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Burbank school officials said they were shocked and saddened to learn that former Supt. Kevin Jolly had fallen to his death from a 255-foot bridge on Friday in Northern California, where he had taken over a troubled school district just a few weeks prior.
Jolly reportedly fell off the Confusion Hill Bridge on Friday, falling to his death to the Eel River below from a height of more than a 20-story building.
Numerous calls made to Mendocino County sheriff's and coroner's officials went unreturned on Tuesday. But in a statement made to local media there, sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb said Jolly's vehicle was also found Friday near the Confusion Hill tourist site in Piercy, launching the search that eventually discovered his body.
In an e-mail, Smallcomb said no further details would be available pending the outcome of a coroner's investigation.
The bridge has been open for little more than a year, said Phil Frisbie, Jr., a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation.
At 255 feet, the bridge is a few feet taller than the Golden Gate Bridge, Frisbie added.
Concrete safety barriers were built on both sides of the Confusion Hill Bridge to make sure vehicles couldn't slide off the roadway, Frisbie said. A 54-inch tall metal fence was also installed to secure pedestrians and cyclists, he added.
"It's high enough to provide safety for pedestrians walking on the surface of the roadway or bicyclists riding on the highway," Frisbie said.
Jolly is the first person known to have fallen or jumped from the bridge, he said.
Doug Campbell, owner of a tourist attraction near the bridge, said Jolly didn't interact with anyone before he fell to his death.
Area residents, he said, have been buzzing about the circumstances surrounding Jolly's death.
The bridge has been the subject of concern for some locals who suspected that someone would one day leap from it, Campbell said.
"It was saddening, but everybody here locally was always thinking somebody was going to jump off it," he said.
Authorities have declined to comment on whether Jolly jumped or fell from the bridge, despite the roughly 4 1/2-foot pedestrian barrier.
Jolly had started his new position as superintendent of Round Valley Unified School District on July 1.
The district had has been operating under state and county oversight due to its troubled finances and student performance. It was a demanding job, but one that fitted Jolly's strengths, officials said.
"That district had real challenges and Kevin was the kind of guy to shake it up and get it moving in the right direction," said Larry Applebaum, a Burbank Unified board member who was president when Jolly was hired last May. "It seemed to me, the perfect kind of place for him to land was a challenge."
Jolly's last day in Burbank Unified was June 30.
His family could not be reached for comment, but are staying with extended family in Sacramento, school officials said. Jolly leaves behind eight children — the youngest is 2-years-old, while the eldest will be a sophomore at UC Santa Barbara.
In the wake of his death, Burbank Unified will mostly serve as a conduit to Mendocino County, passing along donations and cards to Jolly's family, Burbank Unified Supt. Stan Carrizosa said.
Round Valley Unified is a rural community outside Covelo, and covers Native American reservations. Of the district's 435 students, 417 were on free or reduced lunches, a poverty indicator, according to the most recent figures from the California Department of Education.
And while the district's accountability test scores have improved, its results on state exams are far below the benchmark.
"It is an extremely challenging district," said Paul Tinchin, the superintendent of Mendocino County Office of Education, which oversees the district operations.
Jolly was an avid biker and runner, and colleagues said he had nothing negative to say about his new position, officials said.
In the roughly three-month transition between Burbank superintendents, Carrizosa said Jolly was always gracious and deferential in their meetings.
Applebaum said he spoke to Jolly last month and he seemed confident about current job prospects.
In Round Valley Unified, meetings are underway to appoint an interim superintendent, Tinchin said.
"He was an individual who was very committed to students and improving student performance," he said. "We'll miss the energy that Jolly brought to working in that community."
Jason Wells contributed to this report.
The young stars are just a few in the massive pool of celebs who’ve addressed the devastating incident in Charlottesville. On August 12, one person was killed and were 19 injured when a speeding car slammed into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, where a “Unite the Right” rally of white nationalist and other groups had been scheduled to take place.
The suspected driver of the out-of-control car was later identified on August 12, as James Alex Fields Jr., 20. The suspect is now facing a slew of charges, including second degree murder. On the same day, the Charlottesville Police Department issued a statement that Fields, a Ohio native, may also face three counts of malicious wounding, and one count related to fleeing the scene. A bond hearing for Fields has been set for Monday, August 14. At this present time, police do not believe Fields is being represented by an attorney.
