Verstappen v Port Edward Town Board

Verstappen v Port Edward Town Board and Others is an important case in South African environmental law, heard on September 29, 1993.
It was an application for an interim interdict in which certain questions were argued "in limine". RJ Salmon, instructed by Garlicke & Bousfield Inc., appeared for the applicant. GD Harpur, instructed by Barry Botha & Breytenbach, appeared for the first respondent. There was no appearance for the second, third and fourth respondents, who had the State Attorney.
Finding of the court.
The court found that the requirement, enacted in section 20(1) of the Environment Conservation Act, of a permit issued by the Minister of Water Affairs to "establish, provide or operate" a waste-disposal site is plainly couched in the most peremptory language. The clear intention of the legislature, as expressed in section 20(1) of the Act, cannot be overridden by the Minister's failure, whether inadvertent or intentional, to make the appropriate regulations, as intended in section 20(2), providing for a form of application for such permit and the prescribed information required.
The court accordingly held that the Minister's failure to promulgate the regulations foreshadowed in section 20(2) of the Act did not render lawful the conduct of the first respondent, a local authority, in operating the waste disposal site (which the applicant sought to interdict) without a permit in terms of s 20(1) of the Act.
It was clear to the court, from the language of the Environment Conservation Act, that the legislature intended the provisions of the Act to operate in the interests of the public at large. That being the case, an applicant seeking an interdict against the unlawful operation of a waste disposal site without a permit is required to show that the contravention of the Act by the respondent has caused or was likely to cause him some special damage. The court held on the facts that the applicant had not shown that she had suffered any special damage at all.
The applicant also sought to establish her "locus standi in judicio" to apply for an interdict restraining the first respondent local authority from committing the illegality of operating the waste disposal site without the aforementioned permit on the basis that she was a ratepayer of the first respondent, and that in several reported cases the courts had afforded ratepayers the right to interdict local authorities from dealing with their funds or property contrary to law. The court held that it did not consider that the mere fact that some municipal funds were obviously spent in managing and operating the waste disposal site in question could conceivably afford the applicant "locus standi" to interdict what she regarded as an illegality. The court held that it had not been established on the papers that the first respondent's manner of operation of the waste disposal site was more expensive than any of the various methods suggested by the applicant.
The manner in which the grant or refusal of an interim interdict would affect the immediate parties to the litigation, the court found, is not the only matter relevant to a determination of the balance of convenience, which is relevant to the exercise by the court of its discretion to grant or refuse an interdict. Where, as in the present case, the wider general public is affected, the convenience of the public must be taken into account in any assessment of the balance of convenience.


Emergency Medical Services Exemplary Service Medal

The Emergency Medical Services Exemplary Service Medal () is a Canadian service medal for Emergency medical service personnel. The medal honours 20 years of exemplary service by professional pre-hospital emergency medical service personnel. It is, within the Canadian system of honours, the fifth of the exemplary service medals.


Kay v Lambeth LBC

Kay v Lambeth London Borough Council; Price and others and others v Leeds City Council [2006] were two, conjoined appeals in the final court of appeal relevant for English property law, UK human rights and English tort law (trespass). It involved claims for possession by two landlords (in each case local authorities) against former short-term occupiers, heavily placing reliance in their defence on article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, with circumstances outwith the other laws.
The European Court of Human Rights accorded a generous margin of appreciation to the national authorities, attaching much importance to the facts of the case. Thus, it was for the courts to decide how in the first instance the principles expounded in Strasbourg should be applied in the special context of national legislation, practice and social and other considerations. To those decisions the ordinary rules of precedent should apply.
Facts.
Lambeth and Leeds Councils owned flats and a park (respectively) with differing, successive short-term residential occupiers.
The facts, essentially unchanged, at the time of the hearings of the "Leeds" first hearing, appeal and final appeal – two days of possession – fell so far short of the threshold for establishing article 8 rights laid down in the binding appeal decision, "Harrow LBC v Qazi" and jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, that its facts and its decision against the squatters/trespassers were closely interwoven in all the final judgments (therefore presented together in one section below).
Lambeth Council.
The homes were scheduled for demolition or redevelopment. The Council did not have sufficient funds to redevelop them. For more than two decades they made informal arrangements with a housing Trust ("the Trust") under which the Trust was able to make the properties available for occupation, "inter alia": by homeless persons to whom the authority owed no existing duty (to rehouse or assist in finding accommodation). The Trust on the face of it granted sub-licences (as opposed to sub-leases) to such people as occupiers.
The Council and the Trust made between each other agreements a few years into the arrangements, intended to formalise the terms: the Council granted the Trust licences of all the properties.
The 1999 ruling in "Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust" [2000] UKHL meant that all standard, typical professed "licences" granted by such a trust/entity to individuals as their home such as by the Trust – including those granted to the defendant occupiers – were, in law, tenancies (short leases).
During or after "Bruton", the Council replaced its licences with leases, but with break clauses permitting termination by either party on written notice. The Council exercised these by serving notice and the Trust did not contest their validity which left the Council to seek possession against the occupiers on the ground that, on termination of the leases, they (the defendants) had become trespassers; they were never its tenants, nor its licensees.
The defendants (now appellants) contended, foremost, that even if they had become trespassers, they could remain by reference to their human rights as the owners had to apply article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Their arguments were struck down in the county court and appeals to the Court of Appeal. They appealed to the (European) Convention of Human Rights, arguing that there had been a violation of the Article as there had been no determination by the court of the proportionality of the interference. They argued that the approach of the majority who decided the earlier legal decision as to the "width" of "gateway (b)" was incompatible with the Article.
Facts and judgment in the Leeds appeal.
Lord Scott combined the fact pattern and legal consequences, as others in their opinions did. Concatenating his paragraphs 123-128:
The appellants were the five-adult Maloney family, travellers, whose home was in one or more caravans, often on the move from one place to another. The respondent was Leeds City Council ("Leeds"). Leeds is the owner of a recreation ground (at Spinkwell Lane). On 13 June 2004 the Maloneys moved onto it, after successively at least two other groups of travellers entered and parked there since the previous month. Two days later, on 15 June, Leeds sued in the County Court for possession. The particulars of claim said that the travellers were trespassers and refused to vacate the recreation ground. 24 June 2004 was the return date specified on the claim form. The Maloney family were the only occupiers of the recreation ground to attend court on that date and they contested. They were formally joined as defendants. The case was adjourned to be heard in October. Leeds' claim to possession was based on its ownership (not in dispute). Nor disputed was that the Maloneys were trespassers who had entered onto and remained on the land without any licence or consent from Leeds. They sought to defend by relying on article 8 and by contending that Leeds was in breach of its statutory obligations to provide suitable sites where gypsies could park their caravans. They said, also, that their personal circumstances were "exceptional" in that several members of the family suffered from medical and psychiatric problems, three members of the family were school-age children and in the twelve months preceding their trespass the family had been evicted or forced to move under threat of eviction more than fifty times. Leeds responded by notifying the family that their status as unintentionally homeless and in priority need was accepted and by accepting a duty to help them obtain accommodation.
On 22 September the case was transferred to the High Court. The article 8 issue was dealt with as a preliminary issue and, on 25 October, HHJ Bush, following "Harrow LBC v Qazi", held that contractual and proprietary rights to possession could not be defeated or qualified by reliance on article 8. So he made an order for possession forthwith. He refused a stay of execution but gave leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Following the order for possession and the refusal of the stay of execution the Maloneys and their caravans left the recreation ground. The family gave notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal apparently "for...ventilating the article 8 issue." Tactically this was a misuse both of public (legal aid) money and of court time on a point rendered moot as an appellate court would have no power to order Leeds to permit the Maloneys and their caravans to re-enter the recreation ground, trespassers again as they had been before. No one found any legal argument for any money compensation either.
...It was common ground that the Article did not give any protection to the occupation of land or a building unless the land or building is the occupier's "home". If a traveller with his caravan enters as a trespasser upon a piece of land, by what process does the small area of land on which he happens to station his caravan and, presumably, a few square yards surrounding that small area of land, become identified as his "home"? If a homeless person enters an unoccupied building, places his few possessions in one of the rooms and spends the next night or two there, does the room become his "home" in relation to which he is entitled to an article 8 "right of respect"? The answer must, I think, be 'No'. It is clearly possible for a trespasser to establish a "home" in property that belongs to someone else but whether and when he has done so must be matters of degree. In "Buckley v United Kingdom" (1996) the Strasbourg commission (para 63), said that
"whether or not a particular habitation constitutes a 'home' which attracts the protection of article 8(1) will depend on the factual circumstances, namely, the existence of sufficient and continuous links."
It could not credibly be suggested that in the two days between the entry by the Maloneys on the recreation ground and the commencement by Leeds of possession proceedings the Maloneys had established "sufficient and continuous links" with the piece of land on which their caravan stood so as to constitute that singular piece of land their article 8(1) "home".
The facts therefore in the Leeds case made it "a very bad one to choose for the purpose of revisiting the correctness of "Qazi" since...it is grotesque to suppose that the Maloneys could claim that the commencement by Leeds of possession proceedings to recover its recreation ground was an interference with their right to respect for a "home" that they had established on Leeds' land.
Be that as it may, the "Lambeth" [appeal], by contrast, seems to me a very good test case.
Both Judge Bush and the Court of Appeal, following "Qazi", rejected the Maloneys' reliance on article 8.— "Lord Scott of Foscote at paras 128–131."
As shown above The House of Lords confirmed this rejection based on the facts themselves was the only non-absurd solution, to permit the family to re-enter would be permitting them to trespass onto a public recreation ground.
Judgment in the Lambeth appeal.
In the House of Lords, Lord Bingham gave the leading 49 paragraphs of the judgment. He held that the European Court accorded a generous margin of appreciation to the national authorities, attaching much importance to the facts of the case. Thus, it was for the courts to decide how in the first instance the principles expounded in Strasbourg should be applied in the special context of national legislation, practice and social and other considerations. To those decisions the ordinary rules of precedent should apply.
The ruling applies generally to homeless people who are being fairly treated as against other of their status and to whom a local authority fairly would find as lower priority in its duty to assist in finding housing. If such people are granted a sub-licence by a real estate investment trust allowing them to occupy accommodation temporarily they do not, become secured (i.e. tenants) of the local authority. Any earlier transfer (by document) by a local authority is not relevant. Also irrelevant is that the licence may be interpreted in law as an assured shorthold tenancy, as against the real estate investment trust.


