Edward C. Lawson

Edward C. Lawson was an African American civil rights activist, who was the plaintiff in the case of "Kolender v. Lawson", , in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that a California statute
authorizing a police officer to arrest a person for refusing to present identification was unconstitutionally vague.
Civil rights case.
Between March 1975 and January 1977, Lawson was detained approximately fifteen times, as a pedestrian or as a diner in a cafe, and asked to present identification; some detentions lasted minutes, others lasted hours. He was arrested several times pursuant to California Penal Code § 647(e),
but prosecuted only twice, with one conviction (the second charge was dismissed). In 1975, Lawson, representing himself (known as pro se), brought a civil rights action against San Diego Chief of Police William Kolender and others, taking the case through U.S. District Court and ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor.
The U.S. District Court ruled in Lawson's favor, enjoining enforcement of the law. Kolender appealed the ruling the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; the ruling in "Lawson v. Kolender," 658 F.2d 1362 (9th Cir. 1981) upheld the District Court, voiding § 647(e).
Kolender appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1983 upheld the Court of Appeals in voiding the law.
This case is of historical importance not only because the California statute was voided, but also because it is one of the few examples of an ordinary citizen successfully representing himself all the way through a U.S. District Court. Lawson received political support at the time from prominent Black leaders including Jesse Jackson, activist/comedian Dick Gregory, U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters D-Los Angeles, U.S. Congressman John Conyers D-Detroit.
Lawson's Supreme Court brief was accompanied by amici curiae briefs from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and others.
In 1983, Carl Stern, the "CBS Evening News" U.S. Supreme Court reporter commented that this case was the most reported U.S. Supreme Court case that year. Stern was referring to front-page newspaper articles in "The New York Times", "The Washington Post", "The Chicago Tribune", "The Miami Herald", "The Los Angeles Times" as well as articles in "Newsweek", "Time Magazine", "Fortune Magazine", The Village Voice and other news publications. And additionally Lawson made repeated appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", "The Phil Donahue Show", "Larry King Live", "Crossfire", "The Ricki Lake Show", "The Today Show", and "Good Morning America".
Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe commented during an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" television program that this case was the last time that the U.S. Supreme Court had decided in favor of a defendant in a civil rights case of this magnitude.
California Penal Code § 647(e) was repealed by the California Legislature in 2008.


Step rent

Step rent, also known as step-up rent or step-up lease, is a type of additional rent term found in commercial real estate where the rent increases or decreases at defined periods. It is generally used to simplify accounting by separating out the increases due to inflation into a separate row in the accounts.
For instance, a lease might specify the rent to be $1000 per month, and then add a second step rent term of $20 per year to account for inflation. Depending on the methodology, the term might be a simple dollar term, or it might be a percentage increase. The later is sometimes known as CPI rent, referring to the consumer price index, or CPI.
Modern electronic accounting systems can automatically apply such adjustments, and on such systems step rent may no longer be entered separately, but instead as part of the base rent terms.


Moncrieff v Jamieson

Moncrieff v Jamieson [2007] UKHL 42 is a Scottish property law case decided by the House of Lords on servitudes (the Scottish equivalent of "easements").
Facts.
The appellant (J) appealed against a decision (2005 1 S.C. 281) that a right of vehicular access from a public road included a right to park on the servient tenement such vehicles as were reasonably incidental to the enjoyment of access to the dominant tenement. The respondents (M) owned a property situated between the foot of a steep escarpment and the foreshore. Vehicles could not be driven onto the property. The property once formed part of the lands owned by J and he was the owner of the land between the property and the public road. Since the property had no access to the public road, the rights conveyed by the disposition in 1973 included a right of access from the public road through J's land. The effect of that conveyance was to confer a servitude right of access to the property from the public road for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic; and a right to stop vehicles on the servient tenement in order to turn, load and unload goods from them and set down and pick up passengers was accessory to the right of vehicular access. M claimed that there was also an accessory right to park vehicles on the servient tenement. The sheriff granted declarator that M were entitled to park vehicles on the servient tenement in the exercise of rights accessory to the servitude right of access and pronounced permanent interdict against J. The Court of Session dismissed an appeal. J submitted that it was not possible in the law of Scotland for there to be a servitude of parking; a permanent interdict was unnecessary and its terms were too uncertain to enable J to know what was prohibited by it.
Judgment.
The appeal was dismissed.
The House of Lords recognised that easements must always be exercised "civiliter" (without amounting to exclusive possession over the servient land), but the House of Lords displayed a more sympathetic attitude to easements that substantially exclude the servient owner.
Obiter, the court also recognised the possibility of a servitude right of parking in Scottish law and an easement of parking in English law.


Alex Rainnie

Alexander Rainnie (22 June 1891 – 1965) was a Scottish footballer who played as a wing half in the Football League for Newcastle United, Darlington and Ashington. He also played non-league football for Hebburn Argyle and South Shields.
Football career.
Rainnie played football as a wing half for North Eastern League clubs Hebburn Argyle before the First World War and for South Shields after it. Described as a "resourceful right half", he signed for Football League club Newcastle United ahead of the 1919–20 season, but played mainly for their reserve team in the North Eastern League. He appeared only once for the first team, in a 4–0 defeat at Everton on 24 January 1920 in the First Division, and moved back to the North Eastern League with Darlington for 1920–21.
He helped Darlington win the North Eastern League title, which contributed to their election to the newly formed Northern Section of the Football League Third Division. He made eight appearances in the League, without scoring, and played for them until at least 1922. He made one appearance for Ashington in the 1923–24 Football League season.
Personal life.
Rainnie was born in Seafield, Banffshire, in Scotland, the son of William Thompson Rainnie, a shipwright, and his wife, Isabella née Legg. He was raised in England, in Hebburn, County Durham, where he attended Hebburn Quay School. He was apprenticed as a shipwright, and served in that trade in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the First World War; in 1915 he was serving on .
Rainnie married Isabella Prentice in South Shields in 1924. The couple are listed on the 1939 Register as living in Hebburn; Rainnie was working as a safety inspector and serving as an ARP Warden. He died in County Durham in 1965 at the age of 73.


Betty Kwan Chinn

Betty Kwan Chinn (關惠群) is a philanthropist who lives in Eureka, California. She has helped the homeless—including the mentally ill, disabled veterans, runaways, and drug abusers—since the 1980s. She won the 2008 Minerva Award. She used the $25,000 grant as seed money and worked with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul to establish the homeless a bathroom and kitchen. U.S. President Barack Obama awarded her and 12 others the Presidential Citizens Medal on August 4, 2010 at the White House.
The Betty Kwan Chinn Day Center opened November 16, 2013 offering a variety of services for the poor and homeless.
In 2020, the Betty Kwan Chinn Foundation has stopped receiving donation items due to the coronavirus pandemic. The foundation offers 100 free packed meals on weekdays at its Eureka-based center.


Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2)

 is a leading case relevant for English land law and English contract law on the circumstances under which actual and presumed undue influence can be argued to vitiate consent to a contract.
Facts.
In eight joined appeals, homeowners had mortgaged their property to a bank. In all cases, the mortgage was securing a loan that was used by a husband for his business, while his wife had not directly benefited. The businesses had failed, and the wife had alleged that she had been under undue influence to sign the security agreement. Therefore, it was contended that the security should be void over her share of the home's equity and that because of this the house could not be repossessed. In the eighth appeal the core of the action was between the wife and her solicitor (Mr Banks); the bank was not joined as a party.
Judgment.
The House of Lords held that for banks to have a valid security they must ensure that their customers have independent legal advice if they are in a couple where the loan will, based on constructive or actual knowledge (either suffices), be used solely for the benefit of one person. A bank (or its solicitor) is "put on inquiry" (fixed with constructive knowledge) that there may be the risk of undue influence or misrepresentation, if they transact for security over a domestic home, but the loan will only benefit one person and not the other. The solicitor who would give independent advice, however, could also be acting as a solicitor for the bank, or both a husband and wife (or either partner). The solicitor would certify that he or she was satisfied that both borrowers had given their fully informed and true consent, although if this ultimately turned out to be wrong, the bank's security would not be affected. Instead, the possibility of an action in professional negligence against the solicitor would arise. This would be a personal action, and so it would not help the family stay in their home. Lord Bingham gave the first judgment, remarking that the principles set down in the opinion of Lord Nicholls commanded "the unqualified support of all members of the House."
Lord Nicholls held that if the banks ensured that the wife had had independent advice, they could not be responsible for that advice being defective. The presumption is rebutted if there is ‘expression of… free will’. The idea of manifest disadvantage for presumed undue influence was rejected but replaced (like the milder tone in "Allcard v Skinner") with a transaction that ‘calls for explanation’, or one which ‘is not readily explicable by the relationship between the parties.’ In the ordinary case it is not ‘to be regarded as a transaction which, failing proof to the contrary, is explicable only on the basis that it has been procured by the exercise of undue influence.’ That is because it is nothing out of the ordinary. You are put on inquiry whenever a wife offers to stand as surety for her husband’s, or a company’s debts, where the loan is only going to be for the husband’s purposes. Once on inquiry, the bank must ensure that the spouse has independent advice and a certification that they have formed a truly independent judgment.
Lord Clyde gave a short judgment, followed by Lord Hobhouse who cast doubt on the utility of class 2B, identified in "O'Brien". Lord Hobhouse summarised the outcomes of each claim.
Lord Scott gave a judgment dealing extensively with the particular facts of each claim.
Significance.
Outcomes differed among the eight fact patterns (cases) and three on very particular scenarios. As such the final appeals are reported together in law reports headed Etridge (or similar) but three reports detail endorsed dissents (with criteria/tests set) in the court below or go into further detail, as endorsed by the House of Lords:


Congregation Beth Israel (New Orleans)

