's ``Lives in the Balance'' (with slide guitar accompaniment from Derek Trucks) on Havens' latest album, ``Nobody Left to Crown,'' the contest is over.
BORN IN THE USA AWARD FOR BEST POLITICAL NO-YOU-DON'T: Speaking of Jackson Browne, he was among a slew of artists telling the John McCain campaign ``no frickin' way'' with regard to appropriating his material (in this case ``Running On Empty.'')
CLIPSE AWARD FOR HIPSTER HIP-HOP: The Knux. Rather than your kids, ask your indie rock pals about this one instead.
BEST GETTING BACK TO WHAT YOU'RE GOOD AT: After the Springsteen-aping mess of 2006's ``Sam's Town,'' the Killers returned this year with ``Day & Age,'' restoring the danceable, pop cheeseball charm that made ``Mr. Brightside'' and ``Somebody Told Me'' so tasty.
BEST PROOF OF CHICKS, ROCKING: Britney's return? Pretentious Madonna? Surely, you jest. We'll take the hairstanding punk and shoegaze madness of Brooklyn's Vivian Girls, whose gossamer harmonies over a sandstorm of guitar squall and hammering drums will both steal your heart and strip the paint off your car.
I'LL STILL SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE AWARD: Tina Turner. Make way.
BEST INDIE-ROCK MARKETING: Blogs? Yeah, if you read 'em. And sure, soundtrack appearances in otherwise forgettable films like ``Mr. Foe'' and ``Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist'' are doing much for the profiles of indie rock bands like Bishop Allen and Sons & Daughters. But the indie rock-to-the-mainstream tastemaker remains Apple, whose iPod commercials had us all humming Feist's ``1,2,3,4'' last year and this year brought us Chairlift's ``Bruises'' (you know, ``I will do handstands for you''?).
MOST IMPORTANT NEW MUSIC MEDIUM: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. What's going to teach your kids the history of rock 'n' roll faster? That scratched up collection of vinyl and CDs you keep in the basement – or their fleet thumbs?
BEST EXCUSE FOR LINER NOTES: Have you seen that manifesto – the studios in double digits, the careful wording, the galaxy of b.s. – occupying the sleeves for Axl Guns N' Roses' ``Chinese Democracy?'' Good reading, dude! Oh, the music itself? Eh. It's OK. Yeah, epic. Overindulged. Can I get my Dr. Pepper now?
BEST SECOND ACT 2: His successes as frontman for Hootie and the Blowfish fade further into memory every year. But beneath Darius Rucker's pop-rock acuity has apparently long existed a bona fide country singer waiting for a little nurturing, and Rucker's second solo album, ``Learn to Live'' is a marvel.
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD: Speaking of country, it's tough to argue with both the enormous fan adoration and impressive critical accolades bestowed on Taylor Swift. Why? Have a listen to ``Fearless,'' and if you're still unwilling to tip your hat to Swift just because she's 19 and the new jewel of the Nashville country-pop establishment (for better and for worse), then you're in denial.
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T: You're a country fan, or you know one, who's beyond jaded and needs something that's as professionally crafted as it is emotionally devastating. Jamey Johnson's ``That Lonesome Song'' is your next purchase – the next link in a chain that hits guys named Kristofferson, Jennings and Jones on its way back in time.
ANNUAL I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF POP AND IT IS SWEDISH AWARD: The pixieish Lykke Li has in ``Youth Novels'' one of the year's most engrossing, eclectic pop albums. Don't ask me to describe it. It's Swedish. Just listen.
BEST EVIDENCE BANDS NAMED FOR FOREST CREATURES ARE STILL EN VOGUE: Great albums this year from Fleet Foxes, Frightened Rabbit, White Rabbits and Providence's own Deer Tick.