Reconstruction of New Orleans

The reconstruction of New Orleans refers to the rebuilding process endured by the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city on August 29, 2005. The storm caused levees to fail, releasing tens of billions of gallons of water. The levee failure contributed to extensive flooding in the New Orleans area and surrounding parishes. About 80% of all structures in Orleans Parish sustained water damage. Over 204,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and more than 800,000 citizens displaced — the greatest displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Wind damage was less severe than predicted. The damage that took place that needed to be repaired cost about $125 billion.
Reconstruction was hindered by bureaucratic problems and funding issues with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Relief agencies provided supplemental relief. By mid-June 2006, the city was again hosting conventions and promoting tourism.
Reconstruction.
Residents were authorized to return to examine homes after the storm on Monday, September 5, 2005. In downtown New Orleans, several places were indeed producing power. Due to contaminated water and inhabitable conditions, the Mayor ordered that all citizens be evacuated by September 6. This all happened because of the storm that took place n New Orleans
Levee and pump repairs.
The Corps of Engineers repaired the 55 levee breaches including the Industrial Canal, 17th Street Canal, and London Avenue Canal since shortly after the storm, and continues to work on mitigating the risk posed by flooding.
Utilities.
Testing found the flood waters were not unusual. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March 2006 declared all parts of New Orleans safe; no soil was contaminated and the air quality was pure.
Water and sewage services were gradually restored. The first section of the city to have a "boil water" order lifted was in the high ground of the old crescent along the River from the French Quarter to old Carrollton on 6 October 2005. The last section of the city to have such an order lifted (a section of the Lower 9th Ward) was on 9 October 2006.
Federal funding debate.
Some people, including Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, questioned whether federal funds should pay to rebuild New Orleans. Others consider New Orleans's unique cultural heritage and history to be as important to the United States as, for instance, Venice is to Italy; they maintain that to not rebuild and reoccupy the city would be an immeasurable loss in that regard. The "Times-Picayune" ran a front-page editorial arguing for national help. It has been argued that since the US Army Corps of Engineers has had oversight over the levee system since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and most of the destruction in the city occurred due to the levee failure, the federal government should be responsible for rebuilding. Senator Mary Landrieu said that Louisiana's off-shore petroleum leases generate billions of dollars in revenues for the federal government's general fund, more than would be needed to restore wetlands and upgrade levee/flood control for South Louisiana to withstand category 5 storms. She argued that the federal government should either earmark some of that income for such projects or allow Louisiana to keep a significant portion of that revenue so the state could take care of its needs itself. If New Orleans is not rebuilt, it will sink. They need to rebuild New Orleans.
Rebuilding, social justice, and community life.
Frederic Schwartz, the architect selected by the citizens of New Orleans and the New Orleans City Planning Commission to re-plan one third of the city for 40% of its population explained how the opportunity for rebuilding the city could be a chance to strengthen social justice and community life:
The planning of cities in the face of disaster (natural and political) must reach beyond the band-aid of short-term recovery. Disaster offers a unique opportunity to rethink the planning and politics of our metro-regional areas – it is a chance to redefine our cities and to reassert values of environmental care and social justice, of community building and especially of helping the poor with programs for quality, affordable, and sustainable housing.
As lead planners for District 4, the district that includes the "largest concentration of public housing in the city" (Iberville, St. Bernard, Lafitte, and B. W. Cooper), Schwartz challenged his team to make "every effort to involve the residents and the community in the planning effort," while ensuring that the design of the new housing "could maintain the look and feel of surrounding neighborhoods with a mix of both modern interpretation of historic typologies and new urbanist models."
Relief agencies.
Relief agencies helped many returnees. The American Red Cross made a belated but nonetheless significant entry into the city in mid-September; and by the start of October had a number of relief centers set up around the city. These provided hot meals, packaged food, bottled water and other supplies like diapers, mops, and dust masks. The Salvation Army also had many stations giving food. Temporary free clinics provided some medical care. Towards the end of 2005, the relief centers were wound down, starting with those in functioning parts of the city. Red Cross meals continued at a much smaller scale into 2006 from trucks traveling around the worst-hit and poorest neighborhoods.
The Southern Baptist Convention sent feeding units to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast the day after Katrina struck New Orleans. Since this time, the Southern Baptist Convention through its North American Mission Board established an ongoing project called Operation Noah Rebuild, (not to be confused with the Operation Noah sponsored by the City of New Orleans) which has hosted thousands of volunteers and teams from all over the United States. The volunteer teams helped in the reconstruction efforts in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. First Baptist Church of New Orleans worked hand-in-hand with Habitat for Humanity with the Baptist Crossroads Project, in an effort to rebuild homes in the Upper Ninth Ward.
Food Not Bombs was active in providing food early after the disaster. A community kitchen was set up first in Washington Square in Faubourg Marigny; after a few months it was moved to a park by Bayou St. John before being closed down. A number of church groups and smaller charities set up aid for a time.
Common Ground Collective had two relief centers in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, providing food, clothing, and a tool library. The larger center was in the Upper 9th Ward, with a smaller one in the worst hit part of the Lower 9th Ward. They also helped gutting houses.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began bringing in load after load of food and water for local members and residents to several areas of the city. Thousands of church members came in on rotating weekends to help clean up debris, gut houses and cut up fallen trees all over the city. In addition to the home repairs, the church full-time counselors were available to provide mental health assistance; and church employment centers — offices that aid with finding jobs — opened their doors to everyone, regardless of religion.
Habitat for Humanity has been active in building homes at an accelerated pace since the storm. Initially, the organization had volunteers gutting homes; but since returned to its primary mission of fighting poverty housing. Catholic Charities also was very active with volunteers repairing damaged houses and churches throughout the area. Camp Hope in Violet, LA housed volunteers in the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort of St. Bernard Parish since June 1, 2006.
Build Now is a non-profit organization that played an active part in bringing New Orleans families back home. The non-profit, a licensed and insured residential contractor, constructed site-built, elevated houses on hurricane-damaged lots. The homes reflect the style and quality of traditional New Orleans architecture. Build Now brought more than a dozen New Orleans families back home, including construction around the Lakeview, Gentilly and the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward areas. The organization moved New Orleans families back home since beginning operations in 2008.
The Jazz Foundation of America is a non-profit organization that helped New Orleans musicians directly by paying the first month's rent for new homes, getting nearly $250,000 worth of donated instruments to musicians, giving pro bono counseling, advocacy, legal counseling, and creating a long term employment program that put displaced musicians back to work performing free concerts in schools and nursing homes, in eight states. In 2005 The foundation held an auction to benefit musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina Thanks to the generosity of the foundation's chairwoman, Ms. Agnes Varis, they were able to create employment programs which have made it possible to keep the artists and their music alive in New Orleans.
Repopulation and restoring homes.
Repopulating the city has been steady but gradual, with neither the rapid return of most evacuees hoped for by some optimists nor the long term "ghost town" desertion of the city feared by some pessimists. In early 2006, the RAND Corporation estimated that, even in 2008, the city's population would only be little more than half what it was before the storm hit; however by July 2007 the city's population was estimated at about 2/3 (or close to 300,000 residents) of that before the disaster.
Even in 2009, many homes and homeowners were still devastated. Some organizations, like the statewide Louisiana Disaster Relief Foundation or the neighborhood-based United Saints Recovery Project are still working to provide support to homeowners in rebuilding their homes.
The areas with little or no flooding were the first to be officially reopened, have utilities restored, and a sizable portion of residents and businesses return.
Flooded-out areas presented more problems. The city had no comprehensive plan for what to do about flooded areas. Thousands of property owners have been gutting and repairing their property, some in the lowest lying areas of town. Contractors and workers from out-of-state and other countries came in great numbers doing demolition and reconstruction work, some filling hotels and rental property, others living in trailers and tent cities set up in city parks and parking lots. Sportscaster Mike Tirico incorrectly generalized on "Monday Night Football" in September 2006, some areas, like the Lower Ninth Ward and Gentilly, still looked as badly damaged as the day the storm passed through. However, in each of those neighborhoods thousands of truckloads of debris were removed, hundreds of unsalvageable houses demolished, and work on gutting and repairs has been constant since the city has reopened.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of New Orleanians lived in the largely intact upper stories of their homes while the flood damaged downstairs got repaired, often being stripped to the wall studs in the process.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set up the "Blue Roof Program" of putting blue tarps over damaged roofs. The tarps kept out rain until more permanent roof repairs could be made. Thousands of blue tarps were seen throughout the city; however, a number of official restrictions meant some residents were unable to benefit from this recovery program. Likewise, a number of subcontractors paid by the Corps only did "easy" low-pitch one-story roofs, choosing not to return to do more difficult roofs. Some New Orleanians lived for months in homes with sizable holes in their roofs. Among the popular handouts at Red Cross relief stations were 5-gallon buckets, many put to use as rain catchers. Six months after the storm, many of the hastily placed blue roof tarps were in tatters, leaving those homes vulnerable again. Many people did not succeed in getting permanent roof repairs from such reasons as long waiting lists for reliable contractors and waits for insurance payment.
Seven months after the storm, two-thirds of the requested FEMA trailers (designed for short term emergency housing immediately after a disaster) had been delivered. Many of these trailers, however, could not be occupied or, if occupied, were not properly functional. Delays of weeks or months in hooking up electricity and water to trailers were common, and mechanical and bureaucratic problems prevented use of the trailers.
In June 2006, the State of Louisiana finally awarded a contract to DRC, Inc. of Mobile, Alabama to remove thousands of abandoned cars strewn throughout New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Differing circumstances.
