Datasets:
Recag
/
C4_21

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
text
stringlengths
9
93k
I hired a private investigator, finally, to search for them. He was a former Los Angeles cop, and he had a reputation of being able to find kids pretty quickly. He found them within 24 hours, and I put them into a wilderness therapy camp, which lasted about a month.
What was your take on the impact of that program?
It was a stopgap measure. When they first got out, it was wonderful. They said: "We just love you so much, and we want to be with you." That lasted about two weeks.
Later they said that the skills they learned there really helped them when they finally jumped on a train, and really ran away. So much of the wilderness therapy is about self-reliance. You have to build your own fire with flint and steel. You have to create your own structure.
After they got out of that program, and came back to live with you, they left for a much longer time. Can you describe that?
They left on a September day, early September, and I heard from Amanda, every couple of weeks. She would call and say, "We're alive," but she wouldn't tell me where they were. And Stephanie would never get on the phone.
In late November on Amanda's 17th birthday, I got a call that she had overdosed on heroin, and she had given the police her real name. That started the process of getting her back home.
At that point did you know that she'd been on heroin at all?
Absolutely not. No, I couldn't believe it. I never, ever thought that they would go that far. In some ways, it was this weird silver lining, because it got Amanda home.
Many months later, when Stephanie finally came back home, too, interestingly, that wasn't really a relief for you.
In my experience, your kids don't call one day and say: "Guess what? I changed my mind, I love you, I want to come home." And then you say: "Oh my gosh, well, I want you to come home, and you'll be in history class in the ninth grade tomorrow." That time was over.
I was so angry, and so hurt, and I just thought: "Now what?" I wanted her to come home desperately, but I just knew it would be more difficulty when she gets here, and indeed it was. She came home, and she just couldn't go back to being a kid. It was just too late.
I found out about a boarding school in Colorado that really emphasizes outdoor learning, community and self-responsibility. She applied there, got in, and it was transformative. It just couldn't have been a more fabulous thing for her.
But I never got to live with her again.
Was that bittersweet for you?
So bittersweet. To this day when I walk into a grocery store and see a mom with her teenage daughters, I have to leave. Every time I just get tearful, I just can't be in the same room, even after all these years. It just kills me that I don't get that time back.
You've said that one of your dearest illusions of motherhood was that your daughters' autonomy was a threat to you. What do you mean by that, and what was it like to give that illusion up?
I think that I have given it up, thank goodness. I was a very young mom. I had four kids really fast in an unhappy marriage.
Your first was when you were 21?
Right. I was so identified with those children that -- the old cliché -- I didn't know where I ended and they began.
I wanted them to be reflections of me, and I wanted them to have the lives that I had imagined for them. And -- guess what? -- they wanted to have their own lives, and they deserved to. I way over-identified with my children.
As a young woman I believed that if I didn't do anything else right in my life, at least I would be a good mother, and that was a kind of nugget that I hung on to -- this ferocious love that I felt for my kids. I just adored them, and then to find out that I was the person that they thought of as the enemy was so crushing to me that everything I thought about motherhood was just thrown in the air.
Do you feel like you ever found a satisfactory answer as to why this happened to your family?
No. I think it was just so many things coming together, a bad divorce, a move to a new place where we knew absolutely no one, a subculture willing to take them in. My kids had a lot of trouble fitting in at school. All of those things kind of colluded in a way to create this crisis.
My own responsibility was that the more scared I got, the more panicked I got, the more shutdown I became emotionally, and just didn't have the resilience to handle this the way that I hope that I would today.
You really make it clear that you don't blame society for your family's problems, but what do you think could be done differently socially to help the families of runaways in addition to the runaways?
It would be great for federal lawmakers to talk to parents about what is going on. The statistic that they use says that 95 percent of kids on the street report that they're abused at home, and that's why they ran away. And I absolutely do not believe that figure. I just don't.
I just think that the parents need to be allowed to communicate more about what they're going through, and how difficult it is to find help. I just wish that more of that federal funding went toward support groups for parents, family counseling. I'm not against the shelters. I think that's really important that shelters are out there, and that schools are offered to runaway kids, but I think that more could be done to help the parents and not leave them so frustrated and alone.
Why do you think the parents haven't had more of a voice? Is it because of the cultural shame -- like you're a bad parent, and you should be able to control your own kid?