HollywoodLifers, you can leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Melania Trump has arrived in Ghana, choosing for her first extended international trip alone to visit Africa, a continent her husband has referred to derisively.
The US first lady touched down mid-morning on Tuesday in Ghana's capital, Accra, where she was greeted by the country's first lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, and a young girl who offered her flowers.
A welcoming ceremony of drums and dancing by men and women dressed in traditional attire followed. Trump clapped her hands and waved at a group of school children waiting for her at the airport.
Trump then visited child health facilities and met caregivers during her stay in the capital.
She has focused on children as her signature issue and plans to promote child well-being during her four-country tour, which will include stops in Kenya, Malawi and Egypt.
President Donald Trump has not visited Africa since taking office in 2017 but he has reportedly said immigrants from Africa came from "shithole countries". He denied making the remark.
More recently, he said on Twitter, he had asked his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, "to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and large scale killing of farmers".
South Africa has proposed land reforms but not implemented them.
Forty-seven farmers were killed in 2017-2018 - a 20-year low, according to AgriSA, an association of agricultural associations.
At a U Street gas station, the food selection goes far beyond Slim Jims and Snickers bars.
If you think about eating at a gas station, what probably comes to mind are those sandwiches that fill the shelves of convenience marts: smears of tuna or egg salad on dry triangles of white bread stuffed into plastic containers.
Then there’s Fast Gourmet, a quick-service cafe adjacent to a Lowest Price Gas. The signature item is the chivito ($13), which is to Uruguayans what the Cubano is to Cuban-Americans, a high-calorie sandwich that takes care of lunch and dinner both. Tenderloin beef, mozzarella, ham, bacon, hard-boiled egg, olives, and roasted mushrooms are jammed into a sub roll, then toasted on the grill, turning the roll hot and crunchy. The Cubano ($8.50) is almost as good.
That’s not all that’s better than it needs to be. The coleslaw is perked up with lemongrass. An empanada ($2) features a fine dice of ham and kernels of corn in a rich béchamel. And a “chocolate sausage,” with dark chocolate and bits of cookie fashioned into a log and cut into thick slices, comes plated atop a squiggle of chocolate sauce. The steak-and-cheese and barbecue-chicken sandwiches aren’t memorable, but they’re good for gas-station food.
Traditional restaurateurs are understandably worried about the food trucks and their gourmet-on-the-cheap ethos. But food lovers can only benefit from the movement. This latest example is one of the tastiest.
Drake & Scull International, a regional leader in engineering and construction services, said that it has incurred a net loss of AED 498 million for Q3. Announcing the third quarter results, the leading Dubai builder said the operating loss was attributable to the final phase of the project (close-out and handover) of the company’s legacy projects. This comes as part of the ongoing restructuring programme which includes the reassessment of all current and legacy projects. Furthermore, in light of this reassessment, several legacy projects which are due to be closed-out and handed-over could lead to further potential losses in the fourth quarter 2018.
Drake & Scull International announced the appointment of external restructuring advisors to work with the recently appointed Restructuring Committee on the financial plan to restore operations and stabilise the business. The company's board had approved the formation of a restructuring committee on October 22, after shareholders had voted by a special resolution early last month at the general assembly to continue operations.
The four-person committee comprises Khamis Buamim, Ahmed Kilani and Obaid Al Marri (all board members) and Yousef Al Mulla, an industry veteran, who has been appointed Group CEO.
Al Mulla joined the company during the third quarter on August 26.
The Dubai builder said the restructuring committee had now formally appointed advisors to work on the development of a new financial restructuring plan to put the company on a strong path to recovery.
Trussbridge Advisory (DIFC) Limited has been appointed financial advisors to the restructuring, while Allen & Overy LLP are the legal advisors; Al Tamimi & Company the regulatory advisors and Deloitte has been appointed to advise on the development of a new and comprehensive business plan.
Concurrently, Drake & Scull International said it is pursuing ongoing measures to accelerate bidding and secure new projects and continues to submit proposals for carefully selected projects, predominantly in the UAE, with several [fully financed] projects due to sign in the coming months.
Why is affordable housing in India restricted to the peripheries?
This, despite the fact that the current Government has clearly understood that quality, quantity, availability and affordability of housing are integral drivers for a country’s economic competitiveness.
India continues to strive for a more globally-aligned image for urban living conditions, which is what the Smart Cities mission is really all about. However, the primary need if India’s housing market is to rank higher on global benchmarks of urban liveability is still a numbers game. Access to quality affordable housing, if ‘quality’ is primarily defined by location, is still a major challenge for most Indian citizens.