Reconstruction has been easiest and quickest in the areas least damaged by the storm, mostly corresponding to the parts of the city developed before about 1900. These areas were built on naturally higher ground along the River front (such as Old Carrollton, Uptown, the Old Warehouse District, the French Quarter, Old Marigny, and Bywater), along with areas along natural ridges (such as Esplanade Ridge, Bayou St. John, Gentilly Ridge). Most of these older areas had no flooding at all or escaped serious flooding because of the raised design of older architecture which prevented floodwaters from entering homes. Another high area, much of which escaped serious flooding, was the set of Lake Shore developments between Lake Pontchartrain and Robert E. Lee Boulevard, built at a higher level than nearby land from mid-20th century dredging.
Due to the direction of the storm and the movement of storm surge, the West Bank section of the city, Algiers was spared flooding and became the first part of the city itself to officially reopen to residents.
In neighboring Jefferson Parish, the West Bank communities were similarly spared all but some wind damage (with a few spots of minor rain-generated flooding). On the East Bank, while parts of Metairie and other Jefferson communities experienced some flooding, due to lack of levee breaches this was much less severe than across the Parish line in Orleans (or the devastation of the 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane which flooded most of Jefferson's East Bank).
Reconstruction of each section of the area has been addressed in the Army Corps LACPR Final Technical Report which identifies areas to not be rebuilt and areas buildings need to be elevated. The Technical Report includes locations of possible new levees; suggested existing levee modifications; "Inundation Zones"; "Water depths less than 14 feet, Raise-In-Place of Structures"; "Water depths greater than 14 feet, Buyout of Structures"; "Velocity Zones"; and "Buyout of Structures" areas for five different scenarios. The Corps of Engineers will submit the report to Congress for consideration, planning, and response in mid-2009.
A larger percentage of white residents returned to their homes than did black residents. This was attributed to an unwillingness of planners to rebuild low-income housing. In September 2005, the Washington Post noted former 10-term Republican Congressman Richard H. Baker from Baton Rouge reportedly told lobbyists, "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did", and criticized his lack of concern for the lower income residents.
FEMA caseworkers were charged with the responsibility of helping evacuees find housing and employment. Caseworkers had to help some former residents realize that moving back was unrealistic because some of the city was not being rebuilt. This created a diaspora as many evacuees wished to return to New Orleans but were not able to.
Large areas of the city's public housing were targeted for demolition, inciting vocal protests from some, including architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff.
Homeless residents.
A challenge facing New Orleans was the exceptionally large homeless population created by Katrina. The number of homeless people living in New Orleans doubled to 12,000 people between the hurricane and mid-2007. With a post-Katrina population of 300,000 people, this meant that 1 in 25 people were homeless, an extremely high number and nearly three times that of any other US city. Most of the homeless were Katrina evacuees who returned to higher rents or who fell through the cracks of the federal system that was to provide temporary housing after the disaster.
There were also some workers who came from out of state for the post-Katrina rebuilding boom but who subsequently lost their jobs.
 Compounding this problem, the number of beds for the homeless in the city decreased from a count of 2,800 before the storm, to 2,000, as of May 2008.
The New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation's Homeless Department worked overtime in January 2009 and reevaluated the homelessness rate. They found that the post-Katrina homeless population decreased by 64% since the last survey two years prior.
UNITY of Greater New Orleans reported 1,188 homeless people after their 2018 Point-in-Time count performed in January. As of 2018, New Orleans has maintained a "functional zero" in veteran homelessness for three years. Going forward, UNITY's efforts are focused on support for chronically homeless people with physical and/or mental disabilities.
Neighborhood and community-based organizations.
Neighborhood and community-based organizations played a significant role in the reconstruction effort after Katrina. Neighborhood associations and resident-leaders from communities across the city established an information-sharing network called the Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN) where they shared lessons learned through the rebuilding process with each other as well as information about important upcoming citywide or neighborhood planning meetings, resources (on volunteers, tools, programs and application processes, etc.), and calls and offers for help and collaboration. Network members shared information and resources identified through the network with their own communities and neighbors. Early on, members also used NPN as a way to identify and collectively point out issues and collective priorities to local government officials and agencies and propose possible solutions. The network eventually established a newspaper, "The Trumpet", that was circulated locally to disseminate information, highlight and celebrate progress, and to facilitate connections for collaboration.
Businesses.
Bars were the first businesses to reopen in many areas; two remained open in the French Quarter even during the worst of the storm and the official mandatory evacuation. Most other businesses, such as gas stations, appliance stores, and supermarkets, followed somewhat later as they required more work before they could reopen. Three months after the storm, most open restaurants were serving food and drink in disposable plates and cups because of the shortage of dishwashers. Despite many restaurants offering wages double pre-Katrina levels for dishwashers, there were few takers as untrained laborers were able to make more money in demolition- and reconstruction-related industries. Ten months later, things had improved, though there were still labor shortages in many service industries.
Some of the few businesses to do significantly better business after Katrina than before were new car dealers. Flooding totaled an estimated 200,000 vehicles in Metro New Orleans, and dealers able to get in shipments of new cars quickly found customers. After local reporters found a used car dealer selling partially cleaned up flooded cars with restored engines but still soggy trunks, the state legislature quickly passed legislation mandating that cars declared totaled must be dismantled, crushed, or otherwise disposed of and could not be resold.
Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu (who later became Mayor of New Orleans) declared that Louisiana housed America's soul, and its revival was of paramount importance. As New Orleans began reviving its local businesses, the reestablishment of the city's restaurants, particularly mom and pop eateries, received fervent local and national support. New Orleans's cuisine has largely maintained its cultural distinctiveness, linking its citizens with the city's creole roots. Long before Hurricane Katrina, 'local' food in New Orleans represented a framework for discussing America's racial binary – a paradigm in which the city has generally attempted to resist. Thus, even if race prevented a portion of New Orleanians from "[acknowledging] that they do, indeed, share one culture", culture became recognized as "something shared around which the city's residents could rally" during an arduous rebuild. By emphasizing the restoration of not only New Orleans's economic but also its cultural capital, the city yielded the additional benefit of a reinvigorated social capital.
Tourism and events.
The American Library Association held its annual convention in New Orleans in June 2006; the estimated 18,000 attendees represented the first citywide convention in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. The National Association of Realtors also held their annual convention in New Orleans bringing 30,000 attendees to the city in November 2006. The HIMSS healthcare information technology convention and the American College of Cardiology convention, both held in the spring of 2007, each had more than 24,000 attendees. The Essence Music Festival returned to the Crescent City in July 2007 after being displaced to Houston in 2006. Several national travel guides have once again listed New Orleans as one of the top five places to visit in the country.
The Bayou Classic, the traditional football game between Southern University and Grambling State University, returned in November 2006 after being displaced to Houston for its 2005 game. The National Football League made a commitment to the city with the return of the New Orleans Saints, following speculation about a move to San Antonio or Los Angeles. The National Basketball Association has made a commitment with the return of the New Orleans Hornets, which played in both New Orleans and Oklahoma City, in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, returning fully for the 2007–08 season. (Oklahoma City became a permanent member of the NBA in the 2007–08 season.) New Orleans was granted the 2008 NBA All Star Game, which usually generates millions of dollars in revenue for the host city. Tulane University hosted the first and second rounds of the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
The Superdome has since hosted several college football bowl games, and a Super Bowl. The New Orleans Bowl resumed in December 2006, and the Sugar Bowl and 2008 BCS National Championship Game took in January 2008. New Orleans hosted the Super Bowl in 2013 for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. In February 2010, the New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV.
In mid-March 2007 a local group of investors began conducting a study to see if the city could support a Major League Soccer team.
Major seasonal events such as New Orleans Mardi Gras and the Jazz and Heritage Festival were never displaced, occurring at other times of year.
Long-term redevelopment.
The Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.
The Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan (UWP) is a collaborative, multi-billion dollar post-Katrina redevelopment plan for the New Orleans metropolitan area. Originally released in 2013, the UWP is the result of collaborative efforts among Greater New Orleans, Inc., local civic leaders, and stormwater management experts. Waggonner & Ball Architects, a private firm based in New Orleans, coordinated the project with the support of Greater New Orleans, Inc. The project sought to rethink New Orleans's stormwater management and drainage infrastructure to ensure the city's longevity amidst subsidence and climate change concerns. Additionally, a major component of the project was the revitalization and economic development of areas within the city that had been severely impacted by the hurricane. In November 2013, Waggonner & Ball produced the UWP in three parts: Vision, Urban Design, and Implementation.
Waggonner & Ball coined the term "living with water" to describe the UWP's emphasis on storing and holding water within the city limits rather than pumping water out into major waterways, such as the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. The project views water as an asset and draws upon the Dutch model for flood control in the Netherlands. The plan relies on green infrastructure practices, such as bioswales, greenways, blueways, rain gardens, and permeable pavement, to capture and store excess stormwater. The project is divided among the Jefferson-Orleans basin, the Orleans East Basin, and the St. Bernard Basin, and is a coordinated effort among Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard Parishes. Waggonner & Ball estimates that fully implementing the UWP would cost $6.2 billion with long-term projected benefits of $22 billion, whereas maintaining the pre-Katrina infrastructure model would cost New Orleans more than $10 billion over the next few decades.
The project has served as a primary guide for the New Orleans City Council's Capital Improvement Plan since the adoption of the 2020-2024 Capital Improvement Plan in September 2019 under Mayor LaToya Cantrell.