Absolutely. People have said to me, "Oh, this is because we spoil our children, they feel all this privilege. It's the weak parents that are sending the kids out on the streets."
I think, well, "OK, maybe we have a whole culture of privileged children, but that doesn't mean it's OK for 3 million kids to be living on the streets." That's what it is now -- 3 million kids on the streets, and I think that we need to figure out why that is happening.
When you write about your divorce, you express regret that you and your ex couldn't find a way to be a united front, or somehow tamp down the anger you felt toward each other. Do you think that was a big issue for the girls?
It was a huge issue. Amanda especially tells me that she felt so much the pawn between us. That her dad would say something rather insidious about me, and she would report that to me, and I'd say: "Well, he's this and this," and she'd report that to him, and that just became a trap that squeezed her to the point where she wanted to kill herself.
Can you talk a little bit about the younger girls, Mary and Mollie, and how their older sisters' absence impacted them?
My younger daughters were just amazingly tender and loving toward me, and they gave up big chunks of their childhood to stay home and make sure that I had support and comfort, which was so wonderful of them, and yet, I regret that. I should have insisted that they go out with their friends. The three of us were just kind of in our house not talking to anybody, not doing very much, just waiting and hoping that the girls out on the street would call us.
They did very well in school, they were very active. They kept up with dance and art and all the classes that they had, but they were also very worried. They would wake up crying in the middle of the night, and they would act out in school.
How old are all your daughters now, and how are they?
Amanda is 29. She is a mother of two. She lives on a farm with her husband, and they raise animals, and have a huge garden. She spins her own yarn, and has a business where she sells yarn and sweaters and things.
Stephanie is 27. She lives on the East Coast, where she goes to school. She owns her own gardening business. She is just thriving, too. They've had the most mellow 20s, those two. I think that they got it all out of their systems. Mary and Mollie are 22 and 24, and they live in Eugene, and each have good jobs and boyfriends, and everybody is just doing great.
Now that Amanda is a mother herself, do you feel that she understands better how much her running away hurt you?
She sure does. She has told me several times that if she didn't know where her child was for 10 minutes she would just completely fall apart.
BREAKING NEWS: Typhoon Hammers Japan, Spreads Radiation to Tokyo?
Today, Japan got hit with a major typhoon (a typhoon is just another name for a hurricane). Photos here and video here.
Nearly 260,000 households in central Japan were without electricity, and authorities called for more than a million people to be evacuated in central and eastern Japan.
The storm, packing sustained winds of up to 144km/h, made landfall in the afternoon near the city of Hamamatsu, about 200km west of Tokyo.
A powerful typhoon slammed into Japan on Wednesday, leaving 13 people dead or missing in south-central regions and halting trains in Tokyo before grazing a crippled nuclear plant ….
Typhoon Spreading Fukushima Radiation to Tokyo?
The leaking Fukushima nuclear power plant avoided a direct hit (a broken video camera is the only damage reported by Tepco).
Workers were trying to prevent pools of contaminated water from flooding and leaking outside the complex, said Junichi Matsumoto, another power company spokesman.
“The contaminated water levels have been rising, and we are watching the situation very closely to make sure it stays there,” Matsumoto told reporters.
18:58 9/21/2011,Typhoon is almost right above this PC,in Yokohama.
Radiation level is spiking up around in Tokyo and Fukushima.
In Futabamachi,Fukushima,it’s 21 uSv/h now.
Wind is blowing from South to North, and it’s very salty.
It’s assumed typhoon is spreading the sea water around.
Radiation is assumed to have come from the sea.
One thing I’m sure is,I should have evacuated way before.
As I noted last week, some areas of Tokyo have more radiation than in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, and evacuations of Tokyo have been discussed by the government and experts.
FINAL PHASE!! NEW CONSTRUCTION only 4 miles from Uptown and close to all of the area's hottest locations! This open floorplan is great for entertaining and features granite countertops, 42" cabinets, stainless appliances & hardwood flooring in the kitchen and dining areas. Large owner's suite with walk in closet & owner's bath featuring wall & floor tile. Modern fixtures, 2-car rear entry garage, FINISHED REC ROOM, and deck! Walk to the Common Market to eat or grab a drink with friends! New retail shopping/eateries coming in 2019! Oakhurst is located minutes from Cotswold, Plaza Midwood, Elizabeth, Uptown, South Park and more! Don't miss this opportunity!!