BEST EVIDENCE THE COOL KIDS ARE ACTUALLY ON TO SOMETHING ELSE: Crystal Stilts, Crystal Antlers, Crystal Castles
BEST EVIDENCE OF NEVER GOING OUT OF STYLE: The Black Keys, Black Angels, Black Ghosts, Black Kids and Black Crowes – all black, all with terrific 2008 releases – and hotly anticipated new releases in 2009 from the Black Swans and Black Lips.
MOST OVERRATED BAND: I'll give 'em credit where its due – they're catchy – but in this humble estimation, rare has a band elicited such an ``eh'' response to its extraordinary hype and critical praise as Vampire Weekend.
BEST PROOF SOME ACTORS CAN CROSS OVER: The number of famous actors that have attempted to crossover into music is slightly longer than the number of failures. But Zooey Deschanel made a great duo with indie rock favorite M. Ward as She & Him. And actor Billy Bob Thorton's a gas with his Boxmasters – a gig they played at New York's Highline Ballroom was one of the better country shows I've seen this year.
BEST PROOF SOME MUSICIANS CAN, TOO: ``Cadillac Records – great idea for a film, mediocre in execution. But that Beyonce Knowles and her lived-in portrait of Etta James? Let's just say she'd wipe the floor with any of the ``Dreamgirls.''
MVP YOU HEAR A LOT ABOUT: In addition to a new album (``Momofuku''), opening duties on the last leg of the Police reunion tour and his appearances on everything from ``The Colbert Report'' to Fall Out Boy's new album, ``Folie a Deux,'' Elvis Costello is also the host of Sundance's ``Spectacle.''
MVP YOU DON'T: Marc Ribot is a guitar genius – a legend of New York's downtown jazz scene. This year his stylings were an essential ingredient to at least three of the year's great albums – his own ``Party Intellectuals,'' the Black Keys' ``Attack and Release,'' and John Zorn's ``The Crucible'' – and book-ending that work were his appearances on 2007s Robert Plant/Alison Krauss disc ``Raising Sand'' and 2009's upcoming Allen Toussaint release, ``The Bright Mississippi.''
BEST PERSONAL THAWING OF FROST: Look, I've never much liked Coldplay – precious, cloying, overproduced, annoying. All said, I'll tip my hat to infectious 2008 single ``Viva La Vida,'' whose epic-sounding catchiness I'll begrudge the band (even though I maintain it sounds so good 'cause it sounds like U2.)
BEST 'YOU GO, JOE': Speaking of Coldplay, they're in a bit of an imbroglio with shredder par excellence Joe Satriani, who claims ``Viva La Vida'' lifted heavily from his work and earlier this month decided to sue the band. Who knows how it'll get settled, but we're not ones to mess with Satch, and neither should Chris Martin.
BEST CONCERT BILLS: I can't say enough about Neil Young and Wilco – I mean, how about that for humbling concert pairings. But to be honest, I'm giving it up – mostly for a way-more-affordable price and more unpredictability in song selection – for the ``Rock 'n' Roll Means Well'' Tour with the Drive-By Truckers and the Hold Steady. I can still smell the beer.
BEST MARRIAGE OF MUSIC AND TELEVISION: What, you thought this was going to be some kind of eulogy for TRL? Come now. If you never caught HBO's ``The Wire'' while it was still in first-run up through March 2008, go get yourself some DVDs. ``''Watch the show, and you'll understand why you'll never hear like the Pogues' ``Body of an American,'' Jesse Winchester's ``Step by Step'' or, especially, Tom Waits' ``Way Down in the Hole'' (and other versions of the song used throughout the Wire's five seasons) without thinking of David Simon's Baltimore-based tragedy.
BEST LAWSUIT WAITING TO HAPPEN: Gregg Gillis, who as Girl Talk mashes up hundreds of songs from all corners of the pop music spectrum to create a never-ending party, is as exciting and maybe-so-maybe-not illegal as a guy who plays a laptop can get. (He also upped the hipster quotient of Showcase Live – if just for one sold-out night in November – by 100 percent.)