Fred Luter

Fred J. Luter Jr. (born 1956 November 11 in New Orleans) is a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). He was elected on 2012 June 19, and he is SBC's first African-American president. According to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary president Daniel L. Akin, ". . . the most significant event to happen in our [SBC's] history since our formation" is Luter's election.
On June 20, the day after electing Luter, SBC voted to permit use of the designation "Great Commission" as an alternative to "Southern" for congregations desiring a break from the geographical and historical eponym. Nominated by David Crosby of New Orleans' First Baptist Church,
Luter succeeded Bryant Wright of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia.
Luter cited "to improve racial harmony" as his goal on his reelection to the second (and final) year of SBC presidency.
On June 11, 2014, Dr. Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church in Arkansas succeeded Rev. Luter as SBC president.
Earlier ministry.
Luter had begun his ministry in 1977 in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward after he suffered a motorcycle accident. He has credited his motorcycling misadventure as his "road to Damascus moment"—his analogy to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He began as a street preacher at the corner of Caffin and Galvez. During his streetpreaching days Luter observed a need to draw men, particularly fathers, into his evangelistic appeal by urging events which attract male interest, on one occasion, in 1981, hosting a gathering for a pay-per-view televised boxing match between Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. His first sermon in a churchbuilding was in 1983 at New Orleans' Law Street Missionary Baptist Church. He was a staff minister at the city's Greater Liberty Baptist Church when he learned of the opening at Franklin Avenue and sought the job.
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church.
Luter is senior minister of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. He has been with the congregation since 1986, when it had 65 members. Before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the congregation had grown to over 7000 members, making it the largest congregation affiliated with SBC in Louisiana. Luter led the rebuilding of the membership after the diaspora from Katrina, and as of his election to the Southern Baptist presidency the congregation had 5000 members. Luter's strategy for congregational growth is rooted in his concept "FRANgelism"—the acronym "FRAN" standing for "friends", "relatives", "associates", and "neighbors" in acts of networking people into the life of the congregation.
Personal life.
Luter was the middle child of five siblings and, after his parents divorced, was largely brought up single-handedly by his seamstress mother Viola Luter. In 1980 Fred Luter married Elizabeth W. Luter. The couple has two children: daughter Kimberly Ann "Kim" Luter was born in 1982; son Fred J. "Chip" Luter III, born 1985, is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University and is also a Baptist minister. Elizabeth Luter (born 1956) is involved in LifeWay Women's Conferences.


IMO 5007728


Desha Putra Padakkama

The Desha Putra Sammanaya (දේශ පුත්‍ර සමිමානය, "dēśa putra sammānaya", "Son of the Country Award") is awarded to police officers in Sri Lanka for sustaining serious injuries while facing terrorist attacks and on the line of duty. The medal is based on the Desha Putra Sammanaya issued by the Sri Lankan armed forces, however with a different ribbon.


Laytime

In commercial shipping, laytime is the amount of time allowed in a voyage charter for the loading and unloading of cargo.
Under a voyage charter or time charter, the shipowner is responsible for operating the vessel, and the master and crew are the employees of the shipowner, not the charterer. However, once the vessel has "arrived" at a port the charterer then assumes responsibility for the loading and unloading of cargo, having a period of laytime in which to carry this out. (Note that the actual loading may be performed by a third-party stevedore).
The moment when laytime commences is determined by a Notice of Readiness (or "NOR"), which the master or agent of the ship must give to the port when the ship has arrived at the port of loading or discharge. The charterparty contract determines the precise meaning of "arrival". Usually, "arrival" is when the ship has arrived at the port and is ready in all respects to load or discharge; but it may be, say, when the ship has passed buoy #2 in the approach channel, or once the vessel has pass through lock gates.
If the charterer does not comply with the NOR, the carrier may cancel the contract and seek damages. If the charterer's delay means that laytime is exceeded, a predetermined penalty (i.e. liquidated damages) called "demurrage" is incurred. If the whole period of laytime is not needed, a refund called "despatch" may be payable by the shipowner to the charterer. Despatch is normally paid at 50% of the demurrage rate, but this depends on the terms of the charterparty. The ship may thus be able to leave port early. Despatch does not normally apply to tanker charters.
"Laytime" should not be confused with "Laydays" because "Laydays" is the period within which the Shipowner has to make the vessel "ready" to the Charterer at the place and time agreed in the charter party. "Cancelling Date" is the last day of "Laydays" and acts as a deadline to tender "Notice of Readiness". A ship (vessel) failing to become an "Arrived Ship" by tendering a valid Notice of Readiness, bears the risk of being refused/cancelled by Charterers as per Charter-Party provisions (Please see "Cancellation Clause")