The dearth of affordable homes is only widening, with deficit numbers predicted to reach 30mn by 2022. This, despite the fact that the current Government has clearly understood that quality, quantity, availability and affordability of housing are integral drivers for a country’s economic competitiveness.
To be fair, India has ramped up massively on affordable housing, and this segment has been leading the pack in Indian real estate over the past 3-4 years. The massive impetus that the Government has given to the one electoral promise which got the most attention - Housing for All by 2022 – has certainly caused a major sea-change.
Thanks to this impetus, the affordable price segment has dominated the residential supply. Recent new launches trends show that demand for affordable housing with ticket sizes in the range from Rs5 lakh to Rs40 lakh is growing continuously. The catch-phrase ‘affordable housing’ has also been drawing more and more fanfare and is being used rather freely by developers who, in previous years, did not want to be associated with it at all.
Affordable housing is characterized by many parameters, including smaller unit sizes and very remote locations. These are certainly limitations, and we tend to think of such housing as a product category that targets the Lower Income Groups. This is not entirely accurate.
A significant part of a city's population may actually have at least some measure of economic flexibility. However, they would still not be able to pay the high prices of even the humblest brick-and-mortar homes within the city. They are nowhere near the poverty line, but they can only buy homes in one of the far outskirts.
This fact certainly flies in the face of the earlier perception that affordable housing is strictly a LIG-related concept. After all, having a budget of Rs20-40 lakh certainly takes a family out of the LIG purview. However, if a city does not have enough housing that the majority of its working class can afford to buy to fulfil their most basic need, that city has a shortfall of affordable housing.
ANAROCK data reveals that there has been significant rise in the number of new launches in the affordable category. Interestingly, if we deep dive, out of the total 77,590 units across the top 7 cities, nearly 25% are priced below INR 20 lakh while the remaining have price tags between Rs20 lakh to Rs40 lakh. However, the majority of these projects are located in the peripheral boundaries of these cities – and often even outside the city limits altogether.
Why is this so, if it is really the urban areas of our main cities that draw most of job-seeking migrants and therefore need affordable housing the most?
When we examine the problems that India faces in terms of affordable urban housing in sufficient numbers, it emerges that the solutions are often as evident as the problem. Implementing the solutions is, of course, another matter altogether.
The exorbitant cost of land within city-limits – especially in the Indian metros – has compelled affordable housing developers to focus on the furthest suburbs, and often even on areas beyond the city limits. In a land-starved city like Mumbai, for instance, more centrally-located housing is largely out of the common man’s reach because the high land costs for developers are inevitably passed on to property buyers.
Even if we consider redevelopment of old, dilapidated buildings within the city limits at higher FSI as a possible solution, the actual supply that such redevelopments yield is minimal in market terms. Moreover, the trend of redevelopment itself is far from vibrant because of the lacklustre implementation of policies aimed at cleaning up uncertain property ownerships.
The fact that builders who undertake redevelopment projects often lack the capital or even the competence to complete such projects doesn't help, either. Also, replacing old buildings with new ones does not necessarily lead to more affordable housing.
Developers who invest the massive capital - not to mention the effort and time - to acquire and utilize redevelopment rights for old centrally-located projects will inevitably seek to monetize the opportunity to the max. This is why most redevelopment projects only result in small ‘boutique luxury’ projects, which are obviously unaffordable to most.
Unless redevelopment rights are sold by the Government with a strict mandate to develop only affordable projects there, the end product of redevelopments in central areas will not do anything to reduce the shortfall of mass housing.
It is often claimed that despite all the hoopla around affordable housing, India still lacks good policies to support affordable housing - especially when we compare the scenario to other countries.
This is not completely accurate. Policies pertaining to regional urban planning are very much in place in India. What they lack is their rigorous implementation without bowing to vote-bank politics and the vested interests of those who gain from stalling rather than promoting progress.
The main lacuna of policy thrust here once again comes down to the one critical ingredient without which nothing works – namely land.
Slumlords who control large tracts of centrally-located shanty developments and benefit from things remaining at status quo are just one part of the problem. Though they certainly play a significant role when it comes to urban land scarcity, they aren’t solely responsible. In fact, land is still available in urban areas of most of our cities– it’s just that it is not being used for affordable housing development.