BEST PROOF IN PHIL LESH'S ABILITY TO PICK 'EM: There were delectable albums from the likes of San Francisco folk-blues upstart Jackie Greene (``Giving Up the Ghost''), the superbly inventive guitarist Jimmy Herring (``Lifeboat'') now tearing it up as a member of Widespread Panic, and former enfant terrible Ryan Adams, whose ``Cardinology'' proved sobriety – and a solidified band, the Cardinals – has been a blessing. One link between the three of them? They've all toured as former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh's Friends at some point in the last five years.
BEST NEW HAUNTS: I'm a venues guy as much as anything else – there are certain clubs and venues in the Boston area, just like any place with a healthy music scene, that can elevate even a mediocre show on the basis of their charm. To that end, I welcome the standouts among a string of new hotspots: Church in the Fenway, Precinct Bar in Somerville, Showcase Live! in Foxboro, and the new C-Note in Hull. The big story in the next few months will be whether the brand new House of Blues on Lansdowne Street – which opens in February and has already booked Dropkick Murphys, BB King and Jimmy Eat World – lives up to the hype.
THE RAT MEMORIAL AWARD FOR HEARTFELT BON VOYAGE: There's been many a Boston-area venue to go under in the last two years, but, none hurts worse than Somerville's Abbey Lounge. Never thought I'd feel so bereft for a particular beer-stained floor, but if you had your ears blown out at 3 Beacon St. near Inman Square around midnight at any time in the last decade, you know what I'm talking about.
BEST JUST CAN'T DENY IT: Say what you will about the man – boastfulness or whatever else. It's part of the game. Lil Wayne is owning hip hop this year, and while the pop charts and radio will say ``Lollipop,'' I'll take ``A Millie,'' instead, if pressed for favorite tracks. Regardless, Wayne's dominance is undeniable. And understandable.
BEST ARCHIVAL ALBUM: At the peak of their popularity, The Clash played Shea Stadium in 1982 – as an opener for The Who. While there are more punked-up Clash releases out there, ``The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium'' is a formidable testament to the reputation. Runners-up: Neil Young's ``Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968,'' Phish's ``At the Roxy'' and David Bowie's ``Live in Santa Monica '72.''
BEST BOTTLED LIGHTNING: Boston-area music fans have some die-hard institutions. If you've ever been among the faithful at Cambridge's Toad on a Monday night, you know how special Tim Gearan's ongoing, 10-year-old residency there is. Gearan's 2008 album, ``No Remedy'' is recorded with that band and nails the spirit of those nights so acutely your mind is already off work and into your second or third nightcap with old friends.
BEST LOCAL MUSIC WEB SITE: You're surfing those darn Interwebs, looking for the most insightful mix of rock 'n' roll commentary and mp3s – but hoping, too, for a stylish local angle and an author well-versed in Boston and indie rock history alike. You need Bradley's Almanac (www.bradleysalmanac.com/blogger.html) more than you know.
BEST PROOF MAYBE WE DON'T NEED A COME REUNION: Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw are often asked about reforming their influential 90s band Come. But when both are putting out such vital solo material this year – Brokaw with ``Canaris'' and Zedek with ``Liars and Prayers'' – maybe we can wait a little longer.
BEST 2008 ALBUM BY A NOW-DEFUNCT BOSTON BAND: The Silver Lining. A throwback to shiny, happy '60s and bands like the Mamas and the Papas, they released their debut in 2006, built a local reputation for killer shows and readied a follow-up this year nothing short of majestic. And yet... they've called it quits. Sigh.
BEST PROOF BOSTON'S GOT BLUE-EYED SOUL: Listen to Jesse Dee's ``Bittersweet Batch'' and Eli ``Paperboy'' Reed's ``Roll With You.'' Feel better about life.
BEST PROOF IMAGE-RICH, BLOG-READY INDIE-FOLK GROWS ON THE SOUTH SHORE: Scituate-bred Casey Dienel, aka White Hinterland.