Hina Jilani

Hina Jilani (؛ born 1953), is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a human-rights activist from Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan.
Early life and education.
Jilani commenced practising law in 1979, while Pakistan was under martial law.
Career.
Jilani is internationally recognised for her expertise in critical human rights investigations. In February 1980 with her sister Asma Jahangir, she co-founded Pakistan's first all-female legal aid practice, AGHS Legal Aid Cell (ALAC) in Lahore. Initially the activities were confined to providing legal aid to women, but gradually these activities increased to including legal awareness, education, protection from exploitation, legal research, counselling and providing legal assistance as well. She is also one of the founders of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) (a pressure group established in 1980 campaigning against
discriminatory legislation) and also founded Pakistan's first legal aid center in 1986. In addition to providing pro bona legal aid, she has also helped set up a shelter for women fleeing violence and abuse, called "Dastak" in 1991. In addition to managing a shelter, Dastak also organises workshops to create awareness of human rights and the protection of women.
A lawyer and civil society activist and active in the movement for peace, human rights and women's rights in Pakistan for the last three decades, she specialises in human rights litigation, and is especially concerned with the human rights of women, children, minorities, bonded and child labour, political and other prisoners. She has conducted several cases which have become landmarks in setting human rights standards in Pakistan. Her battle for the rights of children, especially the protection of child labourers engaged in hazardous work, led to the promulgation an act regulating the employment of children in 1991.
Jilani is often invited to speak at various events pertaining to human rights. On 17 September 2009, she delivered the 2009 Hal Wootten Lecture, at the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales. On 25 November, she was invited as guest lecturer at McGill University's Faculty of Law, the McGill Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism, on the topic of ""The Promise of International Law for Civilian Victims of War: The Goldstone Report". On 27 November 2009 Jilani was invited as a speaker at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada on "Law vs. Power: Who Rules? Who Makes the Rules?"".
Jilani is also affiliated with the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Carter Center, and the UN Conference on Women. In 2019, The UK foreign office appointed the lawyer to a new panel of experts to develop legal frameworks to protect freedom of the media across the globe.
Other activities.
Roles at the United Nations.
From 2000 to 2008, Jilani was the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders. During that period, she was also appointed to the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, Sudan, in 2006.
In 2009, Jilani was appointed to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
In 2017, Jilani co-chaired (alongside Tarja Halonen) the World Health Organization/Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights High-Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents.
Non-profit organizations.
On 11 July 2013, Jilani joined The Elders, a group of statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates, brought together by Nelson Mandela.
In addition, Jilani holds the following positions:
Threats.
As a result, their work in the field of women's activism, Jilani and Jahangir have been arrested, received death threats, and faced hostile propaganda, intimidation, public abuse and murder attempts on themselves and their family. In 1999 after representing the case of Samia Sarwar, a young woman who was seeking divorce from her abusive husband, Jilani and Jahangir were again subject to death threats. Samia's mother came with a gunman to her office on the pretext of seeking reconciliation with her daughter. The gunman shot Samia dead and fired at Hina who managed to escape. Another time, gunmen entered her house and threatened members of her family. She herself was away from home: the threats put pressure on her to migrate, but she refused, and continues to live and work in Lahore.
Views.
""The problem with the cases of honour killings and their non-prosecution lies in the permission that the law grants to the family of the victim to compromise the offence, and that's why the person who actually pulls the trigger walks free... although in the case of honour killing it's mostly a conspiracy between more than one member of the family, and that's the major issue here. I don't think the government wishes to address that issue."
"I always had this feeling that if you see injustice, you have to speak out against it; otherwise you are not in a position to complain."
"It was anger against state-sponsored injustice that forced me to enter courtrooms in the 1970s. [...] For all these years I have retained that outrage so I have been able to fight for human rights and against bonded labour, blasphemy laws..." (Monday, 15 March 1999, in "Tribune India")
"The right to life of women in Pakistan is conditional on their obeying social norms and traditions."
"There is a real danger of this occurring. The military have an agenda of supporting the extremists and are ideologically very akin to the extremists. It is very important that the world understand how important it is to act in a wise way."
"The United States totally misread the situation. If Musharraf had been successfully countering terrorism, we would not have a situation eight years down the road where (terrorists) actually control territory. Nobody has tried to find the source of the money or the source of the weapons."
"When you put them on trial, you show the wickedness of their crime. Once it becomes abundantly clear that the terrorists' victims are almost entirely Pakistani civilians, only then will sympathy for their cause be lost. We have to deal with terrorism as a criminal element."
"The civilian government must be supported thoroughly, otherwise we will lose it."
"The administration of justice can be severely hampered if laws emerge from different understandings or perceptions of religion, and their application becomes uneven because of the religious, moral and social beliefs of those administering these laws. Islam and almost all other religions of the world have sectarian and denominational differences. If a national polity is founded on religion, these differences will be manifested in political tensions as well as oppressive restraints on dissent.""


REFUNITE

REFUNITE (Refugees United) is a non-profit organization established by two Danish brothers, David and Christopher Mikkelsen with the stated mission to "help refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) search for their missing loved ones." It focuses on online and mobile solutions to help families reconnect. Families can search for their missing loved ones by simply registering onto REFUNITE's family tracing platform. The REFUNITE family reconnection platform allows users to register, search for and message their missing loved ones that have also signed up on the platform.
REFUNITE works through partnerships with like-minded individuals, organizations, corporations, and humanitarian agencies. The headquarters are located in Copenhagen, Denmark with the main technology development lab and operations being based out of Kampala, Uganda.
History.
REFUNITE was founded in 2008 by two Danish brothers, David and Christopher Mikkelsen, after their personal journey trying to reconnect a young, Afghan refugee with his family. In their search, the two brothers discovered that existing family tracing programs lacked cross-border, collaborative technology and the process of family tracing was also often tied to cumbersome procedures and paperwork.
This is what prompted David and Christopher to develop an global, centralized and free platform that would allow refugees and other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to search and reconnect with their missing family and loved ones. REFUNITE empowers refugees and separated families to search, connect and communicate with family and friends they have lost along the way. The organization provides the family reconnection service, but puts it in the hands of its users to conduct the actual search, thus democratizing access to family tracing.
Out of the 68 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, many do not have access to Internet and have very basic and simple mobile phones. REFUNITE focuses on making their service available to as many users as possible and through various touch points, from the very low-end, basic technology to the more sophisticated one.
Together with Ericsson, REFUNITE has partnered with a global coalition of mobile network operators. Through these partnerships, the organization is able to communicate directly with millions of forcibly displaced people through SMS and make access to the platform free of charge. So far, over 1 million people registered on the REFUNITE platform and keep searching for their missing loved ones every day.
Thousands of new users are coming on to the REFUNITE platform every week from all over the world. Part of the organization's effort to make this service available to all is making sure that it is available in as many languages as possible. REFUNITE is constantly adding new languages to the platform, with its web service currently being available in twelve languages, including English, Swahili, Somali, Arabic, French, Congolese Swahili, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto, Kurdish, Dari, and Tagalog.
REFUNITE's Technology.
Web.
The family reconnection platform can be accessed through the official website. The search tool is available in twelve languages, including English, Swahili, Somali, Arabic, French, Congolese Swahili, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto, Kurdish, Dari, and Tagalog. The website can be accessed by anyone with Internet connection.
Data collection and Privacy.
Users provide only the information they feel comfortable and safe enough to share, which gives them the option of staying anonymous. While providing a phone number is necessary to sign up, this number is kept hidden and only used for signing in via our web service or to receive messages straight to your phone. While REFUNITE encourages users to provide as much information as possible, they understand that sharing certain information causes a safety concern for some. Therefore, users choose what public information they want to share, giving them the option to, for example, have their profile show personal information that only their family or closest friends would recognize, e.g. birthmarks, favorite foods, or other person-specific information.
Outreach Volunteers.
 REFUNITE works with outreach volunteers in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. The organization has teamed up with UNHCR as well as other aid organizations operating in camps in order to train local refugees on REFUNITE’s technology, so these refugees can help others sign up. Many of the outreach volunteers, who are refugees themselves, are still looking for their own families as well, and are helping others while waiting to be reconnected. They walk around the camps promoting REFUNITE’s service and help anyone interested to register and search. They are some of the most important people to REFUNITE, as they are instrumental in advocating the service and help foster trust between the organization and its beneficiaries in the camps.
Awards.
World Economic Forum, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Condé Nast, Vanity Fair and WIRED
Award of Distinction in the category Digital Communities
Lost and Found - The Story of Refugees United
Lost and Found - The Story of Refugees United
Partners.
Corporate partners.
REFUNITE’s corporate partners include, among others, mobile network operators that enable the organization to communicate directly with refugees and send text messages to their phones. REFUNITE’s partners are:
Read about REFUNITE's global partnerships here: https://refunite.org/partners/
Humanitarian Partners.
REFUNITE has partnered with a number of humanitarian organizations including the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Funders.
REFUNITE's main funders include the H&M Foundation, the Swedish Postkod Foundation and the IKEA Foundation. They have also been funded by Omidyar Network, Maersk Foundation, Danfoss Foundation, LEGO Foundation, SAP and many others.


Charity Bick

Charity Anne Bick GM (1925 or 1926 – 22 April 2002) was a British civilian dispatch rider during the Second World War, and became the youngest ever recipient of the George Medal, the United Kingdom's second-highest award for civilian bravery. She later served in the Women's Royal Air Force.
Biography.
Charity Anne Bick was educated at Lyng Primary School in Horton Street, Lyng, West Bromwich.
At the age of 14, while living in Maud Road, West Bromwich she lied about her age, claiming to be 16, to join the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) service in that town. She volunteered at the office of a brick works near her home, delivering messages between ARP depots, by bicycle. Her father was an ARP post warden.
During a 1940 air raid on West Bromwich, she helped her father to put out an incendiary bomb that had lodged in the roof of a shop. When the roof gave way, she fell through and suffered minor injuries. Nonetheless, she then used a borrowed bicycle and made numerous attempts to deliver a message to the control room, one and a quarter miles away, avoiding bombs and shrapnel. She made repeated trips, at least three of which occurred during the height of the raid.
In early 1941 Bick was informed that she had been awarded the George Medal (GM), for her bravery that night. The official citation, in "The London Gazette" of 14 February 1941, read:
Aged 16, she was the youngest person ever to receive the GM. The medal was presented to her by King George VI in a ceremony on 10 September 1941. She also received the Defence Medal and War Medal at the end of the war.
Bick went on to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, retiring in 1962 from its successor, the Women's Royal Air Force as a warrant officer, and having earned the Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Her service number was 2109222.
Final years and legacy.
Later in her life, Bick lived in Inverness, Scotland. She died there on 22 April 2002, age 77. Her portrait, in oil, by Alfred Reginald Thomson, RA, is in the Imperial War Museum, London, while her medals are on display at the Imperial War Museum North. A blue plaque commemorating Bick was erected at Lyng Primary, by the Lyng History Group, on 21 February 2002. The school was presented with a replica set of her medals in March 2002. Charity Bick Way in West Bromwich is named in her honour.