Congregation Beth Israel () is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in Louisiana. Founded in 1903 or 1904, though tracing its roots back to 1857, it is the oldest Orthodox congregation in the New Orleans region. Originally located on Carondelet Street in New Orleans' Central City, it constructed and moved to a building at 7000 Canal Boulevard in Lakeview, New Orleans, in 1971.
At one time the largest Orthodox congregation in the Southern United States, its membership was over 500 families in the 1960s, but fell to under 200 by 2005. That year its Canal Boulevard building was severely flooded by the 2005 New Orleans levee failure disaster during Hurricane Katrina. Despite attempts to save them, all seven of its Torah scrolls were destroyed, as were over 3,000 prayer books. The building suffered further flooding damage caused by the theft of copper air-conditioning tubing in 2007.
In the wake of Katrina another 50 member families left New Orleans, including the rabbis. The congregation began sharing space with Gates of Prayer, a Reform synagogue in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. In 2009, the congregation purchased land from Gates of Prayer, and by 2012 had built a new synagogue next to it at 4000 West Esplanade Avenue. the rabbi was Gabriel Greenberg.
Early history.
Beth Israel is the oldest Orthodox congregation in the New Orleans region, and its most prominent. Though it was founded as early as 1903, it traces its roots back to much older synagogues. In the mid-19th century New Orleans had a number of small Orthodox congregations of Eastern European Jews, generally "structured along nationalistic lines". These included a synagogue of Galitzianer Jews (Chevra Thilim), and two of Lithuanian Jews, (one—Chevra Mikve Israel—following the non-Hassidic liturgy, the other—Anshe Sfard—following the Hassidic liturgy). In 1857, a congregation consisting primarily of Prussian Jews from Posen organized as Tememe Derech, "The Right Way". As they followed the Polish rite, they were known as "The Polish Congregation".
Tememe Derech built a synagogue in the 500 block of Carondelet Street in the Central City section of New Orleans in 1867. It was the sole Orthodox congregation to construct its own building; only a minority of New Orleans' Jews were Orthodox, and other congregations rented space or met in members' homes. Tememe Derech's membership, however, never exceeded 50, and in 1903 or 1904 the synagogue disbanded, and merged with a number of other small Orthodox congregations and a burial society to form Beth Israel. Services were initially held in rented quarters in the same 500 block of Carondelet Street.
In 1905, Beth Israel purchased the home of New Orleans' former mayor Joseph A. Shakspeare at 1610 Carondelet Street. Funds for the new acquisition came from both the Orthodox and Reform communities of New Orleans. After remodeling the building, the congregation began holding services there, in time for the 1906 High Holy Days. Membership grew quickly; by 1910 Beth Israel was the second-largest Jewish congregation in the city, with 180 member families, and by 1914 that number had grown to 250 families. By 1918, however, membership had fallen to 175 families. That year the synagogue's income was $6,000 (today $).
Moses Hyman Goldberg was the congregation's first rabbi, but within a year he moved to Chevra Thilim. Goldberg served as New Orleans' "mohel" until his death in 1940.
1920s to early 2000s.
Beth Israel rebuilt its synagogue at the Carondelet Street location in 1924. The new building was designed by Emil Weil, a noted Southern architect, particularly of Jewish religious buildings. He designed other New Orleans' synagogues, including the Touro Synagogue and the Anshe Sfard, as well as other non-religious buildings throughout Louisiana. Beth Israel's new Byzantine Revival building, with its seating capacity of 1,200, reflected "the growing economic and social confidence of the membership": it had "beautiful" stained-glass windows, a "magnificent" imported European chandelier, and "hand-carved Stars of David in the ceiling". The building was dedicated on September 12, and a Boston rabbi, Henry Raphael Gold, was a guest speaker. He was so impressed that he stayed on, becoming Beth Israel's rabbi.
In 1926 Beth Israel built the "Menorah Institute" Talmud Torah building on Euterpe Street, adjoining the Carondelet synagogue. The school, which served as an Orthodox alternative to the existing Communal Hebrew School, comprised a nursery school, a Hebrew school, and a Sunday school. The building also housed Beth Israel's offices, and the "Little Shul" ("shul" is the Yiddish word for synagogue), where services were held twice a day.
The congregation leased land for burials in the Chevra Thilim Cemetery on Canal Street, a site that had been used by Tememe Derech as early as 1860, and which was shared with several other congregations. In the 1930s Beth Israel purchased its own cemetery on Frenchmen Street.
Uri Miller joined Beth Israel as rabbi in 1935, a post he would hold through the early 1940s. He was president of the Hebrew Theological College Alumni from 1936 to 1938, and of its successor the Rabbinical Council of America from 1946 to 1948.
During Miller's tenure the synagogue's neighborhood began to deteriorate. Members started moving uptown, and the congregation embarked on a search for a new location. In 1963 Beth Israel purchased a block of land at 7000 Canal Boulevard at Walker Street in the Lakeview neighborhood. It moved into its new larger building there in 1971.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's successful 1989 run for a Louisiana House of Representatives seat in nearby Metairie was a cause for concern in the congregation. Then-rabbi Gavriel Newman spoke out against Duke, feeling that people were being "taken in" by "the modern guise of Klan members of Duke's ilk is the two-piece suit, the blow-dried hair and the sweet smile, which seem to serve them very well to hide the inherent racism and the propensity to violence." During the campaign an anti-Duke rally was planned to be held at Beth Israel by Mordechai Levy of the Jewish Defense Organization (JDO). It was, however, cancelled by Beth Israel, after strong objections by members of Beth Israel and the larger Jewish community, in part because it was felt that the JDO's actions would actually create more support for Duke, and in part because of Levy's statements that the JDO would not rule out violence in its efforts against Duke.
From 1914 through World War II Beth Israel described itself the "largest Orthodox congregation in the South", and in the 1960s it had 500 member families. By 2005, however, that number had been reduced to fewer than 200. Nevertheless, Beth Israel still held services twice a day, the only synagogue in New Orleans to do so.
Hurricane Katrina and aftermath.
As a result of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans, the congregation's building at 7000 Canal Boulevard filled with at least ten feet of water, and Beth Israel garnered national attention after attempts were made to save its Torah scrolls. Beth Israel's rabbi, Yisroel Shiff, who had evacuated to Tennessee before Katrina hit, contacted Rabbi Isaac Leider, who had worked on ZAKA search-and-rescue teams in Israel for five years. After contacting federal officials and the Louisiana National Guard, Leider hired a helicopter to fly him to within a mile of Beth Israel, met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) search-and-rescue team appointed to retrieve the scrolls. The group used rubber rafts to reach Beth Israel and enter it, where Leider waded into the sanctuary and rescued the Torah scrolls and their silver ornaments.
Despite Leider's efforts, all seven Torah scrolls were unsalvageable, and had to be buried. They had initially been buried in her backyard by Rebecca Heggelund, Beth Israel's non-Jewish secretary, who first received them after their rescue, and were subsequently re-buried next to the grave of Beth Israel's "gabbai" Meyer Lachoff. Lachoff had died just after Katrina, but could not be buried in New Orleans until months later.
In addition to losing all of its Torah scrolls, Beth Israel lost all its furniture, and over 3,000 "siddurs" and "mahzors", and almost all of its members' homes were flooded, forcing them to move. The congregation did, however, receive assistance in replacing some of its assets; the Orthodox Union immediately sent Beth Israel 50 ArtScroll "siddurs", and Brith Shalom Beth Israel Congregation of Charleston, South Carolina, and Congregation Shaare Zedek Sons of Abraham of Providence, Rhode Island each donated Torahs. Hayley Fields, a 14-year-old from Los Angeles, heard of Beth Israel's difficult circumstances, and with the support of her mother, spearheaded a fund-raising drive, selling 3,500 watches. $18,000 was ultimately raised to buy a Torah, which was dedicated in August, 2006, two days before the first anniversary of the hurricane. At that ceremony the National Council of Young Israel also donated 150 new Artscoll "mahzor"s, in time for the High Holy Days.
In the wake of Katrina 50 families that were members of Beth Israel left New Orleans, and gave up membership in the congregation. These included Rabbi Schiff and his family. After the flood Beth Israel's board of directors informed Schiff, who had joined they synagogue in April 2002, that it would not be able to meet its contractual obligations and pay him past December. Schiff and his family had also lost their home and much of their possessions, and had been living in Memphis. Schiff resigned effective November 1, 2005, citing this loss, and the lack of a functioning Jewish Day School in the area for his children.
Soon after the flood, Beth Israel received an offer to temporarily use space from Congregation Gates of Prayer, a Reform synagogue in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. The congregation began holding weekly services and renting office space there.
In 2006 it was unclear if Beth Israel, which had already been in difficult financial shape, would be allowed, or have the means, to re-build its synagogue. The building suffered further flood damage in July 2007 when thieves stole the copper tubing for the main air-conditioning system. They broke the water main, and water from the second floor flooded the building for three days, to a depth of three to four feet, before it was discovered. The property was put up for sale.
Recent events.
In 2007, the congregation began some joint programming with Anshe Sefard, New Orleans' only other remaining Orthodox synagogue, and in the summer hired Uri Topolosky as its new rabbi. A graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Topolosky had previously served as the associate rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and had been one of 21 rabbis arrested at the United Nations during an April 2007 sit-in demanding that Iran be expelled from the U.N.
To help attract new members, in the summer Topolosky started a recruitment campaign, placing an advertisement in the New York newspaper "The Jewish Week", and re-designing Beth Israel's website. The campaign's tagline was "If you believe in the ability to destroy, you can believe in the ability to rebuild," a saying of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, and by the end of October ten new members had joined. However, while all New Orleans synagogues lost membership after Katrina, as of 2007, Beth Israel was the only New Orleans synagogue that had not re-opened in its former location.
Beth Israel started "The Minyan Project" in 2008, an effort to attract 10 (see "minyan") new Orthodox families to New Orleans. The families were given "generous financial assistance", and in return had to "commit to providing community service, from maintaining the eruv enclosure that's due to be completed within the month to assisting in kosher supervision at a local supermarket." According to Topolosky, with the move of four new families to the area, New Orleans likely had proportionately the fastest growing Modern Orthodox community in the United States. In April of that year the Orthodox Union gave the congregation $235,000 towards a new building. At the time, Beth Israel had 80 member families, and 80 "associate member" families (families who belonged to other synagogues as well).
By 2009, the congregation had decided to erect a new synagogue on land it had purchased from Gates of Prayer, part of the lot on which the Gates of Prayer synagogue stood. For the 2009 High Holy Days, Topolosky planned to launch a capital campaign to raise $1 million towards the construction of the building. The new building at 4004 West Esplanade Avenue was completed and occupied in August 2012. The old building, which still stood vacant, had been purchased by a surgeon for use as medical offices. All that was saved from it and brought to the new building were a "bimah" (originally from the building on Carondelet Street), a "ner tamid", two menorahs, a "hanukiah", and "a stained-glass window and a wooden plaque honoring pioneer donor families from Carondelet Street". The "hanukiah" had previously been featured and lit at the 2010 White House Hanukkah Party.
Topolosky and his family left Beth Israel the following year, citing "the deteriorating Jewish educational landscape in New Orleans". New Orleans' only Jewish school, which had been established in 1996, closed for a year after Hurricane Katrina, and was never able to regain its peak enrollment of over 80 students. Although by then New Orleans' Jewish population exceeded its pre-Katrina size, demographic changes negatively affected the school's population. The same demographic changes affected Beth Israel; its Saturday morning service only attracted around 40 worshipers, its Friday night service only 25, and it had no daily "minyan". In 2012 the school's board opened its doors to more non-Jewish students and changed the name from New Orleans Jewish Day School to Community Day School, but enrollment continued to fall to 29 students, half non-Jewish, by 2013.
In 2013 Beth Israel hired Gabriel Greenberg to succeed Topolosky as rabbi, though he could not join the synagogue until the following year. A native of New England, he, like Topolosky, received his rabbinic ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. , Greenberg was Beth Israel's rabbi.
Soon, changes overtook New Orleans. The Day School rediscovered its identity, for example. With a recommitment to its Jewish mission, the renamed-once-more Jewish Community Day School saw renewed interest from Jewish families under the leadership of Head of School Sharon Pollin. When Dr. Pollin left in 2019, enrollment had reached 66 students, and with the expansion of JCDS's Green Preschool, the school reached an enrollment of 76 students in the spring of 2020 under new head and New Orleans native Dr. Brad Philipson. The school is now over 75% Jewish and is expected to exceed pre-Katrina enrollment in the fall of 2020. Much of this success is owed to the active involvement of the Beth Israel rabbis.
A loyal friend to the Day School and beloved at Beth Israel, Rabbi Gabe left New Orleans in 2019. He was replaced, however, by the newly ordained Rabbi Josh Pernick. A thoughtful scholar with an ability to connect to young and old, Rabbi Josh has been immediately successful at Beth Israel, and he does so with the support of the jack-of-all-trades synagogue administrator, Rabbi David Posternock. Both Rabbis are active in the Day School and play a pivotal role in the vibrant Jewish life along the West Esplanade Avenue corridor in Metairie.