ALSO, SOPHISTICATED POP: Marshfield-rooted Age Rings.
SAME WITH TOUGH-BUT-FEMININE BLUES: Norwell's Susan Tedeschi, and her terrific ``Back to the River''
OH, AND HOW ABOUT GENRE-BENDING PUNK?: Abington's Feels Like July.
WHILE WE'RE AT IT, WHERE DID THEY GO?: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, in 2005 the toast of indie rock blogs and hip critics from coast to coast (and all five with South Shore roots), has gone all but AWOL in the last two years.
MOST UNDERSUNG LOCAL MUSIC VENUE: With all manner of local venues – especially folk- and acoustic blues-friendly places – shutting their doors or selling out to generic formats in an attempt to stay ``relevant,'' Perks Coffeehouse in Norwood is an oasis. Some of the world's finest in folk, blues and roots come through Ray Brady's humble room on a regular basis. Pay the place a visit. Eat there, too.
BEST SOUTH SHORE MUSIC STORY: When we were handing our accolades left and right to Girls Guns & Glory's 2007 album ``Pretty Little Wrecking Ball,'' we met the Scituate country-rock crew's decision to release another album, this year's ``Inverted Valentine'' so soon with trepidation. Would it be as top-shelf a release as ``Wrecking Ball'' had led us to think they were capable of? No. It would be better.
FAVORITE SHOWS: Hard to pick just five, but these were the Boston-area shows I'll relish most from 2008: 1. Neil Young and Wilco, DCU Center (Worcester), Dec. 13; 2. Gov't Mule's Pink Floyd Halloween, Orpheum (Boston), Oct. 31; 3. Murder By Death and O'Death, Middle East Downstairs (Cambridge), April 5; 4. My Morning Jacket, Bank of America Pavilion (Boston), Sept. 6; 5. Phil Lesh & Friends and Levon Helm Band, Bank of America Pavilion (Boston), June 21
FAVORITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: Jaded ears require challenge, and to that end, at least half of my 10 favorite albums (alphabetized below), go to genre crashers with the zeal to push the envelope and not exactly play things safe. TV On the Radio, for example, has an all-in approach – even their failures are interesting. The great White Denim, out of Austin, Texas, proffers gale-force, psychedelic garage rock that floors me every time. Then comes (Expletive) Up, a Toronto band with an unprintable name and an impossible amount of soul in their hardcore punk (yeah, you read that right). And three cheers for the majestic violinist/singer and contemporary jazz genius Jenny Scheinman, who with two releases – one instrumental, one vocals – confirms genre classifications are utterly futile.
Overall, I still fear the best albums, songs, experiments or whatever of 2008 are still sitting my stacks, or on an as-yet-un-accessed MySpace page, or waiting their zeitgeist-injection through Guitar Hero or an Apple commercial. For now, Murder By Death, from Bloomington, Ind., makes Gothic, apocalyptic-sounding country rock of the highest order; the Black Keys and Drive-By Truckers proved changing things up a bit (the Keys their production values, the Truckers their lineup) wouldn't ruin their essential mojo; the explosive Glasvegas (from Scotland) came roaring out of nowhere with a thunderclap of a shimmering, fuzzed-out pop debut; and the one and only BB King took a pause from vanity projects and living off his wholly-deserved legendary status alone to deliver one of his best albums, a wonder of a record produced by T-Bone Burnett. To hear the old master burn through ``See That My Grave Is Kept Clean'' and other chestnuts is to be taken to church. Seriously.