Various Government agencies such as Indian Railways hold sizeable contiguous land parcels within city limits. This is a little too obvious to overlook, and there have actually been a lot of discussions about opening up these land parcels for creating affordable housing under PMAY.
However, but nothing tangible and concrete is happening on that front. With the right kind of political will and removal of red tape, these land parcels could logically be released for affordable housing development. If this were to happen, there would be far less compulsion for developers and their customers to consider only the far peripheral areas (which entail inhumanly long commutes to and from the main city’s workplace hubs) for affordable housing.
There is also a lot of unused private land which could be similarly utilized. More incentives like density bonuses could be extended, such as increasing FSI on a plot of land and thereby its value. In exchange, developers can build more affordable housing there. Such measures could be a significant step towards the creation of more affordable housing within the city limits, rather than inevitably relegating it to the city outskirts and even beyond the city limits.
Elsewhere in the world, this has been done quite successfully.
Taking a cue from Singapore - Some other countries have done a much better job in unleashing (and enforcing) policies that promote affordable housing where it is needed the most. Singapore, for instance, fares much better than India because affordable housing was always an integral part of their prudent land-use planning. The relevant policies were put in place in the 1990s and were strictly adhered to.
The benefits of this proactiveness were certainly tremendous. As a result of its land-use policies, Singapore saw strong economic growth and social cohesion, ensuring that sufficient land was fortified supporting future development as well.
The very fact that around 88% housing in Singapore is public housing built by HDB (the major housing provider there) and 90% of the population own their home speaks volumes of how mass housing-related policies can and should be implemented. HDB sells units to first-time home buyers at a concession to encourage homeownership.
In India, the demand-supply mismatch in housing - leading to high unsold stock in the more central areas - is another factor that results in affordable housing only being developed outside the city.
ANAROCK data indicates that back in 2016, the inventory overhang was as high as 40 months – it should ideally never be more than 24 months at a given time. The fact is that costlier homes in central locations fetched better returns to both investors and builders, so it was such housing that was rampantly built even if ‘real’ demand was clearly in the affordable segment.
When sales of such unaffordable homes started plummeting, these short-sighted developers (and the State Governments that supported unrealistic development) realized - too late - how massive the gap between the actual demand and the available supply really was.
Currently, most developers do their research before launching a specific project and are actively trying to follow the real demand. This has helped reduce the inventory overhang period to 33 months as of 2018-end. Also, they are trying to fit their new, centrally-located projects within the affordable housing bracket by creating smaller-sizes homes.
While this is laudable, it is a case of too little, too late because too much mid-to-high priced housing occupies land which actually need affordable housing. Even with suicidal price cuts, these properties can never be brought into the affordable housing ambit. They are too big to align with the Government's clear definitions of what constitutes - and can be marketed as - affordable housing.
Indian real estate developers and the Government must go beyond mere agreement on this issue. Building affordable homes within city limits is not just an economic necessity - it is a social imperative. It must become the first order of business for all stakeholders. When this happens - and only then - can India finally be counted among the progressive countries that take 'housing for all’ seriously.
Incredible images taken by Turkey Red Media show Dumbarton, Alexandria from the skies and are part of the businesses library of almost half a million images.
A Dumbarton drone business has taken almost half a million images from the skies all over Scotland – and these are the latest aerial photographs captured of Dumbarton and the Vale by Turkey Red Media.
These incredible images were taken by a specialist drone camera and give a bird’s-eye view of the area.
They are part of a staggering photo and video library collected by Jamestown photographer Craig Jump which totals over 50,000 video files and more than 400,000 still images.
Craig, 54, and fellow company director Martin Gillon, 39, work all year round to produce content which includes high resolution photography, surveys and inspections of buildings and roofs, 3D mapping, and video and film-making.
Craig launched his company originally as Sky View Video (Scotland) in 2015.
In 2017, he began working alongside Martin, from Gartocharn, who had his own company Microfilm Scotland.
The pair decided to join forces and launch Turkey Red Media and since then have seen their business take off.
They now have eight drones which they use to work with companies all over the country.
Their massive stock of images and video footage totals a huge 100 terabytes – which is over one million megabytes in data.
The huge catalogue costs the Dumbarton business £10,000 to store over two sophisticated networks.
Craig – who has been flying drones for seven years – said: “We collect a lot of data. Last year we logged a total of 40tb, which is around 40,000mb.
“That will continue to increase as the video and images are getting larger because the quality is getting better.

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