Wildlife regulations in Florida

Bill CS/SB 318 is an amendment passed by the State of Florida in June 2010 which amends several sections of Chapter 379 of the Florida Statutes (F.S.). Sections 379.231, 379.372, 379.374, 379.3761, 379.401, and 379.4015 deal with wildlife regulations and were amended by this bill. Broadly, this bill seeks to regulate entities which own, import, sell and/or breed certain prohibited species of reptiles. Specifically this bill prohibits the ownership of a variety of commonly kept pythons and monitor species. Additionally, the bill provided rules for a commission to add species of reptiles to the prohibited list.
Amendments to existing Florida law.
Amendment to section 379.231 and 379.3762 changes the language throughout to bring continuity to the legal text.
Amended section 379.372 specifies a list of prohibited species which may not be possessed, imported into the state, sold, bartered, traded, or bred without the authorization of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Prohibited animals include "Burmese or Indian python ("Python molurus"), reticulated python ("Python reticulatus"), Northern African python ("Python sebae"), Southern African python ("Python natalensis"), amethystine or scrub python ("Morelia amethistina"), green anaconda ("Eunectes murinus"), Nile monitor ("Varanus niloticus"), and any other reptile designated as a conditional or prohibited species by the FWC.
According to the Amended section 379.3761, F.S. prohibits the sale of any wild animal which is designated as a prohibited or conditional species, reptile of concern, or venomous reptiles in the State of Florida, regardless of the origin of the sale or location of the initial transaction.
Amended section 379.4015, F.S. is the penalty section of the amended statute. So called "conditional" or "Prohibited" reptile violations are a level two violation with a mandatory minimum fine of $100, and a requirement that the animal must be surrendered to the FWC unless a permit to possess is applied for and approved.
These amendments were made to Florida law to address concerns regarding the introduction of reptile species which seem capable of not only adapting to the local environment, but in fact seem to thrive. Florida Fish and Wildlife has found breeding colonies of Burmese pythons, a large Asian constrictor routinely sold through the United States as a pet, in the Everglades National Park.
Permit to possess prohibited species.
The state of Florida does allow for possession of species otherwise prohibited by law for the purposes of research. There is no fee for this permit. A research plan, security plan must be submitted to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in order to attain approval. Aquariums, zoological parks and public exhibitors may also acquire a permit.
Prohibited Species possessed prior to the enactment of SB 318.
Individuals in possession of any conditional species prior to July 1, 2010 are allowed to retain ownership of their animals provided they maintain a valid reptile of concern license for the remainder of its life.
Non-native invasive species in Florida.
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in parts of Florida. It has been found that the climate of the Everglades enables the species to thrive . This species is also known to be breeding in parts of Florida along with the common Boa Constrictor. Conservationist and wildlife officials are concerned about this natural predator spreading to areas which are biologically vulnerable, the Florida Keys for example.
As a predator the Burmese python is a threat to the preservation of native wildlife. This pythons territorial expanse and adaptability to a variety of habitats, flexible dietary requirements and lifespan This species of python along is an excellent swimmer and has been shown to prey on the endangered . after a dietary analysis was performed on a specimen. They have been shown to eat a diversity of pretty to include rabbits, rats, squirrel, domestic cats, bobcats, a variety of bird species and the American alligator. The Burmese pythons flexible diet makes it a competitor for the States endangered Indigo snake.
Currently both Federal and State agencies are attempting to develop methods of containing and eradicating this and other invasive species. Due to the cost of controlling exotic species once introduced, preventing introduction of non-native species is of import. Legal measures such as Bill CS/SB 318 as passed by the State of Florida in June 2010 are initial attempts to mitigate the release of exotic species, such as the Burmese python and other reptiles.
US Geological Survey and the threat of invasive species spreading.
According to the US Geological Survey Burmese pythons, already established in parts of Florida are adaptable to temperature conditions in a significant portion of the United States. Current estimates show that almost one-third of the continental US would provide appropriate temperatures, shelter and prey which would facilitate the adaption of this python species.
Maps released by the USGS show that current environmental temperatures which match the Burmese pythons native environment include significant portions of the southeast, Texas and lower southwest. based on global warming models the USGS predicts that the suitable habitat for the Burmese pythons will expand greatly during the remaining portion of the century.
Opponents of the Bill.
The classification of the Burmese python as a subspecies of the Indian Python is not scientifically accepted anymore. Recent publications to include the "Zur taxonomie des dunklen tigerpythons, Python molurus bivittatus Kuhl, 1820, speziell der population von Sulawesi" in 2009 by Hans Jacobs "et al." has established that the Burmese python is not a subspecies of the Indian Python. This is in addition to the 1999 report "The Burmese Python is a questionable subspecies of the Indian Python, Python molurus" which was coauthored by Dr. Rodda. To further this belief herpetologist will point to the fact that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service does not consider the Indian Python to be the same species as the Burmese Python. The Indian pythons is already banned from import or export with the interstate transportation of such animals being limited to those who possess a specific permit.
The reptile industry is responsible for the employment of thousands of individuals and has an economic net worth of approximately $3 billion each year, measures such as SB318 harm the industry as a whole. Opponents to the legislation passed by the State of Florida are critical of the measures taken for a variety of reasons. The United States Geological Survey which produced the maps and report detailing the possible expansion of Burmese pythons in as many as 32 States was written by Dr. Gordon Rodda. Dr. Rodda was the co-author of a paper in 1999 titled "The Burmese Python is a questionable subspecies of the Indian Python, Python molurus". This is significant to opponents who wonder why the paper Dr. Rodda coauthored for the USGS, "What Parts of the U.S. Mainland Are Climatically Suitable for Invasive Alien Pythons Spreading from Everglades National Park?", used climatic data for the Indian Python to support his work, which is an endangered species highly regulated by the Federal Government, in place of the Burmese python which the report was written on.
Further work which is critical of the USGS report on the expansion of the Burmese python was written by Dr, Frank Burbrink with the City University of New York which used more than annual rainfall and temperature to determine habitat suitable for the large constrictors. 19 variables were taken into consideration. Through the use of climatic data from the localities where the Burmese python is naturally found climatic models where generated to help predict where this species could inhabit. As a result, "the models suggest that the pythons are restricted to the vicinity of the Everglades in extreme south Florida…".
The models by Dr. Burbrink predict different results than the models of Dr. Rodda because variables such as climatic extremes and seasonal variation create a significant variation in the animals survivability. Dr. Burbrink's models also predict that global warming will actually reduce the habitat suitable for exotic southeastern Asian species such as the Burmese Python.
Herpetologist perspective on the presence of Pythons in Florida.
Herpetologist Shawn Heflick has a permit from the State of Florida to hunt Burmese Pythons in the Everglades. He is also the president of the Central Florida Herpetological Society. Of note he indicates in an interview that there "is very little genetic variation with this wild population…" and goes on to say that a "genetic study done on this population suggest that the population stems from the Hurricane Andrew devastation in 1992." The hurricane is an important event as a reptile breeding facility had an estimated nine hundred animals released due to its destruction by the Hurricane in 1992. The location of this facility is thought to be the "epicenter" of the current Burmese Python population. Mr. Heflick also goes on to add that the record cold weather in parts of Florida has led to a "large number" of deaths in the local Burmese Python population.
Technology.
Currently Federal and State officials are using technology in the hunt for these invasive species. In addition to legislation to restrict the flow of potentially invasive species into Florida there are extensive efforts to eradicate the current population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. Current Florida legislation requires that all "species of concern" or "prohibited species" must be implanted with a microchip to aid in their tracking should they escape. Researches with the University of Florida are taking this one step further and implanting a radio transmitter into snakes and releasing them back into the wild. These so-called "Judas snakes" lead the researchers to areas inhabited by the Burmese python and allow trackers to catch and euthanize the invasive animals. During the first trial, with the release of three, radio transmitter implanted pythons, twelve untagged snakes were caught.