If you get this message, we're at FOSE ... why aren't you?
Don't try to call the Washington Technology office this week. We'll be at FOSE, checking out the latest technologies and talking with industry and government leaders about their plans for the future.
FOSE, a showcase for government technology vendors and integrators, runs March 23-25 at the Washington Convention Center. We know from experience that many of our readers will be there as participants and visitors at the exhibitions. Those of you who can't attend should visit our Web site (www.washingtontechnology.com), because we'll be providing daily coverage of the news and events from FOSE.
FOSE, by the way, is owned by PostNewsweek Tech Media, which publishes Washington Technology and Government Computer News.
A short note to my bosses: Don't worry, there really will be someone answering the phones and covering other breaking news at Washington Technology this week. But you'll have to get your own coffee.
International engineering behemoth CH2M, one of Colorado’s largest private companies, has agreed to be purchased by Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. for $2.85 billion, the companies announced Wednesday.
For Colorado, this is a big deal. Panama Canal big. CH2M, after all, was one of the key contractors hired to manage construction of the third lane for the watery shortcut through the Americas. When the third lane opened last year, CH2M CEO Jacqueline Hinman was one of the few Coloradans personally invited by the Panamanian government to attend the event.
The acquisition, expected to close — pending approvals — at the end of the year, is all about growth, said Steven Demetriou, Jacobs’ chairman and CEO. There is little business overlap, and the combination expands global reach for both. CH2M’s expertise in water infrastructure and environment were target growth areas for Jacobs, which primarily focuses on the aerospace, infrastructure, industrial and energy sectors.
CH2M Chairman and CEO Jacqueline Hinman and Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou talk with CH2M employees at the Denver headquarters today, emphasizing plans to continue to maintain a strong presence there, where both firms serve significant growth in the region.
Hinman, one of the few women running a major U.S. engineering firm today, will leave when the deal closes, Demetriou said. Lisa Glatch, CH2M’s executive in charge of growth and sales, and Gary Mandel, who served as Jacobs’ president of petroleum and chemicals, will lead the integration of the companies.
While it’s too early to say what consolidation will occur, Jacobs expects to incur a one-time $225 million charge to consolidate overlapping operations, from real estate units to IT systems. The cuts will eventually save the company $150 million annually.
Jacobs, which employs 54,000 people around the world, operates a downtown Denver office with about 450 people, he said. CH2M, with 20,000 employees worldwide, has about 1,700 in Colorado, with many working out of the Douglas County headquarters at 9191 S. Jamaica St.
The two have very similar corporate cultures, Demetriou said. And that doesn’t worry him. While Jacobs is publicly traded and CH2M is private and largely employee owned, Jacobs has plenty of experience integrating private firms. To date, Jacobs has acquired 74 companies that were mostly “privately owned, employee organizations,” Demetriou said.
Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou, left, poses with CH2M Chairman and CEO Jacqueline Hinman at CH2M’s Denver-area headquarters today.
Formerly known as CH2M Hill, a name derived from its founders’ initials, CH2M has a long history in Colorado. Founded in Oregon in 1946, it moved to Denver in 1982. It became one of Denver’s biggest international players. Its highest-profile project in Colorado was as a partner in Kaiser-Hill, which cleaned up Rocky Flats, the U.S. Department of Energy’s contaminated plutonium-processing plant 16 miles northwest of Denver.
Its former CEO, Ralph Peterson, who died in 2009, was a well-known figure in Denver. Gov. John Hickenlooper called him a mentor and picked him to serve on his transition team to Denver mayor in 2003. Hinman is one of the only women to run a major U.S. engineering firm and belongs to the 6.4 percent of women who head a Fortune 500 company.
Jacobs, founded in 1947, moved to Dallas from California last year. Some of the company’s better-known Colorado projects are FasTracks, Denver International Airport and multiple projects with the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Jacobs’ stock price has surged since its 52-week low of $49.15 in October. Last fall, it benefited from President Donald Trump’s plan to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure projects, which has boosted engineering and construction stocks.
Adjusted for a February split, its stock traded about 8 percent higher than the 52-week low to close Wednesday up a half percent at $53.35. It has a market value of about $6.42 billion.