Chad's Ten Favorite Albums of 2008
1. WHITE DENIM, ``Exposion''
2. TV ON THE RADIO, ``Dear Science,''
3. F***** UP, ``The Chemistry of Common Life''
4. JENNY SCHEINMAN, ``Jenny Scheinman'' and ``Crossing the Field''
5. MURDER BY DEATH, ``Red of Tooth and Claw''
6. THE BLACK KEYS, ``Attack and Release''
7. GIRLS GUNS & GLORY, ``Inverted Valentine''
8. BB KING, ``One Kind Favor''
9. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, ``Brighter Than Creation's Dark''
10. GLASVEGAS, ``Glasvegas'' Hearty cheers, and we'll see you next year.
The Patriot Ledger


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CHICAGO - A lawsuit filed Thursday claims a nonprofit hospital in northwest Chicago failed to provide charity care to two low-income, uninsured patients, reopening a longstanding controversy in Illinois over whether hospitals are doing enough charitable work to qualify for lucrative tax exemptions.
Swedish Covenant Hospital repeatedly lost one patient's financial assistance application and threatened to send her bill to a collection agency, according to the lawsuit. The hospital incorrectly told another patient she was ineligible for assistance and demanded cash from her, the complaint alleges.
The practices amount to "bureaucratic barriers" that prevent eligible patients from getting free care, according to the lawsuit, and the hospital has a policy of attempting to collect from "even the poorest of patients" through bill collectors and wage garnishment.
The hospital gets about $8 million in annual tax breaks and owes the community a more reliable charity care system, the plaintiffs' attorney, Alan Alop of the legal services group LAF, said at a press conference Thursday in Chicago.
The lawsuit claims unfair practices under the Illinois consumer fraud law and seeks $50,000 in punitive damages and a change in hospital policy.
Swedish Covenant spokeswoman Leigh Ginther said Thursday she couldn't comment on the lawsuit, but she said every patient who is identified as uninsured is given an application for charity care and a personal explanation of the process.
"It is the patient's responsibility to return the completed paperwork," Ginther said. The hospital reported $6.2 million in charity care expenses last year, nearly 3 percent of its net revenue.
Nearly 2 million Illinois residents are uninsured, or about 15 percent. The state constitution, court decisions and state law require Illinois hospitals that receive tax exemptions to provide charity care, but until this year the definition of charity wasn't clear.
The lawsuit comes as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is writing new rules that will shape the standards for applications and eligibility for hospital charity care as required by a law passed earlier this year.
A Chicago-based advocacy group, the Fair Care Coalition, wants Madigan to recommend that a standard, universal financial assistance application be used by all Illinois hospitals. The group also wants a thorough reporting mechanism so the public can check that hospitals are obeying the law, said Janna Simon of the coalition.
Madigan spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said Thursday the attorney general "has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure access to quality health care for the uninsured. That will continue to be the priority as we draft rules to ensure that people can apply for and receive free or discounted health care."
At the press conference, plaintiff Ramona Ortiz-Patino described filling out multiple applications for financial assistance and later being told the hospital hadn't received them. An unemployed diabetic, she was facing charges for emergency room visits for extreme pain in her right leg.
After Ortiz-Patino submitted a third application, a hospital employee telephoned her and "let me know that my bill would be going to collections because I hadn't paid it," she said. "I didn't understand why the hospital was threatening me when they knew I had zero income, and I submitted three applications" for financial assistance.
How much charity care should nonprofit hospitals provide? The issue has been brewing for years in Illinois.
In 2009, two large Illinois hospital systems settled class-action lawsuits that claimed they had overcharged uninsured patients. In separate settlements, Resurrection Health Care and Advocate Health Care agreed to pay refunds to tens of thousands of individuals.
Next, a 2010 Illinois Supreme Court ruling suggested nonprofit hospitals that behave like businesses shouldn't qualify for tax exemptions. Citing that court decision, the state Department of Revenue denied tax exemptions to three hospitals in 2011 and signaled more denials for other hospitals could follow.
That set off a storm of controversy the Legislature addressed this year.
Nonprofit hospitals won a broad definition of charity care from Springfield in a new state law that will allow them to continue their tax-exempt status. Hospitals were required to provide free care to patients of certain income levels, and the attorney general was directed to draft new rules for hospital financial assistance applications.