Mark Brownson

Marshall Phillip "Mark" Brownson III (June 17, 1975 – February 1, 2017) was a professional baseball right-handed pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies (1998–1999) and Philadelphia Phillies (2000).
Career.
Brownson was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 30th round (856th overall) of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft, out of Wellington High School. He spent one semester at Palm Beach State College.
Brownson made his big league debut on July 21, 1998, hurling a 4-hit, complete game shutout, against the Houston Astros. , his game score of 85 is the highest by any National League debutant pitcher in the Wild Card Era. Unfortunately, he struggled throughout the remainder of his short MLB career, compiling an 8.54 earned run average (ERA) in the 10 games after his magical debut. Brownson pitched in his 11th and final major league game on July 20, 2000, just a short time after his 25th birthday.
Brownson had pitched through a torn labrum during the 2000 season and required surgery after the season, from which he never fully recovered.
Personal and death.
Brownson was married with two daughters, Madisyn and Aliah. According to his wife, he struggled to adjust to life after baseball. Brownson developed a dependence on painkillers related to nagging arm injuries which eventually developed into a heroin problem. The couple divorced in 2012, after which Brownson spent time homeless in Florida.
After Brownson retired from baseball, he and his wife opened a pool cleaning business in Florida, before relocating the business to Arizona.
Brownson died on February 1, 2017, aged 41. He was predeceased by his brother Travis and survived by his mother Ginny Brownson and father Jack Brownson.


Snapping hip syndrome

Snapping hip syndrome, also referred to as dancer's hip, is a medical condition characterized by a snapping sensation felt when the hip is flexed and extended. This may be accompanied by a snapping or popping noise and pain or discomfort. Pain often decreases with rest and diminished activity. Snapping hip syndrome is commonly classified by the location of the snapping as either extra- articular or intra-articular.
Symptoms.
In some cases, an audible snapping or popping noise as the tendon at the hip flexor crease moves from flexion (knee toward waist) to extension (knee down and hip joint straightened). It can be painless. After extended exercise, pain or discomfort may be present caused by inflammation of the iliopsoas bursae. Pain often decreases with rest and diminished activity. Symptoms usually last months or years without treatment and can be very painful.
Extra-articular.
The more common lateral extra-articular type of snapping hip syndrome occurs when the iliotibial band, tensor fasciae latae, or gluteus medius tendon slides back and forth across the greater trochanter. This normal action becomes a snapping hip syndrome when one of these connective tissue bands thickens and catches with motion. The underlying bursa may also become inflamed, causing a painful external snapping hip syndrome.
Less commonly, the iliopsoas tendon catches on the anterior inferior iliac spine, the lesser trochanter, or the iliopectineal ridge during hip extension, as the tendon moves from an anterior lateral (front, side) to a posterior medial (back, middle) position. With overuse, the resultant friction may eventually cause painful symptoms, resulting in muscle trauma, bursitis, or inflammation in the area.
Intra-articular.
Because the iliopsoas or hip flexor crosses directly over the anterior superior labrum of the hip, an intra-articular hip derangement (i.e. labral tears, hip impingement, loose bodies) can lead to an effusion that subsequently produces internal snapping hip symptoms.
Causes.
The causes of snapping hip syndrome are not fully understood. The onset is often insidious with reports of a "non-painful" sensation or audible snapping, clicking, or popping with certain activities. Individuals often ignore the "snapping" sensation, which may lead to future discomfort with activity. Athletes appear to have an increased risk of snapping hip syndrome due to repetitive and physically demanding movements. Among athletes such as ballet dancers, gymnasts, horse riders, track and field athletes and soccer players, military training, or any vigorous exerciser, repeated hip flexion can lead to injury. In excessive weightlifting or running, the cause is usually attributed to extreme thickening of the tendons in the hip region. Snapping hip syndrome most often occurs in people who are 15 to 40 years old.
Extra-articular.
Extra-articular snapping hip syndrome is commonly associated with leg length difference (usually the long side is symptomatic), tightness in the iliotibial band (ITB) on the involved side, weakness in hip abductors and external rotators, poor lumbopelvic stability and abnormal foot mechanics (overpronation). Popping during external snapping hip (lateral-extra articular), occurs when the thickened posterior aspect of the ITB or the anterior gluteus maximus rubs over the greater trochanter as the hip is extended. Internal snapping hip (medial-extra articular) is usually described by the patient as a snapping or locking of the hip with an audible snap and occurs when the iliopsoas tendon snaps over underlying bony prominences. Almost half of patients with internal snapping hip also have inter-articular pathology.
Intra-articular.
The causes of intra-articular snapping hip syndrome seem to be broadly similar to those of the extra-articular type, but often include an underlying mechanical problem in the lower extremity. The pain associated with the internal variety tends to be more intense and therefore more debilitating than with the external variety. Intra-articular snapping hip syndrome is often indicative of injury such as a torn acetabular labrum, ligamentum teres tears, loose bodies, articular cartilage damage, or synovial chondromatosis (cartilage formations in the synovial membrane of the joint).
Treatment.
This condition is usually curable with appropriate treatment, or sometimes it heals spontaneously. If it is painless, there is little cause for concern.
Correcting any contributing biomechanical abnormalities and stretching tightened muscles, such as the iliopsoas muscle or iliotibial band, is the goal of treatment to prevent recurrence.
Referral to an appropriate professional for an accurate diagnosis is necessary if self treatment is not successful or the injury is interfering with normal activities. Medical treatment of the condition requires determination of the underlying pathology and tailoring therapy to the cause. The examiner may check muscle-tendon length and strength, perform joint mobility testing, and palpate the affected hip over the greater trochanter for lateral symptoms during an activity such as walking.
Self-treatment.
A self-treatment recommended by the U.S. Army for a soft tissue injury of the iliopsoas muscle treatment, like for other soft tissue injuries, is a HI-RICE (Hydration, Ibuprofen, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) regimen lasting for at least 48 to 72 hours after the onset of pain. "Rest" includes such commonsense prescriptions as avoiding running or hiking (especially on hills), and avoiding exercises such as jumping jacks, sit-ups or leg lifts/flutter kicks.
Stretching of the tight structures (piriformis, hip abductor, and hip flexor muscle) may alleviate the symptoms. The involved muscle is stretched (for 30 seconds), repeated three times separated by 30 second to 1 minute rest periods, in sets performed two times daily for six to eight weeks. This should allow one to progress back into jogging until symptoms disappear.
Injection based treatments.
Injections are usually focused on the iliopsoas bursa. Corticosteroid injections are common, but usually only last weeks to months. In addition, corticosteroid side effects can include weight gain, weakening of the surrounding tissues, and even osteoporosis, with regular use. Cellular based therapy may have a role in future injection based treatments, though there is no current research proving the effectiveness of these therapies.
Surgical treatment.
If medicine or physical therapy is ineffective or abnormal structures are found, surgery may be recommended.
Surgical treatment is rarely necessary unless intra-articular pathology is present. In patients with persistently painful iliopsoas symptoms surgical release of the contracted iliopsoas tendon has been used since 1984. Iliopsoas and iliotibial band lengthening can be done arthroscopically. Postop, these patients will usually undergo extensive physical therapy; regaining full strength may take up to 9–12 months.
Rehabilitation.
Patients may require intermittent NSAID therapy or simple analgesics as they progress in activities. If persistent pain caused by bursitis continues, a corticosteroid injection may be beneficial.
Physical therapy or athletic training therapy and rehabilitation.
Both active and passive stretching exercises that include hip and knee extension should be the focus of the program. Stretching the hip into extension and limiting excessive knee flexion avoids placing the rectus femoris in a position of passive insufficiency, thereby maximizing the stretch to the iliopsoas tendon. Strengthening exercises for the hip flexors may also be an appropriate component of the program. A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug regimen as well as activity modification or activity progression (or both) may be used. Once symptoms have decreased a maintenance program of stretching and strengthening can be initiated. Light aerobic activity (warmup) followed by stretching and strengthening of the proper hamstring, hip flexors, and iliotibial band length is important for reducing recurrences.
Conservative measures may resolve the problem in six to eight weeks.
Massage or self-myofascial release may be an effective intervention for external snapping hip syndromes. It’s suggested that using soft-tissue modalities to target the iliopsoas for medial extra-articulate snapping hip syndrome and gluteus maximus, tensor fasciae latae, and ITB complex for lateral extras-articulate napping hip syndrome may be effective in treating symptoms of snapping hip syndrome.