While CH2M has a share price, it isn’t publicly traded. The company’s board determines its stock price each quarter based on the performance of the business. A CH2M share currently has a price of $50.69, but the Jacobs offer valued the company at $88.08 a share, which Hinman called a “solid premium.” Shareholders would receive 60 percent cash and 40 percent Jacobs’ stock for each share.
The purchase price was higher than analysts and reports suggested — some expected it to be about $1.5 billion due to CH2M project liabilities and controversy overseas. CH2M lost a contract to oversee the second phase of the High Speed Two rail project, a major construction project in Britain. The firm also faced questions over pension liabilities stemming from its 2011 entry into the British market when it bought Halcrow.
CH2M made $15 million in net income on $5.2 billion in revenue in 2016, down from the prior year’s $80.4 million in net income on $5.4 billion in revenues.
In fiscal 2016, Jacobs reported net income of $396.2 million on $10.9 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg. That’s down from $432.9 million in net income on $12.1 billion in revenue the prior year.
Pending C2HM stockholder approval, it will be one of the largest deals ever in the engineering industry, according to The Wall Street Journal, after Aecom’s roughly $4 billion deal to buy URS Corp. in 2014.
Lamest pushback ever? Reading Constitution in Congress will cost us $1.1 million!
It would seem that in an era of Fiscal Responsibility™, a performative rendition of the Constitution might have been one such eliminated endeavor. For an estimate on just how much the Republicans would have saved if they had decided against the tedious exercise, VF Daily checked with Peter Keating, the co-author of “The Cost of No” and VF.com’s resident expert on Congressional wastefulness.
“The amount I get is nearly $1.1 million. $1,071,872.87, to be exact, though of course this is more back-of-the-envelope than exact.
Ha ha! Yes, we can tell that this analysis is strictly non-partisan. Say, how much did Nancy Pelosi’s speech, complete with its rambling partisan defense, cost us? Wait, Vanity Fair and Keating are too busy venting outrageous outrage over the reading of the foundational legal document that members of Congress swear to uphold and defend.
How do VF and Keating reach their conclusions? They take the cost-per-minute of the House being in session, complete apparently to the cost of cleaning staffs, and apply that to the time needed to read the Constitution. Of course, this is simply bunk. The House did not come to session to read the Constitution, so those fixed costs — including salaries — would have been spent already regardless of whatever gets said on the floor. The cost doesn’t come from the reading; it comes from the existence of Congress itself.
There isn’t even any opportunity cost involved, since the reading of the Constitution won’t prevent any other business from being conducted. It will take much less time to read the Constitution than to, say, name post offices and hear debate over whether to designate February as National Toothpick Month, complete with testimonials to the toothpick industry and how it contributed to the greatness of America by removing the remains of porkchops from the teeth of red-blooded Americans. There actually isn’t much extra cost in those efforts either, except for the paper needed to publish the bills, because once again, Congress would already be in session. Those cases matter because politicians like to use those resolutions to claim productivity, when in fact they’re wasting time — but not much money.
The idea behind reading the Constitution is to remind lawmakers of the limited power and jurisdiction the document grants the federal government. What has it cost the US to ignore those restrictions? Just take a look at the national debt for the answer to that question.
The teams eligible for the 2019 NBA draft lottery have been determined, but that is about all we are certain of when it comes to June's selection process.
Since the teams with the three worst records from the regular season now possess the same odds to earn the No. 1 pick, it is not certain the New York Knicks gain the top selection.
Duke's Zion Williamson is most likely going to be the No. 1 overall pick, but after him, the order of picks are far from clear, with Murray State's Ja Morant and Duke's RJ Barrett among the contenders to be taken second.
The order of the first 14 picks will be decided May 14 during the NBA draft lottery, while the other picks will be put in order as teams are eliminated from the postseason.
It feels like we talk about all the different situations regarding multiple Boston Celtics draft picks every year.
Danny Ainge has done a masterful job of working the trade market, and that will be on display in June as the Celtics could have as many as four first-round picks at their disposal.
The Celtics definitely have two in their possession, with one being their natural first-round pick and the other coming from Oklahoma City.
The potential to earn two more picks is dependent on where Sacramento and Memphis land in the draft lottery.
Boston will likely land Sacramento's first-round pick because the Kings have slim odds of winning the lottery.
If Sacramento wins the lottery, Philadelphia gets the pick, while it belongs to Boston if the Kings don't come out on top in the lottery, which is likely going to be the case.