Antonia Locatelli

Antonia Locatelli (16 November 1937 – 10 March 1992) was an Italian Roman Catholic missionary educator who had lived in Rwanda since the early 1970s.
In March 1992, she witnessed massacres of the Tutsis taking place in the Bugesera region, south of Kigali. In an attempt to save 300 to 400 Tutsis, she phoned the Belgian embassy, French RFI Radio and the BBC.
On the night between 9 and 10 March 1992, she was gunned down by a group of presidential guards who had arrived from Kigali.
Her murder was announcend on RFI the next morning:
Antonia Locatelli is buried in Nyamata, near the Church in which, during the Rwandan genocide two years later, ten thousand Tutsis were massacred.
During the commemoration ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide (Kigali, April 7, 2019), Paul Kagame paid tribute to Antonia in his opening speech:


Minneapolis Park Police Department


Trofosfamide

Trofosfamide (INN) is a nitrogen mustard alkylating agent. It is sometimes abbreviated "TRO". It has been used in trials to study its effects on Ependymomas, Medulloblastomas, Sarcoma, Soft Tissue, Supratentorial PNETs, and Recurrent Brain Tumors.


2005 Hurricane Relief 400

The 2005 Hurricane Relief 400 was the eleventh round of the 2005 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on September 24, 2005 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sébastien Bourdais swept the pole and the race victory. With the dissolution of the Champ Car World Series in 2008, this was the final Champ Car race to take place on a high-banked oval of more than a mile in length. Proceeds for the event were donated to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita relief efforts.


IMO 4907050


Charlotte Taylor Blow Charless

Charlotte Taylor Blow Charless (1810–1905) founded the "Home of the Friendless" in St. Louis in 1853 for elderly, indigent women who could no longer work and care for themselves. Renamed “The Charless Home" in 1977, the institution celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003 and continues to provide housing and services to retired men (since 1996) as well as women.
Mrs. Charless wrote a biography of her husband, Joseph Charless, Jr. (1804-1859) to extol his exemplary moral and Christian character. Her husband, a prominent merchant and banker, was assassinated in St. Louis by a deranged bookkeeper, Joseph Thornton, who believed that Charless had ruined his character by testifying against him at trial. Thornton, accused of stealing nearly $20,000 from the Boatmen’s Saving Association, was acquitted of theft, but found guilty of murder. Mrs. Charless's biography, written as a series of letters to her grandchildren, was privately printed and published in St. Louis in 1869.
Born in Southampton County, Virginia, Mrs. Charless traveled with her family first to northern Alabama and then, in 1830, to St. Louis where her father, Peter Blow (1777 -1832), briefly operated a hotel. At the time of his death, he or his family sold their slave Dred Scott (ca.1799-1858) to Colonel John Emerson, who took Scott to the “free” state of Illinois and territory of Wisconsin. When Scott returned to St. Louis in 1842, he sued for his freedom. Scott found moral and monetary support from Charlotte Charless, her husband and her brothers Henry and Taylor Blow. After Scott's final appeal to the United States Supreme Court failed in 1857, Colonel Emerson's widow, by then married to a leading abolitionist, transferred ownership of Scott to Taylor Blow. Taylor Blow gave Scott his freedom in 1857.


Midland Bank plc v Cooke

Midland Bank plc v Cooke [1995] is an English land law case, concerning constructive trusts; and at first instance (never appealed) proven undue influence in law as to a secured business loan and later refinance.
First, it clarified the law as to wedding gifts.
Second, it held that so long as some financial contribution, however, small can be identified as going to the purchase of a home, the court may quantify that contribution in a greater amount than initially given. It opted for a 50:50 division looking at both spouses' conduct in the round.
Third, it clarified that if proven the spouses had never discussed any details of joint ownership, where one spouse legally owns the whole family home then the court often should from equitable principles infer agreement as to proportions of their beneficial interests.
Facts.
Mr Cooke paid £8500 at age 19 for the house the month before he was married. He achieved this through a mortgage loan from a bank, his own savings, and a pre-wedding gift from his parents of £1100. Mrs Cooke's parents paid for the wedding. The Cookes replaced that mortgage with one from Midland Bank plc to secure Mr Cooke's business overdraft. Mrs Cooke signed a consent form for her interest to be postponed to the bank's security. The property was put into Mr Cooke's name as sole legal owner. Midland Bank plc now demanded repayment of £52,000 and sought possession. Mrs Cooke argued her signature was obtained by undue influence. (Mrs Cooke admitted at trial that the married couple had never discussed any beneficial entitlement.)
The Judge held the bank knew of Mr Cooke's undue influence and that she had an equitable interest given that the wedding gift was partly hers. The bank did not (cross-)appeal on this finding. The bank cross-appealed by alleging that Mrs Cooke had a 0% interest. The Judge assessed her interest as 6% of the property, and Mrs Cooke appealed arguing for a 50% interest.
Judgment.
The Court of Appeal held that the gift was made to the couple jointly (50:50). This was proof of a common intention to have a beneficial interest. But in quantifying her interest the financial contribution was not the only thing which mattered: the whole course of dealing did. On the facts it was clear that the presumed intention was that she should have an equal share of the beneficial interest. Waite LJ observed that people usually will not talk about legal entitlements to property when young and embarking on a relationship, and says that should not leave them ‘beyond the pale of equity’s assistance’. The parties shared everything equally, including ‘the upbringing of their children.’ He continued as follows.
Stuart-Smith LJ and Schiemann LJ concurred.


Privy examination

A privy examination, or "separate examination", was a United States legal practice in which a married woman who wished to sell her property had to be separately examined by a judge or justice of the peace outside of the presence of her husband and asked if her husband was pressuring her into signing the document. This practice, which emerged from English common law, was seen as a means to protect married women's property from overbearing husbands. A number of U.S. states continued to require privy examinations into the late 20th century.


Atomic Weapons Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield

Atomic Weapons Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield known by the acronym AWDREY was a desk-mounted automatic detection instrument, located at 12 of the 25 Royal Observer Corps (ROC) controls, across the United Kingdom, during the Cold War. The instruments would have detected any nuclear explosions and indicated the estimated size in megatons.
With the display unit mounted in a steel cabinet, the system used two sets of five photo-sensitive cells within the detection head to record the intense flash of light produced by the detonation of the weapon followed, within a second, by a second intense flash. This double flash is characteristic of a nuclear explosion and measurement of the short gap between the two flashes enabled the weapon's power to be estimated, and the bearing to be indicated. It had a range of 150 miles (240 km) in good visibility. From 1974 AWDREY units were used together with a device known as DIADEM (Direction Indicator of Atomic Detonation by Electronic Means) which measured the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by an explosion. The instruments were in constant operation (state of readiness) between 1968 and 1992 and tested daily by full-time ROC officers.
Operations.
AWDREY was designed, built and maintained by the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. The design was tested for performance and accuracy using real nuclear explosions at the 1957 Kiritimati (or Christmas Island) nuclear weapon trials, after being mounted on board a ship. Although a single AWDREY unit could not differentiate between a nuclear explosion and a lightning strike, the units were installed sufficiently far apart that a lightning strike would not simultaneously register on two adjacent AWDREYs.
The first two primary responsibilities of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO), for whom the ROC provided the field force were:
AWDREY was the principal method by which the UKWMO would achieve its second responsibility. Simultaneous responses on two or more AWDREY units would identify the explosion as a nuclear strike.
ROC post bomb detection instruments (see Bomb Power Indicator) operated by recording the peak overpressure of the blast wave from any nearby nuclear explosion. Any ultra-high-altitude nuclear explosion, designed to knock out the UK's communications and electronic equipment would not produce a detectable blast wave, and the AWDREY system was therefore the only method of identifying these bursts.
Installation.
The AWDREY installation consisted of three separate elements: the sensor, the detection unit and the display cabinet (timer). The sensor was mounted on the roof of the building. The detection unit was installed in a special room that was enclosed inside a Faraday cage; in the case of the Royal Observer Corps controls, this was the "Radio Room" that already protected the sensitive radio equipment from the effects of EMP.
The display unit (timer) (shown in the photograph above) could be mounted anywhere in the building – at ROC controls this was usually on the balcony adjacent to the Triangulation Team. The three elements of the installation were connected by EMP-shielded and heavy duty cabling.
During the early phase of operations, a spare observer was required to stand next to the display unit and monitor it constantly to identify initial responses. Once a nuclear strike on the UK had been confirmed by the Director UKWMO (or his deputy), readings from AWDREY were ignored during subsequent nuclear bursts within the attack, and the readings from ROC posts became the main method of detecting and identifying any subsequent near ground bursts.
The 12 ROC AWDREY units were located at the group controls in Exeter, Oxford, Horsham, Bristol, Colchester, Carmarthen, Coventry, Carlisle, York, Dundee, Inverness and Belfast. This siting pattern provided sufficient detectors that the entire UK was covered, but the units were far enough apart that a lightning storm would be unlikely to trigger simultaneous AWDREY responses at two sites.
Codeword.
Royal Observer Corps reports following a reading on AWDREY were prefixed with the codeword "TOCSIN BANG". The message would also include the three-letter group identifier, followed by the time and yield reading from the AWDREY printout. E.g. "TOCSIN BANG – CAR – 11.06 (hours) – 3 megatons" (with CAR relating to Carlisle control).