Alice Callaghan

Alice Callaghan (born circa 1947, Calgary, Alberta) is an Episcopalian priest and a former Roman Catholic nun.
An aggressive advocate of the homeless and impoverished people of downtown Los Angeles, she founded the SRO Housing Trust and is the manager of Las Familias del Pueblo, a Skid Row community center.
She has stated she wants to have Skid Row look like "a gentrified area for poor people", an attitude that has made her as many foes as friends. Some developers view the Skid Row area in Los Angeles as an opportunity to buy and rehabilitate aging buildings, convert them into condominiums and sell them at significant profits. Callaghan has insisted that the renovated buildings be used to house the poor.
Early years.
Her family moved from Canada to southern California when she was a small child. Diminutive and athletic, she became a proficient surfer. She attended college and became a nun. She left the convent in order to become an Episcopalian priest. Seeing the grinding poverty of skid row, she decided to "make [herself] useful there."


Isobenzan

Isobenzan (telodrin) is a highly toxic organochloride insecticide. It was produced only in the period from 1958 to 1965 and its use has been since discontinued. It is a persistent organic pollutant that can remain in soil for 2 to 7 years, and the biological half-life of isobenzan in human blood is estimated to be about 2.8 years.
It is classified as an extremely hazardous substance in the United States as defined in Section 302 of the U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (42 U.S.C. 11002), and is subject to strict reporting requirements by facilities which produce, store, or use it in significant quantities.


Maina Kiai

Maina Kiai is a Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist who formerly served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association from May 1, 2011, to April 30, 2017. Since 2018, he has headed Human Rights Watch's Alliances and Partnerships program.
Kiai is also active in human rights work in Kenya, where he has focused on combating corruption, supporting political reform, and fighting against impunity following post-election violence that engulfed Kenya in 2008.
Education, career, and awards.
Kiai's most prominent human rights work began in 1992, when he co-founded the unofficial Kenya Human Rights Commission. He served as the Commission's executive director until September 1998.
Kiai then moved on to become Director of Amnesty International's Africa Program (1999-2001) and the Africa Director of the International Human Rights Law Group (now Global Rights, 2001-2003) before finally serving as Chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission from 2003 to 2008.
From July 2010 to April 2011, Kiai was the Executive Director of the International Council on Human Rights Policy. He has also held research fellowships at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the TransAfrica Forum.
Kiai co-founded the local Kenyan NGO InformAction, which uses a multimedia approach – primarily video production – to help educate Kenyans about their human rights. He formerly wrote a regular column for the Daily Nation, but resigned in 2018, citing alleged interference with publishing decisions by the government He now writes for the Standard (Kenya).
In 2014, Freedom House awarded Kiai its Freedom Award, an acknowledgment begun in 1943 "to extol recipients' invaluable contribution to the cause of freedom and democracy." Prior Freedom Award honorees include Chen Guangcheng, Aung San Suu Kyi, Vaclav Havel, the 14th Dalai Lama, Medgar Evers, and Edward R. Murrow.
In October 2016, Kiai received the United Nations Foundation's Leo Nevas Award for his work as Special Rapporteur. The award recognizes "those who have served as agents of change in advancing international human rights." In December 2016, he was awarded the 2016 AFL-CIO George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award for his "dedication to and effectiveness in highlighting the widespread denial of fundamental human rights at work and in society.".
In September 2018, he joined Human Rights Watch to launch its Alliances and Partnerships program.
Kiai is an outspoken supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, arguing that the "involvement of additional actors such as parliamentarians and civil society is critical to democratizing the UN".
In May 2020, Kiai was named as one of 20 inaugural members of the Facebook Oversight Board, which makes content moderation decisions on Facebook and Instagram.
Kiai is a lawyer by profession, trained at Nairobi and Harvard Universities.
Work as Special Rapporteur.
Maina Kiai took up his functions as the first UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association on May 1, 2011. He completed his second and final term on April 30, 2017, and was succeeded by Ms. Annalisa Ciampi of Italy. Special Rapporteurs are independent from any Government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
As Special Rapporteur, Kiai authored or co-authored seven reports to the Human Rights Council on the subjects of:
Kiai also authored four reports to the UN General Assembly, on the subjects of:
Kiai also made nine official country visits, to Georgia (2012), the United Kingdom (2013 & 2016), Rwanda (January 2014), Oman (September 2014), Kazakhstan (January 2015), Chile (September 2015), the Republic of Korea (January 2016) and the United States of America (July 2016).
As Special Rapporteur, Kiai issued more than 190 press statements via OHCHR and sent over 900 communications to UN member states.
Kiai conducted the first ever official country visit to the United States by a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in July 2016.
Retribution for human rights work.
Kiai has been subjected to threats and harassment for his human rights work.
In August 2017, Kiai was briefly blocked from flying out of Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport; officials claimed he needed government clearance to leave the country.
In September 2013, Kiai reported that "thugs" had come to his mother's homestead in Nyeri and threatened to burn it down.
In 2008, Kiai was one among several human rights defenders who received death threats, as post-election violence raged in Kenya. A coalition of Kenyan civil society groups reported that they had become aware of a plot involving "a five- or- so man elite squad that has been tasked with the liquidation of, inter alia, Maina Kiai, Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights."