Flufenoxuron

Flufenoxuron is an insecticide that belongs to the benzoylurea group, which also includes diflubenzuron, triflumuron, and lufenuron.
Flufenoxuron is a white crystalline powder. It is insoluble in water, is not flammable, and is not an oxidizer.
Toxicology and safety.
Flufenoxuron toxicity to human and mammals are low but very high bioaccumulable in fish.


Tanya Tull

Tanya Tull (born 1943) is a leader and expert in family homelessness in America. In 1980 she founded Para Los Ninos (For the Children), in reaction to an article she read in the "Los Angeles Times" concerning children living in Skid Row hotels. Para Los Ninos began as a childcare center that blossomed into a full range family service center utilizing renovated warehouses in Skid Row, Los Angeles. Today Para Los Ninos also operates charter schools in Central Los Angeles.
In 1983 Tull co-founded L.A. Family Housing, a nonprofit that creates permanent housing and maintains emergency shelters. In 1988, she created and established two more nonprofit agencies: Beyond Shelter and A Community of Friends. A Community of Friends develops permanent supportive housing for the homeless mentally ill. “Housing first for families,” was Tull’s mission statement for Beyond Shelter. Beyond Shelter became a workshop for social change and promoted the “housing first” approach for families nationally and internationally for the next two decades. The focus on helping families to relocate from shelters into rental housing as rapidly as possible introduced an innovation in the field at the time, represented today by Rapid Rehousing programs in the HEARTH Act of 2009.
In 2011, Tull founded Partnering for Change to: “ Promote and facilitate strategies in communities that ensure access to stable and adequate housing as the vital platform for child and family health and well-being.”
Education.
In 1964 Tull graduated with a B.A. from Scripps College with an additional teaching credential from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
From 2002 to 2008 Tull was as an adjunct professor for research at the University of Southern California School of Social Work.
She has been a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs since 2005.
In 2009, she received an Ashoka Fellowship.


Tesco bomb campaign

The Tesco bomb campaign was an attempted extortion against British supermarket chain Tesco which started in Bournemouth, England, in August 2000 and led to one of the largest and most secretive operations ever undertaken by Dorset Police. During the campaign, a blackmailer identified by the pseudonym "Sally" sent letters to Tesco stores threatening to harm customers if his demands—for Clubcards, modified so that the holder could withdraw cash from ATMs—were not met.
Several months after the threat first came to light, "Sally" sent out several letter bombs, one of which was received and exploded in the face of the householder, causing her shock and minor injuries, while the Royal Mail intercepted several other packages, which had been held up because insufficient stamps had been put on them. In October 2000, "Sally" threatened to use pipe bombs against Tesco customers and the threat was taken seriously enough that Tesco began the production of the modified Clubcards, but were unable to produce the required number before the deadline set by the blackmailer. In November, "Sally" claimed to have placed a pipe bomb in a garden in the Ferndown area of Dorset. No bomb was found.
Police eventually mounted a surveillance operation on the postbox to which several of the extortion letters had been traced and identified "Sally" as Robert Edward Dyer. Dyer was arrested in February 2001, over six months since the beginning of the extortion attempt, and charged with several offences, including nine counts of blackmail and one of common assault, of which he was found guilty in May 2001. He was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment on 12 June 2001, later reduced to 12 years on appeal. A number of similar extortion attempts against supermarket chains and other businesses and subsequent attacks on Tesco have since been compared to Dyer's campaign by the media.
Beginnings.
The campaign began in August 2000, when John Purnell, director of security for Tesco, the United Kingdom's largest supermarket chain, was telephoned by a newsagent in Bournemouth who had discovered a copy of an extortion letter left on his shop's photocopier. The letter demanded that Tesco give away Clubcards, modified for use in cash machines, in the "Bournemouth Daily Echo". Over the following days, Dorset Police received two other letters, threatening to send bombs to Tesco customers if the demands were not met.
Investigation.
The police investigation into the campaign, codenamed Operation Hornbill, was one of the most secretive ever undertaken by Dorset Police and one of the largest in British policing history. After receiving the second letter, which had been damaged by fire, police made enquiries with the Royal Mail and discovered that a fire had been reported in a postbox on Bradpole Road, Bournemouth, leading to speculation that "Sally"—the alias by which all the letters were signed—had changed his mind and attempted to destroy the letter. They received a third letter on 29 August 2000, in which "Sally" claimed to have prepared letter bombs to send to Tesco's customers.
After receiving the third letter, the police attempted to communicate with "Sally" by covertly taking out a classified advert in the "Bournemouth Daily Echo" to buy more time. After receiving no response in three weeks, the senior investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Phil James, convened a meeting with other senior officers from across the United Kingdom to assess the threat posed.
Bombings.
During James' meeting, he was informed that a letter bomb had exploded in a suburb of Bournemouth. In a documentary about the investigation in 2009, James said "There was a knock at the door and I was told by one of my officers that an incendiary device had just gone off. The atmosphere of the meeting changed. Clearly there was a risk and the threat was very real." Jean Evans, the woman who opened the letter bomb, was taken to hospital with minor injuries, and a bomb disposal team from the British Army was dispatched to the scene. The device had used a party popper to detonate gunpowder inside the envelope. Immediately after the first letter bomb, Dorset Police alerted Royal Mail to look out for similar packages and several were found in a sorting office, having been delayed because insufficient stamps had been placed on them, and defused by the Army. A further seven of the packages were delivered to the homes of Tesco customers. Following the spate of letter bombs, the Army's bomb disposal team was stationed in Bournemouth—something that only usually happens when political party conferences are held in the town—and placed on stand-by.
Another threatening letter was sent in October, threatening to attack Tesco customers with pipe bombs if the demands were not met. The letter contained a cipher which allowed the police to communicate with "Sally" in code through cryptic adverts in the "Bournemouth Daily Echo". James contacted the editor of the "Echo" and the police were allowed to place the messages in the "Echo", disguised as Mensa puzzles and made to look like word searches. By this time, the police had narrowed the focus of their investigation on a square-mile area of Bournemouth and James became convinced that they would find "Sally" through the postbox on Bradpole Road, through which the fire-damaged letter had passed in August. The box was placed under surveillance and, eventually, the October letter was traced back to that box. The footage from the surveillance operation was reviewed, but the image was of poor quality.
In November 2000, "Sally" lost patience and sent a letter in which he said he would place a pipe bomb in the garden of a Tesco customer if his demands were not met, prompting the police to seriously consider producing the modified Clubcards. They discovered that they could not produce sufficient cards by 12 December, the deadline "Sally" had set. Approximately 100,000 Clubcards, modified for use in ATMs, were eventually produced, but none were distributed. At the end of November, "Sally" sent another letter, telling the police that he had planted a bomb in a garden in the Ferndown area, giving a grid reference which included over 500 houses. The claim prompted the mobilisation of hundreds of police officers to the area, but no bomb was found.
Arrest.
The police received another letter from "Sally" on 7 December. Once again, the letter was traced back to the Bradpole road postbox, where the surveillance operation had continued. The operation had captured good-quality footage of all the users of the postbox that day, but, as it was close to Christmas, the postbox was busier than normal, with 172 items posted by 38 people. Royal Mail regulations meant that detectives could not open or delay the letters, so they made enquiries with the recipients to identify the senders. They eventually managed to identify all but a small number of the senders.
On 17 February 2001, over six months after the receipt of the first demand and three months since the last letter from "Sally", the police made a major breakthrough. Detective Constable Alan Swanton, a junior detective on the case, spotted one of the people caught by the surveillance of the postbox who had yet to be identified. The man was carrying a fuel container, which Swanton believed had come from a nearby filling station. Officers obtained CCTV footage from the filling station, where their suspect had paid by cheque, and identified the man as Robert Edward Dyer.
Dyer, who, at the time, was a 51-year-old widower and unsuccessful businessman living with his two teenage daughters, was placed under surveillance. The surveillance operation did not yield any results, so the police decided to confront Dyer and visited him at his home on 19 February, where they found an extortion note on his computer and cryptic notes in his handwriting. Dyer was arrested and interviewed. The police later intercepted the final letter from "Sally", which surveillance footage showed Dyer posting the day before he was arrested and which was an exact match to the letter found on Dyer's computer. Detective Superintendent James later revealed that Dyer "was an individual in desperate need of money and believing that Tesco was the answer to all his problems."
Conviction.
Dyer was charged and, in May 2001, pleaded guilty on nine counts of blackmail, as well as a sole count of common assault against Jean Evans, the woman who opened the letter bomb. On 12 June 2001, he was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment by a judge at Dorchester Crown Court. The sentence was reduced to 12 years' imprisonment on appeal and Dyer was released from prison in 2007.
During the trial, it emerged that Dyer had worn gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints on the letters and used water to stick the stamps rather than licking them, but that he had made errors, such as leaving a copy of an extortion demand on a newsagent's photocopier; however, there is speculation that this was done so his letter would reach Tesco by a person other than himself. Although Dyer initially demanded only £200,000, Tesco would have lost an estimated £5 million had they complied with Dyer's demand to place cards in every copy of the "Bournemouth Echo".
Aftermath.
The investigation was one of the largest and most secretive that had ever been undertaken by Dorset Police. The campaign media to other similar extortion attempts against Tesco and other British businesses. Dyer got inspiration for the campaign from an article he read about Rodney Whitchelo, who attempted to extort £4 million from H. J. Heinz Company by spiking jars of baby food. Witchelo was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment in 1990. Dyer's campaign was also compared to that of Edgar Pearce, dubbed the "Mardi Gras bomber" by the media. Over three years, Pearce had used bombs in an attempt to extort money from Barclays Bank and Sainsbury's supermarkets. He was sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment in 1999. Later incidents have also been compared to Dyer's campaign, including another against Tesco in 2007.
An episode of the crime documentary series "Real Crime" was made about the campaign in 2009 and broadcast by ITV. The documentary featured interviews with Neal Butterworth, then-editor of the "Bournemouth Daily Echo" and DSI James, the police officer who led the investigation.


Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act

The Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act (; ) is a United States public law that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives of the 113th United States Congress on January 23, 2013 by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT). The law outlines a swap in the ownership of mineral rights of certain pieces of land located in Utah. The United States federal government, Utah's School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA), and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation are all involved in the exchange.
Provisions/Elements of the bill.
"This summary is based largely on information provided by the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office, both public domain sources."
The Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act would authorize the state of Utah to relinquish for the benefit of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation certain of its school trust or subsurface mineral lands south of the border between Grand County and Uintah County, Utah, in exchange for certain federal subsurface mineral lands north of that border. The bill sets out the details of a mineral rights swap between Utah's School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA), the federal government, and the Ute Indian Tribe. The Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act establishes a framework under which this switch can take place. According to the Congressional Budget Office, about 18,000 acres are being considered in exchange for 18,000 different acres.
In setting up the conditions for the swap the bill directs the Department of the Interior to reserve an overriding interest in a portion of the land being exchanged, namely that portion of the mineral estate composed of minerals subject to leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act in the mineral lands conveyed to Utah. The bill also requires Utah to reserve, for the benefit of its school trust, an overriding interest in that portion of the mineral estate composed of minerals subject to leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act in the mineral lands it relinquished to the federal government.
Procedural history.
The Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act was introduced into the House by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) on January 23, 2013. It was referred to the United States House Committee on Natural Resources and then to two of its subcommittees, the United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs and the United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. On April 24, 2013, it was ordered to be reported by Unanimous Consent by the House Committee on Natural Resources. The House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced on Friday May 10, 2013 that H.R. 1580 would be considered the following week. On May 15, 2013, the House voted in a voice vote to pass the bill.
The bill was sent to the United States Senate and referred to the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. On July 9, 2014, the Senate voted to pass the bill with unanimous consent. On July 25, 2014, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.
Debate and discussion.
Senator Orrin Hatch supported the bill, arguing that it "gives Utahns greater opportunity to manage the specified lands and structures as they see fit." Hatch argued that the bill "creates an important new opportunity for energy in our state."
The Wilderness Society supported the bill. A spokesman said that "this legislation will help protect one of the most ecologically critical and culturally sensitive lands in the country".


Chhokar v Chhokar

Chhokar v Chhokar [1984] FLR 313 is an English land law case concerning constructive trusts law and widening the natural meaning of "actual occupation" (which protects the occupier by virtue of the Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 3, being an overriding interest). The facts of the case showed an intention to do a woman out of her (and her children's) occupational interest in a matrimonial home, as the new co-owner buying his share from the husband knew of her situation from the outset and wished to resell the property. The court confirmed in these exact circumstances her interest was overriding at the time when she was in hospital and it was a constructive trust.
Facts.
Mr and Mrs Chhokar married on 18 April 1975.
May 1977: Mr Chhokar bought 60 Clarence Street, Southall, for the purchase price of £9250 with a deposit of £700. Mrs Chhokar substantially contributed to the family fortunes to the tune of approximately £3000.
1978: There were matrimonial difficulties and they both travelled to India to visit their parents. Mr Chhokar tries to abandon her in India but Mrs Chhokar returns in November 1978, a few weeks later.
December 1978: An acquaintance of Mr Chhokar, Mr Parmar, visits the house under the guise of a potential lodger. They sign a contract of sale for the marital home for £12700 (an undervalue) and the date of completion was fixed at 12 February. This was the date on which Mrs Chhokar was scheduled to deliver their second child in hospital.
However, Mrs Chhokar did not deliver on 12 February. She delivered on the 16th and so the men deferred the completion of the sale until then. Mr Parmar then put the house on the market for £18,000. When Mrs Chhokar returned, she discovered the locks had been changed. She broke in but was forced out by Mr Parmar who threatened and assaulted her. Mrs Chhokar managed to gain entry to the house again and stayed put.
The question for the court was whether Mrs Chhokar could be said to be in 'actual occupation' even though she was not physically present in the house at the time of the transfer (sale).
Judgment.
High Court.
Ewbank J ordered that Mr Parmar held the property on trust for himself and Mrs Chhokar in equal shares; that it be sold in 9 months; and until then, she must pay him a rent of £8 a week. She appealed, arguing she should stay rent-free until a sale.
Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal, sitting as a panel of two judges, held the purpose of the trust was to give Mrs Chhokar and her children a home. There was no reason for an order for sale, having regard to the interest of third parties. Because Mr Parmar stepped into Mr Chhokar’s shoes, it would be inequitable for her to have to pay an occupational rent, but he should be entitled to credit for paying off the mortgage. Accordingly, she and Mr Parmar held the house as tenants in common in equity in equal shares. Cumming-Bruce LJ remarked that for the question about whether an order for sale should be made, bankruptcy case law was analogous and relevant. He first referred to Goff LJ in "Re Holliday" [1981] 1 Ch 405, before continuing his judgment.
He held the judge at first instance was wrong to make an order for sale.
Reeve J concurred.


People of the State of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

People of the State of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp. is a lawsuit filed on October 24, 2018, in the New York Supreme Court. The suit alleges fraud by Exxon Mobil Corporation to mislead the company's investors about management of risks posed by climate change. On November 15, 2018, the court signed a preliminary conference order scheduling the trial to begin on October 23, 2019.
On October 22, the trial began before Judge Barry Ostrager, with opening statements by both sides. According to the "New York Times", the case was "only the second climate change lawsuit to reach trial in the United States." On November 7, 2019, the New York Attorney General dropped two of the four counts regarding civil fraud after admitting there was insufficient evidence to support the charges.
On December 10, 2019, Justice Ostrager found for Exxon Mobil on the remaining counts accusing it of fraud.


Steamboat Willie (musician)

Larry Stoops, better known as "Steamboat Willie" (born 1951), is a veteran musician of Dixieland, jazz, and ragtime music, specializing in the early twentieth century era of the genres. He and his band perform nightly at Musical Legends Park, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, at the Cafe Beignet.
Early life.
Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, the son of Resal and Edith [Rutledge] Stoops, Larry Stoops was playing cornet in a Pentecostal church band by the age of 8, and developed a style he refers to as, "playing fancy." While still a teenager, Stoops went to Tupelo, Mississippi, to study at the Pentecostal Bible Institute. He sold Kirby vacuum sweepers and worked at a local grocery for $1 an hour to put himself through school. His first job after graduation was selling Bibles. Married at 20, Stoops was posted as an assistant pastor in Maine, but “I just couldn’t make it. I couldn’t make enough money to feed myself or my wife. One day I got a six-pack of beer, called the pastor, and let them know I quit. (I didn’t even drink.)” Three of Stoops four siblings are members of the clergy.
Career.
Stoops' music career got started while he was working at a car-seat manufacturer in St. Louis. He was given a cornet, practiced with it, and eventually was asked to sit in with band playing at a local country club. Wearing his signature panama hat, Stoops has been a publicly performing musician since 1972, mostly in Louisiana, and especially in New Orleans. Stoops picked up his nickname “Steamboat Willie” during a gig in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Steamboat Willie Jazz Ensemble usually consists of a rotating and varying combination of clarinet, trombone, tuba, string, bass, piano and/or drum players; in addition to Stoops leading on trumpet or cornet. He sings most vocals.
In 1997, Stoops appeared with Larry Hagman in an episode of the television series, "Orleans", on CBS.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, Stoops went on a "relief tour" to several university and college towns around the country. In 2006, Stoops became a resident of New Orleans' Musicians' Village, a Habitat for Humanity project for musicians displaced by Katrina, and performed privately for Norway's Crown Prince Haakon when he toured the recovering area later that year.


Fairless Landfill