Special review

Special review, formerly known as Rebuttable Presumption Against Registration (RPAR), is a regulatory process in the United States through which existing pesticides suspected of posing unreasonable risks to human health, non-target organisms, or the environment are referred for review by the EPA. Such review requires an intensive risk/benefit analysis with opportunity for public comment. If risk is found to outweigh social and economic benefits, regulatory actions (ranging from label revisions and use-restriction to cancellation or suspended registration) can be initiated.


Arthur Martin-Leake

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Martin-Leake, (4 April 1874 – 22 June 1953) was a British physician, officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and a double recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Martin-Leake was the first of only three men to be awarded the VC twice, the others being Noel Godfrey Chavasse and Charles Upham.
Early life.
Arthur, the fifth son of Stephen Martin-Leake of Thorpe Hall, Essex, was born at Standon, near Ware, Hertfordshire, and was educated at Westminster School before studying medicine at University College Hospital, qualifying in 1893. He was employed at Hemel Hempstead District Hospital before enlisting in the Imperial Yeomanry, to serve in the Boer War in 1899.
Boer War.
Martin-Leake first served in the Second Boer War as a trooper in the Imperial Yeomanry. After his year of service was completed, he stayed on in South Africa as a civil surgeon. He then joined the South African Constabulary until he was forced to return home due to his wounds.
He was 27 years old and a surgeon captain in the South African Constabulary attached to the 5th Field Ambulance during the Second Boer War on 8 February 1902, at Vlakfontein, when he was awarded his first VC.
He received the decoration from King Edward VII at St James's Palace on 2 June 1902.
Interbellum.
Martin-Leake qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1903 after studying while convalescing from wounds. He then took up an appointment in India as Chief Medical Officer with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.
In 1912, he volunteered to serve with the British Red Cross during the Balkan Wars, attached to the Montenegran army, and was present during the Siege of Scutari (1912–13) and at Tarabosh Mountain. He was awarded the Order of the Montenegran Red Cross.
First World War.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Martin-Leake returned to service as a lieutenant with the 5th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, on the Western Front.
He was awarded his second VC, aged 40, during the period 29 October to 8 November 1914 near Zonnebeke, Belgium, whilst serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army.
His award citation reads:
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Army Medical Services Museum, Aldershot, England.
He was promoted captain in March 1915, major in November the same year, and in April 1917 took command of 46th Field Ambulance at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Postwar.
Martin-Leake retired from the army after the war and resumed his company employment in India until he retired to England in 1937. Although there is no record of his being a pilot, he was registered in 1939 as the owner of a de Havilland Moth Minor aircraft, registered G-AFRY.
During the Second World War, he commanded an ARP post.
He died, aged 79, at High Cross, Hertfordshire. Following cremation at Enfield, Middlesex, Martin-Leake was buried in St John's Church, High Cross. He is commemorated with a plaque and a tree at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire.


Susan Elizabeth Tracy

Susan Elizabeth Tracy (1878 - 1928) was an American school administrator, business owner and nurse. She wrote the first American book on occupational therapy.
Born in 1878 Tracy studied nursing in a Massachusetts hospital. After finishing her nursing education in 1898, she work as a nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago.
In 1905, Tracy returned to school to study economics and art. She became a school administrator at a nursing school. In 1912 Tracy decided to open an occupational therapy practice in which she taught both patients and nurses. She performed the first systematic studies on occupational therapy. Tracy's first book on disabilities was published in 1910.
Tracy died in Massachusetts in 1928.


Monopolization

In United States antitrust law, monopolization is illegal. The main categories of prohibited behavior include exclusive dealing, price discrimination, refusing to supply an essential facility, product tying and predatory pricing. Monopolization is a federal crime under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. It has a specific legal meaning, which is parallel to the "abuse" of a dominant position in EU competition law, under TFEU article 102. Section 2 of the Sherman Act states that any person "who shall monopolize . . . any part of the trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations shall be deemed guilty of a felony." Section 2 also forbids "attempts to monopolize" and "conspiracies to monopolize". Generally this means that corporations may not act in ways that have been identified as contrary to precedent cases.
Jurisprudential meaning.
Under long-established precedent, the offense of monopolization under Section 2 has two elements. First, that the defendant possesses monopoly power in a properly-defined market and second that the defendant obtained or maintained that power through conduct deemed unlawfully exclusionary. The mere fact that conduct disadvantages rivals does not, without more, constitute the sort of exclusionary conduct that satisfies this second element. Instead, such conduct must exclude rivals on some basis other than efficiency.
For several decades courts drew the line between efficient and inefficient exclusion by asking whether the conduct under scrutiny was "competition on the merits". Courts equated such competition on the merits with unilateral conduct such as product improvement, the realization of economies of scale, innovation, and the like. Such conduct was lawful per se, since it constituted the normal operation of economic forces that a free economy should encourage. At the same time, courts condemned as "unlawful exclusion" tying contracts, exclusive dealing, and other agreements that disadvantaged rivals. This distinction reflected the economic theory of the time, which saw no beneficial purposes for what Professor Oliver Williamson has called non-standard contracts.
More recently, courts have retained the safe harbor for "competition on the merits". Moreover, the Supreme Court has clarified the standards governing claims of predatory pricing. At the same time, they have relaxed the standards governing other conduct by monopolists. For instance, non-standard contracts that exclude rivals are now lawful if supported by a "valid business reason", unless the plaintiff can establish that the defendant could achieve the same benefits by means of a less restrictive alternative.


Water Resources Research Act

The Water Resources Research Act of 1964 (WRRA) undertook "... a coordinated scientific research program in water...", which constitutes "... the greatest resource problem facing the West and the Nation ..." The WRRA's principal result was establishment of the National Institutes for Water Resources.
Distinctions.
One of the earliest research grants of the WRRA went to eventual Nobel Memorial Prize-laureate Elinor Ostrom at the beginning of her career.


CBV Real Estate Index

The CBV Real Estate Index is the first index on the Vietnamese real estate market. It is built based on the newest methodology of S&P for that market.
Types of indices.
CBV real estate index can be categorized into following 7 smaller indexes:


Justus Frantz

Justus Frantz (born 18 May 1944 in Inowrocław, Poland, then Hohensalza, Germany) is a German pianist, conductor, and television personality.
Life.
Frantz began playing piano at the age of ten and later studied with Eliza Hansen and Wilhelm Kempff at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg under a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, or German National Scholarship Foundation. In 1967, Frantz and Claus Kanngießer won the second prize at the international music competition of the ARD playing as a cello and piano duo, marking the beginning of his international career. He first played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan in 1970. In 1975, he played in his United States debut concert with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein, who became his lifelong friend. Other conductors with whom he has played include Carlo Maria Giulini and Rudolf Kempe. He founded the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in 1986 and became a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in 1989, a post from which he has since retired. He also founded the Philharmonia of the Nations in 1995. From September 2013 Maestro Frantz serves as musical director of The Israel Sinfonietta Beersheba.
He has two sons, Christopher Tainton, whom he had with pianist Carol Tainton, and Justus Konstantin Frantz, whom he had with Xenia Dubrowskaja.
Repertoire.
Frantz mostly plays music from the Classical and Romantic periods, particularly by Mozart. He has played many pieces for piano duet or four hands with Christoph Eschenbach.


Welfare definition of economics

The welfare definition of economics is an attempt by Alfred Marshall, a pioneer of neoclassical economics, to redefine his field of study. This definition expands the field of economic science to a larger study of humanity. Specifically, Marshall's view is that economics studies all the actions that people take in order to achieve economic welfare. In the words of Marshall, "man earns money to get material welfare." Others since Marshall have described his remark as the "welfare definition" of economics. This definition enlarged the scope of economic science by emphasizing the study of wealth and humanity together, rather than wealth alone.
In his widely read textbook, "Principles of Economics", published in 1890, Marshall defines economics as follows:
"Political Economy or Economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and with the use of material requisites of well-being".
Functions.
The following are the implications of this definition:
According to Edwin Cannan, "the aim of political economy or Economics is the explanation of the general causes on which the material welfare of human beings depend".
Marshall clearly explains that economic activity is different from other activity. For example,
Marshall defines economic activity as separate from the above activities. A farmer who toils in the field, or a worker on an assembly, are performing an economic activity: they work to increase their material welfare (primarily by earning money). Money buys goods or services that satisfy wants. In other words, economics deals with effort, wants, and the satisfaction of those wants.
Impact on economics.
Followers in the neoclassical tradition, such as William Beveridge and Arthur Pigou have continued to define economics in terms of material economic welfare. According to Pigou, "the range of enquiry becomes restricted to that part of social welfare that can be brought directly or indirectly into relation with the measuring rod of money".
Criticism.
Marshall’s definition has been criticized by more recent economists, including Lionel Robbins. Robbins' criticisms include:
(1) Narrows down the scope of economics. Marshall distinguishes between material and non-material welfare, and confines economics to the study of material welfare. Robbins feels that economists should not limit their attention to material welfare. There are things that are "non-material" but they promote human welfare. Robbins cites “the services of doctors, lawyers, teachers, dancers, engineers, professors". These goods "satisfy our wants and are scarce in supply”. Some economists feel that Marshall's definition of "material" includes both goods and services, and that Robbins is either misreading Marshall's text, or creating a straw man argument.
(2) Assumes equivalency between welfare and economic activity. For Robbins, there are economic activities which do not promote human welfare. For example, the sale of cocaine or heroin. Here Robbins says, “Why talk of welfare at all? Why not throw away the mask altogether”.
(3) It is a vague concept. According to Robbins, “welfare” is a vague concept to use to define economics because it is subjective. Economics is a quantitative science; but welfare cannot be quantitatively measured, and two persons cannot agree on what creates or improves welfare.
(4) It involves value judgement. Finally the word “welfare” in Marshall’s definition brings economics to the realm of ethics. Robbins would prefer that economics remain neutral in assessing the results of economic transactions..
Economic welfare.
Broadly, economic welfare is the level of prosperity and standard of living of either an individual or a group of persons. In the field of economics, it specifically refers to utility gained through the achievement of material goods and services. In other words, it refers to that part of social welfare that can be fulfilled through economic activity.
According to Roefie Hueting, welfare is dependent on factors like employment, income distribution, labour conditions, leisure time, production and the scarce possible uses of the environmental functions.
Economic welfare is measured in different ways, depending on the preferences of those measuring it. Factors used to measure the economic welfare of a population, include: GDP, literacy, access to health care, and assessments of environmental quality.


Anna Braude Heller

Anna Braude Heller (or Hellerowa; born 6 January 1888, Warsaw – died on or around 19 April 1943, Warsaw) was a physician who worked in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.
Early life.
Heller was the eldest of four children. Her mother was Taube Rebecca (née Litwin), and her father was a merchant, Aryeh Leib "Leo" Broddo (or Braude; died 1928).
After matriculating from school in 1906, she studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Geneva, Switzerland and began medical studies at Zurich. She obtained her medical degree in Berlin in 1912 and continued her studies in St Petersburg, and went on to practise in Russia for a period of time before returning to Poland.
Back in Poland, Heller (a.k.a. Hellerowa) co-founded the Włodzimierz Medem Sanatorium in Miedzeszyn near Warsaw. She moved to Warsaw in 1913, practicing at the Bersohn and Bauman Children's Hospital, originally endowed in 1872 by Mejer Bersohn, for whom the hospital was named. It was located at 60 Sienna/52 Śliska Streets.
Initially a small facility, it closed in 1924, but later reopened in 1930 as a larger facility with the assistance of the "Society of Friends of Children" (Polish: "Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Dzieci", or TPD), which Heller had co-founded. She was named chief of medicine and a director of the hospital board.
Marriage and family.
In 1916, Anna Braude married Eliezer Heller (1885–1934), an engineer; the couple had two sons, Ari Leon Heller (1917–2008), and Olum Heller, nicknamed "Olo" (1921–1926). Her husband died of complications of surgery in 1934, aged 49. Heller/Hellerowa's brother, Jossell Abraham Braude, died in 1931. The deaths of her youngest son, her husband, and her brother inspired her to devote her life to medicine.
World War II.
Heller moved into the hospital, now part of Warsaw's Jewish ghetto, at the start of World War II. The hospital was prohibited by the Nazi occupiers from treating non-Jews and all government disbursements and support ceased. The hospital was reduced to seeking funding from Jewish self-help institutions and/or individual donations.
The ghetto was quarantined due to a typhus epidemic which lasted from 1939–40. Conditions were dire in the ghetto, with poor sanitation, disease outbreaks, and violent clashes with guards. Many casualties also resulted from attempts by Jews to smuggle food and other necessities into the ghetto. The hospital's mortality rates were unavoidably high, despite the best efforts of the hospital's staff and workers.
Last years and death.
In 1942 and 1943, Heller refused to leave the hospital and the children she was trying to care for but did help her surviving son and his family escape the ghetto; they survived the war. Most of the doctors and nurses were sent to concentration camps; only a few (Teodozja Goliborska, Henryk Kroszczor, Rachela Kroszczorowa, and Adina Blady Szwajer) survived. Heller (aged 55) and her sister, Sara Aftergut (aged 54, whose husband and daughter had been murdered in Treblinka), remained in the ghetto and were murdered there on or around 19 April 1943.
Legacy.
After the Holocaust, a plaque commemorating Heller was raised at the Jewish cemetery at Okopowa Street, on the joint tombstone of her husband and younger son. In April 2001, on a wall where the Bersohn and Bauman Children's Hospital had once stood, a similar plaque was unveiled.


Calais border barrier

The Calais border barrier is an international border barrier under construction jointly by France and the United Kingdom designed to prevent illegal migrants from gaining access to the Channel Tunnel and from the port of Calais as a means of illegal entry to Britain. Construction, funded by Britain, began in September 2016.
It aims, in particular, to prevent migrants from entering Britain by stowing away on trucks and ferry boats. The wall will cut the large migrant encampment known as the Calais Jungle off from access to the port and tunnel entrance. The government of Calais opposes construction of the wall, preferring that the central government instead dismantle the Jungle because the illegal migrants living there place a strain on local resources.
The $23 million cost will be shared by Britain and France.